What the heck kind of project IS this?

It occurs to me, thanks to Molly's response to an earlier post, that some people might be reading this and wonder, "What the heck kind of project has she gotten herself into NOW?" So...perhaps this would be a good time (or about 5 posts LATER than a good time) to talk a bit about what the project is, exactly. Much of it is still taking shape, but here is what I know...

I wrote a proposal for a Lilly Teacher Creativity/Renewal grant for $8,000, and the readers liked it enough to say "Sure." The project was originally called "Artist at Last: Pottery, Poetry, and the Power of the Human Spirit," but for the purposes of this blog and the event that will result from all of this work, I think I'll call it "Pottery. Poetry. Place." Many people view the Lilly Teacher Creativity grants as opportunities to travel the world, but I've been lucky enough to have many travel opportunities, and I'm not at a place in my life right now where I want to spend 6 weeks away from my children. Instead, I look at the grant as an opportunity to live the artist's life right here at home (with a few short excursions mixed in). I'll use the funds to set up a "room of my own" sort of pottery workshop in the garage, take pottery classes at the Indianapolis Art Center, go to a week-long poetry retreat/workshop, take photos of places that remind me of my childhood, use the plants of those places as inspiration for creating pottery and poetry, learn to build frames, learn to cut mats, frame and mat my poems, and display the resulting pottery and framed poems and photos at an event. Most of the work will take place this summer, but if you've been reading you can see that there are many preliminary tasks (setting up the workshop, going to Tennessee for pictures, applying for the writer's workshop, purchasing supplies, studying up on pottery, plants, birds, etc.) that I'm blissfully pursuing as the school year wraps up.

The best parts of this so far?

1. The way there are so few rules that I can follow my gut wherever it leads--go to Tennessee, too, for example? Well, why not?

2. The way these funds are "protected"--there's no option for using them to pay bills or keeping them in a savings account. It makes me feel worthy and free.

3. The way the creative endeavor brings people together--to take photos, travel, build, write, film, and learn.

4. That this project gives me an excuse to blog--while it might not be that interesting to everyone else, I am never at a loss for items to write about when it comes to this project.