It's a blog hoppity hop!

My darling sis in law Ash who writes over at the pretty darn awesome thesquee.com has nominated me to join in a bit of a blog hop. Isn't she lovely? I will do my best to answer some questions (some of them are about writing so I may need to be creative with my answers) so you can learn a little bit about me. And stay tuned, because at the end I shall nominate a few of my favourite bloggers to either a) join in or b) not join in, but feel special.

(I grew up with 2 brothers, but as an adult have become part of a wonderful sisterhood of sis inlaws! Here I am sitting between Ash and Taz. I have three other wonderful sis in laws too, living interstate and overseas. Nicole, Vanessa and Katerina. I am blessed.)


WHAT AM I WORKING ON?

What AREN'T I working on might be an easier question. I am currently working on recording a 5 track EP of my original tunes. My recordings in the past have been quite epic, with string and horn arrangements, backing vocalists, you name it. But over the past 2 years I have been playing a much more stripped back acoustic show, and I thought it was time to capture that new sound. I am also always working on my little handmade crafty zine I make with (other sis in law) Taz, called Hundreds and Thousands. This zine has been one of my most exciting creative experiences to date, and if we're not posting out pretty orders we're dreaming of the next issue. And somewhere in there I'm trying to be creative round the home, whether its sewing, gluing, cutting, moving furniture, crocheting, baking, giving, listening. Creativity is alive and well in our home. (The housework, on the other hand is a bit of a disaster!)

WHY DO I DO WHAT I DO?
I can't help it. I've tried to stop. Seriously. I've tried to be normal, and to dream of normal things like mortgages and 9-5 jobs and kids in daycare...but in the end, do you know what gets my heart racing?  It's the sound of Kate Bush's voice, the excitement of going to a high tea, the idea of a pom pom making party, late nights, slow starts, dancing to Beatles records, knowing my neighbourhood like the back of my hand because I actually spend most of my time in it, op shop adventures, sharing a touch of the creative chaos with my kids, being home for a fair bit and then packing up the car and driving to the country to play at a music festival every now and then... the creative life makes me happy, therefor I must continue to live it! Fearlessly, courageously.

HOW DOES MY CREATING PROCESS WORK?
I write songs very much on my own. It's a personal process. When I am in the midst of a crisis, I don't feel a creative bone in my body. This can be anything from a major life crisis, down to something fairly insignificant, like WHY ARE THERE SO MANY DISHES THAT ALWAYS NEED TO BE WASHED WHY CAN'T A FAIRY GODMOTHER COME AND DEAL WITH THIS (that can feel like a crisis at times, don't you think?) .... But once there is some light, some hope, that's when the songwriting starts. It emerges out of difficulty, finding hope, creating beauty out of brokenness. For me, songwriting is often about reflecting back on things in my life and making sense of it all, or at least something beautiful. Most listeners would say my songs are quite positive, and I would agree, but they are generally born out of despair first.

My zine making  process is totally different. It's all about team work, sharing ideas, working with Taz and bouncing off each other. It's also consistent, which I like. We don't wait til we "feel inspired", we just meet (roughly) once a week to keep working on things. The ball keeps rolling. I love it.

.....And crafting just happens in spare moments when I feel the desire. It's probably the most random of all my creative processes.

HOW DOES IT DIFFER FROM OTHERS IN MY GENRE?
This question is obviously written for writers, so i'll stretch it a bit to just tell you what makes my makes mine. If you listen to my music, read my zine, look at my sewing I can guarantee that there will be a lot of love, heart, and soul in what you hear/see/read. But it's probably not going to be perfect. I'm not a perfectionist. What I strive for (not only when I am making things, but simply, in life itself)  is authenticity, heart, colour, connection and spirit.

Meet my friends...
There are a lot of bloggers I adore, and I'd love to share all of them with you, but a few of my fav's are...

Her Library Adventures
Zaranne-Handmade
Ladybird Diaries

I invite these lovelyl ladies to join the blog hop by answering these questions over on their blogs, but no pressure whatsoever!! Thanks Ash for inviting me to take part, and three cheers for blogs. hip hip hooray!! (x 3)

love Mezz xo