How to Archive Your Old Love Letters

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So you have a box of old letters in your attic that you don’t want to toss, but don’t quite know what do with?  Well, while you’re deciding what do to with them, go ahead and get them out of that old shoe box and into an acid-free environment!  Here is a step-by-step process of how I did exactly that with my grandparents’ love letters to each other during World War II. (Read more about the history of these letters here)  Consider this my gift to you because, hey, now you don’t have to do the research yourself.  🙂

Step One: Create a System

Create a system that makes sense to you so you don’t lose track of what you’re doing. I live a busy life in Los Angeles, but the letters are at my parents’ house in Michigan. This meant that I could only work on this process in one week chunks that spread over the course of three years, so I had to be able to easily pick up where I left off. Here’s the strategy I set forth for myself:

1) Order letters chronologically by postmark.
2) Scan each letter and assign a filename that links it back to the physical letter.
3) Carefully place unfolded letter in an acid free folder with its envelope.
4) Place in file box.

Step Two: Get Supplies

After doing some research, I ultimately decided to order supplies from Hollinger Metal Edge, touted as “The Quality Leader in Archival Products since 1945” (which also happens to be the year WWII ended).

Here’s my shopping list (Full disclosure: these supplies are not inexpensive):

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1) Standard Size Document Storage Cases

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2) Reinforced Tab File Folders – 1″ full tab

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3) 2 Mil Archival Polyester Envelopes in three difference sizes.

Step Three: Scan

Scan each letter and assign a filename that links it back to the physical letter. I assigned each letter a number, identified it by its date, and numbered each page. For example, the file name for the first letter is 1-Sept23-1942-1.png. In the end, the filenames looked like this:

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Now, here’s the question that I should have researched more thoroughly before I scanned 80% of my letters… “What file type should I use?” Great question. I scanned mine as .png files which turns out to be less than ideal. Here are some helpful tips I received from The Genealogy Center (@genealogycenter on Instagram):

Get a good scan of all artifacts, high quality scans, 300-600 dpi/ppi. Scan as color, even black and white images/photos/documents. Save as TIFFS. Once they have been saved as digital objects, get them out of the light, into a dry place.

Looks like I have some re-scanning to do…

Step Four: Separate

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On the left-side, you can see a stain from the newspaper clipping.

If you’ve ever done scrap-booking, you know by now that not all paper is acid-free. It is very important to separate your letters in such a way that they do not come into contact with surfaces that will cause them to discolor and deteriorate. Enclosed in some of the letters Howie received from his mother were newspaper clippings of soldiers who died in action (weird choice, but whatever). After 75 years of being stored together, the acid from the newspaper left brown spots on the letters.

Rather than re-write what someone else has so beautifully spelled out, I direct you to this article for more info about why this happens: https://www.framedestination.com/blog/resources/acid-arts-natural-enemy.

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I used a polyester envelope to protect this postcard.

Are you back? Ok, let’s continue. This is where the file folders and polyester envelopes come in. I chose to separate each letter into its own file folder along with the envelope it was mailed in. If there were photographs or newspaper clippings, or any other enclosures, I slid them into a clear polyester envelope to protect it and to prevent it from coming into contact with the letter.

Now, something about my case: at some point in the late 40’s, my grandmother taped each envelope into a (acid-filled) scrap book. This was helpful in that they were already very organized, but dreadful in that many of the envelopes have significant discoloration and the tape she used is impossible to get off easily. Quite honestly, I gave up. There must be a way and when I figure it out, I will write another post about it. For now, I carefully removed the envelopes (tape and all) from the scrap book, placed it in the file folder (with the glued side of the envelope AWAY from the letter), and will very soon order sheets of acid free paper to insert into each folder between the envelop and the letter.

Step Five:  File

As you scan each letter and put it in a file folder, simply slide that folder right on into the storage case! I purchased three of the standard size document storage cases (in light grey if you’re curious – very pleasing to the eye), which turned out to be not nearly enough space for the number of letters I have. Each box holds somewhere between 80 to 90 letters depending on how many pages each letter is. In hindsight, I would have purchased the oversized cases. You just need to make sure that your letters are stored upright, so if the box isn’t completely full at the end of the day, consider also purchasing a Document Support Spacer to take up that extra space. As you fill each box, label it with what’s inside. Since my letters are sorted first by sender and then are in chronological order, I used the date of the first and last letters in each box as well as the name of the person who wrote them.

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On the top of each folder, I wrote the name of the digital file, the date of the letter, and the date of the postmark on the envelope, in that order.

Step Six: Store

Once all the hard work is completed and your boxes are labeled, find a cool, dark, dry place to store your new treasure boxes. It’s best to keep them off the ground. You never know when your parent’s pipes will freeze and the washing machine will overflow and flood the basement floor… not that I’m speaking from experience… except that I am. Just keep them off the floor.

Additional Resources:

Library of Congress: www.loc.gov/preservation/family
National Archives: www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives
Smithsonian Institute: http://siarchives.si.edu/services/preservation

Questions, comments, or stories from your own experience?  Please share below!

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Embrace Your Artistic Differences.

If you live in LA or are on social media (which, come on, I know you are), you’ve undoubtedly heard of a street artist/writer who goes by the name WRDSMTH.  If you haven’t, I encourage you to look up his work after reading this post.  WRDMTH’s street art has inspired countless people, myself included.  After spending the day biking with my sister in Venice, we walked past this on the way back to my car:

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The interesting thing is that growing up, no one actually instructed me to “stay inside the lines.”  It was all me.  I looked around and noticed that what everyone else was doing was different from what I was doing.  I thought that meant I was doing it wrong so I changed my method to become more homogeneous.  As an adult who is now reclaiming her artistic side, it’s been a challenge to embrace the fact that my way of seeing the world is not wrong, it’s just different.  And there is beauty in our differences.  So I encourage you, as I encourage myself, to write fearlessly and without abandon.  As creative people, we shouldn’t dictate our visions based on what others around us are doing. If in your head you picture a slice of hard-boiled egg falling in love with a mouse, run with it.  Why not?

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Or if you envision a jelly doughnut seriously disturbed that another living creature would dare lick up its poo, all the more interesting!

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In the Wise Words of F. Scott Fitzgerald

It’s a cycle that incessantly repeats itself: I set my alarm for 6:30 am, planning to get up, make breakfast, and sit down to write for two hours before I have to start my work day. But the moment my fingers make contact with my computer keyboard, the the phone rings. It’s my boss. He needs me to come in early. So I rush to finish getting ready and head out the door. Throughout the day I try to think about my story and jot down notes, but my worlds bleed together and before I know it, I have my main character rolling phone calls and scheduling meetings. Ten hours pass. I’m finally finished with work and am back at home. I cancelled my evening plans so I can try to make up lost writing time. But as soon as my fingers touch the keyboard, the electricity goes out and what do you know, the batteries in all my flashlights are dead.

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This is me in the dark.

In one form or another, this happens to me ALL THE TIME. I find comfort in knowing that even one of the greats experienced this strongly enough to write about it (Thank you, F. Scott Fitzgerald, for putting it so eloquently).  So another day, another goal.  Onward and Upward!

A quote worth saving.

A quote worth saving.

The history of my life is the history of the struggle between an overwhelming urge to write and a combination of circumstances bent on keeping me from it.  ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

24 Hour Book Drive!

Did you know that the month of September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month? I didn’t. (But I sure knew that August 26 was National Dog Day because of the way my Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter feeds suddenly flooded with pictures of people’s pups (nice alteration there, eh?).)

PediatricCancerAwarenessBecause of my passion for kids books (and inspired by my cousin who is in remission from Osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer normally found in children), I thought what better way to support Childhood Cancer Awareness month than by giving kids free books? Am I right?!

EveryonePoopsSo, for the next 24 hours, my Usborne Books & More team is running a book drive to get great books into the hands of some of the bravest, most deserving pediatric oncology patients at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital. With your help, our commission, and Usborne’s matching program we hope to donate $1,500 worth of books to these amazing kids. Our goal is to give each child a brand new book for Christmas! It is a very small way we can add some joy to their lives. We are looking for 50 people who will donate $20 (But even $1, $5, or $10 would be wonderful). Can you help?

If you are able to donate, you can do so here:
www.youcaring.com/pediatric-cancer-clinic-lluch-437875

About Usborne’s Matching Program:

Usborne Books & More partners with businesses, foundations, and individuals who support reading at organizations and schools of their choice. Reading is the heart of education! As the leading publisher of children’s non fiction books, Usborne Books & More carries over 1400 Usborne and Kane Miller titles, including fiction, story books, activity books and more, where reading is fun for kids of all ages.

Thanks to Usborne’s matching program, each $20 gift will enable us to purchase $30 worth of books for the Pediatric Oncology Outpatient Clinic at LLUCH

 

The “Magic If” is Every Writer’s Friend.

The most common piece of advice I’ve received since beginning my journey as a children’s book author is this: Write what you know.  Notice, I didn’t say the most helpful piece of advice.  What I know doesn’t really inspire me and there is nothing worse than flat, uninspired writing.  Luckily, Stephen King offers an alternative in his book On Writing.

So okay― there you are in your room with the shade down and the door shut and the plug pulled out of the base of the telephone. You’ve blown up your TV and committed yourself to a thousand words a day, come hell or high water. Now comes the big question: What are you going to write about? And the equally big answer: Anything you damn well want.

Thank you Stephen King!  Because what if I want to write a picture book about an ogre who picks his teeth with the sharpened bones of little boys (aside from it being too scary to publish, apparently)?  Or a chapter book about a mythological creature who grants wishes to those who return pieces of her magic white stone?  I certainly haven’t experienced those things.

What if what I want to write is different from what I know?

Well, there is a solution to that and I’m happy to tell you that it’s really quite simple.

HeyGirlStanislavskiSince it’s no longer a secret that I’ve been taking acting classes… I believe the best way to reconcile what we want with what we know is by studying Constantin Stanislavski’s method.  His book, An Actor Prepares, is one of the best books on acting I’ve read.  Among other helpful things, he introduces the use of the Magic If:

“If acts as a lever to lift us out of the world of actuality into the realm of imagination.” (An Actor Prepares)

Here is a step-by-step process for how I’ve applied this to my writing:

1. Choose the story you want to write about.

Let’s say, for example, that I want to write a story about a dragon colony that populates the northernmost point of land on earth.  Within this colony, exists a young dragon (we’ll call him Fig) with wings so small that he is unable to fly.  The scene I want to write is the moment Fig realizes he is different from everyone else.  He is standing in the back of a cave with all his dragon peers.  One at a time, his fellow dragons are running toward the mouth of the cave, which opens up to a 1000 foot drop.  Do I know what it’s like to be a dragon in that situation?  No.  Good, now that we have that established, let’s move on to step two.

2. Identify the underlying tone/emotion in the story.

In that moment, I imagine Fig would experience feelings of inferiority, self-consciousness, and intimidation.  (It’s possible that he would feel special and unique, but if I start my story this way the character won’t go very far — figuratively speaking of course).

3. Think back in your own life to a time that most closely matches those emotions.

Stanislavski calls this an “emotional memory.”  Here I go:  I was in sixth grade and it was a Monday at 9:30 am.  My math teacher was calling us up to the front of a the classroom one at a time to do math flashcards.  We had to answer 14 math equations correctly within 15 seconds or he would announce in front of the entire class how many times we had to write out our times tables.  I was terrified.  It wasn’t that I was bad a math, but I was exceptionally shy and hated being the center of attention.  I was the nineteenth student to be called to the front and the first to FAIL. I could hear my classmates snickering. Those 15 seconds, with the entire class watching, were the longest, most embarrassing 15 seconds of my young life.  I felt inferior, self-conscious, and intimated (hey, what do you know!)

“Just as your visual memory can reconstruct an inner image of some forgotten thing, place or person, your emotional memory can bring back feelings you have already experienced.” (An Actor Prepares).

4. Use the magic “If.

What if I was Fig?  With those emotions fresh in my mind, I can now lift out of my awkward 10-year-old body and place myself in Fig’s mind as he stands in the back of that cave, waiting for his turn.  Now I know how he feels and how he’s going to react.

There you have it!  Following these steps frees me to explore what I know and apply it to what I want to write.  Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.

Meet Fig. I made him out of SuperSculpey(R) Firm.

Meet Fig. I crafted him using SuperSculpey(R).

The Lost Art of Letter-Writing.

The year was 1942 and my grandfather was three weeks away from leaving his hometown of Grand Rapids, MI to join the Navy. That’s when he met the woman who would become the love of his life. The night before he boarded the bus for the United States Navel Training Station, the two vowed to write each other a letter every day they were apart.

Fast-forward to the 21st century.

The lovebirds were married for 64 years before my grandmother passed away on Thanksgiving Day morning, 2010. When my grandfather followed her lead three years later, our family came together to sort through their belongings. That’s when I found them. In the bottom of my grandmother’s cedar chest, organized into two volumes, were their love letters from WWII.

GreetingI spent the next three days glued to the floor with the letters in my lap. I couldn’t stop reading the 500+ letters. I was moved to tears when they talked about their love for each other. I blushed when they talked about “necking.” I cried when he feared she forgot about him. At the same time, I learned what life was like on the USS Stockham. I learned what sailors did on liberty. I felt the intense loneliness during holidays spent apart from family.

Those letters document an important part of history.

Since the 1940’s, our world has seen a lot of changes, one of them being the digital revolution. And with the digital revolution, computers and smart phones, e-mail and texting, and ultimately, the destruction of the hand-written letter. In fact, many elementary schools across America have eliminated cursive from the curriculum altogether in order to make more time for the recently adopted Common Core State Standards (which do not require handwriting instruction) and keyboarding. Even passing notes in school has become a thing of the past as it’s not unusual for kids in K – 12th grade to carry cell phones.

It saddens me to think that my grand-kids probably won’t have a similar experience to the one I had when I discovered the war letters. My grandpa was 21 when he started writing those letters. When I was 21 I was using a college e-mail account that has since been deleted, letters to home and all.

Sign-offI’m not naive enough to believe that hand-written letters will make a comeback. However, when (if) the time comes for me to have children, I hope to instill in them an appreciation for sending hand-written letters and notes to their friends and family. If not to become a time capsule of the past, then simply because receiving a hand-written note is much more meaningful than a text message that automatically deletes itself after 30 days.

 

United States Navel Training Station
Great Lakes, Illinois

9/24/42

Dear Minnie,

Well here I am in the good old Great Lakes and it’s colder than the dickens.  We got here about midnight Wednesday.  We got to bed about 3 o’clock A.M. but had to get up at five-thirty. – Well I’m back again only a day later.  I just got started writing last night and we got called out.  It’s 11 o’clock now and I have a few spare minutes.  What a night we put in last night.  We had hammocks to sleep in.  I was awake more than I slept and I don’t mean maybe.  In these darn hammocks if you move around in them you fall on the floor.  I mean deck.  They are about three and half feet from the deck.  Every now and then you could hear somebody bang against the floor in the middle of the night.

Say “Squirt” you ought to see these darn uniforms we got.  I look like –! We got to wash them every day and I sure ain’t used to that.  We got paid yesterday already.  We got the large amount of five dollars.  We held the five for about five seconds and then we had to give it to another guy.  He gave us a bag with soap and a bunch of other junk and we got one dollar back.  They pay us and then they spend it for us, how do you like that?  This life is sure different than civilian life.  I am not my own boss anymore.  We might get our haircut today, hot dawg.  The sooner we get it done the sooner it will be grown out again.

Well, Minnie, I have to sign off for now so be good and don’t forget about the big dipper at about nine o’clock every night.

Love,
Howie – “Gob”

P.S. Don’t mind my writing because I sat on the floor when I wrote this.

BeardedGrandpa

After receiving a picture of Howard’s beard, Minnie wrote to him saying if he didn’t shave it before he returned home, she would never kiss him again. In 1945, he shaved it.

How Acting Classes Help My Writing.

I have a confession to make. I have been taking acting classes for the last five years. It feels a little cliche to admit seeing as how I live in Los Angeles and work in the film industry. It’s certainly not something I would announce on set, lest my fellow crew-members mistake me for one of the hundreds of thousands of wannabe actors out here.

The truth is, I don’t want to be a professional actress. I take acting classes because it strengthens my writing. Here’s 3 reasons how:

As Claire in

As Claire in “Proof,” performed at Atwater Playhouse, Directed by Jamie Paolinetti.

1) It provides me with a process and an opportunity to practice. In the acting class I attend at Atwater Playhouse, I study Stanislavski’s Method. Take a deep breath! It’s not what you think! I don’t walk around all day pretending to be my psychotic character! Rather, The Method provides actors with a set of tools that aims to bring out the most authentic and realistic performance possible. Having an opportunity to practice these tools on a weekly basis is not only extremely rewarding on a personal and creative level, it is also very useful in writing fiction. Let me show you by listing some of the tools I use in preparing a character for the stage. I’m sure it will sound very familiar to you.

  1. OBJECTIVE: What does your character want? Each objective is usable and specific to each individual scene.  A character may have many scenes in a play or movie and each scene needs its own objective.
  2. PROBLEM: What is the other character doing to keep you from getting what you want? What behavior(s) are they displaying?
  3. ACTION: What is your character doing in response to that problem to meet his/her objective? (Don’t forget, you can’t solve a problem you don’t have). Always choose a specific action. If you can’t label the action, you can’t act it.
  4. OVERCOMING: Inherent in all great acting is the struggle to overcome. What is your character “overcoming” in order to meet his/her objective? What a character is overcoming will always lie in some kind of insecurity or shortcoming that they do not understand and are not willing to admit about themselves, but the actor (or writer…) interpreting the character must. (This is not to be confused with an inner-concern which a character IS willing to admit because he/she is aware of it).
  5. CHARACTER BACKGROUND: Build a full story of your character’s life. For example, when is the first time your character had his/her heart broken? What were the entire circumstances surrounding the event?
  6. CONSISTENCY & CLARITY OF CHARACTER: The second an actor does anything “out of character” the audience will feel it and the performance will suffer. Justify your character’s choices in every situation.
  7. CHARACTER’S MIND’S EYE or INNER MONOLOGUE: What is the inner monologue of your character at any given moment? When there is no dialogue, what are the images and sub vocalizations that are going on in your character’s head?

There are many more tools the toolbox, but this should be enough to demonstrate how useful they can be for writing.

There was this one time I had a tiny role in DRIVE, staring Ryan Gosling....

There was this one time I had a tiny role in DRIVE, staring Ryan Gosling….

2) It stresses the importance of being specific. Developing a character for performance is not unlike developing a character in my stories. You need to know your characters inside and out. In a sense, you need to become them to truly know how they will act and react in any given situation. Life is not general, it’s very specific. If someone were to ask you what you did from the moment you woke up this morning, to the moment you arrived at work, you would be able to tell them. For example, this morning my alarm clock went off at 6:40 am and because I love nothing more than the feeling of falling back to sleep, I pressed snooze and pulled the covers back over my head to block out the light. Ten minutes later, the annoying little bugger sounded again.  I maaaay have been slightly hung over from attending a movie premier the night before, but I knew if I didn’t pull myself out of bed, I’d be late picking up Gretta Gerwig for this morning’s location scout and that’s the fasted way to get yourself fired…  You get the idea. It’s the difference between your voice sounding generic or specific. I would argue that the above is much more interesting than, “I didn’t want to get out of bed, but I did because I didn’t want to be late for work.” It might seem minute, but knowing these details about your character helps inform your story, as it also transforms an actor’s performance on the stage or the screen.

3) It breaks down my fear of public speaking. All authors know that once published, they will be encouraged to make in-person appearances, whether it’s speaking at a conference, making a school visit, or doing a live reading of their book in a bookstore. It is important to feel comfortable in these situations – or at least to appear to feel comfortable.  Performing on stage in front of your fellow acting students is a safe environment to practice. I’m telling you, it works. Earlier this year, I was on a Q&A panel for a film I produced (OLD FASHIONED). I had no idea what I was going to be asked, I just knew that I needed to sound competent and personable in front of a crowd of 500+ people. GULP! I’m happy to say it went measurably better than I could have expected. I managed to avoid the typical faux pas of public speaking and miraculously didn’t fidget my brains out (Good thing too because it’s online for the world to see – FF to 17:47) — something I have been specifically working on in my acting class.

OldFashionedQA

I’m probably making a very important point.

If you live in Los Angeles and are interested in taking an acting class to get over your fear of public speaking, I can’t recommend Atwater Playhouse enough.  It will provide you with a safe environment to try something new and will surround you with a supportive community of fellow artists.  Follow this link to learn more and feel free to comment below if you have any questions: http://atwaterplayhouse.com/

And Then I Read About Becky Murphy.

I was having one of those days when I felt like I just couldn’t. do. anything.  My writing was crap, my drawings were crap, all my craft projects were crap, I was crap.  That’s the mood I was in when I stumbled upon Becky Murphy’s website Chipper Things and her blog post titled, “Doing the Work: 100 Days of Getting Started.”

Inspired by Mark Twain’s quote, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started,” Becky set out to create 100 illustrations in 100 days in an attempt to, well, get started in her career as a freelance designer, graphic designer, and writer.  As I clicked through her website, I found my motivation returning to me.  I was inspired by her style, her personality, her drive, and even by her dad who once told her, “Your biggest struggle will be staying focused. Every business owner has to learn focus.” (Thanks Becky Murphy’s dad!)

At the end of Becky’s blog post (after pumping her readers up to believe that they, too, can accomplish what she set out to do) she does everyone a favor and leaves her readers with the dreaded, “What’s your project?” After every question like this, there is a moment when people respond in one of two ways:

  1. They promise to think about it and revisit it in a day or two after they’ve come up with their genius idea (which they never do because life gets too busy).
  2. They decide to just do it, which is what I’m going to do with my very own “100 Days of Doing.”  No more talking about my ideas, goals, and dreams.  Time to just do it.

And so… day 1:

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Windows Galore

I will leave you with the wise words of Shel Silverstein:

Listen to the MUSTN’TS, child,
Listen to the DON’TS
Listen to the SHOULDN’TS
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WONT’S
Listen to the NEVER HAVES
Then listen close to me-
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be!

The Current State of Imagination.

On a recent family vacation to Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, I took my nephews through the Swiss Family Tree House. It was exactly as I remembered it as a kid, filled with promises of adventure. I used to imagine myself climbing ropes and ladders just to get into bed and in those moments, I was in heaven. So when I asked my 8- year-old nephew if he’d like to live in a house like the Robinson’s, I was admittedly a bit put-off by his answer. “No,” he said without hesitation. No?!  “Why?” I asked, trying to hide the heartbreak of my inner-child. “Because, it has nothing to entertain us,” he innocently responded.

I was too taken in by exploring the treehouse to turn and smile for the camera.

I was too taken in by exploring the treehouse to turn and smile for the camera.

Even now, as I remember having that conversation, I’m at a loss for words. On the one hand, I can’t blame the kid for thinking this way. With Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, PlayStation, X-Box, Kindle, iPad, etc, video games, movies, and TV shows are almost always just an arm’s reach away which has, in some ways, redefined the way we think of “entertainment.” On the other hand, WHAT? When I was a kid, I entertained myself. I put on roller-skating shows in our unfinished basement, made up intricate stories with my plastic animal figurines, and pretended I was in the circus as I climbed the monkey bars of the play-set in the backyard.

The way I remember playing as a child and the way I see kids play today, causes me to wonder what’s happening to the imagination and creativity as technology increasingly infiltrates our lives? And I’m not just talking about kids. I’m talking about myself and anyone else who is willing to admit they spend a little too much time looking at their personal electronic devices.

Between Facebook, Instagram, texting, checking my e-mail app and Candy Crush, I find myself spending 10 to 20 minute chunks of time here and there buried in my phone. At the same time, I complain that I feel creatively stuck and don’t have time to work on my own projects. Somewhat reluctantly, I decided to put myself through a test. I deleted the Instagram and Facebook apps from my phone, and for 40 days, I vowed not to use social media and to limit my Candy Crush addiction to 15 minutes per day (hey, at least I’m honest with myself). The result was alarming. After the first week I was noticeably happier and significantly more productive in my creative endeavors. By the end of the 40 days I wrote two children’s books and sculpted a character from one of the stories. I found myself reading more and spending more time enriching my spiritual life. I experienced life though my eyes, rather than through the camera on my cell phone. Basically, I spent less time thinking about all the things I wanted to do and more time actually doing them.

Since those 40 days, I probably still spend a little too much time attached to my phone (the woes of being a personal assistant) but I’m much more conscious of it. On the last day of my family vacation to Disney World, my 3-year-old nephew, Jasper, kicked an imaginary soccer ball to me while I was checking my e-mail on my iPhone. “Auntie Rachel!” He said invitingly. I looked over at his smiling dimpled cheeks and decided to put the phone away. For the next 25 minutes I played an enchanting game of pretend sports in the kitchen. I was a kid again. When my sister asked what we were doing, I told her we were playing soccer, baseball, tennis, and basketball. And then came the correcting voice of sweet little Jasper, “No we’re not! We’re playing Wii Sports Resort.” Oh. Of course…