Tag: creative

A Mother’s Day Tribute

Posted on by Staci Mauney

“Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.” (Prov. 31:31)

During my growing up years, my parents were very hands on. My mom baked and decorated my birthday cakes for many years. Four in particular stand out after all this time—Strawberry Shortcake, a Care Bear, a Cabbage Patch Kid, and Barbie. I remember how she worked for hours to get the icing just right. It looked perfect, and it tasted divine.

I loved watching my mom cook. She made almost everything from scratch. In fact, I didn’t know brownies or casseroles came from a box until I was an adult. Except for Jiffy brownies, which I thought were an exception made just for kids like me whose grandmas kept boxes on hand for them to stir together. Continue reading “A Mother’s Day Tribute” →

A Time to Create

Posted on by Staci Mauney

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” (Eph. 6:10)

In last week’s blog post, I wrote about the difficulty I’ve had lately with being creative. This past weekend, I attended the virtual Oklahoma Writers’ Federation, Inc. (OWFI) conference. Attending the conference, learning from fellow writers, and mingling (even virtually) is always a boon for my creativity.

This year, the conference coordinators took a chance on me and allowed me to conduct two workshops on self-editing practices. I’ve done a lot of speaking over the years, but this was the largest event where I’ve been invited to speak. Continue reading “A Time to Create” →

Promoting Creativity Through a Good Night’s Sleep

Posted on by Staci Mauney

“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety” (Ps 4:8).

In college, I studied all the time and went to bed by ten. I still remember one night when I stayed up to keep a friend company during the last hours of her shift working the front desk of our dorm. A couple of us joined her from ten to midnight. My friends were shocked, first of all, that I joined them, and second, that I stayed awake the entire time!

Like many of you, I’ve struggled at times with getting enough sleep. Insomnia has plagued me, while other times worry and anxiety kept me from falling asleep. Still other times, I stayed up late on purpose and then regretted it the next day.

Years ago, a neurologist told me how important a regular sleep schedule is to ward off migraines. On his advice, I tracked my sleep schedule, and I noticed a pattern: when I stayed up too late or slept too long, I had a migraine the next day. Unfortunately, I had many other migraine triggers as well, many of which were out of my control, but I could control my sleep schedule. Continue reading “Promoting Creativity Through a Good Night’s Sleep” →

When Creativity Stops Flowing

Posted on by Staci Mauney

“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Ps 19:14)

This blog post almost didn’t happen. Writing an original blog post each week along with other fresh material can be a daunting task. Because I write in a devotional format, I don’t feel comfortable just throwing something up on my blog for the sake of meeting a deadline. I approach each entry thoughtfully and with prayer so that the Lord can use my words for his purposes.

I maintain a long list of possible blog post topics, but even though I had potential subject matter on hand, I couldn’t dredge up the words to pull it all together this week. When I prayed for guidance, I heard…silence. And then I realized that the silence, the lack of an idea, the difficulty writing a coherent blog post, was the idea for this entry. Continue reading “When Creativity Stops Flowing” →