Updated: Jan 23
FOR STARTERS, A NOTE FROM JAN ~ This month's guest blogger is Charlene (Charli) Gordon. I met Charli on a cruise last fall and was intrigued when she told me how she helped a woman with Alzheimer’s continue to paint, even when she was no longer able to manipulate a paint brush. Charli agreed to share a little about the winding path of her creative journey, and I'm glad she did. I hope you’ll enjoy reading her post as much as I have.
AND NOW, FINDING MY CREATIVE VOICE WITH CHARLI GORDON ~ The journey of an artist is rarely straightforward. It’s a winding path filled with moments of inspiration, self-doubt, and sometimes, long pauses where the brush lies untouched. Here, I delve into my personal artistic journey, sharing the highs, the lows, and all the times I stepped away from creating.
My love for art began at a very early age. Like most children crayons, markers, pens and anything that would make a mark were my tools for expressing my feelings and emotions. Simple sketches became doodles that evolved into an exploration of creativity that have profoundly shaped my identity over the years. It wasn’t long before I realized art was more than just a hobby.
With everything in life, there are challenges and turning points along our journey. When I was 16, a severe horse accident confined me to bed, giving me plenty of time to reflect and invent. My mind was overflowing with ideas along with frustration. I needed to use my hands to release the thoughts and ideas. With a pen and a notebook on my bedstand, I scribbled and doodled. Draw Me were little notices for art instruction scholarships that ran in magazines and newspapers. Draw the picture and submit for a chance for a scholarship in an art school. I just wanted to draw. But my mother chose to send these drawings in.
I was soon enrolled in the correspondence school. My journey of discovery was set on fire. I began to discover how to put those images and emotions down on paper and well, anything I could. Returning to school the last part of my junior year, I submitted a design for the junior senior prom. The theme was “Beyond the Yellow Brick Road,” a popular Elton John song in 1974. I submitted my idea of the inside walls of the Emerald City of Oz to be drawn on twenty 30 x 12 ft paper murals. My submission was accepted.
This became a moment of discovery for me. I wasn’t drawing small, I was drawing big. My whole mind and body worked in the creation of these murals. It was as though I was living in each one.
Life is seldom a linear journey. After graduating from high school, my only thoughts went to getting out of the small town and seeing and experiencing bigger things. Along with this came a time when the wellspring of creativity seemed to dry up. As I grew older, the demands of life began to encroach on my creative time. School, extracurricular activities, and the pressure to excel academically pushed art to the sidelines. During this period, my canvases collected dust, and my sketchbooks remained closed.
With the birth of my first child, my focus was on creating a path for a better life for her. I headed to college pursuing a business degree. All was going well, or so I told myself. Somehow, I felt frustration as though a piece of me was missing. I realized my creativity had hit the wall. I had walked away from my dreams. So now I began the struggle, attempting to force the art to emerge, believing that sheer will could conquer the paralysis of creativity that had grown within me.
I had to find a way to come back. Even if it meant starting it all over again. I needed an extra credit in my class schedule, and I found an art class that fit in my busy life as a student, mother and secretary. The class added layers to my understanding of artistry, ultimately guiding me toward fresh techniques and concepts.
My instructor approached me concerning a submission I made for a Juried showing. She told me that my work in realism showed much inspiration and ability. “But you have a gift for more landscape style work,” she said. “I want to introduce you to someone in the theatre. They are looking for an apprentice to assist in painting backdrops for their theatrical productions.” Soon I was painting backdrops for several local theaters.
This was it. The one thing that always held the most time in my memories and thoughts was creating those 30 ft. murals in high school. I had to paint big. I had to put my whole mind and body into the creation of my art.
As my passion grew, so did my self-doubt. A major bump in my journey came when I started to compare myself to the more experienced artists I was working with. I questioned my abilities and often felt like an imposter. This period was filled with frustration and a sense of inadequacy. However, it was also a turning point, and I learned from it.
Amidst the struggles, I discovered the importance of finding my unique artistic voice. My art had been about realism, and I needed to find a freedom to experiment without boundaries.
During COVID quarantine, I began taking abstract painting courses online. The freedom to experiment without boundaries helped me break free from the constraints of comparison. I started to embrace my imperfections and view them as part of my artistic identity. This shift in perspective was liberating and allowed me to create more authentically. During this time, I turned sixty-three and decided I would retire.
That didn’t last long. With the suggestion and encouragement of a friend, I became a caregiver for seniors with Alzheimer’s. Working with Alzheimer’s individuals can be both challenging and rewarding. One effective way to engage them and enhance their quality of life is through art.
With this new journey, I soon met and began working with a lady in fairly early stages. I’ll call her Lizzy. We had an immediate bond and many wonderful conversations in the first couple of years. I was always searching for new ways to stimulate her mind and body. She loved art but said she couldn’t draw or paint. One day I brought paint and canvas just to have some fun. When we sat down, she said she didn’t want to paint. “That’s okay, Lizzy,” I told her, “we are going to put some paint on here and just see what happens.” I poured the paint and then put a small chain in her hand. I assisted her in pulling paint on the canvas with the chain to form a flower. When I told her that’s all we needed to do and we could stop, she responded with a resolute NO! We finished that canvas. And another.
As my journey with Lizzy continued, we completed several paintings. But as her Alzheimer’s progressed, she was unable to hold even the large handle brushes I brought.
But her joy for painting remained. I was running out of ideas. One day I was blowing up balloons for a party and found myself holding a partially filled balloon in the palm of my hand. And the idea was right there. Lizzy and I sat down to paint and this time, I poured paint on the canvas and put the small balloon in her hand. I helped her touch the balloon to the canvas. She began moving the balloon back and forth. Soon the most amazing abstract sunset appeared. Lizzy said, “I’m not a painter.” However, one of her paintings sold for $1,000 at an Alzheimer’s annual art auction.
Lizzy taught me so much in my few years with her and inspired me to continue assisting seniors in finding their inner artist and creativity. Moreover, the passing of time has a miraculous way of providing clarity. I’ve come to embrace the idea that creative blocks are not a deficiency but an essential part of the artistic process. They challenge us to rethink, reimagine and rediscover our innate motivation. Time nurtures this cyclical nature of creativity, inviting us to trust in the process and listen deeply to the stories we wish to tell.
ENDNOTE FROM JAN ~ Charli’s creative journey continues. While she loves doing the “big stuff” like backdrops for plays, she also enjoys creating smaller works like custom cards and paintings. Charli typically blocks her paintings with acrylics and then details them in oil. She also works in inks and watercolor. If you’d like to talk to her more about her creations, you can email her at:
charligordon2015@gmail.com
COMING UP ~ Next month’s post will feature Jim and Fabian Gilchrist, two Valentines who credit creativity as one of the keys to their long-lasting marriage and love story.
If you’ve already signed up to be part of my community (thank you!), you’ll receive February’s post direct to your e-mailbox. If you haven't yet joined my community, you can do it now by visiting my website or my profile/linktree tab on Facebook or Instagram.
What's in it for you? A blog post celebrating creativity straight to your e-mailbox each month, as well as an e-newsletter chock full of book news and reviews and other surprises (e.g., recipes, game and movie recs, a chance to win bookish giveaways, and more).
As always, thank you for reading!
Cheers ~ Jan
- Dec 16, 2025
Updated: Dec 18, 2025
NOTE FROM JAN ~ Closing out my 2025 Creativity Challenge is this month's guest blogger, Michele (Everts) Wills. Michele and I went to elementary school together and our moms were good friends. That was long, loooooong ago. So what a delight to catch up with her again on-line. Please enjoy Michele's post about special ways to preserve family memories while also creating in the kitchen. (P.S. Look for my Creativity Challenge to continue into 2026.) Cheers ~ Jan
AND NOW, TASTE YOUR MEMORIES WITH MICHELE WILLS ~ My three siblings and I were raised in the small town of Caro in mid-Michigan's "Thumb." My parents owned a pharmacy and a Hallmark Card and Gift shop and worked long hours. From the time when I was about ten years old, I would call my mom after school and ask her what was for supper. She would tell me what she had planned, what ingredients to use and how to generally make the meal. There were some mistakes, to be sure, but overall, we usually had tasty suppers.
The majority of the recipes I made were not written down anywhere, just truly "from scratch" cooking. One of the first recipes I intentionally recreated was a dessert made by my paternal grandmother, Nellie Everts, called "Birds Nest" (sort of an upside-down apple cobbler). I had never seen her use a written recipe. After learning that Grandma’s memory was failing, I asked her to tell me how she made it. She told me the ingredients and approximate measurements, which helped me to replicate that recipe. Grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease shortly after that and passed away in 1983. Shortly after that, I made the Birds Nest for my dad. He was amazed when he tasted it, and I have been thankful ever since that I took the time to talk with Grandma. I would say that the Birds Nest was the beginning of my interest in recreating recipes from very little information or a written recipe.
Some years later, Mom gifted my siblings and me a typewritten, leather 3-ring binder with many of our family recipes. There were a few recipes from her mother, Grandma Helen, and her husband, our Grandpa Randy, which they had handwritten especially for the family cookbook. What makes this cookbook so special is that not only did it contain our most loved recipes, but it was a labor of love because each cookbook was hand typed on an electric typewriter! One of the foibles of this cookbook is that each version contains typos, most of which do not affect the recipe. However, one recipe in my version of the cookbook was found to contain a significant error.
One year our mom made a maraschino cherry-filled cookie for a Christmas cookie exchange. (She thought anyone offering “No Bake” cookies were slackers.) This cookie quickly became a beloved family favorite. A poinsettia shaped cookie cutter is used and 3 holes are punched in the middle so that the pretty red cherry filling could show through. Whenever I tried to make these cookies using the recipe in my cookbook, the cherry filling was always runny. I tried several times and failed each time, which was upsetting to me. This continued failure led to my brother becoming the designated baker of these cookies. We finally discovered that my mom made a typo in my cookbook. The amount of cornstarch was off by a tablespoon, and I was vindicated!
With the holidays now in full swing, I share a family recipe we call “Grape Salad” or “Christmas Salad.” I have no knowledge where it originated, but Grape Salad has been eaten at our family’s Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays for as long as I can remember. This salad is actually more of a dessert and is very simple, using only 4 main ingredients: seedless red grapes, pineapple tidbits, mini marshmallows and whipped cream (the real stuff only). A fond memory is that during the 2+ hour road trips to go to family holiday dinners, mom would sit in the car, working to halve and de-seed the grapes as there were no seedless grapes available at that time. What a mess, but it had to be done so the grapes and pineapple could sufficiently drain. The heavy cream would be sweetened and whipped at the last minute, just before serving to ensure that it was as fresh as possible. Any remaining Grape Salad was highly coveted to accompany the obligatory turkey sandwich and other leftovers later in the day.
Working full time in the health profession, being active with our daughters as they were growing up, teaching at the university level and obtaining my MBA at age 52, put my thoughts about researching recipes on the back burner. Retiring in late 2024, my husband and I sold our home and a majority of our collective life's belongings. We now divide our time in a lovely, much smaller condo in a golf community in Florida and a small cottage in Michigan on Lake Huron. Thoughts of a blog had been floating in my head for a couple of years, and finally, in late 2025 my cooking/food blog, "Taste Your Memories," was established. Through my blog, I hope to help other folks enrich their memories of family by recreating some of their favorite missing-in-action recipes and passing them down once again.
My own family continues to enjoy time together, building new memories, in and out of the kitchen.
Recipes, including those for Grape Salad, Poinsettia Cookies, and Mimi's Apple Pie, can be found on my blog site. In addition, if you have any memories of favorite family foods for which you have only a few ingredients, or perhaps no recipe at all, you can also contact me about this through my blog site (see bottom button).
You can also find me at:
Of, if you prefer email, please reach out to me at michelewills857@hotmail<dot>com.
I would love to hear from you and help you “taste your memories.” ~ Michele
CLOSING NOTE FROM JAN ~ Thank you for supporting my creative adventures this year. Your reading, reviewing, and sharing word-of-mouth book love has meant more than I can tell you in this crazy, heart-wrenching, wonderful world of publishing. I appreciate you and love to hear from you, especially if you care to tell me about your own creative journey or ghostly encounter(s). Or both! Please reach out any time.
This month's guest post compliments of Sandra L. Young.
Growing up in rural Illinois farmlands, I certainly didn’t envision my life’s fun, creative, consuming path.
The nearest town of 600 residents offered a cramped, one-room library where I devoured as many books as possible. The high school produced one play a year. I never tried out for choir, cowed by my parents’ stating, “You can’t sing.”
But this little farm girl dreamed of being a writer, and I earned a journalism / communications degree from a state university. While working as a reporter for a Gannett newspaper, I finally joined a writers’ group and also got involved in community theater and the church choir.
I wish I had juggled all these passions equally. In actuality, theater dominated my life for three decades. I’ve performed in 75 musicals and plays—sometimes logging five in a year—and gathered a huge vintage clothing collection along the way.
With all those rehearsals and switching into nonprofit “day jobs”, my creative writing languished. I did enjoy singing weekly in church, but without the confidence to solo.
At age 50, the script flipped. Inspired by a dream, I wrote three linked novellas and eventually expanded them into full books. I was fortunate to land traditional small press contracts for the Divine Vintage series, with the first book landing in 2022. The release of Divine Vintage was followed by Divinely Dramatic and The Ghostly Diva, both in 2024. The tales are linked but can stand alone, wrapping romance around historical mystery with a ghostly sizzle.
Meanwhile, my vocal confidence grew after years of singing in a contemporary praise band. About the time I wrote the initial novellas, I also joined a local rock / pop group, providing leads and backup harmonies.
In the years since, these creativities have coalesced to support my “author brand.” If you click into my web page (via button below), you’ll see an eclectic, vintage-inspired focus. With my performing background, I’m very comfortable doing presentations, speaking to book clubs, or selling copies at area events. And yes, I wear vintage for these festivities! I’ve even spoken at libraries and historical societies about my clothing collection.
While I still sing with the same praise team, I shifted out of the rock band into a trio performing classics and oldies. Of course, I bring along a few books in case anyone is interested, as my singing partners kindly give me a shoutout.
This summer, I dipped into another innovative outlet to highlight my books, which are all set in our Northwest Indiana county bordering Lake Michigan. A great friend who develops walking events asked me to partner in putting together a Divine Vintage tour. We collaborated with eight entities to provide a healthy, two-mile trek encompassing locations mentioned in my book. Highlights included a gorgeous Victorian mansion, a vintage shop, a church, and an old lighthouse museum.
If you’re intrigued by that concept, we were also fortunate to offer it as a free online version. The Otocast QR code is below, featuring narration by myself and a male voice actor. If you pull it up, you’ll see photos of the locales, plus the script to read along, if desired.
Admittedly, it was a ton of work to pull off the two guided tours plus the online version. But both I and my partner are detail-focused. So, we plugged along together for months to make it a reality. Tapping into my theater persona, I served as the tour guide, speaking at each location about how it tied into my book. Then a representative from that stop shared an overview of its history.
We were super pleased that the folks who attended, both male and female, loved the tour. Plus, it generated a lot of new buzz about my books. One lady checked all three out of the library when we popped in there on the walk and said she would also order copies for friends.
On the heels of this success, I returned to that lakefront area on Halloween, when our trio performed for a party at a senior center. Of course, I brought along books—and added a vintage flair to my costume. That kind of event really speaks to some of the best aspects in my life these days: singing upbeat songs with lots of friends in the audience who have read my books, and in turn they praise and share them with others.
I feel blessed to pursue so many awesome, creative outlets in my life, wrapping them all together to support my work as an author. As I prepare to seek an agent and query my fourth novel, a biographical historical fiction, I’m energized by this synergy. Which is a good thing, because writing can be a challenging—and lonely—occupation!
ENDNOTE FROM JAN: Thank you, Sandra L. Young, for sharing your creative journey here. Everything about it sounds splendid, especially your Divine Vintage Walking Tour. Keep on keeping on, whether writing, walking, or performing!
