Yesterday morning (21 January), I drove to the St. Louis Artists' Guild for the Missouri Professional Communicators (MPC) meeting. Writer and illustrator Lynnette Schuepbach spoke about "How to Refill Your Creative Tank." This was about finding creative freedom when you are dealing with creative block in your writing. Schuepbach spoke about factors in both creative block and creative freedom and lead exercises by the audience (both in person and via Zoom).
In one such exercise, the in-person attendees were divided into groups of three and each group was given a sentence by Schuepbach. The group members had four minutes for each person in that group to add a sentence to that previous one to create a short story. The program was most interesting and should help me out in my creative writing endeavors.
After the meeting, I was able to get Deborah Reinhardt, co-president of MPC, to sign my copy of her recently published book "St. Louis Coffee: A Stimulating History." My brother Rick edited the book at The History Press.
Speaking of coffee, I stopped by Kaldi's Coffee in Kirkwood on my way home from the meeting. I had a Gibraltar with a lemon raspberry scone before returning home for lunch with my mom.
Sometime after lunch, I drove to Julie's house. First, I took her to a post office for her to purchase stamps and put Christmas cards in the mail. Then, I drove us to the Missouri History Museum. Their exhibit "St. Louis Sound" was in the final weekend. Julie and I toured the exhibit, which traced the history of pop music in this area from the late 19th century until the present. It was fascinating seeing the story of the music and the personalities, venues, and media involved, ranging from Scott Joplin's ragtime to Nelly's rap. Julie and I shopped in the gift shop before we returned to her house for dinner.
After eating, we saw the movie "Hidden Figures" that was streamed on Julie's TV. This was the first time I had seen it and I was impressed. We then called it a night.
This morning, Julie and I had breakfast before watching some episodes of "Ted Lasso" and a soccer match from yesterday. Julie's son Dave came by in mid-afternoon, along with his wife Barbe and daughter Little Bird. Dave took out the old sink and faucet in Julie's kitchen before installing a new sink and faucet. Barbe and Little Bird watching "PAW Patrol" on TV with Julie and I.
After Dave, Barbe, and Little Bird left late this afternoon, it was time for me to take my leave. Julie and I hugged and kissed each other and we promised to keep in touch before meeting up again next weekend.
Later.
Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:
St. Louis Artists' Guild: St. Louis Artists' Guild (stlouisartistsguild.org)
Missouri Professional Communicators: Missouri NFPW affiliate | Missouri Professional Communicators | Clayton (moprocommunicators.org)
Lynnette Schuepbach: Books * Art * Poetry – by Lynnette Schuepbach (kidsdoread.com)
The History Press: The History Press (arcadiapublishing.com)
Kaldi's Coffee: Kaldi’s Coffee - Specialty Coffee Roaster, St. Louis, MO – Kaldi's Coffee (kaldiscoffee.com)
Missouri History Museum: Missouri History Museum | Find Yourself Here. (mohistory.org)
