In the 80s and 90s, those who lived in the greater Boston area of New England were used to seeing commercials for Prince Spaghetti. It was well known (by those commercials) that "Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day". The commercial showed how mom's called their kids home - by yelling their names out the door - (now moms use cell phones). When the kids heard their mom's yell on Wednesdays, they were sure to get home in hurry because they would be treated to a spaghetti dinner. This obviously was the practice in the northern end of Boston, but Prince Spaghetti company wanted to make Wednesday the day when all of New England would eat their spaghetti.

One Major Task Per Day

I have a handful of responsibilities these days, and I try to keep the number of major responsibilities to a number that I can count on one hand. This works out conveniently because there are five digits on my hand, and also five workdays in a week. Just as the Prince company named a day after their product, I've begun to name each one of my days after one of my main responsibilities. For example: Monday is Blog Day, Tuesday is Ebook Day, Wednesday is Household/Social Day, Thursday and Friday are Painting/American Artist Article Days.

Since I write 4 instructional articles a year for Watercolor Magazine, many of my paintings end up being published there, so I kill two birds with one stone, so to speak by taking step by step photos of my paintings as I go along just in case any one of them would work well in the article. But sometimes I just paint what I feel like painting, and then I can put those up on my website for sale.

Meeting With My Friends in Real Life

Every other Wednesday, I'll try to get out with real people (in person) because I need social input. On alternate Wednesdays, I'll devote the entire day to cleaning, shopping, and updating financial records. Plus, since my husband adores spaghetti... why not make it Spaghetti Day. I can't promise I'll use Prince products - I use Healthy Harvest combo whole wheat/Semolina products... which my husband tolerates. He says I put "sticks" in his food when it contains things like whole grain and flax seed.

The Ebooks Are Coming

One of the major projects which I've been meaning to make a priority is to begin writing ebooks. Some will cover painting tips I've learned from the masters I've studied with, including Sondra Freckelton, Jack Beal, Richard Schmid and Nancy Guzik. Others ebooks will be about a combo of art marketing and living a productive life as a professional. I'm planning on offering these from my website and on Fine Art Views with Clint Watson because he has a larger audience.

This week, I'm moving my studio into the largest room in the house: the living room. My husband is totally OK with this, and I'll use the smallest bedroom as a storage place for frames, finished paintings, and other art supplies. This will hopefully keep the clutter out of my working space. The living room has cross ventilation, a nice gas fireplace, and an ancient carpet which we intend to remove at some point, so getting paint on it won't be a problem.

Fine Art Views and American Artist

PS In addition to writing a weekly blog for Fine Art Views, I'm now writing a bi-monthly blog for American Artist Online Forum: It's called, The Artist Life: it gets posted every other Friday morning. I'll post a link from my facebook page and my twitter account when it becomes available.

The following blog is by Christine Kane. Performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane publishes her 'LiveCreative' weekly ezine with more than 4,000 subscribers. If you want to be the artist of your life and create authentic and lasting success, you can sign up for a FRE*E subscription to LiveCreative at www.christinekane.com.

How to Survive a Bad Day
by Christine Kane

Let's face it. No matter how much progress we make, we're still going to have "bad days."

You know the ones. When the old critical voices are milling about drinking martinis and eating crab puffs in your head. You try to send them all away with your favorite powerful affirmation, but only a few of them even look up - and one of them turns away and lights a cigarette.

What do you do when no matter what you do, you just feel awful?

Very few success-gurus talk about the bad day, or even the process of following your dreams and the persistence it takes to shift old patterns.

Truth is, sometimes it helps to hear someone be honest about this stuff. Not so that you can indulge in self-pity about how hard you have it. But so that when the bad day strikes, you have some leverage.

So, how do you survive a bad day?

Here's a few things that might help…

WHAT TO REMEMBER:

1 - The voices do not tell the truth.

They're just your old voices coming up to feed. Do not feed them. This is what makes them stay. Even if you're already hooked in, the best way to begin the unhooking is to rest, or to be very kind to you.

2 - This is not who you are.

The voices like to tell you that this depressed person is who you really are and that the rest of the world doesn't have these same flaws. Not true. This is just a temporary set back. That's all.

3 - Mochaccinos don't take the voices away. It just makes them go faster.

Bad Days are not a call to rush out to Starbucks, hoping that if you move faster, it will all go away. If there's any action that needs to be taken now, it's probably a nap.

4 - You don't have to be productive today.

It's okay to put down your goals and to-dos for one day. You can return to them tomorrow. Today, make it your goal to just get through the day being kind to yourself. Think of it as a sick day. Maybe there's no PROOF – like a fever. But your insides are sick. Let them heal.

5 - Everything seems worse when you're tired or hungry.

Eat something yummy. Take a nap. Or go somewhere and sit quietly.

WHAT TO DO:

1 - Stop feeling bad about feeling bad.

If it helps, make today a container. Know that you're allowed to have this stuff and that nothing horrid is going to happen with this one day of getting thrown off.

2 - Make no decisions.

The late Richard Carlson, author and psychologist, gave this great advice: "Never make decisions when you're in a low mood." His belief was that low moods are a natural occurrence and that any low-mood decisions are typically not healthy. Put off all decisions when you're having a bad day.

3 - Don't read fashion magazines. Or the news.

4 - Take a 20 minute walk.

Bring a gentle affirmation along with you. On days like this you don't want to say, "I am master of the universe!!!" On days like this you want to say, "I am loved. I am safe."

5 - Don't try to fix yourself today.

No need to rush to the Self-Help section at Borders. Maybe steps you can take toward being healthier in the big picture, but not today. Today, let yourself stop.

6 - Lower your standards.

If you get out of bed, or eat a good healthy meal, be proud. Tomorrow you can have your old high standards back and be productive and evolved and all that. Not today.

7 - Say NO to anything if it's motivated by the word "should."

This is a good rule to follow on good days too!

8 - Ask yourself what you feel like doing.

Sometimes the answer to this can be surprising. Maybe you'll want to begin a fiction audiobook and clean your closet! Maybe you'll just want a nap.

9 - Don't do anything destructive.

Don't overdose on sugar or indulge in alcohol. Don't call anyone who drains you. It will not make this better.

WHAT TO BE:

Be very, very kind to yourself.

Be the way you would be with someone who is sad or hurting or scared. Because today, you are.

WHAT TO KNOW:

That the victory is not about not having bad days anymore. The victory is that you can get back up after having one.