Emira Mears, of Soap Box Girls, sent me this note about a fantastic retreat that she is a part of on Cortes Island BC in June 2004. I thought I’d share the information in case anyone else is interested.

Lauren and I have been a part of the planning process and are really eager to involve dynamic and creative young women entrepreneurs, freelancers etc. where possible. It is a bit pricey, so if you are keen or know women who are, I can try to get scholarship information for you as there will be a few scholarships. Also, if you know of any folks who might want to sponsor such an event, I can pass that info on as well, but for now the basics of the conference are here.

The event is limited to 65 women and spaces are filling fast. Please check out the web site for more information, the agenda to date, and to register online for the conference.

One of the best bits of advice I received was not advice at all; it was a statement made by my best friend, Emily.

We were walking through Granville Island, which was home to her art school as well as to many small art studios. Watching a glass blower, I asked her if she could do that.

“I don’t know,” she said, “but probably.”

A bit shocked by her confident words that she spoke with ease, I asked her how she could say ‘probably.’

She replied, “I never say I can’t before I try.”

Her words struck me so hard that day, taking away any excuse I ever had when I said I couldn’t do something before trying it. Her words have stayed with me a year later, at first challenging me and then comforting me.

I used her words when, last month, the editor for Small Spiral Notebook contacted me to help with the cover of their first print edition. My first reaction was to say no. I had never done a magazine cover before and I had never created an image specifically for someone. The fear of failing, of not being able to produce something for her, of letting her down, almost made me write her back saying I was too busy.

Then I thought of Emily’s words. I also thought about all my other jobs that I had. Because each one I applied for, I never had the qualifications for. I just thought I could learn as I went because I was smart enough and had the drive. And, sure enough, I’d get these jobs and learned as I went, no one ever suspecting I couldn’t do the tasks before.

I said YES! to creating the magazine cover and one night, I sat down and the first image:

The Editor loved it and that image would go on to be used as the cover for Small Spiral Notebook’s first print edition. I had done it and not because I was a fabulous artist but because I had tried.

On the same day my cover was accepted, I was offered two other illustration and painting jobs and one for a book and one for another magazine. Because I opened up myself, other opportunities did too.

So now I understand how Emily said what she said with ease because I, too, never say I can’t before I try.

In December I made my way to Portland OR with the intention of popping quickly into a bazaar hosted by the fabulous Alicia Paulson and getting a Christmas present or two. What I got, however, was my own office.

My flat at the time was a small one bedroom with one closet that I shared with my husband, cat and fish. Instead of using the word cramped, we used the word cosy as it was, especially since we had used every Ikea idea with regards to using space. The dining room nook had been set up as a make shift office for me, but really, I hardly ever used it. With my husband in school he did his homework on the computer a lot so I couldn’t leave my papers, paints and tools laying about. With only one closet in the whole place I couldn’t really store them either. I bought a little table to use but that quickly became a storage table for the both of us.

I thought, that’s just the way it is. That’s how it will work and didn’t ever think of any other possibilities. That is, until I met Alicia.

Leaving the hotel in Portland a day early due to a bad experience there, I called Alicia up for advice on what to do. “Stay with me!” she said excitedly, and I did. Little did I know that stepping inside her home would change everything.

Her home was a house full of colour, texture and design; it was the right combination of shabby chic, girlishness and modern flair. Her office space, however, is what struck me. A large room with my favourite colour – pink – all abound. Large windows, a huge table in the middle with storage all over the walls. Her style and office was so opposite to what mine was and then I realised at that moment I had a problem.

I was a pink girl without any pink in my home. I was a big table working girl without a big table to work on. I liked to have storage boxes out and I didn�t have a place to put them. I didn’t have a place of my own, that was my style and comfort. I didn�t have this because I kept thinking that my whole flat was ‘mine’ when it fact, it wasn’t – I had to share it with a husband, cat and fish and take their stylings into account (although I confess the fish had very little input).

My husband who was on this trip also became deeply inspired by Alicia’s home and husband – who was a musician just like mine and had a set – up like the one my husband wanted. On the trip home we realised we each needed a space of our own; a place we could decorate without having to worry about the others taste, where we could leave books or music around without having to worry about moving them for the next person and a place that felt like ours. We decided to move.

We wrote down a list of exactly what we wanted and the next day, we found it. Two weeks later we moved in and Ive been puttering in my new office with a smile on my face and hes been playing music happily in his.

Despite their being an increased cost to moving, theres an increased benefit. I feel like I am valuing myself and my work by allowing myself my very own space. By having a dedicated place for my work now, I find I am taking myself more seriously yet relaxing more with it all at the same time. I also feel a new creative spark because the pink in me can come out. As can the ribbons, paints, rosy cushions and big table.

Virginia Woolf first wrote about the concept of a room of ones own and I think now that concept holds even more truth. With busy and crammed lives, we each need a space to call our own, where we can create safely, privately and happily without having to worry about cleaning it up, moving it around or decorating it nice for guests, husbands or family. If a whole room cant be taken, a nook, a desk, a wall should be set aside for you and your creativity.

So that if youre a pink or blue girl you can have those colours out. If you like to read you have a place that�s set just aside for you and your books. If youre a painter you have a dedicated table for your supplies so you don’t have to hunt for them each time. However you make your space work is fine, just as long as you have a space.