Yodel-ay-heeee-hoooooo

Even as her world spun out of control Karen felt hopeful and alive, as should we all. Today, after putting well over 100 tiles out into the world, I am taking a hiatus. It's been a fun 15 months and being the secret tile hider has made me smile ... sometimes it's easy to forget that life is supposed to be fun, not just all hard work and heaviness. If that's what it feels like it's all about, then it's probably time to make a change. I'm still going to paint tiles when I feel in the mood, and eventually I might put them out in the world again, but I realize that like anything that goes on too long, it becomes tedious. It starts out fun, and the next thing you know, you turn it into work and start thinking, yeah, only 200 more tiles to go .... like it's a job or something .... I found myself thinking that way a few times. At first, sooooo much fun. Later, I found myself thinking I gotta keep it up, gotta do some painting this weekend so I can put some tiles out there, 'cause that's fun. But when you start letting those kind of feelings creep into it, it's not fun ... it's only fun when something brews in your mind for a long time and reaches its natural fruition before spilling onto a tile .... So yeah, when I feel that I'm there again, with all those ideas ready to spill out of my head ... I'll paint ... or maybe I'll write a short story and put it smack in the middle of a book I love at a used bookstore, or maybe I'll do something else ... Meanwhile, I have a lot of non-secret projects in the works, and some of them are kinda fun, so I gotta focus on that for awhile. ... I still hope to randomly encounter one of my tiles in the future in a place where I least expect to see it. Who knows? Remember to have fun, even if you do it secretly. It's the thing that keeps us feeling hopeful and alive, even as the world spins wildly out of control .... Yodel-ay-eeee-hoooooooooooo.