Making art can be a challenge. Tonight it would have been easy to stay comfortably seated at my kitchen table and eating my dinner. Making art meant having to get up, grab my cameras, put on shoes and a jacket and drive around town to the best place to see the sunset. Dinner will wait. …
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When Other People Kill Your Creativity
Recently, I was working on what I’m sure would have been a great blog post when I received a snotty text message from a friend on an unrelated topic. Stupidly, I stopped typing to pick up the phone and read the message. It took me ten minutes to stop being pissed off and start typing …
When People Don’t Understand
Not long ago I wrote a blog post about something that both made me sad and forced me to think about my personal values (read it here: The Person I Don’t Want To Be). I posted a link to this in one of the writers groups that I belong to because I am interested in …
What Do I Mean When I Say “Create”?
I’m always urging someone to create something. Most people think I mean they should write, and in a few cases, that’s true. I know people who give great advice, and, in my opinion, should definitely be blogging and helping others. I also know people who love to take photos but don’t take very many because …
The Best Reason To Act On Your Ideas
For the past couple weeks, I’ve had an idea for a blog post knocking around in my head and notes for it jotted on various scraps of paper. I’ve been thinking about writing about minimalism and how it’s good for creativity. I may have thought about this one for too long, because today in various social …
Creating After Success
I’ll be honest: I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on myself over this post. It has to be great, I tell myself. I have to write something that people will like, because they liked my last post, and now I don’t want to disappoint anyone. That’s why this post has been two weeks in …
The Person I Don’t Want To Be
I’ve spent a lot of time in the past few months thinking about the person I really want to be. Part of that process has been thinking about the person I don’t want to be. Trust me when I say answering the second question is a lot easier than the first. I live in …
Why I Call Bullshit on Writer’s Block
Last night I was rereading Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird when I came across something that annoyed me. Anne says everyone will be stricken by writer’s block at some point in their creative pursuits. I choose to call it what it is: Writer’s Laziness, Writer’s Procrastination, Writer’s Emptiness, or sometimes, Writer’s Raging Case of …
Pick a Project
When I’m lucky, I can settle down with my laptop and dive into writing, accomplish what needs to be done, and then move on to any copyediting work I happen to have, after which I can sort and catalog some photos. On a really good day, I even take some more photos. Today is not …
My Why
I’ve been asking a few people to take a look at my website, mostly my family, friends, and random coworkers (and I appreciate that you took the time to do so!). Because you looked, I’ve been asked why I started this website. There are a few reasons. First, I want accountability. This is a self-imposed …