Mixing My Media: A Coda to “Writing With Boldness”.

I was having a conversation with my mom a while back, about all things art and the creative life. We have those quite a lot, since we are both pursuing creative lives. This time around, I mentioned my "Writing With Boldness" series, and as we discussed its themes, she said it made her think of …

Onward Impulses – Rambling Thoughts On The Role of Creativity In Progress.

Photo by S Migaj on Pexels.com "The world owes all its onward impulses to men ill at ease. The happy man inevitably confines himself within ancient limits."-Nathaniel Hawthorne I've been thinking about this quote a lot lately, and how it pertains to people in creative professions. Humanity in general typically chases contentment. Often, we seek …

Morning Pages and The Personal Essay.

Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay I don't know why I use so many pictures of coffee on this blog. I don't even drink coffee. But there are just so many more "productive morning" photos of coffee than of tea. Come on, world. Tea is good. But this post is not about coffee. Or tea. …

Feeling Overwhelmed? Break It Down.

Image by eliza28diamonds from Pixabay Honestly, that fish is a whole mood. Whether it's the current world situation, your work-from-home schedule, stressful family events, or any number of other possibilities, there's plenty of things in all our lives to cause us to feel overwhelmed. This is a miserable situation for anyone, of course, but particularly …

Don’t Create The Next Great Whatever.

Image by Alex Hu from Pixabay "We are willing enough to praise freedom when she is safely tucked away in the past and cannot be a nuisance. In the present, amidst dangers whose outcome we cannot foresee, we get nervous about her, and admit censorship."E.M. Forster, Two Cheers for Democracy, 1951. I don't know about you, …

Pizza Podcast.

Oh, hello. It's Tuesday. I'm down to the wire on pulling together my Young Life banquet decorations, so I'm sitting in front of my computer cutting circles out of neon paper and listening to podcasts. There's a podcast you ought to listen to with me, and it's right here: "Exploring Creativity and Understanding How You …

Writing Through Depression.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Oddly enough, depression can often be viewed through a sheen of glamour in the writing community. Whether it's because we have an ingrained image in our minds of "tortured artists," because we've heard of many amazing writers who suffer from it, or because of a sneaking sense that we …

The Loyalty of Water.

"Of this there can be no question — creative work requires a loyalty as complete as the loyalty of water to the force of gravity. A person trudging through the wilderness of creation who does not know this — who does not swallow this — is lost." --Mary Oliver, "Of Power and Time" Apparently, the …

How are You Feeding Your Soul?

  Two weeks ago, I talked about the importance of taking a careful look at your writing, and making sure it says exactly what you want it to say. And if it says something different, that you might want to take a look at your worldview. There's another thing that might be effecting the message …

Kindred Oddities.

Well, I'm about to join the club, and talk about David Bowie. My earliest impressions of him were that he was... well... odd. I didn't really think about him, otherwise. But a few years ago, I watched this interesting and completely random DVD compilation of interviews with artists, about creativity in general. I can't remember …