Quietly, below the surface, from ancient times to the present there has been a vein of creative energy running through select Creatives. In the East this has manifested in the Living National Treasures of Japan, for instance, or the tea ceremony, or zen archery. In the West, the lore of Edison and Steve Jobs as models…
The Knock-Out Question – Don’t Ask It
Don’t ask this question: “But what happens if I _________________ and then it turns out that I don’t have talent?” Oh this question is a tricky one. It seems so, so innocent. Seems so clear-headed, the right question coming from a very careful thinker. Hogwash! Bam! Just because we can ask a question doesn’t guarantee…
Go Produce the Biggest Pile of Crap You Can
Seriously. Just as soon as you can, go produce a pile of crap. Give your best shot at: writing the worst page of fiction/non-fiction/poetry in the history of the world. Go hit a canvas with the worst materials, horrible colors, and ugly brush strokes ever cursing the eyes of humanity. Or, if photography is your…
Morning Pages or Morning Focusing Worksheet?
Since the 1990s, Julia Cameron has dominated the bookshelves, bookstores, and church basements with her “The Artist Way” series of writings. At the center of each work is Cameron’s two regular exercises for Creatives—the artist date and morning pages. The artist date is not a date with an artist, though that would be good too,…
Build Your Own Robot
Everyone talks about visions and goals. Each is tremendously important for anyone who wants to move forward towards a goal. But lurking right under our nose, not off in some vision of the future or long list of goals is something else. Here are some clues to its identity. It is: something that runs on its…
Are You H.A.L.T.?
Our creative work lies open to the impact of what runs in our background. Our background is made up of our: mental, emotional, and physical state of being. If we are way out of whack in one of these three areas, we are in trouble. Our background can suddenly become our foreground, totally making our…
Your Declaration of Independence?
Sure, we have New Year’s resolutions but what about mid-year declarations? Try making these and others of your own devising, your declaration of independence: I declare that I will begin again, this coming week, in small ways to more fully develop my commitment to myself to bring my creativity into the world. I will start…
No! Explored – Don’t get caught by surprise
Regardless of who we are or what our project is, we will get “no!” as an answer more often than “yes!”. Right now, sit back and consider how many nos you are likely to face about your work. Be honest and be in reality. Twenty? Fifty? More? Now double that number. Got 20? You got…
Invisible Downside
The downside of not losing weight is having excess weight. Hard to hide that. The visible downside of not stopping smoking is smoking and worse. Can’t hide that. Visible and even dire downsides can be motivating. Worrying and painful, but motivating nonetheless. Most people reading this post are working on creative projects outside the daily…
Take a Wide Road
There are two types of roads: narrow and wide. The narrow road assumes that your journey will require little sideways movement or much movement at all other than straight ahead. A narrow road is fine for that, getting a person from point A to point B. We all want the fast way to our envisioned…
Don’t Try to See the Future, It Will Drive You Nuts
No one wants to waste their time by not getting what they deserve after knocking themselves out over a creative project. To avoid that, the common approach is to stare into the future. If we stare, some creatives figure, the haze of time will clear away revealing to us how our projects will fare. One…
Look for the Hook
If we show up to our work space and if we show up consistently and if we make an earnest effort while there, something happens. A hook appears. The hook is a special type of motivating power that people who don’t consistently show up fail to experience.They never dream that it is there. One hook…
Find a Blueprint and Run With It
If you are just getting started or stalled out, find a blueprint and run with it. Blueprint? Yes, look for a blueprint that covers the next steps for you. For instance, if you want to write your first novel, get one of those books that tell people how to write a novel in 30 days, 90…
Beginner’s Mind, Constant Companion
Painful. Beginner’s mind is painful. We are swamped with self-doubt, uncertainty if we are doing things right, uncertain if we even know what to do next. But that is just the way things go. Being a beginner is being a beginner. We feel out of sorts most of the time, whether we are doing things…
Tackling U.F.O.s
I learned recently from Suzy, a student in one of my The Stuck Creative classes, that all quilters try to push the thought of U.F.O.s out of their minds. Otherwise, going on would just be too disturbing. U.F.O.s , as quilters know them, are Un Finished Objects. Yes, unfinished objects can truly haunt us. There…