This Fourth of July, I got to thinking about the Founders of this country and their respective arts, and why so few people know that many of them considered their artistic pursuits to be passions, just as many of us do today. Many of the male Founders were well-trained tradesmen, farmers, or scientists. Some were...
I’ve been under some stress lately, which has inhibited my creative thinking. It’s hard to focus on building something new when you’re more focused on keeping your head above water. But is that even true, or just a convenient excuse? Many artists throughout the centuries have produced amazing works of art while living through circumstances...
This past week on my newsletter, I wrote about wishing this year I could have the kind of summer I had when I was 12. You know, staying up late playing hide-and-go-seek in the dark, sleeping in and watching game shows all morning, reading books, and splashing in the pool. Spending lots of time laughing...
I left a phone message today for a truly lovely person who closed out their voicemail greeting with the popular saying, “Make it a great day.” Am I the only one who cringes when I hear that directive? Or maybe you’ve read it on a bumper sticker or seen it on a sign? Sometimes it’s...
Next month, I’m hosting my friend, Katie Huey, to teach her class called, “Actually, There Are Words: A Writing Workshop for Life’s Disruptions.” She’s going to lead us in using wordplay, poetry, and writing prompts to “put words to our difficult experiences of loss, transition, or disruption.” In the past week, my husband and I...
A friend and I were chatting the other day about directions we were considering for our work, weighing the need to make money against our current desires, etc. We’re both feeling the urge to stretch and grow, but also a longing for peace and contentment. How the heck do you achieve such a balance? At...
I ran into a former client from my days as a writer’s coach. She’d self-published a memoir about living with a certain disease. She was telling me all the efforts she’d made to market the book, but it never really caught on, except with the local nurses. She said they recommended her book often and...
In 1988, I spent a semester studying at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. Most of my friends, my family, and my boyfriend (who is now my husband) were far away in Idaho. This was a time when long-distance calling was not cheap or convenient, not to mention there was only one shared pay phone on...
My husband and I have reached some turning points in our creative endeavors, including the ones we’re working on as a team. So, I suggested that every day for a month, we write down one harebrained idea for how we could advance our work or make more money. I called them “harebrained ideas” because I...
We recently returned from a four-week trip to New Zealand. We’d arranged our air fare, car rental, and lodging in advance, but had intentionally planned nothing else. We’ve discovered on these longer trips a distinct freedom in going with no set expectations. There were certain things we hoped to see while we were there, and...