If you look up the words “confidence” and “arrogance,” you’ll find there’s a fine line between the two. The former means having self-assurance in one’s own abilities or qualities. The latter implies an offensive display of superiority or possessing an overbearing pride. But where’s the line between self-assurance and overbearing pride? And who decides? As...
Tag: creatives
Giving Your Most Precious Gift
Today I had the pleasure of attending a fundraiser for one of my favorite local charities. As always, I was in awe not only of the stories told by the families who benefit from the services, but by those of the volunteers and staff who shared how much their work means to them. We are...
How Doing Something Wrong Can Sometimes Feel So Right
The other day I was invited to a party at one of those places where everyone drinks wine and learns how to paint the same picture. I’ve never been a good artist, and that night my right arm was hurting from typing all day. I didn’t want to irritate it further by holding up a...
How to Handle Rejection – Video
Happy to share my newest writing video here, which also runs on my YouTube channel, Teresa Funke. It’s on every artists’ favorite topic—rejection. If you’re involved in the arts, you know that sinking feeling when you open your inbox or mailbox and see the communication you’ve been dreading. You also know the butterflies you get...
I Know More Than I Ever Wanted to Know
Do you ever wish your brain had a “delete” button? That there was some way to dismiss all the clutter that seems so necessary for getting ahead in today’s world and just start over? I—a liberal arts major who fantasized about writing all day—now know more than I ever wanted to know about how to...
Art Nights – Great Ideas Giveaway Series
Yesterday I attended the awards ceremony for my daughter’s speech and debate team. They had a stellar year, and I most enjoyed watching the video, which showed talented kids working hard to win, but also creating memories as a team. As artists we often work in isolation. As entrepreneurs, we handle every aspect of our...
How to Fail Successfully
I was recently asked to contribute to an article on “failing successfully.” “I know you’ve been very successful and obviously have a great deal of experience,” the writer told me. Experience in failing? Is that what she meant? I didn’t ask, because the truth is failure is a part of what I do, and that...
Is This a Good Title?
When it comes to creativity, why do some things come so easily and others seem so very hard? Why do certain great ideas seem to pop out of nowhere, while others take months to form? Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a scientific formula we could apply to ideation: get 8.4 hours of sleep,...
Blessings for a Workaholic
When we were newly married, my husband took a job at a Fortune 500 company and stepped quickly onto the fast track. I made him promise he’d never let his work interfere with our homelife, that he’d never become a workaholic. And he hasn’t. Ironically, I’m the one who now fits that description. Lately I...
You’re Only a Starving Artist if You Choose to Be
I often find myself reassuring friends whose children want to go into the arts that their kids will not starve, nor will they ask for support for the rest of their lives. I know dozens of artists – writers, singers, filmmakers, visual artists, actors – and none of them are starving. Few of them ask...