Talk Nice to Yourself

Being yelled at can hurt your creativity.

University of Florida researchers did some workplace observation and concluded that bosses who are verbally abusive are doing harm rather than good. Both problem-solving skills and imagination take a hit when voices are raised.

The underlying principle appears to be: when you're the target of a harangue, that's all you're thinking about. And that's true even when the rudeness is fairly mild.

This would seem a no-brainer, but a lot of yelling and threatening does occur. And it's generally because somebody wants something done or done better. I think most of us could say that it doesn't work. I have an idea that it's also meant to be punitive; but whatever satisfaction might be gained by the name-caller/accuser is surely no compensation for what's lost in productivity.

I think this may also be true when we're verbally abusing ourselves. So cut out the self-berating and free your imagination.

If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

Creative Courage and Car Repairs

My 17 year-old car--which you've seen on this blog before because I stencilled morning glories on it--is in the shop today for $700 worth of replacement of small wornout parts that were causing it to rumble and shimmy and throb and would soon make it stop altogether.

So I've been working at a grocery store cafe (Weaver Street Market)and a library computer (Carrboro Cybrary) all day while waiting for this to be fixed. Pleasant places to work, but the whole idea of sitting outside of the car ICU (Autologic) does not make me feel bold.

So I tell myself: it's not my body or one of my loved ones that's in the ICU, and I'm fortunate to have such a glorious and faithful car that is now getting a whole new lease on life, and it's not $2,000, and I haven't wasted the day.

But the fact is: I feel as if I somehow didn't play my cards right or I wouldn't have to buy $700 worth of car maintenance today.

This is irrational. We all have to get our cars and our teeth worked on. And nobody can slay dragons every day.

So, I've decided that for me today's dragon-in-need-of-being-slain (since I need one)is the idea that needing a car repair and wincing at the cost are not an indication of bad life decisions.

Devoting as much of my time and money as possible to art is not an indication of immaturity or failure.

On days like today, I do need to remind myself of that.



If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

A Theme for Your Year?

A suggestion offered at my Mystic Pizza gathering this week: instead of a goal or a resolution for a year, try a theme. (Mystic Pizza is a monthly lunch of friends who are interested in mystical experience and related topics.) I think the idea of choosing a theme came from leadership/diversity consultant and writer Thomas Griggs.

Kelley Harrell of Soul Intent Arts said her theme this year is "allowing," not standing in the way of the good stuff that's happening for her. She likes this approach better than having goals, which feels too coercive and burdensome.

I like the idea too. My daily to-do list is something I rarely finish; it just gives me an idea, a set of priorities for my day.

I can see having a theme of being more fit, or improving my writing, or getting more work published, as a guiding factor in making a lot of daily decisions.

My resolution for this year is follow the will of God, which really falls more into the theme category. Because how do you know when you've accomplished it?

We did decide that a decision to follow the will of God is a lot easier than the resolve to lose five pounds, which is far too troublingly measurable.

If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

Heath Ledger

A sympathetic note struck by director-editor-screenwriter Richard Brody on NewYorker.com blog on the death of actor Heath Ledger:

"As we remember Ledger, it’s worth recalling the agonies that actors, from amateurs to stars, have to pull from their guts."

Any day we feel like beating up on ourselves for lack of creative courage, it could be good to remember Brody's kind and soothing thought.

Ledger, who played one of the two cowboys in love in Brokeback Mountain, was one actor with a lot of courage. I'm one of the very many sorry to see him go.


If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

Inspiring New Links?

Yesterday I discovered that two of my favorite bloggers didn't know of each other's marvelous sites, and both of them are on the subject of writing.

So--I'd like to ask you a question. What are some of your other favorite blogs? Or websites. On any subject. Please don't keep these resources a secret.


If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

This Prize-Winning Blog

Fellow writer/blogger Irene Latham of Word Lovers Unite has chosen this very location to received the Excellent Blog Award. I'm delighted, and hope you are; a blog is its commenters as much as it is the blogger. Do go visit Irene at Word Lovers. A post that might be of particular interest is Goals and Whatnot.

It is now my delightful responsibility to pass this honor on. I must tell you that I am so torn between two blogs that I insist on giving it to both. One is the newish Mystic-Lit, a collection of thoughtful writers writing about writing. There's always an interesting discussion underway here. The other is Design Your Writing Life, where Lisa Gates is doing excellent coaching with commenters. Her thoughts are insightful, and her encouragement is highly effective. I've had several bursts of productivity after visits there.

If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

Working in the Spirit of MLK

How I'm celebrating MLK Day today: I'm going about what I'm called to do without hesitation and procrastination. Doing my work in the spirit of MLK, following as best I can the example of his courage.

Part of me considers that a cop-out, since it's not a variation from my normal activities.

Most of me will be well satisfied if I carry through with it.


If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

"Celebrate! Act!"

Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the 40th anniversary of his death. This year's theme (I don't know who decides such a thing) is "Remember! Celebrate! Act! A Day On, Not a Day Off."

I'm not sure yet what that's going to mean for me; I do like that it encourages activism.

I know a guy who decided in elementary school that he wanted to be an activist when he grew up. He's now in high school and is a volunteer with Greenpeace, the ACLU, and a group promoting gay-straight harmony. I'm impressed.

I've never been much of an activist myself--always one revolution behind, so it has seemed.

I'd love to know anything you're initiating on this MLK Day to change the world to the way you think it ought to be.

If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

If You're Taking Your Work Too Seriously

Here's a marvelous gift I received yesterday, meant to be a tub toy, but I spend more time at my desk. It's difficult to get too mad at the computer, myself, or the world, when I'm keeping company with Jack Nicholson Duck.


If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

The Business of Art

Painter Jackie Battenfield is a serious artist and a commercial success. She teaches professional development at Columbia University and Creative Capital, among other venues.

I've attended sessions of hers at Creative Capital and really like her practical go-get'em perspective. She made her first round of visits to Washington, D.C. galleries with her three-month-old baby in tow.

She has a website and an upcoming book on how to do what she has done: The Artist's Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What you Love .

Jackie has supported herself through the sales of her paintings for more than twenty years. That's an astonishing accomplishment. What she has to say is valuable not just for visual artists, but others as well.

Visit her website (click on her name above) for daily tips until the book comes out.

If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

"A Two-Book Deal"

I had terrific news this morning from a writer I've worked with: Deborah Dunn. Here's what she wrote:

"Wanted to let you know I'm signing a two-book deal with Simon and Schuster (Howard) this week for the book you critiqued The SAM Syndrome: Help for Women Who are STUPID ABOUT MEN.

I got a major advance and the editor of the inspirational division wants to cross over into the mass market with it."

This news has been years in coming and it's so good to hear, makes me feel re-encouraged about the possibilities. This writer had a good idea and she didn't give up.

If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

Building Insights. Breaking Boundaries

Discovered: another good source on creativity research books. A publisher called Elsevier has as its motto: "Building Insights. Breaking Boundaries."

The list of titles is long and diverse. The International Handbook of Giftedness and Talent. How Designers Think. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation (That's one I wrestle with a lot: am I better at doing the work because I love it and it needs doing? or do I need to promise myself a Tootsie Roll Pop at the end of a new page? Right now I'm running on love, but there's a big glass candy jar not far from my desk.)

This collection of books also recognizes the creativity involved in a wide range of activities. Not only are there books on advertising but one called The Art and Soul of Midwifery.

In my view, writing fiction is midwifery. It's just helping the story to emerge.




If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much

How to Cook Up New Stuff

From an article in Vogue on the design of a pocketbook:
"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk."

I agree about the pile of junk, whether it's tangible junk or odds and ends of ideas and memories. I think we all have a good imagination, and when we sit and play with junk, that natural inventiveness kicks in.


If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

Shut Up and Make the Movies?

Woody Allen thinks it's better not to think about one's creativity.

He summed up this philosophy in an interview on NPR: "Shut up and make the movies."

I can see his point. At the same time, I find the subject of how-to-enhance-creativity fascinating, and some of the things I've learned from my reading and discussions have helped me.

I also know it's possible to avoid "making the movies" by reading about the process instead, or reading one's own press. Out of fear of that, I've read fewer of the classic books about writing than I otherwise might have. As is so often true, it's a matter of each individual finding her/his balance.

What has your experience been with finding this balance?

I find that my perfect ratio shifts quite a bit from time to time. And that discussion with my weekly writing group and on this blog are currently the right amount of talk for me.

I don't plan to shut up.


If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

An Inspiring Movie

Please see Juno. The movie.

It's full of characters who speak their minds--and so interestingly. Especially the leading lass, 16 year old pregnant Juno.

Also her father, who at a key moment says: "Freedom is not a choice that the world encourages." (I think I have that right. I wasn't taking notes.) This movie encourages honesty, of the gutsy rather than the petty kind.

If you see it, I'd love to hear here what you think.


If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

Fake It Until You Make It

A few blocks from my office a venerable Krispy Kreme doughnut store shows off its bakery through a large interior window. You can watch the whole process of doughnut creation while you're throwing down a few with a cup of coffee.

Yesterday my office partner Carrie came in and suggested that we get a Krispy Kreme-type device installed in our office doors. Each morning as we pass through the doorways we would be showered and frosted with confidence, as if it were the sugaring stage of doughnut manufacture.

One could argue that this would create only an exterior coating.

My answer to that is the familiar saying:
Fake it until you make it.

Confident behavior is treated like confidence by the outside world. When that happens, real confidence grows. It's also true that what's applied to the outside starts, after a while, to sink in.

Anyone who has ever eaten a Krispy Kreme doughnut knows that they taste pretty sweet all the way through.



If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

The Cross-Over Book

Alexis de Tocqueville, who observed and judged American character and life in the first half of the nineteenth century, had some critical things to say about the literary styles that succeed among the people of a democracy.


"As the time they can devote to letters is very short, they seek to make the best use of the whole of it. They prefer books which may be easily procured, quickly read, and which require no learned researches to be understood.... Above all, they must have what is unexpected and new. They require strong and rapid emotions, startling passages, truths or errors brilliant enough to rouse them up and to plunge them at once, as if by violence, into the midst of the subject....

"Style will frequently be fantastic, incorrect, over-burdened, and loose, almost always vehement and bold. Authors will aim at rapidity of execution more than at perfection of detail. Small productions will be more common than bulky books; there will be more wit than erudition, more imagination than profundity; and literary performances will bear marks of an untutored and rude vigor of thought, frequently of great variety and singular fecundity. The object of authors will be to astonish rather than to please, and to stir the passions more than to charm the taste."


The kind of bold that he's describing is not what I want from myself or the writers I read.

Unfortunately, de Tocqueville has a pretty good grasp of the kind of choices that the largest number of readers and publishers are still making in this country.

And that makes it very tempting to try to write to that audience.

Truly bold, however, may be doing one's own work without regard to that pressure. For me, it is to revise in a way aimed at satisfying my own standards and at the same time attempting to be accessible to readers in a hurry who are looking for a good time.

Not so easy. That's why for me the process takes so long.

It's because I'm "trying to serve two masters." That's supposed to be impossible, but I don't believe it. There's almost always one book on the bestseller lists that is complex and beautiful, even as it retains its "rude" American vigor. This is what's known in the trade as "the crossover book."

That's the slot I'm aiming for, the one that Tocqueville didn't mention.



If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

A Daily Mini-Meditation on Creative Courage

I find that writing every day about creative courage is firing up my own imagination and gumption. The act of scanning the world for wisdom on this subject--and then focusing on it for the time I'm writing about it--is driving the lesson home for me. I have a lot less hesitation about plunging into projects, less procrastination, than once was the case.

So here's a suggestion: one that will likely be useful for you and others. Comment regularly here on the subject of creative courage, boldness, passion, imagination, or any variation that suits you. The act of doing it can act as a a mini-meditation that fires up your brain, inspiring both you and your readers here.


If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

No Time to Waste

This afternoon at 2:34 p.m. I will achieve the age of 59. This is a significant number because of its proximity to 60, the official beginning of very late middle age. (Old begins at 80, as we all know.)

One might think that the shortage of time would "put the pressure on," and that that would be an unpleasant feeling.

I'm finding--for today, at least--that it does put the pressure on and that that feels good.

I don't want to waste another second with any of the following
TIME-WASTERS:
*busy work
*kidding myself
*guilt
*rationalizing
*things I "might as well" do
*being too lazy to get up and get what I need

Part Two of My Birthday Wisdom> Some months ago, I chose an overall rule of thumb to guide my decisions, an idea suggested by life maximizing guru Judith Wright. After some thought, I decided on: I am living my life as my best self.

This morning I realized that I need a new one. My test drive of the old one turned up one problem. It didn't answer the question: Why? Why live my life as my best self?

My new guiding line: I unhesitatingly, joyfully, serenely go after the best results, the highest good.

That may seem to be a small matter of wording. But for me the change adds the motivation needed to do the exercise, work on the book, develop the idea, make the needed effort and enjoy the process.


If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.

Passion

"You can argue with somebody who says, I know this and I know that. But you can't argue with passion." Film director Tim Burton in Esquire

"Nothing good has ever been done ironically." David Granger, editor-in-chief of Esquire.


If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.