The job notice I saw is for someone who is a "JavaScript Wizard." Not me. But this part of the position's description is a noble ideal for any of us:
"• Pride in your work and a passion for breaking new ground.
• Deep knowledge of existing solutions in your domain, the willingness to utilize the ones that are appropriate, and the courage to create new solutions where the old ones won’t do.
• Attention to detail, ability to collaborate and communicate clearly, and the willingness to offer alternative opinions.
• Commitment to delivering work as promised, and ability to perform against demanding deadlines.
• Extra credit: Passion...."
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Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Late-Night Heroics
I emailed off materials for a grant application last night at 1:14 a.m.--then started the 40 minute drive from my office home. I'd started the last bout of working on this project at almost 3 in the afternoon and then just kept going. Tense and tired and delighted by the time I was done.
Very exciting evening. I love the faux heroics of a rush like that.
Some years back, Prince Charles and some folks here in the city of Raleigh started an altruistic project--Operation Raleigh-- involving a sailing ship with a global do-good itinerary. He said that it gave people the chance for peacetime heroism, adventure with a purpose.
A very useful idea (and it's still going). Because we all seem to have some need for our own style of derring-do. Best that it be channeled into a useful purpose, so we're not going around starting wars or jumping out of planes for no good reason.
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Very exciting evening. I love the faux heroics of a rush like that.
Some years back, Prince Charles and some folks here in the city of Raleigh started an altruistic project--Operation Raleigh-- involving a sailing ship with a global do-good itinerary. He said that it gave people the chance for peacetime heroism, adventure with a purpose.
A very useful idea (and it's still going). Because we all seem to have some need for our own style of derring-do. Best that it be channeled into a useful purpose, so we're not going around starting wars or jumping out of planes for no good reason.
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Monday, March 03, 2008
Creative Courage Under the Weather
Hard to be bold
When one has a cold.
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When one has a cold.
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Sunday, March 02, 2008
A Huge Goal
Working (playing) in my garden this afternoon, I had this thought: what if I decided to get into my best possible condition by the time I turn 60 next January 8?
Physically, mentally, and most important, in appearance. This would involve more vegetables, more exercise, no caffeine, and two or three other tricky things. I don't know. I continue to ponder. Could be it would just be a narcissistic waste of time. On the other hand, I might live longer. And other nice rewards. If I do it, I'll be gathering a group of like-goaled people. Don't want to attempt this one alone.
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Physically, mentally, and most important, in appearance. This would involve more vegetables, more exercise, no caffeine, and two or three other tricky things. I don't know. I continue to ponder. Could be it would just be a narcissistic waste of time. On the other hand, I might live longer. And other nice rewards. If I do it, I'll be gathering a group of like-goaled people. Don't want to attempt this one alone.
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Saturday, March 01, 2008
Self-Exploration
From environmentalist John Muir:
“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”
This quote is from a post on Courage to Create blog encouraging us to spend more time outdoors.
Out of context, I find another meaning in it as well. Muir's thought about going out or going in reminds me that I learn more about myself by going out among people than I do in solitary contemplation.
I do find meditation tremendously valuable, for calm, for allowing ideas to emerge, and as a religious practice.
However, to learn more about myself, there's nothing like a conversation with a client, clerk, husband or friend, about what I can or can't do for them, and what I want or don't want from them, to show me who I am.
Sometimes this "going out" takes more gumption than it might seem. I think that's true for a lot of us.
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“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”
This quote is from a post on Courage to Create blog encouraging us to spend more time outdoors.
Out of context, I find another meaning in it as well. Muir's thought about going out or going in reminds me that I learn more about myself by going out among people than I do in solitary contemplation.
I do find meditation tremendously valuable, for calm, for allowing ideas to emerge, and as a religious practice.
However, to learn more about myself, there's nothing like a conversation with a client, clerk, husband or friend, about what I can or can't do for them, and what I want or don't want from them, to show me who I am.
Sometimes this "going out" takes more gumption than it might seem. I think that's true for a lot of us.
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Friday, February 29, 2008
"Inspiring Innovation"
The library nearest my house has a magazine swap pile. Bring your old magazines, if you want to. Take anything you like, whether you've brought any or not. What a treasure! I love digging through that pile, and I find some delightful items.
Most recent great discovery: a 2002 Harvard Business Review full of lots of good advice for artists.
It was written for business people to help make their companies more creative. That fits us very well, I think.
The issue pulls together short articles by some business innovators. The titles alone create a nice little creativity coda:
Make It The Norm--from a fellow at Procter & Gamble, who says creativity is "the everyday task of making nonobvious connections"
Put Aside Ego--try looking through someone else's eyes
Mix People Up--for the solo artists, we're the people in question, who need to try doing things differently
Don't Fear Failure--it's a necessary and useful part of the process
Abandon the Crowd--do your own thing
Fight Negativity--it takes strong conviction to stay on your own road
Ask "What If?"
Merge Patience and Passion
Experiment Like Crazy
Don't Innovate, Solve Problems.
The list is from a six year-old copy of a magazine, but the ideas are still pretty good.
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Most recent great discovery: a 2002 Harvard Business Review full of lots of good advice for artists.
It was written for business people to help make their companies more creative. That fits us very well, I think.
The issue pulls together short articles by some business innovators. The titles alone create a nice little creativity coda:
Make It The Norm--from a fellow at Procter & Gamble, who says creativity is "the everyday task of making nonobvious connections"
Put Aside Ego--try looking through someone else's eyes
Mix People Up--for the solo artists, we're the people in question, who need to try doing things differently
Don't Fear Failure--it's a necessary and useful part of the process
Abandon the Crowd--do your own thing
Fight Negativity--it takes strong conviction to stay on your own road
Ask "What If?"
Merge Patience and Passion
Experiment Like Crazy
Don't Innovate, Solve Problems.
The list is from a six year-old copy of a magazine, but the ideas are still pretty good.
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Thursday, February 28, 2008
The Long-Running Writing Group
On Thursday afternoons, I meet with my writing group, led by novelist Laurel Goldman. I've been in this group a few months shy of 25 years. As you might imagine, the conversation has strayed from writing a time or two. Also, we have tea afterwards at the Whole Foods grocery across the street from Laurel's office.
In a writing group, there's a higher value placed on total honesty than in other relationships. I want to know any possible negative a reader could come up with about what I've written, so that I can decide how I want to deal with it.
For one of the group to have a critical thought and hold it back would be malpractice.
In marriages and other relationships, total revelation of every negative thought is not required or even desirable, at least by me.
Yet I find that having a group of friends/colleagues with an agreement for full response--positives and negatives--is extremely interesting. And it's excellent practice in being diplomatic and unsparingly direct at the same time. We don't necessarily practice this skill in our commentaries on each other's personal lives, but the habit does persist and we're pretty damn forthcoming in all our talks.
It's one of the great things in my life, this ongoing conversation. I wonder if at the end of my life, I'll look back and think that the group was the point as much as the books were.
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In a writing group, there's a higher value placed on total honesty than in other relationships. I want to know any possible negative a reader could come up with about what I've written, so that I can decide how I want to deal with it.
For one of the group to have a critical thought and hold it back would be malpractice.
In marriages and other relationships, total revelation of every negative thought is not required or even desirable, at least by me.
Yet I find that having a group of friends/colleagues with an agreement for full response--positives and negatives--is extremely interesting. And it's excellent practice in being diplomatic and unsparingly direct at the same time. We don't necessarily practice this skill in our commentaries on each other's personal lives, but the habit does persist and we're pretty damn forthcoming in all our talks.
It's one of the great things in my life, this ongoing conversation. I wonder if at the end of my life, I'll look back and think that the group was the point as much as the books were.
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Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Brainstorming: A Brilliant Energy Source
I've just come from an hour of batting ideas around at the N.C. Arts Council.
Brainstorming, as you no doubt know, is a group experience of coming up with ideas, good and bad, wild and tame, without any immediate judgment on whether they're feasible or appropriate or exactly right. All those questions are saved for later. In the brainstorming moment, no ideas are rejected, all are welcome, and people build on each other's suggestions.
Not only did we produce some good usable ideas and a rough plan of action, we got me very charged up with enthusiasm for my work now that I'm back at my desk.
The hour enlarged my sense of possibilities, which is always a good idea.
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Brainstorming, as you no doubt know, is a group experience of coming up with ideas, good and bad, wild and tame, without any immediate judgment on whether they're feasible or appropriate or exactly right. All those questions are saved for later. In the brainstorming moment, no ideas are rejected, all are welcome, and people build on each other's suggestions.
Not only did we produce some good usable ideas and a rough plan of action, we got me very charged up with enthusiasm for my work now that I'm back at my desk.
The hour enlarged my sense of possibilities, which is always a good idea.
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Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Adrenaline Junkie?
Busy, busy day and it's not over--though it's time for a bite of dinner.
I keep reading that working under pressure isn't good for creativity and that multitasking makes us stupid.
This conventional wisdom about multitasking is probably true for me. But I find that working fast sometimes allows me to see the big picture much more clearly than I do when I'm sunk down into the material and paddling slowly.
Plus, the speed and the time crunch are bracing, a source of inspiration in themselves.
The moral of the post is: better that we each observe how we work best, rather than accepting these ideas unexamined.
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I keep reading that working under pressure isn't good for creativity and that multitasking makes us stupid.
This conventional wisdom about multitasking is probably true for me. But I find that working fast sometimes allows me to see the big picture much more clearly than I do when I'm sunk down into the material and paddling slowly.
Plus, the speed and the time crunch are bracing, a source of inspiration in themselves.
The moral of the post is: better that we each observe how we work best, rather than accepting these ideas unexamined.
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Monday, February 25, 2008
Post-Oscar Courage
Watching the Oscars--an event slightly more important to me than Christmas--always seems like a glimpse at the future fruits of my labors. And thus is very exciting.
This is no doubt a massive delusion. But such things are useful.
And there is a real motivating, booster-rocket push from seeing all those beautifully turned-out folks winning and celebrating.
Every one of those people has fought a tough fight to get where they are. Some reminders that turned up last night on stage or on the red carpet:
*Reese Witherspoon going to auditions and being told: "you're too short, you're too this, you're too that, please don't come back."
*Ben Affleck and Matt Damon working for five years on their breakthrough script Good Will Hunting
*Forrest Whittaker coming from a gang-world neighborhood of south central L.A., without the advantage of traditional leading-man looks
And the final dollop of inspiration: the pair who made the movie Once in three weeks with two little cameras and $100,000, then took home an Oscar last night, one of them exhorting the world to "make art! make art!"
So I start again this Monday morning enlivened.
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This is no doubt a massive delusion. But such things are useful.
And there is a real motivating, booster-rocket push from seeing all those beautifully turned-out folks winning and celebrating.
Every one of those people has fought a tough fight to get where they are. Some reminders that turned up last night on stage or on the red carpet:
*Reese Witherspoon going to auditions and being told: "you're too short, you're too this, you're too that, please don't come back."
*Ben Affleck and Matt Damon working for five years on their breakthrough script Good Will Hunting
*Forrest Whittaker coming from a gang-world neighborhood of south central L.A., without the advantage of traditional leading-man looks
And the final dollop of inspiration: the pair who made the movie Once in three weeks with two little cameras and $100,000, then took home an Oscar last night, one of them exhorting the world to "make art! make art!"
So I start again this Monday morning enlivened.
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Saturday, February 23, 2008
Improve-Your-Creativity Resources to Explore
Here are a few improve-your-creativity products that have come across my screen lately. I haven't tried any of them, so can't endorse. If any of you do, please let us all know here. And if you have any such resources that have worked well for you--please don't hold back.
(BTW, that Confidence Club CD that I posted about some months ago is working like gangbusters for me. Now instead of getting up my nerve to broach a difficult subject, I find the conversation is three-quarters over before I'm aware I already launched it. And this is working a lot better than the old hesitant overly-considered approach.)
Anyway, here are the new items:
Unstoppable Creativity, a CD, $8
Creativity Workshops in Crete, Prague, Florence and DublinWorkshops in New York: $750, tuition only.
Workshops in Europe from $1,850 including tuition and housing.
"...Uses Writing, Drawing, Storytelling, and Memoir as tools to explore and develop creativity. The Workshop is designed to help you find new sources of inspiration, break through creative blocks,take pleasure in your imagination, give yourself the permission, time,and encouragement to do creative work, and develop a daily practice to accomplish these goals. ... We teach from the point of view that people are by nature creative and that creativity, like DNA, is different in each individual."
Conquering the fear of writing , a one-day program you can do at home.
Please remember, we'd welcome any news of your results if you try any of these 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.
(BTW, that Confidence Club CD that I posted about some months ago is working like gangbusters for me. Now instead of getting up my nerve to broach a difficult subject, I find the conversation is three-quarters over before I'm aware I already launched it. And this is working a lot better than the old hesitant overly-considered approach.)
Anyway, here are the new items:
Unstoppable Creativity, a CD, $8
Creativity Workshops in Crete, Prague, Florence and DublinWorkshops in New York: $750, tuition only.
Workshops in Europe from $1,850 including tuition and housing.
"...Uses Writing, Drawing, Storytelling, and Memoir as tools to explore and develop creativity. The Workshop is designed to help you find new sources of inspiration, break through creative blocks,take pleasure in your imagination, give yourself the permission, time,and encouragement to do creative work, and develop a daily practice to accomplish these goals. ... We teach from the point of view that people are by nature creative and that creativity, like DNA, is different in each individual."
Conquering the fear of writing , a one-day program you can do at home.
Please remember, we'd welcome any news of your results if you try any of these 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.
Friday, February 22, 2008
MadArt
Give yourself a few minutes of what creativity guru Julia Cameron calls an "artist date" and visit MadArt, the wildly imaginative work of Madelyn Smoak.
She makes jewelry that includes seriously whimsical crowns and "art dolls" with names like Queen of the Night Forest and Grand Duchess of the Noxious Weeds. One of her crowns, an homage to fellow artist Louis St. Lewis, drew comments that were themselves pretty interesting; two examples,
"AAAAAAAAAAmMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAZZZZ......ING" and "I genuflect, I genuflect!"
Her take on more conventional forms of jewelry is available now at Etsy.
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She makes jewelry that includes seriously whimsical crowns and "art dolls" with names like Queen of the Night Forest and Grand Duchess of the Noxious Weeds. One of her crowns, an homage to fellow artist Louis St. Lewis, drew comments that were themselves pretty interesting; two examples,
"AAAAAAAAAAmMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAZZZZ......ING" and "I genuflect, I genuflect!"
Her take on more conventional forms of jewelry is available now at Etsy.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Rage to Create
"Rollo May, in his landmark study on creativity, The Courage To Create, gave a word to the central driving force of an artist's creativity: rage. Not inquisitiveness; not friendly upbeatness; not sociability; not cooperativeness; not outgoing personality; not charm; not professionalism. Rage. Now, he meant it not so much in a conventional sense, but as a creative fire. There is a direct connection between intense passion and creative brilliance."
from a website on video games and game design. Grassroots Gamemaster
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from a website on video games and game design. Grassroots Gamemaster
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Wednesday, February 20, 2008
A Dose of Courage
For my husband's birthday, we went to hear a double-feature concert at Duke of soul and gospel singer Mavis Staples, and The Blind Boys of Alabama, an African-American men's group formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in 1939.
Staples, from a family of musical activists, sang songs from the Civil Rights Movement. This music helped people keep marching. It's a rousing reminder of a long, long struggle.
A suggestion: For artists engaged in a long, long effort to bring work into the world, these songs can re-energize, refresh hopes, and put difficulties into perspective.
Try listening to a cut of Staples' We'll Never Turn Back, produced by guitarist Ry Cooder and featuring backing from the original Freedom Singers and Ladysmith Black Mambazo It certainly refueled my engines.
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Staples, from a family of musical activists, sang songs from the Civil Rights Movement. This music helped people keep marching. It's a rousing reminder of a long, long struggle.
A suggestion: For artists engaged in a long, long effort to bring work into the world, these songs can re-energize, refresh hopes, and put difficulties into perspective.
Try listening to a cut of Staples' We'll Never Turn Back, produced by guitarist Ry Cooder and featuring backing from the original Freedom Singers and Ladysmith Black Mambazo It certainly refueled my engines.
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Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Keep Going No Matter What!
Being a person of a certain age--as well as a seeker of stories--I'm an obit junkie.
Recently I read an obit in my local paper that I found particularly inspiring. Marjorie Anne Klenin, a physicist, lived with admirable flair. In addition to her distinguished career in Germany and the U.S., she was an accomplished pianist.
"Her friends considered her a true 'woman of the world.' Her tastes in art music, clothing, and food were always eclectic, unique and impeccable.
"...Her admonition about playing four-hand Schubert: 'Keep going no matter what!' was a lesson she appplied throughout her life.
Marjorie was always eager to make new discoveries and experience new adventures. When asked, 'What vodka is best, Polish or Russian?' she would resolutely answer 'Polish!' and proceed to tell of how she learned this fact while on a ship in the North Atlantic with an all-Polish crew. They sailed in bad weather--and being the only passenger who did not get seasick--she had the opportunity to spend the entire trip sampling vodka with the crew. This is how we choose to remember Marjorie--vibrant, laughing, and embarking on another unexpected new adventure."
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Recently I read an obit in my local paper that I found particularly inspiring. Marjorie Anne Klenin, a physicist, lived with admirable flair. In addition to her distinguished career in Germany and the U.S., she was an accomplished pianist.
"Her friends considered her a true 'woman of the world.' Her tastes in art music, clothing, and food were always eclectic, unique and impeccable.
"...Her admonition about playing four-hand Schubert: 'Keep going no matter what!' was a lesson she appplied throughout her life.
Marjorie was always eager to make new discoveries and experience new adventures. When asked, 'What vodka is best, Polish or Russian?' she would resolutely answer 'Polish!' and proceed to tell of how she learned this fact while on a ship in the North Atlantic with an all-Polish crew. They sailed in bad weather--and being the only passenger who did not get seasick--she had the opportunity to spend the entire trip sampling vodka with the crew. This is how we choose to remember Marjorie--vibrant, laughing, and embarking on another unexpected new adventure."
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Monday, February 18, 2008
Inspiring Rites
This weekend, a wedding and a funeral at the same time. I went to one and husband Bob went to the other, each of us carrying the good wishes of the other spouse.
The friend who got married is 65. The friend who died was 44.
I took a lesson from this. Two, in fact. One: it's never too late. Two: don't delay.
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The friend who got married is 65. The friend who died was 44.
I took a lesson from this. Two, in fact. One: it's never too late. Two: don't delay.
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Friday, February 15, 2008
Increase Creativity: A List of Ways
Shanna Swendson, author of Enchanted, Inc. (Book one is Hex and the City)offers a fine list of "Creativity Boosters."
She adds the excellent advice to use these techniques only as boosters, not as ways to procrastinate about writing.
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She adds the excellent advice to use these techniques only as boosters, not as ways to procrastinate about writing.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Help with Book Marketing
Book Candy Studios is a new company that's doing beautiful "movie preview" style ad spots for online marketing of books. Fees range from $350 to $1500+. I haven't worked with them, but am very impressed with their sample trailers.
Getting someone else to help with promotion is one way to make easier the process of tooting your own horn.
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Getting someone else to help with promotion is one way to make easier the process of tooting your own horn.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Ten-Second Meditative Moment
Here's a cool, calming and confidence-inducing trick. I found it in a book I put on my list of ideas for my husband of what I'd like to get for Christmas: Kundalini Yoga Meditation: Techniques Specific for Psychiatric Disorders, Couples Therapy, and Personal Growth by David S. Shannahoff-Khalsa. This may not seem like a good stocking item, but it has good stuff in it.
This technique is one piece of a long and complicated meditation for dealing with obsessive-compulsive disorder. It's also for use in sticky moments during the day, when one might tend to tense-up. Particularly useful because it doesn't show.
All you do is take a deep breath and hold it for about three seconds, just long enough to think the syllables, vic-to-ry, then let the breath go. I do it two or three times, especially when I catch myself in any nervous habit. This creates a mini-break, slows mounting agitation, and is a nicely affirming message. (Vic-to-ry, BTW, is ideally not victory over other folks involved.)
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This technique is one piece of a long and complicated meditation for dealing with obsessive-compulsive disorder. It's also for use in sticky moments during the day, when one might tend to tense-up. Particularly useful because it doesn't show.
All you do is take a deep breath and hold it for about three seconds, just long enough to think the syllables, vic-to-ry, then let the breath go. I do it two or three times, especially when I catch myself in any nervous habit. This creates a mini-break, slows mounting agitation, and is a nicely affirming message. (Vic-to-ry, BTW, is ideally not victory over other folks involved.)
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Getting Rid of a Phobia
It's not too strong to say that I've had a lifelong phobia about taking care of kids. (see previous two posts)
Well, I think it's busted. And after only two nights with three children, my admirable youngest nephews..
Harley, the oldest at twelve, says that it wasn't baby-sitting anyway, it's pre-teen caregiving.
Even so, the experience involved giving out doses of flu medicine, and being judged competent by five year old Franklin to shampoo his hair.
It went well. I did okay, even though the mother-on-duty at the carpool line at the elementary school found mysterious reasons to laugh at me every day.
Now I'm surprised and relieved and short of sleep. And it's Valentine's Day. An excellent day to leave social phobias behind.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
Well, I think it's busted. And after only two nights with three children, my admirable youngest nephews..
Harley, the oldest at twelve, says that it wasn't baby-sitting anyway, it's pre-teen caregiving.
Even so, the experience involved giving out doses of flu medicine, and being judged competent by five year old Franklin to shampoo his hair.
It went well. I did okay, even though the mother-on-duty at the carpool line at the elementary school found mysterious reasons to laugh at me every day.
Now I'm surprised and relieved and short of sleep. And it's Valentine's Day. An excellent day to leave social phobias behind.
If you like this post, please bookmark it on del.icio.us, share it on StumbleUpon, vote for it on Digg. Thanks so much.
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