Posts: Creativity
For the Sake of Personal Expansion
An invitation to return to the blank page
Jun 25, 2024
It was when I started dusting the living room blinds that it really became apparent. I had been engaging in avoidance behavior for weeks but never really called it out as that; I was simply being productive, getting things done. But when dusting entered the picture, my least favorite house chore, I couldn’t deny it any longer—I was seriously avoiding writing.
Permission to Create Freely
Seeing writer’s block from a different angle
Jan 10, 2024
I have to say, I don’t always feel like being “self-aware” when I sit down to write. Sometimes I just want the ideas and words to flow without having to go to a deeper place within me. But Victoria argues that making art involves the whole person, all of me. No shortcuts, no sidestepping. This is indeed both a blessing and a curse.
Because the World Needs Beauty
Thoughts on creative work and why it matters
Jul 16, 2023
Create anyway. This seems to be a buzzword (or “buzzphrase” rather) at the moment, a phrase I’ve been hearing quite a bit in different creative circles. In fact, there is a book that just came out by that very name. The idea is as it sounds—no matter what is going on in your life, or in the world, go ahead and create beautiful things anyway, even if in the larger scheme of things, they’re not essential.
Called to Create
Art as a reflection of God’s character
May 14, 2023
Lately writing in and of itself has not felt like enough. In this day and age, it seems to be all about product. I feel an immense pressure to monetize my writing, to package it up into a beautiful box, market it, and sell it. Not just that, but to ensure it stands out among others in order to be valuable. The mere act of writing, of finishing a blog post and publishing it, seems to have lost meaning.
A Welcome Landing Place
Revisiting the why behind our work
Apr 30, 2023
It’s the last full week of April. This is around the time of year where my motivation to keep going with my goals and resolutions that were set at the beginning of the year begins to take a deep dive. And it doesn’t help that Mercury is in retrograde. The old insidious questions I try hard to push to the back of my mind resurface—what is the point of all this? Why am I wasting my time?
The Gift and the Curse of the Artist’s Life
Mar 19, 2021
Sometimes the words don’t come. They stubbornly refuse to show up and be tied down. Perhaps they have better places to be, other writers to visit for the day. Even in the waiting, the silence, I have to trust the process. In the mundane act of holding still, there has to be a sense of conviction that no amount of stillness is ever wasted, if done with presence and purpose.
What Our Work Is Really About
Discovering our artistic subject
Jan 20, 2020
18° outside this Sunday evening. Slight headache. Trying to keep it at bay. Thinking about the chocolate chip cookie I’ll have a little later on. With milk. Candle lit on the kitchen counter. Dog is napping. Steven Pressfield’s book The Artist’s Journey sits next to me. In it he says that all artists have a “subject,” what he defines as thematic — “subject is deeper than topic.
I have nothing to say.
Thoughts on finding our message and the journey to get there
Jan 13, 2020
There are many self-defeating thoughts artists and creators have over the span of their art-making journey. This must be among the top two.
Creating for Creating’s Sake
Would you keep making art if no one saw it?
Mar 05, 2019
I think the question all writers must ask themselves at some point in their writing journey is this: if no one read my work, would I still write? Would I still show up to the empty page and string words together for the mere pleasure of the act of writing itself? This defines the true artists from the ones doing it simply for profit, or fame, or some other external reward.
The Battle of Creative Resistance
Why it’s so hard to show up for your art
Jan 22, 2019
Let’s talk about resistance. Not the kind at the gym, but the creative type that artists all over the world experience and suffer through when initially faced with their calling to create. The one Steven Pressfield talks endlessly about in his writings. Let’s tackle that beast. Because it’s not talked about enough.
What To Do When You’ve Quit Your Creative Pursuit(s) Too Many Times
Oct 01, 2018
This is the quote I turn to when I want to write again but hesitate knowing all too well how often I’ve given it up. Or when I’m lacking creative inspiration because my muse hasn’t come around in a while. I remind myself why my endless attempts to start writing again matter. Because it’s way too easy to give up. To find something else to do.
Keep Chasing Your Muse
Nov 07, 2016
Creativity happens in the pause between these two moments: feeling sorry for yourself and feeling proud of what you’ve made. And these alternate pretty regularly in the cycle of a creative’s life. Take the 37 minutes prior to me starting this post. They were filled with self-pity, confusion, tears, frustration, and fear of never measuring up.
The Myth of Motivation
Sep 05, 2016
I must confess, motivation and I have not been getting along lately. I am finding myself more often griping about her. She does not understand me, you see. And I have a feeling she has been duping us all along. To quote Jamie Varon — “You don’t need more motivation or inspiration to create the life you want.” I agree. We can have plenty of both and it will still never be enough.
Committing to the Creative Process
Aug 15, 2016
Maybe it is knowing that these words, by the mere act of being written down for others to read, are opening themselves up to judgment and scrutiny. Maybe it is the imposing Ms. Perfectionist within me with her unattainable expectations pointing her snarky finger at me. Or maybe it’s the feeling of having planted seed after creative seed and never seeing any of them bear fruit.