Blog
How to Make Art Which is Truly Unique
She sits across from the music legend, black shirt hanging loosely around her shoulders, hair draped over her chest. It's been 3:22 seconds since either of them have spoken. …
The One Element Which Matters Most in Creative Work
Kate walks on the beach in front of me, her father to her right. I don’t know what, exactly, I am looking for. Something, anything, which shows they share a gene pool— a 6th toe maybe? A flair on the right pinky which had been passed down through …
Forget Going Viral and Do This Instead
After walking to the stage, pumping his fist, and yelling ecstatically, Chancelor Bennett gives a nervous chuckle when he gets behind the microphone. The crowd is on edge, waiting to see what this first-time Grammy winner will say. Every musical …
The Reason You Feel Motivated at Night But Lose It By Morning
It was May in 1930. A man with a fabulous mustache sat upright in his favorite chair, seconds away from dozing off. Just as his head dipped into dream world, the ball bearings plummeted from his hand and onto a metal plate, where the clatter shook …
One Exercise Which Will Change the Way You Write Forever
Okay, first I’ll give you the very simple goal of this tip: REMOVE THE BRAIN FROM THE WRITING PROCESS. Let me explain. At a job — you think about stuff. A specific problem is presented and an objective decision is made based on cost and time and …
This is The Most Overrated Pleasure
No, it’s not the cell phone specifically. The most overrated pleasure is the notification (in all forms). You see how it happened, don’t you? First: The notification told us about human interaction: Ring! — “Oh, someone is calling. …
These 6 Words Helped Me Overcome My Fear of Failure
Blink-blink-blink. My cursor pulsed on the blank page. I wrote sentence and then deleted every word. I stood up 6 times for coffee in 2 hours. Surprisingly, my page would still be blank when I returned. I wanted to start a blog. I wanted to start …
Here’s One Thing You Can Do If You Have a Boring Job
My first week of corporate work, I was assigned 18 company policies to read. My second week of work, I was given 40 hours to complete a draft of ONE document. My third week of work, I was in a meeting about a project I might join one day. My forth …
Shift Your Mindset By Saying Less of These 4 Things
The ball rocketed into the air, took a definite left turn, and crashed down into the water with a sickening: *Splash* My dad and I were on the 11th hole, and I was practicing for an upcoming golf tournament. The day’s work wasn’t exactly going …
How to Ignore Absolutely Everything
And that’s how I got banned from Amazon preorders for a year. Oh wait. I have to write the post first, don’t I? Let me go back. Here is what I’ve noticed about being an adult so far: Everyone wants my attention. Everyone …
NANOWRIMO INSPIRATION | GO ALL IN
I was exactly where you are today. I didn’t know if I wanted to take this big of a bite. I didn’t know if I couldn’t handle it. I didn’t even know if I was a good writer. But I had a friend tell me something which changed my mind about …
NANOWRIMO INSPIRATION | RIDE THE WAVE
Here’s why some of you will fail: You will fail at NaNoWriMo because you won’t take advantage of the early momentum. You won’t write more when you could have. It’s a lot harder to make progress when the shine wears off. Instead, RIDE THE WAVE. …
NANOWRIMO INSPIRATION | MAKE THE DECISION
There is a lot of hyperbole on the Internet about NaNoWriMo. Here’s something I didn’t have to exaggerate one bit: This program completely changed my life as a writer. Although I’m not participating this year, I’m making a different kind of …
10 Things that Surprised Me About Growing Up
1) Nobody feels like an adult Most of us are just faking it. 2) Many people do not care about their jobs The idea of doing good work for good work’s sake is not universal. 3) Life goes faster every year Luckily, someone explained this one to …
3 Phases Every Creative Professional Must Go Through
Finding order in chaos is easier than you think. We artists like to think we are wild stallions, free to romp through the world and make our own way. It’s a nice sentiment, but it turns out there’s a structure in every creative career, a path …
How to Stay a Creative Genius
I think we can all agree kids pretty are stupid. They can’t draw worth a darn, they walk like drunks, and they definitely can’t talk right. No, I do not want “basgetti” for dinner. They fail at everything they try. They fall down. They hit their …
The Ultimate Survival Guide to Not Fitting In
Someone once told me to write about what I know, so here’s this: I’m good at not fitting in. I do it all the time. But humans need to belong, so I do these things to make people think I’m a normal human being. 1. Improve your small talk No …
Is it Worth it to Share your Creative Work?
In 2013 a man named Dong Nguyen probably leaned back in his chair and sighed with happiness. During his free time, Dong and his team had been using a character from a cancelled video game to make his own project - a simple mobile adventure in …
Can Anyone Be Creative?
Yes. Okay, that was easy. Can I take the rest of the post off? No? Fine. Look, here's the deal, Creativity is nothing more or less than coming up with a new solution to an existing problem. Sometimes that problem is getting your drink out of a cup …
The Endless Cycle of Creative Procrastination
Phase 1: You come up with a new idea. You love ideas! They are sexy and pure. Out of the corner of your eye, it winks at you. You melt. Abandoning all else, you take the jump and fall hard. Phase 2: You pour your heart and soul into the idea. This …