It's been a wild start to 2024 - I'm kind of in shock the year is almost 15% in the books, and then I look at just how much happened and... some highlights! In no particular order - here's what else I'm up to. And if you want to know more frequently than these self-promotional … Continue reading Get Down On It: What Else I’m Up To, 1/5/2024 Edition
Tag: creative work
What A Puppeteer Turned Choreographer Can Teach Us About Creative Expression
Jerome Robbins wanted to be a puppeteer. He was fascinated by the craft of it. The complete control, despite being removed and above the stage, and how it created the feeling of still being in the middle of the action. The puppeteer and the audience - both with a shared distance, in common. It's kind … Continue reading What A Puppeteer Turned Choreographer Can Teach Us About Creative Expression
Use The Difficulty (Michael Caine Edition)
Michael Caine’s famous for his acting chops, but the source of his chops (and his fame) traces down to one expression: Use the difficulty. Early on he had an actor block his stage entrance with a chair. He was, probably a little nervy, and tried to explain he couldn’t get through. The other actor told … Continue reading Use The Difficulty (Michael Caine Edition)
There Is No Level Playing Field
If I had a nickel for every time I thought I had been cast out of humanity… I’d have more than a few commas to my name. To my fellow lost, cast out, and hopeful the hopelessness has a happier ending friends - I come bearing good news. Well, maybe not good exactly. Realistic news. … Continue reading There Is No Level Playing Field
More Evil Doesn’t Beat Evil, Good Beats Evil. Duh.
If you haven’t read The Lord of the Rings, or seen the movies, or even if you only half-remember The Hobbit cartoon from the ‘70s - I have a non-spoiling spoiler for you (because it applies to writing online and life in general): More evil doesn’t beat evil. Good beats evil. Duh. You can try … Continue reading More Evil Doesn’t Beat Evil, Good Beats Evil. Duh.
Be Informational, Not Confrontational
One of the barriers I keep feeling while starting to share more “content” on social media is - DO THESE PEOPLE FEEL NO SHAME? LIKE, ZERO? EVER?! Is it all just bullies, bad takes, and big provokes? And the truth is, Yeah, kind of. There’s a lot of crap content. There, I said it. And … Continue reading Be Informational, Not Confrontational
Creativity And Surprise (Leonard Bernstein Edition)
This Leonard Bernstein quote won’t get out of my head, The truth is that all great composers free music - not from the bondage of other composers, but from routine, from mediocrity, from second-rate, dusty tradition; in other words, a great composer frees music from the predictable. On one level, it’s the idea that all … Continue reading Creativity And Surprise (Leonard Bernstein Edition)
How To Write A Foreword That Disses The Author (McKee vs. Pressfield)
When Steven Pressfield asked Robert McKee to write the foreword to The War of Art, he probably didn’t expect McKee to include a strong disagreement. You know, in the intro of HIS book. But McKee did it. It makes McKee’s War of Art intro one of my favorite forewords ever, if not the gold standard … Continue reading How To Write A Foreword That Disses The Author (McKee vs. Pressfield)
Spoiler: The World Is Trying To Break AND Kill You (Hemingway Edition)
Hemingway knows what love is. As an emotion - the way it changes the meaning of lonely in your gut. How there’s more than one color to it. How love has moods. As a feeling - the ways it offers courage, or shows up in the courageous act of being in love. How it appears … Continue reading Spoiler: The World Is Trying To Break AND Kill You (Hemingway Edition)
Wanksy: Creativity’s Purpose Is To Drive Inspired Action
Creativity doesn’t have to be painting pictures or writing poetry. Creativity is finding inspiration in the world, noticing it catches our curiosity in some way, doing something about it, and then choosing, if it serves us, to make it a habit of looking for more inspiration to serve our curiosity.* And you can find it … Continue reading Wanksy: Creativity’s Purpose Is To Drive Inspired Action