A week ago Monday, I lugged home a (clean) trash sack stuffed with ten (very clean, empty) cigar boxes all the way from Pasadena. It seemed like a good idea at the time because I’m excited about collage and assemblage right now and sturdy wooden cigar boxes are a handy size for small assemblage pieces. […]
UPDATE As of March 2012, this book is no longer for sale. However it is on offer as a free promotional item at Bridget’s blog.Please check there for future developments. (post revised accordingly) It’s rare for me to become an affiliate mention an e-book product because so much of what is offered on the interwebs seems subpar. When I […]
Many creative people apparently believe or subscribe to the idea that “inspiration” must strike so that we can be creative, regardless of how motivated we may feel about our creative work. Do you believe it? More important: How have you tested your belief? What conditions make that spark of “inspiration” more likely to happen? Is inspiration the same as flow? […]
I just read the saddest thing, a post at Men with Pens about “how to bribe yourself to do nasty things,” meaning all the things you don’t want to do as a freelancer. Things like finish an ebook, finish a press release, make cold calls, write a blog post. Apparently, we should reward ourselves with […]
Creative people who wish to create consistently face a double challenge: the challenge of following their dream while also facing a potentially harsh reality and bringing their work to life. Eric Maisel, creativity expert and author of Coaching the Artist Within, highlights the importance of maintaining a focused equilibrium between these two aspects of living […]
Many creative people struggle with planning. Writing in Coaching the Artist Within, psychologist and creativity expert Eric Maisel suggests “Five Golden Rules of Planning” to help creative people set their goals and formulate better, more realistic, more effective short and long range plans. Too often our best and well-intended plans fail – let’s be honest […]
As Eric Maisel explains in his expert creativity manual Coaching the Artist Within, anxiety can be a tricky thing for creative people. Sometimes fear serves as a valuable alert, sometimes as a false alarm. But how can you tell the difference? And what can you do about it? Symptoms of Anxiety First of all, you […]
In his self-help creativity guide, Coaching the Artist Within, psychologist Eric Maisel devotes an entire chapter to Anxiety. Certainly some anxieties are rooted in the irrational, but creative people often experience reality-based, rational fears. What happens, for example, if we perform badly, or our book does not sell, or no gallery will represent us? These […]
Although many artists, writers and other creative types talk about “the creative process” as though there is only one, we can actually work with a goal-less process or with a goal-oriented process. Eric Maisel highlights this critical distinction in his creativity manual, Coaching the Artist Within. Working without a goal is way easier. It’s also […]
In his self-coaching creativity manual Coaching the Artist Within, Eric Maisel offers four specific tactics or strategies you might adopt to help yourself create more consistently and more easily. “Don’t Snivel” Stop complaining. Take that time and energy-sucking, self–indulgent complaint/excuse-generating habit and redirect its power and intensity toward doing the work instead. Do you seriously […]