Walking to Infinity

by Barbara Martin

in Try This

I’ve mentioned how I “pace” by walking in a pattern to trace out the shape of a figure 8. I do it to relax and settle my mind when puzzling through a knotty problem or when I begin to panic am scrambling for last-minute inspiration on a deadline. Turn it on its side and this […]

When Your Mind is Blank

by Barbara Martin

in Try This

What do you do when you are backed up to a wall, a deadline looms and you’ve “got nothin’” — no muse, no idea, no concept, no nothin’ — and that all-too-familiar panic is about to set in? What are you gonna do? If the idea of “positive vibes” sounds abhorrent, listen up! Here’s the […]

Do you have a big hairy deal exciting creative project languishing in the back of your mind because it’s too big, too bold, too overwhelming to contemplate in detail? I know you have a project like that, because we all do! This week’s creativity tip and experiment will help you get started on it — […]

Get this week’s all new “free, quick and easy” creativity tip now! I just updated the tip line with this week’s creativity experiment and I hope you will listen to it. It introduces another simple yet surprisingly powerful creativity-enhancing exercise; this week’s activity is based on the age-old practice of walking the labyrinth. As always, […]

You are invited! I  have just founded the Reptitude Center for Creativity. Please try out the inaugural activity: A simple creativity boosting experiment you can complete in three minutes or less, no special equipment or supplies required. All you need to do is listen to a short recording! Also, it’s free. To listen to the […]

Do you allow your perceived limitations to stop you from starting? I do it, all the time. The other day I had an absolute bolt of inspiration about how to begin the first of  a series of recordings I have been wanting to create for about two years. I have had the tools to make […]

License to Write Badly

by Barbara Martin

in Writing Daily

As a writer, how often do you stop to reread your work and then agonize over what you just wrote because it’s not perfect? How much time to you spend mulling exactly where to start a scene, debating the perfect first line for the fifth chapter, toying with the perfect verb for a key sentence, […]

I hate to bring up the subject of creative anxiety twice in one week and then not offer a coping exercise! In his self-help creativity manual Coaching the Artist Within, psychologist Eric Maisel suggests we learn to appreciate what he terms the “Tao of Anxiety” and thus coach ourselves through it. It is, as are […]

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 […]