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I’ll be in touch soon!
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Can you sell a book by it’s cover?
A newbie author dives into self publishing I’ve written several picture book manuscripts. I love the idea of mixing art and story, but I never knew exactly what to do with them. I don’t have the patience for traditional publishing, but the idea of paying for an illustrator and formatting for self-publishing was overwhelming to me. I don’t have hundreds or thousands of dollars to pay an illustrator right now, and even if I did, would I know how to format and self-publish? Can I make my own illustrations? I decided to take a creative leap and try illustrating one of my books myself. The book I picked wasn’t my…
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Why do I Hate What I Create Sometimes?
Ira Glass on the Gap Between Taste and Skill You started making things because you love pottery or painting or writing so much. When you’re done, you look at what you made and sometimes all you can feel is disappointed. “Why do my pieces suck so bad?” you say as you look at your painting with your head cocked sideways. It takes all that is within you not to delete your fledgling manuscript and just give up. Ira Glass gave some advice about this phenomenon targeted to beginners during an interview. He starts off by describing the feeling of disappointment people starting out feel from time to time. Nobody tells…
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Three Fabulous Books on Creativity
Fire up your spark! When I am looking for fresh creative motivation, I often read or listen to books about creativity to get me fired up about the creative process. I’ve read dozens of dozens of books on the topic, and here are my three favorites: Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon This book is the type of thing you would stuff in your artistic friend’s stocking for Christmas. It’s small and a quick read and it has lots of visuals. When you “steal like an artist,” you start by studying the great masters and incorporating the elements into your own work. The good kind of stealing helps you…
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Book Review: Draw Your Day
At the end of the summer, I was on a quest to read a stack of books on creativity and review them. The book Draw Your Day by Samantha Dion Baker was my favorite book so far. I liked the cover art and the idea of drawing everyday objects. Inside the book, she talks about how to begin an art journal and the types of supplies you might need. She also talks about where to look for inspiration. For me, the spark came from her artistic style. She uses permanant pen with watercolor and it was truly a breakthough for me. I used the supply suggestions from her chapter on…
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Just do one thing
The other evening, I was cooking a meal for dinner. I was fiddling with my phone to set up my favorite podcast. Then I needed to google the recipe. Kids pass by and ask me questions. Eventually, I found that instead of pork and beans, I have made vegetarian pork and beans. I had to chop up some ham and add it at the end. I have many roles in life – mom, interpreter, wife, child, home manager, daughter, etc. During COVID, I play all of those roles from my house. Most of the time, there is a strong temptation to several things at once. I check my work messages…
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Is this actually helping me feel better?
When I get anxious, I tend to run away from it by surfing Facebook on my phone. I feel uncomfortable and nervous and Facebook is something very easy and mindless. My mind sees it as an escape — a pressure release valve. I always picture Facebook as fun posts about my friends, like a fun little mini-vacation into the world of grown-ups. The thing is when I’m done, I often feel worse than I felt before. You never know what kind of content you’re going to get with Facebook, but there’s usually a lively debate or scary news feature that’s making the rounds. It can leave me feeling like I…
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Less is More
Survival mode with four young children always involves physical chaos. There are always toys strewn around the living room. Much of my time was spent trying to clean up after the mess and even more of my emotional and mental energy was left overwhelmed with what I couldn’t get to that day. My focus was to finish the basics – laundry, dishes and food on the floor- and anything else that got done was a bonus. Part of moving toward a richer, more colorful life requires time. If we have no free time, we can’t have adventures or create art. One way I have freed up more time is to…