creativity
the cognitive bug
This week, I made a little zine called “The Cognitive Bug”, inspired by a December 2020 post in Maria Popova’s excellent newsletter, now called “The Marginalian” (previously, and at that time, “Brainpickings”). In the post, she describes a little trick our brains play on us when we conceive a creative project. She says, “we invariably…
Read Morebeing bad at things
the wandering line exercise from lynda barry Being bad at things isn’t easy for anyone. It’s probably worse for perfectionists, but no one likes to suck. Lately, I feel like I suck. I have been humbled by two classes I’m taking. The first is called “Art for the Fun of It” and the second is…
Read Morebeing creative when you can’t hold your head up
So you may have read in last week’s blog that last week I had COVID. I know some people seem to skate right through it, but I wasn’t one of the skaters. I know it could have been way worse and I’m grateful to be on the upswing, but it was rough at times. Last…
Read Moreeyerolls
Have you heard of impostor syndrome? Or as David Epstein calls it: “I’m a fluke syndrome”. I have it and I have it bad. Impostor syndrome is believing you don’t have a place at the table. Thinking you’re a hack. A fake who is going to be found out. Your internal voice is saying one…
Read Moresomething small
Welcome. So, this week, I’ve been working on little playing card collages. It helps me to have something small to work on. Something I can go to when I feel stuck, uninspired, or I’m just tired. Something that lets me be creative even if I only have a few minutes to spare. I’ve been making…
Read Morethinking about the creative process
I’ve been reading and thinking about the creative process a lot lately. I just finished watching an awesome conversation between David Epstein and Malcolm Gladwell on creative process. They discuss an idea where there are two types of creative processes: that of the architect and that of the gardener. (Well, I guess they included a…
Read Moremy notebook addiction (part one)
I love, love, love Field Notes notebooks. I fell in love with these beautiful notebooks a few years ago and I can’t stop collecting them. It’s so bad I even subscribe to receive the Quarterly Limited Editions. That’s right, four times each year, I get another 6 notebooks in the mail from Field Notes. And they’re…
Read Morestarting somewhere
Sometimes starting a new project can be daunting. (Like this blog.) Where to start? This is a collage I made while pondering this question. It’s not so important where you start, is it? It’s just the act of getting started. Starting somewhere. Anywhere. It got to be fun looking for “places” to start that aren’t…
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