One of the things that we do when we are blocked creatively is that we get involved in intense codependent relationships. We seem to pick people who are absolutely expert at turning the tables on our creativity. See if anyone in your present (or past) life fits these descriptions: -Crazymakers spend your time and money […]
The Magic of Artist Dates
My students understand “working” on their Morning Pages– after all, this is America, and we have a powerful work ethic. But the very same students who studiously apply themselves to writing their three pages a day often find themselves balking at my assignment of an Artist Date. And yet, an Artist Date is what fills […]
Photo Play
Yesterday afternoon, I went to my friend Robert Stivers’ studio. It is a loft space filled with giant prints from Robert’s portfolio. The prints were beautiful and exotic. Robert was to take a new headshot for me, and I, too, hoped to look beautiful and exotic. I dressed all in black– my usual attire. Robert […]
Keep on keeping on…
Very often, it is perseverance– not talent– which wins the day. Too often, we become discouraged by a single rejection. We forget that negative criticism is only one person’s opinion. Discouraged, we fail to go forward. This is where we often need the help of a “Believing Mirror”– someone who sees our potential and the […]
Beating the Blues
I believe that what is really painful is not practicing our creativity. It, to me, smacks of unrequited love: the wishing, the yearning, and the inability to engage. A great way to experiment with this is the next time “the blues” strike, try making something. Anything. A pot of chili, a cabinet, a wild paint […]
Accepting Ourselves… and our true delights
Sometimes as artists, we practice a self-loathing aesthetic that is like what adolescents do in terms of their physicality. This is a self-loathing that sets in and says whatever we are, it is not as good or as beautiful as whatever it is the other one has. If we are small, dark and exotic, we […]
What to do with Morning Pages?
I say that Morning Pages are a form of meditation. And just as we cannot repeat a meditation, we do not need to review our Morning Pages. I often joke, “First cremate the pages, then worry about the body.” I have had people burn, shred, and bury their Morning Pages. Speaking for myself, I saved […]
Saying “thank you”
We like to believe we must make things happen. We also like to believe we can’t. This means we worry about our powerlessness and get steeped in our own bitterness. The truth is, we are meant to co-create. In other words, we both make things happen and let things happen; we imagine and then we […]
Waiting for Fame
In a creative career, waiting for fame to hit is like waiting for rain in a drought. It keeps us squinting toward the horizon, jealous of our luckier neighbors and dissatisfied with our own condition. Our culture invites us to think of art in terms of product, and one of the by-products of the “product” […]
An excerpt from “Love in the DMZ”
Author’s Note Love in the DMZ was written during a long separation from the man I loved. I questioned his fidelity but loved him passionately. Written to be read either as a play or a novella, the letters proved cathartic. Performed as a play in letters, this piece is very well served by the simplest […]
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