When it takes a whole village to be productive — During the summer of 2014, I found myself unexpectedly (temporarily) unemployed; I work as a paraprofessional and a vocational coach, a job which, despite its more abstract fulfilling aspects, usually financially necessitates I work through the summer. …

Where “Write What You Know” fails — Everything is cyclical. Trends come into favor for a time before fading into obscurity, oblivion, or (for the lucky few), dormancy until that magical time when they are not yet so far removed from our consciousness to be completely forgotten, but far enough removed to be romanticized and gazed at…

Inspiration has never been a problem for me. — Inspiration has never been a problem for me. Inspiration isn’t my issue. Inspiration, if you want to get technical, really only pertains to something that sparks the want to do something creative; it is the mental stimulant, what gets your thought process going, what drives your desire to create. Inspiration…

Make Your Attempts Early and Often, and Grow as You Go — I spent the better part of my life absolutely terrified of failure. It’s not a unique fear, I don’t think. I’d say it’s safe to assume that no one really enjoys failure; even if you’re of the mindset that failure is part of growth, it’s not exactly the most fun…

The Pressure to be Ever-Present on Social Media — Let’s not kid ourselves — there is massive pressure for online creatives to create. Ooh, how terrible — the expectation that we do that thing that we define ourselves by. How dare The Public expect writers to write, makers to make, artists to art, right? Well, no. Obviously. If I…

The Difference Between Giving Up and Moving On — As I’ve mentioned before, my wife has recently taken up drawing as part of her commitment to doing things that have previously scared her, or things she had considered out of reach — as someone mildly dysgraphic and fully aphantastic, drawing was not something she ever thought she would be…

Actionable Tips to Get Back in the Creative Groove — People talk a lot about creative block, and there seem to be two very disparate but equally passionate sides of the issue; on the one hand, you have people who wholeheartedly believe that creative block (be it art block, writer’s block, whatever your preferred medium is) is a natural byproduct…

Learn creative practice from the masters — children — I was the weird little kid who hoarded stickers. You know the one. Maybe you were the one. And, as I’ve mentioned before, it wasn’t just stickers — as I got older, it became notebooks, sketchbooks, scrapbooking supplies, stationery, inks, pens, paints, canvases. But along with that — absolutely and…

Discovering a symbiotic artistic arrangement — I’ve learned that when I’m facing burnout on a specific project — not the sort of crashing lethargy and irritability of a sort of globalized burnout, but just the itch to not be working on That Particular Thing anymore — the worst thing I can do is just stop working…

Seeing myself from a fresh perspective was a revelation — Unknowingly Embarking on a Journey I’ve been focusing on visual art casually since 2018, and more seriously since the start of the pandemic in 2020. …

Success is a journey. — Every once in a while, I hear some throw-away line that hits me unexpectedly. Lately, I’ve made it a point to take more creative risks, so I had the concepts of failure and success on my mind anyway, but there’s a scene in Season One of The Good Place where…

The surprising liberation of structure — For years, prior to the Covid pandemic forever changing my attitude towards creativity, I had a complex relationship to my own creative nature. Some of this was innate — I’m neurodivergent and have a hard time with executive functioning, particularly initiation and self-monitoring — and some of it was societal…