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Cynthia Morris

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Ready to make fun in your journal?

Recently, I got this note from a friend after one of my Friday ‘art shows’:
“I want to make art, too!”
I responded: “Tell me more. What medium?”
Her answer: “I dunno…just want to paint or something.”
Okay, so this isn’t someone wanting to switch careers. It’s not a person ready to switch mediums – from flute to painting.
It’s not even someone really wanting to make ‘art’. This is someone who wants to play.

Why play counts

She wants to relax her brain, get messy and enjoy color. Who wants to be surprised by her hand moving across paper.
She wants to be free – to have a place where it doesn’t matter how good she is.
When people come to my illustrated journal classes, this is what they want: play, freedom, unjudged creativity.
So I wrote this brief step-by-step process to enjoy risk-free creativity. Try this at home!

Free yourself up to play and create more

First, get a journal. No, don’t buy one. You already have one. Try this process without buying anything. Consumption does not equal creativity.
Start with doodling in your notebook or on a random scrap of paper.
Play with fun borders – I like a series of dots and lines.
Add color – if you have watercolor, do a wash over the whole page. Add lots of color.
Play with writing your name in fancy letters. Yes, like in high school.
Look around you. What’s that? A vase with flowers? Look at the flowers. Gaze upon them with the attentive eyes of a lover.
Then slowly put the pen or pencil to the page and sketch out the flowers. See how they connect to one another – draw that. See how the leaves are shaped – capture that.
Your big bad left brain will shout “This sucks!”
You just shrug and keep going. It doesn’t matter if you suck. This is the place – your play notebook – where no one, especially you, cares how bad you suck.
Go back to it. Keep putting line and color and form on the pages.
Maybe hum a little while you do it.

Keep playing

How’d that feel? Want more, right?
Stay tuned…very soon I’ll launch my plan to bring more creative play and freedom to your summer than you’ve ever had.
Get the scoop first! Sign up for Impulses and always be in the inner loop. Kinda like the inner tube but way more fun.
Tell me what this brings up for you. Wanna try it? Scare you away? What makes you get the notebook out and play? Dish in a comment below.
And share this mini play invitation with your friends! Because play is better together.

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What Helps You Make Your Creative Mark: Interview with Author Eric Maisel

An Interview with Eric Maisel

Eric Maisel is the author of Making Your Creative Mark and twenty other creativity titles including Mastering Creative Anxiety, Brainstorm, and Creativity for Life.

Eric coaches individuals and trains creativity coaches through workshops and keynotes nationally and internationally. Visit him online at http://www.ericmaisel.com.

I’d like to know more about what you call the “freedom key.” What sort of freedom are you talking about?

Many different sorts—let’s look at just one, the freedom not be perfect; or, to put it slightly differently, the freedom to make big mistakes and messes. Not so long ago I got an email from a painter in Rhode Island.

She wrote, “I’m a perfectionist and I want my artwork to be perfect. Sometimes this prevents me from getting started on a new project or from finishing the one I’m currently working on. I think to myself: If it’s not going to be the best, why bother to do it? How do I move past these feelings?”

One way to get out of this trap is to move from a purely intellectual understanding that messes are part of the creative process to a genuine visceral understanding of that truth.  You need to feel that freedom in your body. As an intellectual matter, every artist knows that some percentage of her work will prove less than stellar, especially if she is taking risks with subject matter or technique.

But accepting that obvious truth on a feeling level eludes far too many creative and would-be creative people. They want to “perfect” things in their head before turning to the canvas or the computer screen and a result they stay in their head and never get started. You have to feel free to show up and make a big mess—only then will good things start happening!

Another key that interested me is what you call the “relationship key.” What sorts of relationships did you have in mind and what can an artist do to improve his relationship skills?

All sorts of relationships! And relationships in the arts are frequently very complicated. You may be very friendly with a fellow painter and also quite envious of her. You may actively dislike a gallery owner or a collector but decide that he is too valuable to cast aside, maybe because he is your only advocate or your only customer. You may respect your editor’s opinions but despise the rudeness with which she delivers them.

There may be no such thing as a genuinely straightforward relationship anywhere in life but relationships in the arts are that much more complicated and shadowy. The main improvement an artist can make is to actually think about the matter!

You can decide how you want to be in relationships but only if you actively decide. You get to decide if you want to be honest and straightforward even if others aren’t, if you want to be polite and diplomatic even if others aren’t, if you want to be quiet and calm even if others are stirring the pot and making dramas.

It may not prove easy to be the person you want to be at all times and in all situations, especially since the marketplace has a way of throwing us off our game, but you can nevertheless hold the intention to try your darnedest to be the “you” you would most like to be. This takes thought and preparation!

Thanks, Eric, for sharing gems from your book with us!

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Are you tinkering or forging ahead?

Sometimes we get caught tinkering with the known. Tweaking code. Revising the first 30 pages endlessly. Painting the same subject again and again.
This is not creativity at its best.
Cynthia Morris illustration coaching creativity
I know what helps me forge ahead into lands of discovery and insight: free writing. This simple method popularized by Natalie Goldberg, helps writers of all levels and genres – even people who don’t want to write but need to for work – to get out of the known and forge ahead into creative territory.
My popular online writing class is a safe place to write your way forward. Join us every day in May to write your way to your future.
What helps you forge ahead into new territory?

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How to write books and articles more quickly

All of my clients bump up against the frustration of how long it takes to write. Because we can access and send things at lightning speed, we think we should be able to write and create that quickly. But writing remains a slow process. Especially a book: this requires deep thinking and space to hash out and develop our ideas.

I think what you’re looking for is more efficiency so you can make the most of your writing time. You can set yourself up to write more efficiently. The main work is knowing your own style and systems and sticking to them without wavering.

 

Here are seven suggestions for feeling like you are mapping and writing with more efficiency and momentum: [Read more…] about How to write books and articles more quickly

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My Secret Sauce for Creative Success

I’m as nutty as the next creative person – lots of ideas, interest in a variety of mediums, a preference for play over work.

Secret sauce for creative success
Okay, I'll admit that my creativity is also fueled by caffeine - yummy tea like this!

So why have I been able to consistently start, finish and launch e-books, books, classes and programs? How do I make time for the creative adventures that are fun for me and continue to work?
The short answer: I became a coach and that forced me to the finish line in two ways:
1. I learned productivity and time management skills, and tweaked them to work with my creative ‘insanity’. I kept training myself to do things I didn’t want to do so I could have time to work on projects that matter to me.
2. I dug into my value of integrity; if I was going to help other people be creatively successful, I better walk the talk.
But the long answer? I discovered and held to my three F secret sauce: focus, follow through and finish.

Focus

Every year, I decide what my focus for the year is. This year, it’s making and showing my art, and developing my personal practices in order to have a life outside my business.
Every month, I make a map of the projects I am working on that month. I set deadlines and drive myself toward them.
Every week and every day I force myself to focus on what matters to me and the people I serve. This isn’t easy, but I am committed to refining my work and my life. I’m always learning and that’s why I invest in coaching and programs like The Good Life Project.

Follow through

Like most creative superheroes, I receive a daily stream of new! exciting! different! paths I could follow.
It’s so frickin’ hard to ignore the thrill of these new things. Every day I leap like a trout at small flies that hover on the surface of my idea stream.
But I’ve learned that I’m only allowed to add new things if I am still able to follow through on my current projects.
The main way I am able to follow through is to be accountable to someone else. I use my mastermind partnerships to stay on track.

Finish

Because I’m not able to start new things until I finish current projects, I am motivated to complete things. I also know that great ideas have a shelf life and if I don’t get it out into the world, the idea will wither or someone else will do it. Which would stink.
It’s not easy to drive projects across the finish line. But the more I do it, the more trust I build that I can finish important creative work.
That’s it. This is how I stay on the right side of the nutty line and don’t veer into ‘flaky’ territory. This is what I help my clients do: focus on what matters to them, guide them to follow through on things that will get them where they want to go, and keep them on track to finish their best work.
That’s my secret sauce. Don’t get me wrong; I still struggle with all the same issues we all face in the adventure of living our best creative selves. But I find that this mantra or policy really helps me stay on track so I feel more successful as a creative person.
What’s your method for staying on track to ensure your creative success? Tell us in a comment below, and if there’s someone in your life who might benefit from this simple formula, for goodness sake, share this with them!

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Artists and writers: drop the confusion and define your own labels

At an art gallery, I squirm when the owner asks if I’m an artist. After hesitating, I finally say no. But I’m not convincing myself or her, and my hesitation just confuses everyone.

Which do you choose?

Have you found yourself unable to claim ‘artist’ ‘writer’ or ‘photographer’ even though you write, make art and take photos on a regular, if not daily basis?
I coach a lot of beginning writers who struggle with calling themselves writers. I tell them, if you write, you’re a writer. But it’s not as simple as that.
There are two sides that make it a sticky issue for people to claim what they are: the artist or writer herself and the person on the other side. And the assumptions others make based on what we call ourselves.
It’s the gap between your label and their label that causes us to disown ourselves. Even when we work regularly on our art and make money at it, we squirm.

Decide who defines you

In our culture – I’m speaking of the Western culture of capitalism, the labels we give ourselves imply a monetary component. If we say we’re a writer or an artist, the implication is we make money doing so.
But that may not be the defining factor for the creative person. I make art every day. I do this because I like it and because I am trying to improve. Doing art improves the quality of my life as well as my art making skills.
I have made money from selling my art. But that’s not my primary goal now, and I’m not sure if it will ever be.
Am I am artist?
I write every day, and publish my writing on this blog and elsewhere. I write to get my ideas about the creative process into the world. I write to help others.
Writing made up 19% of my income last year.
Am I a writer?
I have no problem calling myself a writer or an artist – to myself. It’s speaking this to others that brings complications and assumptions.
Let’s stop the squirming about how we label ourselves. Here’s how:
1. You decide what criteria you will use to determine if you can own the label ‘writer’ or ‘artist’.
2. You decide whether you want to have conversations with strangers about your work. You decide whether you want to open yourself to their labels and assumptions.
If you have a hard time claiming a label for yourself, consider what is important about calling yourself writer or artist. Consider if it’s a label you need to claim privately or publicly.
What are your criteria for the labels you affix to yourself? How do you deal with others’ assumptions? Share with us below what works for you, and be sure to pass this article to your friends who struggle with this.

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Which Is Better: Inspiration or Influence?

People tell me I am inspiring. I’ve been uncomfortable with this for a long time. I finally realized why.
I want to be more than inspirational. I want to be influential. As a coach, I want to see people make specific and positive actions to bring their ideas into form. I love that I bring inspiration. And I want to bring change too.
What’s the difference between inspiration and influence?

Inspiration

Inspiration sparks an emotional quickening. It uplifts, infuses us with hope, generates new ideas and gives us the sense of possibility and faith. I feel moved when I am inspired.
Some of my inspiration comes from:
Cities, nature, oceans, movies and books.
TED talks
Justine Musk
Good Life Project TV
Design Matters Podcast by Debbie Millman
Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Non-Conformity

Influence

Influence exerts a specific, directive force to provoke change on a sometimes daily or consistent basis. Influence makes things happen.
Some of my influences are:
The weather, my emotions, my food choices.
Susan Piver
Kelly Newsome
Jonathan Fields
This Epic Life
Moondance Botanicals
Kindness Yoga
Art Biz Coach
The Kitchen Skinny
Natalie Goldberg
I could go on but I’ll stop there. I’m sure there’s crossover and in some cases, we’re talking semantics. I could argue that the flowers both inspire and influence me. And the tea with its ritual hits both influence and inspiration.
My main reason for bringing this conversation up is because I want all of us to glean inspiration and take action. I am not okay with sitting on the sidelines all inspired and no action.
Have you considered what inspires you – makes you feel good and hopeful – and what influences your life on a daily basis?
I invite you to make a list. It’s a good practice to see what you’re consuming and what’s helping you create. Share your list in a comment below or a link to the list on your own blog.
And don’t be stingy – share this post! I’m trying to be an influence and need your help to do so.

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Happy Birthday, Sylvia Beach!

Today marks the birthday of Sylvia Beach, the Paris bookseller who changed the world when she decided to publish the renegade novel Ulysses by James Joyce.

Sylvia Beach mural with author Cynthia Morris
This photo was taken at the Sylvia Beach Hotel in Oregon

Sylvia’s model of community, her passion for books and her tenacity that allowed her to carve out a life in Paris inspired me to write and publish my own book.
Chasing Sylvia Beach is the story of a young bookseller who longs for an adventurous life. She finds it in an unexpected trip back through time to Sylvia’s world in inter-war Paris.
To celebrate Sylvia’s birthday today, March 14th, 2013 I’m offering a deep discount on the Kindle version of Chasing Sylvia Beach. Get your copy today only for $4.99.
Pick up your Kindle copy of Chasing Sylvia Beach here.
 

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Fill a 60-Page Moleskine Notebook in Two Hours? Impossible!

Mia at Two Hands Paperie in Boulder asked me if I could provide a sample journal for my Journal Juju class there. I didn’t want to release one of my own notebooks, so I made a counter-offer.
I’d pick up a Moleskine Japanese Album and see how much of it I could fill in two hours. Using the methods and exercises I teach in my Journal Juju class, I’d see how far I could go.
Now, my class is NOT about speed or competition or doing anything quickly. It’s about slowing down, enjoying what’s around us, and using all of our senses to record that in a little notebook. It’s fun. It’s easy. It’s play and it doesn’t require art skills.
I just thought it would be fun to see how far I could go in two hours, and I filmed myself playing in the notebook at The Kitchen Next Door in Boulder. Here’s the video, speeded up for the sake of time.

The next Journal Juju classes at Two Hands Paperie are on March 16th and April 7th, 2013. These classes fill quickly, so call Two Hands Paperie to register today:  (303) 444-0124
Don’t worry; we won’t be rushing or trying to fill the notebook during the class. We’ll be slowing down, tuning in, and having a great time together.

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Join the Wild Money Revolution and Fall in Love with Money

What is it about a new enthusiasm that makes us want to run out and spend money?

With my new focus on art making, the possibilities to buy are endless. New books. The incredibly seductive lure of the art supply store. Surely I need to get a new journal every week, right?

Then there’s the learning curve. The more I practice, the more I see the need to improve. Surely I need to take a class or sign up for some expensive retreat like the month-long program in New York at the Visual School of the Arts.

I see this trend with myself and my clients: the creative impulse is immediately followed by the spending impulse. But I think this urge to open our wallets is not based on need, but on our own discomfort.
We’re uncomfortable that the true next step is to sit the hell down and do the work. Fumble through that shaggy first draft. Fill pages of crappy sketches of distorted faces. It’s so much more fun to go out and get a (cheap) thrill by buying something we’re convinced we need.

Years ago I got my financial act together. But recently, I’ve had to do a refresh on my spending, saving and buying patterns. I’ve had the good fortune to work one-one with Luna Jaffe, an amazing woman who’s both artist and financial planner.

She gets this creative urge. She doesn’t tamp down my enthusiasm for my art. Instead, she points me toward solid practices that help me feel good about creating and about my money relationship.

Luna’s book, Wild Money, offers deep insights into why we thoughtlessly spend. Luna’s book kindly guides us – in bright, beautiful color – to design a financial life that supports our wild creativity. This book is part of Luna’s mission to lead a money revolution based on love, creativity and mindfulness.

Be part of the revolution and get your hands on Wild Money so you can create and play with ease, knowing you’ve got your money thing handled.

Won’t it be fun to say, I love money and money loves me, and to believe it? Join the Wild Money revolution now and tell your friends, because being rich in all ways is better with friends.

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Confessing My Notebook Obsession

I’m here to confess: I’m a notebook geek. In this video I dish on my obsession, letting you into the pages of the various notebooks I use. I also share some great resources for journal lovers and at the end of this long-ish video, something unexpected and funny happens.
 

If you’d like to be this geekish with notebooks, join me in filling your pages on a daily basis. In my popular Free Write Fling class, we write every day for at least 15 minutes. This is guaranteed to get you past the fear of the blank page and help you overcome that tendency to fill only the first few pages of a notebook.
Join us now to write every day in March.

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Back to Class: Designing My Art School Curriculum

I always loved school, but I didn’t love getting an F in high school art. Now that I’m gearing myself toward making art, I am eager to learn and improve. I’m also eager to be financially prudent.
So it’s back to school for me, with my own art school curriculum.
I adore this concept of earning my A from Rosamund and Benajmin Zander’s wonderful book The Art of Possibility.
Current favorite podcast: Design Matters by Debbie Millman.
Books resource: Denver Public Library, for which I am eternally grateful, otherwise I’d be penniless from buying so many books. Check out more books in my art school reading list.
Other specifics:

  • Daily sketching
  • Weekly urban sketching excursions
  • Weekly illustrated column at Original Impulse blog
  • Weekly Friday art show and share
  • Continued learning about processing for digital sharing
  • Monthly meetings with art buddy
  • Continued absorption of the wonders of the world and openness to juju, guided by intuition and enthusiasm.

 How do you focus your ‘side project’ work? Do you use the frame of a curriculum or something else? Share in a comment below, and if this article inspired you, share it with your friends with one of the buttons below.