This is one of the Paris paintings I sold in 2013. I always wanted to make a piece of metro ticket-related art and here it is!
I am so excited to go to Paris in May and June to work as an artist. I’m spending time in the next weeks getting clear on what that means for me. I worked with my art mastermind buddy Cassia Cogger to explore my painting creative edge. I’m very excited to bring my art to its next level in just a few months. Stay tuned for how you can be part of my upcoming Paris adventure!
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Creativity
Creativity blockers that may hold you back
Denver, 1996. I’m working at Capitol Hill Books. Fueled by my passion for writing, I decide to teach a poetry class. Called Poetry Unbound, it’s the beginning of my career teaching and coaching writers.
I didn’t know it then, but I was embarking on a lifelong fascination with the creative process. When I became a coach in 1999, I gained a set of tools that has helped me understand why and how we human beings make things. Twenty years in, and I am still utterly fascinated by why we do or don’t make our creative dreams real.
Do you wonder why some people seem to create more easily than others? There are many reasons why some people succeed in getting their writing out of their head and into the world, and as many reasons why they don’t.
I’ve isolated four of the main reasons people fail to honor their impulse to write or create. Any one of them will prevent you from writing. Most people experience a blend of them. Do you suffer from any of these creativity blockers? [Read more…] about Creativity blockers that may hold you back
Creative Quickie: Tour of My Art Studio
A quick visit to my art studio in Denver, aka my happy place.
Get a Creative Quickie Today
Follow Through and Finish: Lesson four: Make time for your projects
Week four! I hope you’ve found this month’s lessons to be useful in helping you wrangle your brilliance into form. Today’s lesson will be short.
Step one: Get present
Look at your calendar for the next three months. Take into account your existing obligations. Then return to your map and look at the stars next to the projects you wanted to focus on for the next three months.
Highlight those things. You should have no more than three projects or areas of interest highlighted for the next three months. Even that is probably too much but I understand it’s hard to choose just one thing.
Looking at your calendar and project desires might force you to re-assess. I almost always have to postpone or punt something off the list at this part of the process.
Step two: Make choices for this quarter
In a separate document, list those 1-3 projects you’d like to work on in the next three months. Go back to your mind map and take the action item bubbles and mark dates next to them. You want to be able to look at things in the order of when you do them. You might not have all the information to know this but make the best estimates you can.
Give yourself more time than you think you need. Take into account all the other things you are doing. If you have any big personal or work projects like: moving, a wedding, children’s graduation or other big events, take that into account.
Step three: Brainstorm next steps
Free-write your answers to these questions:
• What do I need to work on this?
• What will I do this week to prepare your workspace/workflow?
From here, put your action items into your to-do list.
Voila! This should give you a sense of how to move from planning stage to action stage.
Right about now, things might have gotten a bit, er, less fun. When I teach this in person, I always say, “What’s that smell? Oh, it’s the rubber meeting the road.”
I joke but it isn’t always fun to take a sober assessment of your time, existing commitments and things you want to add in. We LOVE possibility. It’s easy peasy to live with the possibility of all our great ideas. And it’s good hard work to actually make them. We may unconsciously know that and want to avoid facing the reality of our limitations, so we stay in the dreaming phase, clinging to the ephemeral pleasure of Dreamland.
Why do I care that you write and make things and not just dream about them?
I don’t give these lessons to you to make you feel limited. My intention is to train you to develop a process that helps you take your ideas into action and into the world.
I believe that it’s much, much, much better to face the challenges inherent in writing or making things than to sit on the sidelines as a dreamer watching everyone else publish their books, essays, blogs and whatnot.
I believe that making things makes us. I am a MUCH better person as a result of the books I have published, the art I have made and the things I have built through Original Impulse.
That’s why I do the work of helping creative people focus, follow through and finish things that matter to them.
That’s it! Our class is complete. Feel free to share your experience on the Original Impulse blog or hit ‘reply’ to let me know personally how this has helped you.
What’s Your Creative Edge for 2016?
Happy New Year, creative friends! I love this opportunity to hit the refresh, reset, refocus button. Frankly, it takes a few weeks into January before I feel I have solid footing on the new year.
But it’s never too late to consider your current creative edge.
The theme of my 2015 Annual Report was Thriving at the Creative Edge. At the beginning of the year, I posted a rallying cry to identify, focus on and live at your creative edge.
Rather than goal setting, or choosing a word of the year to focus my efforts, I prefer to think about my current creative edge. If you’re looking for a way to be more creatively satisfied this year, read on. [Read more…] about What’s Your Creative Edge for 2016?
How to WOW It Up Anywhere
What is Capture the WOW, anyway? It’s a workshop. An approach to travel and life. But what’s underneath it?
This summer, I clarified what this WOW is all about. I went to my summer office repeatedly (yoga mat in the park) to clarify what’s underneath all the color and play in a journal.
I’ll be practicing these tenets on my upcoming trip to Europe while I work my creative edge. I’ve got a wee project I’ll be working on that will help me make the most of the WOW I encounter in Berlin, Paris and Barcelona.
Let’s WOW it up
The basic principles of Capture the WOW can be distilled into eight tenets. No matter where you are, you can practice any one of these to feel instantly more creative.
1. Slow down. Speeding around all stressed out doesn’t improve your output or impact.
2. Make space. Nothing is created when our days are packed, when rushing from one thing to the next.
3. Go analog. Tune out to tune into the world and yourself. Treat yourself to some digital downtime for more insights and connection to your creative contribution.
4. Cultivate your attention. What you pay attention to feeds or depletes your vitality and your originality.
5. Attune to your WOW lens. Open yourself to the wonders of the world all around you. Be a porous wonder sponge for all the world has to offer.
6. Dial back the control tower. Become an explorer, a discover, an adventurer. Get lost to find treasures. Be curious.
7. Free yourself to play. Fun and lightness, especially with others, is key to regaining that kid-like joy that feels so good. Play stimulates our creativity.
8. Imperfection is your ally. Be messy. Be inefficient. It won’t kill you. But it may lead to your next best in art and life.
Notice this isn’t about having the right supplies, the right notebook or a whole afternoon to wander. You can WOW it up anywhere, anytime.
Try it! See if you can play with even one of these tenets and notice what’s different for your creativity.
Hint: number 1 and 2 are most important!
10 Insights from 100 Days of Painting
When I heard about Elle Luna’s call to action to do The 100 Day Project, I knew I had to sign up. The mission: make something – anything – for 100 days, April 6th – July 14th.
I had never done anything of this scope before. Sure, I’ve written every day for 30 days and I’ve also made art for 30 days, but ONE HUNDRED?! That’s a lot. That’s a big commitment.
I decided to do 100 paintings on square paper, 8 x 8. No more complicated than that. Within those parameters I could paint whatever I wanted. Here’s what happened, in ten insights. [Read more…] about 10 Insights from 100 Days of Painting
Ever get overwhelmed? Here's how I cope
You may think because I’m fairly effective in getting things done that I don’t get overwhelmed. That I don’t get distracted by what other people are doing and that I never fall prey to Bright Shiny Object Syndrome.
Oh contraire. I think this happens to all of us. And that’s normal. If we aren’t affected by the world’s bounty, we wouldn’t be creative people, would we? It’s good to let ideas and people influence us.
And, it’s good to be able to process all that goodness and turn it into meaningful things we care about sharing. Easier said than done. This is the kind of thing I coach my clients on all the time.
Here are my simple steps that help me get focused when overwhelm threatens to overtake me and my effectiveness. These practices are great for any time you are overwhelmed, not just post-travel. [Read more…] about Ever get overwhelmed? Here's how I cope
Behind the Scenes of My Two Hands Paperie Illustration Project
It’s so fun collaborating with other artists. So far this year has seen a lot of fun projects that I get to do with others.
I’m in the final revision process for the book I am illustrating for Cory Huff of The Abundant Artist. I just finished a project with Two Hands Paperie and I want to share my experience with you.
It’s been fun to photo document the process of making something. There was a steep but satisfying learning curve, but solving these kind of problems is fun for me.
In this photo essay, I hope to share some of that process with you. You may have seen some of these images from my Instagram feed.
The project: Full-spread illustration for Two Hands Paperie newsletter
The idea: Travel like an artist with my visual journaling capture process, Capture the Wow
My creative edge: What’s the point of view? How to lay out a pleasing page?
The deadline: June 18, 2015
Want to Wow it up with me in Boulder this summer? I’m teaching a half-day Capture the Wow class in Boulder on Saturday July 25th. Space is limited so if you’d like to Wow it up with us, head over to Two Hands Paperie to register.
Mid-Year Review with Mind Mapping
It’s June, halfway through the year. I love summer for the chance to play a bit more. But before I go into the play zone, let’s do a mid-year check-in. This doesn’t have to take long. Enjoy a glass of lemonade or tea and check in on your year so far.
Doing this kind of reflection process helps to:
- see if you are on track with your priorities
- surprise yourself with all the wonderful, unexpected things that have happened
- celebrate how much you’ve already accomplished
- prepare for the next part of the year
I love my mind maps, and here’s another way to use them as a project management tool.
In January, I did a quarterly mind map of my major projects. The focus for this map is my art and art business. I laid out the known projects for each quarter. I don’t use goals as much as a focus on projects and intention. You can see in the middle of my map is my focus for my art this year – Make and Sell Things.
Additional notes:
There’s not a lot on Q4, leaving room to grow and also to have room in case some of the earlier projects aren’t complete by the last quarter.
The 100 Day Project and subsequent show weren’t on the map at the beginning of the year. This is turning out to be one of the best things of the year, and I am glad I made room for it.
I later added a goal of $10,000 or more gross income from art sales. I thought I was halfway there, but doing this review forced me to look up the numbers. So far I’ve earned over $8,000 in art sales this year. It’s exciting to feel that I’m going to surpass my art income goal this year! This is a huge confidence booster and a good reason to do the review in itself!
When I revisited this, I added some things and relished that I seem to be on track with my art goals. Time for some coconut milk ice cream to celebrate!
A few coaching questions for you to reflect on your year to date:
- What was the focus of your year?
- What has helped you stay committed to your focus?
- What unexpected surprises happened?
- What’s your focus for the rest of the year?
Have you done your mid-year review? What did you learn from it?
Let us know in a comment below, and if this was helpful for you, please share with your friends!
Fight Overwhelm with a Mind Map of Your Month
If you’re like me and practically every creative person I know, you’ve got more going on than you can reasonably handle. Yet we seem to be missing the message – adding more and more to do doesn’t always feel great. Overwhelm is a real stressor and can degrade the quality of our days.
I try all kinds of things to be sane with my work expectations, and I always return to a simple, quick and easy method to cope with – and fend off – overwhelm. When I share this with my students and clients, it’s a huge relief to them. Finally, a way to begin organizing and prioritizing creative projects.
Our problem is we love many things. At once. All the time. But then we’re running around feeling stressed and not enjoying any one project because we’re devoted to so many of them.
A stern taskmaster would tell you to focus, to choose only one at a time. But I know you and I know me and we can’t do just one thing.
Here’s what I do to have a grip on the projects I take on and how to stop myself from taking on way too much.
I call it Mind Mapping Your Plate.
Here’s how to mind map your month
Before the beginning of the month, take one sheet of paper or a page in your notebook. NOT a big one – just a regular size piece of paper.
Put the month in the middle and make radial bubbles or boxes for EACH MAJOR PROJECT or AREA OF YOUR LIFE.
On the map, put items you are focused on this month. The things that are your priority this month. You can develop out the map with smaller pieces of each project. For the sake of illustrating it for you here, I just added the main projects.
It’s a lot on my plate in June, isn’t it? Notice the box at the bottom: Does not include. I don’t include the things I do on an ongoing basis. I probably should, because then I would have a more accurate picture of ALL the things I am spending my time on. But I use this to manage projects, not my entire schedule.
Additional notes
Notice how travel is a project. Each trip is its own project with planning, taking and returning from. That’s a lot of energy.
Note the # of work days in the middle heart. This doesn’t include travel days and Saturdays and Sundays. Only 13 days in the office! Whoa! That seriously makes me think about how to focus my time and energy on those days.
Since I published this, I have added more things. There’s the copy writing for a client. There’s the interview request. There will always be more things to do. I know it’s difficult to leave space for these things, but I try.
You can also map out writing projects with this method.
See additional notes at the bottom of the mind map.
Have you tried this method for organizing yourself? Do it now! It can take less than 5 minutes. Let us know how it goes.
Building a Living Around Your Creative Soul – Interview on Good Life Project
You never forget where you were when you ‘get the call’.
I was sitting in Black Eye Coffee in Denver, having my afternoon coffee/writing/art making ritual. I like to take myself to cafes even in my city, because it makes me feel like a traveler.
In between sketches, I checked my email. There was a note from Jonathan Fields, my mentor, ally and Good Life Project boss, asking about my upcoming New York trip. Turns out he wanted to invite me to come on his podcast for Good Life Project.
When this kind of opportunity shows up, it’s a full-body experience. The kind that makes you want to jump up and shout and dance and cry and scream. But I’m in a hip, trendy Denver cafe and everyone’s keeping their cool under wraps. So I go into the bathroom and dance and make noises of joy.
I’d dreamed about this, and hoped for it. For me, this is like being asked to be on Oprah. But I would never had thought I was ready to be a guest. I figured that was years away, when I was famous and accomplished. 🙂
I say this because this is one of my favorite podcasts. I listen every week and I can honestly say that my life has been changed from listening to these conversations.
My interview with Jonathan on Good Life Project went live this week, and as of the time of this writing, has been shared over 400 times on Facebook. I’m shocked and thrilled that this interview inspired creative people to feel good about their talents. It’s my work to help creative dynamos to get their work out there in ways that work for them, and if this interview helps, I am delighted.
Lucky for me, that same night I got the call, I was scheduled to have dinner with my artist friend Lisa Call at Root Down. I was bursting with excitement, and the staff noticed. They brought celebratory drinks to us and congratulated me, not even knowing what I was celebrating. This kind of service goes beyond service – it’s the kind of world I want to live in, where even strangers celebrate each other’s wins.
Backstory about the interview day
If you’re like me, you enjoy the story around the story, so read on if you want to hear what it was like for me to do the interview.
I was in New York in March to have fun with friends. I’d added the trip on to a visit to my family in Pennsylvania. On the day of my meeting with Jonathan, I decided to brave the bike rental system. I love biking in cities, but still, New York is kind of intimidating. YIKES!
I am nothing if not daring, so I paid my fee and jumped on a bike. Cycling through the Village was easy and fun and surprisingly mellow. I went straight to an art supply store. (Of course.) Then I biked to the recording studio for the interview.
I was nervous, but because I know Jonathan, it was easier to relax. He’s also a very chill guy so his calm made me calm. Still, by the end of the interview, I had no idea what I had said.
I thanked Jonathan and the recording guy and left the building. I was halfway down the block, floating on a cloud, before I realized where I was. This was a street lined with flower vendors. Flowers, one of my favorite things, lining the streets. I took it as a sign of love and beauty and gratitude and floated to the subway, where I promptly got lost.
It was truly a golden day. I went off to a museum to treat myself to more art and beauty.
Big thanks to Jonathan for the fun interview, big thanks to everyone who listened, and even bigger bow of gratitude for everyone who shared.
31 Benefits of Free-Writing
Perhaps you want to write. Your writing burns deep inside you. You know deep in your bones that you have something to say. Perhaps it’s a book that will help get your message out. Maybe your own personal story is burning a hole in your heart, just waiting to be told.
You may not even know what you want to write – you just feel…that…writing…urge.
But you ignore it. You do everything else first: From the big things: taking care of the kids and managing the daily operations of your business. To the small things: making sure your inbox is at zero or scrolling through Facebook.
I get it. We have all been guilty of postponing that thing that matters deeply to us. The small but persistent knowing that we have something to say is easy to drown out with the real and false demands on our time.
Sitting down to focus and get our writing out seems so big and daunting. We think we need a whole day to just get something out. Worse, we are afraid that when we do sit down, we won’t have any idea where to start or what to say. And what if something awful comes out?
I totally get all of these feelings. I have them myself and I see my clients and students process the same stuff. Luckily, I have a simple, fun and effective solution.
Since 2007, I’ve been leading a simple but powerful online class now called The Devoted Writer. For a month at a time, we all write for at least 15 minutes a day. It is awe-inspiring to watch all kinds of transformation unfold. I’m always blown away by how much can change from such a simple practice.
There are so many things that this writing method can do for any kind of writing – fiction, blogs, books, personal reflections. It’s like the Swiss Army knife of creative practices.
What’s even better, the benefits extend WAY beyond the page. It’s truly mind-blowing and heart-opening.I’ve been paying attention to the life-changing things writers in this class experience.
Here’s what writers reported consistent free-writing did for them.
Make a star next to the things you would like to experience now.
With consistent free-writing, we:
1. Release fear of what others think.
2. Easily find 15 minutes for writing every day.
3. Get out of our own way.
4. Make real progress on writing we can publish.
5. Finally have a reliable way to access and tell our truth.
6. Access inspiration, anytime, anywhere.
7. Develop and enjoy a consistent writing routine.
8. Appreciate that the time we spend on our writing as a gift we give to ourselves again and again.
9. Discover more about ourselves.
10. Release emotions that are holding us back.
11. Connect with a supportive writing tribe, finally.
12. Glean useful insights about our writing process.
13. Untangle sticky life issues.
14. Come back to our truth.
15. Recognize and claim our authentic voice
16. Play with new genres and styles.
17. Clear away the internal clutter preventing us from our good work.
18. Gain confidence.
19. Understand what’s truly important.
20. Make amends with the past.
21. Recognize new possibilities.
22. Eliminate distractions.
23. Build our butt-in-chair muscle.
24. Enjoy a daily no-calorie treat.
25. Become more courageous with our writing.
26. Extend that courage to the rest of life.
27. Learn how to show up even when it’s difficult.
28. Discover that we can create even when life gets busy.
29. Become more present to the simple wonders of the moment.
30. Finally befriend the inner critic so he no longer stifles our creativity.
31. Drop all expectations and just show up for our words.
Wow. I didn’t have to invent any of these gifts. These are all things that writers in my online writing class experience every single time. How many of these did you choose for yourself?
I want every single person who wants to write to have access to their creative powers like this.
Get my free guide on how to use prompts to write whatever you want here.
Interview with Cory Huff: How to Express and Enjoy Many Interests
I’ve been honored to be a guest on several cool podcasts in recent months, and I plan to share them with you here on the Original Impulse salon.
My pal and creative collaborator Cory Huff invited me to his Creative Insurgents video podcast last fall. We’d met up in Paris for pizza and he asked me to be a guest for him. This is one of my favorite interviews because Cory, founder of The Abundant Artist, was able to see how all of my diverse interests and talents combine in a cool way. I love that!
Don’t mind how scary we look in the screenshot here; we’re both really warm and lovely.
Show notes from Cory:
:47 – Cory introduces Cynthia Morris, artist, writer, writing coach, and fabulous dancer (you’re too kind, Cory!)
1:20 – Cynthia shows off her art journals a little bit and shows how she got started with them. She also mentions some resources from Frederick Frank, including Zen Seeing, Zen Drawing and Art As A Way.
5:20 – how visual thinkers can quickly capture ideas and thoughts in a visual format instead of journaling or note taking
11:00 – Cynthia and Cory discuss the fact that even artists who are very experienced feel insecure or are unaware of how good they are at their art. Cynthia talks about putting your head down and building up chops.
15:00 – Cynthia shares her tips on how to finish a book or other long-term projects. She emphasizes the importance of understanding that big projects really take something from you, and you have to strategize on how to deal with that beforehand.
20:00 – Cory & Cynthia both talk about dealing with self-doubt and how to face that kind of fear
21:00 – Cynthia talks about how her dancing videos help her filter out people who are not a good fit for working with her
25:00 – Cynthia talks about what it means to live a creative life on your own terms
Enjoy! I’d love to know if this interview sparked any new ideas or practices for you. Please tell us in a comment below. And maybe dance a little!