creativity + art + design articles

burning questions with the queen of uncluttering, erin doland

Erin Rooney Doland always impresses me. She's A+ organized, but not chilly 'n uptight about it. She's a ruthless time manager, but always has time to help. She hangs with Quakers and speaks to the high-powered women's groups. And she's smart, really smart.

She is: Editor-In-Chief of the uber popular Unclutterer.com, a Real Simple.com columnist, and a mama to a new baby and a new book: Unclutter Your Life in One Week: A 7-Day Plan to Organize Your Home, Your Office, and Your Life, with a foreword by David Allen and a glowing endorsement from my (other) favourite organizer, Peter Walsh.

Erin Doland's motto: simplicity is revolutionary. Clear the clutter so you can pursue what you love the most.

1. What do you know the most about? (more...)

 

how to kiss up to your muse

The Muse of love, art, cash, strategy, worship, desire, wellness, beauty, business plans.

Don't you adore her? Do you...adore her? Actively? Adore.

Muses simply must be adored. They're as grandiose as they are generous. They like to be respected. If you meet them half way, they'll give you the moon, the breakthrough concept, the stroke of...genius. Dis' your muse and she's likely to stop dropping by. She's righteous. Genius is like that.

As Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) puts it in her freshly legendary TED Talk, we've made "a huge error in believing that creative genius comes from the Self," rather than a greater source outside of us. Can you hear the Muses saying, "Yeah baby. Got that right. You say it sister."

There are a zillion starry ideas floating in the milky way and they need you as much as you need them. Genius is looking for a vehicle. You gotta pimp your ride.

HOW TO DO RIGHT BY THE MUSE

1. Drop everything when she shows up.
In an interview with Neil Young, Charlie Rose asks Neil about following his muse. (You won't hear this in the clip below.)

Charlie: "So if you get an idea at say, a dinner party, if you hear a tune or a lyric, do you excuse yourself form the party?"
Neil: "Of course. You never know when she'll (The Muse) come again. I'm responsible to her."

When you feel an idea comin' on, excuse yourself. Pull over to the side of the road. Get lost in the creative flow. Be late. Barge in. (Eccentricity makes Muses especially horny.)

2. Have your tools ready.
Master-writer Anne Lamott, keeps 3×4 white note cards and pens in every purse and drawer and vehicle to capture thoughts that float out as quickly as they float in. If I leave home without my kraft Moleskine and blue medium point PaperMate pens, I feel discombobulated, like I might miss my train. Keep a notepad by your night stand. Leave yourself a voice mail. Don't assume that the best ideas will come back to you.

3. Go looking for her.
You know where she likes to party: the art gallery, by the lake, on your morning run, when the stereo is cranked and the lights are low, in the stillness of a church or forest, when you first wake up. Set the stage and chances are she'll take to it.

4. Engage her.
She's busy, for sure, but The Muse LOVES it when you actually play with her. When she drops an idea in your bucket you can ask her what the hell she's thinking. You can ask her what chapter should come next, or where to look for funding. She could yammer 'til dawn and before you know it, you've mapped out your magnum opus.

5. Do what she tells you to do.
Ignore your muse at your own peril. She doesn't always have it right, or maybe we don't always hear her clearly, but the more you heed her wisdom, the faster you get to drive on the Creative Awesomeness Highway. You and The Muse in the diamond lane. Godspeed.

Charlie Rose interviews Neil Young :

 

11 productivity tips that creative types already know

Creative types get typecast as meandering goal setters for a reason. They tend to meander. We resist structure (even tho' we crave it it.) We relish spontaneity (even tho' we're intrigued by five year goal setting plans.) We tend to be driven by inspiration (when we're not obsessed with looking good on paper, or to our parents - who still can't figure out how we make a living.) We get there in our own way and when the 'flow' works, we're so smokin' productive that pert charts and to-do lists cringe in the wake of our creative productivity. Creatives have a thing or two to teach the Linears and The Planners.

CREATIVE PRODUCTIVITY THAT WORKS FOR BOTH ARTISTES & A-TYPE PERSONALITIES:

1. APPROACH EVERYTHING AS A CREATIVE OPPORTUNITY. There is no separation between life and work. The same opportunities to express yourself or get great ideas are at the dinner table, in the stock exchange, and on the subway. Put yourself out there.

2. OBSESSION IS ESSENTIAL. Know your art and your science. Immerse yourself in the cultures you love and work in: read industry news, the teachings of spiritual masters and successful entrepreneurs, listen to what the people you serve are longing for, asking for, and leaning toward.

To foster obsession:
3. Read a LOT of magazines. And then read some more ... about things related and unrelated to your work, Scientific American and Vogue, Dwell and Rolling Stone. Magazines are intensified viewpoints that can expand your perspective in just a few pages.

4. Create a style file or inspiration box of stuff that you love. Photos, articles, fabric swatches, postcards. I have an antique sake box filled with strange and lovely stuff. Sometimes I close my eyes and reach in to see what comes up - an Elvis coaster, a Zen koan torn from a divinity school program, an old essay or concert ticket.

5. Watch dox. I’m a documentary-phile (always looking for versions of the truth,) which gives me all sorts of weird, tragic, breathtaking imagery, inspiration, and facts to work with.

6. Engage with people that you don’t hangout with. Ask them big questions. Ask the cab driver what crazy stuff he's seen as a cab driver, ask your friend's teenager what they think about the future, ask your bank teller what it's like to work with money all day.

To keep moving forward:

7. GIVE UP QUICKLY. If something feels like a drag and is not generating the right response ... drop it like a hot potato. As Seth Godin says in his book, The Dip, “Fail fast.”

In order to give up quickly, you have to...

8. COURAGEOUSLY EXPRESS YOUR FEELINGS. When something feels very wrong, totally uninspiring, say so ... to yourself and your team. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you give up, it may spin you off into a better solution.

So that you can:

9. STICK WITH IT. If something feels fun, glimmering, exciting, and even one person has expressed wanting it from you ... explore every angle about how to make it work.

And be assured that:

10. BACKWARDS IS FORWARDS. Know that there is no such thing as waste. A painted canvass that didn’t turn out, a pilot group that fizzled, it’s all useful. I trash stuff and start from scratch often. Sometimes, especially in terms of web development, you start knowing that you’ll have to scrap half of what you build down the road - starting over is never really starting over. It’s life.

Which allows you to:

11. CELEBRATE OTHER PEOPLE’S CREATIVITY AND PROSPERITY. Honoring other people’s creativity and success helps shake loose our own brilliance. Whether it’s a hot website, a terrific outfit on the street, or a well known author - go out of your way to say, “You’re great!” “Way to go!” “I love what you’ve created.”

And then keep on creating for yourself. Ever so productively.

 

mesmerzing with sand, light and history

 

my studio: i heart tufte

My collection of Tufte works (it's killing me that I'm missing The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition), Arboretum by David Byrne, makes my heart smile, God stuff that I dip into once and a while, little book I found in a thrift store in Seattle a hundred years ago. My great, great grandma's cook book published in 1887! My grandma Alma's birthday book. A thank you card from a friend.

 

my studio: waiting space

An old canvass waiting to be painted over. My kid's totally fab post modern chickadee. Necklace feathers that I wear in my hair, usually for stage gigs. Healing hands. An anniversary postcard sent to Scotty.

 

i’m loving: gwen bell, kelly diels, innocence

1. I'm loving that Carrie from Seattle got one of my Trusims very stylishly tattooed on her back! Now that's a compliment.

2. Gwen Bell's 100% inspiring: How to create your personal manifesto

3. Every once and awhile you come across an emerging writer who is so authentic that their work is citrus-fresh and nourishing. And you think, "lot's of heart, but B+ skill." And then once in a blue moon you find a writer who not only has something piercingly insightful to say, but they have a talent for the medium, and you think: STAR QUALITY. I introduce you to: Kelly Diels.

4. Miranda July's home page is so clever cool, I did a snarl-smile because I wished I'd thought of it.

5. That my kid asked me this week if I knew any mean people, 'cause he doesn't "really know anybody who's really very mean." He also asked me what a spanking was. Had never heard of it.

6. The Pangea Organics Japanese Matcha Tea with Acai & Goji Berry Mask is like skin vitamins. And as for the packaging, you can plant the cardboard box it comes in and the embedded seeds will sprout into flowers. Way high vibe.

7. This quote from the Abraham-Hick's newest book, The Vortex, Where the Law of Attraction Assembles All Cooperative Relationships.
Attempting to Control Others Attracts More to Be Controlled...It is easy to understand how you would come to the conclusion that your path to feeling good is through influencing or controlling the behavior of others. But as you attempt to control them (through influence or coercion), you discover that not only can you not contain them - but your attention to them brings more like them into your experience. You simply cannot get to where you want to be by controlling or eliminating the unwanted.

What are you particularly loving this week?

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my new stationery collection: bold, lovely 'n stylin'

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wisdom + creativity

{If you're viewing this via email, click on the title above to watch the video clip.}

A great friend gave me the coffee table book, Wisdom for Christmas. And I actually read it. It's packed with layers of experience. Humbling. Argumentative. Informed. From Clint Eastwood and Frank Gehry to Jane Goodall and Vanessa Redgrave.

This video clip is great for two reasons: one, it highlights the immense power of the players, but it also shows how Andrew Zuckerman, the book's author/coordinator, just did it. He had a values-based vision, and zero experience as an interviewer. He aimed high. He didn't settle. He made himself "a servant to the pursuit of wisdom," and he made it happen. Gotta love that.

 

the first questions of publishing pursuits

I get a lot of email and questions in my Fire Starters about the publishing scene. Here are a few hard facts and beautiful possibilities of realizing your dream in the printed book world.

In the immortal words of Johnny Cash, "I've been everywhere, man." In terms of the book industry, I've agented books, I've designed books, I've helped a dozen authors self-publish their own books ... and I've advised hundreds of others not to self publish. I've worked on publicity campaigns with major publishing houses, I've done grassroots and highbrow marketing. I've had my own book go to auction to earn a six figure book advance, get published and make it on to the Amazon bestseller list. I'm currently in the glorious, grueling process of writing my next book: The Fire Starter Sessions.

So, naturally, I'm jaded. Really jaded.

And yet! I remain ever devoted to the art of the book and the game of publishing. I'm a romantic. Just like Johnny.

Creating a book is an intimate experience. You give shape to your innermost feelings, you share them with critics and other lovers of ideas and story. And then you shop that baby until the cows come home. How you do it is a very personal decision.

To Self-Publish or to Sign with a Publishing House? It depends how you define success. It depends what your motivation is ... profit or creative gratification? It depends on how talented you are and how timely your material is. It depends if you're really crazy, or just a little bit crazy.

The Pro's and Cons and the In's and Outs of Self Publishing and Publishing Houses:

DISTRIBUTION
Let's start with the most important aspect of making a book. Forget content and design, forget marketing and PR...for a moment. Getting your product into the hands of booksellers and book buyers should be your A#1, paramount big daddy priority.

Self pub: If you choose to self publish, distribution will be your greatest hurdle. In the eyes of major book chain buyers, you're a nobody. The head buyer at CostCo or Borders has established relationships with sales reps from publishing houses. They have buy-meets at book shows and scheduled times where they order dozens of titles at a time for the upcoming season. They won't even take your call. You will have to hire an independent sales rep to pitch your title.

Or...you can go to local bookstores and pitch it yourself. It's hell - a hell possibly worth walking through, but put your armor on, wear your lip-gloss and best smile, and be prepared to schlep books in your car trunk for weeks, months even.

Pub house: distribution is done for you. That simple. This is the single most important reason to try to get your self a book deal. Publishing houses have tentacles that reach far into book shows and bookstores across the world.

THE DESIGN PROCESS
Self-pub: guess what? You're now a book designer, content and copy editor, color expert, typography and paper specialist ... and you thought you were just a guy with something important to say. Even if you hire out your book to a graphic designer (and you probably should, for anywhere from $500 to $20,000 in design fees depending on the type of book you're producing,) the aesthetics of the book rely on your approval. Do you know what cover will appeal to consumers next season? Do you have access to the recycled paper printer you want who can print in bulk? For better or for worse, you will have total creative control. Could be a beautiful thing.

Pub house: I know more than a few authors who didn't know what their book cover was going to look like until they saw it for the first time on Amazon -- tragic but true. You may have zero say in how your baby is dressed. Could be a disaster. Could be a beautiful thing.

TIME TO MARKET
Self-Pub: The turn around time with a self-published book can be as fast as you can drive the process. Once it's written and edited, you can have a book in your hands in as little as two months. Zoom.

Pub house: Prepare to go gray before you see your book in stores. Unless you're writing about a time-sensitive topic of major cultural relevance (like, a meteor drops to Earth and you happen to be working on a book about How To Survive A Meteor Crash,) then you're likely looking at eight months to two years from the time you sign your publishing contract to the day your book is in the Barnes & Noble window. It's a long time.

Traditional publishing is a lot like the fashion industry. There are a lot of players involved and they each need lead time to do their job: the editing department, the foreign rights department, the designer, the offshore printer, the marketing team who is selling to stores a two seasons in advance, the publicity team pitching to magazines three to six months in advance, and the warehouse who needs time to ship to stores.

THE MONEY
Self pub: If you do it right, you can be earning as much as $10 bucks a book, perhaps more. Yipee! Hopefully that'll be enough to re-coup the capital you put in to fund the book ... graphic design, perhaps an indexer, various registration costs, marketing, a hefty Fed-Ex bill... It could all add up to thousands of dollars -- easy.

Pub house: A book advance is an incredibly civilized concept. You get paid in advance to write your book. Wow. You typically get a third of the advance money when you sign your contract, a third when you deliver your final manuscript, and a third when the book is off the printing press.

Most authors never see a dime after their book advance ... simply because they need to sell enough copies to "earn out" their advance. After you've sold the amount of your advance in books (essentially paying the publisher back for their investment) then you start to realize a royalty on books sold after that ... which is usually in the low range of a whopping $2 per book.

PUBLICITY
Self-pub: Got contacts? You better have. Facebook friends may not get you on the bestseller list. You need editors' emails and TV ops. It's timing consuming and critical. Not your thing? You're looking at a minimum of $5000 to hire a publicist to run a decent campaign for you.

Pub house: They've got contacts ... oodles of them. Media editors and producers are used to being pitched by publishing house staffers. But don't think for a minute that your publisher will take your book to the mount and flog it. It's a rare exception that any book is nurtured beyond a very concentrated, one-time push to the media that lasts about three weeks if you're lucky.

Whether you self publish or land a book deal ... publicity and marketing will ultimately be fueled by your stamina.

It takes a village to raise a book. But it takes your creative genius to make it, guide it, and carry it to the world ... whether that's with a prime-time media interview or small book signings where only two people show up ... and one of them is your mom.

Johnny Cash lasted so long in the music business not just because he was a pure talent, but because he was a remarkable combination of tough-as-nails and romantic. Either direction you take -- self publishing or landing a book deal -- you will need to be steely, you will need to embody passion, you will need to take your show on the road...everywhere, man.

May applause follow wherever you go.

 

letting go of cleverness makes room for true art

{This lovely little animation of The Golden Mean / Rule of Thirds is breathtaking and descriptive. I felt like my heart rate slowed down while I watched it inner-fold. Click here to view it's movement.}

The best writing advice I ever received was this: "Sometimes you have to let go of the jewels."

You have to cut out the best part.
You have to detach from your brilliance.
You have to trust that the whole piece is better the individual shiny parts that make you seem clever or wise.

So that sexy slogan ... That rapier wit one-liner ... That fancy feature or added customer service ... if those gems are throwing the whole package or project or intention off kilter, then they probably need to be slashed.

Final works of art find harmony. In even vulgar, dramatic, and absurd works of art there can be a high degree of cohesion and that's what accounts for it's impact. That's where skill comes in. You can be as wildly inspired and as daring as you want, but if you don't know the rule of thirds, or a bit of colour theory, or how to help the members of your jazz trio be heard in fusion, then you run the risk of tampering with the objective, which is to create art that conveys.

It's easy to get attached to our inspired moments and what they produce. Those a-ha's are a rush. And the rush is goood, it's essential in fact. Let it move you forward instead of rooting you to one place, or one ray of light. Let your clever bits and genius fuel your courage rather than your ego. Diamonds shine only after they've been cut.