I'll be the first to admit I'm not a people person.
tools and techniques
Creative Comebacks
Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure. I recently came across a compact disc recording of Elvis Presley's comeback special (officially titled "Singer Presents...Elvis!") that aired on NBC in December, 1968. Presley hadn't performed before a live audience in years. It was a dramatic example of a career comeback that, for a few years at…
Travel and Get Creative
Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure. I never get to travel as often I'd like, but I have had the opportunity to travel a little this summer. It reminds me how beneficial travel is to creative ventures and to life in general. Examples of creative travelers are well known. Van Gogh did some of…
Schedule Some Rejection
Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure. I've been reading a history of western classical music recently. In a chapter on Johannes Brahms, I found this passage very interesting. It's from an 1859 letter Brahms wrote to his friend, violinist Joseph Joachim, following one of the early performances of Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1 in…
Quarterly (Self) Review
Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure. Earlier this year, I made a decision that involved what I call "jumping off a cliff." I left my conventional day job for a life of free-lance writing and photography. There was (and still is) a lot of risk involved, but my personal risk isn't the subject of…
Concentrate Your Fire
Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure. I've been reading Dr. Maxwell Maltz's 1960 book Psycho-Cybernetics. While the book occasionally strays into the neighborhood I call "crackpottery," there is a lot of useful information. I'm not a fan of the term "self-help," but it's the term that's commonly accepted, so we'll go with that. If…
Take the Stairs
Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure. I've been on a brief summer hiatus. My wife and I were fortunate enough to spend a little time in the beautiful city of Montreal. While I get back in the swing of things, I wanted to share something we encountered while climbing two long flights of stairs…
Rest Like LeBron James
Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure. I'll acknowledge up front that I'm not a sports fan. I'm not a sports fan to such an extent that I would barely know the difference between a 5-iron and a cricket bat. However, I appreciate that athletics have a lot in common with the creative arts. Success…
Go the Distance and Wear Sunscreen
It's the time of year when schools all over are sending new graduates into the world. Even though it has been centuries years since I graduated from college, this time of year always calls to mind some of my favorite advice for graduates. Most people first heard this as the Baz Luhrman production "Everybody's Free…
Self-Publishing Experience #2
Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure. Last time, I recorded a few thoughts on my experience self-publishing my novel in paperback format via CreateSpace. I also published the book in digital format via Kindle DIrect Publishing (KDP) and wanted to share a few thoughts on that, also. In 2017, I self-published a short business…
The Creative Life Adventure 