The most difficult step of any undertaking is often the beginning.
Make the First Move
Get Out of the House
A change of scenery now and then is essential
The Creative Process: A Summation
Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure. I've been writing for this site for a bit over two-and-a-half years. Recently, the thought came to me that a summing up of where we've been might be in order. This is my current (most recent) take on the creative process. Like most things in life, this is…
The Creative Gambler
Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure. I want to say up front that I don't advocate gambling in the conventional sense. The house always wins, and there are no exceptions to this rule. However, I've been thinking this week about Kenny Rogers' 1978 song The Gambler (written by Don Schlitz in 1976). Specifically, the…
Insightful Examples of Inciting Incidents
Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure. I've been thinking a lot lately about inciting incidents and the different ways they can be used in fiction. An inciting incident generally launches the primary conflict or action in a story. Joseph Campbell referred to the inciting incident as a call to action. Sometimes our characters seek…
Continue reading ➞ Insightful Examples of Inciting Incidents
Do Good Things
Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure. I was recently honored to be the subject of a blog post by Anitha Robinson for her Kindness is Everything blog. Anitha is the author of the Broken Worlds series of books, available on Amazon. The blog post was a brief story about a rescue dog I fostered…
Go Astray
Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure. I watched a delightful documentary recently (as I write this, it's currently streaming on Netflix). Bathtubs Over Broadway introduces us to the world of corporate musicals from the perspective of former Late Show With David Letterman writer Steve Young. First, Young discovered the likes of The Bathrooms are…
Dig Deep
Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure. I've come across two works recently that got me thinking about the importance of analysis in creativity. The first was a passage from Steven Hyden's 2018 book Twilight of the Gods: A Journey to the End of Classic Rock. The book explores, among other things, cultural aspects of…
Space Matters
Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure. My wife and I recently watched Julian Schnabel's 2018 film At Eternity's Gate. In the movie, Willem Dafoe plays Vincent Van Gogh during the years he lived in the south of France. During a brief scene of Van Gogh arranging the space where he lived and worked, I…
Push Yourself
You are young and you are the future So suck it up and tough it out And be the best you can John Mellencamp, Minutes to Memories Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure. When I was in 6th grade, our class was given a weekly syllabus of assignments. If we finished those before the…
