Photo of Biosphere in Montreal displaying 500px watermark

Creative Credit

Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure. This post is basically a rant, and doesn't apply to the majority of readers, so my apologies up front. While browsing Twitter recently, I saw a retweet from a writer who included a photograph with her post. Since I'm involved with both writing and photography, I'm always interested…

Elvis Presley compact disc recording "Memories: The 68 Comeback Special"

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…

Man walking on sidewalk with graffiti "Listen" on utility post

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…

Black and white image of Montreal skyline with mural of Leonard Cohen

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…

Brown leather-bound note book

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…

Pickup truck and other vehicles driving on wide suburban road

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…

Many runners in half-marathon event

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…

Urban bicycle race

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…

Black and white photograph of New York City street scene

Work the Good Shot

Welcome back to the Creative Life Adventure. I'm not a big sports fan, but I do love the 1986 movie "Hoosiers." On the surface, it's about a high school basketball team and a coach with a troubled past. Of course, like all good films, it's about interesting characters, their relationships, and the choices they make.…