Tag: creativity

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My Books

Escape Writer’s Block with The Burnout Journal

A few summers ago, I got the idea for a prompt journal. It was around that time I realized my biggest adversary in my creative life wasn’t rejection, impostor syndrome, or people being rude on the internet. What gets me down the most is burnout. Writer’s block, art block, whatever you want to call it. Paralysis and lack of motivation seemingly from some invisible well running dry.

I created the journal pretty quickly. Several of my immediate family members didn’t know I was working on it until the proof arrived. I wanted to make something to help other creatives—especially writers, artists, and poets like me, who might be facing the same things.

What is the journal, exactly?

It’s a collection of 101 prompts. But these aren’t the usual art or story prompts. They’re not one word or even one sentence written at the top of the page. I wanted to go deeper than that. I wanted to jump-start the creator’s mind by beginning to expand on the ideas before handing them over.

Writing the prompts in the journal was a good exercise for me in itself. Each prompt is a suggestion—or multiple suggestions in one—of a story. These stories are both full of possible detail and wildly open-ended.

But there was another element I wanted to address with this prompt journal. I know a burnt-out creative mind is easily overwhelmed, so I wanted to make sure that—while giving you plenty of fuel for your smoldering artistic fire, I also provided some guardrails to keep you from pushing yourself to make every prompt a whole project. I only give you two pages per prompt to explore your story. As a result, you should feel the delight of finishing a mini piece after completing each prompt.

Another unique thing about the Burnout Journal is the fact that I intended the prompts to be used for whatever creative medium you like. You could be drawing, writing flash fiction, composing poems, experimenting with comic strips or even just rambling on in prose. Here’s an example or a completed spread, using prompt no. 2. I opted to draw a map and write up a little mock travel guide to my fictional self-portrait island.

 Who is the Bunout Journal for?

Artists and creatives. I know. That covers a lot of ground. Though I’m not really in the camp that insists literally everything is a creative art (come on, now. Let’s not get silly.) I do think most people have a creative streak in them. It might not be highly developed as it is in those of us whose lives revolve around it, but I think a lot of people could get something out of this journal. Or should I say, put something into it.

However, there is a reason I aimed it at artists and creatives. Here’s the thing: if you’re kind of more of a normal human, burnout is going to manifest in other areas of your life probably more strongly than your creativity. You might struggle with energy or motivation to do things or feel sort of blah and directionless at work or in your social life. But if you’re a creative artist, when burnout hits, the main feeling is going to be, “Help! I can’t CrEAtE sTUFF!”

And maybe that’s the main difference between creatives and more normal people.

Where can you get it?

I published The Burnout Journal through Amazon KDP, so it’s available from Amazon right here.

Hopefully I can be a part of your escape from burnout and provide you with a refreshing way to shake off the doldrums and get back to doing what you love. Feel free to reach out to me in the comment section if you’re feeling creatively stuck.  I’m working to make this blog a resource for frustrated creative types, so if that’s you, don’t hesitate to request post topics!

You can get through this.

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Creativity

How I Reset My Goals for Fall

Here it comes, the unchallenged Best Season ™ in all it’s glory. If you know anything about me at all, you know I’m a fall person. My novel The Boy Who Called the Foxes is a whole testament to that fact. I love the cool clear air, the wind, the long nights, the changing leaves, the excuse to be quiet and take it all in.

But aside from simply soaking up the beauty of the season, I also like to reset my goals for fall. Actually, I like to reset my goals about quarterly. Preferably at the beginning of each new season. But with autumn being my favorite time of year, I try to go out of my way to make a particular effort to plan for it when the walnut leaves start to yellow in September.

How do I reset my goals for fall?

Typically, this involves a lot of list-making and leafing through notebooks, for me. I take a look at everything I’m currently busy with, the things I’m about to get busy with, and the things I wish I was busy with and start thinking seriously about all of it.

And by “thinking seriously” I mean I try to keep a very open mind about my possibilities. Things tend to get a little overwhelming over the summer. I don’t know why that is. Maybe I take on too much at the beginning and put it off too much due to the summer laziness that usually sets in.

Fall is a good time to make changes. And I find I’m quite ready to do that around the beginning of September. So, what are some steps I like to take?

  • Declutter my to-do list

You mean, give up on things?! Well, kind of. I keep a running list of goals for my year and around autumn, I get a strong urge to cut some nonsense out of it. I don’t like to cram at the end of the year. Often, I get a new burst of energy and a new mindset in January, so I prefer not to be hustling like crazy in November and December if I can help it.

  So, how do I decide what to cut? Usually, I’m able to find things on my list that are both unnecessary and boring to me. Busy work. Social media efforts that aren’t paying back. Projects I don’t find inspiring at all. Just shamelessly cut these things out. You’re not a quitter. You’re prioritizing.

  • Change something

You might want to switch up your main project. You may have one that you’ve been dying to focus on but have been holding back because it isn’t your official WIP. Time to make it official.

  Something I’m changing is my social media strategy. For me, Instagram used to be fun—back before I was trying to be so smart with it. Now it just feels like a lot of pressure, and I’m not seeing the ROI I want. So, I’m relaxing with IG and shifting my attention to what’s actually my favorite social media: Pinterest. (Please follow!)

  • Prioritize rest & family

Fall is the perfect time to get cozy and make a doubled effort to enjoy the people in your life. I may or may not have been working a little too much this year. Too often I find myself shut up in my room headaching at my desk when I can hear my family enjoying downtime together elsewhere in the house. That’s miserable. Why would I do that to myself?

  I’m a massively introverted person. I’m very independent and value solitude and hard work to quite an unusual extent. But too much of that can still be harmful. Humans, no matter how driven and introverted, need to connect with each other just for the sake of talking and laughing and chilling out now and then. You’ll cease to function otherwise. So, take some time for those things this autumn.

  • Find large immersive projects—minimize scattering yourself

I run in a lot of directions and lately I’ve felt like I’m losing touch with my main thing. I’m writing a six-book series right now. I’m supposed to be working on book five.

  Nothing quite beats spending a whole afternoon and evening clicking away at a keyboard, completely immersed in another world. I miss those five-thousand-word days. I miss those ten-thousand-word days. Well, those are a little crazy, but they sure feel awesome now and then. I’m going to make myself some wordcount trackers and focus on my big projects for a while. I want to make some major progress on the things that make me feel the most accomplished at the end of the day.

  • Choose one more thing to finish this year

We’ve only got a few months left at this point. Time to be realistic. What can we finish in that amount of time?

  Try to find a larger goal, but one you’re fairly close to checking off. Put it first. This is the homestretch, and I typically want to finish the year with a bang of some kind. Even if this is the only thing you finish in the next few months, you should feel proud of it. I hope to get the first draft of book five finished before the new year. If that’s all I achieve before January, I will still be pleased with myself.

All this shouldn’t be done in one sitting. Take some time to think about it, pray for direction, take a walk in the woods, etc. There’s no real rush—and that’s a key point to remember. You have to ease into new routines and reorient your mind for new goals. That’s why seasons don’t change all at once.

Take your time. Enjoy the process. Let yourself hope for the best and find the most rewarding ways to get there. Fall is a refreshing and energizing season. If you’re enthusiastic about your goals, you’re not likely to spend it burnt out.

Happy Autumn!

Categories
Creativity

How to Recharge Your Creativity with Hobbies

You know what’s wrong with a lot of people anymore? They don’t have real hobbies. Too many people when I ask them what they do in their spare time say things like “Netflix,” “YouTube,” “Shop online,” “Listen to music.”

Not that any of that’s bad. Those are nice things to do for entertainment and relaxation when you don’t feel like doing much else. But I wouldn’t really call any of them hobbies. At least, not the type of hobbies I think creatives in particular benefit from.

If you’re like most artists, boredom is a serious issue. Under-stimulation is a villain that can often leave you feeling dull, depressed, and uninspired. But art is a lot of work, and we can’t do it all the time. Rest and downtime are important. Hobbies can be a form of active-rest that can bring fun and variety into your day-to-day life.

The trick is to find one that works for you. Here are a few things to consider when you look for a hobby.

What to look for in a hobby:

  • The right learning curve Everything requires a bit of a learning curve. Acquiring a new skill is part of what makes engaging in hobbies fun. But you have to know how much learning you’re willing to do. Don’t choose something that overwhelms you. That would defeat the purpose. A good option is to start with activities you’ve done in the past. What did you do as a child that might have some slightly more advanced version you would like to try now?
  • Mental engagement Yes, you probably want your hobbies to be fairly easy, but if they take too little brain-power, what’s to keep your mind from wandering to all the other things you think you should be doing when you’re trying to enjoy yourself for once? Look for something that requires you to be mentally present. Let yourself shamelessly focus on something “unimportant” now and then.
  • A chance to connect with others A lot of hobbies are solo pursuits, but not all of them have to be. Sometimes it can help to do something that other people join you in. Weather it’s one-on-one time with friends or family members or joining clubs or groups, hobbies can be a rare chance for us solitary creative types to interact with other humans. And if you have something you actively do with other humans, you can avoid some of the painful small talk, which is a huge bonus.
  • Relaxed expectations Let’s face it: we creatives have extremely high expectations for ourselves. We can get very hung up on our goals and always seem to end up dissatisfied with our own performance. With hobbies, we can actually get some practice in not being so hard on ourselves for a change. Look for something you find enjoyable even if you aren’t any good at it.
  • Fun Yes. Hobbies should be fun. Don’t do anything just because it’s popular or impressive or seems like something you should enjoy when you don’t enjoy it. Find something that’s actually fun for you.

Okay, so you want ideas. Here are my ideas. Feel free to start here.

Hobbies to Consider

  • Gardening

I dove into this one this year and I don’t regret it. It gets you outside, gets you active, and lets you exercise your artistic mind with design and planning for landscaping and plantings. I built a goldfish pond with a mini waterfall earlier this summer. I also planted a couple of flowering cherry trees which will be awesome if they survive the deer.

What if you don’t have that kind of space? Try container gardening or terrariums. Get into houseplants. (Get a snake plant if you’re afraid you’ll kill it. They’re basically immortal.)

  • Art journaling

Every time I think about multimedia art journaling I wish I did a lot more of it. Go get yourself a sketchbook with good heavy paper and start right now. I don’t care if you think you’re visually artistic or not, you have to try it. Look up some inspiration on Pinterest and start ripping things up and gluing things down and splattering paint and writing aesthetic quotes over it all in your messiest hand lettering. Trust me.

  • Inventing games

Have you ever tried this? I feel like everyone makes some ambitious attempts when they’re kids. I certainly made up quite a few. I still do it now and then. If you have a playful side in your creativity at all, you could try inventing a board game a card-game or some active game if you have the energy. (If you have the opportunity to test these on kids, all the better. You can get your hands on free or cheap programs for creating computer games if you have any technical inclination. Both of my younger brothers do this occasionally.

Honestly, what I really want to try someday is writing escape room games. They fascinate me. I love the combination of puzzles, storytelling, and in-person participation. I’ll probably try that someday.

  • Cooking

I’m a bit of a disaster in the kitchen myself, but some people have a lot more patience for cooking and baking than I do. Honestly, if you’re one of these people, or think you could be, please spend some of your free time adventuring in that department. Not only are you doing something creative and fascinating, you’re also doing a service for humanity by bringing more great food into the world. That’s something everyone can appreciate.

  • Photography

I’ve never taken a single photography class. I don’t even have a working camera besides the one on my phone right now. But I love photography. I really enjoy going out on a hunt for subjects, perspectives, and lighting to capture and bring home. Then there’s the editing part which is also quite satisfying even if you’re not a pro. Overall, I feel like photography makes me look at the world differently, which is something I always find exciting and worthwhile.

  • Pen-Paling

Why did we have to stop writing letters? Sending and receiving letters is a unique experience. Weather you enjoy it for the chance to improve your handwriting, a way to deepen friendships or an opportunity to create intricate mail-art, getting a pen-pal makes for a unique hobby in this fast-paced Snapchat world. And you know you need to talk to your friends more.

  • Anything that gets you outdoors or active

You’ve got to get away from your desk, you know? Start familiarizing yourself with the area hiking trails. Stargaze, birdwatch, beachcomb. Take square-dancing classes or taekwondo. You get the idea.

Tips on Making and Protecting Free Time

But you’re so busy. I know. You probably have a job, maybe school, maybe kids. Maybe for you, your creative work already fills the need for a hobby. In which case, you’re probably doing fine—as long as you make the time to do the unimportant things now and then.

The whole point is, you can’t always be in survival-mode. Sometimes you need to play and have fun, even as a busy adult driven to accomplish your goals and take your work, creative or otherwise, seriously. Fight for a bit of free time now and then. Artists need it. Actually, all humans need it, but artists particularly will suffer if they can’t get a moment to breathe.

How do you make sure you get free time?

  • Track how you spend your days—find out where you’re losing time
  • Get off your phone
  • Don’t mindlessly consume—don’t waste time on entertainment you don’t even like that much
  • Say “no” to things sometimes
  • Don’t overbook yourself—keep your to-do lists reasonable

Do you have any hobbies? What do you wish you had time for?

Categories
Creativity

How to Find Your Brand as an Artist

Sometimes I’ll admit I don’t know what I am. Sometimes I don’t feel like a whole person—just a creative void that somehow manages to produce art. But nothing can truly come from nothing. The art we create comes from who we are. In less words, you need to find your artist brand.

Art is very much wrapped up in the individuality of the artist. You would never create what you create if you were someone else. But sometimes it’s hard to find the foundation of who you are as an artist. Exactly why do you do what you do? What’s your inspiration? What’s your goal? What’s at the heart of it all?

These questions matter when you are in the process of creating art.

Why is it so important to know who you are as an artist?

Your personality and character will come though and shine if you stay true to who you are, what you want, and what you believe in as you work. To put it simply, to live up to your full potential as an artist, you have to find yourself.

Now you might be a little critical of the idea of “finding yourself.” Maybe it sounds kind of vague or cheesy, or maybe, as a Christian creative, you have a negative reaction to the whole idea. After all, it sounds self-centered. It sounds like you’re focusing too much on yourself instead of on God, who should be the center of your creative life and your mission.

Of course, God should be at the heart of your mission, but here’s what you need to remember: anything you want to do for God with your art he could have done himself with no help from you at all. But he didn’t leave you out. He wants to use you. And he wants to use you specifically—as a unique individual. Exploring and examining the person he made you to be isn’t self-centered at all. It’s a way to find clues to how he wants to use you.

What elements of your identity come into play when you create?

The best of your work will probably lean hard into your personality. When your art grows up from your deepest roots, it will be alive with originality and rare beauty. In order to find your artist brand, you need to find what makes you different and study it. I like to analyze this uniqueness this way:

Your inspirations are the other artists who have influenced your work. Everyone is drawn to different artists for different reasons and as an artist yourself, you have probably picked some things up from other creators you love. This isn’t copying. This is one of the things that makes your work unique.

Your heart—the things you value at the core of your being—will also influence your identity as an artist. What you love and what you consider to be the important things in life will probably show up in your art sooner or later.

Your mission is the reason behind what you do. Why do you create? Who and what do you do it for? You’re bringing art into the world—what value do you want that art to carry with it as it reaches out into the hearts and lives who come in contact with it?

Your aesthetic and your irony or contrast are the more concrete elements in your artistic personality. The aesthetic is your themes, your subject-matter, the genre and tropes and motifs your fall back on. The contrast is the effect that you get from juxtaposing elements of your aesthetic in unexpected ways, and is an often overlooked part of artistic voice. Don’t overlook it. It’s going to help you stand out once you discover and develop it.

How can you pin down what makes you a unique creative artist?

So, that’s a lot to think about and I know I just barely touched on it. That’s why I recommend you sign up to get the key to the Secret Library and grab my Artistic Identity Workbook, where I take you through a simple but thought-provoking questionnaire to help you explore and define all those elements listed above. I designed it as an easy first step on the journey to find your artist brand and explore it.

That’s just a starting point, but I hope it can help you feel more focused and inspired to continue to do what you do best. You are a fantastically unique person—and once you tap into that in your artistic life you’ll never have to worry about being boring or unoriginal.

So go find your artistic identity.

Categories
Writing

7 Ways to Fall Back in Love with Your WIP

Sometimes the spark dies. You take a long break. You put your book on the backburner for some reason. Then you have to figure out how to start writing again.

Maybe you’re coming out of burnout or have simply been too busy with other things to write your current book. Whatever the reason, when you open up your document it hits you hard—you’ve fallen out of love with your WIP.

Some people would give it up at this point. Maybe it’s kind of a lame story after all. It just doesn’t interest you anymore, so why keep torturing yourself over that blank page? It was just a phase. Maybe I’m not really a writer at all.

But you’re here because that isn’t you. You want to start writing again and finish that WIP. You’ve poured too much into it to abandon it now. So, what are you going to do? It’s up to you, but here are seven possible strategies that might help you fall back in love with your WIP.

#1 Make and listen to a playlist

For a lot of authors, music can really get the imagination going full-sail. If you haven’t tried making a playlist for your WIP, maybe you should blow some time doing that now, since you feel stuck anyway. You can go with instrumentals and soundtracks, or try hunting down songs with vibes and lyrics that line up with your characters and themes.

Once you’ve got your playlist, spend some time listening to it while doing other things. You’ll probably start daydreaming which could lead to brainstorming, which could lead to actually wanting to write.

#2 What do you love about the project? Write some of that

Go ahead and write some scenes you’re looking forward to. Write the things that excite you about the story. You know which characters you enjoy the most—write some interactions between them or throw them into a fun action or humor scene you may or may not actually use.

Don’t try to do a good job or fit these scenes into your manuscript. You don’t even have to finish a scene if you don’t feel like it. Skip around to different scenes until you find one you do feel like writing.

#3 Write letters, journal entries, etc. by your favorite characters

You need a deep connection with your characters. Getting into your main characters’ minds and immersing yourself in their hopes struggles and views of their world is a powerful exercise. Writing letters from one character to another, from yourself to your characters, is one way to do it. Journal entries are also great.

Feel free to pick any point in your story to write from. It can be from before the beginning, after the end, near the climax, or exactly wherever it is you’re stuck right now. Grab a notebook or open a new document and start writing. (Plus, this could potentially double as fun bonus material to help promote your book later.)

#4 Re-read your favorite parts

If you feel like your writing as terrible right now, try going back to some scenes you’ve already written and rereading them with an open mind. You might even be able to remember some scenes you actually enjoyed writing, or felt good about once you got them down. Check those out.

You might even end up re-reading several chapters—or even the whole manuscript so far. This is actually a good sign. That means you’re more interested in your story than you might have thought.

#5 Tell someone else about the project—tell them what makes it good

This is a great project. If it wasn’t you wouldn’t have started it. Try talking to someone—anybody who is nice and will listen. Tell them your premise. Tell them why you love the characters and why you wish you lived in their world. You started writing the book you wanted to read, didn’t you? Why did you want to read it?

Recommending your book to other people is a skill you’re going to need to learn anyway. If you don’t want to bother an actual person with your rant, try just writing it out. You might come up with some good loglines or material for your blurb that will come in handy later, so be sure to save it.

#6 Make fan-art or write fan-fiction of your own stories

Be your own biggest fan for a while. If you draw, crack open your sketchbook and start drawing some of the best moments from your story. If you’re not inclined that way, just try writing. Write some alternative universe pieces. Drop your characters into the modern world, or Narnia, or swap them out with the crew of the starship Enterprise and see what happens.

These fan-works can be as lazy or as elaborate as you’d like. The point is to shake out the creative stiffness and have some fun with your characters again. This will give you a chance to develop their personalities and might even give you some idea for plot twists that could liven up your actual story.

#7 Find what’s making you feel stuck and fix it

If you feel up to it, maybe you want to get down to business and find out what’s really making you feel stuck. Is there something you’re actually struggling with about the project itself? Do you know what it is?

Put some thought into it and then start brainstorming. Treat it like a puzzle with an answer you want to find. But don’t put pressure on yourself to solve it too fast. Remember—this is part of the writing process. Not all writing is putting words down in a document. That’s the easy part. This is the part where you have to use your brain and do what only you can do for your story. Don’t be afraid to work hard on it and take your time.

What If I’m Still Stuck?

Did you actually try everything? Have some hope. I doubt you can really stay uninterested in spite of all your efforts to start writing again. There’s a reason you started this WIP. You’re going to find a reason to finish it. There will be hard parts. It’s probably going to take a lot longer than you expected. But if you are truly meant to write it, you’ll fall back in love with it eventually. Trust the process and give yourself grace.

Categories
Christianity & Creativity

Why It’s So Hard to Find Your Mission as a Christian Creative

“Gospel-focused,” “Faith-centered,” “Based on sound doctrine.” That’s what some people are looking for in Christian media. Others are just looking for “clean,” “family-friendly,” or “positive” content.

There’s a lot out there advising Christian creatives on what they should and shouldn’t create. A lot of people out there think they know what the mission of the Christian artist should be.

It’s like they pick up a Christian book or turn on a Christian film and—instead of sitting back and being immersed in a great story, they sit at the edge of their desk chairs and whip out their pens and clipboards. Let’s see if this one hits all the right points. Let’s calculate the relevancy score and see if we can check all the Romans Road boxes in the correct order.

Should every Christian novel be a “How to Get Saved” guide? Is doctrine the highest priority in art? As Christians, we know leading people to Christ is probably our highest calling on Earth. But exactly how are we supposed to do that with our creativity?

Is Art an Evangelism Tool?

Pop quiz: who consumes Christian media?

This is always the first question that comes into my head when someone suggests the prime directive of Christian media is evangelism. I think you will find the vast majority of people consuming Christian media are…Christian.

Which raises the question, who are we trying to evangelize, here? We’re preaching to the choir.

But maybe you argue that the basic Gospel message bares repeating. Maybe you want to remind and reinforce what your audience probably already knows. Maybe you want to explore some of the details of doctrine.

With all due respect…go write a sermon. Go study the Bible and some commentaries and works of scholarly theology and write a thesis. Get it out of your system. Then come back and we’ll talk about art.

What is Art For?

We have a weird approach to art in Christian communities, sometimes. Nobody would ever tell a Christian dentist, auto mechanic or airline pilot that the first priority in their career should be evangelism. We would never look down on them if they spent the majority of their time learning to better seal teeth, repair radiators, or navigate the sky.

But we know the artist’s influence is unique. Our voices are extremely powerful. It doesn’t matter how famous or popular we are, either. Our potential to affect people’s hearts and minds is enormous. That’s the nature of art. It moves people. It can connect people and create empathy. It can heal, inspire, and enlighten those who consume it in unexpected ways.

I’m not saying you can’t present the whole gospel in your work—or even that you can’t use your work to bring attention to some real-world issues. That’s between you as a creator and God. But too many Christian artists and people who take it upon themselves to instruct Christian artists seem to assume that is the only right way to use you gift.

But in choosing this informational, educational approach where the goal is to more or less tell our audience what to think—it’s quite possible that we’re abandoning the very magic that makes art uniquely powerful.

Where Does Art’s Power Come From?

Art is different from other forms of human communication. It tends to be subtle, unpredictable, and a little ambiguous.

And it doesn’t seem to matter which soapboxes you get up on or how important the message is. A great message can’t save bad art. There’s no substitute for being good at what you do.

Creating art is an act of trust. You have to do it with an open hand, not afraid of other people’s interpretations or reactions. As a Christian creative, you’re not going to be able to harness the full potential of your artistic process until you let God do the speaking. And let your audience do the thinking. Exactly what the audience gets out of your work isn’t your responsibility.

Your responsibility is to pour your all into creating something you love and let God use it as he will.

So, How Can You Find Your Mission as an Artist?

It’s going to take time, and you’re going to have to ask yourself a lot of questions.

It’s alright to not know for certain why you do what you do. In fact, if the only answer to your “why” is “because I love it” right now, that will do. But eventually, if art is a big enough part of your life, it’s likely to become a ministry.

What do you want your art to do for people? What do people need that you can create for them? Sometimes we forget that acts of service are one of the most powerful forms of evangelism. You can serve people with what you make. You can lift spirits and heal wounds. You can lead people through dark times and dark places. You can make people feel seen, loved, and understood.

My advice is that you find your voice, enjoy the process, don’t stress, don’t preach, and don’t worry about checking boxes. Invite God to speak through you and trust that he will use your work.

I thought of this final tip recently, and it revolutionized how I think about creating. I’d often asked myself who I was writing for. Who’s going to read this? What will they get from it? It’s impossible to really know that. But I wanted my spirit of wanting to give something to come through.

So, my last tip is, always create for someone you love.

You don’t have to worry about the masses or the message most people need. All you need to worry about is one person you care about. Do it for them.

Because, as a Christian creative, whatever your mission may be, your motivation will have its roots in love. That’s a good place to start.

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