Creativity

Top 5 things I Learned From Writing a Book

Creativity/ Writing February 7, 2013 • Comments

(Today’s guest post is by Heather Rupe.  You can follow her on Twitter @drheatherrupe or check out her blog, The Pregnancy Companion, here!)

Three years ago, five days after bringing a new baby home from the hospital, I signed my first book deal. I was deliriously excited at two dreams coming true at once. In hindsight, I had no idea what craziness lie ahead. Luckily, I learned a lot along the way:

1.  You find the time for what’s important.

Writing a book is a staggering amount of work, but I’m used to hard work. See, I went to medical school for a zillion years. But working full-time with a newborn and a deadline felt overwhelming. I’m a morning person, so I was up at 4 every morning to write furiously before work. Those months were fueled by caffeine and adrenaline, but amazingly worth it.

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Dreams don’t happen overnight.

Creativity/ Quitter January 30, 2013 • Comments

(Today’s post is a guest post from my friends at Proof—a branding company that will help you become the Quitter you’ve always wanted to be.)

Turning your dream into a reality never happens overnight. Here at Proof, we work with entrepreneurs who have been hustling on an idea for months—and sometimes even years.

When it’s time to take that idea from a dream to something more, that process takes time too. It takes time for you to share your vision with us. It takes time for us to design a logo that embodies the spirit, goals and personality of what you want to create. And it takes time to translate that logo into a strong, cohesive website that tells your story well from the very beginning.

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This is true.

Creativity January 25, 2013 • Comments

I saw a book recently and loved the title.

I realized, though, I wanted to tweak it a little.

I think it should say, “Make Anything. Make Mistakes.”

Whatever your dream is, you are going to make mistakes.

Your book will have typos. Your business will have down quarters. Your photos will be overexposed.

You will make mistakes, and that’s OK.

Just keep making.

For anyone thinking about self publishing…

Creativity/ Writing November 14, 2012 • Comments

The other day I met a guy who told me he had an idea for a book, but there was no way he was going to self publish it.

He was vehemently against the idea.

I self-published two books before my first traditionally published book, so I asked him why he didn’t want to self publish. His concern boiled down to a fear that readers wouldn’t take the book seriously if it was self published.

If that’s a fear you have about self publishing, let me give you a really simple task:

1. Ask your friends what their favorite books are.

2. Ask them who published those books.

3. Giggle at yourself for how silly it is to think people only buy books from certain publishers.

There are a lot of reasons traditional publishers are still awesome. (Despite what all the hype about self publishing might say.) There are lot of reasons self publishing is awesome.

Make your decision based on the reasons that make the most sense for you, not the fear that people won’t take your book seriously if it is self published.

Question:
What are your favorite books?

 

Are you a sellout?

Creativity October 8, 2012 • Comments

Sometimes people call you a “sellout” if you get sponsors for your blog or sell something you made or in general tie any degree of financial compensation to your dream.

It can also happen if you change the direction of your craft. I’ve heard countless musicians called “sellouts” because they connected with a new producer and evolved the style of music people originally knew them for.

Although sites like Etsy have helped changed this negative stereotype, it still occurs from time to time.

If this ever happens to you, if someone ever accuses you of being a sellout, I want you to do one thing: Remind them of two other artists who could not have made art without financial support and patrons.

Their names were Michelangelo and Da Vinci.

And if you’re going to follow in someone’s artistic footprints, you can find a worse pair to follow.

Question:
Have you ever gotten paid for your dream?

VIDEO: A toy train in space.

Creativity September 29, 2012 • Comments

What happens when you take a toy train, attach it to a weather balloon with an HD camera and an old cell phone with GPS? This unbelievable bit of awesomeness.

 

Why do you create art?

Creativity September 5, 2012 • Comments

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine was looking at a piece of art. He didn’t like it and said, “Why create something like that? Why?”

I thought about that question for a while and then put my thought down on a photo I took in our town.

Here’s something I think we should all remember when it comes to art:

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