Follow Your Creative ‘North Star’

I attended Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, a public high school specializing in math and science. One of our mandatory shop classes was telescope-making, an ironic idea for a New York school: as if you could see the night sky in Manhattan! We ground our own...

Handling Criticism the Right Way

An amazing number of creatives and would-be creatives are deflated, derailed, and defeated by the opinions of others. The negative opinion may be offered by a marketplace player like a literary agent or gallery owner, by a peer like a writer in your writing group, by...

How to Overcome Creative Fatigue

Fatigue is a real problem. Physical fatigue, mental fatigue, and emotional fatigue are plaguing just about everyone. This is especially true for creatives, who may work a full day job, have all sorts of other duties and responsibilities as well, and then are supposed...

Creativity as a Way of Life

Can you write a novel, paint a painting, or invent a new tech solution if you aren’t open to creative ideas at those times when you aren’t sitting down to write that novel, paint that painting, or invent that solution? Is creativity something that you turn on and off...

Creating in Your Eighties

You do not need to stop creating because you’ve gotten older. Yes, you may need to make changes: Matisse had to move from painting to cut-out collages because of arthritis; and, as a result, created some of his most memorable works. So, while you may need to make...