(Old) News
The Nashville Goal-Attainment Meetup continues on Tuesdays at 6 pm. Please sign up for this empowering group at http://self-improvement.meetup.com/279/. I'll be guiding people through a supportive process of getting to the goals they've already chosen. This is the Getting It Done! chance for success! Creative and everyday goals are welcome. It's an open group: come when you can!
Time Management for Creative People will be presented at the Songwriter’s Guild of America the next two Thursdays (19th and 26th) of June. Please go to www.songwritersguild.com to sign up. I’ll be presenting the seminar over two evenings: Thursdays, June 19th and 26th. First step in Time Management: put it on your calendars now! We’ll be talking about organizing, scheduling, and a lot more than that! As usual in my workshops, I’ll be addressing the special issues creative folks face in accomplishing left-brain activities such as managing time. We’ll be doing some fun right-brain activities, too. Conquering time management (yes, wear your chain-mail outfits!) leaves you more time to succeed with your creative endeavors! So, what are you waiting for? Seating is (really and truly) limited, so reserve now. Kimberly’s waiting to hear from you!
Website News The to-do list to get www.UPositive.com up and running is now less than a page long, double-spaced! The two May videos are still up on YouTube, and will stay up for the month of June...and maybe July. Check them out and enter the creativity challenge! I’m still looking for help in creating a virtual party for the day when www.UPositive.com is up and running!
My first eBook, Goal Attainment for Creative People, is being edited by my wonderful friend Elysabeth Eldering and will be available through the www.UPositive.com Website once that’s up, so please look for it there! Next goal is to create some fun products related to creativity, goal attainment, and just plain silliness; they’ll be available from CafePress.com in a week or two, and there will be a link from the Website.
TEN TOP REASONS WHY CREATING A WEBSITE IS LIKE HAVING A BABY
This week's blog is going to be short and sweet. It'll explain all you need to know about where I am with the Website.
10. You eat a lot during its gestation, especially chocolate.
9. It takes about 9 months to get it out in the world.
8. Web designer is as costly---and as necessary---as an obstetrician.
7. It requires all your attention, all the time.
6. It wants to grow up big and strong quicker than it’s ready to.
5. It gets into trouble every time you try to ignore it for a minute.
4. It (well, you) gets very whiny, cries, and even throws things.
3. It doesn’t always play well with others (blogs, YouTube, etc.)
2. You have to arrange for play dates (links).
1. It gets jealous whenever you try to accomplish something else.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Creativity & "Madness" 2nd look
News and not-so-new news
The Nashville Goal-Attainment Meetup continues on Tuesdays at 6 pm. Please sign up for this empowering group at http://self-improvement.meetup.com/279/. This is the Getting It Done! chance for success! Ifyou really want to create the life you dream of, this is the place that can help you get it done! Creative and everyday goals are welcome. It's an open group: come when you can!
Time Management for Creative People will be presented at the Songwriter’s Guild of America on June 18th and 26th (both are Thursday evenings). That's next week, people! Please go to www.songwritersguild.com to sign up. First step in Time Management: put it on your calendars now! We’ll be talking about organizing, scheduling, and a lot more than that! As usual in my workshops, I’ll be addressing the special issues creative folks face in accomplishing left-brain activities such as managing time. We’ll be doing some fun right-brain activities, too. Managing time leads to increased success in your creative endeavors! So, what are you waiting for? Seating is (really and truly) limited, so reserve now. Kimberly’s waiting to hear from you!
Website News The to-do list to get www.UPositive.com up and running is showing some actual check-it's-done marks! The two May videos remain up on YouTube. Check them out and enter the creativity challenge! They'll be there throughout June, too; I'll aim to start new ones on a monthly basis in July. Does anyone know how to create a virtual party for the day when www.UPositive.com is up and running?
My first eBook, Goal Attainment for Creative People, will available from the Webite as soon as it's active. I’m also busy creating some fun products---coffee mugs, T-shirts, caps, magnets, etc.---related to creativity, goal attainment, and just plain silliness. Does anyone out there know how to maneuver in CafePress.com?
CREATIVITY & MADNESS (2nd look)
There’s actually an annual week-long seminar out in Santa Fe that I’m planning to attend one of these years, by that title. Intriguing workshops, though most are based on examining the work of a particular well-known artist (broadest definition of the term), usually past, in the light of their mental health issues or personality quirks. It leaves much to be desired, as far as I can tell, but the title of the retreat draws me to it, hopefully not in the moth-to-flame kind of way.
What interests me much more are inquiries into the chicken-or-egg type of controversy over “madness” and creativity. Most of the studies I’ve read approach the topic with how the symptoms of a mental health diagnosis---such as depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder---affect the creative process, either feeding it or detracting from it.
Many salient points are explored in those approaches: how the listlessness and lack of energy of depression keep writers from their work; how being unable to focus leaves many artistic works unfinished, frustrating the artist; how anxiety about failure or success leaves many works unmarketed, or even uncreated.
I like this approach, as it provides quite a bit of insight into problems my friends, colleagues, and clients face.
But it leaves something out. Something I’ve experienced myself, and something---once I broach the topic---many creative people relate to.
Avoiding creative action can exacerbate the symptoms of depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, ADD, OCD, or any number of other “madnesses.” When I have stories or songs brewing inside me and don’t make the time to release them onto paper or laptop, a particular kind of frustration sets in. If I continue to avoid creating, the frustration turns to anger, or anxiety, or a cloudlike depression that begins to affect my mood and other activities. It slows me down, though I tend to try to speed up in everything I do.
Truth is, if I don't make time for the creative outflow, no matter how fast I think I'm doing everything else, I tend to wander in circles. It takes more hours to accomplish fewer tasks. My attention, my life-force, my internal Power is off-kilter, mucking up the clarity with which I otherwise work.
What are your experiences: does your anxiety/depression/etc. work for or against your creativity? Does your avoidance of creativity increase or decrease your mental-health symptoms? I'd love to read your thoughts on the topic!
--Batya
The Nashville Goal-Attainment Meetup continues on Tuesdays at 6 pm. Please sign up for this empowering group at http://self-improvement.meetup.com/279/. This is the Getting It Done! chance for success! Ifyou really want to create the life you dream of, this is the place that can help you get it done! Creative and everyday goals are welcome. It's an open group: come when you can!
Time Management for Creative People will be presented at the Songwriter’s Guild of America on June 18th and 26th (both are Thursday evenings). That's next week, people! Please go to www.songwritersguild.com to sign up. First step in Time Management: put it on your calendars now! We’ll be talking about organizing, scheduling, and a lot more than that! As usual in my workshops, I’ll be addressing the special issues creative folks face in accomplishing left-brain activities such as managing time. We’ll be doing some fun right-brain activities, too. Managing time leads to increased success in your creative endeavors! So, what are you waiting for? Seating is (really and truly) limited, so reserve now. Kimberly’s waiting to hear from you!
Website News The to-do list to get www.UPositive.com up and running is showing some actual check-it's-done marks! The two May videos remain up on YouTube. Check them out and enter the creativity challenge! They'll be there throughout June, too; I'll aim to start new ones on a monthly basis in July. Does anyone know how to create a virtual party for the day when www.UPositive.com is up and running?
My first eBook, Goal Attainment for Creative People, will available from the Webite as soon as it's active. I’m also busy creating some fun products---coffee mugs, T-shirts, caps, magnets, etc.---related to creativity, goal attainment, and just plain silliness. Does anyone out there know how to maneuver in CafePress.com?
CREATIVITY & MADNESS (2nd look)
There’s actually an annual week-long seminar out in Santa Fe that I’m planning to attend one of these years, by that title. Intriguing workshops, though most are based on examining the work of a particular well-known artist (broadest definition of the term), usually past, in the light of their mental health issues or personality quirks. It leaves much to be desired, as far as I can tell, but the title of the retreat draws me to it, hopefully not in the moth-to-flame kind of way.
What interests me much more are inquiries into the chicken-or-egg type of controversy over “madness” and creativity. Most of the studies I’ve read approach the topic with how the symptoms of a mental health diagnosis---such as depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder---affect the creative process, either feeding it or detracting from it.
Many salient points are explored in those approaches: how the listlessness and lack of energy of depression keep writers from their work; how being unable to focus leaves many artistic works unfinished, frustrating the artist; how anxiety about failure or success leaves many works unmarketed, or even uncreated.
I like this approach, as it provides quite a bit of insight into problems my friends, colleagues, and clients face.
But it leaves something out. Something I’ve experienced myself, and something---once I broach the topic---many creative people relate to.
Avoiding creative action can exacerbate the symptoms of depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, ADD, OCD, or any number of other “madnesses.” When I have stories or songs brewing inside me and don’t make the time to release them onto paper or laptop, a particular kind of frustration sets in. If I continue to avoid creating, the frustration turns to anger, or anxiety, or a cloudlike depression that begins to affect my mood and other activities. It slows me down, though I tend to try to speed up in everything I do.
Truth is, if I don't make time for the creative outflow, no matter how fast I think I'm doing everything else, I tend to wander in circles. It takes more hours to accomplish fewer tasks. My attention, my life-force, my internal Power is off-kilter, mucking up the clarity with which I otherwise work.
What are your experiences: does your anxiety/depression/etc. work for or against your creativity? Does your avoidance of creativity increase or decrease your mental-health symptoms? I'd love to read your thoughts on the topic!
--Batya
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Lost in Cyberia
Apologies to anyone who is kind enough to read this blog regularly and is wondering where this week's post is....it being Thursday and my usual posts occur on Monday (well, maybe Tuesday morning).
The Website is coming along...it'll be ready any time now...
I have been lost in Cyberia for the past two weeks trying to get it ready! There's sooooo much to it! Debbie at Digiroo.com has been wonderful, and patient, and kind, and brilliant in doing the web-building and designing....it's going to be great!
(I've also been fighting a bad tooth infection, and on meds...it might not have been an intelligent post anyway!)
New posts will return this coming Monday, June `9.
In the meantime, sign up with the Songwriter's Guild of America for the two-evening seminar on Time Management for Creative People. You'll have more time for your creative pursuits, get more done, and feel less frazzled by the end of it! http://www.songwritersguild.com/
The Goal Attainment Meetup of Nashville still meets Tuesday evenings at 6 pm for those of you willing to put effort into your dreams and aspirations. We won't be meeting the first Tuesday of the month because Chuck Whiting just asked me to help emcee his Tunesmithing Nights at Borders (I'll get you that link!). Check out the details for the Meetup at http://self-improvement.meetup.com/279/.
Have a wonderful weekend. See you on Monday!
--Batya
The Website is coming along...it'll be ready any time now...
I have been lost in Cyberia for the past two weeks trying to get it ready! There's sooooo much to it! Debbie at Digiroo.com has been wonderful, and patient, and kind, and brilliant in doing the web-building and designing....it's going to be great!
(I've also been fighting a bad tooth infection, and on meds...it might not have been an intelligent post anyway!)
New posts will return this coming Monday, June `9.
In the meantime, sign up with the Songwriter's Guild of America for the two-evening seminar on Time Management for Creative People. You'll have more time for your creative pursuits, get more done, and feel less frazzled by the end of it! http://www.songwritersguild.com/
The Goal Attainment Meetup of Nashville still meets Tuesday evenings at 6 pm for those of you willing to put effort into your dreams and aspirations. We won't be meeting the first Tuesday of the month because Chuck Whiting just asked me to help emcee his Tunesmithing Nights at Borders (I'll get you that link!). Check out the details for the Meetup at http://self-improvement.meetup.com/279/.
Have a wonderful weekend. See you on Monday!
--Batya
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