October 24, 2012

Do You Have a Brains Trust?

Opposites Attract by Arts Autobiographical

There is nothing like being in a group of like minded people, everyone encouraging each others’ creativity. I go to a quilt guild meeting and I am surrounded by people who get it. They understand how complicated some techniques are, and why I do what I do. It is an amazing feeling. But as wonderful as that is, spending all my time with those type of people is bad for my business.

Sometimes it is better to be around people who don’t get it and who care about making money, not following your bliss.

Getting outside the creative box can bring surprising insights. Here are a few of the people I go to for advice that would never come from an artist.

The Engineer. This person is all about logic and precision, and they love solving problems. Are your methods and processes efficient? Do you need help figuring out the best way to lay out trade or craft show booth? This person can give you so much help.

The Businessperson. This is the person you go to when you need advice from the other side about scaling, selling, and monetizing. It can be useful to hear from someone who doesn’t make it personal, and is focused on the bottom line and not the journey.

The Cheapskate. This is the cheapest person you know. She is the one who says stuff like, “I would never pay more than $20 for this!” It is a harsh dash of reality to hear, but a blunt cheapskate forces you to evaluate how much value you are offering and whether you really can sell a product or service at a profit.

The Fan. This is the person who loves everything you do, even if they really don’t get how or why you do it. Sometimes you need to be told you are an artist and are fabulous and wonderful, but it is also useful to see how an everyman type of buyer looks at your offerings. What do they really gravitate toward?

You might be saying right now that you don’t have these kind of people available. Look again at your circle of friends; you probably know people like this who would love to help you out.

Who do you have in your Brains Trust? Let me know any characters I have missed!

Filed Under: Buy You, For You Tagged With: , 4 Comments
October 5, 2012

Book Review: A Field Guide to Now

photo copyright Christina Rosalie 2012

Do you ever stop to wonder how you became connected with someone online? Can you trace back to the exact moment your spark lit, who made it possible, and how you wandered into the same bit of online space? For me, I can remember the exact moment — the connecting force — that brought me to people I now hold as dear friends. For some of the them. But for others, it seems as though they have always been there, that I cannot remember a time online when I wasn’t reading their blogs, or watching them on twitter, or connecting via instagram. We were always connected. We maybe didn’t know it yet.

As I’ve been reading A Field Guide to Now by Christina Rosalie, I have this “always connected” feeling. I’ve tried, for days, to trace back how I stumbled into her plot of online land, how I began reading her blog, but I don’t know. She has just been here, always. Though we’ve not met in person (yet!), I find comfort in her words, in her telling of life. I remember when this book was just a zygote, as she was headed back to school and feeling the unearthly compulsion to write, every day, without fail. (I say this as I, too, suffer from this compulsion. Do you?) I followed with (and contributed to) her successful Kickstarter campaign, and could not wait to read more of her words in this gorgeous book.

And yet, A Field Guide to Now is so much more than just her story. It truly is a field guide, complete with notes and actions for you to endeavor as you read. Illustrated by Christina’s own mixed-media work, including repurposed postcards her father collected in the 1960s, and filled with the true story of one woman’s journey, this book is a pause in the swiftly-shifting seasons of our lives.

“To begin, to be in the mess, to be right here.”
- Christina Rosalie

my favorite image from the book, page 87

This truthful, raw, and beautiful story of her journey — as an artist, a mother, a teacher, a writer, a woman — this book is written for each of us who live and breathe. It is written to remind us that we are not alone, amongst the dirty laundry and the confounding partners and the children who ask us ever-deepening questions of “why?” It is written to navigate five minutes of solitude — in the bathroom, on the bus, in the checkout at the market. Each section is brief, filled with truth and images and an invitation — a something you can do to come back into now. I have been carrying this book in my purse for days. I read it as my partner and I took two young boys to the cinema. And in those moments, flipping pages and inhaling possibility, I was more present than I had been in weeks.

And that presence lingered. Through fast food and action movies, tiny boys squirming in my lap, spilled popcorn and sticky lemonade hands — I was simply there.

If reading this book for ten minutes can inspire this kind of awareness in me, I am eager to discover what other treasures are hidden in the pages.

What helps you become present to the now?

Want to know more about Christina and her process? Check out the interview I did with her at A Forest of Stories!

Filed Under: Read & Play Tagged With: , , 4 Comments
September 5, 2012

A Crowd-Sourced Lullaby

Since I was a little kid, singing and songwriting have given me a way to carry messages and truths in my heart — messages of comfort and courage.  Lullabies are among my favorite ways to share these messages of comfort and courage with others whether in person (or “in-rocking-chair”) or in recordings. There even used to be an Aunt Minna’s Lullaby Line where people could call in and listen to a pre-recorded lullaby.

The more I work on helping people find their own voices and their own songs, the more richness I find in bringing others into the songwriting process. It beautifully blurs the lines between artist and audience and lets people participate in and get nourishment from this work before the ink is even dry. So far, this has happened in concerts and classes and workshops. Then a couple of days ago I unearthed this song-seed:

Bide your time
in a world of sunlight lies
Until the truth of the night arrives.

That was all I had.

And then it occurred to me: I don’t have to wait for a concert or a workshop to bring others into writing the rest of the song with me!

Instead, I just put up a wee post on good ol’ Facebook: “Writing a new lullaby and would love to crowd-source it: What abiding (and/or calming) truth comes with the night? Let me hear you!”

And the most amazing words and images came floating back on the ether. I turned my original song-seed into the chorus and made verses from the words of Catherine Bromberg (aka “my new nephew’s mom”), Sarita-Linda Rocco, and Rabbi Michael Ross (also a new dad!). Have a listen to what I (we!) came up with (as sung into my iPhone while sitting in my parked car, because… why not?)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Bide your time
in a world of sunlit lies
until the truth of the night arrives
Bide your time
in a world of sunlit lies
and let the truth of the night arise

The trust of love is soft and strong,
soft and strong as silk.
The trust of love is soft and strong
soft and strong as silk the trust of love

Familiar sheets next to your skin
and your prayer-soaked pillow beneath.
Familiar sheets next to your skin
and your prayer-soaked pillow
awakens sleep

It all comes down to I and Thou
at 3:37am.
It all comes down to I and Thou
Deep in the morning it all comes down

Art-making, not to mention life itself, can be lonely work. What are some of the ways you invite others into your work/life?

And if you’d like to add your own verse to “The Truth of the Night” just leave your words in a comment below.

Filed Under: Dialogue Tagged With: , 5 Comments
June 26, 2012

congregation: the crazy awesome results of being amidst world-changing people

Tara is preparing for the World Domination Summit next week – and this year she’s speaking! In honor of that, here are her thoughts from last year’s summit.

Last week, Megan told me I could no longer call myself an introvert.

Why? Because I had just spent an off-the-hook weekend schmoozing with 500 on-fire people in Portland, OR. Yes, I was at the World Domination Summit but this isn’t another WDS-recap.

Any trappings of my introverted selfhood fell away in this congregation of world-changers. I was both fully myself AND fully engaged with others.

In the midst of all the camaraderie, the shared experiences, the “oh-my-goodness-I-follow-you-on-Twitter!” I felt a profound sadness for all the people who ask me how to use social media better.

All this internet-stuff-as-life that we talk about doesn’t mean poo if first you don’t consider how you can more deeply connect with other human beings. Please don’t take this to mean that I think you should be friends with everyone – I don’t! – instead, I mean that it’s the quality not that quantity that counts.

Conferences, social media, networking events, coffee dates – they’re all about deep connection and the rewards of your brain coming into proximity with another brain. Your heart with a another heart.

You cannot be fully yourself until you are deeply connected with other brilliant people.

Congregation.

None of the people in my midst – and I was around FIRE STOKING, WISE people – were great sages by themselves. They were made greater by the people, power, and connection around them. We all shined because those around us were shining.

Who are you connecting to that’s making you burn brighter?
What wisdom are you communing with that’s making you wiser?
What power are you soaking up that’s making you more powerful?

How are you creating congregation in your life here + now?

This is why we connect. This is why we tweet. This is why we blog.

Broadcasting without relationship means the signal goes nowhere.

Filed Under: Plot Notes Tagged With: , , , , , , 3 Comments
March 28, 2012

where craftiness comes from: where it takes you

create print by stephanie corfee - click image for more info

When I first started this column over a year ago, I was interested in finding out where our creativity actually comes from. Was it our upbringing or formal education? Was it just natural or something that we have to find for ourselves?

The answer is not as clear as I thought it might be. It is all of that and more.

There is creativity and craftiness within each person you meet.

There is no one way to find it; it can be encouraged or supported or it can be found through something that you learn. I spoke to many creators in all different fields for this column, and I found that creativity can just appear when you need it most.

For many of us it is an outlet, first and foremost, before it’s a job or a career. It allows us to be ourselves in the best kind of way. It is something that makes our hearts light up and feel just what we need to.

Many people talk of creativity in terms of following our dreams and making a difference, and that is true, but it’s not all of it. Craftiness comes from the heart. It’s in our everyday decision-making and there when we take the biggest leaps, whatever they may be.

I’ve learned that there is a big, friendly community out there that is just waiting to support and encourage that creativity, even if we can’t find it within our own family or friends. There are people out there who get it and know the ups and downs. I think it’s important to realize that, and to cherish it for what it is.

Support can come from the strangest of places, if we only care to look.

Craftiness and creativity are a journey where we grow and learn, not only about the craft itself but about who we are as people and where we want to go. It gives us a chance to believe in ourselves in a world that doesn’t always think that that’s ok.

I think, in the end, what I learnt from this column and all the awesome people I interviewed is that it isn’t really about where your craftiness comes from, but where you take it, and where you let it take you.

If we can all embrace the creativity we have and the creativity that we see in others, we can make a better future for all of us.

Don’t you think so, too?

This is my last column for Scoutie Girl. Thank you so much for reading, it’s been a pleasure to go on this journey with you. – Dannielle

Filed Under: Plot Notes, Where Craftiness Comes From Tagged With: , , , , , , 1 Comment