Let's say that you are a Unicorn. People have various reactions to you - to what you are. Some say, "That's ridiculous. You can't be a Unicorn. There's no such thing. Don't be foolish." Others say, "Well, aren't you adorable? So quaint. So otherworldly. A little out of touch and funny. Cute!" Also, "I [...]
Hello, friends! Here's the third video in my series, "Creative Hurts and How to Heal Them." This one is about MISTAKES. So scary to think about making them! So scary that fear of public mistakes can keep us from making and sharing our art and ourselves. I hope so much you find it helpful, [...]
Hello, friends! Here is the second video in my new series, "Creative Hurts and How to Heal Them." This one is all about that scary bugbear, CRITICISM. How do we handle it? Is there such a thing as "good" criticism? How do we put it in perspective? I also share my own story of receiving [...]
Just a little story today to cheer you. My mother told me that she went out for lunch recently and met a woman who, at age 90, fairly crackled with life and creative spirit. "If you lived here, you'd be friends with her for sure," she told me on the phone. Turns out, the woman's [...]
Have you ever been rejected from a festival, gig, journal, or contest - and then felt the burn and sting of that "no"? I sure have. I've just made a video with four strategies that help me deal with the rejection that is part and parcel of being an artist in the world. Happens to [...]
You've gotta play to win! This is just as true of music and poetry and art and love as it is of the lottery. And the good news is that we're a lot more likely to actually WIN in those games because the odds are always in our favor. Ask, try, submit, propose, invite, query, [...]
The right tools for the job give us wings. They are collaborators, conspirators, co-authors and co-creators. With use, with long relationship, they become ensouled. They become more than the sum of their materials and parts. They become friends. This is true of musical instruments, brushes and paints, recording equipment, ballet shoes, and garden trowels. It's [...]
Here is my humble harp hospital - a perfect place for a lovely little harp to heal. I’ve been doing harp rehab for a friend’s lap harp this week, bringing this beauty back up to pitch and teaching her to make music again. She’s been stowed in a closet for many years, which is the [...]
Just a bit of encouragement: every so often, go through the stacks, the piles, the shoals of unfinished work. For me, that is always bits of paper with poems scribbled on them and then put into rough cairns to be re-found, often months later. What is somewhat funny to me is that the reason I [...]
I'm passionate about the cultivation of intelligence. Nurturing it in myself and in others is one of the most thrilling things I can imagine undertaking on planet Earth. I'm writing a book about teaching and today found me gathering pieces I've written over the years. This excerpt on what I call "integrative intelligence" caught [...]
