I wrote this post a couple of years ago after having a startling experience. I never shared the post at the time. It seems particularly relevant now in the wake of my poetry book recently being accepted by a publisher. I hope it inspires you. “You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t […] Continue Reading
Creative Sparks
Real tools and firelight for artists and dreamers to create inspired lives
To Authorize or To Abandon?
To Authorize or To Abandon: How Do You Know When a Work of Art Is Done? How do you know when your poem or novel, your painting, symphony or dance piece is finished and ready to be shared with others? How do you know when it is time to stop revising, tinkering, perfecting and let […] Continue Reading
My Big News! A Dream Come True
I am over the moon! My full-length book of poems, Fierce Aria, has been accepted for publication by Finishing Line Press. Whoo! The book will come out next Spring, but pre-sales will start soon. I started work on assembling this manuscript back at the start of 2010. It’s been a long and winding road. Loads […] Continue Reading
Dreaming in the Age of Uncertainty
How do we follow our heart’s dreams in this age of imminent destruction of our planet, our familiar ways of living? Why even dream in such a dire, uncertain time? What kinds of dreams? And how? Continue Reading
Singing Our Way Home
One of the tenderest and most beautiful moments in my mother’s final days was the night before she died. My brother Josh sat singing to her for hours as she lay breathing raggedly, eyes closed, sunk deep into herself. And one by one all of my siblings and me, our spouses who were there, two […] Continue Reading
Living Life as Prayer
Sometime this past year I set the intention to live my life as prayer. I have carried this intention, less clearly named, for most of my life. I remember a summer when I was around 15 or 16 that a young homeless man granted me three magic wishes. I wished to become a great musician, […] Continue Reading
The Extraordinary Gifts of Poetry and Art
What is it you come to poetry and art for? What extraordinary treasures are to be found there? Continue Reading
You Can Only Please Yourself
Trying to please others in our art is the road to creative death, and also to making bland art. What the world needs is you in all your uniqueness. Continue Reading
Starving Is Not Good for Artists
Financial stress and anxiety block creativity. Here’s how. And one idea I’m trying to resolve it. Continue Reading
When the Path of Dreams Becomes a Road Through Hell
I am sacrificing and risking wildly to follow my path of dreams: To be a great artist, a great writer. I am “following my bliss.”
But it doesn’t always feel blissful. Continue Reading
