The other day, I came across an online discussion about what it means to be an artist. Some were complaining that the word is used too loosely. In their opinion, too many people were wearing the label without having “paid the price”.

What’s In a Label?

It made me wonder. What is the price? What requirements does one have to fulfill to earn the artist’s badge and sew it on their sleeve?

Frequently, when people form a group, the first order of business is finding ways to keep others out of it.

Sometimes this makes sense. We all want proof the physician we’re seeing actually did something to earn his or her title. But a physician is a highly specialized member of a larger tribe, a tribe called Healer.

Someone Is What Someone Does

I think my grandmother was a member of that tribe. If you had a cold, she’d make you chicken soup. If you were sick or hurt or tired, she’d hold you and comfort you.

Was she a physician? No. She never even finished high school.

Was she a healer? To me she was. Did others see her that way? I don’t know, but I don’t think she herself gave it much thought. She was just being Grandma.

It’s Hard to Do Much of Anything with a Label in Your Grip

Hovering protectively over a label is a monumental waste of time and energy. If those involved in the discussion really loved art, why weren’t they engaging in creating more of it and helping others to do the same?

I’ve had my own strange relationship with labels. I struggled with what to call myself. I struggled to do so without apology. But recently I’ve stopped struggling, and the labels don’t seem to matter so much.

What’s most interesting isn’t what you and I call ourselves. It’s what we’re doing.

Labels Versus Legwork

Are you a poet? Who knows?

Have you earned the right to be called a painter? Beats me.

Have you met the standards for wearing the title of sculptor, storyteller, healer, fighter? It’s anyone’s guess.

But there’s no denying what you’re doing. Are you writing poems? Are you painting pictures? Are you creating sculptures, telling stories, helping others heal, fighting for what you believe in?

If so, what else really matters?

Let them have their labels. You know what you’re doing. You know who you are.

Are you getting all the Quiet Inspiration you need? Sign up for some. It’s easy. It’s free. Subscribe today.

Take a look around, and I think you’ll discover that the world is filled with some very cool things.

Really, it’s true. Cool things are just about everywhere, if you know how to spot them. Heck, I found five just this week.

Yep, that’s right. It’s time once again, my friends, for 5 Cool Things.

Cool Thing #1: Lighting Up Your Drawings with a Light Box

A light box, in case you didn’t already know, is a cool little tool for transferring your drawings from one surface to another.

It’s a pretty simple concept, a box with a light inside and a semi-transparent top. Place your drawing on the surface, slap another piece of paper or other material on top of that, and flip the switch. Voila! Your drawing’s made visible, enabling you to trace it and transfer it.

You can find one at almost any art supply store. You can even make your own.

And if you’re still in the dark as to how a light box might be of use to you, check out this cool set of videos by Sue Gill Rose at Ehow.com: Using a Lightbox to Transfer Artwork.

Cool Thing #2: The Moth, True Stories Told Without Notes

I discovered The Moth Podcast via Chicago Public Radio’s fantastic This American Life.

The Moth, a non-profit storytelling organization, was founded by poet George Dawes Green in 1997. Through their programs, both celebrities and complete unknowns are given opportunities to stand before audiences and tell their stories, true stories, without the aid of notes.

The Moth’s programs include Stories at the Moth, the Moth Story Slam, and, of course, the annual Moth Ball. The stories told are sometimes poignant, often funny, and occasionally outright weird. If you love a good story and would like to learn how to tell your own, check out their website at TheMoth.org.

Cool Thing #3: See the Connection with ThinkMap’s Visual Thesaurus

Look up at your screen! It’s a spider. It’s a dictionary. It’s a visual thesaurus!

Thinkmap’s Visual Thesaurus has become one of my favorite thinking/writing tools.

It works like this. You type in a word and, like any other thesaurus, it provides you with a list of synonyms and antonyms.

The difference, however, is that the words listed are situated on the branches of a mind map. Click any one of those words, and it will morph into yet another mind map with branches bearing more linguistic fruit.

It’s fun and it provides a novel way to explore and play with words. Great for writers of any stripe.

Just so you know, I’m an affiliate, but I’m an affiliate because I’ve purchased it, I use it, and I like it. You can check it out by clicking my affiliate link, Visual Thesaurus, or you can just Google it. It’s your call.

Cool Thing #4: Entering the Matrix, the Idea Matrix

Remember those math problems you used to do in school, the ones where you were given X variations of one variable and Y variations of another and then were asked to determine how many different ways those things could combine?

Relax. This cool thing isn’t a math lesson. It’s a lesson in generating ideas.

In a terrific post, Mark Dykeman of Braining-Blog.com teaches you a method for combining and shuffling a few variables in order to generate an almost endless supply of topics to write about. He calls it the Content Idea Matrix.

And what’s really cool about Mark’s method is that it can be applied to things other than writing. All you have to do is provide your own variables. Be sure to read the brief but brilliant 20,000+ Content Ideas To Propel You Into The Next Decade.

Cool Thing #5: Getting Your Creative Feet Dirty at the Dirty Footprints Studio

Whenever I encounter a truly creative person, I wonder what it would be like to take a walk through their mind. In the case of Connie Hozvicka, I think I might see walls covered with thick, bright splashes of paint. And the walls and paint would always be moving.

Connie is an artist, an art educator, and the creator of Dirty Footprints Studio where she paints, blogs, records podcasts, shoots videos, and offers creative workshops.

Her newest onlne workshop is called Art Journal Love Letters. I thought it was a cool idea and tweeted about it. Then I watched the following video and decided to sign up myself.

You can also find her on Twitter and Facebook.

Now, go find some cool things of your own.

You can subscribe to these blog posts by RSS feed or by Email.

“We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongues, at our peril, risk and hazard.” Voltaire

Sometimes, you have to stand up for your rights. Free people know theirs and defend them.  Creative people should do the same.

Developing your creative imagination requires freeing your mind.  Maybe it’s time you declared your innovation and crafted your own Creative Bill of Rights.

Mine includes things like the right to change my mind, the right to screw up, and the right to start all over again.

What freedoms must you defend in order to do your best and most orignal work?

Write them down, put your John Hancock at the bottom, then nail the document to the wall.

Remind yourself that you hold these truths to be self evident, that you have creative potential, that you are endowed by your imagination with certain inalienable flights, that among these are the love of life, creativity, and the pursuit of mastery.

And don’t forget.  You can always make amendments.

Think, Draw, Write.

Are you getting all the Quiet Inspiration you need? Sign up for some. It’s easy. It’s free. Subscribe today.

You knew things couldn’t lie dormant forever.

You heard the rumblings. You smelled the smoke. You prepared yourself as best you could, but underestimated the magnitude.

And now your mind’s on fire, the air is filled with the embers of a dozen burning projects, and red hot Ah-ha is flowing down the side of Mount St. Dwellin’.

You’re in the throes of an Idea Eruption.

“What now? What now? What the hell NOW?” your brain is screaming.

For starters, relax. If this is your first encounter with an idea eruption, it won’t be your last. You might as well learn the procedure. Ready? Good.

Here are:

7 Things to Do in the Event of an Idea Eruption

1. Grab the nearest ink pen.

There’s so much happening all at once. It’s easy to lose track. You need to get things down.

Grab a pen and jot down as many of your ideas and their details as you can. Capture words, phrases, images, concepts, and even the emotions you’re experiencing.

Leave nothing behind. Things that seem vague will later become clear. Things that seem insignificant may later be crucial.

2. Let Things Cool Down

In the early stages of an idea eruption, everything’s ablaze. Every idea seems fabulous. Every related task seems urgent.

It’s time to let things cool down for a while. If something new comes to you, write it down, but otherwise leave things be.

3. Examine the Debris

Once the smoke has cleared, go back and scan the scene. Pay close attention to the things that really stand out. Then look for anything you may have overlooked.

Now is the time to pick things up, turn them all about, and examine them from every angle.

Take your ideas one by one and expand on them. Look for connections. Note the possibilities. Identify the challenges.

4. Sort Things Out

You’ve done your investigation. You’ve poked things, prodded things, and learned as much as you can about them. It’s time to do the heavy sifting.

I know they’re dirty words for many creatives, but it really helps to organize and prioritize. Sort and categorize your ideas in various ways according to differing criteria: level of excitement, degree of difficulty, potential for reward, amount of time required.

Then make a game of it. Come up with fun, weird ways to sort things.

Assign colors to your ideas and put the blues with the blues, the reds with the reds. Think of strange containers to keep them in. What if you had to store your ideas in either a shoe, a safe, or a matchbox? Which ideas would go where? The point is to play with your ideas and shake up your thinking. The sillier, the better.

In the midst of all this, you’ll learn more about your ideas, and a few of them will rise to the top and really grab hold of your imagination.

5. Develop a Plan

Every plan is tentative, but the failure to make one can be preventative. Knowing what you want to do isn’t much use if you’ve given no thought to how.

Use whatever planning tools work best for you. Outlines, mind maps, story boards, and flow charts are just a few of the methods available to help you lay out your steps on paper.

6. Signal for Help

You don’t have to go it alone. Ask for help.

Phone a friend. Hire a coach. Talk to your spouse. Find a trusted resource, whoever that may be, and ask for their input. Good things can happen when two minds come together.

7. Take Your Time

Your idea eruption was not an overnight event. Things were moving and brewing out of view and below the surface for a long, long time.

By the same token, it’s going to take time to make sense of it all and clean up the mess. Relax.

You’ll accomplish far more by working in small chunks each day than you will by attempting a superhero workathon.

There. Now That That’s Settled…

Now that things have calmed down a bit, go enjoy yourself. Grab a bite to eat. Go play with your kids. Listen to some music. You’ll want to be well rested before the really big one hits.

You can subscribe to these blog posts by RSS feed or by Email.

You’ve heard it. I’ve said it. It tends to get repeated. In order to write something, you have to put your butt in a chair and keep it there.

Well, I have a confession to make. I almost never stick to that plan.

I’m antsy. I’m fidgety. I move when I think. I write, hit a wall, and jump up out of my chair. I walk. I pace. I even dance.

Sometimes, you just got to get your ya-ya’s out.

Are you a fidgety writer? It’s okay. Get up from your chair and stretch a bit. Make yourself a cup of tea or whatever beverage you prefer. Put on some music and shake your money maker. Just don’t stray too far. Keep your mind on your writing and your writing on your mind.

Moving helps you get your thoughts flowing. Often, you can boogie your way past a block or tango your way out of a tangle. You just might find your solution somewhere in the middle of your cha cha cha.

When you do, head back to the chair and let the good words roll.

Do a little dance, make a little cup, get it down tonight. Oh, yeah, baby!

Can ya dig it?

I knew you could.

It’s time once again for 5 Cool Things.

Cool Thing #1: Flash, Bang, and Wonder

Jane Snell Copes is a chemist but she’s also a bit of an alchemist, because Jane takes the very thing she loves, science, and turns it into gold.

She says, “I am a chemist for many reasons, yet the primary draw for me is still the flash and bang.”

Through her work, Jane shares, with school kids and big kids too, her fascination with the flash and bang of science.

What kid wouldn’t want to go to Wizard School, play with their food, have fun with wacky inventions, or explore the slimy, the sticky, and the icky? These are just a few of the experiences Jane offers through her inventive and playful approach to sharing the wonders of science.

Check out her Science Outside the Box website and Facebook page, and get into the flash and bang of things.

Cool Thing #2: There Must Be 50 Ways to Stay Committed

It’s a fact: Creative people make things, and some of the things they make are commitments.

With that in mind, Steven Handel put together a list of 50 ways to stay committed. My personal favorite? Be happy for no reason. Do you really need one?

By the way, the man behind the blog is only 21 years old. I think we have lots to look forward to from Steven, so I’m making a commitment to follow his further adventures.

Cool Thing #3: Comfort Buster

This tasty dish was prepared by my friend Sandy Dempsey, owner and operator of The Dreaming Cafe, the blog where you can always find her serving up food for thought.

Sandy put together a list of 5 steps she finds necessary for moving outside your comfort zone.

While reading it, you may experience some slight discomfort. Don’t worry. It’s just your mind expanding. Here’s her 5 Steps.

Cool Thing #4: Legendary Last Second Script Changes

Some of the best things in life are accidental. You just can’t plan for them, and it’s probably just as well.

Take the movies for instance.

Screenwriters write, sweat, and revise until they have what they think is the perfect movie script. If It gets picked up by a studio, quite often a team of script polishers are brought in to really make it shine.

Actors, locations, props, and costumes. Every last detail is plotted and story boarded before the cameras start to roll, but once they do, anything can happen.

And sometimes what happens becomes movie legend. Here’s a great piece from Spike.com about 7 Classic Movie Moments You Didn’t Know Were Improvised.

Cool Thing #5: A Flickr of Brilliance

Katana Barnett is the innovative mayor of Katanaville, her blog devoted to helping artists rise to the top. On a recent visit to her town, I came across her interview with painter Indigo.

From there, I took a trip to Indigo’s photo stream on Flickr and fell in love with her work. Absolutely stunning. Check out the interview and Indigo’s Flickr gallery.

And that’s just about all the coolness anyone could ask for.

You can subscribe to these blog posts by RSS feed or by Email.

The line between fans and friends is sometimes blurry, especially if you’re a blogger or have any type of online presence. And it’s really blurry if you use Facebook.

What constitutes a friend? What makes someone a fan?

Are they ever one and the same, and what do you do when they’re not?

After grappling with this, I’ve decided to share:

3 Things I’ve Learned about Friends, Fans, and Facebook

1. Not All of Your Friends Are Fans of Your Work

To the readers of this blog I’m the mildly creative guy behind a Mildly Creative blog. I’m the guy who draws odd pictures; publishes quirky, little blog posts; and occasionally writes a poem or two.

But to people who know me personally, I’m just Ken. Most of my friends and family could care less about my pictures, posts, and poems. And, to be honest, I could care less if they did. I don’t need them to be fans. It’s their love and friendship I cherish.

I don’t often whip out my drawings, recite my poems, or read excerpts from my posts while drinking beer and eating chicken wings with my buddies.

I seldom even mention the blog at family get-togethers. They all know about it; they just don’t ask about it much.

I don’t ask them much about their work either. We mainly ask about one another’s kids, tell bad jokes, share movie recommendations, and argue over who we think will win the next election or Super Bowl. I like things this way.

I think about this every time I publish my posts to my personal Facebook account. I don’t want my friends to sell me cars on Facebook. Maybe they’d prefer it if I didn’t peddle my work to them either. They’re more interested in seeing pictures of my kids and ribbing me about the steep, hard decline of the St Louis Rams.

Friends and family are the meat and potatoes of a happy life. They shouldn’t have to be your dessert too.

2. Some of Your Fans will Become Your Friends

Maybe you thought I was going to say that not all of your fans are your friends, but that’s obvious.

I’ve been a fan of Stephen King since I was a teenager, but he’s never had me over for dinner. Instead, he just keeps writing books I enjoy reading, and that’s enough for me.

But, every now and then, you get to meet someone who enjoys your work or someone whose work you enjoy and discover you have a lot in common. Email addresses and phone numbers get traded, one of you makes the first move, and, lo and behold, you have a new friend. It’s a beautiful thing.

And it’s this, combined with the first thing, that makes everything seem so blurry.

You want to reach out to your friends and your fans, you want to interact with each group in a way most natural, and yet you understand that not everyone falls so neatly into one camp or the other.

That’s where fan pages come in, I think, because:

3. A Facebook Fan Page Creates a Penetrable Wall

Recognizing the shifting but significant line between friends and fans, I decided to create a fan page. It’s also why I started blogging.

I love my friends and family, but I’ve always had the creative bug, and I’ve always longed to meet and support others stricken with the same wondrously mad disease. Blogging allows you to reach people that way.

And a fan page on Facebook allows you extend that reach without having to inundate your Aunt Agnice or your hapless fellow Rams supporters with things of interest to your readers but of no interest to them.

But, just in case you misunderstand, a fan page isn’t the Facebook equivalent of the Berlin Wall. It doesn’t have to be a heavily guarded barrier between fans and friends.

It’s more like the wall of a living cell. It’s permeable. People can penetrate the wall, come and go as they please, and spend time on each side if they choose. But you can gently direct them where you think they’ll be happiest.

That’s why I’m going to continue to manage a fan page and why I’m going to promote it instead of my personal account.

On the friends’ side, I’m going to talk about my kids and ask about theirs. I’m going to tell bad jokes, recommend good movies, and argue about who’s going to win the next election or Super Bowl.

On the fans’ side, I’m going to share my work and the work of others who I think might be of interest to the people who share my special brand of madness.

And, to make the lines even less blurry, I’ve decided to drop the fan page bearing my name. It’s just too surreal seeing two of me pop up in the Facebook news feeds. In its place, I’ve created a page bearing the name of this odd, little brand I somehow stumbled into called Mildly Creative.

I hope you’ll become a fan of the brand. And who knows? If we haven’t already, maybe someday we’ll meet and become the very best of friends. Here’s the link to my page: Mildly Creative on Facebook

You can also subscribe to these blog posts by RSS feed or by Email.

“Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our weaknesses” Marilyn vos Savant

You could spend the next ten years working feverishly to eradicate your every weakness. But while you’re doing that, you won’t be using your strengths, which are the things that have the most potential to get you where you want to go.

It’s kind of like postponing a journey to build up your arms so you can walk on your hands. That’s great, I suppose, if it’s always been your dream to travel in such a manner, but if you just want to reach your destination and you have two good legs, why not use them and start walking?

People don’t want you to be perfect; they just want you to be good at something.

It’s far, far easier to be good at something when you’re drawing on your strengths instead of desperately working to fix yourself.

Do you know what others see in you? What do you see in yourself? Spend some time thinking about what you have instead of what you haven’t and see how far it takes you.

Use what you got. You’ll reach your destination a whole lot sooner.

Think, Draw, Write.

You can subscribe to these blog posts by RSS feed or by Email.

Have you found a good home for each of your passions? You may need more than one if you have more than one, and my guess is you probably do.

A Tale of Two Cats, Two Very Different Cats

We’re moving into a new place. More room. Less money. Need I say more?

The only trouble is we have two adopted cats and the new place won’t allow them. We need to find them a home, but they’re very different cats.

Folly is young and active. He likes to climb, chase, and scratch things.

Lucy is older and, well, let’s just say relaxed. She likes to sleep, eat, and sleep.

Folly is best suited for a home where he’ll have access to the outdoors. Lucy is best suited for a home where she can serve as warm, furry, purring decor. The best outcome may be to find each one their own tailor made household.

If you have two or more interests, they too might each need a place of their own, some place where they can each be free to do what they do best.

With that in mind, I’ve put together:

2 Questions to Help You Find Homes for All Your Passions

Question 1: What purpose does each one serve?

I no longer believe we each have a single purpose: I believe we have multiple ones.

My purpose for writing this blog is different from my purposes for writing poetry, playing guitar, and spending time with my family.

I write this blog to be a resource to anyone who wants to be more creative. I write poetry to express things in a way I can’t do otherwise. I play guitar because it’s fun and I like to have fun. I spend time with my family and friends because I want to love and be loved; it makes me feel rich.

Understanding that each one of these things serves a different purpose has allowed me to put them in perspective and decide where they belong.

You can do the same. Look at your passions one at a time and ask yourself, “What purpose does this serve?” Each one may be different. Let them be.

Question 2: Where will they be happiest and shine their brightest?

If you know what purpose a thing serves, you can ask yourself where it will best be able to do so.

This doesn’t only apply to varied interests such as sculpture versus underwater basket weaving. It also applies to varied forms.

I write every day, but I don’t always write the same kinds of things. I write this blog, I write poetry, and I engage in a fair bit of what you might call navel gazing.

I recently realized that all these various kinds of writing don’t necessarily belong in the same place.

Some people who read this blog love my poems; others, not so much. That’s okay. I just need to find a better home for them, some place where they’ll be freer and happier.

And not everyone wants to join me in looking at my belly button. I still need to do it, but, once again, I need to find a proper place for it.

That’s why I have a personal blog for navel gazing and why I just purchased a new domain for my poetry.

Of course, when I think a poem or a close up of my belly button (like this one) will inspire, educate, or illuminate something for you and the other readers of this blog, I’ll bring them in.

The real point of this, however, is that each of those things will be free to be the best they can be. This blog will be free to best serve you. My poems will be free to be whatever they need to be without concern for subject matter. And I’ll be free to bury my head in my belly button whenever I feel the need.

Take a look at each of your own passions and ask yourself: “Where will this passion be free to become its best, its brightest, and its happiest?” Once you have your answer, move your passions into their new homes and watch them thrive.

Home Sweet Home

Finding a proper home for each of your passions will add to your focus, productivity, and peace of mind.

And, by the way, welcome to your new sideline as a property manager.

You can subscribe to these blog posts by RSS feed or by Email.

I‘ve been working on a post and it’s going really well. If I had written it during my first few months of blogging, I would’ve raced to post it, Tweet it, and publish it on Facebook. I might’ve even called my mother.

But I’m thinking a little differently lately, and, if you’re a blogger, you might want to do the same.

If you’re like most bloggers, you want to reach new readers. One way to reach them is to write great posts and publish them (Where else?) on your blog.

But another and often even better way to reach them is to write great posts and get them published somewhere else, like on a blog with readers who would love your work but haven’t a clue who you are.

So, I’m saving this one. I hope you don’t mind, and I hope you’ll think about doing the same.