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Is September the New January?
Have you heard versions of this? September is the new January! Fall is a fresh start! It makes perfect sense to me because, let’s be honest here, January is all about intention and often no action. Sure, we have big dreams. We set big goals. But, who wants to work on their beach body when there’s a foot of snow outside? Or dive into huge work projects when you know you have a whole year ahead of you? September reminds us that the year is coming to a close. That we have a smidge over one quarter of the calendar left to accomplish all those things we wanted to do.…
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Writer’s Block Is a Myth
The New York Times obituary of Joseph Mitchell heralded his work writing about average and eccentric folks, which he did well… until he didn’t. According to the obit: If his name is not as widely known as it might have been, that is mostly because for the last three decades of his life, he wrote nary a word that anybody got to see. For years, he would show up at his tiny office at The New Yorker every day and assure his colleagues that he was working on something, but that it was not quite ready…. Whatever it was, nothing of any substance emerged from his typewriter after 1965 and his friends came…
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10 ways to get out of a creative rut
It happens. We all get stuck. It doesn’t matter the task, either. You could be painting scenery for your child’s class play, arranging columns and rows in your department’s budget spreadsheet, or writing the next great American novel. It happens to me once a week. I’m plowing through client projects, updating social media campaigns, crossing tasks off my to-do list. Then suddenly I realize I’ve been watching bees buzz around the flowerbed outside my window for the last 20 minutes. How do you know you’re in a rut? It’s hard to maintain focus. It’s easy to get distracted. It’s hard to keep your butt in your chair. It’s easy to…