Entertainment, the kind that we’re interested in: books, movies, blogs…etc.  Whatever your creative outlet is, you have been schooled.   If you look at what is out there it’s amazing.  I didn’t click on it but saw a post headline today about some film made entirely with a rear back up camera on a vehicle.

How do you even come up with that?

More importantly, how do we follow that with something interesting?

I don’t have the answer.

But… I don’t think you need one.  You just need ingenuity, a genuine message, and a format that is new or a twist on an old one.  The fact that the bar has been raised shouldn’t be seen as a threat to your work…far from it.

The bar being raised is your perfect excuse to give us your best.  I know you already are, but go back to it and ask:  …and then? ….what if? … suppose I reverse the ideas?… If this character were cast as…?  … The time line, is it possible that I can begin the story in the middle instead of where it starts now?

You get the idea, the bar being raised raises your level, now go show us what that is.

 

J

 

 

more of who you already are. If you’re an asshole, you become a bigger asshole. If you’re nice, you become nicer. Money is fun to make, fun to spend, and fun to give away.”
– Sara Blakely, billionaire founder of Spanx

Her husband wrote a great book, very inspirational and funny too, check it out:

Living With a Seal

 

The procrastinating, staring at the screen, trying to make yourself start or waiting for the right feeling to come…that my friends is where true misery lies.

Unburden yourself by diving headfirst into what you are putting off – the delaying tactics really don’t make you feel better, and once you get past that first minute or two- you realize why you’re here – go do it.

Writing is activity, not a passive thought process that leads to something – the writing is the something.

Now go fire it up.

J

You can play with this one all you want.  It’s the perfect delaying tactic when you don’t know what to put on paper.  Should you write daily, every other day, when the muse strikes you?  How about those rare windows when I have the house all to myself?

How about:  cut the crap.  If you’re serious about this you’ll write all the time, if you’re not serious you’ll search blog posts for the perfect schedule to unleash your creative spirit.  I’ve done it, great writers I know have done it, you’ll do it.   A reason not to write is the easiest thing in the world to come up with…

So… listen to the reasons, acknowledge them, then sit down and write.

It’s the only way this gets you anywhere.

Now go fire it up.

 

J

Instead of trying to find your passion, searching for the magic bullet that will rejuvenate your daily routine – get passionate about what is on your desk.

It’s right in front of you, something got you to this place…now go do it well, such that if someone were to watch you they would envy the passion you have found.  It was there all along, now it needs to be framed differently.

Producing good work generates passion, not the other way around.

Now go fire it up.

J