Category: photo a day

Retirees’ Creative Reinvention Day 18: Seize the moment…

girl reaching

So it’s like this.

My friend from NY sent me a quick email telling me a classmate of ours from junior high had passed away…a year ago.

M was always a pretty happy-go-lucky guy and he was the same way as we went facemark-to-facemask in a junior college football game in 1972. And the same way as he served customers at his dad’s fish market and at the restaurant he started in the 80’s.

While I hadn’t seen him for decades, his passing hit me a little harder.

Maybe each succeeding loss of a contemporary does that now…but it was yet another reminder, a tug at my insides, with the familiar message…”What in God’s name are you waiting for? Get out there and make stuff!”

Yeah…it doesn’t have to be good—especially at first. It has to be done, so you have something to build on, a reference point.

And let’s all assume we’re not going to live forever, so it’s time to build some creative momentum.

It doesn’t have to be a leap. Even a step will do. But let’s aim together to be in a different place than we were the day before.

no-yes.png

This post begs for a repeat of the previous link…

How to Never Miss a Day of Creative Work
Highlights:
  1. “Take the minimal viable action of sitting down at your desk…”
  2. “Reduce the scope, but stick to the schedule.”
  3. “It’s better to lower your standards and actually follow through…”

***

Thanks for reading and stay vigilant for opportunities
to stretch and flex those creative muscles.

***

Retirees’ Creative Reinvention Day 17: Stay on task…

Multiple cogs with icons signifying tasks
Overestimating my ability to handle multiple projects…a major fault
Srini Rao has long been a go-to resource for advice and inspiration. This is one of my favorite posts from unmistakeablecreative.com.
Man intently working at a laptop
Love the wrinkled undershirt look…but hey! He’s sticking with his schedule!
How to Never Miss a Day of Creative Work
Highlights:
  1. “Take the minimal viable action of sitting down at your desk…”
  2. “Reduce the scope, but stick to the schedule.”
  3. “It’s better to lower your standards and actually follow through…”

***

Thanks for reading and stay vigilant for opportunities
to stretch and flex those creative muscles.

***

Retirees’ Creative Reinvention Day 16: As you’re learning, you’re teaching.

Austin Amateurs teach

More from Show Your Work **by Austin Kleon.

Fellow Retirees: Reframe your standing as a ‘creative’. We are a few among the many, all at different stages.

***

Thanks for reading and stay vigilant for opportunities
to stretch and flex those creative muscles.

***

** I’m mixing in different links to Austin K so they don’t all lead to a ‘buy’ page. Note: I just value the guy’s work. Not making a dime off the links.

Retirees’ Creative Reinvention Day 15: We’re not alone.

Austin rapid change equals amateurs

More from Show Your Work by Austin Kleon.

Fellow Retirees: Reframe your standing as a ‘creative’. We are a few among the many, all at different stages.

***

Thanks for reading and stay vigilant for opportunities
to stretch and flex those creative muscles.

 

Retirees’ Creative Reinvention Day 14: Embrace your amateurism…

Austin willing to try 2

Still with the ‘you’ve made a decision to create‘ thread, through the week, I’ll be sharing quotes from Show Your Work by Austin Kleon.

Fellow Retirees: What do we have to lose?

***

Thanks for reading and stay vigilant for opportunities
to stretch and flex those creative muscles.

 

Retirees’ Creative Reinvention Day 13: And once you’ve made that decision…

finger pointing to the viewer's right

In my last post, I explored, with the help of Jon Acuff, the decision creators must make every day.

Now that you’ve made a decision to create [and possibly to share some of your work], you might saunter further into some unexplored, or at least dormant, traits.

Dani Shapiro, author of Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life,  says: [Note: For every mention of writing, plug in your own creative endeavor.]

“The writing life requires courage, patience, persistence, empathy, openness, and the ability to deal with rejection. It requires the willingness to be alone with oneself. To be gentle with oneself. To look at the world without blinders on. To observe and withstand what one sees. To be disciplined, and at the same time, take risks. To be willing to fail — not just once, but again and again, over the course of a lifetime. “Ever tried, ever failed,” Samuel Beckett once wrote. “No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” It requires what the great editor Ted Solotoroff once called endurability.”

For a more complete discussion, click on over to Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings.

***

Thanks for reading and stay vigilant for opportunities to stretch your and flex those creative muscles.

 

Retirees’ Creative Reinvention Day 12: Make a decision…

decision signs

Jon Acuff, author of Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done, recently posted about a decision we make every day. He uses a stage–the place where we step forward–as his metaphor.

Two of his main points:

  • “Your stage might be different, but we all have one…Maybe for you it’s sending an email to a literary agent.”

  • “The exit is easier. It’s faster and more comfortable and a lot safer.”

***

Thanks for reading and stay vigilant for opportunities to stretch your and flex those creative muscles.