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Brownie for Life

April 20, 2012 in guest post, write 11

This is a guest post by an amazing writer, actress… and wife! The fantastic Sarah Zahn is an avid learner and Mindy Kaling fan.  She likes coffee, fun writing games, and bags of Doritos.  She’s also the founder of Sugared Beauty, LLC, a line of skincare made with organic ingredients.  Follow her adventures here: @SugaredBeauty.

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t enjoy learning.  Like being from a small town in the Midwest, learning stuff and getting good grades just seemed like my lot in life.  This didn’t exactly grant me a lot of friends in school. In 7th grade I remember a kid in my class introducing me to the cute new boy as a brownie.  I’m ashamed to admit I thought it was a compliment.

As a result of this and other name-calling incidents, some of the first interpersonal relationship lessons I heard from my mom was that I should “get a sense of humor” and “bury the hatchet.”

I am still figuring out how to do this.

It’s not that I was any smarter than anyone else, I just got a kick out of learning things.  Throughout grade school I would toe the line between first and almost-first in class…until I hit puberty. Continue Reading…

Let the Good Times Roll

March 28, 2012 in guest post, write 16

Today’s post is a guest post by Jim Woods. He is a writer, blogger and guitar junkie in Nashville, TN. He is also a chocolate chip cookie addict, but who isn’t right? You can read his blog here and find him on Twitter @unknownjim.

 

Tree. Arrow. Bee. Fish. Light Bulb. Turtle. Sad. Building. Footprint. What do all of these things have in common? Not much at all. But those are my results on my first roll with my Rory’s Story Cubes.

 

How do these work? Continue Reading…

For today’s post, I’m guest posting on my friend Scott Kerzner’s site “In Due Season.”

Head on over there to see what Michael Jordan’s expensive shoes taught me. For real.

link

Passion is Key

February 6, 2012 in guest post 8

From Andrew: Today we’ve got a stellar guest post by Scott Kerzner. Scott and his family embarked on Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover plan over four years ago. Early this spring, they plan on becoming debt-free.  Talk about creativity–they’re living it.  His blog, www.indueseason.net serves as a source of inspiration and motivation for all of those out there that battle debt, try to live on less than they make, or just plain want to save money.  Subscribe to his RSS feed and receive great anecdotes, advice, and humor.

As creatives, we sometimes hit a wall.

Javier Volcan (Creative Commons)

Every so often, hopefully more not than often, ideas don’t come to us easily.  Some days we just can’t think of anything.  We stare at an empty screen.  We rest our fingers on the keyboard waiting for something to come to us, like when you turn the key of a stalled car again and again, hoping each time that it will magically start.

Continue Reading…

Value of Art

January 23, 2012 in guest post, theater 24

Today’s guest post is by producer Jason Mundok at The Wood Stove House. I enjoyed working with him on a recent project, The 24 Hour Plays and will be participating in his podcast series “Conversations” later this month. Enjoy!

The Value of Art

At the Wood Stove House, we have immersed ourselves in the performing arts over the past few years. We’ve hosted house concerts, helped promote and book public concerts, produced theater events, provided promotional and logistical support for other theater events, and produced several recordings for wonderful regional musicians.

One of the big questions that we grapple with when engaging in any of these projects is the idea of value. What is the value of what we do and how much should we be charging for it?

A Tightrope Walk

Continue Reading…

Setting the Stage to Experience Flow

January 6, 2012 in artist, creativity, guest post 14

Today’s guest post is by Jason Mundok at The Wood Stove House. I enjoyed working with him on a recent project, The 24 Hour Plays. Enjoy!

Photo Credit: Ernest Koe

I was recently turned on to the psychology term “flow.”

It’s a mental state where a person is so completely immersed in an activity, they enter into a state of pure focus and concentration where time has no meaning and bodily needs are essentially ignored. I’m familiar with the concept from the more common descriptions like being in the zone or in the moment.

For creatives, “getting there” can be very challenging, and the lack of “being there” can prevent any motivation to engage in the creative process. But when it happens, hours slip by and productivity skyrockets. Stuff gets done and it feels great! I’m lucky enough to experience it occasionally, but like other creatives, I’d love for it to be way more often.

Continue Reading…