Andrew Zahn

Writer Has Sore Throat, Loses Voice in Social Media Frenzy

I was performing at a theater. Acting. Costumes. Makeup. The whole nine yards. Livin’ the dream and getting paid to do it. Unfortunately, the toll of doing multiple shows a week did not agree with my vocal folds.They wanted a voice rest vacation.

The ear, nose, and throat doctor-guy informed my talking parts that they got to get the vacation they wanted: two weeks of no talking while they rested and I learned to communicate with no phonation. It was odd being at the checkout in Wal-Mart, trying to communicate with the cashier that (using gestures and read-my-lips word-mouthing) “I’m not talking.” Like an English-speaking American in a foreign land, I was treated like a non-native right there in my local Wal-Mart. She proceeded to talk louder and slower, assuming I was deaf or didn’t speak Wal-Mart-ese.

As creatives, haven’t we all been there?

We’re standing at the checkout line in life with insights and ideas we want to share, yet we can’t seem to find our voice. We stumble around, make a few mistakes, and start to feel emotionally flooded. We don’t often know how to get our creations into the world.

Do I blog? Should I tweet more? What about making a video? I gotta get an agent…

Welcome to the land of Overwhelmed. Overwhelmed-land takes us on a journey similar to a roller coaster ride: quick thrills, getting nowhere, back to where we began, no real progress.

Too many choices often leads to no choice at all. I think the glory of all this social media stuff is that we have multiple ways to express our ideas, rants, and opinions. At times, our intense desire to express them amounts to sitting in front of a television as one show bleeds into another; we watch other people’s handiwork rather than creating our own.

If you’re reading this, you are a creative. You have something to express. The only way to so it is to dive in. Right now.

Make all the mistakes you want. And keep making them. Maybe your blog posts will stink. Maybe your next ten auditions will get you nothing but rejection. Maybe your painting will never be in a gallery.

But what if your writing didn’t stink, you got the job, and your art changed how someone saw the world? What if you moved forward? What if you got off that roller coaster and took a step in a new direction? What if your movement created momentum?

“Half of the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.” Thank you Mr. Robert Frost.

You and I have a voice. Even if we don’t know how to fully use it… yet.

***

What do you have to share with someone today? How are you going to express it?

The sky is not the limit.

When Peter Pan Makes an Appearance in Grown-Up Land

Recently, my wife and I had the incredibly great fortune to see the real, live Peter Pan.

His name is Cathy Rigby.

Yep, you read that right, ‘the boy who wouldn’t grow up’ is a grown woman who is nearly sixty years young. Read more about our experience here.

Ms. Rigby gets paid to act like a child. It’s her job and she does it amazingly well. Many adults have adopted the same role as Rigby’s: grown-up Peter Pan’s. Not pretty. Especially since most of us aren’t paid to act like children.

I’m not immune to this “Peter Pan syndrome” myself, but I am aware that childish ways can creep into my adult ways. It can be a fine line… knowing when to be child-like rather than child-ish.

Keep the wonder. Keep the excitement. Keep the joy. Keep the freedom. And be a grown-up about it.

The Writer’s Toolbox, an Exercise in Creative Bravery

My wife, ever the cheerleader (thanks babies!), bought me a wonderful gift that I didn’t bother to even open. How rude. Yes, but the time had to be right. Tonight’s the night!The gift, The Writer’s Toolbox, by Jamie Cat Callan, is both a book(let) and several simple inspiring exercises to get the brain jogging into the land of twists, turns, conflicts, descriptions, and plots.

Today’s exercise: using the sticks!

1. Draw a “First Sentence” stick.” Write for a few minutes.
2. Draw a “Non-Sequitur” stick. Write a bit longer.
3. Draw a “Last Straw” stick.

Here’s what came out… my ‘sticks’ sentences are underlined.

***

On Tuesday, Margaret told me she liked the little oranges with the seeds better than the ones I bought.I hated her for that.

Her distaste for anything ‘unnatural’ drove me to commit mind murder, the likes of which I’d not experienced since grade school. Kenny Malich, not Margaret, was the object of my half-rage then, but it felt the same now as is did back at Glen Heights Elementary in Canton.

We were celebrating Thanksgiving. My parents made me a pilgrim-like collar out of four sheets of thick black construction paper cut to form a circle around my neck. Sticking out awkwardly from my shoulders, the collar looked like a umbrella missing a few strands in it’s DNA. I pulled my socks over my pant cuffs and half way up my calf to further compliment my colonial-ness. There’s a shadowy memory of a hat and an odd belt buckle, but I can’t be certain at present. My costume, though complete, was anything but authentic, real, and natural.

Kenny was an indian. Oh yes, he got it all. He had the moccasins, the war paint, and even a hatchet. So cool. They were all the read deal too. Even the hatchet.

So why did I hate him and why did Margaret’s comment about the seeded clementines set me reeling back to childhood?

“You could make a living doing that kind of thing.” I suppose I could, but I had never thought about it, until then.

Produce aisle. Frozen for who knows how long. Holding oranges. I didn’t even know if I was blinking. It could’ve been five seconds or ten minutes. From the looks of my meager audience, my journey to elementary school and back to my seeded clementine selection had transformed me into a stick-figured mime.

I should’ve passed a hat and collected a few bucks.

“Yeah, well, woulda coulda shoulda ya know.” It was the first thing that came to mind. I would’ve felt more comfortable walking out of the grocery store half naked.

Maybe she felt that way because of the oranges, maybe she just didn’t like me because I forgot to pay her back for one too many lattes. Perhaps she even felt the same way I did about Kenny.

The past seems to be sinking down on all of us Margaret.

****

Got the creative juices going!

Try it. I dare you.

Two Sides of the Communication Coin

“After all is said and done, more is said than done.” Well said Mr. Aesop Fables.

OK, so here’s the big secret. . .

I do not enjoy talking.

If you’re with me, stand up and say . . . nothing! Yeah, you know who you are. You’re the person at a party who does a lot of listening. How do they know us? By ‘they’ I mean the people who see us as walking ears.

Problem #1: I majored in speech communications and vocal music.

Problem #2: Virtually everything I have done in the ‘make a buck’ compartment of my life has had something to do with speaking.

Although I don’t love talking, I love communicating. Big difference between mere chatter and actual communication.

I love seeing that moment of connection when mutual understanding, energy, and clarity takes preeminence over just the sound of rambling words. Communicators, like myself, may not love to talk, but we do love to convey ideas, plant seeds, and foster freedom that brings a change in someone else. We also love sharing mutually in a gentle tennis match of ideation, synergy, and positive consequence.

True communication. True connection.

To Write, Not to Write?

No one wants to read a blog post when a person is just writing to write a blog post.

Right now, that person might (just might) be me. I have nothing to say, therefore, I am done.

So many people have something to say, and no physical voice to say it.

Like Roger Ebert.

Sarah told me about his story tonight. How thyroid cancer had ruined his voice. Consequently, for some time during his recovery, he wasn’t able to eat food properly. One of his requests: to have his friends/family describe food to him–the bubbles of soda, the heat of the spices etc.

Vicarious descriptive sensory image extravaganza.

To write, or not to write? Just do it. Write.

Ok–now I’m done. Hmmm. I guess I had something to say.

It’s a Privilege to Work, to Love, to Create

Today, on 9/11, I am thankful…

We are a privileged nation filled with everyday heroes who love, work, and create.
We have everything we truly need. If you are reading this, you have everything you need as well.
We are loved with an Everlasting Love.
We are free to innovate, free to share, and free to move.

As the thunder clouds roll into town this evening, I know and feel that we are not, and never shall be, alone.

We are surrounded at every moment by a great cloud of witnesses; some of whom took their lofty place a decade ago.

How Creativity Can Backfire in the Workplace

Want to get a job or want to keep your job? There, that ought to cover just about everyone between the ages of 18 and 120.
As Obama and the rest of Washington draw up job plan after job plan, let’s make sure we do our part rather than waiting on the government to do their part; it may take them a while anyway.

I love being creative and coming up with the next ‘new thing,’ being adventurous and trying those ‘new things’ out(www.acouplecomments.com), and just having fun. Yet, at times, you just have to get back to basics and follow the instructions. Here are a few…

To Get a Job:

Research the company. Employers often ask questions to guage your interest level in the position and the company. No research, no interest, no job. Sorry Charlie, you just shot yourself in the foot.
Follow the instructions. “Please fill this out and when you’re done, let me know,” the job screener says. Then why are you sitting there waiting for someone to call your name after you filled it out? You’ll probably hear something similar to “we’ll let you know” when they snatch away the clipboard you should’ve handed to the proctor. If you can’t follow very simple instructions at an interview, here is what an employer thinks: he doesn’t listen well. She won’t follow procedures. I can’t trust that person. Let’s not waste our time.
Be real. Enjoy the interview, rather than dreading it. Show genuine interest in the company and the people who are interviewing you. Rule of thumb: you will always communicate proportionate to how you feel. Feel scared? That’s the way you’ll come across. Feel under qualified? They’ll smell it with every word you speak. Be you (unless you’re a hot mess, in which case, be on the lookout for people just like you in places you spend money and try to work there. You’ll fit right in).

To Keep Your Job:

Listen to your boss. Listen to what he says. What he doesn’t say. Act accordingly.
Keep your promises. If you’re not going to do it, or capable of doing it, don’t do it. If you say you’re going to do it, then do it. If you don’t know how to do it, but want to do it, then learn to do it.
Take responsibility. Don’t blame others for your failures, but give others credit when you succeed. Ouch, that may seem painful and humbling. It is, but heck, you’ll still have a job and people will respect you for it.

Not a lot of creativity in those tidbids. It’ll come later after you have the trust and respect of your employers. Maybe then they’ll want to listen.

Lady Gaga + Warren Buffett = Tips for Business Artists

She is hanging from a chandelier, covered in stage blood, dressed in. . . what is that?Welcome to my brain when I first saw Lady Gaga perform on an awards show several years ago. I looked over at my wife, who’s also a business artist like myself, and noticed her jaw in a similarly dropped state.Warren Buffett. Ever heard of him? Well, apparently he’s a big-wig businessman, although he doesn’t consider himself one. “I am not a businessman. I am an artist,” Buffett once confessed. A wealthy artist at that: he’s worth over $47 billion according to Forbes. Some say his net worth is over $60 billion. That’s a lot or ‘illions’ either way.

We may not all be aiming to net illions with an ‘m’ or a ‘b,’ but I think we can all agree that creativity must thrive and breathe in everything we do. That said, here’s some tips brought about by inspirations of Gaga and Buffett, the unlikely dynamic duo.

Tips for Business Artists:

Be passionate and sell what you’re selling unapologeticly. Whether products, services, or consultative information.
Be confident and convey your love for what you do. Your prospect will only buy it if you do first.
Grab attention and don’t let up.
No limits. Pandora’s box what? There is no box. Let ‘er fly kiddo.
Keep creating, reinventing, and work. I could rant on this, but I already did: creativity might be painful work. That’s why it’s called ‘work.’ Get to work, and then don’t stop. Ever.
Don’t be afraid of what people think of your beliefs.

Now go. Do. Create. Enjoy. Share.

Get to Work

It’s about time.

It’s about time that all the workshops, webinars, e-mail subscriptions, cd’s, podcasts, speeches and preachers and teachers and keynote feature speakers’ talk

Stops.

It’s really about where the rubber meets the road and becomes our own with the practical hands on, real life, tried-and-tested, true to form, hands-down, read deal, easy to understand, and easier to do.

It’s about time.

It’s about time that getting by, inching on, just ‘getting through the day,’ one step forward two steps back, and lack of concern or lack of attack, ‘cause it just makes nothing but a life of naps and dilapidated crap.

It’s about time.

It’s about time that all reservations, inclinations, and tentative conversations take a back seat to implementation, vitalization, and radical transformation because complacency and apathy have no part of who we are, what we do, or who influences you and me. We’re better than that and we’ve got to give up blame because it’s a steady rain that leaves a stain that’s name is “not my fault.”

It’s about time.

It’s about time that we stop hugging stress like it’s our best friend and send it packing back to the pretend land where it has no upper hand.

It’s about time.

It’s about time to stop making excuses cause they’re useless. They leave us nowhere in life but clueless and in duress, held captive by their false sense of security. See, it’s just you stopping yourself telling everyone else that it’s their fault that you’re not free to succeed.

It’s about time.

It’s about time to stop starting over and wasting time because we have no guarantees for tomorrow so why not make the most of every today.

Make the most of every day.

Of every.

Single.

Moment.

Why Ideas and Ideation Give Me a High

I’m hooked.

I’ve always loved ideas, brainstorming, coming up with a plan, thinking abstractly, imagining ‘what if’ and the like.

Case in point (let’s see where this takes us):

What if . . . we all didn’t use air conditioning for an entire day during the heat of summer. We could donate all the money saved–just for having one relatively uncomfortable day. Hmmm. If each home cost an average of $3-5/day to cool…. if 1,000 people jumped on my what-if bandwagon, we could contribute around $4,000 to a good cause. If I doubled my energy-saving crusade, $8,000 saved and given. And let’s just say I got (now I feel like I’m hatching a pyramid scheme) 10,000 people to do this next summer and collected the $4-$5 saved from each of those people. Around $50,000. Maybe I WILL do that. Would you join?

But here’s the thing: coming up with that instantaneous idea came about by asking ‘what if’ and man, it gives me a slight high to see those ideas start to germinate, take form, and possibly grow. Even more, when those ideas are shared with other ideators (see post on ideation if you need clarity on that word–I did) the ideas take a new shape. Ever-new!

My joy is to string those mini-eureka moments together to form a lovely, creative life for years and years to come. Sarah, my wife and lovely ideator partner, inspires me daily to do just that.

What if….

What if . . . we weren’t afraid to think in new ways. To come up with solutions to things that we DON’T think need to be fixed–just to make it better.

What if . . . ideas are God’s gift to us and our gift back to God is to share the idea, enjoy it, ruminate on it and see what it becomes.

What if. . . your spark of ideation changed your city, your country, or your world.

What. If.