Author: Andrew Zahn

I'm a son, husband, dad, business owner, actor and good sleeper/eater. On this blog, I pave a highway for creative growth by providing food, water, and shelter for those wishing to live, work, and play with creative zest.

Create from Your Core

The sleazy car salesman. He just wants your money. He doesn’t really care if you get the car you need or want.

 The way-too-eager date. He (or she) only wants your body. He/she isn’t interested in who you are.

The ‘can I ask you a question’ person at the mall kiosk. They just want to sell you hair extensions, skin creams, or helicopter gadgets. They’re not really interested you. (Aside: My stock response to their ‘can I ask you a question’ ice-breaker is always “you just did.” Then keep walking. Write me. Let me know if it works for you too.)

This one-dimensional approach wreaks of disingenuousness. It blasts insincerity up the nostrils of true passion leaving it feeling numb and jaded rather than infused with life and fire.

The same is true of your creative work; it must be authentic to be truly beautiful. If your work is not genuine, it’s perceived like a cheaply executed facelift: it looks okay, but everyone who sees it knows that it’s not quite real. Continue reading “Create from Your Core”

Lust and Your Creative Passion

[box options] You’re reading creative passion love (or hate) letters from yourself, to yourself. You wrote what you are about to read. You wrote it with your life.

If this is your first visit, start here with Day 1.[/box]

Dear Me,

Before we jump into today’s letter of your creativity rehab bootcamp, here’s what you’ve written about thus far…

Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 were all about getting yourself to feel again. You might’ve felt angry or frustrated at first. But mostly you felt empowered after you wrote this. You realized you’ve abandoned your creativity.

Passion begets passion.

In Day 4 you identified the four surrogates that make you think you’re living, feeling and creating. But they’re masqueraders.

Day 5 shined a spotlight on the cockroach of apathy, the first surrogate to creative passion, and it scurried away.

Ahhhh… and here we are at Day 6. How do you feel tackling these demons?

Empowered? Furious? Frustrated?

On this path you’re on, it’s just good to be feeling. For so long you felt nothing but confusion and ambiguity.

In a world of numb, artists make us feel.

At least you’re feeling again.

At least you’re angry or inspired or        fill in the blank          .

At the very least, feel something. Continue reading “Lust and Your Creative Passion”

Ch-ch-ch-ch Changes!

[box options]Today’s guest post is by producer Jason Mundok from the Wood Stove House. WSH produces creative projects such as house concerts, theater events, and a weekly performing arts podcast called Around the Wood Stove. You can also find Wood Stove House on Twitter.[/box]

I had a big birthday last year. I turned 40 in September. I’ve always been a milestone guy when it comes to birthdays, but not in a big party or expensive trip kind of way; more in the introspective and reflective kind of way. A few months before that birthday I had a few life changing experiences and made a few very important realizations.

I’ll save those stories for another post, but the result was significant soul searching, deep conversations with close friends, and finally a decision to leave my very comfortable, very well paid, and very uninspiring I.T. management job to start a business focused on the performing arts. Continue reading “Ch-ch-ch-ch Changes!”

You’ve Never Said This About the London 2012 Olympics

Although I have several posts in the pipeline, they can wait.

For the present we celebrate the glorious London 2012 Olympics.

My wife and I got a little creative this weekend while watching the Olympics and posted this on our blog A Couple Comments.

We hope it makes you smile as much as we did while we were making it!

Ideas Are Like Dreams, Unless…

Taking Mr. Sinek’s advice, here are some of the creative projects I’m working on…

The Age of Interesting

[box options]Two million blog posts are written and introduced to the world every single day.*[/box]

That statistic may haunt us. We ask ourselves “how will my voice be heard?” What’s a creative to do?

  • Be louder?
  • Work harder?
  • Stop sleeping and start tweeting?

There’s a silver lining. The beauty of the voluminous amount of new content available on a daily basis is that those who are interesting win. Those who bend the spoon in a new direction, take the road less traveled, and break the rules from time to time gain the edge. Continue reading “The Age of Interesting”

Five Winning Mistakes

[box options]“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
― Albert Einstein[/box]

1. Fall Down

Remember the first time you rode a bike? You fell, right? How did you learn to ride? By falling.

How do we learn to get better? By getting back up… and falling again.

2. Quit

Sometimes you have to say no to something to make space for something even better. Continue reading “Five Winning Mistakes”

The Forgotten Core of the Creative Process

[box options]This is a guest post from Jared Latigo. Jared is a writer, husband, father and stellar designer. After reading his post, head on over to his site www.JaredLatigo.com and follow him on Twitter. You’ll be glad you did.[/box]

When we think of the creative process, we tend to lean toward a list of things we need to do in order to refine that process. But we leave out an important part. That important part is the core of building who we are as a creative, or any professional for that matter.

The thing we tend to leave out is training.  We must learn to be a life learner to train for the day when we do have power and ability to influence others through our work and passions. This cannot be changed.

Ill-advised – Photo Credit: pasukaru76
Continue reading “The Forgotten Core of the Creative Process”

A Cheating Blogger Comes Clean

I’ve a bit of a secret… several secrets actually.

I’ve been cheating on you, dear reader.

I’ve been moonlighting on several other sites and I just have to come clean.

Photoforía via CompfightSite (Cheater)

Site One

My wife and I run a vblog/blog together deftly titled A Couple Comments. The pitch: us commenting on nouns (we go places, we see people, we do things).

Then we comment about it.

In the past we’ve reviewed Greek yogurt, airports, and now we’re taking you to the redwoods of Muir Woods, California. Continue reading “A Cheating Blogger Comes Clean”