I’m not ashamed of this—fear of public speaking is one of the top human phobias, right up there with heights and spiders! I’m in good company.

It’s funny though, it’s a learned fear that I developed only in the last few years. I’m still just fine speaking or leading a class in front of a room full of people. It’s only video that truly gets me...

Shaving my head feels like a personal, almost spiritual undertaking for me, but it can’t very well be private, as it’s something I absolutely cannot hide from anyone now that it’s done! So why not send folks to a blog post ahead of time and save this introvert some time having multiple conversations...

(If you’d like to see a photo, you’ll have to read to the end…)

What follows is my underwhelming response to the aftermath of someone's innocent question that REALLY didn't go over well with me. I don’t like to complain or dwell on the negative, but every now and then something rubs me the wrong way and I want to process it...

Creativity IS constant, in the way that the ocean is... it's there. It exists in the background of our neural landscape.

However, also like the ocean, it is ever-changing, and the factors that affect our creativity are as varied as those that affect the ocean. The factors that affect our creativity are in turn affected by their own factors! They are cyclical, and sometimes the frequencies vary from day to day or hour to hour...

The "starving artist" trope is popular because we typically don't like to ask for help. As artists, we can build our technical skills all day long and get great at making our art. And we can do that for ourselves for a long time and have it be enough and plenty.

But eventually, the artwork will start piling up. At some point we've got to share it, put it out into the world, complete the cycle of creativity (so we may inspire others) and for that we have to give it a voice. Contrary to what we might believe, most visual art does not, and will not, speak for itself...

You know those cartoons from your childhood with a tiny devil & angel sitting on the character's shoulders? We don't often give that clichéd cartoon plot device a lot of thought, but I feel like there might be something to it after all. I sat down today to write about anxiety, and this is what came out. It did NOT go where I expected it to go, but here we are. Enjoy the ride!

Anxiety is a part of the human condition, and to show you you’re not alone, I’m going to share a little about my own experiences with anxiety as a creative person, and what has helped me to largely (but not entirely) overcome it.

Dear Téa Obreht,

I’m so sorry. You were right. I am a writer.

When I met you at your book signing you said to me, blogging is writing. I was not in the headspace to allow your words to land properly. I could not look past my own insecurities to take into account your authority, as the published author of a book I enjoyed, to know what you’re talking about. To know that one doesn’t have to be all that good at something, or even paid for something, to own a title like writer, or artist…

After she finished her reading, I waited patiently between the rows of folding chairs for the author to sign my copy of her first novel, The Tiger’s Wife. It had been on my mind for weeks since I read it in nearly one sitting, and as I waited I clutched it to my chest. I watched her interacting with the folks in front of me, smiling at them openly, radiantly, while they praised her words and she thanked them. It was long enough ago that all the details are blurry, though I remember her smile and glowing complexion. When it was my turn I passed her my book and as she opened it she smiled up at me and asked —