Z.R. Southcombe's Blog, page 16

January review: being mindful of my focus

It’s funny how quickly comparisonitis has tried to set its teeth in. This year, I won’t let it win. It’s part of my personal goal to develop a healthy mindset. I’m listening carefully to the voices in my head, and changing the tune when necessary. I’ve also had a think about my blog. I feel ... Read more

Monday Musings: Where did my priorities go?

I just had a look at last week’s goals and realised that I have literally done NO creative writing or painting this week! There have been two main excuses for this. Firstly, I had a bit more dayjob work than I had thought, and secondly the weather is scorching hot (by NZ standards anyway) and ... Read more

Sparkles and celebrations in 2016

So it’s well and truly 2016 now, and in line with my One Word ‘sparkle’ I’m kicking off with a celebration: the launch of Beyond the End of the World. I’d planned on releasing this book last October, at the inaugural NZ Book Festival, but I was finding editing a chore and knew I wouldn’t ... Read more

Monday Musings: One step at a time

Today’s a grey, quiet, sleepy day so I’m going to keep it short! I’m pleased to say that I’ve finally started a podcast, which you can listen to on YouTube, Facebook, or download directly as an MP3 file (which is what I do with a lot of the podcasts I follow, and then listen to them ... Read more

What’s your message? Dealing with perfectionism [podcast]

Download the MP3 file – 6:53mins (right-click + save) Listen on YouTube In this episode, I talk about the way I deal with perfectionism in my creative practice, while remembering that perfectionism does have its place. At the end of the show, I read from Sol Stein’s book Stein on Writing, which has a brilliant ... Read more

A little introduction [podcast]

I’ve been talking for a while about having a podcast, or doing YouTube videos (I have done a few) but hadn’t followed up on it. I realised that one of the obstacles was camera shyness – so for now, I’m just going to be doing audio. This is the short intro, and I’m recording the ... Read more

Monday Musings: Putting plans into action

This year is about taking action. Making art, writing stories, sharing inspiration, and remembering that I always have a choice (even if that’s just a choice of perspective). Last week, I started my daily challenges. I’ve fallen behind already, so I’m...
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Tortured writer solution: keep making art

The ‘tortured artist’ image has been countered time and time again, like in these articles by BrainPickings and Collective Inkwell, though in my research (aka. four-minute-Google-search) I also found backers of the stereotype, like here by Huffington Post and here by Mental_Floss. The idea goes that good art comes from suffering and pain; a chore that... Read more »

Monday Musings: Blogs, Podcasts & Daily Creative Challenges

I’ve got a few things planned for the year in terms of my online activity, so I’ll quickly run through those and then get you updated with my weekly goals…

One Word 2016

For the last couple of years, I’ve been giving myself ‘one word’ to focus on, though the focus part didn’t always happen. I was introduced to this idea by Christine Campbell (a brilliant author of family dramas / mysteries) and...
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