Teresa R. Funke's Blog: Bursts of Brilliance for a Creative Life, page 47

The Human Side of Celebrity with George Takei

Yes, this is a picture of actor/activist George Takei holding my children’s book, The No-No Boys!  I heard him speak recently at the National Speakers Association convention. When he came out on stage, everyone expected him to talk about his role as Mr. Sulu on Star Trek or his pop culture persona or his enormous social media reach. We were speakers, after all, hoping to learn how he’d “done it all.”

Instead he chose to talk about something most of the 1,700 attendees knew nothing about, his family’s incarceration in a Japanese internment camp during World War II.

I knew about this episode in his past, though, because of the research I had done for my book.  And as he told his story, he ceased to seem like a celebrity to me, and took on the look and sound of so many of the amazing people who have shared their memories of internment with me over the years. In his face and in his voice I saw and heard the same unforgotten pain and indignation, but also the pride in family and culture that I had come to recognize in survivors.

People shook their heads in disbelief as he detailed his family’s forced removal from their California home, and described the conditions at the Rohwer internment camp in the swamps of Arkansas, and shared how they were offered a one-way train ticket and $20 at the end of the war, after having lost everything.

Some people were disappointed that George didn’t use the stage to share funny stories about his life and career or even to talk about his activism for the LGBT community, but I was moved by his talk and grateful that he used that opportunity to raise awareness about a shameful episode in our country’s past.

I realize history isn’t as flashy or fun as pop culture, but it’s far more important. And George was brave to take that stand, knowing that he might disappoint. Celebrities bear so much pressure, but behind the fame, they lead very human lives.

George is premiering a new Broadway musical, Allegiance, this fall based on his personal experiences, which will be one more step in educating people about this topic. I’m hoping to go to New York to see it and support it!

I hope Mr. Takei likes my book and takes some comfort in the fact that some of us are working hard to preserve this history so it will never be forgotten. To learn more about all of my books based on true stories from WWII, visit: www.teresafunke.com

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Greater Must Our Courage Be

I’ve been a Shakespeare buff all my life. There weren’t many cultural events in Boise when I was growing up, but we did have the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and my family went every summer.

Two years ago, I was contemplating a major change in my business and feeling hesitant, no, scared, about whether I should move forward. I accompanied my daughter to a photo session and, while I was waiting, noticed a volume of Shakespeare on the photographer’s shelf.

“Okay, universe,” I said. “Who better to advise a writer on direction than the greatest writer who ever lived? I’m going to open this book, and you’re going to direct me toward a line that will tell me what to do.”  I took a deep breath, opened to a page, and pointed to this exact line:  “The greater, therefore, must our courage be.”

It doesn’t get clearer than that. I moved forward on the plan for the business and, though there have been many challenges, I’m glad I did.

My hero, Eleanor Roosevelt, once said, “Do one thing every day that scares you.”  I don’t know how possible that is, but I know that at least once a week I feel scared. And that’s the way I want it. Because I’ve discovered that if I take those chances and brave my fears, I discover something every time. I learn that I’m more capable than I thought, that failure is no big deal, that people can handle more than I think they can, etc.

One year I decided to apply Eleanor’s advice to my writing and pen three essays that scared me, mostly because I was afraid of offending my readers or getting pushback on my opinions. I wrote one of them and shared it with my writers group, and that was terrifying. I have not yet written the other two. So, clearly, I am not yet fearless.

But that’s okay. Many people in history have noted that courage is not the absence of fear, it’s the willingness to act in spite of it. It’s scary to put our work out there in the world, scary to try to live up to expectations (our own and those of others), scary to quit our jobs to follow our passion, scary to think that we may never achieve our goals, and scary to think we might.

And, like it or not, it’s never gonna stop being scary. So it’s up to us to summon the courage and move forward. No one else can do it for us.

 

 

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Do You Trust Yourself?

Yesterday I was interviewing Terri Norvell for the radio show I co-host. She’s an expert on inner trust. She made a comment that really stuck with me. She said, “If you can’t trust yourself, you can’t fully trust other people.” And oh, how we need other people if we want to succeed.

She went on to talk about how some people trust themselves, but no one else. Other people trust others, but not themselves. And some people trust themselves so much at work that they accomplish great things, but doubt themselves at home.

I’ve always been one of those people with strong instincts. When I was young, it was easy to make decisions and take risks based on gut feelings. Then as I got older, I started to question my instincts, usually based on feedback from friends and family.  It took me a long time to realize that I should trust my own doubts, but not those of others. Those doubts did not belong to me.

It wasn’t until I was in my mid-forties that I learned to not only trust my instincts, but also my skills, knowledge, experience, and wisdom. It wasn’t until then that I started to build inner trust into my decision-making process, and that’s when my business really took off.

Nearly everything I do now is based on listening to that voice that initially tells me, “Say no now,” or “This might work, let’s learn more.”

Terri mentioned that inner trust leads to confidence, and that’s true. But for artists and creatives, it’s trickier than that. We have to first trust that our work is good enough to put out in the world, then trust that people will buy it, then trust that they will praise or recommend it. When that doesn’t happen right away, many creatives give up. Our success is based on talent, or so it seems, and talent is either there or it isn’t.

So fine, you were only given a certain amount of talent, but do you trust that you have the ability to improve your skills, increase your knowledge, learn from your mistakes, and find your unique place? If so, you will take your talent as far as it will go. And there will be more to learn and celebrate from that journey than there will be from giving up.

If you’d like to listen to my interview with Terri on the World Positive Thinkers Radio Show, click here.

 

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Know Your Genre

Okay, this post is mostly for my writer friends, but if you love to read, you may find this topic of interest too! Click below to view my newest writing video from my YouTube channel. This one is on understanding the difference between various genres in literature. It’s a confusing topic for new writers, but it’s so important. Just the other night, I heard a successful agent say that fully 50% of the submissions she receives are in genres she does not represent. But understanding your genre will not only help you write a better book and find the right agent, it will help you and/or your publisher better position and market your book. I hope this helps!  If it does, please feel free to share it!

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The Hardest Easy Job

I attended the National Speakers Association convention this past weekend, and heard a presenter refer to speaking as one of the “hardest ‘easy’ jobs there is.” Made us all laugh.

A friend of mine recently sought a speaker for a 30-minute keynote to kick off her event. When he quoted her a $5,000 fee, she told me, “Must be nice to make $5,000 for 30 minutes of work.”  See, no one sees the incredible amount of effort that goes into the back end of speaking. The countless hours spent producing new talks, marketing, negotiating contracts, customizing appearances, traveling to the event, dealing with follow-up, etc.

And it’s that way with artists too. People notice the $2,000 price tag on a wall-size painting and say, “Must be nice to charge so much,” but they have no idea how much work went into creating that piece.

I was speaking to a wood carver who was charging that same amount for a piece that took him two years to complete. If he spent an hour a day on that carving for those two years, and if his buyer pays what he is asking, he will have earned $2.73 an hour for the work he did. That’s far less than minimum wage. Doesn’t seem like such a high price anymore, does it?

We artists and entrepreneurs love our work. That’s a perk. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy and that doesn’t mean we don’t need to be paid fairly.  In the speaking profession, there’s a lot of talk about “charging what you are worth.” It’s scary, but it’s necessary. In order for us to do the work we were born to do, in order for us to use our talents to best serve our communities, we must be able to keep our doors open.

And there’s one thing you can count on with artists and creatives of all kinds, we will rarely let our work get easy. Why? Because once it does, it’s no longer a challenge and it’s no longer unique or original, which is what we think you deserve.

 

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You Can Say It All In a Glance

One of the things I love about being married is exchanging those “knowing glances” with my husband. They occur when, say, one of our kids has just declared with great conviction that he/she is going to do something we doubt they will actually follow through on. All we have to do is look at each other to know we are both thinking exactly the same thing.

To be fair, though, there are times I exchange knowing glances with my kids when their father is, say, missing the point. We do it with our coworkers when our bosses are being unreasonable and with our friends when someone says something funny and with our siblings when our parents are driving us nuts.

We artists and creatives do this too. Have you ever sat in the back of a room listening to a singer who hits a note so perfect that you glance at a total stranger and smile, and he/she smiles back? You both heard it at exactly the same time, and you both reveled in it.  There may be people in the room who didn’t recognize it, and that’s okay. It only takes one other person to create a bond.

In those really special moments, though, when the art is especially powerful, we turn one way and then the other seeking out those sympathetic eyes and finding them all around us, and the energy in the room begins to swell.  Those are the events you remember all your life.

It works the other way too, you might be sitting in your writers critique group when someone points out a plot twist so unlikely it will never work. While the author is insisting it will, the other members are glancing at each other knowing full well it won’t and wondering who will be the one to say so. Those knowing glances give us confidence and courage.

We humans are adept at so many forms of communication. We forget that sometimes. We rely too often on our words. But it’s often through those knowing glances that we find the people with whom we are meant to connect.

If you are not experiencing this phenomena, maybe it’s time to ask yourself if you have found your true tribe.  If not, you may need to seek out a new circle of friends. It’ll only take a glance to recognize them.

 

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Channeling Teddy

I was just offered an amazing opportunity! It was actually on my bucket list, but I had assumed I’d need to be much further along before I was invited. In fact, I’m a bit nervous. I wish I had more pieces and parts in place in my business to support this, but that’s how it goes sometimes, especially for artists.

We are asked all the time if we can do something we’ve never done before. We stare at the person for a minute and consider whether the request is within our skills base and bandwidth. If the answer is yes, we say, “Sure, I can do it.” Then we go off and figure out how. If we enjoyed doing it, we do it again. If not, we most certainly learned something in the process.

Some of the most interesting things I’ve done in my career came about because someone asked me to do something, and some of the developments in my business happened because someone offered me an opportunity I would not have otherwise pursued. Some of those worked out, others didn’t, but all helped me arrive exactly where I am today.

As a student of history, I’ve always been motivated by Teddy Roosevelt’s quote, “Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell ‘em, ‘Certainly I can!’ Then get busy and find out how to do it.”  But Teddy also said, “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”

So I accepted this challenge, believing that I can. I still wish I was better prepared and that I had more time, but I’ve got a week to figure it out. It’s like I always say, “If you’re thrown in the water without a life jacket, you better start swimming.” I think Teddy would agree.

 

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Founding Fathers Speak on Living Creatively

As you know, I’m an historian by training, and the American Revolution has always been one of my favorite eras to study. It continues to fascinate me that great leaps forward (and backward) in our world cultures seem to take place when a particular group of like-minded, ambitious people come together, and never was there a more inspiring band of rebels than our Founding Fathers (and Mothers). So on this 4th of July, I wondered what they had to teach us about leading creative and purposeful lives.

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”   Thomas Jefferson.

“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.”  Thomas Jefferson

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”  Benjamin Franklin

“To cease to think creatively is to cease to live.”  Benjamin Franklin

“You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.”  John Adams

“Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.”  John Adams

“We have too many high-sounding words and too few actions that correspond with them.” Abigail Adams

“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence.” Abigail Adams

“99% of failures come from people who make excuses.”  George Washington

“If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”  George Washington

 

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Life Can Only Be What You Make It To Be

When I was growing up in Boise, Idaho, there was a local singer named Steve Harmon. He sang at our church, and he also recorded a record called Stand By Him back in 1974. I grew up listening to that album. My mom played it often. You’ve never heard of it? I’m not surprised. I’m not sure that Steve was very well known outside our local area.

But Steve had a song called “Life Can Only Be,” and all these years later, the words to that song still run through my head on a regular basis. Life can only be what you make it to be.  I think maybe I loved that line because it was the first time I realized as a kid that life was not just something that happened to you, and it was not just something dictated by your parents and teachers, it was something you could influence and, in some ways, control.  Whatever did or did not happen in your life, was up to you. That was at once frightening and liberating, but mostly exciting.

Those words pop into my head now, often in the early part of the day, whenever it feels like things are not heading in the directions I want or when I’m feeling overwhelmed or unsure. They are a gift from a man who has since passed away and who never achieved fame or fortune from his music. I wonder if he’s sitting on the other side feeling pride in the fact that his art, his music, keeps me on course. That his words changed one life. I wonder if he feels that is legacy enough.

 

 

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Under Pressure

What are the rest of the words to that song?  Oh, never mind.  Those are the only two words that matter, and they seem to be popping into my head more often these days. Is it just me, or are we all feeling increased pressure?

If I read one more article, for example, that tells me how sitting too much is going to kill me, I’m going to scream. I’m a writer and a writer’s coach, for heaven’s sake. It’s my job to sit. And, yes, I’ve set up my desk as ergonomically as possible, and, yes, I take breaks and, yes, I get exercise every day, but according to the articles, that’s not enough. I’m headed for an early grave.

Likewise, they say if you don’t catch a good 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night, you won’t perform at your best. But we creatives have this odd habit of getting great ideas in the middle of the night and not being able to fall back to sleep. Or we wake up at 3:00 a.m. thinking of all the things we have to get done the next day. Uninterrupted sleep for a creative is as impossible as it is for the parent of a newborn. So, now I lie awake at night cursing myself for still being awake.

This is where someone always pipes up and says, “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” but that’s the thing, nothing feels small anymore.  People expect us to be on the clock and at our best 24/7, and each year our tasks and responsibilities seem to multiply.

“Try meditation,” several people have told me. “It will help you let go of stress.” So I tried it, and then I stressed because I couldn’t quiet my mind.

Here’s what I think . . . there is no such thing as work/life balance, there is only life. And life is messy sometimes. So, what do we do with a mess? We clean it up. Figure out what that looks like for you. What helps you get through the trying times? A hot bath, a long walk, a good cry?  A good cry in a hot bath after a long walk?

In London, just before you board the subway, a voice warns “Mind the gap.”  The gap is that perilous few inches between the platform and the train where disaster awaits. Before you move from one crazy task to the next, ask yourself if you need to “mind the gap.”

 

 

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