Teresa R. Funke's Blog: Bursts of Brilliance for a Creative Life, page 54

It’s About Time Finding You

At least once a week someone tells me, I’d love to pursue my art, but I can’t find the time. To which I say, it’s not about you finding time . . . it’s about time finding you. It’s about making a connection to a project so captivating, you simply have to work on it. It’s about the dishes piling up in the sink and the dog going unwalked and the paperwork getting ignored because time demands that you work on that story or painting or new product.

I remember once sitting in my mom’s group when my kids were little and complaining about how hard it was to keep up on all the chores. One mother shrugged and said, “I never worry about it. If it’s a priority, it will get done. If not, it won’t.” That comment changed my attitude forever. Are the things you currently think of as necessary really priorities? If you gave up social media for a week and used that time on your art, could you start a project that would entice you? If you turned off the TV for one night, could you jot down some ideas that might actually excite you?  If you took a day off work and devoted it to your art, could you find your passion?

Time is not the master, it is an obedient servant. It will stretch and weave and rearrange itself to serve you. So I promise, once your art starts calling to you, time will follow. In fact, you’ll lose track of it. You’ll look up at the clock and the whole evening will be gone. And the laundry will still be in the basket, and your e-mails will go unanswered, and your kids won’t pick up their shoes, and who cares? Once those things pile up, they will become the priority. Until then, why not enjoy your art?

 

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How to Fail Successfully

I was recently asked to contribute to an article on “failing successfully.”

“I know you’ve been very successful and obviously have a great deal of experience,” the writer told me.  Experience in failing? Is that what she meant? I didn’t ask, because the truth is failure is a part of what I do, and that word doesn’t scare me, it doesn’t intimidate or embarrass me. It frustrates me sometimes, but it never holds me back.

But then I’m an artist. We’re conditioned to expect failure. We’re discouraged from entering our chosen fields by everyone from parents to teachers to friends. We’re told we’re going to starve, and for sure fall on our faces. We’re pummeled with discouraging statistics about how most artists never make a living from their work. In my world, only the brave move forward, the ones who say, “I’m not afraid to fail.”  Only the determined and self-assured succeed.

Whenever writers, for example, set out to write a book, we know from the start there will be a degree of failure. We romanticize it even; all those images of writers yanking sheets from the typewriter, crumpling them up, and throwing them on the floor.  All those stories about authors who were rejected dozens of times before their books were published. All those acceptance speeches citing ten years of sleeping on a best friend’s couch before finally making it big. We love those stories, don’t we?

But we feel differently when it’s our own projects that fall short. We complete a writing assignment or manuscript believing it’s perfect, but it fails to attract an agent or publisher. We publish our books, only to be met by scathing reviews. We announce our new titles just as a better-known competitor launches a book on the same topic. We do everything right, and the book still doesn’t sell in the back of the room.

In those moments, it’s hard to remember that failure is part of any artist’s journey, and from each failure we learn something that makes us better. We have to trust that there is no such thing as wasted effort!  Everything we try, whether it succeeds or fails, leads us on the path we are meant to take. Every rejection brings us one step closer to acceptance, and every failure brings us one step closer to success.

Do you know what failure really means to artists and creatives?  It means that unlike so many people who just dream of living their art, we are the ones doing it!

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Can the Arts Better Lives and Give Hope?

I asked my friend, Rose Moon, why she thought artists were important. “Artists are the storytellers of each generation,” she said. If it weren’t for Rose, the at-risk teens she works with at HalfMoon Arts in Fort Collins, Colorado might never have a voice. In providing art instruction and a safe haven, she is also teaching life skills to kids who are living in desperate situations with uncertain futures. Rose loses sleep at night over some of her kids, and tears up when talking about her success stories.  People like Rose are my heroes, people who use the arts to better lives and give hope.

I was one of those kids who was never sure what I wanted to be when I grew up. I knew only two things . . . I wanted my work to matter and I wanted to help people. I’m fortunate now to be able to help writers and artists through my business and to work with children through our outreach to schools, libraries, non-profits, and arts organizations. My efforts are small compared to someone like Rose, but they are heartfelt. Some of my projects succeed, some fail, but it’s important to me to try.

This week I launched a crowdfunding effort on Pubslush to raise $10,000 to provide our successful Read A Hero Literacy Program to 25 Boys & Girls Clubs across the country. The curriculum was written with the help of a certified teacher. We spent six months working closely with B & G to develop a program specific to the needs of their kids. Half of low-income children don’t own a single book. My program provides free copies of my Home-Front Heroes books to these kids. And kids reading at grade level by 3rd grade are four times more likely to graduate high school. We want that for these children and maybe, just maybe, our little literacy program will help a few kids get better at reading and writing. I’ve met some awesome kids at Boys & Girls Clubs. Some with hard lives, but big dreams. I’m not as skilled as Rose, and will never be able to do what she does, but I can do this. Please click this link: www.teresafunkeliteracycampaign.pubslush.com and view our project page. Watch our cool video and, if you are so inclined, please donate. And please ask your friends who support children, literacy, and the arts to help us spread the word via social media and other channels. The kids and I thank you.

The post Can the Arts Better Lives and Give Hope? appeared first on Teresa Funke.

Can the Arts Better Lives and Give Hope

I asked my friend, Rose Moon, why she thought artists were important. “Artists are the storytellers of each generation,” she said. If it weren’t for Rose, the at-risk teens she works with at HalfMoon Arts in Fort Collins, Colorado might never have a voice. In providing art instruction and a safe haven, she is also teaching life skills to kids who are living in desperate situations with uncertain futures. Rose loses sleep at night over some of her kids, and tears up when talking about her success stories.  People like Rose are my heroes, people who use the arts to better lives and give hope.

I was one of those kids who was never sure what I wanted to be when I grew up. I knew only two things . . . I wanted my work to matter and I wanted to help people. I’m fortunate now to be able to help writers and artists through my business and to work with children through our outreach to schools, libraries, non-profits, and arts organizations. My efforts are small compared to someone like Rose, but they are heartfelt. Some of my projects succeed, some fail, but it’s important to me to try.

This week I launched a crowdfunding effort on Pubslush to raise $10,000 to provide our successful Read A Hero Literacy Program to 25 Boys & Girls Clubs across the country. The curriculum was written with the help of a certified teacher. We spent six months working closely with B & G to develop a program specific to the needs of their kids. Half of low-income children don’t own a single book. My program provides free copies of my Home-Front Heroes books to these kids. And kids reading at grade level by 3rd grade are four times more likely to graduate high school. We want that for these children and maybe, just maybe, our little literacy program will help a few kids get better at reading and writing. I’ve met some awesome kids at Boys & Girls Clubs. Some with hard lives, but big dreams. I’m not as skilled as Rose, and will never be able to do what she does, but I can do this. Please click this link: www.teresafunkeliteracycampaign.pubslush.com and view our project page. Watch our cool video and, if you are so inclined, please donate. And please ask your friends who support children, literacy, and the arts to help us spread the word via social media and other channels. The kids and I thank you.

The post Can the Arts Better Lives and Give Hope appeared first on Teresa Funke.

Is This a Good Title?

When it comes to creativity, why do some things come so easily and others seem so very hard? Why do certain great ideas seem to pop out of nowhere, while others take months to form? Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a scientific formula we could apply to ideation: get 8.4 hours of sleep, have a fully formed dream that engages the subconscious, eat the perfect breakfast of brain food, and voila. Unfortunately, or fortunately, there is no such formula.

My newest writing video, shown below, is about how to title your fiction book. Every artist I know, regardless of medium, struggles with titles from time to time. I’ve had perfect titles spontaneously arrive in my head, and titles that I changed two or three times over the course of a project, never landing on the ideal one. My title, Dancing in Combat Boots, was a huge hit. My title, Remember Wake, falls flat. You win some and you lose some.

I think the trick with creatives is not to become cocky when something comes easily, and not to get discouraged when something is hard. We’re too quick to label our strengths and weaknesses, “oh, I’m not good at titles,” or “titles are my specialty.” And labels–maybe especially those that are self-applied–hem us in.

Here’s the video. Hope it helps you come up with the perfect title.

The post Is This a Good Title? appeared first on Teresa Funke.

Is This a Good Title

When it comes to creativity, why do some things come so easily and others seem so very hard? Why do certain great ideas seem to pop out of nowhere, while others take months to form? Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a scientific formula we could apply to ideation: get 8.4 hours of sleep, have a fully formed dream that engages the subconscious, eat the perfect breakfast of brain food, and voila. Unfortunately, or fortunately, there is no such formula.

My newest writing video, shown below, is about how to title your fiction book. Every artist I know, regardless of medium, struggles with titles from time to time. I’ve had perfect titles spontaneously arrive in my head, and titles that I changed two or three times over the course of a project, never landing on the ideal one. My title, Dancing in Combat Boots, was a huge hit. My title, Remember Wake, falls flat. You win some and you lose some.

I think the trick with creatives is not to become cocky when something comes easily, and not to get discouraged when something is hard. We’re too quick to label our strengths and weaknesses, “oh, I’m not good at titles,” or “titles are my specialty.” And labels–maybe especially those that are self-applied–hem us in.

Here’s the video. Hope it helps you come up with the perfect title.

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Blessings for a Workaholic

When we were newly married, my husband took a job at a Fortune 500 company and stepped quickly onto the fast track. I made him promise he’d never let his work interfere with our homelife, that he’d never become a workaholic. And he hasn’t. Ironically, I’m the one who now fits that description. Lately I work nights and days and weekends. And when I’m not working, I’m mostly thinking about work, dreaming about it, obsessing over it. Sounds terrible, right? Actually it’s not so bad. Why? Because my work excites me. All of it! It also frustrates and annoys and baffles me sometimes, but that’s part of what makes it so intriguing.

That’s not to say I’m not concerned about my workaholic tendencies. Thirteen hours at a desk can wreak havoc on the body, for example, so I exercise every day, and I never work through lunch. No matter how busy or distracted I am, I take time to eat right. Long work days also put a strain on relationships. I make sure I’m at the dinner table with my family every night and that I plan time each week to spend with my husband and kids. And even though I love my work, I also love my downtime. When I need to rest my brain, I shut off all technology and watch a movie, read a book, or practice yoga. I never take my computer on vacation. Never. Whatever it is, it can wait two weeks until I get home. As a creative, I know that sometimes we need to get away from our work in order to gain new perspective, so I seek out new activities each month or reach out to meet new people. We can’t expect any one thing, not even our work, to fill every aspect of our lives.

I was one of those kids who never knew for sure what she wanted to be when she grew up. That lasted into my mid-twenties. The two things I knew for sure, though, were that I wanted my work to have meaning and I never wanted to be bored.I can’t remember the last time I looked at a clock and wished the hands would move faster. Now I wish I had a few more hours in the day. For me, that’s a blessing.

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What’s the View from Your Ladder?

The other day, I was listening to an interview with an established speaker who started out, as we all do, as an unknown. One day, through a bizarre twist of fate, a major company asked to partner with him, launching his career. We’ve all heard dozens of stories like his about artists or entrepreneurs who had a chance meeting with someone who became their agent or their biggest client. There was a time when I’d hear those stories, look up to the heavens and ask, “Why not me? I’m just as good as they are. I work just as hard. How come I never get a big break?”

After a while, though, I realized that– for whatever reason– that was not to be my path. There would be no leaps up the ladder for me. I’d have to pull myself up one rung at a time. I know plenty of artists who’ve gotten their big breaks, and it’s not always the blessing it appears to be. Suddenly they are working overtime to meet tighter deadlines, they are pressured to deliver a different type of work than they want to produce, and they’re required to take on a myriad of difficult new tasks. We should never begrudge those who “got it easy,” because in the arts or entrepreneurship, there’s no such thing.

I no longer spend all my time looking up the ladder anyway. There’s something to be said for pausing wherever you are and taking in the view from that rung. It’s an ever-changing scene, and it’s fascinating. And sometimes, it’s good to look down, too, and take note of just how far you’ve come. Life is long. There’s plenty of time to get where we want to be. In the meantime, why not enjoy the climb?

The post What’s the View from Your Ladder? appeared first on Teresa Funke.

What’s the View from Your Ladder

The other day, I was listening to an interview with an established speaker who started out, as we all do, as an unknown. One day, through a bizarre twist of fate, a major company asked to partner with him, launching his career. We’ve all heard dozens of stories like his about artists or entrepreneurs who had a chance meeting with someone who became their agent or their biggest client. There was a time when I’d hear those stories, look up to the heavens and ask, “Why not me? I’m just as good as they are. I work just as hard. How come I never get a big break?”

After a while, though, I realized that– for whatever reason– that was not to be my path. There would be no leaps up the ladder for me. I’d have to pull myself up one rung at a time. I know plenty of artists who’ve gotten their big breaks, and it’s not always the blessing it appears to be. Suddenly they are working overtime to meet tighter deadlines, they are pressured to deliver a different type of work than they want to produce, and they’re required to take on a myriad of difficult new tasks. We should never begrudge those who “got it easy,” because in the arts or entrepreneurship, there’s no such thing.

I no longer spend all my time looking up the ladder anyway. There’s something to be said for pausing wherever you are and taking in the view from that rung. It’s an ever-changing scene, and it’s fascinating. And sometimes, it’s good to look down, too, and take note of just how far you’ve come. Life is long. There’s plenty of time to get where we want to be. In the meantime, why not enjoy the climb?

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Ideas Are for the Taking

Three years I’ve been waiting . . . waiting to have the right vehicles and platforms in place to launch my Great Idea Giveaway, a new video project in which I will be sharing my best ideas for writers, artists, entrepreneurs, and community catalysts. The videos live on my You Tube Channel, where people can also comment, but I will occasionally post some of them here. These are not just creative brainstorms, they are business ideas with models and revenue streams attached. Some are based on projects I’ve personally run with success. Others are awesome–sometimes game-changing–concepts that I would love to build, but I lack the time, the resources, the skills, or the passion to do them effectively.  So they are yours. Take them!

Nearly all of my colleagues tried to talk me out of this. They told me I was crazy to give away my best ideas, but I think it’s crazy to sit on them.

“But you could make so much money off of these ideas,” my friends said.  Not if I never do them.

“What happens when you run out of these ideas?”  I’ll think up some more.

We have to move past the fear that we are only capable of one brilliant idea in our lifetimes. We have to stop living under the pressure that we, alone, are capable of acting on all our plans. And we have to believe that ideas and creativity are boundless. Only then can we do our best, most unfettered, most impassioned work. Only then can we affect real change in the world.

So, if you’re interested, watch my video here on my successful school kit program. See if you can improve it and take it further than I did.  See if this video sparks new ideas that will enable you to start your own business or nonprofit or launch a program that will benefit your community. And if you like this or any of my videos, share the link widely and often so the ideas can spread.

Oh, and if you do create a multi-million-dollar company from any of my ideas, could you maybe shoot a few bucks and a thank you my way?

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