Alexia Petrakos

Not your average eclectic…

Posts Tagged creativity

Starred Items: You Are Enough

Jun 4

Posted by Alexia in Links | No Comments

If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know that I’m pretty big on creativity. The expression and cultivation of it is intensely interesting, and I read everything I can get my hands on about it. This week’s Starred Items is no different.

I’ve seen a flurry of posts lately on “enoughness” and fighting the thoughts that say you’re not good enough, you’re not doing enough, you’re not living up to your creative potential. It’s kinda serendipitous because I’ve been writing the same kinds of things in my daily writing.

So in the spirit of creativity & being enough, here are my starred items for this week. Have a fantastic weekend!

Befriending the Hounds of More: As a creative person, I know I’m always pursued by a pack of these hounds. They bark “You can do more!” and make you feel like dirt when you’re not doing enough.

Little but Really Useful Guide to Creativity: Funny how we complicate things. Creativity is a natural extension of all of us (yes, you, too) and you just need to nurture it.

Effective Solopreneur: Aligning with Your Natural Creativity Cycles: Even creativity has cycles. Here’s a quick guide on the four stages and how to identify them. Nancy also gives some tips on how this cycle relates to your business.

10 reasons to just do something creative and not care about the result: Sometimes you just need to do something without being pressured to perform or come up with the next huge thing for you or your biz.

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A challenge and a call to more creativity

May 26

Posted by Alexia in creativity | 1 Comment

Don't blot, don't drop - Writing while taking a moment away from the paintOn Monday I gave my newsletter readers a way to come up with and develop ideas and challenged them to start writing every morning. Three pages of anything that comes to their minds, no censoring, with the intent of dumping their brains on paper (plop).

I got this from reading Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way a few years ago and whenever I do my Morning Pages regularly, things start clicking, ideas start flowing, I get stuff done.

When I was younger, I did this without knowing about the Artists Way. I wrote in my journal daily. Not much of it was interesting or even coherent. A lot of it was whining and complaining but there really is something to getting all that gunk out of my brain and making room for the good stuff.

This was as much a challenge for me as for my awesome newsletter subscribers. So far I’ve done my Morning Pages every day. Nine pages of scribbles.

If you’re on my list, have you done your Morning Pages?

If you’re not on my list (and if you want to be, sign up here), will you take up the challenge and let me know how it goes next week?

Creative Commons License photo credit: juliejordanscott

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Stop being creative

Apr 14

Posted by Alexia in Biz | 2 Comments

Yep. I just told you to stop being creative.

I don’t mean with the stuff you’re supposed to be creative with—your art, music, writing, etc. Creating is part of who you are and what you do. So don’t stop creating.

I’m talking about something that should be a “rinse and repeat” kind of thing instead of a constantly-innovating kind of thing.

And that’s Marketing. I prefer to call it “sharing your thing” because marketing tends to bring up all kinds of ick.

One thing I’ve learned with sharing your thing is you must stick with what works.

Granted you do have to experiment a little at the beginning to find what works, and if something stops working you have to go back to the drawing board.

But once you find a “sharing your thing” plan/technique that works, stick with it.

If you keep reinventing ways to share your thing, you run the risk of never marketing at all. After all, it takes time to learn, get comfortable with and execute a decent plan. How can you share your thing consistently if you keep changing things up? How will you actually sell your thing and make money if you keep chasing after the bright & shiny?

If you’re creative, and if you’re anything like me, chances are you get bored easily and must constantly engage with new ideas, books, ways of doing things, new creations, pieces, instruments, materials… and that’s perfectly fine.

Use your creativity for the things you sell, not for how you sell.

So, does the bright & shiny derail you from sharing your thing? Is it something else that prevents you from sharing?

Photo Credit: Spike at http://morguefile.com/archive/display/151873

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Starred Items. On a Friday.

Mar 12

Posted by Alexia in Links | 2 Comments

Sand CatsI haven’t done one of these in a while, and since Friday’s a day for goofing off and pretending you’re working, I may just keep the Starred Items! posts on Fridays.

Why sleeping cats?

Why not? ;)

Here are the goods:

Why You Can Absolutely Do It: I could listen to this guy speak all day… He takes you through a few things that you may think hold you back (education, influence, in-roads & surprsingly, color) and smashes them flat. The Internet is an equalizer. What holds you back is you. So why aren’t you going for it?

The Responsibility of Creativity. Or Why You’re Talented For A Reason: You were gifted (by God, goddess, it, him/her, the universe, evolution…) for a reason. If you don’t use your gifts, you’re depriving yourself and the rest of the world of your particular brand of awesome. And your particular brand of awesome may be inspiring others to express their own awesome. Now how awesome is that? ;)

Eff Cramming (aka in defense of playtime):

If you want more awesome to show up, you have to leave room for it.

I think that says it all.

Everyone Poops (And Sleeps): my favorite copywriter-dude definitely has a way with words. And these words emphasize the importance of not comparing yourself to everyone else.

I firmly believe that what prevents many people from stepping into their greatness and purpose is the fact they compare whatever it is they have done or want to do with EVERYONE who has come before them.

Have a wonderful Friday.

Now go play!

Creative Commons License photo credit: Growl Roar

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How to Get Your Creative Mojo Back

Mar 5

Posted by Alexia in Art | 13 Comments

SharkyA friend of mine recently asked me to write a post about how to get your creative groove on after a looooong hiatus.

When I met him in high school he played the guitar a lot, we were in a band together, and he later went on to do some electronica that sounded pretty sweet.

Then he decided to become a doctor. A traditional chinese medicine/acupuncture/herbalist kind of doctor. And he’s pretty good at it. Unfortunately (or whatever… life is life & that’s the way it goes sometimes), he left behind the music and composing that he was so enamored with before.

And now he wants it back. But the mojo’s just beyond reach.

What do you do when the creativity just doesn’t flow? And it hasn’t for months/years?

Read the rest of this entry »

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Creative Every Day Week 2

Jan 15

Posted by Alexia in Art | No Comments

Purple Swirl Journal This week was WAY less active as last but I did do stuff.

Since one of my main purposes of this year is to finish up my UFO’s, I bound a book with covers that have been sitting in the corner collecting dust.

And I added it to my artfire shop.

I’ve also doodled daily. Not much to speak of, and definitely not something I really want to show off. Doodling helps me focus, especially while listening to audio programs or someone else talking. Every spare piece of paper on my desk is full of scribbles.

And I wrote. A lot. I finished up my eBook for my Thrive Creative Coaching biz, fixed up the landing page and hooked up MailChimp. I’m offering a free chapter from my eBook if you sign up for the mailing list.

Lots more writing than “art-ing” this week…

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Starred Items: Lemming-ish Year End Roundup

Dec 30

Posted by Alexia in Links | 3 Comments

What we did this morning :)It’s the second-to-last day of 2009 and the interwebs have been flooded with year-end blatherings since two weeks ago. So, being the lemming I am…

Here’s a roundup of some posts that have been essential to my year-end review and have given me a few good tools to get moving on my general outline/plan/something that’ll get me to where I want to go sometime in the next year or so.

Lisa Sonora Beam’s Strategic Planner – Goal Setting for Creatives: I’ve read her book, The Creative Entrepreneur*. I’ve taken both classes she offered this year – one on Visual Journaling and another on the Strategic Planner. I’m finally putting some of this stuff to work! The post I linked to is first in a series of 4. By the time this is published, she should have all 4 on her blog.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Starred Items: The I’m Missing My Other Half Edition

Dec 9

Posted by Alexia in Links | 2 Comments

normalThis week Starred Items comes to you from Sunny New Jersey… where I’m sitting on my parents’ couch wrapped in blankets and sweater.

And my other half is home, finishing up some recording and being generally bachelor-ish. He says he misses me but secretly I think he’s enjoying not having to shave…

I’m up here for two reasons. First, I’m not going to see my family for Christmas. We alternate holidays since our families live in different states.

Second, I went to Times Square to see Suzanne Evans & crew for the NYC stop of the Help More People Tour which was 9 hours of intense teaching & blitz networking.

I’m most definitely NOT a super-networking-gal, so I met a few people and got to know them a bit better. However, there was lots of great info passed on to everyone. My favorite quote of the day was

“Stop bitching and start a revolution.”

And I have an announcement to make. You know the thing that I’ve been hinting at?

It has a name and a site. Whee!

So go see my new thing at Thrive Creative Coaching, where I help creatives kick the snot out of their soul-sucking day jobs and create business that makes ‘em money doing what they love.

So, on to the linky goodness!

The Big Secret to Success? Run With What You Have: I’m a big fan of Dave Navarro (no, not the musician, but he’s not half bad…), so you’ll probably see lots of his stuff here.I’m a big fan of just getting stuff out there, even if it’s not 100% perfect. If you wait ’till the right moment or until everything’s absolutely perfect, you’ll never do anything.

So get your arse in gear and put yourself out there.

Kissing ass, quantum leaps, and the power of being unqualified: Danielle LaPorte is unqualified. But she doesn’t let that stop her.

Why do you?

Who do you think you aren’t? A bit more on doing it anyway. Acknowledge your limitations. Evaluate if they really are limiting you.

And do it anyway.

What other coaches & bloggers are saying about goal-setting: Cath Duncan’s continuation of exploring goal setting that makes sense. Good thoughts from others. My favorite is Ken Robert’s:

“Focus on Small Daily Action”

The Key to Consistent Creativity and Productivity: This is a long post. I have to read it again since I tend to skim (as most web-readers do), but I recommend you read it a couple times through to get the full benefit.

I particularly like the explanation of the task switching cost. It’s the time that you lose from disengaging from one task to engage in a different one.

So, what have you been reading lately that’s impacted you?

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Starred Items – NaNoWhatsits

Nov 4

Posted by Alexia in Links | No Comments

It’s November already! Yikes!!

I was just getting used to writing 2009 in my journal, and in less than 2 months, I’ll have to remember another year.. 2010.

With all the NaNoWhatsits going on (NaNoWriMo, NaBloPoMo, NaNiSweMo… *) I felt I should jump in, so I chose the one that’s the least overwhelming.

NaNoJouMo: National Nonstop Journaling Month proposed by art journaler extraordinaire, Dawn Sokol. Basically it’s an anything-goes do whatever you feel like doing as long as you do something in your art journal thing every day.

I can do that.

Here are my entries for this month so far:

freedom purity inspire

Some creativity-related links in honor of all the creativity going on this month:

  1. Lose Touch with Your Inner Whining Artist
  2. Project Journals: A Creative Way to Get Things Done
  3. Real Creativity and the Pains of Fantasy Withdrawal
  4. Making Meaning with Your Decision
  5. Eco Books: Ok… so I had to put this in here. I made 2 journals & submitted instructions. My very first paid real live book dealie!

And that’s it for today. Have a fantastic rest of the week!
*Thanks to G. Newfry for the NaNo links!

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