Uncle Homer's Wisdom: Doing What You Love!

One of our cats, Uncle Homer, is an accomplished hunter. Each day, he spends hours in the fields and woods outside our house, searching for varmints and other tasty treats before coming in for the night. When he is feeling particularly generous, he'll share his kill and bring us the wing of a sparrow or one half of a mole's butt as his contribution to the household. We've never really done much with these gifts besides throw them out, but I have had thoughts of sending a nice haunch of chipmunk, giftwrapped, to the guy who does my taxes, come April. You know... just to liven him up a bit!

The other day, as I pondered ways to get a video camera into a small box alongside my cat's latest kill so I might witness my hapless CPA friend receiving such a present, I came upon a great observation to share with my bloggers: Despite the fact that his family never really has need of the dead things he brings in, Uncle Homer has a real sense of purpose and loves the job he does.

I hope we all feel that way, and if we don't, maybe it is our creativity that needs a kick in the pants.

When my husband and I married and subsequently married our fortunes, we found that we not only had more money together, but also more debt. Now, as of this writing, I am still not a billionaire and I was definitely further from being one two years ago when this story began. Paying off everything was always the goal, but doing so up front wasn't a possibility. Like most couples, we found we could sell a few things and get rid of some tiny debts in order to go full-swing into attacking bigger ones such as school and the car, but the reality was, earning more income had to be a real priority for us.

Now, my job's of a rare type: It's great and gives me a ton of happiness and inspiration to do further excellent work, so leaving it just wasn't on the table. I was therefore going to have to get creative and find ways to make money during my off-hours. I did the usual and made some calls trying to drum-up anything-you-need freelance design opportunities, but it struck me when I was about three weeks into late nights doing some hum-drum email marketing for a picky client that I was not passionate about the work. I knew then that I had to finish the project and stop leaving myself open for jobs of a similar nature, and I had to do it yesterday or I would surely end up the same way I fear the guy who does my taxes is going to go: done in by stagnation.

Dan Miller wrote in his blog a few weeks back, the story of ikigai (pronounced "icky-guy"... like the one who does my taxes!) and it's a quick read so I definitely encourage you to check it out. If you Google the term, you'll see that ikigai is Japanese word that means "a reason for being". We don't really have a word like that in English, but maybe we should make one, or at least steal Japan's, for it was ikigai I was missing out on, and ikigai I needed to find with my freelance.

We are most creative when we engage in things we love. Following this principle, working slowly but surely, I focused on the things I loved and for the first time since taking the additional income plunge, I really sat down and made a plan:

I love comic books, but there had to be more than just making them which could get me some dough, right? Matter-of-fact, comic books themselves are not cheap to produce, and in the past, my luckiest days have been to break even on them and to proudly proclaim that I did it without living in my mother and father's basement.

So if not just making comic books, then, what else do I love? How about counseling? That's always fun! Meeting new and intersting people and telling them they're going to be okay and their lives will get better and no, God has not been punishing you for making beautiful art out of naked people is so very spiritually rewarding. Surely, I reasoned, there had to be a way to combine the two!

You'll laugh, but it took me months to figure out just how I was going to combine the elements of art with teaching. That's okay, because the tutorials I eventually came up with are, I believe, some of my best work. I started testing the waters by writing a few things for the website ComicsCrux.com, and when those went over well, did a few more, then a few more...

Eventually, I was on a roll and so was my plan. I can now say that I very much look forward to releasing the fruits of these labors, online, in 2013. As for the things I've already done, such as the freebie tutorials posted on other sites, they have given me several new clients interested in more in-depth knowledge of the topics I posted for free, ideas for new material to use as premium content, and an already substantial trickle of residual income, besides. When you work at what you love, money tends to flow freely. This is not just some magical coincidence - when we're optomistic about our work, we are quicker to see opportunities to profit. Too, I like to think God rewards those of us who use our passion, when we have the courage to go after it.

In this very first day of the New Year, think about the work you do, and what you love about it. Also think about what you don't love and perhaps meditate on more ways to bring in the things that you love doing, into your average work day. I guarantee the rewards will surprise you!

Themes: Not Just for Websites, Anymore

Dun-dunnnn, dun-dunnnn, Da-da-da, da-da-da-daaaaa!

Those are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs of all time: The Jurassic Park theme music.
Okay, so no they’re not, and there weren’t really lyrics to any of the songs on the whole of the Jurassic Park sountrack at all. But the music is so iconic that, admit it, looking over those two lines of near-onomatopoeia after I’d cited what they actually were, had you da-daaing along. In fact, the song is now very probably stuck in your head. You’re welcome.

When I say the word theme, theme song is probably one of the first terms that jumps to the front of your mind. Maybe too, you’re a web developer like I am, and you think of website themes, or blog themes, or the millions of other themes out there at our disposal for creating amazing digital content by doing half the work and taking all the credit. One way or the other, you may not have considered a theme for some other things which could really benefit from being wrapped in one. If you’re an entrepreneur, for example, could you easily tell me the theme of your business?

When I teach creative writing, one of the things I have my students do, is learn to become experts in the art of timelining. A good timeline can break down a story to its core components of plot, character development, and you guessed it, its theme. Some students are surprised to find that theme is different from plot, and it’s not always hard to see why. Your plot may be a simple one: “an epic battle between good and evil” and your theme could mirror that with “an exploration of the stark contrast between good and evil”. As you can see, the two can potentially be very similar. In truth, each is very important to bringing a story to life, but where plot is the way by which a world progresses in a story, I like to think of the theme as a blueprint for the way in which the audience’s emotion will also progress.

Themes certainly can create a lot of interest in stories, but they can also apply to a business. A good theme can really set a company apart from the others it is in competition with. Farmer John might have a regular old pig farm, but his theme might be “the friendliest bacon in town”and so long as he delivers, who are his customers to argue? The guy who does my taxes’ theme is probably “plain and boring, just the way I like it” and he certainly shines in that department.

Now, I hear you! You’re probably saying, “Dawn, you do realize that most normal companies already have this, and they call it branding, right?” and that’s true… at least, partially. Bigger companies who have a set of colors which they’ve paid some other company millions of dollars to research (how many of you are thinking – whoa! Millions of dollars to talk colors?! Am I in the wrong business!), who have a slogan, maybe a mascot, and perhaps even own licensing to some popular song have embraced the idea of themes and then promptly shot it full of steroids. But friends, I insist that isn’t everything I am talking about, here. I like to think of branding as a business' plot - its story.

A theme, and what I mean by it, is a horse of a different color, because it is not so easily conveyed in just a slogan, logo, or mascot. In fact, it might just be a song that reminds you of the way you do things. It might be a piece of visual art. It might be something you wouldn't necessarily want to come right out and share with your customers, in fact, but its presence is felt in everything you do, regardless.

I’m going to point this talk at you for now, Mister Blogger. You may think your job is done, having picked a topic to write about and a color for the website it’s going on. You may have a logo and a clever slogan to back it up. But do you believe it? Does your writing style reflect it or emphasize it? More importantly, can your customers “get it” if you were to take away your snazzy website, amazing logo and ultra-hip slogan? Would you get it?

A theme is something more or less unseen, is my point. It’s the voice in your head as you’re writing, or the rhythm that a piece has when being read. It’s syntax, it’s vocabulary, it’s knowing where your boundaries lie and the hook that brings your readers back for more. It’s humor, or elegance or (my personal favorite) harsh reality. In essence, it’s just one more magical element that allows you to shine through every piece of work you do, no matter how it is presented, framed or whose desk it lands on, that tells the person looking at it you created this and its intention is clear!

The next time you read a blog post (maybe even this one! You are still reading, right?) or listen to a podcast or watch a show, consider its theme. Take note if it is strong or weak. Is it consistent each time? See the ways by which it is evoked and remember the feelings it gives you. Would it be something to replicate?

When you explore themes, your own works become so much richer. The things you create and the work you do will be better than you thought they could be, I promise.

Don't Worry! Your Brain Will Still Be Here When You Get Back!

If you're like me, you enjoy starting your day with something warm and highly caffeinated in your mug, a swarm of critters waiting patiently at your feet for breakfast, and an insightful blog post on your computer screen. But oh, the minutiae that can disrupt our happy little routines..! One of the worst offenders, to me at least, is the dreaded advertorial.

Even if you've not heard the term before, its definition shouldn't be hard to grasp. An advertorial is an advertisement disguised as an editorial, and these little bothers are popping up everywhere - even on sites I'd normally trust to deliver excellent content. The disturbing trend hit LinkedIn this morning, when I clicked on a link promoting one of my favorite topics, "how to stop thinking" and was given a glorified sales pitch for a book.

What a bummer! But, it did inspire me to write this morning, and you'll note, on a brand new blog to boot. If you're keeping score at home, this is the third blog that I am actively updating. See, this is why I need articles that tell me how to stop thinking.

Being unable to stop thinking and, let's be honest, a touch egotistical, I felt that I could deliver a pretty stellar tutorial on the art of shutting down one's own central nervous system enough to let creative juices flow freely (but stopping short of turning off other autonomic processes and waking up in the ICU). Better still, I think I can do it without getting too scientific, selling you one of my books or resorting to promotion of the use of copious amounts of drugs and alcohol.

To those of you whom I didn't just lose in that last sentence, thanks for continuing to read on. I promise there will be plenty of time for discussion of booze in blog posts to come.

I'm a storyteller by nature and profession, so let's start with a story. About three months ago, my company held its annual conference. Conference is a very big deal - in fact, it was the biggest deal of my work-world in 2012. At the same time, I was invited out to LA to show my books at Stan Lee's Comikaze. With a guy like Stan Lee putting his name on a show, I probably don't have to tell you that the event was the biggest deal of my freelance-world this past year. So there I was with two very big deals, encompassing 100% of my career realm, all during the same week. It was crazy, it was labor intensive, but let me tell you... it was fantastic!

Despite all the good times had and the relief of putting these huge events behind me, I ended up with a big problem on my hands which I did not see coming, once things got back to business as usual. That problem was burnout. And, here's the worst part: I did not recognize it. I was in burnout denial.

Do you ever feel like doing nothing? Do you ever feel like the best thing you could do for yourself is pick up a book and sit in it until nightfall, have yourself an HBO miniseries marathon, or play a 14-hour game of "Drink The Beer"? Do you ever feel this way for more than a day, or more than a week, or more than a month?

Do you work through it, anyway? Of course you do! Because that's how we keep ideas from escaping and how we stay relevant and how our benevolent maker knows to give us even more good ideas as a reward for keeping our noses firmly planted on the grindstone.

But is it really? Let's take a look at my brain at any given time. Your brain may vary:

In her book, Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life (hey, I said I wouldn't sell any of my books. I said nothing about other peoples' books) Dr. Shelly Carson says, "People who are quite creative are also very drawn to novelty: novel objects or situations, novel aspects of common objects, and novel ideas." In essence, it is natural for us to seek out these things that are seemingly distracting us from doing "real work". In fact, our brains drive us to these distractions and subsequently reward us when we realize them.

I used to think the brain was the most fascinating part of the body. But then I thought, "Well, look who's telling me this..." But seriously, if there's anything I have learned during my creative endeavors it's this: When it's time for a break, it's time for a break. As the very accurate map of my Cerebrum above shows, the common perception is that ideas and stimulus are two separate things. In reality, they're far closer to being the exact same thing. Your ideas are in essence, based on your stimulus, which I'm sure is pretty obvious and nobody would argue the point unless they were the guy that does my taxes who has never had a single interesting day in his life and is stimulated only when I tell him things like, "I'm writing off my cable bill this year and naming my cats as dependents - is that okay?". But the point is, your ideas won't go away if you take on more stimulus, and I don't care if it's reading a book, watching a movie or staring out your front window all day as the IRS takes the furniture from your house.

So what's the opposite? What happens when we have nothing but ideas and no stimulus? The obvious answer is the burnout I described above. Call it what you will: Writer's block, mental collapse, or my personal favorite, "I can't brain today. I have the dumb."

When I teach an art class or provide ministry to someone on honing their creativity, one of the first things I advocate is taking time for oneself. When I had my post-conference-comic-show breakdown, I figured I was just tired and would get over it in a week if I kept to my routine. Then one weekend, I looked down at my comic boards and saw nothing but blank pieces of paper. I sat at my computer at work and felt nothing but the bright glow of the monitor piercing through my eyes. Eventually I couldn't be in denial any longer, and I took a long weekend to hang out with my husband, take long walks through the Old Town part of Hilliard, and catch up on my reading.

Each one of these things yielded surprising rewards: Matt had written some music for his new band which provided a soundtrack for some of the stories I'd been stuck on, thus giving them a theme and myself an exciting direction in which to take them. The walks we took were at the peak of the fall foliage season, and the colors, scents and sounds around us translated into a thousand different designs in my head. And picking up my favorite George R.R. Martin novels easily stirred the writing bug from slumber.

Okay, so perhaps your ideal break from work isn't as laid back as I've been describing. Maybe you have another idea for a different project that you'd like to work on, but you are afraid of starting because you don't want to stop being "in the zone" on your current work. Let me break it to you, gently: If you feel like you need a break, you are anything but "in the zone". In fact, the zone doesn't even exist. What people often mistake for the zone, is in all actuality, a clear head brimming with ideas thanks to interesting stimulus. For you to want to start your other project, something must have stimulated you and given you a great idea. Don't waste another second! Go for it, get it on paper, and let the creativity flow. You'll find, as you do the things you want to do, other ideas will come to you, which could be used on any one of your projects and I promise, each will be better than your first idea. Remember when I told you I would write a blog post without getting scientific, selling a book, or resorting to the promotion of adult beverages right before I wrote a blog post that contained references to theories by doctors, a link to Amazon.com and diagrams featuring an inebriated mind? Well, it must have been a good idea to change paths because you're still reading, aren't you?

Ideas do not vanish in order to make room for stimulus. In fact, they often get bigger, better, and more interesting the more time you take to do the "non-work" you and your brain crave. This is why they tell aspiring writers, one of the best things you can do for yourself in order to write interesting stories, is to lead a life that interests you.

So, stop feeling guilty for taking a break, already! I promise you, when you jump off the train, you'll catch up to it again, and sooner than you think. You won't lose all those good ideas, and if anything, your mind will just make room for them to grow by pushing all the funny cat pictures out of the way.

Now just think of what you can achieve when your hangover subsides!