What is it that sets a creative thinker apart from the everyday individual? My obsession with that question led me to drive across the United States so I could interview artists about their creativity; that in turn led to my forthcoming memoir. But Dr. Nancy Andreasen's obsession far predates mine. Armed with a PhD in …
Tag: Creativity
Road to Publication: Killing Your Babies Part Two
A memoirist always runs the risk of offending the living when capturing them in prose. But he also runs the risk of offending them by omission. In Part One of this series I discussed how I have reduced my manuscript of Committed: A Memoir of the Artist's Road over the course of the last year, in anticipation …
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Road to Publication: Killing Your Babies Part One
"Your reader will never miss what she doesn't know was once there." I frequently told this to reporters in my news-editing career when I would trim their stories for length. Often what I was cutting was their favorite part--their baby, if you will--but it didn't sufficiently inform the reader on the main point of the …
Continue reading Road to Publication: Killing Your Babies Part One
5 Blog Posts that Keep Readers Coming Back
One common misconception I find many of my Loft blogging students have is that they believe their blog is like a book written in real time, with each chapter building upon the last. I have to point out to them that unlike a memoir, where you read from beginning to end, with each post you …
When Creatives Give Back
As I struggled with learning how to put myself on the written page, I asked my Vermont College of Fine Arts instructor Sue William Silverman how she found the courage to share her trauma as a childhood victim of sexual abuse in Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You. She first told me that …
More Creatives With Multiple Talents
She is best known as "the most beautiful woman in the world," but the late silver screen star Hedy Lamarr is remembered in some circles more for the inventive genius she brought to wireless communications, decades before its time. Lamarr was an immigrant from pre-World War II Austria. She left behind a life that had …
Why I am Obsessed with Artists
"Patrick, why are you so obsessed with artists and their creativity?" I've been asked that question a fair amount during my years as an artist's advocate and a creativity and writing instructor. There is no simple answer to that question, but if the top five answers were on the board, one of them likely would …
Separating Curiosity from Creativity
Can you be creative without being curious? I find myself curious to learn the answer to this question. On some level it seems like asking if you can enjoy peanut butter without peanuts. Loads of creativity scholars tell us that curiosity is what drives creativity. But what if forces in our lives reduce our level …
Turning Your To-Do List Upside Down
It's looming behind me as I speak, mocking me. It's my whiteboard wall, which as I noted on this blog the other day is filled with dozens of bullets of short-term tasks to advance myself as a writer and teacher. It helps my mind to have all of these to-do's written down; I feel a …
What To Expect from the Artist’s Road in 2014
Perhaps a 2014 resolution for me should be to gain readers in Africa and South America. I say that because among the dozens of responses to my survey requesting feedback on what to write about in 2014 were readers from the other four occupied continents. I also suppose the time of day I make posts …
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The Artist's Road 