About The Creative Life Blog

The Idea

Being creative has a lot to do with developing a willingness to be vulnerable. It involves putting yourself out there and risking failure in the hopes of eventual success. If you’re starting from nowhere, it might feel like success as an artist is impossible, or at least highly unlikely. That’s how I felt when I first arrived in Vancouver. Actually, I still feel like that a lot of the time, and that’s precisely why I’ve created the concept for this blog.

I’ve met a lot of very inspirational and talented artists in my journey so far, and each have some amazing stories to share. Their stories have many ups and downs, and the best part is that none of these individuals have reached their stories destination. They’re all still working toward their dreams, and it is this journey (not the “finished” journey… whatever that means) that I wanted to capture.

Meet The Artists

 

Meet the writers, and follow along as they learn about their craft, take risks, experience flow, and work toward the realization of their creative potential.

“These are the characters we love in stories. They don’t stop until they get what they want. Their stories are ugly, messy, and hard to watch sometimes. There are points where the characters face almost certain defeat. But, if they keep going and you keep watching, a good story with a solid character overcoming conflict is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.”
- Rudy Hoosiers Rocky

What to Expect

I have a lot of plans for this website. In addition to the stories that will be shared by the blog’s core group of writers, there will also be:

1. Interviews with Notable Artistic Professionals
I will be asking the same 10 questions to a variety of inspirational individuals. The goal is to discover the tools and paradigm shifts that high-performing artists have learned and currently live by which have helped them to achieve the freedom they need to live an artistic life.

2. Case Studies
In addition to the interviews, there will also be short explorations of individuals, both alive and dead, who have inspired the core group of writers on this blog.

3. Book Reviews
You’ll learn the favourite books (fiction and nonfiction) of each of the blog’s core writers, and why they love them so much.

4. Inspiration
A growing compilation of quotes specifically targeted toward artists will be added to the blog. These quotes will cover a variety of different themes, including fear, identity, the creative process, mastery and persistence.

What is a Mastermind Group?

The idea behind the mastermind was introduced by Napolean Hill in his book Think and Grow Rich. I think this article published in Forbes captures the essence of the mastermind perfectly:

“A mastermind group is designed to help you navigate through challenges using the collective intelligence of others.”

We each have different lessons that we must learn in order to move forward. Fortunately, there is a lot that we can learn from one another. We can’t always see where our thinking is flawed, so sometimes it’s helpful to take a step back, and compare our thinking with that of another. You will not only find a compilation of stories on this blog, but also a forum filled with support and gentle nudges. A nudge in a different direction, one that we might not have been able to see for ourselves, can make such a difference.

Most importantly, I want those who participate and engage with our public mastermind to be encouraged to both think bigger and take larger risks. Being apart of something, even if it’s online, might be just the thing to inspire those who were initially afraid to go it alone (so to speak). The members of this group, of course, are included in this goal.

Visit the Blog