creativity

Read more about the article [Podcast] Adapting To Change With Jessie Kwak – The Creative Penn

[Podcast] Adapting To Change With Jessie Kwak – The Creative Penn

I had the pleasure of joining The Creative Penn podcast to talk about adapting to life as a freelance writer and author after experiencing an injury. In this episode, I share my journey and offer tips for managing work and energy when life throws unexpected challenges your way. We discussed a range of topics, including: Adapting to changing circumstances: How I navigated my career shift after my injury and the lessons I learned along the way. When medical situations affect your author business: Practical advice for handling the impact of health issues on your work. How changing appearances affects us at a…

Read more about the article [Interview] Jessie L. Kwak – Author of From Chaos to Creativity – Armed with A Book

[Interview] Jessie L. Kwak – Author of From Chaos to Creativity – Armed with A Book

I had a fantastic conversation with Kriti from Armed With a Book about my obsession with productivity and the journey from chaos to creativity. We dove into why so many of us are fascinated by productivity – a blend of hustle culture's pressure and the sheer joy of bringing our numerous ideas to life. I shared the moment I realized I needed a creative system rather than just a productivity system. It hit me after I left my "real" office job to freelance, only to discover the challenges of managing my own schedule and finding time for my fiction writing.…

Read more about the article [Infographic] Get Unstuck! How to deal with writer’s block.

[Infographic] Get Unstuck! How to deal with writer’s block.

A quick note: I wrote this infographic to go with my presentation at the Willamette Writers Conference this weekend. If you're attending, I'll be talking about Joyful Productivity for Writers at 9am on Saturday (in person) and 8am Sunday (virtually). I can't wait to see you there! A lot of professional writers say they don't believe in writer's block — but I totally do. I've been there, staring at the computer screen, knowing I should be writing but feeling totally, completely stuck. However, as a professional writer, I've also had to learn tricks for pushing past that writer's block in order…

Read more about the article A look back, a look ahead

A look back, a look ahead

I've been thinking a lot about work these past few months. It's in the zeitgeist, as we collectively as a society realize we can't keep hustling at 125% day in and day out while the world goes up in flames around us and we pretend everything's fine. It's on the minds of several of my ghostwriting clients, who are coaching their own clients through burnout and trying to find meaning in their lives. And it's been on my mind as I juggle writing thoughtful posts about burnout for said clients — while kickstarting From Big Idea to Book, racing up…

Read more about the article [Video] Productivity and Self-Compassion During Quarantine

[Video] Productivity and Self-Compassion During Quarantine

Happy ... Friday? I'm told Monday is a ... holiday? Potentially we're still in May, I haven't really checked lately. Anyway, how are you doing? Still in quarantine like the rest of us, wondering what days are and how many ice cream sandwiches you need to eat to make a Complete Meal™? Before this all went down, in the halcyon days of 2019, I published a book on productivity for creative people titled From Chaos to Creativity. But these days instead of feeling like a productivity expert, I mostly feel like I'm hanging in there. Which is why when my…

Read more about the article 7 Tips for Getting Your Head Back on Straight During These Here Trying Times

7 Tips for Getting Your Head Back on Straight During These Here Trying Times

Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash Hey, are you calmly being productive in your work and personal life in these apocalyptic-feeling days? Hats off to you. I am not. The general aura of anxiety that imbues my every day life bloomed into a full on meltdown near the end of last week, where all I could do was scroll the news and share wide-eyed looks of shock with friends. (Now we are sharing those looks of shock over video conferencing software.) As Oregon heads towards what seems like an inevitable lockdown, though, I'm starting to realize that the world is not going to…

Read more about the article From Chaos to Creativity Powell’s Books Reading [Video]

From Chaos to Creativity Powell’s Books Reading [Video]

Last Monday, I did something that terrified me: I held a creative productivity workshop in front of about 50 people at Powell's Books. I've read from my fiction before, which is its own version of terrifying. But I'd never stood up as an expert in front of a crowd of mostly strangers and tried to impart my wisdom. And you know what? It was pretty fun. Plus, people seemed to find it inspiring and asked a lot of insightful questions. Honestly, the discussion with everyone afterwards was my favorite part. If you were there, thank you for coming! And a…

Read more about the article From Chaos to Creativity Kickstarter is a Go!

From Chaos to Creativity Kickstarter is a Go!

I look around, and I'm surrounded by creative people. My mom makes these amazingly artistic quilts. My dad welds incredible works of art and invents ingenious farm contraptions. My sister does intricate cross-stitch hangings. My husband takes stunning photographs. My friends write and paint and dance and sing. My neighbor's 8-year-old kid asked for bricks and wood and cement this Christmas so he could build things in the backyard. They're all creating art. I'm assuming you're also creative, because I have yet to meet someone who doesn't have some sort of creative passion. And I've never heard anyone say they…

Read more about the article Stop Self-Sabotage: Dreaming Big in Small Ways

Stop Self-Sabotage: Dreaming Big in Small Ways

(This post about dreaming big is part of my weekly Monday Morning Blast-Off email series. To get emails like this in your inbox every Monday morning, head here.) Happy Monday! Every week, I send out the Monday Morning Blast Off email to a really cool group of folks who want to boost their creative productivity. Last week I asked people to tell me what some of their shoot-for-the-moon dreams were, and I got some really lovely responses — everything from having a quiet writing retreat to being a radical agent of change in the last years before retirement. My point was that…