Bertolt Brecht

"We're spongers. Spongers. The last human beings not to be servants.  What's a poem worth?  Four shirts?  A loaf of bread?  Half a cow?  We don't make merchandise; we just make gifts."

— Bertolt Brecht

German Poet / Playwright / Theater Director

1898 - 1956

Commentary

What is a poem worth?  How much are you willing to spend to read a poem?  Can you put a price on a poem?  Is it a commodity like milk or eggs or a new car?  I can buy a gallon of milk for $2.99.  Is that what a poem is worth?  This week on my trip to Baltimore I rented a car for $44 a day?  Is a poem less valuable then one day of transportation?  My hotel room cost me $109 a night excluding taxes?  Is a poem more valuable than a hotel room for a night?

The American society puts a dollar value on almost everything.  The price of weddings are going through the roof, but be careful, divorce costs even more.  What price is love?  How about sex?  Even dying costs thousands of dollars.  Should I have you bury me in a coffin made of poetry books?  It would be cheaper. 

We now can pay $.99 for a song?  How does that compare with a hair cut?  Or a pedicure? Or a day at the spa?  So what is a poem worth?  Or a short story?  I bought two hamburger patties to grill today for almost $6.00.  Are you willing to pay me $6.00 to nourish your soul instead of your body?  A Swedish massage will cost me $65 for one hour.  I could probably buy four books of poetry for that amount.  The poetry could nourish my soul for years.  The poetry can change my life and teach me to see the world differently.  So what is a poem worth?  

In the words of Bertolt Brecht, "We don't make merchandise; we just make gifts."  Whether you paint, draw, sing or write.  What we do is a gift.  What we create is a gift that we give to the world.  We can't measure our gifts with price tags.  Some things can not be sold; they must be given.  Not all success comes wrapped in dollar bills.  What gifts are you creating?  What gifts are you giving away?

Creative Practice

This week give away a poem, a painting, or a song to a stranger, a friend or even a family member.  Ask for nothing in return.  Share a small piece of yourself.  Give the gift that keeps on giving.

Biography

Brecht was born to a Protestant mother and a Catholic father in Augsburg, Bavaria.  His home was a comfortable middle class.  He studied drama at Munich University.  He wrote his first play, Baal,  in 1918 and his second, Drums in the Night, in 1919.  A collection of his poems, Devotions for the Home, was published in 1927.  Brecht went on to write over 50 plays in his lifetime.  He was one of the most influential and important playwrights of the 20th century.

Poem
Here is one of Brecht's poems.  Accept it as a gift.

On the Term of Exile
By Bertolt Brecht

No need to drive a nail into the wall

To hang your hat on; 

When you come in, just drop it on the chair

No guest has sat on.

Don’t worry about watering the flowers—
In fact, don’t plant them.
You will have gone back home before they bloom,
And who will want them?

If mastering the language is too hard,
Only be patient;
The telegram imploring your return
Won’t need translation.

Remember, when the ceiling sheds itself
In flakes of plaster,
The wall that keeps you out is crumbling too,
As fast or faster.


Translated from the German by Adam Kirsch

D. H. Lawrence

"The human soul needs beauty more than bread."

— D. H. Lawrence

English Novelist, Poet, Painter

1885 - 1930

Commentary

What does your soul need? Beauty? Bread? Creativity? Silence? Freedom? Faith? Love? Peace? Chaos?  Dignity? A connection with humanity?  What does your soul seek? God? Humanity? Hope?  What does your soul create? Beauty? Pain? Art? Poetry? Stories?

I think it is a privilege to be a creative leader.  We are doubly blessed.  Our creativity feeds our soul and our soul feeds our creativity.  Through the process of writing, painting or dancing, we cleanse and heal our spirit — we restore our soul.

Creativity is water for the soul and nourishment for the spirit.  Drink deeply that the fruits of your labor will grow and flourish.

Creative Practice

Feed your spirit this week.  Do what makes you feel good.  Take care of yourself.

Biography

David Herbert Lawrence was the fourth child of Arthur John Lawrence, a miner, and Lydia Beardsall who worked in a lace factory.  He spent his youth in the coal mining town of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire.  Lawrence received a teaching certificate in 1908.  He taught at the Davidson Road school for a couple of years.  His mother died from cancer in 1910.  Lawrence was devastated by her death.  His first novel, The White Peacock, was published in 1911.  

In 1912 Lawrence met Frieda Weekley, a married woman with three children, who was six years older than him.  They ran off to her parent's home in Germany.  Lawrence was arrested and accused of being a British spy, but was released due to the intervention of Weekley's father.  Lawrence and Weekley left Germany and walked across the Alps to Italy. In Italy, Lawrence finish Sons and Lovers which was published in 1913.  Lawrence and Weekley were married in England in 1914 after she obtained a divorce.

During World War I, Lawrence and his wife were accused of spying for the Germans and harassed by the authorities.  After the war, Lawrence went into voluntary exile returning to England only twice for brief visits.  He and Frieda spent the rest of his life traveling to Australia, Italy, Ceylon, United States, Mexico and France.  They arrived in the U.S. in 1922 and bought property in New Mexico.  While on a visit to Mexico in 1925, Lawrence almost died from an attack of malaria and tuberculosis which forced him to return to Europe.  He died in France from tuberculosis.

Miles Davis

"My future starts when I wake up every morning.  Every day I find something creative to do with my life."

— Miles Davis

American Musician

1926 - 1991

Commentary

How do you wake up every morning?  Are the creative juices flowing?  The life of the creative leader is about creating — about finding new ways of seeing the world.  About living the creative life.

The creative life is an attitude — a way of embracing the world.  Are you open to the possibilities?  The new beginnings?  Or have you closed your mind and heart and see only a narrow path before you?  Miles Davis, the musician, was always changing, exploring the music, finding new pathways, seeing new possibilities.  Whenever he felt himself growing stagnant, he would change directions, take a new path.  As a jazz musician, he improvised, played off of his fellow musicians, and changed the notes.

Are you living the creative life?  Or are you stagnant?  Do you hide behind what you created?  Or are you growing?  Improvising?  Exploring alternative paths?  Are you open new ideas?  

Creative Practice

Try something new this week — a new painting technique, a new form of poetry, a different style of music.  Do something you have never done — work with clay, write a song, learn to dance.  Wake up the creativity inside.  Develop a creative attitude.

Biography

Miles Davis was born in Alton, Illinois to Miles Henry Davis and Cleota May Davis.  His father was a dentist and moved the family to East St. Louis in 1927.  Miles thought of going to medical school, but his love of music was too strong.  His father gave him a trumpet at the age of thirteen and paid for music lessons.  By sixteen, Miles was playing professionally when not in school.  At seventeen, he spent a year playing in the Blue Devils, Eddie Randle's band.  In 1944, the Billy Eckstine band, which included Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, visited East St. Louis.  Miles had an opportunity to play with the band for a couple of weeks because the regular trumpet player was sick.

In the fall of 1944, Davis moved to New York to study at Juilliard School of Music.  He eventually dropped out to play music full time.  In 1945, when Dizzy Gillespie left Charlie Parker's band, Miles was hired to replace him.  He recorded and traveled with the band.  During these years Miles played as well as recorded with various bands.

In 1955, Davis had an operation to remove polyps on his larynx.  He damaged his vocal tones and consequently, he had a raspy voice the remainder of his life.

Davis recorded 48 studio albums and 36 live albums during his life.

Video:
Spend some time listening to a discussion of the Miles Davis Kind of Blue Album, created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the production of the album.  Then listen to the album itself.

Mitch Albom

“. . . there's a story behind everything. How a picture got on a wall. How a scar got on your face. Sometimes the stories are simple, and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking. But behind all your stories is always your mother's story, because hers is where yours begin.” 

― Mitch Albom
American Author / Radio & TV Broadcaster / Songwriter
1958 -

Commentary

A few years ago, I wrote the story of my mother's life.  I told her story as I knew it from her point of view.  I imagined what her thoughts were and how she would respond to the events that happened in her life.  It was a fascinating experience and gave me insight and understanding of my mother.

We all have stories to tell — some easy and some difficult — and we need to be telling these stories.  As Albom says, there is a story behind everything whether you are talking about the painting on the wall or the scar on my hand.  I have a scar on my hand which resulted from being silly.  When I was in my early thirties, a friend and I were chasing each other around the apartment acting silly.  I was carrying a glass of beer in my hand.  He slammed the door on me and the glass broke in my hand.  I had to go to the hospital for stitches.  Often it is the small things that happen in our lives that blossom into larger stories.

What stories are you not telling that you need to tell?  We need to listen to our own stories because in the listening we gain understanding and wisdom.  On my wall in my office hangs a drawing I made with colored pencils in 2006 in the midst of a personal health crisis.  I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and had surgery.  The drawing is entitled, All Eyes on Jesus.  The title for the drawing came to me before I ever put pencil to paper.  The drawing is of a cross surrounded by masks.  The hand of God is reaching for the cross and the fires of hell are burning up the masks.  For me, the drawing captures my struggle with religion.  The drawing  tells a story.

Creative Practice

This week write a story or a poem about your mother in her voice.  Tell the story in the first person about a particular incident or event in her life.  Maybe you could tell the story of your birth from her perspective.  Or tell the story of her father's death through her eyes. Choose a particular event and tell the story.

Biography

Mitch Albom grew up in New Jersey in a middle class family.  His parents encouraged his siblings and him to see the world which he has done.  While working in New York, Albom developed an interest in journalism and became a sports writer.  He was a full-time feature writer for the Fort Lauderdale News and Sun Sentinel.  He then moved to Detroit and became the lead sports columnist for the Detroit Free Press where he still writes 2 columns.  He has won more than 200 journalism awards.  He has written two sports books — one with Bo Schembechler, U of Michigan football coach and the other about the Fab Five U of M basketball team.

His breakthrough book was Tuesdays With Morrie about his conversations with a former college professor who was dying.  He wrote the book to help pay for the professor's medical bills. Rejected by several publishers, it was eventually published by Doubleday in 1997.  The initial printing was 20,000 copies.  The memoir has sold over 14 million copies and has been translated into 41 languages.

Albom followed up six years later with a novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, which was published in 2003.  The novel has sold more than 10 million copies.  His next novel, For One More Day, was published in 2006 and spent 9 months on the New York Times Bestseller list.

As if writing is not enough for Albom, he also hosts a general radio talk show on WJR in Detroit 5 days a week.  The show is also televised and simulcast by MSNBC.  He has appeared on numerous TV shows.  He is also a playwright and songwriter.  He has also founded 7 charities.

Video

Here is Mitch Albom discussing why he thinks his books have been so successful.

Mahatma Gandhi

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

― Mahatma Gandhi
Indian Lawyer /Activist
1869 -1948

Commentary

If you knew that you would live forever or at least as long as the universe exists, what would you do with your life?  Would you still write?  Or paint?  Or sing?  Would you obtain  a hundred college degrees?  Write a thousand novels?  Paint a million paintings?  What would you study?  History?  Science?  Religion?  Literature?  Why would you study?  For knowledge?  For wisdom?  Why would you create anything?  You would outlive the shelf life any novel you wrote or painting you painted.

Does the fact we know that we will die influence what we do in life?  If you were told that you had only six months to live, what would you do?  Spend the time with your loved ones?  Withdrawal from those around you?  Finish that great American novel that you have been working on for thirty years?  Travel the world and see all the places that you have wanted to visit?

There are only 24 hours in any given day.  What did you do with the last 24 hours of your life?  What are you going to do with the next 24 hours of your life?  Are you focused on what is important to you?  Or are you procrastinating?  Do you believe that there will always be a tomorrow?  If you don't have time today, maybe mañana?  We choose how we spend every minute of the 1440 minutes we are given each day.  What choices are you making?  Are they the right choices?

Creative Practice
Study how you are spending the 1440 minutes of your day?  Are you wasting any of those precious minutes?  Can you find an extra thirty minutes to focus on your creative work?

Biography
Mahatma Gandhi was born in India and studied law in England.  He became an advocate for the rights of Indians, first in South Africa and then in India.  He became the leader of India's independence movement, organizing non-violent forms of civil disobedience.

After studying law in England, Gandhi returned to India where he failed to establish a law practice in part because he was too shy to speak in court.  At 24, he accepted a job in South Africa with Dada Abdulla & Co, an Indian firm.  He worked as a legal representative for the Muslim Indian Traders.  Gandhi spent 21 years in South Africa where he formed many of his political views, ethics and leadership skills.  Gandhi represented the legal rights of wealthy Muslims and indentured Hindu laborers.

In South Africa, Gandhi faced discrimination.  He was thrown off a train for refusing to move from first class.  He was beaten by a stagecoach driver for refusing to give up his seat to a European passenger.  He was barred from many hotels.  The racism, prejudice and injustice against Indians in South Africa shaped Gandhi's social activism and awakened him to social injustice.  His fight for the rights of Indians in South Africa helped him to develop his non-violent forms of civil disobedience.

Gandhi returned to India permanently in 1915.  He joined the Indian National Congress and became its leader in 1920.  He spent the rest of his life working for the independence of India from England.  Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948 by a Hindu nationalist.  Over two million people joined the five-mile long funeral march.

Gandhi was a prolific writer.  His complete writings were published in the 1960s and comprised about 50,000 pages published in 100 volumes. His autobiography is called, The Story of My Experiments with Truth.  

Elmore Leonard

"The writer has to have patience, the perseverance to just sit there alone and grind it out. And if it’s not worth doing that, then he doesn’t want to write."

Elmore Leonard
American Novelist / Screenwriter
1925 - 2013

Commentary

Creative leaders need to be patient.  No one is born with writing skills or artistic skills.  These have to be learned which does not and will not happen overnight.  For some of us it takes years and for others we may never perfect our craft.   Beginning writers often ask their teachers and mentors whether they have talent.  They are asking the wrong question.  They should be asking:  do I have the patience to learn this craft.  Do I have the persistence to keep going when everything and every person is telling me to quit?

Writing and painting are not easy.  Are you willing to sit in front of a blank page or a blank canvas waiting for your muse to show up and inspire you?  Are you willing to write and rewrite until your brain is numb?  Are you willing to spend long hours working while your friends are out partying and having fun?  Are you willing to spend difficult hours creating something that you may never be able to sell or able to make any money off your labor?

The creative arts are only for the strong of spirit — those who are able to sacrifice the rewards of the moment for the possibility of opportunity sometime in the future.  The creative arts are only for those who are driven by some demon deep inside — for those who are unable to stop creating even in the face of a hostile world.

Creative Practice

Answer this question truthfully:  If I knew now that I would never be rich, famous or successful in my lifetime, would I still create?

Biography

Born in New Orleans, Leonard was the son of Flora Amelia and Elmore John Leonard, a General Motors executive.  The family lived in several places because of Leonard Sr's job.  They finally settle in Detroit in 1934.  Elmore Leonard, Jr. graduated from both high school and college in Detroit with a degree in English and philosophy.  Elmore spent 3 years in navy at the end of World War II.

Leonard's first job after college was as a copywriter for an ad agency.  He wrote stories and novels on the side, publishing his first story in 1951 in the Argosy.  He wrote westerns, mysteries and crime novels.  His short stories and novels have been turned into movies, such as Hombre, Get Shorty, Killshot and Freaky Deaky .

Video

Here is Elmore Leonard discussing the story writing process.

Mayumi Oda

"Creativity is not a driving force.  It happens.  It creates itself and you have to be open."

— Mayumi Oda

1941 - 

Japanese Artist

Commentary
What is creativity?  Can you define it?  Where does it come from?  Why do some people think they are not creative?  Why are others swimming in a sea of creativity?  Can we control our creativity or does it move to the beat of a different drummer?  Why is one person creative and another not?

Are you open to the creativity within your spirit?  Do you hear it calling you?  Do you follow it down the path to your heart?  We are dancers on the shores of hope, giving gifts to those who understand.  Creativity does not drive through the rain, but sits under the umbrella and listens to the silence between the drops.  Do you let it happen gently on the corners of your soul or do you force it through the keyhole of resistance?

Art by Mayumi Oda

How does creativity manifest itself in your life?  What forms does it take?  What rituals are you forced to follow?  Can you call up creativity at will or must you kneel in prayer hoping for it to return?  Does creativity drain you of your energy or does it fill your spirit with enthusiasm?  Does creativity dance on the winds of love or is it a tornado of destruction?  Does creativity possess you or do you possess it?

Does your cup overflow with creativity?  Or does it come to you in drips and drops?  Do you go for days or weeks or months without a creative thought?  Or do your thoughts drown you in a tsunami of creativity?

Creative Practice
This week define what creativity means?  Can you put it into words?  What does it mean to your life?  Has creativity ever stirred up trouble for you?  How do you encourage creativity in others?  

Biography

Art by Mayumi Oda

Mayumi Oda was born into a Buddhist family in Japan in 1941.  She graduated from the Tokyo University of Fine Arts in 1966.  She also studied traditional Japanese fabric dyeing which has influenced her art.  She has exhibited her art in over 40 one-woman shows throughout the world.  Her art is part of the permanent collections of Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Oda paints images of goddesses including traditional images as well as those that she invents.  She is often described as a Japanese Matisse because of the color and free-flowing lines in her work.

Mayumi Oda has also spent many years as a global activist participating in anti-muclear campaigns worldwide.  Oda founded Ginger Hill, a farm and a retreat center on the Big Island of Hawaii. Oda hosts workshops and retreats at Ginger Hill.

Alex Haley

"The reality is that writing is a lonely, private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune, there are thousands more whose longing is never requited. Even those who succeed often know long periods of neglect and poverty. I did."

Alex Haley

American Writer

1921 - 1992

Commentary

The path to financial success is never easy for writers, artists or actors. In fact, for every Stephen King, John Grisham, James Patterson, Paul Newman, Tom Cruise or Angelina Jolie, there are hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of creative people who do not make a dime from their writing, acting or painting. And for some, financial success may be short-lived — one movie, one song, one novel. So if you are in the game for money, you would be better off investing in the stock market or real estate. 

Creative work is not for the faint-of-heart. If you need people in your life, skip writing and painting. Enter theater, film or music which require group participation. Writing and painting are lonely pursuits that involve a minimum amount of people contact. Writers and painters spend long periods by themselves. Writers spend long periods in their own heads visiting worlds that do not exist and talking with people who are imaginary. Sounds crazy, doesn't it?

Creative Practice
Be sure that you are in the arts because you can't live without it. Does it keep your spirit alive? Does it restore your soul? Does it make you happy?

Biography
Alex Haley, the oldest of five children, was born in Ithaca, NY.  His father was a professor of agriculture.  When Alex turned 18, he joined the Coast Guard where he had a 20 year career.  While in the Coast Guard, Haley taught himself how to write stories.  After the Coast Guard, he began a career in writing.

Alex Haley interviewed Miles Davis and the article appeared in the September 1962 issue of Playboy.  Haley also interviewed Martin Luther King, Jr, Muhammad Ali, Sammy Davis, Jr., Jim Brown, Johnny Carson, Malcolm X and Quincy Jones for Playboy.  He also interviewed George Lincoln Rockwell, leader of the American Nazi Party.  

Haley's first book, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, was published in 1965 and by 1977 had sold 6 million copies.  In 1998, Time named it one of ten most influential nonfiction books in the 20th century.

In 1976, Haley published Roots, a novel based on his family's history.  His work on the novel involved ten years of research and writing.  The book was adapted for a popular television miniseries by ABC.

Video
Here is a video of Alex Haley discussing Roots on the Merv Griffin Show (1977).

Henry Reed

"Everything we need to know can be found within us."

— Henry Reed

American Author/Teacher

Commentary

Our society teaches us to look for answers to our problems outside ourselves.  We take pills, read self-help books, talk to psychologists and attend church in search of answers to what ails us.  We have not been taught how to listen to our own intuition.

Have you ever had a feeling that you should or shouldn't do something and you ignored it only to find out later that the feeling was accurate?  We have a lot of wisdom and knowledge within our hearts, but we have not learned to trust ourselves.  We, instead, believe that others are wiser and smarter than us because they are rich or on TV or in roles of authority.

Intuition is found in the heart, not the brain.  Intuition often defies the logic of the rational mind, and instead, comes from the heart.  We have been taught that the analytical mind is smarter than the intuitive heart.  We have been told the feelings get in the way of making a professional sound  decision.  In fact, we are often encouraged to ignore our feelings and our gut instincts.  

Listening to our intuition takes practice.  Not every feeling is accurate.  Sometimes we let our desires and our conscious mind color our listening.  Usually it is that very first feeling that is the most accurate.    Once the analytical mind enters the equation, the intuition is altered and changed.   Listening to your intuition is listening directly to your subconscious. You know the answers to many of your challenges deep inside.  You need to learn how to listen for the answers.

Creative leaders are often more in touch with their intuition, but even they need to learn to listen to what is said and trust what they hear.  As painters and writers, we make choices that involve our intuition.  Why did you create that character or use that color?  Many times we have no rational reason for what we do and that is okay.  We need to trust that somewhere deep inside we know whats best.

Creative Practice
This week practice listening to your intuition.  See if you can determine the real intuition from the logical mind pretending to be intuition.  Take to time to listen to your instincts.

The Intuitive Heart
In his book, The Intuitive Heart, Henry Reed teaches a six step process for listening to your intuition.

1. Learn from your breath.  Focus on your breath.
2. Make the heart connection.
3. Invite a memory.
4. Tell your story.
5. Search the heart for wisdom.
6. Learn from the feedback.

Biography
Henry Reed received a B.A. in Mathematics from Pomona College and a Ph.D in Psychology from UCLA.  He was an assistant professor of psychology at Princeton University and an assistant professor at Old Dominion University and a Professor of Transpersonal Studies at Atlantic University.   He has authored 8 books.

Publications
Here are links to some of Reed's article online.

Finding Your Mission in Life

Discoveries of the Intuitive Heart

Do Dreams Have Meaning?

Wassily Kandinsky

Portrait of Kandinsky
by Gabriela Munter (1906)

"Every work of art is the child of its time, often it is the mother of our emotions."

— Wassily Kandinsky

Russian Artist

1866 - 1944

Commentary

Can a creative leader escape the prison of his times?  Is the content of the work produced locked into the world view of the time?  For example, did the artists and writers who lived when people thought the world was flat produce different work than artists today would? Does our world view frame the work we create?  

Concentric Circles
byWassily Kandinsky

If you believe that works of art are children of the time they were produced, then you must accept the fact that what you create will one day be perceived as old fashioned.  What you perceive as fresh and new today may one day be viewed with embarrassment.  We often think we are better than the people of the past, that we have risen above their prejudices, yet we are often trapped by our own prejudices and misconceptions.

The truly great artist transcends time and custom.  He is celebrated in every age for his creative genius and understanding of the world.  Other artists may be celebrated in some periods and forgotten in others.  Some artists are never discovered in their own time, but because their work is ahead of its time, they find their place in a future they will never see.  And many never survive beyond their own time.

Creative Practice

Spend time this week analyzing your creative work.  What makes your creative work a child of our times?  What in your creative work transcends our times?  How does it fit within the world view of our times?

Biography

Kandinsky was born in Moscow, the son of a tea merchant.  When he was five, the family moved to Odessa.  As a boy, he learned to play the piano and the cello as well as draw.  When he was 20, he moved to Moscow to study law.  He graduated six years later with honors and accepted a position teaching. When he was 30, he gave up a career teaching law and economics in order to study art in Munich.  

In 1892, Kandinsky married Anna Chimyakina, a cousin on his father's side. Ten years later he fell in love with Gabriela Munter, an art student, and traveled through Europe with her. He officially divorced Anna in 1911, but never married Gabriela. Instead, he married Nina Andreevsky in 1917.

For more information, visit these sites.

http://www.wassilykandinsky.net

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky

http://www.biography.com/people/wassily-kandinsky-9359941

Video

Here is Helen Mirren, the actress, discussing the work of Kandinsky.

Rainer Maria Rilke

"In this there is no measuring with time, a year doesn't matter, and ten years are nothing. Being an artist means: not numbering and counting, but ripening like a tree, which doesn't force its sap, and stands confidently in the storms of spring, not afraid that afterward summer may not come. It does come."

Rainer Maria Rilke

Austrian Poet/Novelist

1875 - 1926

Commentary

Sometimes writers, actors, musicians and artists are impatient and want immediate success.  What most fail to understand is that it does not happen overnight.  It happens as it is meant to happen.  The work has to age and ripen with time.  So don't despair.  Keep creating and the work will find its way.  The work will blossom when it is ready.  Early success often destroys the creative impulse and leaves the creator without anything to say.

Are you letting your work age properly or are you rushing into publication?  Are you looking for instant success or are you willing to wait until the time is right?

Joyce Carol Oates

"Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul."

— Joyce Carol Oates

American Novelist

1938 - 

Commentary

Reading fiction gives us the opportunity to leave the limits of our bodies and explore the world of others.  We are able to feel what they feel, to experience what they experience, and to understand the world as they understand.  

I can never become another person in the real world.  I will always be myself no matter how much I grow and develop.  Reading like acting gives me the opportunity to become someone else.  I can feel their fear, their love and their joy.  Some people I inhabit I love and enjoy being them.  Others, I don't like and don't enjoy being in their skin, but I can still learn from them.  I can still expand my understanding of the world.

I prefer reading stories where I like the characters and enjoy being with them.  For me, character is more important than plot.  I don't always enjoys novels driven so much by plot that the author sacrificed character depth.  I prefer novels where I can climb inside the character's skin and become him or her for a short period of time.  Two of my favorite private investigators from the world of crime fiction are:  Easy Rawlins (created by Walter Mosley) and V. I. Warshawski (created by Sara Paretsky).  I enjoy spending time with each of them in the worlds they inhabit.  For me, the plot is less important than being with the two private investigators.

Writing fiction gives me a similar opportunity as reading fiction.  As a writer, I am able to become another person in a world of my creation.  Unlike reading, I am able to explore the character on a deeper level and get to know the person even better than the reader does.  The fun of writing is in seeing the character slowly reveal himself and the world in which he lives.  

Creative Practice

This week make a list of characters in fiction who you like as well as those who you dislike. Ask yourself why you like or dislike certain characters.  What appeals to you about certain characters?  What disturbs you about certain characters?  Identify the type of characters you like to write about.

Biography

Joyce Carol Oates is one of the most prolific American novelists and writers living today.  She published her first book in 1963 and has since published over 40 novels as well as a number of plays, short stories, poetry and non-fictional works.  She has taught at Princeton University since 1978.

Oates was the oldest of three children born to Caroline Bush and Frederic James Oates.  She was born in Lockport, New York and raised in the farming community of Millersport, New York.  She was raised Catholic, but later discovered that her paternal great-grandfather was Jewish.  Her paternal grandmother encouraged her to read and gave her a copy of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventure in Wonderland which influenced her writing.  She called the book "the greatest treasure of her childhood."  Other early influences included William Faulkner, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Henry David Thoreau, Ernest Hemingway, Charlotte Bronte and Emily Bronte.  She began writing at fourteen when her grandmother gave her a typewriter.

Joyce Carol Oates graduated from Syracuse University in 1960 with a B.A. in English and from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 1961 with a M.A.

Video

Here is a video of Joyce Carol Oates discussing how to write characters.

Ray Bradbury

"Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way."

— Ray Bradbury

American Novelist

1920 - 2012

Commentary

Sometimes our rational mind is a barrier to our creative output.  Our intuition makes mental leaps that our rational mind does not understand.  Our rational mind plays the role of the naysayer in our minds.  "You can't do that.  That don't make sense.  It's not rational.  People will laugh."  If we listen to our rational minds, we will lose some very creative ideas brought to us by our intuition.

Learn to listen and trust your intuition.  It may not make sense to the rational mind and that is okay.  In fact, if the rational mind is too resistive to an idea, it probably means it is a great idea.  The more the rational mind resists the better the idea.  Our educational training has taught us to trust our rational mind, not our intuitive mind.  To follow our intuition, we must be able to step outside our comfort zone and go where few others have gone.

Creative Practice

When you write or paint this week, let go of the rational mind.  Listen to your intuition.  If your rational mind tells you not to do something, listen instead to your intuition.  Follow your heart.

Biography
Ray Bradbury, the son of Esther Moberg and Leonard Bradbury, was born in Waukegan, Illinois.  His family moved back and forth between Waukegan and Tucson, AZ multiple times while he was a child.  They moved to Los Angeles, CA when he was 14.

Bradbury began to write stories at the age of eleven.  His earliest influences included Edgar Allan Poe, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and H. G. Wells.  He began writing horror stories at 14 in imitation of Poe.

When Bradbury was 12 he visited a carnival and was touched on the nose by an electrified sword.  Mr. Electrico, the carnival entertainer shouted at Bradbury:  "Live forever."  From that day forward, Bradbury began to write every day.  Some of his influences included Robert Frost, William Shakespeare, John Steinbeck, Aldous Huxley, Thomas Wolfe and Eudora Welty.  In high school, he was active in both the Poetry Club and the Drama Club, but he did not attend college.  His education came from the library where he spent three days a week.  His novel Fahrenheit 451 was written at UCLA's Powell Library.

Bradbury earned his first money as a writer at the age of fourteen when George Burns hired hime to write for the Burns and Allen show.  Bradbury sold his first story, The Lake, for $13.75 at the age of 22. Homecoming, one of Bradbury's early stories appeared in Mademoiselle.  Truman Capote, a young editorial assistant, spotted the story which was selected for publication also in the O. Henry Prize Stories of 1947.  Bradbury also wrote plays.

Bradbury married Marguerite McClure in 1947 and they had 4 daughters.  He never had a driver's license.

Video
Here is Ray Bradbury talking about writing.

H. G. Wells

"We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery."

— H. G. Wells

English Writer and Novelist

1866 - 1946

Commentary

Sometimes we let the clock control our lives.  We live each day by the clock.  We set the alarm clock to wake us at a certain time.  We have to be at work at a certain time.  We have appointments and deadlines that focus our activities.  We eat lunch at the same time.  We quit work at the same time.  Then we eat dinner and go to bed at the same time.  

We also let the calendar control our days.  Many do not like Monday mornings because they don't want to go to work.  Wednesday becomes hump day and on Friday it is TGIF day.  We daydream about our holidays and our vacations.  Some people love summer.  Others love winter.  We have become slaves to the calendar and the seasons.

The trick is learning to live in the moment and enjoy each moment we have been given.  Some people move through life acting bored.  Their jobs are boring.  Their social life is boring.  Their sex life is boring.  As H.G. Wells says, each moment of our lives is a miracle and a mystery.  We ought to be celebrating our lives.  Each moment we are alive is a blessing.  Enjoy your moments because one day you will not have any more.  

Creative leaders often dream that when they are successful everything will be better.  When I sell my first novel....  When I have my own art gallery....  When I have a starring role in a Hollywood movie....  We spend so much time in the future that we fail to appreciate the present.

Creative Practice
Challenge yourself this week to enjoy each moment of your life.  Don't spend your time remembering the past or daydreaming about the future.  If you catch yourself being bored or not living in the moment, gently bring yourself back to the present moment.

Biography
Herbert George Wells is best known as a science fiction writer.  His most popular novels include: The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and the Island of Doctor Moreau.  He also wrote history, politics and social commentary.

Wells was the fourth child of Joseph Wells and Sarah Neal.  His father was a domestic gardener, shopkeeper and professional cricketer.  His mother was a domestic servant.  When Wells was eight, he was confined to bed because of a broken leg.  To pass the time, he read books.  At fourteen, he was apprenticed as a draper (cloth merchant).  He worked 13 hour a day and slept in a dormitory.  He failed as a draper and as a chemist's assistant.

Wells married his cousin Isabel Mary Wells when he was 25.  They separated three years later when he fell in love with Amy Catherine Robbins whom he married in 1895.  The marriage lasted until her death in 1927.  With his wife's consent, Wells had affairs with several women, including Margaret Sanger, Rebecca West and Elizabeth von Arnim.

Video
Here is an audio recording of Orson Welles and H. G. Wells in a discussion about The War of the Worlds.