Creative Inspiration During Cold Season

It’s cold season around here, and I don’t just mean the temperature. I mean the sniffling, sneezing, your-hurts-so-bad-you-can’t-get-out-of-bed cold season. On days like these, I prefer to live life from the couch – preferably wrapped in a blanket with a cup of tea or a bowl of soup.

But in my world, sick days don’t make the deadlines go away. The benefit of an iPhone and a home office is that I can always be at work – even if I’m still in my pajamas.

So how do I stay inspired and creative while trying to rest and make the sniffles go away? I really enjoyed reading this article about getting dirty with creativity, but on sick days, that’s just too much effort for me. So, I’ve compiled a list of go-to options that require the least amount of energy and effort. Most of them can be accessed conveniently from the couch.
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Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you had a wonderful time celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family this week. My husband and I celebrated with friends on Thursday and then decorated our home for Christmas on Friday. I took a much-needed break from the interwebs (and my laptop in general).

Sometimes as a blogger it is easy to live with a “how can I document this?” kind of mentality, and so it is really important to actively step away and just be.
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When Something’s Gotta Give

The last few days (weeks?) have been crazy around the Wilcox house. We’re moving to Nashville, which means we’re smack in the middle of that transition of packing up your house, renting your house, finding a new house, scaling down, and deciding what matters most in terms of quality of life, lifestyle, the future – oh, and what to do with all our stuff…

Lately it feels as if my brain has been stuffed between the grips of a metal vise, and every last bit of creativity, energy, and innovation is being squeezed out. Like every last great idea has been tapped, and I have nothing left to give.

This is what it’s like sometimes when your livelihood depends on your creativity, when your clients depend on your ability to generate great ideas, and a changing marketplace demands constant innovation. Honestly, sometimes I feel completely tapped out.
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Creativity vs. Design

About a week ago I read an article on Design View by Andy Rutledge called Creativity is Not Design (Test 2). As a designer, I value Andy’s viewpoint and insight based on his experience in the field. If you read his blog, you’ll notice right away that he is a teacher, and that things being done for the right reasons matters a lot to him. He doesn’t want a cool graphic piece; he wants a cool, effective graphic piece. However, this article came off harsh to me, and I’ve been mulling over it quite a bit. Read the full article here.

Andy’s argument is that designers who cannot answer questions about fundamental aspects of creating good design should basically get out of business until they learn what they’re talking about. His op-ed leaves very little room for break-out artists, or self-made creative entrepreneurs who lack formal training. And as we all know, there are quite a few of us out there.
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Newsletter Update Firing Away Tomorrow!

I haven’t sent out a newsletter since July, and with all of the changes around here recently, I thought it was probably time!

If you haven’t subscribed to the newsletter yet, click here. I won’t share your info with anyone, I swear.

Need a little extra motivation? Newsletter subscribers get a 10% discount on ad rates. Yay for you, yay for me.

Review: Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity

I just finished reading Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity by Hugh McLeod on Monday night. At roughly 160 pages and 40 chapters, you’d think it would be a tough read. Admittedly, it did take me a month to work through it.

But not because of bad writing.

Or because it was too thick or too detailed or too analytical.

It took me a long time to get through it because after every short chapter, I had to stop and think it through.

It’s one of those books that has the power to change they way you live and the way you conduct your business. It’s subtlety makes for a powerful approach that is likely to catch you off guard.
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