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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Flickr Fridays, Fall Commemorative Edition

Miss Elsie over at A Beautiful Mess posted about the pumpkin spice lattes she and her boy shared this morning to commemorate the beginning of fall. I’d like to join in the celebration of cool evenings and pumpkin joy on this overcast Friday. It’s time for scarves, sweaters, boots, and – oh, yes – pumpkin spice lattes.

(Don’t forget to click on the images to get check out these photographers on Flickr!)

Photo by dalboz, Flickr

Mmm, can you smell the pumpkin chai-ness? I can. READ MORE