The Muse is IN Blog

What if You're Not Your Own Audience? -Repurposed Storytelling

In the gaggle of Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard), there is a Muse that hails imperfection. Here’s one of the reasons why.

I had a cellular shift around my art several years ago when I painted prolifically with my partner. We ventured out to the everywhere of landscapes, coffee shops, and unsuspecting people to sketch then paint in watercolor and outline in ink. We brought home copious amounts of half-done works, a lot of mistakes, and maybe an accidental masterpiece.

I liked very few of the paintings we did. He liked them all.

I would put my painting-mishaps in a portfolio sometimes using the other side for another painting or ripping them up to make collages. My partner would frame all of his paintings with glass and black electrical tape! and hang them in cafes and hair salons around town. I his style, but I was in awe of his courage.  He had this unspoken acceptance that all of his paintings were worth framing.

Audacity* was an inspiring trait of this man, having boundaries was not. One day I walked into a café and saw a unfinished painting of mine that I despised, and it was framed and hanging. There was my blunder on display for everyone to see. I had given no permission for him to do this. I was horrified, angry, and I’m pretty sure overly dramatic.

When I went to retrieve my painting, it had sold. Huh? Someone bought and hung what I considered my bad art in their living room, and it wasn’t even finished. I met the buyer I sheepishly asked her what she liked about it.  She said, “Well, everything ... especially the unfinished look.” Really?

That’s when a cellular happened.. the epiphany was greater than the sum of the painting. How is it that I couldn’t see the beauty someone else could see in my work? Was I doing good work and not even knowing it? Am I not even my own audience?  I was sad, excited, confused, and inspired to paint more. I had no idea that my standards for what was considered “good” might be suspect until I realized my standards weren’t for me, they were for someone else. 

 

T.S. Eliot said, "Between the idea and the reality ... falls the shadow." How we think our art and writing should look and what actually happens is often out of our control. But that doesn’t mean it won’t be something as good or better than we planned. If we are attached to the vision of what it MUST look like, we are robbing ourselves of the pleasure that can come from going with the flow and looking for what the work itself wants to become, and then accepting it as the wonder it is.

When I started looking through the eyes of the people who appreciate it, the deep-rooted illusion that my art sucked began to dissolve. I realized that when I stopped trying to paint the way I thought you’re supposed to, I saw a quirky, purposefully imperfect, whimsical voice and gave realized I did like my art the way it is, it was messy and imperfect, like me.      

Share your half-finished works with the world. Frame them with boldness and defiance. If you make enough mistakes, it becomes your style.

This week I will share with you some wisdom from Spills, the Muse of Practice, Process and Imperfection.  

*Audacity is an upcoming Modern Day Muse

Dispatching Muses,

Jill Badonsky

Find out more about Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching or become a coach

Reminder to Begin Again

 

Beginning again is the path of a resilient creative practice  ... not to mention life in general.
It’s the step by which we can surmount every disappointment, embarrassment, and indignity..

We are free to live this next moment as though it were new, because it is.
However we failed or didn’t succeed or lost the plot, we can begin again in the next moment, or the next day rather than
be dragged down into ruminations born of our negativity.

Or we can just take a break and reboot and trust we will begin again refreshed, reinvigorated,  or re-inspired once the idea has incubated.
.
If you have not been as disciplined as you like,
If you’ve been spinning your wheels , stuck in creative chaos
or distracted when you wanted to be focused.
If are resistant to starting at all… lower the pressure
And begin again.

You've heard this before from me.
It's something I constantly need to remind myself,
so I thought it might be good timing for you too.

Dispatching Muses,

Jill Badonsky
and Muse Song, The Muse of Encouragement

www.themuseisn.com

Become a creativity mentor.
There are a few spaces left in the August
Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching Certification Training.

Email me with your background, your creative passion, and why KMCC is a good fit for you.
www.kaizenmuse.com

The Rebellious Poet and the Frustrated Muse

Dear Rebellious Readers, Writers, and Artists,

Here’s what happens when someone tries to tell a poet what to write.
And the four minute podcast with some music and sound effects is at this link.

The Muse has large flowing green feather wings…
and is fluttering dangerously close to the chandelier.
She is holding a BIG red and black neon sign that says,
“WRITE SOMETHING.”
The poet sees the sign, …..sighs and writes nothing

The Muse waves the sign dramatically,
With teeth pressed together in a large, forced smile.
The poet sighs and shrugs. Still nothing.

The Muse kicks a few clever adjectives onto
the poet’s blank sheet of paper:
TENDER, TURQUOISE, TELLTALE.
The poet swats them with a fly swatter
and places them in the garbage with the trout
and pilaf leftovers from dinner last night.

The Muse, perturbed, pulls out her secret stash of nouns:
CONCOCTION, SKYSCRAPER, BUICK
But the poet is reading the back of the Rice Krispies BOX
that was left on the TABLE from breakfast … then checks Facebook.

The Muse drops a few of her best verbs on the poet’s blank paper.
The poet PUSHES the verbs around with her pen,
and then COLLECTS them in a Mason Jar,
PUCNHES holes in the lid,  
and PLACES the jar next to the cinnamon that expired in ‘09.

That’s it.  The Muse is frustrated, done with this poet, and flies out the window
to inspire the songwriter who is strumming a guitar behind
the morning glories on the porch swing next door.

The poet smiles and writes this poem.

;)

I’m on a writing retreat and will be back next week to continue with the Modern Day Muses series. I’ve been cooperative with my Muse while here… but only when she doesn’t tell me what to do. (And being on a retreat motivates me to get value from the money I spent, I procrastinate at home for free). We all have our own ways of approaching our creativity.

What works for you to get you started on what you love to do?

Leave a comment

Dispatching Muses,

Jill Badonsky

Creativity is an Act of Rebellion: Muse #3

 

 

“You can’t tell a creative person what to do.” < That’s the first thing Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching students learn in the KMCC training. 

When it comes to nurturing creativity, even well-intentioned, seemingly perfect advice can backfire. The moment you tell a creative person what to do, you risk stripping away the fun and sense of autonomy they derive from steering the creative process themselves. There may be initial compliance, but then resistance, resentment, and swear words are eminent.   I know this from experience

When I started writing my Nine Modern Day Muses book, I was procrastinating, resistant, and overwhelmed. I decided to enlist a life coach.

She told me what to do to get the book written according to her own ideas. The suggestions weren’t suited for me, they just overwhelmed me even more. Nothing sounded fun.  I needed help with getting beyond resistance, not how to write a book - that would come with my natural instincts.

I tried to comply to her to-do list, but I had this subterranean urge to say, “ F^#! this” so I did. I don’t want to be told what to do.  I want questions. Questions open me up to explore possibilities from my own resources, experiences, and connections to an inner creative landscape which is wacky not conventional.  I needed someone familiar with the sensitivities of the creative person.

One of the attractions of being a creator, whether it’s writing a book or painting a weird thing with three hearts is acting on some curious and irresistible impulse delivered from the depths of our mysterious selves, and then playing with it inside the unique laboratory of who we are until it validates our brilliance, or at the very least, gives us a joyride. It’s not always easy to answer a creative call but worth moving beyond the complexities, inner demons, and endless distractions to be true to ourselves.

When its flowing, creativity gives us a sense of control in a world where we often feel helpless, it is driven by the fiery passion of being in charge of our own adventure.

Feedback, suggestions, and constructive criticism from others is helpful and smart to elicit; they give perspectives we don’t always see ourselves  When someone offers kindling, I check in with my intuition, then make a choice. I’m still in control; that is what’s different from being told what to do… the respect that comes withobvious choice.  

Instead of an edict, there is a “what if ..” question.  What if I made this process fun? What if I let the Muses tell me about themselves? What I you focused on what I love about writing? What if I called a muse, Bea Silly. We do better asking ourselves these questions because oppressively telling ourselves what to do, also results in resistance.

I finally wrote The Nine Modern Day Muses and a Bodyguard by finding a fun structure and tapping into my love of writing, but I wasn’t confident it would sell to a publisher. I met with a book coach who told me the name was impractical and elusive, I should call it Ten Creativity Principles or something dry like that, so people knew what it was about. She also said a publisher wouldn’t look at it with the way I used the whimsical fonts and format. Poo!

I stomped home and had some rocky road ice cream. My first thought was she must be right, she has published books out there. My childlike self was cranky, pouting, and crashing from the ice cream until an intuitively defiant, creative wonder woman aha moment kicked in and I realized I didn’t have to follow this person’s advice.   It was a clear feeling that it wasn’t right for my work.

Creativity is an act of rebellion and a world we do best to pioneer ourselves.

 “So what, I’ll do it anyway, I’d rather publish it myself than make those changes,” were the words that floated above my curly hair in a cartoon thought bubble.

I sent it out into the universe as is. Two weeks later an agent grabbed it sold it to Penguin Putnam who published it … with the same title, the fonts, format, and silliness. Poignant lesson.

Intuition and defiance can be a dynamic duo when figuring out our own path in a world of people trying to tell us what to do and with so much out there to compare ourselves.   

The response, “So What, I’ll do it anyway,” works in myriad ways.

Voice                                                                          The Rebellion

I’m too old…                                                              So what do it anyway.

I am not confident                                                   So what do it anyway.

I am resistant…                                                        So what… do it anyway.

People won’t get it:                                                  So what..

I’ll be exposed…                                                        So what..

I don’t know where to begin                                  Start anywhere for 30 seconds.

What else stops you? Say, so what and do it anyway.

This response to voices that can derail creativity is the gift of the Modern Day Muse, Bea Silly, the Muse of Childlike Play and it’s one of the tools that has freed people’s creativity for twenty years in Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching. It neutralizes or supersedes voices that are often operating in irrational or exaggerated fear. It frees us with defiance, rebelliousness, and satisfaction.  

There are many life coaches who are exceptions to the one mentioned in this story, they ask questions and respectfully guide the client’s own course of action. But I’m grateful for the dubious experience I had because it was responsible for the genesis of the Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching. I wondered how many people were being blocked by people who don’t understand the creative process.

The Modern Day Muse, Bea Silly will be back this week for a few short and sweet ways she can help unleash your creativity and creative living.

Come play in a Wild Abandon Zoom Workshop this coming Wednesday, July 10 at 4pm pacific/ 7pm eastern. $25 Hour and a half.

Dispatching Muses,

Jill

Find more Jill stuff here.

Taking applications for the August Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching Training