Read this on galpod.com. It's hard to write about creativity as if nothing is happening. Between the actual pandemic we still have to deal with, and the pandemic racism in the US, to which we all look to as the leader of the Western world (albeit with dwindling conviction), it feels callous to think about anything else. But I have no new perspective about Black Lives Matter (because it's friggin 2020 and it's about time we talked about racism), so if you do want to read some

Read this on galpod.com. In our last writer's group meeting, we discussed goal setting and resolutions. We talked about setting SMART goals (Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound), as opposed to making resolutions that tend to be more general, vague, and therefore get broken by the end of January. For instance, you're more likely to stick with "I'll write 500 words every day" than with "I will write more". But, we were also talking about how setting goal

Read this on galpod.com. My album is out live! It's exciting. A little bit of good news as the world comes crashing down around our ears. You can read about the process of making the album here and here. It's hard for me to nail down exactly how I feel about the album coming out. Proud? Sure. Nervous? Also. Scared? You betcha. Critical? Always. All of these feelings mix to become just weird. It's weird, to see the album cover (which the amazing Oli Mosse helped me create), wi

Read this on galpod.com. I had an interesting discussion with my therapist this week. Yes, by interesting, I mean tearful. Look at me, being all British and stuff. We talked about finding the balance between pushing yourself too hard and being self-indulgent. If you don't recall (and why should you?), I've been at this particular junction a few times before. It's a constant conflict for me. On the one hand, I want to work hard. I have strong work ethics drilled into me by my

Read this on galpod.com. I started keeping a notebook with me a little over a year ago. I read about bullet journals and wanted to try it out. Plus, honestly, anything that gives me an excuse to buy new stationery is good in my books. When I was a student (bear with me, it's relevant), I used to schedule every single minute of my day. I would schedule my day in half-hour slots and write down classes, studying time, writing time, and—later on—kids time, meal prep time, and so

Read this on galpod.com. I've wanted to read this book for a while now. People talk about how amazing it is and how it changed how they see their art, and so on. It sounded like it was right up my alley. Pressfield does give some fascinating insights. The main one is the idea of Resistance, which I wrote about before. The war of art, according to Pressfield, is fought in the artist's mind, between her internalised fear of change and her soul's need to create and, through crea

Read this on galpod.com. I've just finished The War of Art. I'll write a review later this week, but for now, I wanted to talk about a fascinating thing Pressfield talks about: Resistance with a capital R. Resistance is a force fuelled by our fear of change. It will do anything to keep us from fulfilling our potential, from following our calling as artists. Resistance comes in many forms, according to Pressfield. We talked a little bit about procrastination as a form of Writi

Read this on galpod.com. So, the album recording phase is done, and we're heading into the final stretch of mixing. We started talking about a title, cover art, and having a "digital release" which means putting the album up on Apple Music and Spotify. And I'm petrified. Interestingly, I fear all possible outcomes simultaneously. I fear that it would be a huge failure. That people would listen to it and hear all the imperfections I can hear in my voice, all the places I'm off

Read this on galpod.com. Last night, I ran the meeting of our Writing Group. We talked about writing block and had a good discussion. First, we talked about the name. Writer's block sounds like it's part of the writer's personality, some failing of character that you possess. A better term I found is writing block, which takes away any blame on the part of the writer. But I don't like even that term. To me, "writing block" or getting stuck in your writing is a part of the wri

Read this on galpod.com. This week we're on a half-term break, five weeks after the term started. On the one hand, it's been a fairly relaxed break, and it's the first school break this year we've stayed home. On the other hand, it makes for a busy May. Also, the fact that my partner was on three business trips this month puts a cog in the wheels of the family routine. I haven't been writing too much, and it's starting to bother me. It's a little bit like a water build-up. It

Read this on galpod.com. Our writers' group discussion this week was about 1st person vs 3rd person. It was deftly run by Joe Humphreys and went very well. I was particularly struck by the adamant views that people had about loving or hating one or the other. It's true that each of these points of view has "advantages" and "disadvantages" but, as Joe said, they're not exactly that. In my book, point of view is, like most things, a tool that you can use to tell the story you'r

Read this on galpod.com. As I mentioned last week, I'm recording a music album. We've had two more studio sessions since my last update. In the first session, we went to RAK Studios. It's been around since the 1970s and is highly regarded in terms of professionalism and quality. It's a fairly big studio. We were in Studio 2, which has a desk from 1976. Which is a good thing, I'm told, because it gets the best sounds, particularly with a guitar. Our session at RAK included rec

Read this on galpod.com. We've been talking at my incredible Writers' Group about ideas. Where they come from, and how to decide what's a good idea. It made me think about where my ideas come from. I said here that I noticed that many of my ideas come when I talk to other people. Some ideas come when I read books or listen to podcasts. But I haven't had a new idea in a while. And I've been talking to lots of people and doing lots of new stuff. So, what happened? I think there

Read this on galpod.com. I think it's about time I wrote about my side project. I've been dangling it for a few months now, and I apologise for that. I'm super excited about it, but I didn't feel like I was ready to write about it. I still don't, but I realised that this is precisely the point of this blog, so, yeah. I'm working on an album. A music album. I have a contract which says I'm "The Artist" (complete with capitals). My incredible partner went and got me a producer

Read this on galpod.com. I'm reviewing both books together because I got them together through Todd's very generous deal. I also read them one after the other on purpose because I knew they were related. That said, there's no requirement to read them together or even to read both of them. I would say that if you only read one, read The Unstoppable Creative, as it's a more comprehensive and detailed version of The Creative Curse, at least in my opinion. Here's the thing. I thi

Read this on galpod.com. When I started my graduate career, I remember meeting a doctoral student. She was in her third or fourth year, and she was wearing slacks and a cute top and a jacket. She wore makeup, and her hair was pulled back in a tidy but fashionable way. She had a clipboard. She was running two different research projects, and her schedule was packed, but she looked so confident. I remember thinking, this is what a doctoral student looks like. She's put-together

Read this on galpod.com. I've been thinking lately about what it means to be creative. I have no definitive answers about that. I'm no expert, and I haven't even done my research properly (which usually includes reading several books and scholarly papers). I've been thinking about it because I don't have the answer. I'm trying. I'm doing a pack on creativity on my amazing meditation app, Headspace. It's lovely, and it had worked for me before, so maybe doing that pack again w

Read this on galpod.com. I'm stuck. Remember that breakthrough I had in my story in July? Turns out it wasn't much of a breakthrough after all. It got me ahead in the project, sure. I've written a few more scenes—scenes I thought would be the turning point of the story. But still, my MC blatantly refuses to see that he needs to deal with his emotions. Men. Now, unrelatedly (maybe), I have this new idea. It's a shining, fun idea, that would require quite a bit of research befo

Read this on galpod.com. First, an admin update: I was trying to switch to the new Wix blog, but I'm not entirely sure about it. One downside for me is that you have to be registered to comment, which I don't like. Everything else looks lovely, however, so I'm doing a hybrid for now. This means that if you're subscribed to my blog you are probably going to be directed to the new blog. However, if you would like to comment without registering, the blog link at the top will tak

Read this on galpod.com. I love Brené Brown. I do. I fell in love with her when I saw her first TED talk, in which she talks about being vulnerable and living and loving with your whole heart. The ideas in the book are pretty much the same; it's an expansion of this talk, really. The book had made me think about all kinds of stuff. Some I had already written about, some I'd like to write about, but I'm still trying to find the words. Generally, it's a good book. It's hard for