Category Archives: creative process

Creativity is just connecting things

My friend Gregg let me borrow the Bloomgberg Businessweek edition celebrating the life of Steve Jobs. One Jobs quote from a 1996 Wired magazine interview struck me with its simplicity: “Creativity is just connecting things.” I think we often associate creativity with trying to dream up a new idea or piece together a solution to […]

Choose Your Creative Habitat

I borrowed some material from Melting Chocolate Kettles to end this post, so for those of you who haven’t read the book, here’s the thesis of the chapter on Place: Set up a creative habitat where actual, raw production can happen on a consistent basis. Choose a place to make a mess then clean it […]

Why I Love My Wife, Part 2

My wife Megan has a gift for “nesting,” and she was the one who introduced me to this term, which I take to mean a knack for making a place inviting and comfortable. At the end of July, we moved into a new house, and within a few days, she had found a place in […]

Finally Finish Workshop

Going back over my most recent posts this morning, I discovered a major oversight. I never blogged about the creative writing workshop that I am co-teaching this Thursday night, August 4, from 7-9pm, at Cherokee Mills in Knoxville. Those of you who have read Melting Chocolate Kettles know the basic premise: if you start finishing […]

My Pecha Kucha Presentation

On June 23, I gave my first Pecha Kucha presentation at Knoxville Museum of Art. You may be wondering, “What is Pecha Kucha?” It sounds illegal. It sounds like it may cause disfigurement, or even death, without immediate medical attention. In reality, the term is Japanese and denotes the sound of conversation, similar to “chit […]

Enter the Warthog

My mom tells a story about picking me up from Sunday School. My teacher met her at the door and said, “I need to show you something.” Those words would make any parent nervous. Had her son thrown feces against the wall? Had he tied up one of the other kids in the class? When […]

What is courage?

Whenever I hear the word “courage,” what comes to mind is an orange, sticky-looking substance in a metal tin—orange sherbert. For years, I thought this is what The Wizard of Oz gave to the Cowardly Lion to fix his cowardice. After a little snooping around in the Google Images vault, I discovered that he really […]

How to Tell a Good Story

It Started with an Email I got an email from a close friend the other day who is mere days away from finishing the MBA program at Stanford. He was preparing a talk for one of his classes and wanted me to recommend books, articles, or blog posts about how to tell a good story. […]

Illustrator Nate Creekmore on Overcoming Self-Doubt

Nate Creekmore is a gu.eber. One of my favorite memories from the year that we lived together at Royal Arms Apartments in Nashville happened while we were at Wild Oats buying some groceries. A soccer mom beamed up at Nate, who is 6’6” tall, and asked, “Do you play basketball?” Nate played in high school, […]