Category Archives: inspiration

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 […]

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 […]

Allison Sprouse and Rachel Wood Turner: Masterminds of modern ink

Sometimes gu.ebers come in pairs. This month, I’d like to showcase the genius of Allison Sprouse and Rachel Wood Turner. On June 1, they released the premiere issue of modern ink, the prettiest new online magazine at school, and quite frankly, they knocked my socks off. Everything about the magazine looks as though the duo […]

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 […]