The Multi-Faceted World of Today's Creative

This past week on The Creative's Cauldron, in our latest episode, Holly and I explored how today's independent creative is a "renaissance person", in terms of being active in different spheres of creativity. I relate to that dynamic myself in the areas of writing, filmmaking, music, martial arts, and broadcasting. I've found that engaging in multiple areas of creative activity, I bring myself lots of experiences and new perspectives that expand my horizons in each of the various spheres. My adventures in filmmaking, training in martial arts, exploring music, and broadcasting both in radio and visually have helped me grow further as a writer, for example. Every sphere of activity involves different experiences, disciplines, interactions, and so much more, which all lend to growing the pool of ideas, knowledge, and references that I draw from when engaging in a writing project. This results in more realism, better-developed characters, and many other things that help me develop my writing further. The different spheres also serve to inspire, in their own way. They involve different kinds of goals and milestones, the development of different skill sets, and each of these paths brings different kinds of inspiration. This is not a small area of contribution, as it is incredibly difficult to pursue the independent creative road and inspiration can make all the difference in the world when enduring some of the tougher stretches of the indie road. The multiple spheres of activity also introduce me to new audiences, who in turn discover the other things that I do. Reading audiences become aware of my independent film work, fans of independent film become aware of my novels, and all kinds of other examples of cross-pollination derive from my activity in several areas. It really is a good thing that today's climate for independent creatives fosters an openness to being active in different kinds of artistic expressions and pursuits. It has both practical and creative benefits, and I also think it helps contribute to attaining a more well-rounded approach to living life.

It's a New Day

Quite a bit has happened over the past couple of months and I do need to catch up here.  I'll address some things in parts, but in a nutshell the first couple months of the new year I was in a place where I truly found happiness and I devoted a lot of my time and focus and energy on this with the desire of seeing it becoming something lasting.  Unfortunately, the decision wasn't up to me in the end and I ended up getting hit with yet another personal storm and heartbreak.. but.. I found that I had grown much stronger on an interior level and was able to weather this much, much better than the period I went through in the fall of 2014.

I never wanted it to end, but I did learn that I could find happiness and sunshine again, and going forward I am set on finding an even brighter day.  I have had an outpouring of encouragement, support, and love shown to me by a great many during this time, so many who had been thrilled to see what had happened the first couple months of the year.  I intend to give them all reason to be thrilled once more.  :)

I still had kept myself on course with my training in martial arts and fitness, as well as playing guitar and writing.  All of that accelerated even more during March and April, and on April 26th I had the first professional photos taken of me in over a year.  This photo session with Eric and Kylie Jude of Frozen Creek Studios was truly remarkable and I feel really captured and reflected the path I have taken during the past year.

I have commented about the things I've embraced that help me keep focus and get through tough times, and all of that was reflected in the photos.  As you will see below, the photos do reflect the progress of the past year... clearly the outer change shows, but the outer change also reflects the inner growth too.

I hope this shows a guy who has remained resilient, and who has fought his way forward despite some truly heartbreaking experiences.  In that way, I hope it encourages others who are enduring personal storms that it is possible to get through the dark times and keep growing and developing stronger.

I'll be chiming in on the blog here much more, on a number of things.  But let's start with some positives that taken as a whole reflect a New Day.  ;)

Song Lyrics...On an Election Day...Go Figure!

First a small vent, then some fun stuff. Here we are a day after the elections in the USA, something that always leaves me with distaste as I watch the public shift from one "party" to the other expecting things to change or be different in the future.  Beyond the rhetoric, things continue to slide in the wrong direction, irrefutably, whether a D or an R is in charge.

I always get a kick out of comments where those supporting one side say the other side voted against their own interests, when in truth, in 99% of major level elections, you are voting against your own interests when you elect someone from either wing of the Bird of Prey that is the two-party "system".

The fact is, these jokers in DC (or Mordor on the Potomac as I affectionately call it) are relieved that they don't have to cater to the voters and they can get back to the real business with the big money lobbyists and special interests.  If you really want to know how things work in the DC cesspool, here's a book I recommend to start with, that explains the dynamics wonderfully and has plenty of damning data to prove its points:

Throw Them All Out: 

How Politicians and Their Friends Get Rich Off Insider Stock Tips, Land Deals, and Cronyism That Would Send the Rest of Us to Prison 

by Peter Schweizer

http://www.amazon.com/Throw-Them-All-Out-Politicians-ebook/dp/B0062N35X8

Start there, continue researching for yourself, and I am confident you will see what I am talking about. 

Now, on to a little surprising stuff on the personal front.  Having recently picked up the guitar again, I've been surprised at how quick it is coming back and also how I am hearing and understanding music on a deeper level as a guitar player that I know comes from being an attentive music listener.  

Another thing that has emerged, and caught me totally by surprise, is for the first time in my entire life I have written some song lyrics.  Yesterday, while doing some writing, I felt an impulse for what became the lyrics for a song that I have titled "Heaven is Burning".  It is a very personal and heartfelt kind of song, likely a slower tempo, more melancholy piece, but it is unique in that this is the first set of song lyrics I have ever constructed.  Following that, this morning I had the core of two others emerge, on that I am calling "For Tomorrow" and the third "One Day Closer".  All of these came from somewhere deep within and deal with some of the things I have been going through.  

Even though the subject matter of these is a little heavy in nature, I was really glad to see this emerge, as I think song lyrics are a powerful mode of expression and it opens up another artistic dimension I can explore.  

I just have to keep moving forward.  

A Change of Seasons

Fall moves toward winter, and each day is a step toward the next.  This week, I had a good stint on the bike, workouts have been strong, and I've really loved my journey back into the world of guitars.

I have been practicing The Cult's "She Sells Sanctuary", one of my favorite songs of all-time.  It is a song that has a tremendous amount of meaning and symbolism for me personally.  As a song, it has some challenging elements for a guy who hasn't picked up a guitar in awhile, but I am able to get it to where you can actually tell what I am playing!  I also have been playing with the intro to the Slash song "Ghost", which makes for a nice exercise in itself.  

The other interesting thing is that I've stumbled upon a few of my own riffs and progressions as I've been getting back into it, which has been a pleasant discovery.  As I told a friend of mine, I do think about music on a deeper level than I did the last time I picked up a guitar, and I think this is an early sign of that as I have an inclination to think about patterns and structure of songs, riffs, and progressions.  I am interested to see where this goes as things evolve.  Perhaps like a writer improves by reading a lot, I can make strides from the dedicated listening to music that I have done over the years.

The past month, with the exception of one day where I poured out a lot of emotive things into one writing session, I have been unable to write.  Just too much of a storm on the inside, but last night I felt the first tingles of a drive to get back at the writing.  Was thinking of the Hellscapes tales I've written, and the ones that are in process for Volume 2, as it is Halloween.   In the state of mind I've been in, opening the gates fully to these dark worlds might result in some interesting twists and material, and might ultimately be a good way for me to get a few things out of me.  I might give it a shot today or this weekend.

Like I've been saying, a day at a time...and maybe the seasons will change.

....and though the heart of what this song is about is far, far away from where I am now, this song really reaches into me and I look forward to getting the guitar playing down on this one:

Motorcycles, Martial Arts, and Music

My last post was quite heavy in tone, which was unavoidable due to the circumstances I'm dealing with.  There is just no way to sugarcoat the kinds of things I am going through, as they are very foundational in nature with me.

Despite the ongoing storms, I wanted to write a few words about some of the things that are helping me get from one day to the next.  While these things might not be everyone's cup of tea, I do feel that they demonstrate how you have to get some things in your life to focus on and drive forward with during a time of interior storms.  I often talk about how you have to keep moving forward, and sometimes that can be an incredibly hard thing to do.  Having a few things to hold onto can definitely make a difference in simply getting up in the morning, getting through a day, and being able to overcome the restlessness to sleep at night.

For me, the process has seen me immerse more fully in one activity that I had already been active in, embrace an all-new activity, and return to another that I had not been active in for many years.  Together, these three very special things have lent me some strength and encouragement to take another step on the road back to finding myself again.

As far as the brand new activity, that would be my journey into the world of motorcycles.  I'm taking it carefully, I didn't just go out and get a big Harley or go forward without a plan.  There is a lot to know about a bike and you have to respect the power and dangers associated with it.  Taking it step by step, I'm learning to ride from some very veteran riders and I'll be doing the safety course to get my full license.  But I already love the feel of riding.  I need to get experience before I take a longer trip and hit a highway, but I can feel what riding has to offer.

There is a real sense of freedom and independence surrounding the riding sensation, feeling the air rushing over you and the power of the motorcycle propelling you forward.  I cannot wait to cruise by river roads and through rural landscapes, as I know it is going to be a very inspiring and invigorating experience.  My current bike is a Suzuki Intruder, a 750, and I have named her Freya after the Norse Goddess who is associated with love and war.  I prefer love over war, but life has its battles, and it is my hope that Freya helps carry me through all of it, thick and thin.

Learning something new definitely gives my mind something to focus on, especially something as downright rockin' and exciting as motorcycles.  While I wish I could be going through this with my heart intact, but learning about motorcycles and how to ride them has definitely given me something to hold onto during this time.

At various points in my life, I have worked out with different martial artists, and even took lessons myself for a good while.  I have the honor of knowing some truly world class ones, including a friend of mine from college who happens to be a supernatural level martial artist with multiple degrees in a number of various systems. From time to time I've been able to gain great insights just from talking with them, much of which has factored into the present.

This past spring I decided to get back into martial arts as a core part of my fitness training.  No need for a gym, and solid martial arts training is comprehensive as it addresses strength, flexibility and cardio quite well.  It's working.  I've gone down 4 jeans sizes since the spring and moving on the 5th now.   The past month I've really accelerated my training and it has been a pillar of strength for me.

Martial arts demands focus and discipline, and gives a channel for negative emotions to be processed in a constructive manner.  I have to admit that doing some routines with Pantera or Slipknot cranking seems to put a little more behind combos, various types of strikes, kicks, and that kind of thing, but the mind does stay centered on the tasks at hand and that is a big reason why its so helpful at this time.

This latest phase into martial arts, what I did was look across the various styles I had been exposed to over the years.  I gleaned the things that really work well for me and the kind of physical abilities I'm best suited for, which are very practical in a real self-defense situation, and bring them together under one roof for my training.  I'm not worried about belts or anything like that, or whether I can do a beautiful head-high spinning kick, I just want to improve more with each day on what I do well, get a little faster, a little stronger, and carry out techniques a little better.  It is solely a personal development path.

Honestly, I've never trained better, but martial arts has given me something I need right now.  It offers a level of focus and discipline that has come in very needed at a period in which most of me feels like I've been snatched up in a cyclone and thrown across the skies.

The past month, I think I've come to understand and appreciate the nature of martial arts better than I ever have, and I know it is a real positive going forward.  It has definitely been another one of the things to hold onto in the battle of trying to get through each day.  While I'm really struggling internally, physically I'm moving better every day, trimming up more, and making wonderful strides that over the course of the year have seen the decreasing jeans sizes.  It offers measurable milestones and goals to shoot for, and gives me something to reach for.  I'm very grateful for that.

Last, but not least, I have picked up the guitar again.  I was in rock bands during late grade school and high school, and played the guitar for years.  Yet after college I really drifted away from it.  It is very odd, as I've grown to love music, especially hard rock and metal, more and more over the years. I can say without question that I have a true passion for music.  It is a constant friend and ally to me and has been a tremendous medicine for me at this time.  I even worked around the world of music for some years doing show promoting and band booking.  Looking back, it kind of mystifies me as to why I set the guitars in their cases and left them there.  But there's no better time than now to get moving again.

The impetus came from some conversations with a friend of mine who has been great to me at this time and happens to be a very creative individual, very musically oriented too.  He caused me to realize that I'd like to have that part of me back, and perhaps go forward with it.  There was no reason not to, and the thought of it really called to me.

Just taking my two main guitars out of their cases felt so good.  I've gotten in all the things I need to get underway, from new picks, to new guitar cables, an effects processor, and a few new sets of strings.  I will need to work at it to get my chops back up, but I'm rarin' to go and very excited.  A couple of the first songs I dabbled with were AC/DC's "For Those About to Rock" and "Back in Black".  Yes, I'm looking to finding my way to rockin' again and being back.

All the new fancy stuff like online tablature software that you can play along with is definitely new turf for me since the old days!  I felt like a cat in a sushi bar looking through the tablature catalogs containing all my favorite songs.  Already earmarking some Def Leppard, Slash, The Cult, and much more!

I'm also feeling an interest in coming up with some original material in the future.  I'm curious to see what kinds of things I can come up with, as I know I think deeper about music than I ever did when I played guitar heavily so many years ago.

As with martial arts, I think I have a much more matured attitude about practice and drilling, and I don't think it will be all that long before I get into the flow of it.  Like martial arts, guitar will offer its own sets of milestones and goals, bringing along with it a regular sense of achievement.  I think that's a big plus at a time when my confidence had been shattered.

These three pursuits have given my mind something to focus on during a very difficult time.  All of these pursuits involve journeys of their own, with learning, training, milestones and all of the dynamics that come with those kinds of things.  As such, each of them offers something to strive for, things to celebrate, and a sense of achievement and personal satisfaction.

While none of these things can truly heal the kind of deep wounds I'm dealing with, they can help me endure, and I think it is very important for people who are going through terrible storms to do everything they can to not become inert.  The small positives I glean from martial arts, motorcycles, and music really do make a big difference in getting through each day.  If you are going through interior storms, find the things like this that work for you and hold onto them with all you've got.  They can help you to keep moving forward.