I love Todd Henry’s quote from the Accidental Creative podcast, “Cover bands don’t change the world.  Don’t be a cover band.” Initially, I took the quote at face value.  Right.  Do your own thing. But I’ve been thinking about it a lot more lately and getting a little deeper with it.  It really is not simple or easy…mostly because the market wants you to be a cover band.  It constantly pushes you in that direction and you have to not only fight against it, but intentionally focus on doing your own thing. Think about it.  Using the band analogy… If you’re a new band trying to gain footing, are you going to do better at concerts playing songs you’ve written that no one knows?  The tunes are unfamiliar and they can’t sing along with the lyrics?  Or a crowd pleaser that was already a hit?  The audience is fired up,

“One tree is like another tree, but not too much.  One tulip is like the next, but not altogether.  More or less like people – a general outline, then stunning individual strokes…” – Mary Oliver I read this in a book of essays by Mary Oliver last evening and immediately had to put the book down and write my own response and thoughts before they were forgotten. Yes, Mary!  This is the eloquent answer to a question that is posed to me so often by people who feel crowded out in a crowded online space.  The internet and more specifically blogs and social media offer an amazing place to share your work and to see the work of others.  The tradeoff is we’re also more acutely aware of what everyone else is doing.  So much so, that it leaves us feeling like we’re trying to push our way onto a

Inspiration can be a beautiful thing.  It’s a spark that catches and can carry you through enormous projects.  It can drive you, fill you, and lead you into the places of dreams.  But, it can also be fickle, inconstant, and shy.  It can disappoint, be elusive, and untimely. We can sit around a long time waiting for the inspiration to do something. I’ll work on my house when I’m inspired.  I’ll paint when I feel that pull.  I’ll start writing when inspiration finally makes an appearance. Working in that manner typically results in projects never being done, pastimes never being pursued, and goals never being met.  We are at inspiration’s mercy and are no longer the captain of our own ship. And that’s just no way to be. I have learned, out of accident more than intention, that whether you do something or don’t do something needs to be driven