How to Keep Creating Even When it’s the Season to Do Something Else

I live in Houston where the heat will make you do creative things to stay cool.  Some times that is as creative as it gets at my house.  I know that not everyone who reads this has this problem but I am guessing you might be affected by the change of season as I am.  You may just now be experiencing the exhilaration of springtime and what it feels like to finally leave your house after hibernation.

When summer arrives, the kids are out of school, graduation parties, reunions and other events require your attention and hopefully there is a vacation to plan and enjoy.  Where does your creative work enter in?

You already know what to expect with each passing season.  How can we continue to pursue our creative projects without getting caught up in the every day commitments of having a great spring or summer?


Here are some tips to keep you motivated and off the hook from your internal critic that will chastise you for not keeping up.

Become conscious:  You have to become aware that we are indeed creatures of the planet and even though we have forced ourselves into the constraints of busy twenty-four-seven living, our bodies still respond to the seasons.  Awareness that you may be fighting nature for your own attention can help you to give yourself a break when you feel compelled to walk barefoot outside rather than hold hot piles of wool knitting in your lap.

Make an alternate plan:  Instead of waking up in a hammock mid-July and beating yourself up because you haven’t written a word on the great American novel since the snow melted, why not decide now that you are on a summer writing schedule.  Make it easy to follow.  Allow yourself to do “research.”  Put away some of the most taxing parts of your work that you absolutely know you won’t do.

Pick something easy to do:  If the kids are around or nature is calling, doing the repetitive parts of your craft may help you to at least accomplish something, especially if these are tasks that must be done anyway.  Why not do those tasks when distractions are likely and even welcomed?

Don’t make promises to your creativity you won’t keep:  Creative ambition is good, but don’t give your internal critic ammunition to berate you into avoiding your creative plans altogether.  If you make a plan to cut out paper dolls, make sure you do it.  There is no reason you can’t do it poolside or while a movie is playing.  Sometime a change of location can be inspiring.

Make peace with doing nothing:  Creativity is a part of you and like you needs renewal.  Building sand castles on the beach is a valuable way to spend the day.  Not thinking about what you need to do next on your creative project while letting your mind rest allows the creative pot to simmer for the next time you really need something to bubble up.

Have experiences:  Life should be full of meaningful experiences and being with loved ones doing nothing or doing everything is a good place to start.  If you can’t get anything done on building your ship in a bottle, just know that the meaningful experiences you have instead will enrich you and your creativity anyway.

Have a happy spring and summer!

 

Is Your Motivation on Life Support?

 

Sometimes my motivation needs to be hooked up to life support.  Do you ever feel like yours has flat lined?

In an effort to breathe a little life into mine, I do what I always do when I need a little motivation or inspiration or knowledge or distraction.  I go to Google.  Google may not have all the answers, but if it doesn’t then try Youtube.  

It was here that I was reminded that the science behind motivation is different than how the world still perceives it to be because of a fascinating book on the subject by Daniel Pink called DRIVE.  I highly recommend reading it.

The carrot and the stick doesn’t work for creative people like you and me.  Promised reward or punishment has little to do with successfully motivating us to do our best work.

Why?  There is a fabulous video that explains it nicely and I have posted it for you here

 

I hope you enjoyed this video.  I plan on talking more about motivation next week.

Have a creative week,

Hugs, Diana

Does Your Creativity Need a Hug?

Dear Reader,

Does your creativity need a hug?  I don’t want to sound pathetic here, but dang it, sometimes my creativity needs a hug.  It’s tough being right-brained in a left-brained world.  This is what I expect of my creativity every day:

“Wake up, Dudette, you’ve got work to do.  You’ve got to sit up at your computer and write interesting stuff.  I’m sorry that we didn’t get to go to the movie like I promised yesterday, but there’s always next weekend.”

“Can we have popcorn, chocolate raisins, a pickle and a large coke, this time?”

“Only if I take out a loan.  Look, we have popcorn at home.  Here, I micro waved it for you.  I even took it out of the bag and put in a nice bowl like you like it.  I’m sorry the coke is flat.  I didn’t get to the grocery store either cause we have this deadline and you better get busy and help me or we’ll never see another movie again.”

“What do you want me to write?”

“I don’t know. You’re the creative one.  You always come up with something.  What’s the big deal?  Cat got your tongue?”

“Let’s play with the kitty.  Here kitty, kitty, kitty.”

"Now Dudette, the kitty isn’t going to help us get this article written.  Put her down.  Now there’s cat hair everywhere.  Look, you made her scratch me.”

“I want to go read my romance novel.”

“Over my dead body.  No way are we going to stoop to that drivel.  I am a real writer.  We don’t read lovey-crummies.”

“Fantasy?”

“No.”

“Vampires?”

“No.”

“What can I read?”

“This article you’re writing for a start.”

“I don’t wanna write.  I wanna play.  You make me work too hard and you aren’t any fun any more.  You’re mean.  I quit!”

Excuse me, Dear Reader, this article probably won’t get finished because my creative Dudette needs a hug.  I have to admit I have been pushing her too hard lately and she isn’t a machine that I can turn on and off like a faucet.  We’re headed out to see a movie.

“Can I have a more popcorn, chocolate raisins, a pickle and a coke that’s not flat?”

“Yes, that and a hug.  Hugs don’t have calories.”

Have you hugged your Creative Dudette today? 

Creativity and the Law of Averages

Surely you have heard about the average of five.  It goes something like this.  
If you take the average income of five of your friends it will reveal what your income will be.  They’ve been touting it for obesity as well.

So is the theory, you are who you hang out with?

In some cases, I hope not.  What about folks who work at jobs surrounded with people they wouldn’t ride with in an elevator in another situation?  

However, I can say that hanging out with other creative people who are actively pursuing a creative path has great power.  

Creating against all odds is too hard to do without knowing someone who has done it.  Surrounding yourself with others who are passionate about the creative process is a gift to you and your creativity.  Is the average of five at play when you think of your creative friends?

The reason that writing groups, art critique groups and creative mastermind groups work is that they lift up the creative output of the whole group. (Ideally they are done in a safe respectful environment.)

What about creative ideas that you surround yourself with?  Are you clear about which ones are worth pursuing and which ones need to be retired?  Most creative geniuses have more than one project percolating at a time so it is good to notice if one project is an energy drain and which one still thrills you.

Creativity Energizer Break:

Survey the landscape of your creative world.  

•    Are you living out the law of averages?

•    Do you get enough support from other creative geniuses like you?

•    Do you surround yourself with quality ideas and projects?

I belong to a wonderful, supportive and amazing group of creative women.  I would consider myself very lucky to be the sum total of their combined creative power, wisdom and output.  

Some days, it’s good to be average.

Have a creative week!

Creativity Requires Courage - You've Got a lot of Nerve

You’ve got a lot of nerve!  Creativity is scary and because you are gutsy, you risk the canvas, the page, the materials, your new manicure, your families understanding, and the time, energy and money to experience the thrill of doing.

Creativity requires courage.  Don’t act like you aren’t brave.  Don’t hide your light.  You are the dare devil of your craft and you have what it takes.  

Overcoming fear makes us feel significant, strong and more certain about who we really are.  Our creative daring helps us to experience growth and adds a spicy variety to life.  Here’s a salute to daring and having a lot of nerve!

This exercise will take about two minutes:

Be sure you read step 4 all the way to the end before you act upon it.

1. Think about the last time you took a big creative risk or any kind of risk for that matter and walked through your fear to the other side.  Feel how proud you are of yourself that you kicked butt.  (This is not about the outcome of a project, but about overcoming the fear.)

2. Feel the elation that you lived through the fear and lived to remember it.

3. Thank the parts of you that are willing to feel the fear and do it anyway.

4. Now see this brave, nervy, gutsy, ballsy, creative genius that you are and hold that vision and that feeling in your mind and in your heart for a minute till you feel the moxie all over your body.  While you are doing this place your hand over the center of your chest and breathe it all in.  Revel in it until you are ready to allow the energy go easily back to where it can be accessed whenever you need it again.

You have just created a courage touchstone.  The next time you aren’t feeling so gutsy, put your hand over your heart and think of this incident where you were daring and nervy and powerful.  Your body will remember and you mind will agree and it will be easier to have a lot of nerve!

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Spring Cleaning for Creativity

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I hate spring cleaning.  I’ll tell you why.  When I was a kid, my mom would come into my room and instigate a spring cleaning.  Now if it were just about getting the dust bunnies out from under the bed and putting away the winter coats, that would have been fine with me.

Alas, no.  Her intent was to go through my toy box and find a way to make it more manageable.  Not a bad idea from her point of view.  I am sure her point of view was a horrific pile of un-played-with toys strewn everywhere but where they belonged.

My point of view was that someone else was going to force me to choose which of my beloved pile of toys had to go.  Oh, I hated those sessions.   

I would defend a broken unrecognizable bit of plastic as necessary to a game that I never played.  My mother would become frustrated with my tears, drama and obstinacy and return it in kind and we both wound up exhausted, hurt and angry.

Spring cleaning became a hated ritual.

Fast forward to today and there is no one to force me to clean out my toy box of art supplies, unfinished projects or no longer loved items, except the sound of my mother’s voice whispering in my ear that I have entirely too much stuff.  It is much easier to ignore the voice now than it was back then.  But I ignore it at a price.

The price of hanging on to un-finished-objects (UFO’s) or unneeded objects requires a lot of mental, emotional and physical energy that could be used to fuel my creativity.

If letting go of UFO’s are blocking you in any way, you might be interested in a short e-book I wrote called:

How to Prevent UFO's from Alienating Your Creativity

You can find out more about it here:


If you have trouble letting go of your un-used creative toys consider that you may have gotten what you needed out of them already even if they don’t look finished or used up to the rest of the world.  

Spring cleaning your space can allow room for more creativity.  And isn’t that a breath of fresh air?

A Stubborn Woman

Hi Creative Friends,

I have to tell you about a recent creative risk I took and that it turned out nicely, thank-you very much! 

I consider myself a supreme introvert.  Some of you know my story that having the spotlight shine on me is not my idea of a good time.  However, I am trying to remain open where that is concerned.  Since I now have EFT to help me get over my case of the nerves, I can afford to say "yes" to more creative opportunities.

I belong to this fabulous group in Houston called Women in the Visual and Literary Arts (WiVLA) and through my association with this group of women, I was asked by one of the playrights in the group, Diana Weeks, to be a reader of one of her plays. 

WiVLA yearly awards one visual artist and one writer a $1000 dollar scholorship to support a creative project.  In 2010, Diana Weeks was the receipent of that award.  Winners must come back a year later and make a presentation to the WiVLA membership on how they spent the money.

Ms. Weeks went to a prestigious writing local in Vermont and penned a new play while she was there.  So as part of her presentation to the WiVLA group, she decided to have some scenes read from the play.

She called me and asked me to be one of the readers.  What's a recovering introvert supposed to do?  I said yes.  My co-star and talented friend, Trish Rumble and I practiced one Saturday afternoon and for about twenty minutes before the actual presentation.  Then, ta da, it was time to do it live in front of the audience.

I can't tell you how much fun it was. 

Ms. Weeks got to hear her words come to life and I got to have another experience under the spotlight that didn't cause me greif!  Yay.

The membership responded to the work and there was great fun to be had.

Here is a copy of the playbill that Diana Weeks created for the reading of A Stubborn Woman

 

 

 

Energy Vampires Suck Your Creativity Dry

 

Hi Creative Friends,

I finally got sucked into reading a vampire book. (Please pardon the pun. I couldn’t resist!  They make me laugh.)  I didn’t read the whole thing.  About half-way through, it was too much for me, so I skipped to the end to find out what happened, but I really didn’t care much.

However the book got me to thinking about Energy Vampires.

Here is a quick primmer on EV’s:

  • An EV can be a person, place or thing:  (Your negative sister-in-law who never shuts up at family dinners) (Driving in rush hour traffic) (The Internet)
  • EV’s are relentless:  Conscious or unconscious behavior, Energy Vampires never give up taking, taking, taking. 
  • They are restless:  They are always seeking new ways to steal your energy, your ideas, your good will.
  • They will waste your time.  Time you will never get back.
  • EV’s are demanding, self-centered and self-serving.  They never have your best interest at heart.
  • They are all around you.  They can spot the young vulnerable ingénue in you wearing a low cut dress when you should have on your garlic necklace.
  • Energy Vampires restore their energy from sapping yours.

You already know what you need to do to un-hook from these life-suckers but here are a few ideas:

  •  Make a decision to eliminate the Energy Vampires in your life.
  • Name them.  Shed some light on the ones that give you the most trouble and acknowledge what is going on. 
  • Pick your battles.  Unless your middle name is Buffy, you should do this elimination one battle at a time.  Energy Vampires don’t go away without a fight.  They are used to getting their way with you and want things to continue.
  • Get support.  Ask for help if you need it.  Safety in numbers at functions that drain you can help.  Limit your time around the ones you can’t avoid completely.
  • Know that you are in a fight for your life, your time, your feelings and your priorities and your creativity.

Ultimately how much energy you have dictates how much you can allocate to your creativity.  No energy, no creativity.

Now start sharpening that wooden stake!

Have a creative week!

Hugs, Diana



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Aknowledging Your Past Creative Efforts

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I was dragging my feet the other day to get started on a creative writing project.  I had already worked my way through two boring jobs that I didn’t want to do as a way of blocking myself to the work I needed to do. (A technique I’ve used before that still doesn’t work for me.)

So instead of forcing myself to sit like a petulant little girl with her arms crossed in front of her computer as if I was being punished, I opened a document that I had already written and read it.

You know what; it was good!  I enjoyed reading it.  I was clearly amazed that I had written it.  What it did for me was quite Blockhead’s yammering that, “Writing is hard,”
“You have nothing to say,” blah, blah, blah, and it energized me enough to move me out of self-banishment in the corner of, “I can’t do anything” to hey, “Look what I did!”

Acknowledging and noticing your past efforts is a good thing.  It will lift you up when you are feeling low and not very creative.

There is nothing wrong with having a little party of appreciation for what you have done.  Too many of us were taught not to brag or get too high and mighty or sing the praises of our own accomplishments.  There is no danger of that here.  You are your own audience. Enjoy the fruits of your labor and see if it doesn’t inspire to do more.

Creativity Energizer:

Select a piece of your work and spend some time with it.  Refuse to be critical. View it with loving eyes.  Let it speak to you.  Admire the craftsmanship and the detail.  Acknowledge the difficulties that were overcome.  Thank the person that created it with all sincerity.  Allow yourself to be inspired to do other work.




Have a creative week!

Hugs, Diana

Pardon Me!

I already knew what I wanted to write about this week.  I have been thinking about it for a while and I am trying to create a short e-book to go with the topic.  Alas, my short e-book gets longer every time I work on it.

(This has been going on for weeks!) Since I cannot present you with what I thought I was going to write about I have had to cast about for another subject.

What should be no-big-deal from anyone else’s point of view seems to be huge to my BLOCKHEAD.  (My all-knowing-bossy-expert-on-all-things-Diana internal critic is named Blockhead and is alive and well, thank you very much.)

I won’t bore you with my blockhead statements, but I can bet you know what it feels like to be confronted by small and not so small disappointments: 

•    Not doing what you said you’d do
•    Not starting or completing a project like you’d planned
•    A project not turning out like you’d hoped
•    This list could go on forever

It takes such an amazing amount energy to live with disappointment, guilt, regret, self-recrimination, and grief that it is no wonder we don’t do our art or resist doing what we love.  If you have to run the gauntlet of these feelings before you can resume your work, how can you expect to physically and mentally make yourself move forward?

I say, we need a daily forgiveness ritual. 

•    Goofed off yesterday?  Forgive yourself!
•    Left the cap off the tube of paint?  Let it go!

•    Didn’t finish your e-book? Grant yourself a pardon! (You deserve to live!)

Do you know that sound of the needle being pulled across a record to stop the music?


I can hear it right now as the thought of forgiveness brings my idea to a screeching halt.

Blockhead says: “You are letting yourself off the hook.  You are tolerating bad behavior. You’ll never create anything if you don’t hold yourself accountable.”

What is unforgivable is already done.  You can allow your blockhead to have his or her way with you and wallow in the muck or you can choose to give yourself a break and start where you are.

Creativity Energizer Break:

Put the needle back on the record and play the music to the commercial that McDonalds used for years.  “You deserve a break today…”

•    Give yourself a break today. 
•    A forgiveness break. 
•    A letting-go break. 
•    Beg your own pardon…and grant it.

Don’t get hung up on the term, “forgiveness.”   The root of the word forgiveness means to let go.  Or you can always pardon yourself.  I like that too.

Start your day or your creative project by forgiving you for all the stuff you didn’t do; or do well enough; or didn’t get marked off your to do list.

Humming that little song, “You deserve a break today…”  made famous by McDonalds is your trigger to let go.

And of course, if you need more help, use our friend, EFT.

Have a creative, guilt-free week!
Hugs,
Diana


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Getting Credit for What You Don't Say

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"It is best to keep your mouth shut and be presumed ignorant than to open it and remove all doubt." – Mark Twain


Have you ever had to bite your tongue to keep from saying something that might get you into hot water or cause hurt feelings?  What about keeping your mouth shut when you’d rather say, “I told you so.”  There are many opportunities when what you don’t say is as important as what you do say.  Remember the old adage, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”

I am here to today to give you credit for what you don’t say.

What does this have to do with energizing your creativity?  Your creativity needs protecting and nurturing.  Sometime we need to speak up and let our feelings be known: sometimes the requirement is silence.

Here are some times that I think what you don’t say is preferable:

•    Keep mum about the mistakes you know or think you know are in your work; let the work speak for itself.

•    Don’t blab on and on about a new idea.  You will talk it out of your system.

•    Don’t argue with a critique. Practice your best Mona Lisa smile and, if forced, use the phrase, “You may be right.” (How can anyone argue with that?)

•    Don’t make grand announcements regarding your creative plans to family members or co-workers unless you want to be reminded daily that you aren’t following through as grandly announced.

•    Don’t be a know-it-all.  Practice listening.  You might be inspired or learn something.

•    Stop explaining.  If you say no to something, you don’t owe a lengthy heartfelt explanation why you are saying no.

 Energizer Break:

Practice verbal awareness for one day or one week. Then give yourself lots of credit for all the stuff that you didn’t say.  Celebrate by going in your closet and giving it a piece of your mind if you need to.  You could celebrate by taking yourself to a nice meal and not tell anyone!

My friend and I are all the time bestowing credit on each other for what the other managed to keep quiet about, but could only keep quiet about it until they found a sympathtic ear.

Leave a comment here about what you didn't say and I will give you lots of credit that you deserve!

Have a creative day!

Hugs, Diana

 





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Dreaded Deadlines

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Do You Dread Deadlines?

I hate deadlines.  I don’t like to be told what to do. 
Deadlines are
•    the voice of authority commanding that I get busy
•    doing what I said I’d do
•    doing what’s expected of me
•    doing something by this time or else

Or else what?  Death or Humiliation?  (It can certainly feel that way!)

On the other hand, if I don’t have a deadline
•    I procrastinate 
•    I create mountains out of molehills
•    I whine
•    I put off the difficult parts until my work suffers
•    I take frequent avoidance naps and eat avoidance cookies

Deadlines feel like grown up stuff and my artist is a playful kid who wants to ignore them, (except when they are made to her!).  Using a deadline to accomplish a task is an old standard productivity trick worth using. 

However a little EFT can take the sting out of an annoying deadline and possibly get you going on the right track.  Here are some EFT statements to help you let go of the resentment for the need of a deadline, or the fear that you won’t make it, or the rebellion induced procrastination that accompanies it.

Energizer Break:
Set up statement for EFT:
(Tap on the karate chop point)

Even though, I can’t imagine what I was thinking when I set this deadline and I’d rather be doing anything than fulfill my obligations like maybe give my pet a bath or wash down the sidewalk with a toothbrush, anything but this, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though, I have this annoying deadline that I promised myself I would honor and I made these ridiculous promises to others and I will look like a fool and a flake if I don’t do what I said I would, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though, I have this deadline that is making me crazy and I don’t want to complete it because there is this part I don’t want to do, I know I will feel better when I accomplish this task, even if I can’t even imagine what the outcome will be, I deeply and completely accept myself.


Now take the part of the project that is causing the most resistance and tap on that.  Take time to tap on all facets of the projects that you are avoiding.  For instance, here is one of mine:

TOH:  this project (substitute yours)
EB: this part of the project I don’t enjoy (substitute yours)
SE: this need to (substitute yours)
UE: this belief that I can’t (------)
UN: this burning desire to take a nap (substitute yours)
CH: this wishing someone would do it for me
CB: this deadline
UA: this stupid deadline

TOH:  this doing it by myself
EB: this looming deadline
SE:  this why did I commit to this in the first place
UE:  this resistance
UN: this gotta get it done
CH: this annoying deadline
CB: this work I have to do
UA:  this willingness I don’t have

This should get you started tackling a deadline with less resistance than when you started.  If not, do more rounds using more descriptive feeling words.

Have a creative week,
Hugs,
Diana

P.S.  I’d love to hear from you if this helped.
energizeyourcreativity@gmail.com

What Have You UnLearned Lately?

I love learning.  I love going to the downtown library here in Houston because there is so much knowledge in the shelves.  I am always amazed that they let me take as many books as I like.  And then there is the Internet.  Have a question?  Type it in and boom, the answer appears.  I am in awe that so much knowledge is available for a willing learner.

Having said all the above about learning, I would also like to make a case for unlearning.  Let me explain.  With all the knowledge out there it is so easy to become a know-it-all. 
It is easy to become rigidly set in ways and ideas that may have moved past their worthiness or validly. 

I believe that a creative person challenges the status quo.  A creative person will question what she knows as true and move past what she may have been taught.  If you can do that you open yourself up to the mystery and wonder of the muse. 

You become a new beginner and you become teachable. 

Energizer Break:

Set aside some time to question something.  It doesn’t have to be the meaning of life.  Questioning why you do something the way you always do can give wings to a new method that could make your art soar.  How would your art benefit if you unlearned a bad habit or an old fear?  Unlearn something today. 


Google Art Project




You may already know this but I didn’t and I am just about to pop to share this with you.
Do you remember when Google sent their Street View camera crews up and down your city and took a photo of your house with your neighbors garbage can blown over in your drive way and posted it on the web for the world to see?

Well, Google has sent those same cameras to 17 art museums around the world and this time they let them know they were coming and oh boy, you’ve just gotta see some of the results!

I am including some of the videos at the end of this article and you can check out how it works at www.googleartproject.com .  The project is a boon for folks who might not be able to get across the ocean for a visit or who seldom change out of their pajamas.  Selected works are highlighted and some are even a part of a new technology that photographs so close that you can see the brush stokes in the piece at a way you can bet you haven’t seen from behind the velvet rope.

You are also able to have control of how you view the inside of the museum and Google has given you extra goodies, like info from the museum and the ability to share your discoveries with others to make the experience even better. 

I’m sorry.  I can’t linger here. I’ve got at date with an artist at a famous museum!

Happy Valentine's Day Video

To share this on Facebook or Twitter click the tiny  "Share Article" button by the comment button below the dotted line.

Hello Creative Friends,
I made this video for you and I thought if you didn't have time to make your own you might want to get the code here and put it on your own site.  It is my Valentine to Creativity.   The size is 408 pixels wide.
Here is a link to get the code:

https://energizeyourcreativity.squarespace.com/download/

I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed creating it.  I made it at One True Media and you can make one too.  I wrote the post below to tell you more about the process if you are interested. 

There are so many possibilities to use this system and you can do it for free!!!  Now to be honest there is a preimum that you might consider since it is $3.99 a month.  And you could do a ton of them in a month or two and cancel if you decide you have done your share, but I forsee this as a great tool to whip out a family reunion, a thank you video, a birthday gift or a change up from scrapbooking.

You can also buy a DVD of your masterpiece.

As you can tell I am jazzed about the whole dill-e-o.  There are more tips on the blog post below this one.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Hugs, Diana

To share this on Facebook or Twitter click the tiny  "Share Article" button by the comment button below the dotted line.

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Here's How to Make a Cool Video

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Hello Creative Friends,

I recently discovered One True Media, a great easy place to make vidoes like the one I am posting for Valentine's Day above.

Create Your Own Video the Easy Way

There aren't a lot of directions on the site but if you can get your photos or video to one spot on your computer you can probably do this.

Here are the basics:

1.  Think of  theme or topic you want to highlight or show off and select your photos to support it.  Artists, here is a great opportunity to show a montage of your work.  The possibilities are absolutely endless.

2.  Collect your photos in one place on your computer for convenience.  I like to use my desktop and then put them in folder when I am finished.  It is good to get more than you think you will need, but you can always upload more later if you need them.  You also can delete the ones that didn't make the cut.  (See, I am already talking like a film director.  You will too!)

3.  Go to One True Media.  (This is after you have visited there and played around, looked at other people's creations.  You can also open one of the sites montages and edit it yourself to see how it works which is great cause you can screw up all you want to and get the feel of how things work.)

4. Find a tab that says:  Create.  (One of my favorite words.)  That page will open and you will see another big green Create button.  Click and you will be sent to an upload page.  Skip the "Select A Theme" button.  You have much more creative contol when you edit everything yourself.

5. Upload your photos from your desktop.  Hint:  If you hold down the control button while you make your selection with your mouse, you can upload more than one photo file at a time.  Repeat the process until you have uploaded all the photos and/or videos you want.  Click the the done button.

6. This will take you to the edit console.  This is where the fun begins.  Immediately OTM (One True Media) shows you what your montage will look like, including music. 

7.  Depending on how savvy you are with these kinds of things, you can feel your way through to make a great video.  Like most computer programs there are more than one way to do things.  I naturally did it the slowest way possible the first time around so here are some tips, but you will figure out things your own way.  It is kind of hard to mess this up.

  • Get your photos in first.  Use the numbers under each slide to put them in order or click and drag the cross under the photo.
  • Create text slides and move them into place.  You can edit how they look and preview until you get them exactly as you like.
  • You can add effects till you don't even recognize your photos.  Caution:  This can become too much and take away from the effectiveness of your message or the look you want.  But try it all.  It's fun.
  • When you open your montage, OTM appoints you a song.  Don't like it?  Change it.  Before you finish, be sure your song is as long as the time it takes to show your creation.
  • Once you finish and save your montage, give it a title and go to the Share Button.  You can upload it to Youtube, Facebook by following the easy steps.  If you want to email it to all your friends, press the easy button.  Get the html code from that same page page and embed it to your website or blog.  WooHoo!
  • BTW, a friend of mine could not access it from her Ipad, so there may be an issue with Apple products.  The only bummer I could see.

I have not given you step by step directions.  Be brave.  Click on everything.  Hit Preview and see if you like it, if not, no problem, don't click save or better still find some other way you like better.

Give this a try but just know that it can become addictive.  Beware, you may have just discovered another way to be your creative self! 

Hugs, Diana

One World One Heart 2011

Hello Fellow Travelers!

Welcome to my blog!  My name is Diana Meade.  I am participating in my third One World One Heart event and I am so glad you are here!

I was an artist in an interior design firm for seventeen years until it closed two years ago.  Both my husband and I worked there and we haven’t been employed since except for the occasional odd job.  Not that I’m complaining.  I decided to start my own business online!  It is good to work in my pajamas at my computer.  It’s bad to have bed hair all day.  If you spend any time here you will see I write about creativity. 

I enjoy crafting and painting and writing fiction, but I have put that on the back burner to try to build this business and it has been quite the journey.  I have learned so much about myself as I try to stay motivated and in action. 

I have two cats, Simon and Schuster, ridiculously named in an effort to appease the writing gods. (No, it didn’t work!  I have yet to sell a manuscript!)  

Just for leaving a comment here, I will gladly enter you into my drawing to win these cute little door knob hangers that I made with my own two hands.  They are about four inches long and could hold potpouri or some candy or what ever your creativity can dream up.

Be sure to leave your blog address so I can get in touch with you when the winners will be announced on February 17, 2011.

Best of luck to everyone and have fun looking around.  I look forward to meeting you!

Have a creative day,

Hugs, Diana Meade

 @ Energize Your Creativity

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