Category: Creativity

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A cup of tea with Em






I have only met Em from Tea Cups Too three times, maybe four in fact and each time I have encountered her, there is something about her heart and presence that makes me smile.

We have some mutual friends and we live a stone’s throw away from each other, but I stumbled across her blog whilst looking for pictures from an event we both went to on the weekend and I stayed at her place online for a while.

So, today I have put my little man to bed, my big man is scraping the peeling paint off our wooden window sills that have been corroded by the sea air and I wanted to have tea with Em online.

The isolation of motherhood has the capacity to take us to beautiful places and dark ones also. As I read your recent post on motherhood, it reminded me of a quote I have been repeating to myself lately.

‘Embrace the chaos’

For those who don’t know me, I am a stay at home mum with one son Maximus, one husband (who works in Juvi with young offenders and is a body builder, I know not sure what happened there…) and I write often here and also here.

Aside from my writing, I do heaps of other stuff, which you can find more about here. To say life is chaotic is an understatement. Max just turned eighteen months; 6 days ago, and the last year and a half of my life has tippled into toddler oblivion,my priorities and preconceived judgements on mothering have been dramatically turned upside down.

This is the quote recently that made me smile and I have decided to make it my summer mantra.

chaos

Chaos (especially in my house and my diary) often makes me feel overwhelmed, but there are moments when I stop my mind from trying to control the moment and I embrace the cry of my heart to live a life that contributes significantly and my little heart secretly starts to roar.

It’s like I have a little dinosaur inside me, that when I think thoughts of beauty and creativity, when I produce moments of inspiration and life, whose eyes grow large and a mighty roar begins to emerge. A roar that no-one can hear but I can feel it rise in my heart.

Finding a sense of purpose and contribution in my days, helps me to embrace the chaos and to allow the dishes to harden, the washing to stiffen, knowing that my time is being given to that which makes an eternal impact.

Your post Em, reminded that the times I spend with my son, screwing the lids on and off, the times that I walk slowly so that he can rip lovely flowers apart, are just as valid and important as the times that I am recording moments for radio, writing books and helping women in far off places.

Embracing the chaos and not trying to contain its place, allows us to live in those moments that full vibrant colour filled memories are made and allows us to build a life of beauty rather than contained order.

Does it mean I think allowing our lives to be messy and out of control everyday is helpful?

No, in fact spring cleaning, keeping my housework at bay and structure allow my creativity to thrive.

However, its just changing the priority scales of its importance and allowing the opinions of others to fade and the ideas that brew late in the evening hour, to become reality.

Embrace the ROAR Em.

Each time I have met you, I have sensed a great potential for beauty, awaken-edness and life.

You are delightful and your life produces beautiful things.

Let’s have a real cuppa soon, or watch the sun on the ocean go down with a glass of wine and forget that toilet training creates a lot of mess, on top of the dust piling on my lovely wooden floors.

Smile often,

Mumma V.

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A Perth Creative, making it big in NYC

PERTH-born actress Danielle Brewer has successfully transitioned from Australian ‘Telly’ to the American TV and Film industry with her appearance last month on the The Good Wife and upcoming lead role in the film Silene.

Australia has long been the breeding ground for successful actors taking flight internationally to the big screen and Broadway, including Isla Fisher and Naomi Watts. You might recognize Danielle as Nestle’s national Light & Creamy girl in the Australian Women’s Weekly or the chilly ice cream aisle at your local supermarket. But that was just a scoop of fun on the side for Danielle while she was working on set with lead roles in various Australian independent films, including First Sleep and Newton’s 3rd Law, both shot in Sydney.

The American Golden Globe winning TV series The Good Wife is shot in New York City. Danielle remarked at her time on set with the show. “It was a seemingly normal day preparing for background work in the studio when I got chosen to play Sabrina. Little did I know it was an extraordinary day where preparedness and opportunity where going to meet.”

With a background in music and ballet from the age of 5 her desire to tell the truth of every story has fuelled her passion in the arts. Danielle learned, “Sometimes the heart is a beautifully messy and awkward place … finding that delicate balance between sharing yourself and creating something new is a real honour.”

In addition to her love of the arts she completed a Bachelor of Business at Edith Cowan University in 2004. At the same time, she professionally embraced her natural ease in front of the camera by working with Riverview Community News as a lead presenter and her guest role on channel 9’s Getaway.

Danielle pursued her training at the Perth Actors Collective before moving to Sydney where she continued study at NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art). She commented on her journey, “I love that I get to play an emotionally disturbed housewife one day and a perky cheer leader the next. Not knowing what’s around the corner is exhilarating because I never really can tell what is going to happen.” Realising the potential of international networking, Danielle embraced the opportunity to hone her skills at the New York Film Academy with the one-year acting conservatory in The Big Apple.

Danielle has found herself navigating the acting world with corporate sensibilities as much as a creative fervour. She referred to the importance of understanding the industry, “The blend of my business and creative experiences has supported me in a way I would have never expected, one would have never matured without the other”.

The excellence of her work has flowed onto the stage. My Perfect Life, starring Danielle as Carolee, advanced into the final top eight at the Long Island City One Act Play festival in April. Most recently, she performed in the production Satire Off-Broadway at The Producers Club in Times Square this month.

Currently based in New York City, Danielle has just been cast in the feature film, Silene, directed by John Desiderio, which will tell the story of a woman who is working through the loss of her unborn child. The multifaceted drama is set in Queens just outside the bustling city of Manhattan. Desiderio who handpicked the cast commented saying, “Danielle is an enormously talented actress who was my first choice for this character.”

No doubt Danielle will continue to find favour in the American Film and TV industry. You’ll want to remember the name, she’s one to watch.

www.daniellebrewer.com

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Finding my place

photoIt wasn’t until I had a toddler that I realised how important ‘placement’ was in my creative internal vortex.

I place things on my desk with finesse, I drop things on my bookshelf with purpose, to a shallow glance it looks a little messy, it looks a little crazy, but to my internal Dewey Decibel system it is just right.

My son has the most beautiful nature, but he is a fiddler. Everything he touches is fiddled with. I am sure he is bursting with innovation because he finds anything he can to feel, to explore and to replace in his own way.

Two weeks ago I turned on the washing machine to hear a regular knock, that isn’t a part of its usual rhythm and after digging the water logged inhabitants, I found my brand new smart televisions water logged remote control.

It wasn’t until max started to press my placement control buttons that I realised how important place was in my creative routine.

I rearrange my desk.

I play with my notes on my side table.

I light candles.

I make coffee.

I muse with placement until my idea is ready to be birthed.

How about you?

Do you feel out of place?

Is finding a place and creating a place, an important part of your creative expression.

booksThis new season for me has taken so long to settle, because of this one marker. Place.

I didn’t realise how much team, how much the people I collaborated with, the location of my workspace, the routines, the deeply enriched rituals, how much they enabled my creativity and innovation through place.

Slowly I am finding my new place.

And I kinda like it.

How about you?

Do you need to find your place?

Do you need to find your fit?

Explore this today.

Amanda

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getting stuff done

This week I have had a few conversations with creatives about task management and effective planning. (I have probably lost half of you already)

Most people I know (who are overtly creative) struggle with time management, especially those who are creative entrepreneurs who work full time or mummy 24/7.

It is so funny, in this season when people ask me what I do, I tell them ‘I’m a stay at home mum and more?’. It is always said with a smirk and a smile.

The reality is, I have all the time in the world but it is broken into small segments. Between toilet training, climbing practice, toy smashing and food championship throwing, I am running a business, a key leader in a women’s network, on the board of a creative enterprise, always writing a new book in my mind, big sister, speaker, collaborator, husband cheerleader, head chef and consultant in creativity.

I need tools for time management. I mostly use my emails to set my task lists but as my consulting business grows and more networks are created, this is not working for my new season.

I recently read an article about a time management technique called ‘POMODORO’. It was designed in the 1980’s by a man called Francesco Cirillo. You can read more about this technique here: Pomodoro Technique

It is actually quite simple and I have found it lately really effective.

Here is my modern mummy take on it:

1) Turn your phone onto silent or flight mode

2) write a list of what needs to be accomplished: tool one

3) Set your timer 25 mins (a kitchen timer, your iPhone or download an pomodoro app)

4) Close down all social media applications or windows or apps.

5) Close down your email. (mum’s put your children to bed, close the door and turn your music up.)

6) Start your timer and start task one.

7) After 25 mins, have a 5 min break. Go get a coffee, a glass of water, chat to a friend, flick onto a website/ social media something for 5 MINS ONLY!!!

8) Go to task two. Start 25 min timer again.

9) repeat 7 & 8 two more times.

The Pomodoro Technique from Pomodoro Master on Vimeo.

You will be so surprised at how much you can get done in two hours. If you work in an office setting. Block out two hours in your diary and do this process and you will be astounded at how fresh your work space will be and what you will achieve.

I have made a downloadable task managment sheet here: get stuff done

Screen Shot 2013-08-25 at 11.13.01 AM

This will also help you define what you need to do in a couple of hours.

Honestly I spend so much time mucking around, to be more effective and to bring my best to the opportunities in front of me is such a good thing.

Hope this helps.

Comment below on how you go here.

Till we meet again

Amanda

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Beauty in brokenness

As a creative soul I sometimes struggle with the emotional toll producing creative endeavors have on me personally.

Listening to someone’s story, writing out of a deep place, designing something new or placing my thoughts out in the public sphere, reticent at the potential criticism.

Creativity can be tiring.

After a crazy busy month, I found myself fading at the beginning of this week, verging on the edge of exhaustion.

I found my frustration growing, I found my need for space looming and I realized actually the problem was that I was just very tired.

Back from Sydney I accepted another short term consulting contract, I spoke morning and evening this last weekend at a church and my produce level was exceeding my inspirational input one.

In the midst of my potential melt down on Monday however, I reflected with my husband about what helps me restore and recover in the midst of emptiness.

I realized in the past my recovery techniques have not always been healthy. Coffee, chocolate, rewards, arranging and controlling things, producing more creative items.

We together unpacked the good, the bad and the ugly of the breakdown and rebuilt the potential and beauty there.

I am grateful that in this season of my life I have time to unpack my ugly and allow it to sit and stare back at me.

In my former life I would have rushed from one event to another and allowed the frustration to fester.

There is beauty in the breakdown, yet we need to take time to acknowledge the emotions and place them in their right order accordingly.

Beauty in the breakdown.

I quite like that song.

Imagine if we let our ugly breathe and find its true place.

The world would be that much lighter.

Thinking

A