Category: creativity


Blogversation 2012: How do you get ideas for blog posts?

Blogversation 2012: How do you get ideas for blog posts?

Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Others are absolutely welcome to join the conversation, as well. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012. I’m a journalist by training so I feel like I’m always gathering stories ideas, whether I want to or…

Blogversation 2012: How and why did you become a blogger?

Blogversation 2012: How and why did you become a blogger?

Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012. I first started blogging in 2006 with a limited goal: We were going to spend a month subletting a New York City apartment, giving us a chance to test…

Kicking off Blogversation 2012 — join the conversation

Kicking off Blogversation 2012 — join the conversation

In the three years I’ve been blogging here, I’ve been grateful for the opportunity to write regularly and to get to know topics and people that inspire me. Even more so, I’ve loved the chance to engage in conversations about those topics and people. Ages ago, when I was a young newspaper reporter, writing was mostly a one-way process. Occasionally…

George Clooney on self confidence and being willing to fail

George Clooney on self confidence and being willing to fail

In spite of my unabashed adoration of George Clooney, this is not just a thinly veiled excuse to get his handsome face on my blog. Parade magazine recently featured Clooney on its cover, then ran a related Q&A on its website. The article, headlined What Drives George Clooney, included this snippet that’s a perfect fit for Newvine Growing: You’ve talked…

Amanda Hirsch's easy 10-step plan to being an artist

Amanda Hirsch's easy 10-step plan to being an artist

Earlier this week I shared advice Ira Glass gave to beginning storytellers. Here’s a follow up from my Brooklyn pal, Amanda Hirsch, who wrote a tongue-in-cheek 10-step plan to being an artist. You get the idea when you read Step 1: Refuse to do the work. Avoid it at all costs. If you want to write, you should instead check…

The Holstee manifesto: This is your life

The Holstee manifesto: This is your life

I kept seeing people post this photo on Facebook but only recently stopped to read the poster. I encourage you to do likewise — it’ll just take a minute and with luck, it’ll make your heart feel good like it did for me. Mission for this week: ask the next person you see what their passion is and share your…

6 reasons to stop explaining yourself

6 reasons to stop explaining yourself

Some of the decisions I have made this year — choosing a part-time job over full time so I could launch my own business in a tough economy, spending two months in New Orleans when we have a cozy place in a great Brooklyn neighborhood — don’t make sense to some people. Ditto our choice not to have children, not…

Conversation starter: Imagine you meet an idol

Conversation starter: Imagine you meet an idol

Picture someone you really look up to — someone who goes beyond an important mentor, someone you idolize as very talented or successful in your field, perhaps the person you wish you could grow up to be. Got someone in mind? Now imagine getting an opportunity to have a one-on-one conversation with that person. Not just an “I love your…

50 Things I Have Learned at 50, by Ann Belote Weir

50 Things I Have Learned at 50, by Ann Belote Weir

Today’s installment in the “Things I Have Learned” series comes from a colleague at my first job after college, where I worked as a reporter at the Alpena News. If you’ve never heard of Alpena, think cold. It’s five hours north of Detroit, and in addition to learning a tremendous amount about real-life newspapers, I learned such things as how…

HBR: Developing rituals can help achieve your goals

HBR: Developing rituals can help achieve your goals

A recent Harvard Business Review suggested the best way to achieve your goals is to not demand too much of yourself. That’s not to say set your goals low — but if you want to reach a goal, don’t make it harder than it needs to be to get there. In a post headlined “The Only Way to Get Important…