Archives for May 2023

Another Tip From an Idea Factory – Everybody Has a Story

May 25, 2023 by tprochera Leave a Comment

Hello, all!

So, let’s talk. It’s easy to get creatively stuck from time to time – you don’t know where to go with a project or you’re having trouble coming up with an idea for the project in the first place. And it’s not fun when you have the desire to bring something to the world, and especially not when there are deadlines involved.

This is where I can be of service.

You see, as a creative community I think we need to support each other because we all have different strengths to bring to the table. And idea generation just happens to be one of mine. 🙂 In my e-book and now audiobook, Idea Factory: 20 Tantalizing Tips to Turbocharge Your Creativity, I joke about how I can’t tell you how to market or promote your art since I haven’t sold more than a handful of anything I’ve ever done but I’ve got project ideas coming out the wazoo and I always have. I will literally be working on one song and suddenly be struck with lyrics for another.

So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to share another tip from the book to help you get through a dry spell. You can check out my last post for another tool to put in your creative arsenal, if you haven’t already read it.

Tip #7 is called “Everybody Has A Story”. It’s about looking at someone you’ve never met – in a grocery store, while you’re out for a walk – and creating a backstory for them. Look at where they are, how they’re dressed, what they’re doing, and try to imagine their life – where they came from, where they are now, where they might be going.

You can be as sensational as you like about it. Maybe that woman in the trench coat is a spy heading to a meeting with her handler to learn about her next mission. Maybe that man running past you on the sidewalk is training for a marathon because his father died before he ever had a chance to complete one and he wants to honour his memory. Get into the details – establish a real sense of knowing that person inside and out.

This exercise will not only help you to boost your creativity, since you’re making up a bunch of stuff, but it will help you feel more connected to the world around you. So often, we go through our lives just zooming past everything and everybody. We don’t even notice the person we pass on the street, yet alone contemplate where they came from and what brought them to that moment in time. You might be surprised at the amount of empathy you’ll develop in the process.

So why not take your people watching to the next level and have some fun? And feel free to comment and let us know what you’ve observed!

For more information on Idea Factory you can learn more on the website , and you can find it on Amazon, iTunes, and Audible, depending on your format preference.

Have a great day and happy creating!

Tiffany

A Tip From an Idea Factory

May 19, 2023 by tprochera Leave a Comment

Well, hello all!

I hope you are enjoying your spring thus far. In fact, where I am it is somewhat warmer than usual so it frankly feels like summer and I’m not complaining. I always welcome the opportunity to do my work outside and take in the fresh air.

Now, as I have mentioned over the past couple of weeks, I have recently released the audiobook version of my e-book, Idea Factory:20 Tantalizing Tips to Turbocharge Your Creativity. I’m someone who is never at a loss for creative inspiration and I wanted to share some of my tips and tricks to help others get unstuck.

So, I thought I would share a couple of those tips here in the blog to get you started.

Tip #16 is called “The Best Thing and the Worst Thing”. You think of a scenario where something is about to happen and you then imagine the best thing that could result and then you imagine the worst thing. For example, a man gets down on one knee in front of his girlfriend (or boyfriend) in a restaurant. Probably the best thing you could imagine is that he proposes and she (or he) says yes. But what else could happen? Maybe he’s tying his shoe and she only thinks he’s going to propose. Maybe the man sees a rat scurrying across the floor and the whole restaurant goes into a tizzy!

It’s about the sense of anticipation that we get with art, especially when we’re talking about art with a narrative. Last weekend, I saw the delightful film, “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”, based on the novel about a widowed cleaning lady who has a dream of going to Paris to buy a dress from the House of Dior. I loved it so much for so many reasons, one of them which was the sense of anticipation about things. There were so many moments of “what’s going to happen? How is that fellow going to act in this situation?” I got excited every time someone knocked on the door, wondering who was going to be on the other side. And sometimes the result was predictable, sometimes not.

What if you walk up to the door of your regular coffee shop and, lo and behold, it’s closed – maybe just for the day or maybe permanently. What is the best thing that could result from that disruption and what is the worst thing? I had that happen to me once and it led to a rather fun encounter indeed!

The point of this tip is to take things in different directions. Even if you’re involved in music like I am, there are certain aspects of composition and songwriting that have become convention and there are ways you can play around with it to make it fresh. You don’t have to have the bridge follow the second 8-bar chorus, you know. 🙂 I always try to find a balance between familiar and new so things are interesting but not overwhelmingly so.

So try taking scenarios like a knock on the door, a package in the mail, and imagine the best thing that could happen in that situation and the worse thing. It’s actually a lot of fun and who knows what you’re going to come up with?

In Swimming Tigress news,

I’m having fun working on music which should be on Pond 5 soon. And if you’re a music teacher looking for music for the upcoming summer or fall teaching seasons, check out my song books for young singers, Bad Moods and Seven Other Super Reasons to Sing a Silly Song and the follow-up Brain Freezes and Seven More Super Reasons to Sing a Silly Song. You can find them on Amazon, Sheet Music Plus, and here on my site. Enjoy!

Well, that’s all for now. Have a great day and happy creating!

Tiffany

To Dream or Not To Dream – Why You Might Want To Establish Creative Goals

May 11, 2023 by tprochera Leave a Comment

You know, I was honestly going to write about something else this week but this has been on my mind lately.

Today, I was talking to someone who was expressing her goals for her career. She’s working on a life-changing book – really, it’s going to be epic – and she has visions of being a multi-bestselling author and connecting with the likes of this luminary and that luminary and her forward will be written by so-and-so etc. I was so inspired by her aspiration and commitment and, at the same time, I felt a sense of sadness.

These days, I don’t really have any dreams with respect to my creative career.

Sure, I’ve got a bucket list of things I’d like to see and experience – like going to Eurovision, getting under dark, clear skies where I can actually see the Milky Way galaxy glowing above head – but I no longer have those end goals, those thing I want to accomplish, or those dreams that can drive and guide one into their future. I chalk it up to the fact that I feel I have failed so often that there’s no point in really trying for anything because, in my mind, it’s not going to work out anyway. So, I just do what I feel like doing, put it out there, and see what happens, like throwing spaghetti against the wall to see if it sticks.

The most important things that have happened in my life have happened without reaching for them, without real effort.

But I’m not sure that laissez-faire attitude is ultimately helpful.

Do you have goals and dreams with respect to your creativity, a timeline with a list of things you want to accomplish, both as projects and achievements? Absolutely, one needs to follow inspiration even if it’s not necessarily part of “the plan”, but goals and dreams can excite us and keep us focused. At least that’s what they’re supposed to do.

Imagine this. You’re a musician, you record a song and release it on social media, hoping maybe somebody somewhere will listen to it. Yaaay.

Or, you have a dream of reaching x-number of people with your music, releasing an album by the end of the year, signing with a major label within 5 years – maybe you even have a specific label in mind – and having a Grammy or two ten years from now.

Which vision do you think is more likely to get you out of bed in the morning?

It’s not about chasing the glory or even “making it” necessarily. It’s about having a focus, establishing intention behind what you are doing, working on a trajectory towards something meaningful and not seeing each action as starting from scratch to random, unpredictable ends. Wait. That sound like me. 😉

Anyway, it all allows you to streamline your activities and eliminate distraction. If you’ve determined that you’re going to create a pop album by the end of the year, you might write down the ideas that came to you for that children’s song for future reference, but you’re not going to put real energy into it – yet. No wishy-washing about it. Decision made.

And here’s the thing.

The ultimate results are not as important as who you have to become to be dedicated and focused – what kind of commitment is required that you can ultimately transfer to other aspects of your life. And honestly, things can change. In the process of working on the album or chasing the Grammy, you can discover a love of education and decide to become a music teacher. I’m not exactly sure how that would happen but it’s possible. It’s not the Grammy. It’s who you become in pursuit of the Grammy – or Booker or whatever.

And I might add, don’t be afraid to commit. It can feel like you’re missing out on other possibilities. But what if this happens? But what if I get an idea for that? OMG, have I been there! But think of it as a foundation, something to ground you, and trust that you will be led to where you are meant to be and if you are supposed to shift focus, it will be clear.

If you aren’t familiar with them, try establishing some SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound (look it up if you don’t know what that all means) – and enjoy the support that comes with knowing where you want to go!

In Swimming Tigress News, I’m working on some new music that should be out on Pond 5 soon. And, in case you didn’t know, Tabitha’s Magical Voice and Idea Factory are now audiobooks that you can find on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes!

Have a great day and happy creating!

Tiffany 🙂

Do you really want to be doing this? – Questioning Your Creative Career

May 5, 2023 by tprochera 2 Comments

Now, hold on. You’re probably thinking this is one of those, “If you can think of yourself doing anything else, go and do it” lectures, one of those diatribes about how hard it is to have a creative career and if you’re not willing to give up literally everything else in your life to do it, you should just quit now.

This is not that. What I’m about to say is more geared toward career creatives and I’m not trying to be judgmental, so hear me out.

When the pandemic was in full swing, there was a lot of “I haven’t sung in months” kind of talk. And then, when things started to open up and folks started getting back to business it was, “I haven’t danced in 18 months. I have to get back in shape for this Broadway show.”

And I would say sometimes people need a break and it’s good to step back once in a while but these were pained comments. These people didn’t want the break. They wanted to keep singing and dancing.

Or at least it seemed like they did. So why didn’t they?

Maybe there was context I was missing. Maybe it was the shock of it all and there was a fear that things were never going to be the same again. But it almost seemed like, for a lot of people, the only reason they would dance or sing is if they had a show or a gig to prepare for. And these were some prominent, professional artists I’m talking about. In spite of the shock, they had to know things were going to start up again eventually. But suddenly it was, “Oh, rehearsals resume tomorrow and I haven’t sung in a year.”

I don’t know about y’all but I’m singing and dancing and writing whether there’ s a pandemic or not or whether I’m getting paid to or not. After my ballroom dance classes shut down in March of 2020 I started watching dance tutorials online and I have no one to dance with!

Which brings me to the point of this post. Absolutely we can need to step back for a while and reevaluate things. I suppose the situation over the last few years provided an opportunity to do that. But, in general, if you aren’t interested in maintaining and expanding your skills, if you aren’t curious and learning more about your craft and getting better, whether or not there’s a paycheck immediately attached, maybe you need to look at whether you actually want a creative career. Maybe it’s meant to be something you do on your own time when it moves you, and that’s perfectly okay.

There was a controversy about a theatre festival where some of the companies involved required actors to re-audition for the roles they had before things shut down. There was outrage at the audacity! And I’m not saying there was no reason to be upset.

But a show or event wants to present with a certain set of standards, a certainly level of quality. Yes, you may have been fabulous when you were hired in 2019 but if you didn’t keep up your skills etc. and are fumbling around when someone else has been preparing all along and is ready to just step into the role, do they not deserve the chance?

And again, I’m not judging. It was tough. Life can be tough. And sometimes you just want to hang out watching TV and eating bonbons. But if, for the most part, you don’t enjoy what you’re doing enough to be consistently participating and growing, even on your own, maybe it’s time to look at why you’re doing it.

Was there pressure from the family? Maybe you come from a family of artists or you got the “we spent thousands of dollars for you to learn the bloody piano so you better make money at it” speech. Maybe you feel a sense of status. You like people’s reaction when you tell them you’re a professional author or a painter. “How cool! I could never do that!” I know I get it all the time so I imagine it’s not that uncommon for people to think of creativity as a magical gift only reserved for a blessed few and you are basically a unicorn. Maybe you became a musician because of something that wasn’t directly related to the music itself. It wasn’t really about playing the guitar. The guitar served as a vehicle for comradery and connection with the other members of the band.

It’s okay if your creativity isn’t your bread and butter. You can still create. You can still paint, write, sing, dance. Nothing will take that away from you. But work is, well, work. Joyous work but it takes commitment, nonetheless.

So, if you don’t know for sure, maybe take some time to reflect on your experiences in the creative realm and see if you can figure out what makes you happy and what situations truly suit your soul. It’s possible you will feel a renewed sense of passion and commitment for your craft but be open to the possibility that there might be other more fulfilling avenues out there for you.

Hey, I question things sometimes, for various reasons. I wonder why I haven’t read that book on film scoring yet. I wonder why I I don’t know the music from that musical that everyone seems to be talking about on my Facebook groups. I wonder why I sometimes allow other, often inconsequential things, to take precedence over my craft. But I keep trying to get better and always come back to the fact that I love what I do and I really couldn’t see myself doing anything else.

In Swimming Tigress News,

Did you know Idea Factory: 20 Tantalizing Tips to Turbocharge Your Creativity is now an audiobook? With ideas to help get you creatively unstuck and keep those juices flowing, it’s a fun, quick read to enhance the experience of your craft. You can find it now on Audible, iTunes, and Amazon!

Archives for May 2023

Another Tip From an Idea Factory – Everybody Has a Story

A Tip From an Idea Factory

To Dream or Not To Dream – Why You Might Want To Establish Creative Goals

Do you really want to be doing this? – Questioning Your Creative Career

WORK WITH STM

LET’S CONNECT!