My entry to the blogging world is starting with a very quiet little whimper. My subject – OUR subject — is creativity — how to live it, work it, play with it — and all I can think of to start is Writer’s Block, except it doesn’t seem to be one block, but a whole pile, stacked in front of me like a brick wall. This is a virgin blog, with all the awkwardness and all the high hopes. I feel every bit as nervous as I would stepping out onto an empty stage with a full audience for the first time.
Well, I expect no one will be reading for a good long while. But if you are, here’s what this is about: Creating a creative life. And making it work.
Who am I to tell you? Well, I’m someone who has been working in various creative fields, and mostly making it work, for upwards of 18 years now. I’m a writer, a music teacher, and a musician, and I’ve also worked as a photographer, TV consultant, writing coach, publishing consultant, editor, public speaker, and a whole bunch more (including but not limited to shoveling out horse barns and washing dishes).
For the last 18 years, I’ve been self-employed, mostly writing books, magazine articles, and internet stories. Most are about the outdoors and travel, and a bunch more are about music. I’ve written 12 books, been translated into 6 languages (that I know of), I’ve played keyboards in places ranging from Chicago bars to an Indiana Riverboat to a general store in Monterey, Massachusetts — to barn to churches to fancy old hotels to a couple of gazebos, a farmer’s market or two, and a few bonafide recital halls. I’ve taken photos that have wound up on book covers and calendars. And I’ve taught a gazillion piano lessons. If you want to know more, check out www.KarenBerger.com or www.hikerwriter.com.
Along the way, people have asked: How do you live your dream? How do you make it work? Pay the mortgage and the insurance and the heating oil bill? How do you find the jobs, the discipiline, the balance?
Truth it, it’s mostly a day-by-day thing, and way too often, an accident. You wake up and glare at the deadline, then you do it, then you do the next thing. Stuff interrupts. Bad stuff, like an impenetrable notice from the insurance company saying that basically you’re going to have to win the lottery to afford health care next year. Good stuff, like a surprise note from an editor giving you enough work to pay said insurance bill. Bad stuff — the heating bill (have I MENTIONED the heating bill?). Good stuff, like a royalty check. And on it goes.
In the process of getting from one day to the next, I’ve talked with lots of people, both those who have made the plunge into the creative economy, and those who would like to.
In doing and talking and listening and living, I’ve learned some things, and this blog is to share them . Stay tuned.
