Powerful Urges

They're only scary if you're out of crayons.

Who else got a chainsaw for Valentine’s Day?

My husband is notorious for off-the-mark gift-giving, but the past 10 years of our 40-year marriage he has stepped up his game.

This Valentine’s Day, the guy who needs instructions to operate a screwdriver gave ME a mini chainsaw instead of flowers.

Of course one look at this sexy little darling is giving me all kinds of creative ideas – for example, it made me want to share this excerpt with you. From my book Start More Than You Can Finish:

I don’t believe in waiting for “the creative urge” to strike, but if I did, I’d tell you to prepare for a creative urge like you prepare for the apocalypse:

Know what you’ll need.

Know how to get it.

Know how to use it.

If possible, keep it where you can grab it before the bad guys come.

My theory is this: in a busy life, we can all be like seven-year-olds with ADD. (I can make this joke because I was a seven-year-old with ADD.) If we wake up with an idea, and our crayons are in a basket beside the bed, we’ll be shoving a drawing in Dad’s face before he finishes breakfast. If, however, the crayons are locked in a box in the hall closet, we’ll head for the hall closet, trip over yesterday’s jeans, knocking a candy wrapper out of the pocket, reminding us that Halloween is next week and . . . crayons are no longer the destination.

Get things in place to start quick, easy, and often. Fill your shelves with the stuff your starts are made of. Even if your creating does not usually involve making stuff by hand, stock some basics.

I happen to think all humans need art supplies in every room for our entire lives. At the very least, we need something to write with and on, something to cut with, and something to stick things together with (tape or glue). That way, when we have an idea, we’re seconds away—not a trip to the store away—from acting on it.

We’re seconds away from our freshest take.

Yarn for knitters, wood for wood-workers, fabric for sewers and designers, spices for cooks. Thread, paint, mediums, ink, paper, pigments, polymers, clay, surfaces, nails, rope, and wire nearby can be a reason we start or the reason we don’t.

Having materials at the ready is not even the best thing about stocking start supplies. Like our creative collections, start supplies become muses and mentors. Just sitting on a shelf, they invite and tempt us. When we pick them up, they nudge and teach us. They show us how to start.

The same goes for tools.

My friend, Cam Awesome, texted me one day, “What have you done to my girlfriend? She’s out buying power tools.”

Oops. His partner, Kelly, was on an off-road creative adventure called ‘furniture upcycling,’ and I had maybe somewhat sort of hinted that a variable speed reversible drill would rock her world. It did.

For stARTists, all tools are power tools.

The objects that help us craft seem connected to a universal energy source. They bring confidence, leverage, speed, and ideas.

Our stARTistic destinies may well depend on the tools we’re exposed to.

If you grew up puttering beside your dad in his workshop or garage, you opened some possibility portals the rest of us may never see. If you learned to work a sewing machine or set of chef knives at a tender age, you have a creative advantage. Use it.

(Let’s take a moment of silence to mourn high school Shop and Home Ec classes. Sigh.)

If a particular tool intrigues you, there’s probably a reason. Maybe your brain is making a connection and a natural aptitude is calling. (Someone gave me a Dremel tool one summer and I didn’t come out of the basement for twelve hours.) Find a way to safely learn what a new tool does. Take a class. Watch a tutorial. Talk to the folks at the hardware store, art supply shop, or music store.

A router, a guitar, tiny baking tins, fountain pens, a glue gun, a staple gun, a rolling pin, a press, a wood lathe, a camera, a palate knife, a trowel, a vintage typewriter, a soldering iron, a loom. These are answers stARTists gave me when I asked them to name an object that made them want to make something, just by seeing it.

If it doesn’t overwhelm you, keep your tools where you can see them, for maximum access and inspiration. Sure, it’s a challenge to make screwdrivers fit your dining room aesthetic, but I’ve seen it done. If you have the luxury of space, turn over a room or garage to your own stARTistic workshop vibe, hanging tools and materials and using shelves instead of drawers, so you can see and grab everything.

When I suggest you stock your home with start supplies, again, I don’t mean only visual tools. I mean musical instruments, computer technology, microscopes, woodworking tools, and whatever you use to create.

The same goes for workplaces.

If I were running things, every company would have an art studio, musical instruments in the break room, and a resident sketch comedy troupe.

If you agree, put a note in the suggestion box, and maybe don’t push it. These may not be your hills to die on. But definitely do ask for the supplies you need to be creative at your job—like inviting technology, R&D resources, easy-to-use presentation systems, and training, training, training.

Only when you can dabble, experiment, and express your best ideas can you bring the creative initiative that businesses say they want.

Speaking of powerful tools, in my research for this book, I learned that LAUGHTER is a super charging station for our creative bliss.

That’s why I keep producing the Ladies Laugh Lounge, the hot-ticket comedy show I started during my ‘year of yes’!

I’m pleased to announce we are powering up the show by moving to a bigger venue — the Funny Bone of Kansas City! I get to play emcee for a dozen of Kansas City‘s funniest women, including Substack celeb, author Jen Mann – follow her here. All shows sell out, so I use this place to tell subscribers about shows before releasing the ticket link to the public. So, if you’re in Kansas City, get your tickets early HERE!

I don’t even care if you scalp tickets, as long as you fill the seat with someone who is not afraid to spit a little wine or pee her pants when she laughs.