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Category Archives: creativity

you are enough

I suppose there’s an irony to the fact this is first on my list of “rules to live by,” as it’s something I’ve struggled with for much of my life. We could blame parental trauma. We could blame late-stage capitalism. We could blame debilitating insecurity, creative resistance, the desire to compete, unfaithful lovers, shitty friends–youContinue reading “you are enough”

Posted byjoshua chamberlainAugust 26, 2022Posted increativity, life

rules to live by

When I was twenty-four, I started working at a theater company. In an attempt to remind myself of where I’d been and everything I’d learned along the way, I made a list of twenty “Rules to Live By,” and taped it up inside my locker at work. While some of these rules have aged wellContinue reading “rules to live by”

Posted byjoshua chamberlainAugust 23, 2022Posted increativity, life

on being the portal

I’ve written about how the best art acts a portal, transporting us somewhere else entirely. Be it a story that takes us on a journey with its characters or a painting that swallows us whole, we engage with these works to get outside of ourselves. But what if we’re the portals? I’m revisiting Steven Pressfield’sContinue reading “on being the portal”

Posted byjoshua chamberlainAugust 22, 2022Posted inart, creativity, reading, writing

not trying hard enough

The last few days, I had this wild idea for an art piece that involved stenciling silhouettes, painted canvas, and melting crayons with a hairdryer. However, when I went to melt the crayons, the gust of heat from the hairdryer not only didn’t melt the wax, it detached the stencils from the canvas. Safe toContinue reading “not trying hard enough”

Posted byjoshua chamberlainAugust 19, 2022Posted inart, creativity, life

finding the medium

I’m currently working on a novel high school kids in revolt and a play about comic book writers building a universe–two different stories with different characters, engaging with completely different worlds. A friend asked this week, “how do you determine which stories are books, which ones are plays, and which one would be movies?” GreatContinue reading “finding the medium”

Posted byjoshua chamberlainAugust 18, 2022Posted increativity, life, theater, writing

rearrange yourself

When I was a kid, I’d rearrange the furniture in my bedroom every summer. Sometimes, it was a simple as switching the placement of the dresser and the bookshelf. Other times, I’d slide the bed across the room, reorient the posters on the walls, and move the light fixtures from one corner of the roomContinue reading “rearrange yourself”

Posted byjoshua chamberlainAugust 11, 2022August 11, 2022Posted increativity, life

do what you’re doing

While I was in college, I had the opportunity to meet Alan Zweibel, one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live. He told a story about how he got the job at SNL: he’d been writing jokes on his own, collecting them and refining them at open mic nights throughout Manhattan. One night, aContinue reading “do what you’re doing”

Posted byjoshua chamberlainAugust 9, 2022Posted increativity, life, television

hitchhiking

I absolutely loved Marc Maron’s recent interview with Neil Gaiman. While I’ve never been a huge Gaiman fan, I found myself enamored with his insights into comic fandom, TV production, and his writing process. My favorite bit though, is when Gaiman describes the process of beginning his Sandman comics, and how despite having the endContinue reading “hitchhiking”

Posted byjoshua chamberlainAugust 6, 2022Posted increativity, writing

thoughts from a detective

In a recent episode of The Moment with Brian Koppelman, writer-director John Hamburg (Along Came Polly, I Love You, Man) touched on a few things that I’ve been turning over in my mind lately. Referencing advice from his therapist, Hamburg says of writing, “Be a detective, not a judge.” I’ve been watching a lot ofContinue reading “thoughts from a detective”

Posted byjoshua chamberlainAugust 3, 2022Posted increativity, film, television, writing

psychic scars

A friend of mine is studying to be a screenwriter. The other night, we had a conversation about her graduate program. She’s in her mid-thirties, while most of her classmates are in their early twenties, a disparity she claims is obvious in their writing. Much of the work her classmates produce is imaginative , butContinue reading “psychic scars”

Posted byjoshua chamberlainJuly 12, 2022Posted increativity, life, television, writing

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