Archives For writing

Thomas Merton: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing

November 13, 2012 — Leave a comment

Thomas Merton is my favorite spiritual writer. This now-dead Trappist monk and brilliant writer who lived a quiet and creative life of prayer at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, is one of the keenest theological minds of the 20th century. His thoughts and theology on creativity, the writing life, the restorative work of the Trinity and the kingdom of God on earth are elegant, weighty musings.

merton 1 Thomas Merton: Thoughts on Creativity & WritingThe best way I can describe reading Merton is this: Imagine Thomas Merton holding your head in a bucket under water for a few minutes. Suddenly, he pulls you up for air—a moment of brilliant clarity! You take a deep breath and then, he plunges you back down again! You don’t speed-read Merton. He has many thought-provoking thoughts on creativity and the writing life that I’d like to share with you today. I hope you find them as encouraging and insightful as I do. Read on…

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Introducing Sound of A Spine: Poetry & Performance of Nick Macedo

June 27, 2012 — 1 Comment

I am so pleased to announce a new video poetry ebook called Sound of A Spine: Poetry & Performance of Nick Macedo published by The Grove Center for the Arts & Media. Nick Macedo is an incredible twenty-five year old slam poet (one of Hollywood’s best) with an incredible grasp for ideas, language, symbol and the spoken word. When I saw Nick perform just over a year ago, I said to myself, “This guy’s phenomenal…I have to meet him.” At the time, I didn’t know how we’d work together, but I knew God had put us together for a special reason.

Now, it’s my pleasure for me to introduce you to Nick’s videos, written poems and performance photos.  If you’re looking for a really cool ebook gift idea or if you have a love for poetry, Sound of A Spine is a wonderful ebook experience optimized for the iPad, Kindle & Nook. Below, I recently interviewed Nick about his poetry and life as an artist. In the introduction to Sound of A Spine, I also tell the story of how Nick and I first met. If you’re open to the artistry and serendipity of God, you never know who you’re going to meet…read on…

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Top Art, Life & Faith Posts for March 2012

April 3, 2012 — Leave a comment

Here are the Top 10 Posts from my Art, Life & Faith blog for March 2012. In writing about the arts, creativity, spiritual growth, writing and relationships, my goal is provide you with relevant, practical and inspirational content. In case you’re wondering where I found this cool infographic, visit Wordle! See what people enjoyed reading here on Art, Life & Faith…

Top10ArtLifeFaithPostsMarch2012 300x182 Top Art, Life & Faith Posts for March 2012

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Top 10 Art, Life & Faith Posts December 2011

January 5, 2012 — Leave a comment

Here are the Top 10 Posts from my Art, Life & Faith blog for December 2011. It’s been one year now since I’ve been writing the Art, Life & Faith blog and I’m so glad I developed this “Home Plate” as my primary place to engage with friends and readers. It originally began as a writing palette to work out ideas, but the greater benefit has been making a whole host of new friends. From Art, Life & Faith, the other sites I connect with people online are Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and YouTube. To help you find relevant content that others are reading on Art, Life & Faith, I created a monthly review of my most popular posts…

MyTop10December2011posts Top 10 Art, Life & Faith Posts December 2011

 

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Welcome to Art, Life & Faith by Joey O’Connor

December 4, 2011 — Leave a comment

Maybe it’s a bit redundant to say “Welcome to my new Welcome Video,” but welcome! I thought it was about time to develop a more personalized introduction to my Art, Life & Faith blog, so I took a few minutes to create this video to engage with you in a different way.  Whether you stop by on a regular basis or if it’s your first time here, I hope you’ll take a few minutes to watch this video to learn more about why I created Art, Life & Faith.

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Top 10 Writing Tools & Inspiration

November 9, 2011 — 1 Comment

I speak to a lot of people who write, who want to write or who like the idea of writing. What I’ve found is that people need both good writing tools and the inspiration to get writing. (I know I do!) The top two questions I’m always asked about writing are: 1) What do I need to submit a book proposal to a publisher? 2) What books will help me become a better writer?Wordle words1 300x199 Top 10 Writing Tools & Inspiration

In mentoring young or new writers, one of the reasons I started this blog was to put all of my ideas, favorite tools and resources in one place. What has emerged over the past year are a number of posts that offer the practical tools and resources I use.

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Writing A Winning Book Proposal!

September 20, 2011 — Leave a comment

MH 300x250 Writing A Winning Book Proposal! I speak with a lot of aspiring writer’s about what it takes to write a winning book proposal. And I mean a lot! The first questions I’m always asked is, “What do I have to do to get published?”

For years I thought of writing a short book to help my friends develop a winning book proposal. But Michael Hyatt beat me to it!

If you want to writing a winning book proposal, I have just the tools to help you…

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Swimming in Grace

May 3, 2011 — 5 Comments

swimmer 200x300 Swimming in GraceIn his book Practice Resurrection, Eugene Peterson talks about grace and the art of writing. As he read poet William Stafford‘s book on creative writing, Stafford’s analogy of swimming reminded Peterson of God’s grace. This is a beautiful passage for anyone seeking to follow Christ and live a creative life in Him.

…any reasonable person who looks at water [grace], and passes a hand through it, can see that it would not hold a person up…But swimmers [followers of Jesus] know that if they relax on the water [grace] it will prove to be miraculously buoyant; Continue Reading…

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Read “Save the Cat!”

April 13, 2011 — 3 Comments

SaveTheCat website large 200x300 Read Save the Cat![dc]I[/dc] wish I had read Save the Cat: The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need by Blake Snyder before I started my last screenplay! Not only would it have saved the cat, it would have saved me from myself!

Hopefully, I’m going to save you a lot of time by encouraging you to buy this excellent book. I’ve read a lot of screenplay books, most of them written by people who teach about writing screenplays, but who actually don’t.

I’ve just finished Synder’s book and I absolutely loved it.

Here’s why…

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What I Love Today

April 6, 2011 — 6 Comments

whatIlove 225x300 What I Love Today[dc]L[/dc]ast Sunday, my wife Krista bought a new stamp set labeled, “What I Love Today.” She took a new journal and put the stamp on the cover (see photo) and now the O’Connor family has a brand new “What I Love Today” journal.

That night, we each took turns writing in it and sharing what we loved about our relaxing Sunday.

Have you taken time to think what you love about today? It has a huge influence on who you are and how you do what you do!

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