I've been kicking around the idea of writing a regular newsletter to friends for the past couple of years. On December 12, 1999, at 7:22 a.m., while in the middle of my morning shower, the idea finally moved from hazy to clear - my Muse whispered, "make it an e-mail newsletter." (Yes, I do believe in Muses.) If you find it interesting and useful, forward it to your friends. If this gets forwarded to you and you want to be included in future issues, e-mail me and I'll add your address. My e-mail address is williamguion@williamguion.com. In that way, the mailing list will grow, and I'll have a sense of whether or not folks find it helpful.

Who's the audience? You...or anyone out there working in a creative job. You may be an artist, designer, writer, photographer, architect, craftsperson, or maybe none of these. If you have a heart and soul and your life or occupation calls for you to come up with new ways of approaching problem solving, then this newsletter likely will have something useful or thought provoking for you. The subject? How to survive as a creative person in the real-world of business and commerce.

More and more, your job calls for creative, original thinking, problem solving, better organization and clearer communication skills. The more, faster, better-demands that we face each day requires creativity. Thinking "outside the box" has become a cliché', but what the heck does that mean? And how the heck do you climb outside that box when you really need to?

I'll write about my challenges that I've faced each day for the past 20 or so years that I've worked in creative jobs (writer, photographer creative director, communications director) - things like: creative control, originality, inspiration, the creative process and how to nurture it, restoring your sense of self, ego-mania, maintaining a sense of personal ethics, how not to sell your soul or your talents short, the commercial worth of creativity, bad clients, good clients, critics (especially your internal one), pushy people, the list goes on... I figure if I've dealt with an issue and have some insight that can help other folks out there with less mileage on their career odometers than me, then it's time I start giving something back for all the good teachers and mentors I've had.

Why me? What makes me qualified to write this newsletter you ask? Heck, what makes anyone qualified to write about creativity? It's like breathing. We all do it; we all use it, and couldn't live without it. And, I've been researching the nature of creativity and the creative process since back in the 70s. So, I feel it's time I share some of what I've learned.