I don’t think of myself as a writer. It doesn’t come naturally to me. But I think deeply about everything, and I’ve become far more productive creatively in recent years, a huge contrast to earlier in my life when I was almost incapable of expressing myself. I also never thought of myself as an artist, or even a musician. It seemed presumptuous. But I’ve changed my thinking on this—we’re all artists. It’s our birthright to create, but not all of us have access to our artistic capacity yet. For many years I had no outlet, and it was deeply frustrating. When I deliberately worked on it, I focused on discipline and craft. That was important, but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t until I accessed my own channel of inspiration that I really started having success.
The words on this site trace my process of transforming from artistically mute to free-flowing expression. They also explore some larger forces that I believe are hampering our ability–all of humanity–to create. I’m not an authority on these topics, but my observations are rooted in years of lived experience and hard-won wisdom. The Romans had a phrase: ars longa, vita brevis—art is long, life is short. Our time here is brief, but what we create can continue resonating long after we’re gone, touching lives we’ll never meet, influencing them in ways we can’t predict. That possibility—that what we make might inspire others to find their own voice—is what makes sharing it worthwhile. And if nothing else, perhaps someone will learn from what I’ve been through and save themselves some frustration.