The Daily Writer

I have been teaching guitar for over twenty years. Despite the wide variety of students I’ve taught, they’ve all had one thing in common: they needed to find the right guitar to suit their needs. All guitars are not created equal. When you choose the right guitar, you will become a better player because the instrument is a good fit for you. In this episode, you’ll learn three keys to choosing the...

How do you stand out as a creative professional? Is it a matter of being cheaper and faster than your competition? Do you need to be a genius or super-talented? The answer is simpler than it seems. In this episode, you’ll learn 3 simple ways to stand out as a creative professional. Anyone can do these. It just takes a little more time and effort. But these practices will instantly set you apart ma...

This month, April 2017, marks the end of my thirteenth year as a Professor at St. Louis Christian College in Florissant, Missouri. Over these years, I’ve taught hundreds of students and have spent countless hours teaching and advising them. When I started teaching, I thought I had all the answers. I had no idea that I would learn as much (probably more) from my students as I would teach them. In t...

As parents, what do we truly want for our kids? Beyond being happy and healthy, we also want them to grow into people who can make a positive contribution to society and help solve the complex problems of the new few decades. In this episode, you’ll learn five strategies that will help set up your kids for creative success both now and in the future. Helping our kids be creative thinkers is one of...

We all know developing our creativity is vital to our success. But with our busy lives, it’s easy to put creativity on the back burner because it may seem too complicated and time-consuming. In this episode, you’ll learn ten simple ways to grow your creativity. You can even do many of these very cheaply, and with family and friends. Creativity doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated—pick one o...

In the previous episode, I outlined four questions you can use to help decide which creative projects to pursue. These questions are filters to keep you focused on the right projects. They will also help you avoid the ones that are dead ends. In this episode, I’ll walk through a case study describing how I used these questions to choose my next major creative project, which is a book. I’ll share w...

My friend Mark Revisky sent in a question recently: He wrote, “I am at a creative roadblock. I have completed my memoir and a play, but I don’t know what to do next. A book, another play, a fictional story? How do I find a direction to go?” This is an area where I have struggled quite a bit over the years. I imagine everyone reading this has struggled with it as well. In this episode, you’ll learn...

What is the key to being a successful author? Is it talent? Marketing? Great ideas? Writing a lot of books? While those are all important, I’ve just finished reading a great book that tells you how to develop a critical aspect of becoming a successful author. In this episode, I’ll share why I love Joanna Penn’s new book, The Successful Author Mindset . The book is filled with great tips and practi...

I had an interesting conversation with someone recently about a hypothetical situation: what if a sincere, devoted Christian legitimately can’t stand the music at their church? How should they deal with this problem? In this episode, I’ll offer 8 suggestions for people who are struggling to enjoy the music at their church. You’ll learn to gain a new perspective on music and how you can be a suppor...

Are worship songs too complicated these days? How does the key of a song affect its “singability” in church? What lessons can we learn about worship songs from Chris Tomlin’s “How Great is Our God”? These are some of the questions we’ll answer on this episode, which is Part 5 of our series, “Whatever Happened to Singing in Church?” We’ll look at several musical factors that have impacted engagemen...

How has the role of the worship leader changed over the last 10-15 years? Is the struggle between authentic worship and entertainment a new development, or an old one? And how do you choose between a worship leader with a great heart, and one with more talent? These are some of the questions we’ll answer on this episode, which is Part 4 of our series, “Whatever Happened to Singing in Church?” We’l...

How do sound, lighting, and video impact people’s participation in worship? Why is it important for a church to invest in good equipment and training for tech staff and volunteers? And why should you treat them like royalty? These are some of the questions we’ll answer on this episode, which is Part 3 of our series, “Whatever Happened to Singing in Church?” We’ll look at several environmental fact...

How do art and music programs in public schools affect worship in the church? How does pursuing excellence in worship impact those who aren’t musicians? And how do visitors feel when they come to church and see people singing together, which doesn’t happen much in everyday life? These are some of the questions we’ll answer on this episode, which is Part 2 of our series, “Whatever Happened to Singi...

One of the most important ways that we express ourselves   creatively is by worshiping in song with a faith community. Singing is the oldest, and still the most widely practiced, way that God’s people worship together. In this episode, we’ll begin a short continuous series on why people don’t sing in church anymore. I’ll share why I’m talking about this topic, and three reasons why singing in chur...

If you’ve ever traveled in a car with kids, you have probably heard the question, “Are we there yet?” But it’s not only kids who have trouble waiting. We adults are just as impatient, especially when we’re in the midst of the struggle to reach our goals. In this episode, you’ll learn three lessons from my recent struggle with learning to be content while trying to reach my goals. These lessons are...

Do you ever feel like your art is in a separate “box” from the rest of your life? Maybe you feel a disconnect between your art and your church … between your art and your faith … or your art and the broader culture.  But what if there was a way to integrate your art into every area of your life? One of the best ways to do this is by getting back to the basics and studying artists of the Bible. Whe...

I am a huge fan of “Hamilton,” the s mash Broadway musical created by Lin-Manual Miranda. “Ha milton” won 11 Tony awards in 2016 and has been the most talked-about musical in decades. It’s one of the greatest works of art that has been released in my life. But there’s another reason I’m such a big fan of Lin-Manuel Miranda: he took the time to send my son a handwritten card in the mail. As a resul...

As creatives, it’s important for us to understand why and how stories work. A great place to begin is by studying screenwriting. You may not consider yourself a writer, or don’t plan on writing a screenplay. Even so, understanding the storytelling process can help you in a variety of ways. In this episode, you’ll learn how screenwriting principles can help you, and why you should check my hands-do...

La La Land was one of the most well-known movies featured at this year’s Academy Awards. It’s a bright, inventive film that takes place in modern-day Los Angeles and hearkens back to the days of old movie musicals. La La Land completely won me over by its playful spirit, engaging story, and sheer audacity. In this episode, I’ll share three specific lessons on creativity I learned from La La Land ....

Most of the time, we don’t give a lot of attention to organizing our workspace. But it’s worth setting it up for maximum efficiency since this is where you create your art and do your work. When you work in an uncluttered environment, your mind is free to focus and be creative. In this episode, you’ll learn five steps to clearing the clutter from your workspace. The result? You’ll have less stress...

When we see other creative people who are successful, it’s difficult not to feel jealous. The question foremost in our minds is, “Why do they have ______, and I don’t?”  In this episode, you’ll learn to ask better questions that start with “What” instead of “Why.” This small shift in your vocabulary will have huge results in your creative life because you’ll be focusing on what you can proactively...

Most of us dream of having large blocks of time we can use to think and write. For most of us, this dream rarely becomes a reality. Most of us lead very busy lives filled with jobs, family commitments, and church or community responsibilities. In this episode, you’ll learn how to get more writing done by using four unusual methods. These tips will help you take advantage of the time you do have an...

One of my readers, who is a college student, recently sent this email: "With all these different things I want to do and hope to achieve, I sometimes get lost in keeping track of all the things, and I get a bit discouraged. In my head, I keep trying to create an inhumane time schedule for each day. And maybe it’s not unachievable, but it’s also quite strict, and I won’t be able to keep up wit...

After many years of feeling guilty for my mistakes, I am finally learning to see my failures as stepping-stones to success. Some of my biggest failures over the last two or three years have involved business decisions that didn’t go quite as planned. Although I wasted a lot of time spinning my wheels, I learned several valuable lessons from these experiences. In this episode, I’ll share the backgr...

I recently sat down with an artist friend of mine to see how she was doing. Diane was feeling overwhelmed with responsibilities. She longed to have more time to do creative work that refreshed her soul and would help her move forward. Diane felt stuck. She was on a hamster wheel and didn’t know how to get off. Have you ever felt that way? I have! In this episode, you’ll learn how to get unstuck by...