Creatives, let’s unite and bring our visions to fruition!

If you're a creative with some beautiful visions just tugging at your heart, just waiting to come into being, but you're hitting some roadblocks, then this blog is quite literally for you.

I think it's really important to understand a little bit about the background and context of the people that we receive information from. So, this is kind of my unofficial welcome/about the author section, which I also strongly encourage you to read the next time you pick up a book. It's really helps us understand and connect more deeply. Where are these people coming from and what are they sharing with me?

I'm going to tell you a little bit about my background and my story. I'm also going to make sure that you know this content was created for you. Hint: I'm creating this blog for creatives of any medium across the board. So let's get into it.

I have been a lifelong creative, starting out as a writer. I remember for my fifth or sixth birthday, I asked my parents for a typewriter. Yes, a typewriter, because computers weren't common. Plus, still stand behind it: typewriters are cool. I also asked for one again for my 40th birthday and got one. Thanks, husband. I was a writer right from the beginning. I also found myself on stage as a dancer from a very young age. It wasn't until much much later that I realized that my my passions of writing and dancing were going to collab on the stage. I grew up on the stage and really began my career as a dancer. I was always a choreographer and a storyteller. When I met my husband - then friend because we were just 13 years old - it wasn't until we were about 16 that we realized we had a really shared passion for dance and storytelling. We started dating at age 17.

We quite literally fell in love on the dance floor. I remember asking him at that very young age, “Hey, would you like to start a creative dance company with me called Melonlight?”

He said, “Sure.”

It took us quite a long time to do that. Fast forward into our early 20s, we started studying ballroom dancing. I remember choosing to go into that world - I had been doing modern and jazz and hip-hop and world dance forms, and not really much partnership, but we saw an opportunity to inch our way into an industry that resembled performance… so we took it. It wasn't like I had some big dream of being a ballroom dance professional. I had the dream of creating my own shows, and that was a doorway that opened.

I was like, "Yes, I would rather learn more dancing and teach dancing and get paid than work at the Home Depot." No shade! No shade, but I didn't want to work at the Home Depot anymore.

So we started doing ballroom dancing, we learned some of the business aspects, and then thought, cool, we can make some money inside of an industry that is creative that makes us happy. We did that for a while and then it was finally time to open Melonlight.

(Quick short story there because it says a lot about who I am as a creative and how I can help you as a creative as well: The name Melonlight is a play on the expression “to be in the limelight”. To be in the limelight is to be in a spotlight of fame, so to speak. But I always knew that I wanted to create my own light because I never really wanted to go the audition route. I didn't want to go to New York or LA and do auditions while waitressing. I didn't want to submit my scripts and be like, "Pick me. pick me, please produce my show!” For one, I just think it sounds awful. No shade if that's what you want to do; but to me, it sounded awful. I also knew that I wanted more creative control. I wanted to write the show and be in it. So, call me a diva. I don't care.)

I wanted to have my hand in every aspect, so I decided I was just I was going to self-produce. I was going to do it my own way. That's why we took the lime of limelight and changed it to a melon because we were going to create our own spotlight.

Now here I am two decades later, launching a new business called The Creative Spotlight. We launched Melonlight and eventually, what really started as a dance company turned into a theatrical company because I couldn't hold back that me who was on the typewriter just dying to write.

We started producing full-on scripts. We moved our company from Colorado to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, so that we could have a full-time immersive theater. That's what my husband and I have now. We run shows on a full-time basis. We write and produce what we want because we're not playing the pick-me game. The people that we're bringing satisfaction to are for one, ourselves as creatives, and two, the wonderful people who show up as our audience. We're making sure that they're happy and they enjoy the show.

I've done a lot of work over the past 2+ decades professionally (and more if you go back into my childhood and teen years in terms of developing creative projects), turning it into a money-making reality and struggling my little dancing, writing booty off along the way. And it's been worth every single struggle and every single spotlight and every single moment of joy and success. That's really why I decided to launch this blog, podcast (coming soon!), and YouTube channel.

I kind of blinked and went, "Oh snap, I'm 41. Okay, when did that happen?"

And, "Oh, snap. I accomplished a lot of the things I said I was going to in my creative career."

I took a glance back at those last couple decades and went, "Wow, I've learned a lot and I've been through a lot."

Because I've also been a teacher, I know there's a lot that I can share with other creatives. So now it comes to the you part. That's enough about me. If you are a creative of any medium - it doesn't have to be in dance or theater or playwriting like me - if you are a music maker, a photographer, a jewelry maker, a pottery maker, a painter, whatever kind of creative you might be, I know that we share a lot of the same struggles. We go through these moments of doubt and fear and impostor syndrome, lack of resources like time and money, or we simply just think that we're not good enough, not deserving to have creative work, be able to do it full-time and be paid for it.

There are so many challenging beliefs that we encounter. Not just the limiting beliefs in our minds, which we'll talk about a lot here, but real world practical limitations and how-to's. I realized I have so much knowledge that I can share, and it makes me so happy to see creatives creating. That that's why I've created this space.

So if you're a creative with some beautiful visions just tugging at your heart, just waiting to come into being, but you're hitting some roadblocks… then this blog is quite literally for you, because I know that I can help you get through some of those roadblocks. I know that we can celebrate the creative wins together. On this blog, I will be sharing some practical how-to stuff. We're going to be working on mindset and how to push through and bring your visions to a tangible thing: the creation of your creation.

I'm also going to be sharing some entertaining, helpful and inspiring stories from my creative life, the work I do on the stage (and on the typewriter of course), and the third piece is I'm going to be sharing some real work/life creative balance stuff… because I co-create with my husband and we also have four small children.

If I can create a full-time creative career starting with very little resources, and with four darling little ones to care for, baby, so can you.

So, get out of your own way. I would love to be your cheerleader, your coach, your friend on the sideline going, "Hey, hey, you can do this!"

When your own &%!# gets in your way and you feel like you can't, or you're not good enough, let me show up on your screen and say, "Oh, baby, wait. But you are good enough and you can do this, and here's how. Let's do it together."

If you want to dive into that creative pool together, then you should sign up to receive my weekly email. Like I said, I'm a writer, so that's where I'm going to pour out tons of passion and insight and help you get well on your way to creating the things your heart is dying to create.

The world needs your creations. Let's do it.

Now, that's a wrap. Go do your creative work.