‘All-American Girl’ and the Flow

(This article uses affiliate links. If you click on a link that takes you to Amazon and you buy a product, we get a commission. It doesn’t cost you anything extra.) In Meg Cabot’s All-American Girl, Samantha Madison is an artist, who loves to draw. When she talks about her art, she says:

When you are drawing, it is like the whole world around you ceases to exist. It is just you and the page and the pencil… When you are drawing, you are not aware of time passing, or what is happening around you. When a drawing is going really well, you could sit down at one o’clock and not look up again until five, and not even have any idea that so much time has gone by until someone mentions it, because you have been so caught up in what you are creating…

When you are drawing, you are in your own world, of your own creation.

And there is no world better than that.

The Flow

Mihály Csikszentmihalyi called this “the flow.” It is a state as Cabot describes it through her narrator, Madison. You can achieve this state through other endeavors, including sports, when solving a complex problem, and when participating in other creative activities. It is also known as “in the zone.”

‘All-American Girl’

All-American Girl is a quasi-romance seen through the eyes of a 15-year-old girl, who happens to save the President’s life. It comes with all the angst, worry, and love triangles that you might expect from the genre. It also faces the question of learning how to become one’s true self.

Creativity Notes

If you want drawing to be your thing, I recommend joining our Patreon and looking at the 2025 Advent Calendar for easy ways to draw Christmas. If you want to learn more about creativity, check out my books:

‘Christmas in Camelot’ Advent Calendar Idea

After the end of Magic Tree House, Merlin Missions: Christmas in Camelot, there is a section for “Christmas Craftwork.” The publisher chose to describe making an Advent Calendar that you can reuse. As someone who loves Advent Calendars, I found this concept intriguing, especially since it is an easy way to practice being creative. (This website uses affiliate links. If a link takes you to Amazon and you buy something, we earn a commission, but it doesn’t cost you any extra.)

The Basics

You’ll need 24 Velcro squares, a large piece of poster board preferably green, and supplies, like paper, crayons, colored pencils or pens, to make the countdown decorations. Draw a tree on the poster board attach ½ of each of the 24 Velcro squares. Create your ornaments from the other supplies and attach the second half of the Velcro. Be sure to number your ornaments 1 to 24, so you know which day each represents. Of course, the instructions are more detailed and kid friendly in Christmas in Camelot.

Disappointing Advent Calendar

One year I got a cheap chocolate Advent Calendar. I knew what it was: a cheap chocolate, cheap Advent Calendar. You open the door and get a small square of not great chocolate with some Christmas item printed on it. The square could have an elf, Santa, stocking, tree, or anything else related to Christmas. I wasn’t expecting anything grand, just something fun that I could afford. What I really looked forward to was the double doors labeled 24. That would be the largest piece of chocolate.

It wasn’t. I opened the doors on the appointed date to find a piece of chocolate the same size as the rest of the chocolates. Why did it have double doors when a single one would’ve been just fine?

My Solution

I spent the next year making Advent Calendars for friends and family. I sewed them from discount cloth I found after that Christmas. These were three feet wide by five feet tall, and they had 24 pockets that could hide items large or small. I put names on them with fabric paint and put them on dowels with string so they could be hung up. I then went to the dollar store and filled the Advent Calendars and sent them out.

I don’t know how long people used them. I do know at least one sold at a garage sale for $5. I was there for the garage sale and thought about retrieving it, but I had given it to the person, so I just let it go.

Avoiding Disappointment

You don’t have to go through all the work I did to create a fun reusable Advent Calendar. Christmas in Camelot has one suggestion that is guaranteed not to disappoint. And if you do it with your spouse or children, you’ll create memories that will last far into Christmas future.

Join us on Patreon if you’d like to countdown Christmas with us.

Sophie Scarfs from Jenya on Etsy

Jenya has knit several Sophie scarfs and put them on Etsy. These scarfs are extremely popular, she’s already sold more than a half dozen of them. That may not seem like a lot, but when you consider that she knits them by hand, you might begin to see why that number is amazing. Secondarily, it’s pretty cool that she’s been able to garner orders from across the United States for her warm creations. It’s incredible how this item has taken off for us.

What are Sophie Scarfs?

Sophie scarfs are smaller scarfs that wrap around the neck once or twice. The ends are thinner than the middle, which makes them easier to wrap together. This fashionable accessory is soft to touch and just right for the Winter season. Jenya uses yarn that she likes to knit with, so you know it’s soft to touch. She also knits in different colors. Blue has been the most popular.

Scarfs or Scarves?

For my English-speaking nerd friends, I looked it up. Either plural is valid according to Grammarly. Merriam-Webster agrees.

Discussing the Plural

Regardless of which plural you think is correct or which one you use most, you can’t use either unless you order two or more Sophie scarfs (-ves), preferably from Jenya on Etsy. While you’re there, you can look at some other great creations she’s made.

‘Tis the Season

If you’re planning your holiday season gift-giving, we’d love to be a part of that plan. You can rest assured that your Sophie scarfs will be made with care and love. We also have stuffed penguins for your favorite plushie and/or penguin lover, Roly-Poly penguins for those who need a little help with stress relief, and some teddy bears that will bring vintage back to Christmas. Visit the Penguinate shop on Etsy and order now. Quantities are limited, and shipping times are increasing.

Haunted Mansion Is Creativity at FanX

It’s official. I’m going to be presenting “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity” at FanX just in time to celebrate Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion’s 55th anniversary! My panel is scheduled for Sept. 27, 2024 in room 250A. (Dick Van Dyke will be in the Grand Ballroom at noon, so Disney fans will have to rush from his supercalifragilisticexpialidocious panel to mine. I’ll do my best to save you a seat.)

What Can You Expect?

I will take you on a guided tour of the Haunted Mansion, so bring your imagination. Along the way, we’ll meet some of the characters that made the Haunted Mansion what it is. We’ll also look at the history and structure of the attraction to give us examples of the creative process and how it works in real life. Hopefully, you’ll be able to put some of these principles to work in your life every day.

Also, fans of the Haunted Mansion can expect to recite the spiel and sing the song as we go on this tour together. Don’t worry. There will be no spooks around to tell you they want to hear the Ghost Host and not you. Creativity can be a team endeavor.

For those unfamiliar with the Haunted Mansion, it’s important to note that the attraction does deal with themes that some might find triggering. This includes death and suicide.

Books for Sale

Unfortunately, I have been unable to partner with anyone on the convention floor at FanX 2024. So, if you want books, you’ll have to order them through Amazon or contact me directly (shadexaminer@gmail.com), so I can bring them with me. Otherwise, I will have a very small number of books available for purchase directly after the panel. (If you get your books on Amazon, I’ll be happy to sign them when you bring them to FanX.

About FanX and Me

FanX is one of my favorite comic conventions because they gave me my start as a journalist covering conventions. I’ve been lucky enough to meet Lou Ferrigno, Battlestar Galactica’s Richard Hatch, and Micky Dolenz, among others. The convention runs from Sept. 26 to Sept. 28, 2024. Make final arrangements now to see the Haunted Mansion Is Creativity at FanX 2024. We’re dying to have you.

You’re Creativity Doesn’t Need Monetization or Approval

Creativity is core to being human. Your very humanity comes with the tools to be creative. Back when humans were living in caves, they painted, they told stories, and sometimes they painted and told stories. (That’s not a six-legged animal. It’s an animal on the cave wall that would seem to move as the firelight flickered across it.) Creative expression is just a part of who you are.

Unfortunately, we’ve come to a time when society says that everything we do needs to be productive. All our waking time needs to be monetized. If you aren’t making money from it, it isn’t worth doing. The exceptions to this rule are going to the bathroom, eating, or going someplace to spend the money your making, even if that someplace is your living room couch to watch Netflix, to which you’re paying a monthly fee while also paying the Internet and electricity fees.

Beyond this neurotic need to make money, we have to be good at something in order for it to be worthwhile. The good news is that we don’t have to be Olympic or professional level athletes to enjoy sports. However, we can’t be bad at those sports either. If we pick up a tennis racket and can’t hit the ball back over the net, we might find ourselves saying, “I’m not any good at this.” That’s not the truth. What you should say is, “I haven’t had enough practice at this.” Or you can take a cue from Goofy, even if you’ve played for years or you play like a beginner, as long as you have fun, you’re number one.

The same is true for creative works. You don’t have to be good in order to enjoy an activity. If the activity is something that helps you cope with the world, all you have to do is spend the time to do it. You are worth giving up as many hours as you need to do something you like and you don’t have to be good at it.

Abraham Piper reminded me of this in one of his reels. He paints to center himself. The results don’t matter.

Find that creative activity you love, enjoy it for what it is.

If you want more creativity tips, check out my books in the Disneyland Is Creativity series and the Penguinate! series.

The Declaration of Independence Text

The following is the full text of the Declaration of Independence. I have placed the source link at the bottom of the page. The text is about 1300 words. I have changed the formatting of the list of crimes King George committed that led to the colonies declaring their independence. It is now in bullet points to make it more readable.

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

  • He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
  • He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
  • He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
  • He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
  • He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
  • He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
  • He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
  • He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
  • He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
  • He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
  • He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
  • He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
  • He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
  • For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
  • For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
  • For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
  • For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
  • For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
  • For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
  • For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
  • For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
  • For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
  • He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
  • He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
  • He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
  • He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
  • He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Source: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript

FanX 2023 in Salt Lake City and ‘Disneyland Is Creativity’

It’s official! We are less than a month away from FanX 2023 in Salt Lake City, and I have a panel, “Disneyland Is Creativity.” Based on my book, this panel will provide ways to improve your creativity by using examples and metaphors from Disneyland’s structure and history. This panel is a must for fans of the park and for those who are interested in learning principles of creativity to improve their lives and the lives of others. The time and place of the panel will be released with the FanX app. Download the app, bookmark our panel, and join us for a walk down memory lane.

Get ‘Disneyland Is Creativity’

You can get a copy of “Disneyland Is Creativity” and its sequel “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity” from Amazon. You can also order them directly from me and pick them up at my panel. We will bring a very limited supply of books to be available at Darren Lamb’s table in Artist Alley. (Darren is known as the Worst Buddhist; his table will have cool, geek-inspired Buddhas and stickers as well as books he’s written.) I’ll be happy to sign your books when I see you at FanX in Salt Lake City.

FanX 2023 in Salt Lake City

FanX 2023 is Salt Lake City’s premier comic convention. It will be held September 21 to 23, 2023. Tickets often sell out. Get yours ahead of time.

As always, events and panels are subject to change. Be sure to confirm the panels and activities you’re excited for, ahead of time.

Blog Returns to Positive Creativity

We have several people who signed up for this blog while we were using it for Lincoln City Archery. The posts that are up will remain up, as will the videos on YouTube (for however long YouTube allows). Our blog, on the other hand, will be reverting back to its earlier form. We will be looking at positive creativity and relying on creative principles to help you feel empowered enough to create something to make the world, your world, or the world of someone you love, better. This doesn’t mean that we will be eliminating archery altogether. It just means there will be more diversity. What does that look like?

Travel Blogs

You don’t have to travel to write a travel blog. Books can take you to places that you never knew existed, that may not have ever existed, except in someone’s imagination. They can also take you to places that exist but that you can’t get to. (My “Adventures on the Amur” books are meant to take you to Blagoveshchensk, Russia; it’s a real place, even if the stories are fictional.)

However, travel blogs are also great when they are about actual travel. In the short term, you may see articles about Lincoln City, Newport, or other areas close by. A staycation, when done correctly, is traveling to places you typically ignore right in your own (figurative, possibly literal) backyard. We are also going to take a trip to see my grandma and uncle and Disneyland. Longer term, the travel blogs may be few and far between. It just depends on how much support we get from our Patreon and this website.

Disney Blogs

As the author of “Disneyland Is Creativity,” and “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity,” you might suspect that I am a huge Disney fan. You’d be right. Some of my most viewed articles have been on why certain movies were bad, like Maleficent 2. However, I also like to write about the joy and the creative principles that Disney uses in its production of intellectual property. I still have some amazing articles on my Weebly site that explore synergy and other aspects of the Disney company.

Book Blogs

Books help improve focus and concentration. They also improve creativity through the use of imagination and increasing working vocabulary. Plus, I like to read, and I hope you do to. Some of the book posts will be to showcase an Indie Author. Some of it will be to explore themes of a book. Some of it will just be to tell you about a book I love to read.

Penguin Blogs

You gotta love our stuffed penguins. Every stuffed penguin that gets adopted allows us to send a donation to the Royal Albatross Centre for their work with little penguins and other birds. From June 2021 to July 2022, we were able to donate over $130 to the New Zealand non-profit. Of course, we love real penguins, so having blog posts here only makes sense.

Positive Creativity Blogs

Creativity requires special and general knowledge. You need to be an expert at one subject, but then you need to know about another subject in order to make the connections that creativity requires. The guy who invented Velcro was an engineer (expert) and a hiker (generalist). When he became interested in how burrs attach themselves to, well, almost everything, he put his engineering knowledge to work. The curiosity linked the two things he knew to bring a third thing into being.

But here’s the thing most people miss, YOU DO NOT NEED TO MAKE MONEY WITH YOUR CREATIVITY. There are a lot of others things out there that require you to make money – your rent, medical bills, food… The figurative list is endless, even if this one only has three items. The entire capitalist system tells you that if you’re making something and not selling it than you are somehow losing. People want you to turn your positive creativity into your side-gig. Make a little extra cheddar because that’s better than making something just for the joy of it.

BAH! Meh! UGH! You can be creative, you can make something, and you don’t have to turn it into a cottage business. You don’t have to find a place to sell it. You can, and I won’t discourage you from sharing your creativity with the world. In fact, I want you to share your positive creativity with the world. But I also want you to know that sometimes, an artist creates something because he or she has to. Often, the world is not ready for that something.

It’s sad. It’s hard, and when you have bills to pay, it gets more difficult to justify that part of you. As a human being, it is important to recognize that your creativity is more of who you are than your job is… unless you’re making bank on your creativity, then good for you!

(One note: If someone asks you to use your creativity for them, you have every right to demand payment of some form. Too many artists, writers, and others are willing to give their creativity away for free or for exposure. This not only hurts the specific person giving the items away, but it also hurts everyone else who could’ve earned some sort of living from the creative endeavor. Don’t let anyone take advantage of you for your special gifts. This could be a blog post on its own, but I’ll let it go for now.)

Thank You

I want to thank each and everyone of you for being with us on our blog. We appreciate you and look forward to your positive creativity.

The Sounds of Disneyland as a Writing Aid

As I wrote over the summer and through October, I would find Disney Park music on YouTube to listen to. Some of the videos contained ambient sounds hidden in the background to subvert the copyright bot. Others were straight from the park. Still others were clear and beautiful. Then YouTube decided to monetize smaller creators’ videos without sharing revenue. This is the same content they said wasn’t worth monetizing in 2018 because it was too small.

Continue reading

Lifelong Learning Important for Personal and Business Development: A Lesson from the Disney Company

Walt Disney was continuously improving his art.  In fact, many people say he elevated the animated cartoon to an art. As shorts became less profitable, Walt knew he had to diversify. He began to train his staff to ready them for “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” To do so, he brought experts into the studio to teach the animators how to draw better. Some of these lessons are now available in “Before Ever After” (affiliate link).

Continue reading