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Welcome to Pairings
Pairings by Jann Alexander include creativity, inspiration, books, writing, photography, art, history, travel, Texas life, lore and more
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Jann Alexander
Dec 14 min read
How Four Words Got Me Back on the Writing Track
Here's how four words — Create First, React Later — can help to keep you on the writing track.
Jann Alexander
Sep 14 min read
How Do You Start What You’re Afraid To?
Knowing when to stop writing is a lot easier than starting to write in the first place. But it's simple: You just have to show up.
Jann Alexander
Jul 154 min read
Why The Fear of Ruining Your Art Will Ruin Your Art
Don’t let fear become the biggest influence in your creative life. Find your commitment to painting and writing by delving into your fears.
Jann Alexander
Dec 2, 20232 min read
Creativity Works … When You Work
Don’t fight it. Creativity is a choice. Once you make it, the ups, and the downs, are the fun part.
Jann Alexander
May 19, 20232 min read
Where You Look Is Where You'll Go
Life provides obstacles, but you can choose what you focus on
Jann Alexander
Oct 29, 20223 min read
What Happens When You Let Go
When you let go, you create space for something else to move in to your life, as Holiday Mathis told me in my horoscope.
Jann Alexander
Apr 29, 20222 min read
Requirements for Writing Fiction
Embrace your dual gifts: you can inhabit two worlds, and you can slide between them with ease. It’s just what writers do.
Jann Alexander
Aug 24, 20154 min read
All Heart and Soul: Anna Blake’s Memoir
Lifesavers: Stable Relations Nubè and Clara Anna Blake ©2015 Her heart had been broken , in many places, when she threw herself...
Jann Alexander
Jan 28, 20153 min read
Why Your First Novel Will Always Be Your Favorite
Click to Tweet This Your first novel will always be your favorite, because of your innocence when you wrote it, though it is unlikely to...
Jann Alexander
Jan 13, 20155 min read
Making Space for What Counts
Making Space by Jann Alexander ©2014 Embracing abundance is all well and good , and I do my fair share of that, but when you embrace too...
Jann Alexander
Nov 16, 201413 min read
Are You Captive to Clutter?
Are You Going Under? ©2014 Jann Alexander Here’s my recipe for getting a grip on your chaos-driven, clutter-filled life. Busting the...
Jann Alexander
Sep 10, 20143 min read
Knowing When to Stop
When to Stop Art by Jann Alexander ©2014 Hemingway was notoriously negligent with his drinking, his wives and in the end, his own life,...
Jann Alexander
Jul 21, 20141 min read
There Is Truth In What You Paint: Yours
#JustPaint Poster ©2014 JannAlexander.com if you’re a painter, and it’s part of your soul and the way you breathe, you know it, and...
Jann Alexander
Jun 25, 20143 min read
Are You Important Enough to Have Writer’s Block?
Setting by Jann Alexander © 2013 Paul O’Dwyer :“What are you writing?” Pete Hamill: “Nothing Paul, I think I have some kind of block.”...
Jann Alexander
Jun 21, 20142 min read
What’s Your Creative Personality?
Do you recognize your creative personality from among these eight types? Road Trippin’ by Jann Alexander © 2014 The Traveling Creative :...
Jann Alexander
Jun 9, 20141 min read
Focus Only on What You Are Writing Now
In 1932, Henry Miller created his own 11 Commandments to maintain his focus on his writing. They’re still worthy today, 80 years after...
Jann Alexander
May 8, 20143 min read
How Can We Turn Distractions Into Focus?
Take a Moment by Jann Alexander © 2014 Finding focus is a challenge. The distractions are limitless, more so because we see lists like...
Jann Alexander
Apr 10, 20142 min read
Why Making Art Is Messy
Flower Child on the Porch by Jann Alexander © 2008 “Clutter and mess show us that life is being lived . . . Tidiness makes me think of...
Jann Alexander
Apr 6, 20142 min read
How to Awaken the Creative Spirit
Awakening by Jann Alexander © 2014 “May our heart’s garden of awakening bloom with hundreds of flowers.” —Thich Nhat Hanh Captured on...
Jann Alexander
Mar 27, 20141 min read
You Are the Most Important Influence for Your Art
It’s all about you. Who you are is what you make, and what you make of it. — Jann Alexander on Influences . . . . . HERE’S WHERE I...
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