Making the simple awesomely simple—that's creativity. Charles Mingus
What Is Creative Coaching?
COACH APPROACH
Use the Force
My goal as your creative coach is to bolster your natural intuition, empowering you to solve your own problems.
IT’S NOT THERAPY
Look Forward
In creative coaching, we engage with the present and the future to meet your creative goals. In contrast, psychotherapy often focuses on healing the past.
UNINSPIRED?
Bust Out
Like theater artist Jerzy Grotowski, who worked with actors in a method called “via negativa,” we’ll activate your creativity by eradicating blocks.
IT’S BEEN A MINUTE
Stay on Track
On deadline yet find yourself rearranging your sock drawer once again? We’ll work together to defeat procrastination and get you back on track.
DREAMING IS A FORM OF PLANNING
Dreams
Creativity is a psychologically sensitive experience powered by curiosity. To nurture that curiosity, we’ll visualize the impossible or practice mindful meditation, all within the context of tender encouragement and in the service of following your creative true north.
I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious. Albert Einstein
Plans
Because the creative process is nonlinear, structure and organization are our friends. A little scaffolding can go a long way. We’ll learn about how and when you work best, then strategize to make the most of your peaks and valleys.
If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to music, meditate, exercise: whatever you do, don't just stick there scowling at the problem. Hilary Mantel
WHO IS ANDREA CLARK?
About Andrea
Andrea Clark holds a master’s degree in clinical psychology from Yale University and is also a graduate of the University of Michigan and Coach U. In her work as a creative coach, she relies on more than 20 years of experience as a nonfiction writer, training in mindfulness and performance, and intuitive sensibility to guide working artists and those committed to creative living. Andrea believes in sleeping in, twilight through the window, and the dark right before the movie starts. She lives in Oakland, California with her husband and their cats, Kasha and Jeromatherapy.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
Endorsements
TRIED AND TRUE
Resources
ON CREATIVITY
Fear, Courage, Magic
- Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orlando
- The Courage to Create by Rollo May
- The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
- Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
- Make Your Creative Dreams Real by SARK
- Letters to a Young Artist: Straight-up Advice on Making a Life in the Arts by Anna Deavere Smith
WRITING
From Anne to Zinsser
- Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
- Why I Write by George Orwell
- The Writer on Her Work edited by Janet Sternburg
- A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
- Writing a Woman’s Life by Carolyn Heilbrun
- On Writing Well by William Zinsser
In order to write the book you want to write, in the end you have to become the person you need to become to write that book. Junot Diaz
SEEING, SEARCHING, LETTERS
Classics
- Ways of Seeing by John Berger
- In Search of Duende by Federico Garcia Lorca
- Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
MINDFULNESS AND MEDITATION
No Monkeys Allowed
- Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
- Turning the Mind into an Ally by Sakyong Mipham
- Everyday Zen: Love and Work by Charlotte Joko Beck
LET’S GET STARTED
Say Hello
I offer a free 20-minute phone or videochat introduction.
It always seems impossible until it's done. Nelson Mandela