An Improvisation in and of Itself

This is a continuation of "Love is in the air" — part of an ongoing series about finding my way as an artist.

Okay, so maybe I didn't go to a table of ten men drinking beer, like Lillie would — but I went to a lot of networking meetings, and for some reason ended up mainly coaching men. I'd usually give one free taster session, then sell a package of ten. Some had their companies paying for them. This way I got to know people from very different backgrounds — finance, translation, and everything in between. It was fun seeing them loosen up, working through some of the theatre exercises I'd woven into the coaching.

There was also a painter, Sven, who sold ecological paints for other people's houses. He loved being in the limelight, so we ended up creating a small show together — three different scenes — to promote his business in a fun, unusual way.

There was one man who really stood out for me, in terms of what's possible when you trust your instinct.

He only booked one session with me, and his goal was very specific. He'd been unemployed for over a year, always landing the job interview but never the job itself. Another interview was coming up — his dream job — and even though he'd tried numerous other people before me, he wasn't ready to give up just yet.

Before our meeting, he sent me a long list of everything he wanted me to work on with him, which I decided to ignore. Cheeky, I know. I had him improvise the actual job interview instead, and it became clear very quickly that he'd edited himself, his own personality, out of the equation entirely. As perfect as his CV was, that's how flat he came across in the interview. We ran through it several times, having fun with it along the way, and I gave him some exercises to do in the days before the real thing, to bolster his self-belief.

A few weeks later, he called me, thrilled — he'd gotten the job.

He also told me that I'd been the first person working with him who didn't buy into his own agenda of what needed to be done. He later convinced me to go shopping with him for the job. Who would have thought I'd become a personal clothes ambassador.

Another transformation I remember, one I found so amazing and inspiring, was Claudia's. She came to one of my theatre workshops at the time — working as a secretary, and quite unhappy with her life.

I was working through The Artist's Wayby Julia Cameron myself then (a gift, years earlier, from someone I'd worked with before, developing his clown further), and blogging about the experience as I went.

Claudia decided to join me on the journey, inspired by those posts. When I saw her again a couple of months later, she told me she'd left her job as a secretary and become a fully fledged artist. I was in awe — especially once I saw her paintings, which were really, really good. Wow, wow, wow.

I loved going through that particular creative process myself, and the one thing that's stayed with me over the years is morning pages — just three pages, written free-flow, whatever comes to mind.

An improvisation in and of itself.

I've filled many notebooks over the years, and I always end up throwing them out eventually — I don't have the space, given how much I move around. With breaks here and there, I've kept writing, and use it in all sorts of ways. Generally, I have no trouble sitting down and just writing, seeing what happens. That's kind of what I'm doing right now.

One more thing, which you might find a little odd: I buy the expensive Moleskine notebooks, or Leuchtturm — those are great too. I love how my Stabilo fineliner glides across the smooth paper. Given that I'll throw it away again someday, it's a real indulgence. One I'm happy to endorse.