writing

Rekindling Creative Passion: My Journey Back

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Part 4: Stoking the Home Fires

Introduction:

Welcome back, dear readers, to the next chapter in my comeback story.

If you’ve made it this far, you know that life’s storms have tested me in ways I couldn’t have imagined. From navigating relationship changes, the challenges of blending families, mental health hurdles, financial strain, and career setbacks, I’ve learned that resilience isn’t just about surviving—it’s about adapting, and, most importantly, finding joy along the way. Each challenge, as grueling as it was, has helped shape the person I am today. But if there’s one consistent thread that’s kept me grounded, it’s creativity activity.

Making “art” is more than just a passion or a hobby for me—it’s been a lifeline. Throughout these trials, even when I wasn’t actively working on timotheories or producing anything concrete, the mere thought of painting, discussing films, or collaborating on projects sparked something in me. It was a beacon of hope, a reminder that, no matter how tough things got, there was always something greater to reach for, something to nurture that could pull me through the darkness.

And now, I’m ready to fully dive back in.

This next part of the series is dedicated to the journey of rediscovering that creative spark. Today I want to delve into how I found my way back to my passions, rediscovered my creativity, and the milestones I achieved along the way. After a hiatus, especially one fueled by such immense personal change, it can feel daunting to pick up where you left off. You might wonder, “Do I still have it in me?” or “Can I truly reignite that passion?”

Spoiler alert: You can.

But it’s not always as simple as flicking a switch. Just like everything else, finding your creative rhythm again takes time, effort, and a little patience. Its a gradual process of reconnecting with what truly matters. In this post, I’ll be sharing the key milestones I encountered while rebuilding my creative life, including the practical strategies, mental shifts, and subtle changes in routine that helped reignite the flame within me. Whether you’re an artist, a designer, a writer, a business owner, or just someone looking to get back in touch with a passion you’ve lost, I hope these insights will inspire you to jump-start your own creative journey. 

Oh my god, he’s gonna say it. Hes’ gonna say it. Avengers as…

Flame on!

Reconnecting with Creativity:

Reconnecting with my creativity was not an easy process. 

At times, it felt like I was scaling a mountain made up of mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual barriers – and they were invisible too.

I always knew deep down that I would return to creating, but that certainly didn’t make the in the mean time and in-between time any easier; I thought about this homecoming every day from the time I stopped until now. 

From the moment I stopped producing art, whether it was writing, drawing, painting, AV or acting, there was a distant whisper reminding me of who I was meant to be.

I’ve always been partial to the idiom that if you really really want something, let it go and if it returns to you, its true love. 

But that might not apply to you, so I’ll do you one better – if you want to buy something, wait 30 days before making the purchase. If, after those 30 days, the desire is still there, its likely that you genuinely want it. And that’s a good thing.

That same principle holds true of our passions as well. Life finds a way. 

Despite the barriers I encountered, my creative desires never really left me. Each time I found myself pausing, stepping way from the act of creation, I would dream about it. Surrounding myself with my adjacent hobbies and doing my best to embrace dreaming, even when I felt like an imposter looking in. This ensured I would return to creating art. Those little acts and moments of discipline, helped to keep that flame from going out.

A simple gesture – making homemade gifts for Miguel and Mysticque at Christmas was a great example. 

When I was growing up, my parents came up with a neat tradition for us kids that allowed us all to make a Secret Santa gift for someone within our immediate family. It was great, each of us created a homemade gift for another member of the family, and then we all would guess as who the gift giver was. But as my siblings and I grew older, and romantic partners entered the fray, things became harder to organize to create that same magic. Eventually we began our own families and the commitment to this tradition waned, but the desire for genuine connection and a good surprise remained. 

My wife and I decided to continue this tradition within our immediate family because it was a beautiful creative outlet for all involved.

Motivation may come and go like the wind, but discipline—being intentional about engaging with art and creativity—is what sustains us. It was through these moments of discipline, these small creative acts, that I began to leave the light bulb on in the back of my mind. 

Actively watching interesting movies, listening to new music, playing board games with loved ones, finding inspiration from various creators, and reflecting on how I would reintroduce myself back into art making mode, that helped me find my way back. 

Inspiration Sources:

One of the most profound moments in this journey came during my friend Stephen’s birthday in October of 2023. Our mutual friend Allie was discussing her writing projects, specifically the concept of world building in her creative process. She maintained that world building is essential to creating a natural order and that it would often produce fully realized characters. 

Her words struck a chord with me, reminding me of the creative depths and complexity involved in storytelling.

As we continued discussing creativity in the framework of writing, Steve began to share an idea for a science fiction story he had been developing—a space opera story about history, mythos, and doctrines unfolding as civilizations progressed, with the intricacies of the scifi world gradually revealed to the audience.

Suddenly, it hit me – this could become a board game. I shared my idea with Stephen, and to my surprise, he agreed almost immediately. Ever since then, we’ve been slowly working together to build his vision into a tangible, playable experience. 

This collaboration has been cathartic, exciting, and profoundly meaningful. Steve and I have been friends for almost 20 years. We completed our BFAs a year apart, worked for the same company for nearly 15 years, and now, we’ve found a new way to bond over our shared creative energies. The process of making something together has reminded me of the joy and fulfillment that comes from collaboration, and it’s renewed my sense of purpose as an artist.

Another unexpected source of inspiration came from my former employer, and it happened while I was still there. It stemmed from the company’s investment into employee development through the learning platform Udemy. 

In the 4 months that I was temporarily laid off in 2020, I still had access to the learning resources and so I took a few courses on social media and project management, which not only added to my skill set but opened my eyes to new possibilities.

One particular course, Eli Natoli’s Build a Six-Figure Online Business Selling Online Courses, shifted my thinking about how to manage timotheories et al. It made me realize that my creative work could be more than just content for fun—I could transform it into a service, something that could be packaged and shared with others, who would benefit from my experience. 

I began to think beyond the traditional realms of blogging and podcasting, and into the territory of teaching and mentorship.

Around the same time, I discovered Joshua Mayo’s YouTube channel, where he built an investment-focused business, monetizing it through affiliate marketing, sponsorships, and YouTube ads. His passion for entrepreneurship and his commitment to consistency reminded me that half the battle is simply showing up every day. His success was proof that small, incremental improvements, combined with continuously learning from others, can lead to something great. 

These two content creators aren’t necessarily doing groundbreaking things, but their efforts reached me. A fantastic re-ignition to keep pushing forward, to keep building my own creative platform.

New Projects:

In the process of reconnecting with my creative passions, new projects began to take shape.

I’ve had this desire to build a portfolio website to showcase all my various creative work, for many years now. I’ve even shared some of my art on this blog when I was posting the first time around. 

But I wanted a dedicated space for it, so taking a page from the City of Edmonton and their strategy for road construction projects, I’ve decided to just start everywhere, all at once. And that started officially with timothykuefler.com. You can go check it out, but its definitely not done yet, its gonna be in construction mode for now. 

While its not finished yet, it’s become the cornerstone of a much grander effort for me – selling my fine art and providing both professional et creative services. 

Additionally, I’ve undergone the process of developing logos and branding for my other business ventures: 

  1. timotheories – which you may have started to see peek up in various places already), 
  2. MTK properties – our rental property business, 
  3. Sips & Fits – Mysticques print-on-demand business. 
  4. Confer Culture – with Chris and I sharing the responsibility for it now, I’m gonna give it the design and marketing treatments it needs. 

And I have a couple other adjacent properties in the works, which I’ll reveal at a later time. 

Doing all of this groundwork has given me a tremendous sense of purpose, autonomy and a tangible connection back to my creativity. 

Reading that over, you might say it looks like I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, and my wife would agree. But I know the difference between having a lot of irons in the fire across all areas of my life, versus having a lot of creative projects in various stages of completion. In the first scenario it can quickly become overwhelming, but in the second, it keeps me moving forward, by giving me options when I need a break in one area. 

And so I slowly keep improving each thing, while focusing on timotheories as the flagship. 

Another major project came when I changed my employer and what my marketing day job looked like. For four years I was project manager for a marketing department, and it truly was fruitful because I learned a ton about building workflows. But last December I decided to go back to my corporate roots. The job I’ve been loving the past year has me developing marketing campaigns, partnerships and branding again, but with the added experience of variety. 

It reignited my enthusiasm for creative problem-solving in the day-to-day. 

I’ve already mentioned this, but I need to emphasize that collaborating with Steve on board game design has brought a new dimension to my creative output – it affords me the opportunity to use design, writing, PM, marketing, and other business skills interchangeably.  And podcasting on Confer Culture keeps me engaged in storytelling and conversational skills. 

And one other creative venture – finally committing to learning music. This is something I’ve said I would do since I was 17 years old. I’ve always wanted to play something. The drums, keyboards, guitar, whatever; but I was super self-conscious about my voice growing up. Fortunately, in the past year I started digging and discovered through a neat little app, that I was singing in the wrong key, literally. Turns out I’m a baritone who always want to sing in soprano. Singing songs within the correct range has introduced me to a whole new form of expression. 

Then we have gardening, which is in fact the actual last project to highlight.

I really need to emphasize how surprisingly creative that can be as an opportunity. It requires patience, care, and attention. It’s become this fantastic creative outlet that I can finally share with Mysticque together. It’s fascinating how something I pushed so hard against growing up can now be something I can enjoy each summer.

Learning and Growth:

During my hiatus, I didn’t just learn about art—I learned about life.

Which is this post’s fitting contribution as a cliche.

What I mean to say, is that I’ve learned a lot about the practical side of the arts in my time away from a regular routine. From managing a photography and photo editing team, to developing a product catalog, to self-teaching myself PM software, to learning digital marketing, I had a great many more opportunities to improve my marketing base.

And then I finally took the leap and left a company that was meant to be a stepping stone from post-secondary into the world of marketing. Luckily I never felt I overstayed my welcome.

In fact, I’m closer then I’ve ever been with two decades of experience now, and I was able to find many opportunities working there. That I was able to resign my position, try another company out, and then come back to that first company with even more conviction, allowed me collect as many roles as I could for a further 10 years.

It’s been instrumental to have these experiences. I now feel even more confident to teach creatives how to build practical skills and conversely bring art enthusiasts into the arts without the pretense. 

The school of hard knocks was good for me. 

Personal Milestones:

The journey of rediscovery was marked by significant milestones: getting married, going on our honeymoon, starting a rental business and eventually completing all the renovations.

Securing our first renter for the renovated property in July 2022 validated the years of hard work and perseverance. 

Finding a new home afterwards and settling into it within a tight timeframe showcased our ability to adapt and overcome challenges. Trying to have a baby and going through the medical system to learn that we are perfectly healthy but just haven’t been lucky yet. 

Getting the two cats having only had dogs growing up, and then finding new jobs in brand new industries — there have been challenging and awful things, but also great ones. I’m proud of Chris and I for revisiting podcasting, I think the content is better than ever. And making board games with a trusted friend turned out to be a pursuit I’ve always wanted to go after. All of these milestones have renewed my vigor for writing, design, marketing, and creating visual art. And I will definitely be sharing more personal stories on all of these topics in coming months.

Achievements:

The progress I made in my career was notable. It might seem trivial, but I now go into work each day excited to be part of the company, and I always feeling challenged, and the team I work with is chock full of all-stars.

And of course, securing a job that aligns with my skills and interests was a major breakthrough, providing financial stability and professional growth simultaneously. 

Overcoming my struggles with sleep apnea, which had plagued me for years, significantly improved my quality of life. 

Addressing my mental health challenges and finding effective coping mechanisms was a significant step toward overall well-being. Admitting that I can always seek help whenever I don’t know how to move forward is humbling too, but also a relief. 

Relationships:

I mentioned a couple of my best friends working on creative projects with me, but my family were the real inspiration to get back into making art and rededicating myself to timotheories. 

Mysticque and I have talked about building our family together ever since we started dating.

We’ve been trying for a long time to get pregnant and have had a few missteps along the way. Despite the losses, I continue to hope we will have a baby together, and it is challenging, but I’m also incredibly grateful for the life and loved ones we include within our circle of family.

Miguel is growing up before our eyes, with a girlfriend and his own cohort of friends. I am in awe of his ability to navigate a complicated life, and will cheer him on always. 

We also have two lovely and weird girl tuxedo cats now: Velcro and Shoelace, who inspire me with many artistic ideas both fine art and with video. They are beautiful animals with interesting personalities. 

And yes, even though it was only for a season of my life, MPQ was my reason to tackle the day for a period and got me through the darkest timeline, so I will be forever grateful for that experience, reminding me to stay connected and engage with others.

Oh, and yes, I do have a pretty great circle of board game friends now, and a consistent space to explore new games and social experiences.

theories summarized:

While travel was limited during the pandemic, our honeymoon to Cuba in 2018 was incredible. 

Going to Drumheller last summer was another great time that reminded me how much I love Canada and exploring it. Navigating the antique museums, local cuisine, and small-town vibes provided healing in a way that few other environments are capable of. 

These experiences were a reminder of the beauty and diversity of the world, fueling my fire and desire to capture and share these moments. And anytime we can get out to festivals and see live music makes my heart happy too. I am so thankful my wife likes to explore as much as I do.

In reconnecting with my creativity, I’ve realized that this journey has been about more than just making art again—it’s been a process of personal growth and rediscovery. The challenges I faced, from emotional and mental roadblocks to spiritual and physical exhaustion, were significant, but they were necessary steps in finding my way back to what I love.

By surrounding myself with the things I care about—music, movies, board games, art, and conversations with friends—I managed to keep the door open, even when the drive to create wasn’t there. This wasn’t about waiting for motivation, but rather about cultivating discipline, which helped me slowly reignite my passion for storytelling, design, and collaboration.

From working on a board game series with an old friend, to developing new business logos, podcasting, and even venturing into gardening with Mysticque, I’ve embraced new projects that align with my creativity. Learning new skills, such as digital marketing and music, has given me fresh perspectives, while personal milestones—like completing home renovations and navigating family life—have reminded me of my resilience.

As I continue this journey of creative rediscovery, I’m reminded that life’s challenges are not just obstacles but opportunities for growth. The lessons I’ve learned will shape the next stage of my work here, and I’m excited to keep sharing that process with you. Thank you for being part of it.

Also. Please take some time to listen to us talk about bad movies in franchises, and whether or not we think they ruin them permanently!

Let’s keep moving forward together!

Tim!

Finding Purpose: Overcoming Creative Blockages

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Part 2: Life Changes and Adjustments

Introduction:

Hey everyone!

Tim here again, back with more thoughts on my experiences in the past few years, working through my own feelings about my hiatus, so you don’t have to feel alone about your own struggles. * insert hug * 

If you’re still with me after Part 1, congrats! You made it through the renovation nightmares, personal upheavals, and professional stagnation section of my comeback story. In this next post of the series, I’m going to dive into more detail of how my inner monologue evolved while I was away from timotheories, and why I believe this comeback tale can really help you if you ever experience a similar set of obstacles in your own creative journey – don’t call it a comeback you say? Well I was born in the 20th century, so I’m going to give dated references wherever I can, friendo.

Now let’s dive into what happened to my psyche specifically; when I stopped creating and started to question everything. And from my perspective, when I felt most like my purpose was diminished. You see, if I had a dime for every time I’ve had an existential crisis over this darkest timeline… well, I’d probably have enough to buy a week’s worth of coffee. Not fancy lattes, but a regular drip for sure, maybe even from Starbucks. Small victories, right?

Anyway, I’ve digressed enough, here’s where things get real. When I stopped creating, something inside me shifted, and not in the let’s get Zen and meditate kind of way. More like the I’m aimless and life feels unbearable kind of way. 

Yeah, it was no bueno.

The Night Shift:

In Part 1, I mentioned that I had stepped back from content creation to make space for wedding preparation, and eventually pushed it further aside through the rental property renovations, and I truly thought I’d feel relieved to have the focus for that project, like I’d finally have time to breathe. 

But surprise! Instead of feeling lighter, I inevitably felt more weighed down. 

After a few weeks I felt listless, for starters. But then the unresolved feelings began to compound, as my daily decisions often felt reactive and I had to push my way through challenges both physical et mental and force resolutions through,  which is not my preferred way of operating. For example, helping Mysticque navigate any emotional distress was difficult. And my disposition took a turn for the terrible – I became depressed. Which for those of you playing the same game at home, now it meant I always felt tired, was disinterested in my passions and prone to mood swings. 

So in the interest of using my interest in pop culture to highlight ideas, this time around, I’ll reference the M. Night Shyamalan Eastrail 177 trilogy (or as I prefer to call it, the Unbreakable trilogy) to divide up the sections of this post into adjustments I made and why they mattered. A little Split-Glass-Unbreakable cocktail, ah thank you. 

And before you jump on me, I fully realize this is not the correct order of the movies, but work with me here. Lets yes and this people.

Glass (New Routines):

This aptly titled section features all the bad habits I used to cope with in my time away from timotheories and the arts, and how fragile it really made me.

The food didn’t taste the same (seriously, why does pizza taste bland when you’re sad?), and the things I loved to do felt like chores. Which in turn made the chores even more difficult to complete, and always felt stretched thin. I was watching movies to pass the time rather than for enjoyment/fulfilment, and I needed to get through my pile of unplayed board games. Now to be sure, I will always be actively moving through my piles of pop culture even in the best of times, but the difference in this low point was how I handled things. I wasn’t just living anymore; I was surviving. And believe me when I say, that’s not a good place to be.

When creation left the picture, I tried to fill the gap. I bought more movies, music, and games than I could keep up with. I convinced myself that I wasn’t ready to jump back into creating because I “needed” to consume more media first. More board games, more classic films, more obscure music genres—because surely that would make me more knowledgeable, right? (Spoiler: it didn’t.)

And with that, I started becoming more demanding of my family’s time. I’d randomly ask my wife and son to join me in pop culture activities they didn’t even enjoy, just so I wouldn’t feel as alone in my funk. But the worst part? In many situations, I didn’t even enjoy it either. 

I missed my old routines, the rhythm I used to keep, but couldn’t quite figure out how to reclaim it. Transitioning to being a family man was hard, and COVID didn’t help one bit. It felt like the world shrank overnight, and all my frustrations were magnified by the confinement. 

This next part is where I get a little more vulnerable about routines and share a private story.

Almost a decade ago, I went through a horrific breakup that became the catalyst for timotheories in the first place. Which honestly, is a pretty long story and I’ve alluded to it in different ways in past posts, but for the take of keeping this post on track, and because I’d rather go into great detail on it in a program or book or something, I’ll state this old adage instead – those who don’t learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them.

I’ll say it again, but differently: when we don’t think about our failures and learn from them, they become our personal demons.

Upon reflection, in my hubris, I thought I could dodge an important life lesson, which I assumed I knew intimately. Being true to myself and my own needs to create were a necessary boundary, and part of the messiness that led to my 2014 breakup, was because I lost sight of my need to create, which is woven rather cruelly into the heartbreaking psychotic break my ex went through at the time. Again, I realize thats a bit of a bomb to drop, but I can come back to it another time. Just know that I already learned how important self care was, and that for me, a big part of was keeping creativity in my life.

So you see, these new routines during the dark timeline were really symptoms of bigger challenges. And fortunately I managed to come through the other side of it with some serious down-time and support from loved ones.

Split (Personal Growth):

You see, it wasn’t all bad times.

There was a silver lining, which I promise is where we round the corner now, and through the rest of the post as we move into the series. 

And why I’ve got my groove back.

This period gave me a lot of time to think about what really mattered to me and also created a metaphorical split of significance – between family time and finding ways to fill my purpose cup. I will expand upon the family time in the last section, but for now, let’s just say that art always finds a way to exist in my activities, however my personal relationships are going.

I also gave up this weird longstanding notion that I couldn’t handle watching much TV. I honestly don’t know where this came from, and why I got up on a restricted television consumption high horse, other than buckling down in my undergrad and then not shaking it off when I started working in a corporate setting.  I think for me, when I started having less free time, I was pickier about how I spent it. Movies seemed to be a better pop culture vehicle, because they were bite sized, since TV was like a buffet, and I had social groups, and interests, so TV viewing just simmered in the background between 2007-2020.

I would only watch one show at a time, and often go for stints without watching anything. Again a weird flex.

But during COVID, I was temporarily laid off for 3 months, and I also found myself twiddling my thumbs because most of my board games, art and movies were in storage. Hence a catalyst appeared. 

The luxury of time.

So, naturally, and carefully, I readjusted my perspective, using the safety net of Star Wars. I started with the Clone Wars TV series and eventually binge-watched a ton of other shows and yes, I made a list of even more I wanted to get to. It was great – I finally got through Parks and Recreation, Scrubs, Mad Men, Battlestar Galactica, and Star Wars Rebels, among other shows. 

On top of that, I did some learning too – I watched courses on project management and took a really great “how-to” course. It was centred on the concept of making video content as courses for a business. I found it incredibly inspiring and it gave me the very necessary kick in the pants to look at how to make timotheories workable. And when I did get back to work, I applied those new PMP skills and it made a difference in my project management job, allowing me to lead people and processes effectively.

I reconnected with art in other subtle but meaningful ways too. 

Yes I thought about how to make timotheories work as a business but in that exploration I also rediscovered/reinforced I need to create. We did homemade family Christmas gifts growing up, and that dropped off when I got married, but then I also had the good fortune to do that activity, just the three of us, in those insulated years. Not just for fun, but because it’s a core part of who I am, an artist. 

Now we come into the real aha moments, and honestly, these last two were huge for me. Which will also segue nicely into the third section. 

I had two friends on two separate occasions, gave me a creative outlet that I’ve carried onward the past 2 years.

Number one – I dipped my toes into podcasting care of one Mr. Chris Murphy. Just ahead of COVID shutdowns, he had been inspired to try his hand at podcasting. Which we both knew had stemmed from working together on YouTube videos for timotheories. But he ran with this and even gave me the courtesy of “producing” the show for timotheories and I got to join in on about 45% of the episodes. And guess what? I loved it. Turns out, talking into a microphone for hours is kind of my jam. Which healthy me already knew, and would’ve said, of course you should help; You already have make a hundred video podcasts, why not try your hand at an audio-only format.

But then he too had to dial back on the podcast, which sucked. But the spark was already there and luckily, gave me an aspiration to look towards when I felt ready start making content again in this summer of 2024.

Number two – another friend of mine, Stephen Mclean, who I’ve known since my undergrad, had expressed interest in working together on a creative project with me. And then during his birthday event in 2023, he had a really great idea. He wanted to tell a space opera story about the genesis of multiple species in a universe. For some wild reason, I latched quickly onto the idea that I should help him make a board game for this. We both agreed we should just make board games together.

It was a real lightbulb moment for me. I took my BFA background and years of hobby boardgaming. I also applied nearly two decades of marketing project management. This combination went directly into the very challenging and very rewarding experience of designing board games. And we haven’t looked back since. 

It might sound obvious to people who know me really well, that I would do this. But let me tell you something, like the weird stigma about TV watching I got over, for the longest time I had it in my head that I wasn’t a designer either, so I couldn’t design games. I had a fine art degree, and never the two should meet. What a crock of shit negative reinforcement bullshit I had convinced myself of.

So yay, for my friends. The real ones, the ones who believe in me and prop me up because they know I’ll do the same in a hearbeat.

Unbreakable (Support System):

Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t give credit to my foundation. The family who kept me grounded during this time. 

My wife and son were there for me, day in and day out. Miguel, who has recently turned 16 a few months ago, was my friend through all of this, and I’m very proud of the man he is slowly turning into. 

And Mysticque? Well Mysticque always pushes me ahead, and challenges me to think of things from a very grounded and real world view. She is the salt of the earth, and I feel incredibly blessed every day to say she is my partner for life. She believes in my ambitions, she supports my ideas, and sometimes she even likes the same things I do (which doesn’t always happen in marriage it seems), but most importantly, she is my safe place. She’s my ride or die, plain and simple.

As for my friends, that’s pretty clear too. My friends are my family too, and always have been.

 I don’t get to see all of them as much as I would like and wisdom has taught me how to read a true friend from a fair weather one, but they’re the kind of people who would show up if I ever sounded the horn of Gondor.

And my first family, the ones that I grew up with. Well, let’s just say this.

That while the distance has grown in ways I never anticipated, it’s been the best thing for me. I’ve grown into someone I’m proud of, and we don’t need to see eye to eye to wish the best for each other. Boundaries are important for healthy relationships, and I wish the best for everyone truly, and hope they are living their best lives too.

And while finding mentors has always been important to me, I’m glad to finally realize it’s ok to not find in clearly defined personal and professional relationships, a mentor can come through a book or a podcast, what matters is that you learned something valuable from someone who has progressed through the point where you are still learning.

Oh, and a fun fact: I discovered that I actually like cats. 

Not because I wanted them, mind you. No, this was all thanks to the musings of our son, who was convinced he was a cat whisperer. And he pleaded for a cat for many years. My wife in a very practical way wanted to get him a pet since seeing friends and making new ones was hard at the time (2021), so eventually I caved and a tuxedo cat became part of our family. And then when we finally moved to the forever home in the summer of 2022, she coerced me a second time to get another tuxedo cat, since the first had somehow become my little buddy instead of his. 

Now we’ve got two, and in the greatest of ironies, they both follow me around the house at all times of day. Take that for what its worth (LOL). And yeah, a little personal growth and peace there too.

Conclusion – theories summarized:

We did it folks, that’s Part 2. If you’ve made it this far, I owe you a high-five or at least a virtual fist bump. My journey’s still ongoing, but I’m getting there—step by step, day by day.

I learned that routines are an integral part of my life, but more importantly to keep searching for creative outlets, even when I have to focus on other things in a season of my life. That creativity really does give opportunities to us if we are willing to look for them, and that its important to share yourself with those who celebrate and cherish the good things within us. 

And also cats. Cats aren’t the aloof and independent animals we see on TV, they can be the most affectionate and encouraging of pets.

The Night Shift came to me through new routines, personal growth and a healthy support system. 

I sincerely hope this post had an impact on you today, but let me know what you think – do you struggle with juggling your every day responsibilities with your creative interests? How do you navigate that space? As always, hit me up on socials and drop a comment if anything here resonated with you. I love hearing your thoughts, and hey, maybe together we can figure out how this whole life thing works for creatives.

I’ve also shared a link to episode 2 of the Confer Culture reboot – State of the MCU. In this one, Chris and I discuss how Marvel is doing as of July 2024, and we even carve out time for a spoiler heavy review of Deadpool & Wolverine.

Thanks for sticking it out, do creative things for yourself – I’ll see you in Part 3 where we navigate some challenges, that came up in this journey.

Tim!

For Teh Lulz (Email Communication)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

I know. You’re sick of explaining to your clients what your performance rates are… I mean how many times is going to take for them to realize you are creative professional and that you won’t work for anything less then the cost of the labour and materials?!?

And THAT is for charity work.

If we’re talking about a professional show or a corporate portrait, you gotta get paid, dear readers!

Earlier this month, I committed to the idea that basic communication is essential in all interactions; if you don’t have good communication skills, you are going to struggle with all of the ups and downs of life, from the small to the large ones. Ultimately this means you are moving against the flow of life OR being led by the flow, but never setting up your own course of navigation.

Why Don’t You Write A Book About It?

All great navigators know how to control the movement of their vessel from one place to another, and while navigation is defined by land, sea, air, and space, communication is divided up into 4 main forms – written, oral, non-verbal (gestures, words, facial expressions, body language), and interpersonal (personal relationships). And I’ve chosen to start this topic off right or rather write, with written communication.

But why writing timotheories?

Because writing is the form that I am interacting with you in this specific moment, dear readers. You creative cuties!

After all, true writing (read: contextual and encoded writing) has been with us since the bronze age of history, with proto-writing likely preceding 2000 BC, but definitely in that ballpark of time. Though to be clear, this was not a sudden change throughout the world, but a slow one, which developed from symbols and tablets.

History lesson aside, what that means is that written communication is here to stay, and we better figure out how best to interpret it, less we become even more delayed in our growth. Which would suck.

PC Load Letter, What The F Does That Mean?

Speaking of suckage, have you ever seen the Mike Judge classic Office Space? I’m not going to go into a bunch of detail on the movie, instead, you should wait for our upcoming Watch Culture on it, but I will share this little clip and some wisdom.

Life is already difficult as it is, so leave the jargon at the door! You’ve got memos, reports, bulletins, email, text messaging, and a host of other types of written communication to juggle on a daily basis, and thanks to smart phones, these things pile on quick.

It’s not so difficult to manage though, if you rely on a checklist of etiquette and follow through with it, of course. Let’s use the ever-so-popular email format as a basis in demonstrating the  7 C’s of communication (clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete, and courteous). And clean language too if you want to emphasise courtesy, unlike what Mr. Bolton just did.

  1. Respond to emails promptly. This is one I personally struggle with, as I want to be attentive in my responses, but responding within 24 hours is ideal, within 8 even more preferable, and within 1 if you want to be a rock star.
  2. Proofread your work, and think twice before sending. It should go without saying, but leaving your emotions out of a response can be extremely difficult, and written communication is so easy to do, you can articulate your thoughts and rearrange them. Also, spend some time reading over your work, typos are the worst.
  3. Know your audience. In case it isn’t obvious, don’t blind copy everyone in a response either. Knowing your audience in every instance is difficult to be perfectly honest, but if you pay close attention, you CAN learn others motivations and keep projects moving forward amicably.
  4. Also, please stop forwarding your junk onto others. For example, if you like sharks, and want to let the world about shark week, but your work buddy lost his family in freak shark tank incident, he probably doesn’t want to deal with your email.
  5. Brevity is king. Keep emails brief. People hate reading long boring things. See?

It’s up to you obviously in how you go about enabling these new habits, but at the very least, you now have some basic tools of written communication that will help you better convey your ideas to others. And just like that printer that Michael hated, people can give messages which just don’t make sense… Frustrating for sure.

 

theories Summarized

You don’t want to be like that printer folks. That printer eventually got taken out to pasture and bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat and a few swift kicks to the paper tray. And yes, maybe that’s an extreme example of the risks of bad communication, but worse things have happened in real life. And unlike a theory, I’ll share some examples in the next post of this series to prove it.

Tim!

The Final Frontier (Appeal To Logic, Emotions, Ethics)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

I think it was about a month ago, or it could also be four weeks ago if you prefer, that I started to address a complex topic about logic, emotion and reason. I began this investigation with the intent of fleshing out the details of what a creative passion should look like on paper (read:artist statement) and using my own artistic practice as a backdrop in the means of an explanation.

At the time I promised I would come back with a series of posts outlining my theories on how to accomplish this.

And so here we are.

It Is Only Logical

This stimulating topic we’re on is the three modes of persuasion, and sometimes known as ethical strategies or rhetorical appeals. Aristotle posited that the best types of persuasion are clearly demonstrated. The ways that we accomplish a successful persuasion are by showcasing good character through credibility (ethics), stirring up feelings (emotions), and proving a truth (logic).

So if we want to be successful artists, writers, musicians, et. al., then we have to build a proper case for what we do for a living, that way whenever we are approached by a stranger, and we want to leave a good impression, we can put together the best elevator pitch ever crafted.

After all, you care about your art right? You know that your unique voice needs to be expressed and the best way to accomplish that is by gaining positive attention and proper acknowledgment. And of course, you want to do it in a way that is authentic, unfiltered and real.

Thusly I have given you your first example of using the three modes of persuasion. And through the lens of logic.

A Logical Decision? Probably. But The Right One?

Now I do have to consider that the best way to establish this artist statement for yourself can be overwhelming, and given that we are are going to be spending a far amount of time going over this, I want to make it very clear what’s at stake here. Your integrity for one.

People are most like to identify with someone who looks like and talk like them. But this character needs to be trustworthy too. In films and television, this is why the lead character always has a strong reputation with the authority to back it up. If we look for characterizations of ETHOS we can quickly identify people like Dexter Morgan from the tv show Dexter, who has clear motivations, an a stong demonstration of his skilset, and because we experience his thoughts and feelings, it humanizes him and makes him seem like a “normal guy.”

But that’s kind of a creepy example, and I think I can do it one better.

Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy is the chief medical officer on the Star Trek Enterprise, he is a fourth-wall breaker when the other characters are making strong decisions. He serves as a moral compass for the trio of main characters by talking Kirk off the ledge and challenging Spock’s dry and cold approach to everything.

He is more human than Spock and less of a hero than Kirk, and he is most definitely an authority figure on the ship, who everyone defers to. One of the best quotes attributed to McCoy is the old “Dammit Jim, I’m a doctor, not a [insert job of the moment]”.

I Don’t Believe In No-Win Scenarios

Without an emotional core, we have nothing to go on!

People don’t connect only to logic, nor do they respond to an authority figure just because they have a title, it’s the emotions that impassion a message and give a sense of humanity to whatever the topic at hand.

You know that because I’m fighting the good fight for all artists out there, and that I struggle with doubts but can carry on through passion and sheer force of will that I will make timotheories work and work for you. It’s about justice, imagination and painting a picture of a bright future for everyone that wants to make something beautiful.

PATHOS is for all of the artists who have a fire inside and will never give up. Or surrender.

theories Summarized

There is no way that well go over this all in two posts my friends, just I didn’t think it would happen in one post. But I do hope against hope that this is starting to come together for you.

In case the basic principles of the three modes of persuasion are not clear just yet, I’ll embellish on that Star Trek reference some more. LOGOS is probably the most obvious example and demonstrated through Spock, while I’ve just demonstrated that McCoy is ETHOS, and lastly Kirk is PATHOS. Kirk being the most impulsive and emotive of the three, he takes risks and always acts from instinct, experiences, and a sense of responsibility.

And as I’ve mentioned already, I have a pretty cool theory about how you can take the lessons from those three patron saints of Star Trek and apply their modes of thinking to your own work. But I need to power down for the night creative cuties. These theories don’t running on neverending battery.  At least not yet anyway.

Tim!

Down And Out (Manchester By The Sea review)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Life is an inexplicably complex thing, which we are constantly striving to simplify for ourselves. Unfortunately this is neither realistic nor healthy for us. We have to confront our problems head on, for fear of losing ourselves to a sea of sorrows.

 

 

 

Manchester By The Sea (2016)

Cast: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, Lucas Hedges
Director: Kenneth Lonergan
released on blu-ray February 21, 2017
********* 10/10

manchester_by_the_sea

IMDB: 8.0
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%, Audience Score 80%
The Guardian: *****/*****

 

Kenneth Lonergan is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director.

Something of a selective creator, he’s best known for his writing ability, having written the scripts for Analyze This, You Can Count On Me, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Analyze That, Gangs of New York, Margaret, Manchester by the Sea, and an upcoming miniseries called Howard. His directorial offerings are a little more slim but stemmed from his writing career – You Cant Count On Me, Margaret, Manchester by the Sea. I should also mention that while Lonergan is also a little slow to the table with his creative projects, when he serves as both director and writer, something good consistently happens.

Manchester by the Sea is the story of Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck), an anti-social janitor and handyman in  Quincy, Massachusetts, who learns from a family friend that his brother Joe (Kyle Chandler) has had a heart attack. Unfortunately Joe dies before Lee arrives at the hospital, and Lee heads to his home-town Manchester-by-the-Sea to bring his nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges) the news. While arranging the funeral, Lee learns that Joe wanted him to be Patrick’s guardian.

Lee is unwilling to move back to Manchester, but does not want Patrick to be with his alcoholic mother, so he works to move Patrick to Boston instead. Patrick has many friends, two girlfriends and is in a band; he hates this idea.

We also learn that Lee used to live in Manchester with his wife Randi (Michelle Williams) and their three kids, but due to a mistake he made while intoxicated, a house fire took the lives of the children. He was never prosecuted, but Randi blamed him and they divorced. Lee then attempted suicide in a police station after he was found not guilty, but was contained. He moved to Boston shortly afterwards.

While they wait for the ground to thaw, Joe’s body remains in cold storage,and Lee stays in Manchester. Uncle and nephew become better friends and eventually Patrick’s mother Elise finds out about the situation. She offers to take Patrick in, but her sobriety is largely the responsibility of her controlling fiance Jeffrey. Lee also runs into a remarried Randi and her newborn. She regrets the things she said and confesses she still loves him. Lee does everything he can not to break down and leaves because he cannot stay in Manchester with her – He later picks a fight at a bar.

After finally arranging for family friend George to act as a legal guardian for Patrick, the pair have a heated discussion about why Lee cannot stay in Manchester any longer. After the funeral, Lee lets Patrick know that he is searching for a place with an extra room, so that Patrick can visit whenever he wants.

Pros: This might be a cliche, but this film is affecting. I was genuinely bummed out after watching it. The combination of raw performances, subtle scoring choices, and a well-laid script that pulls right out of the everyday make this film about death and mourning all the more powerful.

Cons: It takes a really long time to make it’s major points and there are a couple of moments where it feels like more of an exercise then a story.

Runtime: 2 hours 17 minutes

Points of Interest: This is the first film distributed by a streaming service to get an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Matt Damon and John Krasinski were originators of the idea, asking for Damon to direct and Lonergan to write, and Damon to star in it, Damon eventually opted out due to scheduling conflicts, but remained on as a producer.

Lonergan understands intimately that life is full of grief. Wrongs which are never corrected plague us and while it can be nice to assume a storybook ending from a film, sometimes it doesn’t work out that way. The character of Lee is an excellent case study of a life unfulfilled, a responsibility not asked for, and working around the pain. A story about life lived in the world as it is, loose ends and all.

theories Summarized

Allegations and personal issues of Casey Affleck aside, the arresting nature of this story, and what it addresses capture the pains of life. It seriously broke my heart to watch this movie, ever so slowly, because I’ve loved and lost, and I’ve been on the ends of good and of bad as well. Affleck never redeems his character, but the glimmer of movement forward despite that unresolved pain makes it a worthwhile story, at least that’s my theory anyway.

Tim!