Books Archives - Rich Kirkpatrick

Limitations lead to innovation

Rich KirkpatrickJuly 22, 20220317 views

This is an excerpt from my new book: MINDBLOWN: Unlock Your Creative Genius by Bridging Science and Magic. In my book, I write about the creative process and my three steps, The Dream, The Sandbox, and The Story. The excerpt refers to The Sandbox, where we develop our ideas. Subscribe to the audio blog on your favorite podcast app: Subscribe We now have arrived at step two—The Sandbox. This is where we test our creative limits. It doesn’t surprise us that creativity comes with real-world limitations, such as deadlines, human resources, and budget. For some of us, this is the part when you see your creativity soar—forcing us to budget time and resources to maximize our project. This is the spreadsheet part of creativity where we manage constraints. Believe it or not, constraints can have the potential to help us do our best work. The Ancient Greek philosopher Plato was right when…

The Myth of Art and Meaning: Invention versus Intention

Rich KirkpatrickSeptember 3, 20210323 views

This week I listened to author Jeff Goin’s podcast, Hello Creator. In episode eight, the question of art and practicality was the topic, and Jeff asked, “Should art be practical?” We all assign to good art meaning, even if the artist never intended it to mean anything.

How does the creative process work?

Rich KirkpatrickAugust 2, 20211353 views

I am writing a new book about the creative process Many of my readers may not know that I have been writing a book about the creative process. It’s an idea I have chewed on and studied for several years. What is my progress? As of today, I have written a manuscript of about 60,000 words and am in the third draft of edits. My new book has a working title, too: MIND BLOWN: Bridging science and magic to unlock your creative genius. How does creativity actually work? I am curious. How does creativity work? How can we get better at it? A lot of books give us habits and systems to follow. I hope to explain well what I have found under the hood–the engine behind creativity! It is about bridges, connecting between opposing things. I have distilled it into three steps: The Dream, The Sandbox, and The Story. The…

Fight Evil With Poetry: A conversation with Micah Bournes

Rich KirkpatrickDecember 18, 201821.7K views

“Fight Evil With Poetry” is not just a clever catchphrase. This anthology is rooted in the conviction that creative expressions of love are merely high road, but the most effective form of resistance against injustice.” Micah Bourne, Editor of “Fight Evil With Poetry” I sat down to talk with recording artist and poet Micah Bournes in downtown Long Beach at one of those cool hipster coffee shops. This was not the first time I met him. Several years ago he performed at a conference of creatives in the Nashville area. His story then was as compelling as his spoken-word performances. This young, African-American man from Long Beach, California attended a very conservative all-white Bible school. Micah is an activist, but artist and poets don’t fight by the same rules of the general population. Power often is wielded to silence foes. Artists give everyone a voice in the vacuum to power…

The Six Hats of the Worship Leader – A book author’s invitation!

Rich KirkpatrickMay 30, 20180874 views

How about a book about reproducing worship leadership in others? I am simply inviting you to take a fresh look at my book, The Six Hats of the Worship Leader. If you haven’t read it yet or haven’t read it in a while, I’d love to hear from you and have you check out the book. I am always game to follow up with my readers and some have even become good friends! This book has helped many over the last few years. When a lot of training has been on simply skills or technology my book takes a different angle. People are who we need to lead since gear can only take you so far. What if there were very practical ways to take the role of worship leading and grow it? One of my favorite things about being a book author is in interacting with readers. I assume I am not…