STEVEN
EMERSON
CREATIVITY EVANGELIST
ABOUT ME
I am a work-in-progress who has spent his life exploring creativity in many forms.
I’ve toured the U.S. and Europe as a member of the indie rock band True West, released three solo albums, scored feature films, done stand-up comedy, and wrote, directed, and acted in a film that screened at multiple festivals.
Over the years I’ve filled countless notebooks with journal entries, stories, and essays, many of which I shared in a blog I posted on every day for two years.
Maintaining a creative practice is what nourishes me, and showing up, over and over, is the only way to stay connected to this essential part of who I am.
It hasn't been easy; it’s required a conscious commitment and, at times, sacrifices in other areas of my life. But I can't imagine a life without it.
The creative act—bringing something into existence, be it a song, a poem, or a painting—is the closest thing to magic I’ve ever experienced. After four decades, I still find it exhilarating.
HOW I GOT HERE
I started out as a drummer in an indie rock band when I was in my early 20s. Our albums did well on college radio, we toured, we got a lot of good national press - things looked promising, and it seemed like this would be what I did for the foreseeable future.
That should have made me happy, but there was something missing. I realized that if this was what I was going to do with my life, I wanted to be involved with the creative side. I wanted to write songs, which was something I'd never done, or even tried.
So I started to write. I had some decent music ideas, and I knew I had something to express, but the lyrics I wrote were unoriginal and embarrassing, so I decided I better start reading poetry and develop some skills for writing lyrics.
One of the books I bought was 'Intimate Journals', a collection of writing by Charles Baudelaire.
Baudelaire, after hearing Edgar Allan Poe proclaim "Any person that dared write a book with complete frankness would produce a masterpiece", committed to writing as openly and honestly as he possibly could, and began a book called 'My Heart Laid Bare'.
That made a huge impression on me, and I adopted that goal for myself: To write as openly and honestly as I possibly could.
I had no idea at the time how hard that would be. So much fear! So much resistance! What started as a desire to write songs became the lifelong work of becoming my authentic self. It's been a painstakingly gradual process.
I used to chase success, fame, and validation. Now I know the only thing worth chasing in any creative work is the truth.
I always come back to the same place: "What are you afraid to say? Say that."
