2010-01-20 01:13:50Wed, 20 Jan 2010 01:13:50 +0000 Beer on fire (pub lights glow up my beer), cell camera, www.carolineallen.com Driving home from Boston late at night on a Saturday night, I am hollering like a mad woman at the top of my lungs, "I'm so bored! I'm so bored! Boring! Boring! Boooooooooooooooooring!" I scream until my throat turns raw, and I break into a coughing fit for nearly 3 miles. (When…

2010-01-30 13:05:14Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:05:14 +0000 Shattered Face. Art restorers gathered pieces of a saint's face as part of clean up efforts after a series of earthquakes hit Umbria in 1997 and broke frescoes on the walls of the St. Francis Basilica in Assisi, Italy. Courtesy of The Independent Newspaper, London. Oh, the artistic deaths I have known. My first death was around giving up full-time work to become a…

2010-02-05 13:02:41Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:02:41 +0000 As a coach, I come across a lot of writers who go through strong on and off phases with writing. They write for years, are passionate about taking classes, begin a novel, almost finish several short stories, then they shut down and do no writing for years. Not months, years! If you're a former student reading this and you think I'm talking about you,…

2010-02-05 14:38:20Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:38:20 +0000 Fruit, www.carolineallen.com I'm in my shrink's office in Lowell, MA talking about parental jealousy. Lowell is an old factory town north of Boston, full of smoke stacks and abandoned brick mills with the windows blown out. Over the past decade it has seen in influx of Asian immigrants. What this translates to are gangs of hip-hop teens on the sidewalk as I maneuver my…

2010-03-23 16:35:12Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:35:12 +0000 Detail from a new painting The French Circus, www.carolineallen.com Over the past couple of years, a client and I worked together to write the rough draft of her memoir. When it came time to revise the book, she was too busy at her job to give the book the attention it needed. She came up with a fabulous idea for revision that I'd like…

2010-05-08 16:10:14Sat, 08 May 2010 16:10:14 +0000[slideshow] Stream of Consciousness Series, from acrylic base to "rough draft", a new unfinished triptych called "Neptune". www.carolineallen.com As part of ongoing healing work I do around my visual art, I have been repeatedly advised to think of my doodles as valid to my voice, as relevant to my voice as an artist as the more "professional" pieces I create. I've been doodling since I…

2010-05-27 14:59:10Thu, 27 May 2010 14:59:10 +0000 Self portrait, the inner anorexic, www.carolineallen.com I knew an artist who after having an abortion used dolls for an art project -- she ripped off their arms, blackened their faces and hung them by their necks from the rafters. Too gruesome? I certainly hope so. The single greatest oppression to the artist spirit is political correctness, and it seems to me that PC attitudes…

2012-10-06 18:44:41Sat, 06 Oct 2012 18:44:41 +0000The Art of Storytelling is hiring an intern in the Portland, Oregon area. With clients all over the globe, Art of Storytelling's coaches and editors work online with creative writers on novels, memoir, screenplays and short stories. We help excavate a writer's authentic voice, evolve that creative expression step-by-step, and finally help clients get published. Want to be part of a highly creative and exciting…

2015-07-06 21:03:48Mon, 06 Jul 2015 21:03:48 +0000 My first novel, Earth, is semi-autobiographical, a fictionalized version of my childhood in Missouri. I was meditating the other day on how to increase book sales and was given this message: You fear reprisals. Your fear is holding the book back. This fear is universal. It keeps many from speaking their truth. It is even deeper than that. People fear reprisals for following their passion, following their bliss.…

2017-03-27 00:02:50Mon, 27 Mar 2017 00:02:50 +0000 The book coaching process, especially at the beginning, can be a very safe space. The coach is there to nurture the new writer, to allow experimentation, offer inspiration, provide support, and pass on constructive advice. We aim to OPEN the writer, and that only happens with unconditional love for the person and the creative process. I've coached hundreds of people on book, script and…