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About Kelly Morgan
Writer/ Poet, Teacher, Designer and Dancer
Facilitator of The Artist’s Way & Other Workshops
MY STORY
How I stopped telling others they were more creative than me; came to believe in my own unique talents which changed my career from one of quiet desperation to one that I’ve loved for more than a decade!
I never imagined I would one day grow up to be a poet, dancer and author who teaches creativity workshops for a living. I began my career as an advertising executive and sold the creative services of illustrators, designers, copywriters, photographers and other commercial artists to Fortune 500 companies and advertising agencies. I told the artists that I represented “you’re the creative one, not me.”
Then twenty years ago, I met Julia Cameron. She was dressed in high top tennis shoes and a long dress. She’d xeroxed off a copy of her self-published manuscript, Healing the Artist Within which would be published as The Artist’s Way. This was before the book became an international bestseller and she personally delivered the xeroxed manuscript to my apartment on a cold Chicago afternoon. Over steaming hot cups of tea, I confessed that something was missing from my life. But what? Julia’s scanned my apartment. She saw the upside down umbrella I’d made into a light fixture, the colorful walls and painted furniture. “You’re very creative,” she said. I’d spent my spent my entire career telling other people they were creative. Now someone was telling me that I was creative! I felt excited. No one had ever told me that before. Or if they had, I hadn’t listened.
“I think you might be a shadow artist,* Julia continued. “Too intimidated to become an artist yourself, you’ve shadowed declared artists.” She’d hit on another truth! I’d grown up secretly wishing to be a writer, but never imagining it was possible.
Who was I to think of myself as a “real” artist”? The professional artists that I represented made thousands of dollars for one day of work. I hadn’t gone to school to be a writer. How would I be able to compete?
Julia encouraged me to take small steps. “Don’t start thinking you have to earn your living as an artist.” she said. “Begin by just creating art to express yourself. Make art because it feels good.”
I took a writing class. I also took weaving, pottery and other art classes, but I liked writing the best. Then a graphic designer asked me for advice on how to sell her services. “It’s really hard to blow my own horn,” she said and that gave me an idea. On my lunch breaks and weekends, I began to write a book entitled: Blow Your Own Horn.
I sent the Blow Your Own Horn manuscript off to a publisher and received my first rejection slip. I felt disappointed. At the same time, I finally felt like a real writer. And I knew that if I was going to tell artists how to sell their own work, I needed to become an artist myself. With Julia’s encouragement, I moved to Southern California. There I tried lots of different kinds of jobs, but ended up back in advertising — as a Creative Director at an ad agency! This meant that I still sold the company’s services, but I also wrote copy and art directed layouts — a step in the right direction.
One day a friend read me a Charles Bukowski poem and I thought, wow, poetry that’s accessible! Maybe I can write poetry. My boss at the advertising agency pushed me to take a class with Laurel Ann Bogen, a well-known Los Angeles performance poet. This opened up another phase of my writing career. Eventually I published poems in literary magazines, won poetry slams and was asked to be the featured reader in museums, art galleries, on college campuses and even once in a bowling alley! One poem at a time I’d become a real artist.
Still I hated my job and a part of me wondered how the heck was writing poetry going to help me find a new career. I got laid off from one advertising job after another and each new job was worst than the last.
When people asked me what I did for a living, I began to say, “I’m a poet. Their inevitable reply: “Can you make a living writing poetry?” The most I’d ever earned writing poetry was $75.00, but I’d discovered mythologist Joseph Campbell and the hero’s journey. “Follow your bliss” he said. And I was following mine — if not at work, in my free time at least.
Although I was spending all my nights and weekends fulfilled with poetry, the long hours of my work day passed slower than a snail crossing the sidewalk. As I became more and more unhappy with each new-advertising-job -that-should-have-been-better-than-the-last — but wasn’t —my income decreased proportionately.
Then two things transformed my career. First, I typed the following intention on a sheet of paper, “As I do more and more of what I love, the money will follow.” I hung this on the inside of my medicine cabinet where I could see it every day.
Second, my mom called to tell me she had breast cancer. When I flew back to the Midwest and saw my mom wearing a baseball cap (that she’d bedazzled) on her bald head, I cried. With the frightening reality that I would someday loose my mom came the realization that I didn’t have all the time in the world. My life was too short to spend it doing work that didn’t satisfy me anymore. I wanted to make a difference in the world. I wanted meaningful work. And I didn’t have forever.”
I was tired of doing it all alone. Nothing had worked - not the resumes, or networking or all the new jobs. I didn’t know what else to do. So I prayed to be shown ‘the way’.
The answer to my prayer came from an unexpected source. I flew home to Los Angeles. On my answering machine I found a message from the day before (within a couple of hours from the time when I’d said my prayer). It was from Mark Bryan, who at that time was Julia’s husband and teaching partner. The message on my machine: he invited me to join them for an Artist’s Way workshop at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore on the very night I was flying back to Los Angeles! A coincidence? Of course. And a meaningful one. Although I was tired and had to go to work the next day; and although I only had a couple of hours to dress and drive over to West Hollywood, I decided I should check the class out. I arrived late. There weren’t any seats left. I sat on the steps in the back of the crowded room. Later, I would learn it was the third (and not the first night) of the class.
Through the Artist's Way I realized I could create my career the same way I’d created each of my poems. My best poems and performances were channeled. They came from the same still, small voice that had told me to accept Mark’s invitation to attend the Artist’s Way workshop.
When it occurred to me I’d like to teach, I didn’t dismiss the idea. The Artist Way had taught me to have confidence in my own hunches, so instead of sending out another resume for another job in advertising that I didn’t want, I asked Mark Bryan (who would later co-author The Artist’s Way for Work) if I could assist at the workshop one night a week. A few weeks later, when my boss fired me. He felt bad but I thanked him for doing me a favor. Thank god, that would turn out to be my last job in advertising.
I began teaching the Artist’s Way Workshop at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in Los Angeles in 1996. It was a huge risk. I didn’t have any money. I hung flyers and talked to friends. Amazingly 18 people enrolled in that first workshop. More than a decade later, I still facilitate the Artist’s Way workshop using the principles that Mark and Julia showed me; namely, I teach by example. . . . I use the principles of the Artist’s Way in every area of my life to create everything — from this website to my business to the book I am currently writing.
I’ve literally received hundreds of testimonials; & requests for continued support of long-term creative growth. Indeed, so many people who finished the Artist’s Way workshop wanted more. To meet that need, I developed other workshops including StoryPower, VisionQuest and Improvisational Writing. I also began to offer private coaching and mentoring.
A decade later, I’ve witnessed hundreds of people transform. A very practical person, I’ve tried to figure out why people get so much out of the CreativeLife workshops and I can’t really explain it. They just work! I’ve watched scientists and actors, waitresses and business owners, creative directors and journalists . . . all kinds of creative people benefit in different ways . . . often more than they ever imagined. Many credit the courses for future successes. When I prayed for help in my mother’s living room, I was searching for a way to make a difference in the world; and now I am.
Teaching is a creative process for me, but I still fan my own artistic flames. The first printing of my erotic book of poetry. The Howling Coyote sold out. I then designed this CreativeLife.com website as well as my own poetry website. Another passion is dancing. Mostly Latin styles. And of course, I’m writing about my dance experiences in a book: Something About La Salsa.
Writer/ Poet, Teacher, Designer and Dancer
Facilitator of The Artist’s Way & Other Workshops
MY STORY
How I stopped telling others they were more creative than me; came to believe in my own unique talents which changed my career from one of quiet desperation to one that I’ve loved for more than a decade!
I never imagined I would one day grow up to be a poet, dancer and author who teaches creativity workshops for a living. I began my career as an advertising executive and sold the creative services of illustrators, designers, copywriters, photographers and other commercial artists to Fortune 500 companies and advertising agencies. I told the artists that I represented “you’re the creative one, not me.”
Then twenty years ago, I met Julia Cameron. She was dressed in high top tennis shoes and a long dress. She’d xeroxed off a copy of her self-published manuscript, Healing the Artist Within which would be published as The Artist’s Way. This was before the book became an international bestseller and she personally delivered the xeroxed manuscript to my apartment on a cold Chicago afternoon. Over steaming hot cups of tea, I confessed that something was missing from my life. But what? Julia’s scanned my apartment. She saw the upside down umbrella I’d made into a light fixture, the colorful walls and painted furniture. “You’re very creative,” she said. I’d spent my spent my entire career telling other people they were creative. Now someone was telling me that I was creative! I felt excited. No one had ever told me that before. Or if they had, I hadn’t listened.
“I think you might be a shadow artist,* Julia continued. “Too intimidated to become an artist yourself, you’ve shadowed declared artists.” She’d hit on another truth! I’d grown up secretly wishing to be a writer, but never imagining it was possible.
Who was I to think of myself as a “real” artist”? The professional artists that I represented made thousands of dollars for one day of work. I hadn’t gone to school to be a writer. How would I be able to compete?
Julia encouraged me to take small steps. “Don’t start thinking you have to earn your living as an artist.” she said. “Begin by just creating art to express yourself. Make art because it feels good.”
I took a writing class. I also took weaving, pottery and other art classes, but I liked writing the best. Then a graphic designer asked me for advice on how to sell her services. “It’s really hard to blow my own horn,” she said and that gave me an idea. On my lunch breaks and weekends, I began to write a book entitled: Blow Your Own Horn.
I sent the Blow Your Own Horn manuscript off to a publisher and received my first rejection slip. I felt disappointed. At the same time, I finally felt like a real writer. And I knew that if I was going to tell artists how to sell their own work, I needed to become an artist myself. With Julia’s encouragement, I moved to Southern California. There I tried lots of different kinds of jobs, but ended up back in advertising — as a Creative Director at an ad agency! This meant that I still sold the company’s services, but I also wrote copy and art directed layouts — a step in the right direction.
One day a friend read me a Charles Bukowski poem and I thought, wow, poetry that’s accessible! Maybe I can write poetry. My boss at the advertising agency pushed me to take a class with Laurel Ann Bogen, a well-known Los Angeles performance poet. This opened up another phase of my writing career. Eventually I published poems in literary magazines, won poetry slams and was asked to be the featured reader in museums, art galleries, on college campuses and even once in a bowling alley! One poem at a time I’d become a real artist.
Still I hated my job and a part of me wondered how the heck was writing poetry going to help me find a new career. I got laid off from one advertising job after another and each new job was worst than the last.
When people asked me what I did for a living, I began to say, “I’m a poet. Their inevitable reply: “Can you make a living writing poetry?” The most I’d ever earned writing poetry was $75.00, but I’d discovered mythologist Joseph Campbell and the hero’s journey. “Follow your bliss” he said. And I was following mine — if not at work, in my free time at least.
Although I was spending all my nights and weekends fulfilled with poetry, the long hours of my work day passed slower than a snail crossing the sidewalk. As I became more and more unhappy with each new-advertising-job -that-should-have-been-better-than-the-last — but wasn’t —my income decreased proportionately.
Then two things transformed my career. First, I typed the following intention on a sheet of paper, “As I do more and more of what I love, the money will follow.” I hung this on the inside of my medicine cabinet where I could see it every day.
Second, my mom called to tell me she had breast cancer. When I flew back to the Midwest and saw my mom wearing a baseball cap (that she’d bedazzled) on her bald head, I cried. With the frightening reality that I would someday loose my mom came the realization that I didn’t have all the time in the world. My life was too short to spend it doing work that didn’t satisfy me anymore. I wanted to make a difference in the world. I wanted meaningful work. And I didn’t have forever.”
I was tired of doing it all alone. Nothing had worked - not the resumes, or networking or all the new jobs. I didn’t know what else to do. So I prayed to be shown ‘the way’.
The answer to my prayer came from an unexpected source. I flew home to Los Angeles. On my answering machine I found a message from the day before (within a couple of hours from the time when I’d said my prayer). It was from Mark Bryan, who at that time was Julia’s husband and teaching partner. The message on my machine: he invited me to join them for an Artist’s Way workshop at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore on the very night I was flying back to Los Angeles! A coincidence? Of course. And a meaningful one. Although I was tired and had to go to work the next day; and although I only had a couple of hours to dress and drive over to West Hollywood, I decided I should check the class out. I arrived late. There weren’t any seats left. I sat on the steps in the back of the crowded room. Later, I would learn it was the third (and not the first night) of the class.
Through the Artist's Way I realized I could create my career the same way I’d created each of my poems. My best poems and performances were channeled. They came from the same still, small voice that had told me to accept Mark’s invitation to attend the Artist’s Way workshop.
When it occurred to me I’d like to teach, I didn’t dismiss the idea. The Artist Way had taught me to have confidence in my own hunches, so instead of sending out another resume for another job in advertising that I didn’t want, I asked Mark Bryan (who would later co-author The Artist’s Way for Work) if I could assist at the workshop one night a week. A few weeks later, when my boss fired me. He felt bad but I thanked him for doing me a favor. Thank god, that would turn out to be my last job in advertising.
I began teaching the Artist’s Way Workshop at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in Los Angeles in 1996. It was a huge risk. I didn’t have any money. I hung flyers and talked to friends. Amazingly 18 people enrolled in that first workshop. More than a decade later, I still facilitate the Artist’s Way workshop using the principles that Mark and Julia showed me; namely, I teach by example. . . . I use the principles of the Artist’s Way in every area of my life to create everything — from this website to my business to the book I am currently writing.
I’ve literally received hundreds of testimonials; & requests for continued support of long-term creative growth. Indeed, so many people who finished the Artist’s Way workshop wanted more. To meet that need, I developed other workshops including StoryPower, VisionQuest and Improvisational Writing. I also began to offer private coaching and mentoring.
A decade later, I’ve witnessed hundreds of people transform. A very practical person, I’ve tried to figure out why people get so much out of the CreativeLife workshops and I can’t really explain it. They just work! I’ve watched scientists and actors, waitresses and business owners, creative directors and journalists . . . all kinds of creative people benefit in different ways . . . often more than they ever imagined. Many credit the courses for future successes. When I prayed for help in my mother’s living room, I was searching for a way to make a difference in the world; and now I am.
Teaching is a creative process for me, but I still fan my own artistic flames. The first printing of my erotic book of poetry. The Howling Coyote sold out. I then designed this CreativeLife.com website as well as my own poetry website. Another passion is dancing. Mostly Latin styles. And of course, I’m writing about my dance experiences in a book: Something About La Salsa.
What People
Are Saying
“I’ve been in
and led hundreds
of groups of various
kinds and NONE
were like Kelly’s.
The thing that made
the greatest difference
was that Kelly
is an artist herself
(a poet, and a truly
gifted one). She
brought her own
experiences into the
group, including
her struggles, fears
and limits. It was
inspiring to witness
her courage.”
Emmet MacGuire,
Writer
“Kelly’s energy,
intelligence, strength,
and discipline, created space
that is safe and nurturing
for all people to bloom.”
Amy Finnigan
“An extraordinary
teacher. I always felt
that she had our best interests at heart.
I also felt she was speaking from the
depths of her own experience and
encouraging me to find what was true for me.
This was crucial to how the class
developed and kept me coming back.”
Elizabeth Hayes, Screen Writer
“As a result of Kelly’s
encouragement and guidance I’m more
focused on what I
really want to do —
ACT!”
Rick Telles, Producer
“Kelly churns out her
own creative projects
while teaching workshops.
I watched her and
am now encouraged
to do the same”
Karen Kaye, Writer,
Business Owner
“I like how Kelly made herself available.
She wasn’t parental or scolding when
I didn’t do morning pages or whatever.
I felt highly regarded, not just as a student but as a fellow artist.”
Crystal Greene, Actress
“I can’t imagine a
creativity workshop
with anyone else as
the teacher.”
Jill Ganger,Computer
Consultant and Humor Writer
“Kelly is an example
of how the Artist’s Way
can work in our lives.”
Kit McCall, Actress
“Kelly helped me to getout of my head and be freer.”
Michelle Weiss, Promotion Executive. Writer, Mother
“I don’t usually have an easy time being in groups
but Kelly created an extremely safe environment
so I could be in the group and learn about myself.”
Doris Bildau,
Singer & Rock Musician
“I discovered new artistic passions and old loves
I had forgotten, like photography which I hadn’t enjoyed since high school.
The synchronicities were amazing.“
Audra Potz
“I definitely feel less stuck
and more creative and expressive, as was my goal.
One of the biggest things for me was realizing and
experiencing that there are people like me, of my kind, like-minded in California!”
Jessica McCauley
Are Saying
“I’ve been in
and led hundreds
of groups of various
kinds and NONE
were like Kelly’s.
The thing that made
the greatest difference
was that Kelly
is an artist herself
(a poet, and a truly
gifted one). She
brought her own
experiences into the
group, including
her struggles, fears
and limits. It was
inspiring to witness
her courage.”
Emmet MacGuire,
Writer
“Kelly’s energy,
intelligence, strength,
and discipline, created space
that is safe and nurturing
for all people to bloom.”
Amy Finnigan
“An extraordinary
teacher. I always felt
that she had our best interests at heart.
I also felt she was speaking from the
depths of her own experience and
encouraging me to find what was true for me.
This was crucial to how the class
developed and kept me coming back.”
Elizabeth Hayes, Screen Writer
“As a result of Kelly’s
encouragement and guidance I’m more
focused on what I
really want to do —
ACT!”
Rick Telles, Producer
“Kelly churns out her
own creative projects
while teaching workshops.
I watched her and
am now encouraged
to do the same”
Karen Kaye, Writer,
Business Owner
“I like how Kelly made herself available.
She wasn’t parental or scolding when
I didn’t do morning pages or whatever.
I felt highly regarded, not just as a student but as a fellow artist.”
Crystal Greene, Actress
“I can’t imagine a
creativity workshop
with anyone else as
the teacher.”
Jill Ganger,Computer
Consultant and Humor Writer
“Kelly is an example
of how the Artist’s Way
can work in our lives.”
Kit McCall, Actress
“Kelly helped me to getout of my head and be freer.”
Michelle Weiss, Promotion Executive. Writer, Mother
“I don’t usually have an easy time being in groups
but Kelly created an extremely safe environment
so I could be in the group and learn about myself.”
Doris Bildau,
Singer & Rock Musician
“I discovered new artistic passions and old loves
I had forgotten, like photography which I hadn’t enjoyed since high school.
The synchronicities were amazing.“
Audra Potz
“I definitely feel less stuck
and more creative and expressive, as was my goal.
One of the biggest things for me was realizing and
experiencing that there are people like me, of my kind, like-minded in California!”
Jessica McCauley
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