Success Stories

Glenn Jordan’s, Emmy Award Winning Composer, Songwriter and Producer has reignited love affair with music. The outcome: a new CD, Rainbows and Red Sox, based on his personal stories.

Glen had a long and successful career including playing guitar on tour with Sha Na Na for five years; as a musical director for television shows like Pee Wee Herman and films. Since then, he had successfully formed a production company and produced music for television and films.
When Glenn first came to The Artist’s Way he felt so burned out he couldn't remember why he ever began writing music in the first place. Something was missing. The joy and enthusiasm he’d once experienced when creating and playing music had disappeared.
Like so many professional artists, Glenn's career had become all about working on other people’s creative projects; about turning their vision into a reality. What about his own creative satisfaction? That had taken last place in his life. 
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"I'd begun to hate my job. Then I used what I learned in the workshops to get a promotion & the raise that had eluded me for 14 years."

"I didn't take the workshops thinking they would help me with my career problems," Angela Anable said when I asked her if she would share about her experiences in CreativeLife workshops. "I'd been in the same job for 14 years. I was doing the work of two people. My boss said there wasn't enough money in the budget to hire someone else. One day I saw a flyer for the Artist's Way. I didn't think I was an artist, but I wondered if I might be creative."
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After Six Year Dry Spell, Science Fiction Writer Overcomes Creative Blocks. He Credits Morning Pages.

Years ago, Robert Rosen (pen name, Robert Ozn) wrote a big budget sci-fi film for Paramount. When it didn't get produced, he ended up with writer's block and couldn't start a new project. That's when he saw a flyer for the Artist's Way and remembered he liked Julia Cameron's book.
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Peggy Clements Reconsiders Modeling And Acting Career; Uses Workshops to Overcome Challenges and Lands Some Fun Gigs

Peggy had a great career in modeling and acting for over twenty years. She retired from the business 10 years ago and was adamant that she didn't want to start back up — until she tookThe Artist's Way and VisionQuest Workshops with Kelly.

Peggy needed to find a new source of income but when people suggested she try modeling and acting again, she felt agitated. Because of the Artist's Way she asked herself, "why do I feel such resistance to this when it makes so much sense for me to do? At least try it."

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Musician Louis Durra Attracted New Opportunities by Taking Inspired Action

When musician Louis Durra met Kelly, he was playing a gig for barely any money. After taking The Artist's Way and StoryPower with Kelly he wrote her an email saying "Since the workshops I've found a terrific steady gig for my trio (piano, bass, drums).  We perform five sets three nights a week at a trendy place in Beverly Hills.  The clientele, management and staff love the band.  Last year we were a mainstream jazz group.  Now we're a fun bar band, and having to play interesting music has inspired me to stretch. I've had to learn and deconstruct wildly diverse music.  Many of the tunes are ultra-well-known: Reggae, Pop, 80s, Corridos.  We have found ways to make personal, artistic statements while engaging the crowd.  The group is now called "The Arrogant Doormats."

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In AW, Agent Decides to Do What He Secretly Longed to Do - Write. His Memoir Available on Amazon.

Chris Snyder, an agent discovered in the Artist's Way Workshop that he had a secret desire to write. In the Improvisational Memoir Writing Workshop, he wrote a first draft of what would become Hunting For Barracudas, My Life With the Legendary Iris Burton.  "The story of how I wrote this book is another book in itself," he told Kelly who called him to say how much she enjoyed reading it. Chris overcame many challenges, and we're glad he did. The finished book became a hit in Europe and is now available in the U.S
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Marla Opened Up To Creating A New Life That She Could Never Have Imagined Otherwise.

Marla took the Artist's Way with her boyfriend at the time, Kevin. Although they both had a good experience, Marla realized she wanted marriage and a different career.

She took the StoryPower Workshop so she could create a vision box. On a slip of paper, she wrote down that she wanted to be married to Kevin. Kelly advised her to open up to marriage with whatever man would make the best husband. Kevin and her parted soon after the class finished and with the support of people she'd met in the group, began dating.

"If I hadn't done the workshops," Marla said, "I wouldn't have opened up to creating what I really wanted instead of making do with what was."

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Anna Guigui’s Search For Soulmate Flowered During During AW into One Woman Show.


Ana has done the Artist’s Way five times. When she moved to Los Angeles and took the workshop with Kelly Morgan, she was singing at the piano lounge at the Doubletree Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard and ending a difficult relationship. All the spiritual work she did, she decided to start going out with men who might want to get married. She made a “GodBox” to hold this desire. Combine her adventures in dating with a co-dependent, over the top, Argentinean, Jewish family that infiltrates every aspect of her life and you get this wonderful one act autobiographical musical dramedy.
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Carrie Gordon Opens Her Eyes, Sees Images in Bathtub and Turns Them Into Art Exhibit

Creative Life Grad and photographer Carrie Gordon is showing her work in an exhibit entitled "Eyes of Light" at the Crown Plaza Beach Hotel in Ventura. Carrie plays with light and color in her images and was inspired by sunlight streaming into her bathtub! This is her first gallery showing. Previously Carrie had dabbled in poetry and children's stories but never considered herself an artist. She credits the workshops with inspiring her to see things differently.

Laughter is a Service. After The Artist's Way Mike Finds it Easier to Promote His Comedy.


Mike Karaba just finished one of his most successful gigs as the featured comedian at The Improv on Melrose. The biggest different since taking the Artist’s Way and other CreativeLife workshops is confidence . . .
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Steve Cunningham developed a new website for VoiceOvers in the summer VisionQuest Workshop and is getting ready to launch it.

More CreativeLife Community Success Stories. How People Are Expressing Themselves!

Just got an email from Sacha Rivere, a photographer who took the year long CreativeLife program. He announced a new series entitled Golden Gate Park. He shot it entirely on an I-phone 4 and printed the images to Metallic paper and showed it at Fritto Misto Italian Cafe on Sunday 9-12.
Sache Riviere's New Photography Show. Images shot on I-phone 4 and printed on Metallic Paper..They look good here, can you imagine how good originals must look! Sache Rivere's photography shot on I-phone

Matt Omo, an early AW grad is offering healing retreat in Peru
Matt Omo took the Artist's Way at least ten years ago. Since then he moved to Australia, married, became an Intuitive Coach and Healer. He also facilitates creativity workshops. Recently I received a facebook invite that might be of interest to others in our community . . . he's offering a a healing retreat in Puru to discover the ancient wisdom of the Incas . . .Nov 7 to 17th ... For more info check out his website at http://www.justb.net.au/Retreats.html.

Nancy published article about Toisan Heritage
Way many years ago. She now lives in Hawaii with her husband and children and always wanted to write. So glad she let me know that she's publishing her first article in Honululu Magazine about her native Toisan (also known as Hoisan) language spoken by the old Chinese ladies at Ross or Longs Drugs in downtown Honolulu, or at a Chinatown herbal shop. When she hears it spoken, it reminds her of her family and makes her feel like I'm at home on the islands. Performance artist and actress

Mike Monosky Gets Out of his Own Way and Stops Sabotaging His Own Efforts

Mike Monosky's band Cannoneers of the New Command landed a much coveted Monday night residency in January at the Echo. Mike says, "I went to Kelly's Artist's Way workshop a few years back. What it has helped me to do is get out of my own way and admit my own truths to myself and that in turn has allowed me to move through the trials and tribulations of making records and playing music. These days I sabotoge myself a whole lot less." http://www.youtube.com/thecannoneers

Lisa Steele Completes Christmas Album

Vocalist Lisa Steele Completes Christmas Album. "This year has been an incredible unfolding for me, thanks to Kelly's classes and all the work I've been doing to develop myself as a musician and vocalist. I'm amazed at how much I've learned and grown from doing The Artist's Way and Story Power." About Lisa, Kelly said: "I couldn't attend her shows because they were always on a night I was teaching a class, but several classmates raved about what an amazing singer Lisa is. Thankfully, I got a chance to hear her sing." You can hear her recent recording of the "Christmas Song" on her Reverb Nation profile here. Or go see her in person. Check out Lisa's website for upcoming shows: www.lisasteelemusic.com

College Professor, Stephanie James Realizes Dream

When Stephanie James first came to The Artist's Way, she liked to play the flute. Now she's recorded her first jazz flute CD of Christmas favorites. In her email to us she wrote: "I want everyone to know how much you and everyone at CreativeLife helped me to achieve my dream of recording." To download her music, go to Stephanie’s website: www.stephaniejames.com

Portrait of Inner Critic Heals Sorrow About Past and Frees Man Up to Share His Secret, His Paintings

In my Artist’s Way Workshops, I often ask people to bring in a picture of their inner critic . . . the one that says things like:
“You’re not good enough:
“It doesn’t matter.”
“You’re wrong,” or “You’re doing it wrong.”
Their initial reaction to the assignment
is that they don’t know what their critic looks like, but once they relax, they  draw a stick figure  or clip something out of a magazine.
Building contractor, Peter LoPresti thought it would be an easy assignment. “I am my own worst critic,” he said. ” I am demanding, harsh, ruthless and never allow myself to feel satisfaction with what I do.” All he had to do was draw a picture of himself!
As Peter drew, however, the self-portrait slowly turned into a portrait of his mother. Usually, when he thought of her he had lots of anger and hurt feelings. As he drew her portrait however, he began to feel her presence. Though he hadn’t spent any time with her the last forty years of her life, it was as if she was watching him.  “I began to feel what her life must have been like,” he told us. “She’d been born in an orphanage in Havana, Cuba and raised by abusive nuns. She became pregnant with me at age 20, but for the first time I felt her fears, her rage, disappointments, and anger.”
As Peter drew into the night he gained more and more compassion for her; and as that happened, he began to feel less like a victim. “I removed layers of my own pains and sorrows, and replaced them with pride of my accomplishments, of my strength gained, of my ability to survive and produce years of amazing projects,” he said. “I realized what she had not been able to give me was the gift that pushed me, forced me to be critical of what I do. I demanded excellence of myself to pay her back for leaving me. I would never show weakness or allow her to stop me. The compassion and caring and love that surfaced during this seemingly simple class assignment was the first time in 40 years that I truly felt love for my mother.”
When we blame others for our lives, it holds us back as artists . . . as creators of our lives. As Peter gained a new compassion for his mother, he gained more compassion for himself. A few weeks after the assignment, he began to share his secret with people who could support him. He was an artist. He’d been painting for years. Luckily I was one of the people he chose to show his work. It took him over an hour and that was just a sampling.
CRITICS OUTSIDE OF US ARE REFLECTIONS OF OUR INNER CRTICS
One of the few people Peter showed his art before he showed it to me was his ex-wife. She came from a different culture and didn’t understand the darkness of his work and wished he would put more clothes on the figures in his drawings.
As Peter makes friends with his inner critic, he is allowing himself to show it to people who can truly appreciate it. He now has plans to exhibit his work.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU HAVE A HARSH CRITIC
If your Inner Critics are like Peter’s …. harsh and demanding, perhaps they may even seem as if they want to destroy you …. then it is very important that you make friends with your Critic. To do this, it’s helpful to draw it just as Peter did. Your Inner Critic is not really YOU, not the real you anyway. Often it is the voice of a parent or someone else. You’ve inherited it and made it your own. For more about how to befriend your Critic, check back with this blog. I plan to write more about this.