Getting Your Creative Dreams Off The Ground by Author Jeff Leisawitz

Film Courage:  Jeff, you recently wrote a book and I was wondering if you could tell me the title of it first?

Jeff Leisawitz:  Not F***ing Around: The No Bu***hit Guide For Getting Your Creative Dreams Off The Ground.

Film Courage:  Okay. I like the title.  But why the title?

Jeff Leisawitz: Why the title?  Well it’s straight to the point and it pretty much says what the book is about in one line.

Film Courage:  So where were you when you decided to come up with the idea and was there something in your life that triggered this in you where you said “You know what? Jeff this is no more NFA.” Which I know is your catchphrase and is really cool, anybody who hears it knows okay, it’s a kick in the a**.  It means let’s get going.  But did this happen to you?  Did something happen?

Jeff Leisawitz: Well, I have always (generally) been NFA my whole life without knowing it was called that.

I’ve always been pretty motivated and ambitious to do things, mostly creative things and business ideas.  Even as a kid I got into music and played in lots of bands and got a four track and that kind of stuff. I wanted to move to LA and become a rock star.  I did move to LA but I didn’t quite become a rock star, but that’s okay.

But this book happened sort of by accident.  I had a free Saturday or Sunday morning one day and I coffeed-up at a local Seattle coffee shop and I just started writing as I often do.  I wrote one of the chapters in the book.  When I was done I was like “You know, this would be a good idea for a book for just empowering creatives.”

And what I realized after I wrote the book was that everything (well, not everything) but many things in my life were actually leading up to this book.

So for instance I have been a creative person my whole life.  A musician, a filmmaker, a writer, photographer, etc.  But I’ve also been into empowering people my whole life.  I was a music journalist when I was empowering other musicians.  I’m a teacher of songwriting at a college up near Tacoma, near Seattle.  I’m a life coach.  I practice something called NLP (Neuro-linguistic re-patterning) which is talk therapy or counseling to help people untangle the subconscious blocks that keep them down in various different ways.

So after I wrote this book I kind of thought about and was like “You know what?  This is actually my mission. It’s like being creative and empowering.” But I didn’t know that until I wrote the book. If that makes any sense?

Film Courage:  It does.  Did you share the idea for the book with anyone?

Jeff Leisawitz:  Sure. Initially, a friend of mine Steve, we came up with the term NFA probably a couple of years before I wrote the book.  But we come up with lots of weird words and terms.  And then this one just resurfaced so it seemed like a good idea for a title.

What Got Me Out Of A Creative Funk by Jeff Leisawitz 

BIO:

Jeff Leisawitz burns with a mission— to inspire writers, artists, musicians, filmmakers, entrepreneurs (and everyone else) to amp up their creativity, heal their hearts and shine in the world.

Jeff is an award-winning musician/ producer, a critically acclaimed author and internationally distributed filmmaker who has devoted his life to creativity.

As the guy behind Electron Love Theory, Jeff fused interviews with Seattle’s WTO demonstrators into electronic music, garnering more than a quarter million downloads worldwide. Jeff has released five studio albums and has landed thousands of music placements in film, TV and multimedia for clients like HBO, MTV, Discovery, Microsoft, NBC and many others.

As the founding writer for Seattle’s taste-making alternative rock station 107.7 The End, he chronicled the alternative grunge scene in the 90s. After training as a Life Coach and practicing NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Re-Patterning) Jeff landed a gig as an adjunct faculty member at Pacific Lutheran University— teaching college students to rock. (Seriously)

When creative businesses, schools and organizations like Brown Paper Tickets, Tacoma School of the Arts, Gage Academy of Art, Northwest Film Forum and others need to amp up the creativity, Jeff leads workshops and events to fire up the creative spirit and empower people to tap into their true potential.

Jeff is available for workshops and speaking gigs in the Seattle metro area and select cities across the country. Not F*ing Around— the No Bullsh*t Guide for Getting Your Creative Dreams Off the Ground is Jeff’s first book.

CONNECT WITH JEFF LEISAWITZ
Jeffleisawitz.com
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