3 Reasons Why Writing Serves Your Soul Purpose

3 Reasons Why Writing Serves Your Soul Purpose

Sometimes people don´t follow their creative inklings because it "serves no productive purpose." Creativity can be thought of as frivolous, childish and even selfish. This could not be further from the truth.

That which arises in your imagination does so for an essential reason. We know people would go clinically insane without night dreams, and I would say that the same is true for daydreams. Without dreams and fantasies, what's the point? Without reaching for something higher, the whole game falls a part.

There's a point at which being practical simply becomes absurd. Did we really become human merely to eat, sleep and survive? No, we are human to express ourselves, create beauty, reflect on life and connect with one another. Obviously that higher level of human existence is what makes surviving worth while. 

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The Magic of the First Creative Inkling

The Magic of the First Creative Inkling

Lately I'm so excited that my book, The Meaning Method: Transform Writer's Block into Creative Epiphanies is available for pre-order! I have such fond memories of the moment I got the first inkling. I still remember the taste of the mountain air as I walked to catch the bus to work. I had a question in my head:

"What are the five steps you'd give someone if they asked you how to write a book?"

Suddenly, five chapters flashed into my mind with such force that I couldn't wait to arrive at the bus stop bench to write them down.

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Creativity Challenge Part 3: How to Find Your Voice

Creativity Challenge Part 3: How to Find Your Voice

One of the most frequent questions I get asked is, “How do I find my voice?” As a coach, it’s been wonderful and paradoxical to help people find something that is impossible to lose. But I will say, it gets blocked off all the time.  We get hypnotized away from our own voice. We pretend we aren’t ourselves. Myself included.

It reminds me of a Rumi quote that I just love, “You wander from room to room searching for the diamond necklace that is already around your neck.” Rumi makes this process sound obvious, but it’s easier said than done. It’s okay to spend time wandering, in fact it’s usually an amazing journey of discovery.

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Creativity Challenge Part 2: The Big Vision for Your Book

Creativity Challenge Part 2: The Big Vision for Your Book

After we get that first spark of inspiration, the next major block rears it’s terrible fangs. Those malicious protests cascade in, “It’s already been done before,” “I’ll never do it as well as that person did,” and my personal favorite, “Everybody wants to write a book.”

If your inner voice ever tells you, “Everybody wants to write a book,” you know it’s your critic because obviously we can find a use for more than one book in this world.

Perhaps someone has written a book on your topic or genre, in fact, I’m sure they have, but your true vision and contribution are in the detail. You will really start to distinguish yourself when you go deeper and sketch things out. This is an exciting step!

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3 Week Creativity Challenge: Get Inspired (Part 1)

3 Week Creativity Challenge: Get Inspired (Part 1)

We can waste a lot of time waiting for inspiration, hiding behind indecision, and unable to get started. Some people say inspiration is mysterious, it comes and goes, and you can’t tell what it’s going to do.  As a coach, I find that’s not true. A simple conversation can get my writers sparked again. Plus, you don’t have to talk to me to do this. You can do it for yourself.

Usually all we need to do is move back into that playful and excited creative mind. When we take ourselves less seriously our juiciest work comes out. As Albert Einstein says, “Creativity is intelligence having fun.”

That’s why, during the next three weeks, I want to experiment with the chakras. You may never have tried playing with your chakras, maybe you’ve never even heard of them. Don’t worry, that will only make it more fun.

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Fear Buster: Will People Think You're Crazy For Being Creative?

Fear Buster: Will People Think You're Crazy For Being Creative?

Lately, I believe the best thing to happen for writers is an exciting spiritual practice such as energy work, meditation, manifesting, and visualization. After all, when we pick up our manuscript, we're really doing soul work. Therefore a steady spiritual practice can keep us inspired and excited with a steady productive output. 

However, it occurred to me that all these "woo woo" spiritual practices don't exactly take me out of the crazy category when I sat down for Christmas dinner with my extended mid-western family. 

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The Fastest Way to Fill all the Blank Pages of 2018!

The Fastest Way to Fill all the Blank Pages of 2018!

This new year, I plunged into my blog with fresh excitement. I opened a new document, took a deep breath, and immediately froze. Nothing whatsoever came to mind.

Has this ever happened to you?

The stream of consciousness went a bit like this: "New Year, new page! Yay! Wait a second, that's a blank page. Blank page?! I have no idea what to write, I don't even know where to start, what am I going to do? Brain fog, brain fog, brain fog...

Then it was my mom, actually, who came up with this brilliant method that will continue to inspire me for all the years to come. 

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You're Never to Young or Old to Go For It!

You're Never to Young or Old to Go For It!

Let me tell you about a dirty little habit that millions indulge but nobody talks about:

AGE GOOGLING

It's epidemic among writers! We look up other writers' birthdays and compare them to the copyright date of their first book and add or subtract the number of years from our own age and proceed to drive ourselves crazy. Or we look up someone's age who just wrote a self help or spiritual book and then judge them about whether or not we believe they have the appropriate amount of life experience. Why does it take another writer's age to validate our own stage in the process?

Well, I've got more news:

AGE GOOGLING IS BAD FOR YOU

Impatience gives you a headache, distracts you from what you're supposed to be doing, and worst of all, it triggers nagging messages that eventually cause you to fall out of love with writing.

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How to Find Your Guardian Author

How to Find Your Guardian Author

Synchronicities are one of my favorite parts of the writing process. Just when you're feeling lost, a little coincidence might tap you on the shoulder and make you feel a little less alone. When I work with authors, one of the most exciting parts of the creative writing process is when the synchronicities pop up and guide us further on the path.

One particular variety of synchronicity is your "guardian author." A writer from past or present that seems to guide you forward through books, quotes and happy coincidences. Lately, mine has been Charles Dickens. He always pops up with his devilish humor, right when I need him most.

Each new holiday season it's nice to reflect on the year before, acknowledge how far we've come, and realize that we never would have come this far without standing on the shoulders of giants.  

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5 Reasons to Make Rest Your Top Priority

5 Reasons to Make Rest Your Top Priority

Even around the holidays "rest and recovery" can be dirty words. The "R Words" if you will. Like many of us, I took on a lot this past year, launching a business and finishing my book, while maintaining my full time job and raising a family. Ironically, all this “busyness” has forced me to learn about taking breaks. 

These days, I'm a regular reader of A Course in Miracles, and one of my all time favorite quotes is, "The result of genuine devotion is inspiration, a word which properly understood is the opposite of fatigue." Oh my goodness. That one went right over my head for a long time. And yet it's so obvious.

You can't be inspired when you're fatigued. Plus, if it says that in A Course in Miracles it must be true. ;) So I went out on a limb and gave it a try. I relaxed. The results knocked my socks off. Here's what I learned...

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How To Become Habitually Creative

How To Become Habitually Creative

When you first get an idea, creative energy comes in spurts. It’s a little chaotic and you don’t know when it will strike. However all successful artists know how to turn crazy (and temperamental) inspiration into an actual piece of art.

The other day I came across the perfect metaphor for all that chaotic energy we store up. At the time I was watching Blaze and The Monster Machines with my two-year old. Turns out children's educational television is a goldmine for productive writing habits.

The cartoon explained that extraordinary fete of engineering genius: a spring!

Fact is, spirals are one of the most frequently recurring patterns in nature because they channel creativity (Fibonacci's sequence, the formation of galaxies, DNA, I could go on forever...).

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What to do When Other Authors Intimidate You

What to do When Other Authors Intimidate You

Do you ever pick up a book to get inspired, and instead you feel terribly intimidated?

This author is profound, scintillating and funny at the same time! How am I ever going to that? Then you slam the book shut and solemnly vow only to communicate in hand gestures and emojis from this day forth.

Let me just say, you’re not alone. This “other author” despair crosses all our minds at times, but I’m here to talk you off the ledge.

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How to FINALLY Stop Judging Your Creative Writing Process

How to FINALLY Stop Judging Your Creative Writing Process

Is it just me, or do you ever berate your creative writing practice?

You’re sitting in front of words on a page when all of a sudden a sandstorm of criticism whooshes in leaving everything you’ve worked so hard on covered in muck.

“This isn’t good enough. Everybody’s going to hate this. Oh my God, my writing is humiliating. Why did I even start? I’m not a real writer.”

Sometimes we derive a false sense of security by being our own worst critic, but actually judgment is the most painful part of the creative writing process. And yet I’ve barely met anyone that makes it through unscathed.

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4 Book Writing Strategies for Working Moms

4 Book Writing Strategies for Working Moms

Honestly, it sounds exhausting to write a book on top of everything else, and that’s how we say it too: “On top of everything else!” Which means the house, the kids, the career. It’s kind of funny how the most meaningful things in our life become “everything else” when we simply have too much to do.

So wait, I didn’t exactly answer the question. Who are we, the working mothers of the worlds, supposed to write a book on top of all that?

Let me say, it’s paradoxical. When you have the impulse to write a book, and you carve out small slots of time for it (even in waiting rooms and parking lots), all of the other burdens get lighter. It actually takes more energy to repress creativity than to express it.

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6 Ways to Beat Writer's Block, Even When You’re Not Writing

6 Ways to Beat Writer's Block, Even When You’re Not Writing

Just as those last few pounds are hard to drop, those last few chapters, and especially those last few paragraphs are hard to write. If you want to keep your passion project passionate you should have some trusted habits to loosen up and let yourself NOT work on it.

That’s right, step away from your desk and put the pen down. There are certain kinds of breaks that actually help make the work better. When I’m stuck, experience has shown that there are several strategies I use to help me let go, before I get going again. Six to be specific:

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The Answer to the Question, "Who am I to write this?"

The Answer to the Question, "Who am I to write this?"

We're all insecure about the one qualification we don't have. Maybe it's a degree, or website numbers, or some other random inadequacy we habitually use to compare ourselves to others.

This can be exhausting. I know. But in our heart of hearts we realize that people don't connect to your qualifications, they connect to something far more important.

When I begin working with an author, they often struggle to find their "expert voice." I tell them to stop. Don't try to be an expert.

Take a look at your own book shelf, do you see a panel of doctors and experts? Or is it a loving group of friends? Which feels more comforting? Honestly, which helps you arrive at your next right action?

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4 Concrete Steps to Turn Jealousy into Success

4 Concrete Steps to Turn Jealousy into Success

Jealousy is a gremlin that hangs around all the great stuff in life. Ahem. Or I should say, it hangs around all the great stuff that we don't have... yet.

It's true. For all of us authors out there, envy lurks around any and all success in writing. However starting now, whenever those little whimpers of envy flutter around another writer's success, I want you to consider them butterflies! That's right, when you feel jealousy, get excited because that's exactly where you're headed, sister!

Jealousy is a big blaring road sign that shows you where you want to go, and these four steps will show you how to get there (and be a lot happier along the way). So let's get started!

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3 Steps to Find Your Voice by Training Your Brain

3 Steps to Find Your Voice by Training Your Brain

Okay, you’re ready. You’re going to write the book you were meant to write. After all, this is what you want to do with your life, you’ve always wanted this. So you find thirty minutes, sit down and…

Nothing.

Pressure builds and you can’t find your voice. It’s like a first date and you wonder, “Why can’t I just be myself?”

Turns out, there’s a reason this happens. I just read about it, and there’s even a solution too.

Apparently, too much significance clogs your brain. Sian Belock, a psychologist at the University of Chicago did a whole study on it. She calls it, “stereotype threat.” When a talented person can’t do the thing they’re meant to do because they’re bogged down by the idea of themselves doing it.

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Find Time to Write with this Simple Magic Trick

Find Time to Write with this Simple Magic Trick

Be honest with me here. When it comes to creativity, do you ever ask yourself, “Why is there never any time?” “Why am I always behind?” “Why can’t I get some help around here?”

I learned a fun trick that goes a long way to solving exactly those problems.

When frustration builds around a specific issue such as never having time for your creative writing process, it’s natural that some version of “Why me?” will echo in your mind.

The thing is that those are all negative questions, and at a subconscious level they will keep generating negative answers: There is never any time to write because… I can’t get this done because…. My family doesn’t support me because… Then come the answers:  work, kids, dishes, clients, and weekends full of assorted obligations.

But there's a very simple way to flip this around.

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Increase Synchronicity for your Book with this Simple Practice

Increase Synchronicity for your Book with this Simple Practice

One of the most exciting parts of the creative writing process is finding synchronicities: those moments when you get a sign that is specifically meaningful to you. Someone calls you just as you’re thinking of them, or you see a symbol that gives you a nudge forward.

It’s also a magically efficient way to move your creative writing project forward because so often synchronicity gives you exactly what you need, exactly when you need it. Especially if what you need is a sudden burst of inspiration. Synchronicities are my secret specialty. I love increasing luck, serendipity and significance in my author’s lives.

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