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Cynthia Morris

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Fifteen places to write for even the busiest person

These days, when we have an extra few minutes, we tune into the world instead of tuning into ourselves.

At the Alyscamps in Arles - an ancient Roman necropolis

What if you didn’t check your email or Facebook or Pinterest? What if you focused yourself inward instead of outward? I believe we all have 15 minutes a day we can give to ourselves.
Try these ways to get extra writing in your day.

  1. Upon awakening, before getting out of bed.
  2. In transition – before or after work, grab 15 minutes in the car.
  3. While waiting at the post office or anywhere else.
  4. At lunch, before or after you eat.
  5. On the subway, bus or commuter plane.
  6. While the kids are napping.
  7. At the gym, write for 7 minutes before your workout to set your mind to your project. Then 8 minutes after to capture the ideas you’ve churned up.
  8. While waiting for your pasta to boil.
  9. When you’re at that slump point in your day and could use an energy boost.
  10. After you’ve left a class and before you go into your other roles.
  11. Before you do your ‘real’ writing or creating as a warm up.
  12. In the middle of the night when you wake with insomnia.
  13. At the kids’ soccer game, dance class, etc.
  14. Before bed – though this can be pretty tough.
  15. Before or after a difficult conversation, to clear.

What works for you to slip writing in between the cracks of everything else?
Test your ability to write every day. Join us for the Free Write Fling in October. Starts today!

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Your Imperfection Is the Gateway to Your Happiness

My sink never seems empty of dishes. My notebooks are messy and my apartment is never clean enough. I don’t stay in touch with loved ones the way I’d like and I’ll never catch up on everything I have to do.
The one book I’ve returned late to the library is Brené Brown’s book, The Gift of Imperfection.
Are you imperfect too?
With Brené’s help, I’m coming to see how charming imperfection is. It’s the mis-aligned seams, the flower arrangement that isn’t quite symmetrical…those are the interesting parts of life.
And imperfection is the reality for all of us. ‘Perfect’ doesn’t exist – anywhere.
When people tell me they are perfectionists, I sense their inner critic is in charge. With impossibly high demands, this perfectionist monster robs our joy. We churn away at our work, never letting ourselves love the messy process.
I say enough! Our imperfections are a gateway to our humility. They force us to turn kindness and compassion on ourselves. The sentences we don’t quite master, the thought we can’t totally articulate, these are the places where we get to feel our unique humanity.
Embracing imperfection is vital to my clients’ writing process. Every successful, published piece starts as a series of messy drafts. Releasing the expectation of perfection isn’t always easy. But it is possible, and I’ve seen hundreds of my writing students get past their perfectionist bias.
We use free writing method to get our drafts out. To see gems among the imperfect, rambling paragraphs. To listen long enough to the stories that we’re most compelled to tell.
Ironically, the thing we seem to fear the most – unbridled chaos – is also the thing my clients love – losing themselves in their words, writing a way to explore and discover.
In my online writing course, Free Write Fling, I ask participants to share three words at the end of each writing session. These words simply describe their experience in the free write. The words are mind-blowing. What the free writing process engenders is nothing short of brilliant.
Why not let your imperfection be your best asset? Join us in October for the Free Write Fling.

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Focus Your Creativity Using Visual Methods (paper! color!)

Managing our creative abundance isn’t always easy. Despite the many time and project management software available, we can still struggle to find what’s right for us, for our style and for our work.

Planning materials from my Claim Your Authority retreat

Sometimes it helps to simplify your process, or to approach your planning in a right-brained way using visual elements.
I like planning on newsprint paper, using big sheets that I don’t mind wasting or being messy with. I also plan my work on a monthly basis using one page in a notebook to focus my attention.
These methods often resonate with my clients. When my client Donna Druchunas of Sheep to Shawl told me how much success and fun she was having using visual methods to plan her projects and career, I was thrilled.
Donna sent me images of her planning and I asked if we could share a public dialogue about her process.
Here’s our conversation. See what this might spark for your own planning and creativity. (Click images to enlarge.)
Spread from Donna's journal

CM: I LOVE it! I just saw that these are in a Moleskine accordion notebook. Oo la la!
DD: Yes, I use a regular Moleskine sketchbook, too because it has more pages and I’m always worried about running out. But if I am going to a special conference or working on a specific plan, I will use an accordion notebook just for notes about that one thing.
CM: Nice. So each event has its own visual record book. How did you start doing visual business planning for yourself?
DD: I started doing a monthly theme sketch in 2011, based on something you had posted on your blog.
I make a sketch of something that represents the theme of the month, like a big $ for making money, a file cabinet for getting organized, or a clock for deadlines. Then I list the high-priority items related to that theme around the page.
Do you remember that post? I don’t recall what you said in the post, but your drawings stuck with me. I still do that every month.
CM: That’s the mindmap your plate practice. You use one piece of paper to map what you are focusing on that month. It’s an easy and quick way to see if you’re trying to do too much and if your attention is focused on your bigger agenda.
Click to enlarge

 
CM: I know that you use The Right Brain Business Plan by Jennifer Lee, and you took my Journal Juju class at Two Hands Paperie in Boulder. What else inspired you to map your career this way?
DD: It was basically those two things that got me into visual planning. Before that, I’d been afraid to draw since I was a teenager. But I realized that if I am doing this for myself, it doesn’t matter if my pictures look like they were drawn by an 8 year old! As long as they are meaningful to me, it works! I find that the visual element adds emotional impact and a sense of play to getting the work done.
CM: Emotional resonance and play sound like great things to have for your work!
What’s so interesting to me is how so many people are hung up about their ability to draw. Like it’s some kind of character default. But it’s a learned skill and if you want to learn it, you can.
But what we’re talking about is simple visual notation – the drawings don’t have to be good, just communicative. It’s not about perfection but about simple depiction.
CM: Did you plan this out as a sketch on paper before or is this your first pass?
DD: I sketched it all out in pencil on the same page, so I could erase parts I changed my mind about. Once I had the elements all in place and was happy with it, I traced over the outlines with a black pen and erased the pencil marks. Then I colored everything.
CM: Nice. I should try pencil more. I never use pencil. Is there a significance for the colors for you?
DD: Because I’m afraid that my drawing skills are severely lacking, I find that adding color lets me relax and play. I feel like a little kid with a coloring book. The colors themselves are not significant. I have a lot of colored pencils and travel with just a few in my pencil case. It’s the process of coloring and the feeling I get when my drawings pop out in color that makes me happy.
CM: I love how you describe that simple pleasure. How color helps you play and relax.
What ideas or solutions came to you while sketching this out?
DD: When I write to do lists or plans, I tend to focus in on the details right away. With a visual plan, I can just focus on a theme or focus or the big picture for a longer period of time.
Donna's bigger picture

I love how this particular plan I’m working on now has four quadrants. This let me create a kind of compass for myself. I actually made two versions:

  1. one that shows how I can focus my business on my customers’ needs
  2. one that shows what I need to do to meet my own needs.

CM: I love that balance between what your customers need and what you need.
What steps do you take from here to implement these plans? Do you need to make lists of action items?
DD: I’m going to explore each of the sections on the plan in more detail but I’m not sure how yet. I am less detailed about planning and writing out action items than many people are. I tend to work on the plan until I have a clear picture in my mind of what needs to be done, and then I just plow through things for a while. If I start to feel unfocused, I go back to the plan to ground myself, and make updates if necessary.
CM: This is how I do it, too. I can only plan so much before I have to start executing. Then I go back frequently and keep refreshing the plan. I think it’s a good balance of planning and flexibility.
Thanks for sharing your process, Donna!
DD: My pleasure.
CM. Find out more about Donna’s knitting classes, tutorials and patterns at Sheep to Shawl.
What about you? What visual elements do you use to map your career or creative projects? 

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Seven Steps to Get Your Groove Back When You’ve Lost Your Writing Rhythm

You know the feeling – you’re writing regularly, feeling the flow of your unique writing impulse. You’re making headway on your project and you feel gooood.

Then life, as it is wont to do, throws a wrench in your rhythm, halting the sweet ratatatat of your keyboard. Events on a scale large and small, tragic or irritating interrupt:

  • vacation
  • honeymoon
  • illness, either yours or a loved one’s.

Once the chaos has settled, you start to hear the sound of your inspiration calling you back. You like this tune and truly want writing back.

But weeks pass and you don’t return to that project you flowed with so well before life intruded on your progress.

Despite our best intentions, life’s distractions can easily derail us from our writing.
It seems all the time we spent finding our writing rhythm and focus was a one-time investment, and we’re forced to learn the steps all over again.

But even though it may feel like it, you’re not starting from scratch. Try these seven simple steps to resume – and refresh – your writing groove.

Draw upon your past successes.
What structures, times or places helped you focus on writing? Resume your Friday afternoon writing date, return to your special writing café, and other rituals can be renewed.

When we consider what worked in the past, we will often get snagged by stories of how our plans fell apart. The inner critic loves to chime in with variations of “Remember what happened last time – it didn’t work! Why bother now?”

We lose trust in ourselves when we focus on what didn’t work. We build something sustainable when we turn a curious eye toward what will work for us.

If there are negative associations with any of those practices, what can you replace them with?

Manage your expectations.

We often set ourselves up to plunge back in, pens raised and charging forward with brio. We expect to spend hours at the work, producing pages and pages of scintillating prose.
But it’s more likely we’ll start slowly and ease back into our rhythm. Instead of letting your high expectations lead to disappointment, use little victories along the way to fuel more successes.

Fend off saboteurs.

If it wasn’t a major interruption but a foggy dissipation instead, what derailed you from your course? Knowing the main saboteurs can help you identify trouble when it shows up next time.

Write down all your naysaying excuses that beat you away from the keyboard. See? Once they’re exposed, they seem to carry much less weight. Keep the list handy for the next time you’re tempted to believe your saboteurs.

Start with a brief rendez-vous with your project.

This is a simple meeting to reacquaint yourself with your work. We’re talking a 15-minute ‘project assessment’. Take notes. Jot new ideas and insights.

If you are starting anew with shorter articles or blog posts, check what you had done before you took your sabbatical. Review your lists of content ideas to spark new posts.

Refresh your deadline.

Deadlines can motivate us, even self-imposed ones. Recall former deadlines. What worked? What didn’t? One of the most common mistakes we make is to be overly optimistic about how long things take.
What do you know about yourself and your pace? Use that to set a deadline that engages, not strangles you.

Keep your cards close to your chest.
Some writers find it useful to announce their intentions publicly. Others find the pressure of others’ expectations counter-productive.

I prefer a middle path. Speak your intention to your writing tribe: your writing buddies, former classmates and teachers, a coach, or your favorite writing forum.

Dial it just right.

When planning the return, people often envision something like this:
“I’ll write five days a week for two hours each day.”

What’s wrong with this picture?

We don’t operate in two-hour time periods. Saying we’ll strap into the writing chair for two hours is a guaranteed way to assure that you won’t do it at all.

Let this be easier by starting small – one or two 30-minute writing sessions per week are much easier to slip into.

Which approaches will you try to get your groove back?

Try any or all of these strategies to slowly but surely ease back into your groove. Focus on building trust, engagement and momentum for this new phase of your writing life.

Notice that these suggestions ask you to rely on yourself. Build a positive and sustainable relationship with your writing that can withstand the capricious fluctuations of life.

Set yourself up to win by choosing steps that are right for you, right for this time, right for your projects.
What has helped you return to your writing groove after losing your step?

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Why You're Not Creating Like You Want

I recently polled my Impulses subscribers, asking what was blocking their creative satisfaction.
What do you think is the biggest thing lacking in people’s lives? Guess.
That’s right. Time.
Lack of time is the #1 obstacle people believe prevents them from creating. Is this your excuse too?
An excuse, not a real obstacle? Yes and no. There’s one way that we make ourselves victims of time. Read on and see if this is you.

Curb your time optimism

It’s a wonderful thing to be an optimist. Life is good, things always work out, we’re on the right path…we like these optimistic perspectives.
But when we extend our optimism to the clock, our positive perspective backfires on us.
We believe that we can do it all, that tasks take less time than they do, and that we can catch up later. Consequently, we book our days to bursting. Our schedules are crowded. We rush to keep up with all we’ve committed ourselves and our families to.
There’s no space. No space to rest, to relax, and to allow fresh solutions and insights to float in.
I believe you can reduce your time optimism and increase your satisfaction with your creativity.

Fifteen minutes a day

Start taking back your time with fifteen minutes each day. Before the day starts, in between errands, at the end of the day – wherever – insert some sanity space into your days.
In your space, do what you want. Perhaps you nap, read, write, play, stroll or meditate.
Do not use this 15 minutes to check your email, peruse Facebook or throw in another load of laundry. This is space to dream, be, refuel and inspire yourself. Not a space to tick items off your list.

Space opening up for you

It’s not easy to slow down and do nearly nothing, even for 15 minutes. But it’s vital. In the cracks between busyness we hear our wisdom.
When we put pen to paper or take a walk, we often hear the answer to the question that’s been puzzling us. We get to know ourselves in ways that are necessary to lead an empowered, authentic life.
Experiment with inserting 15 minutes into your days in August. In this space do whatever you want, but don’t try to get anything done.
If you’re not creating how you want, be honest with yourself: is your time optimism stealing your creative satisfaction?
What would 15 minutes of space a day do for your mood and happiness?
Who’s in? This is an informal challenge, and I’d love to hear if you decide to do it. Leave a comment below and let me know you’re putting space into your life for the sake of your creative sanity.
I’m doing the Free Write Fling in August. I don’t have an agenda for my writing time. I look forward to a daily dose of space for myself, where I can lie on a blanket in the park and rest with my notebook, or prop myself up on the couch midday to pen my 15 minutes away. I look forward to this space.
We start August 1st. Ah, sweet space! Do it with us!

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Collaborating on a Novel Across an Ocean

From November of 2010 to May of 2011, I woke almost every day excited to get to work on what I considered the last revision of my novel Chasing Sylvia Beach. On my main writing days – Friday through Monday – I’d make my cappuccino and eagerly log on to get started.
Now, I can’t say I approached all drafts of the novel with this much enthusiasm. Perhaps like me, you may have routinely experienced dread, fear and deep resentment of your project. I certainly didn’t want to do another draft.
I, like you, prefer to do something fun and hedonistic like lie around the pool in my new swimsuit reading someone else’s work.
Instead, I found a way to write my novel that both challenged me to my creative edge and made my book better. What was the secret sauce that sparked me to leap out of bed every morning?

Writing across an ocean

I began collaborating. On the last revision of the book, I worked with a man near Paris to clear up some of the plot problems and to enhance the male characters.

D at Shakespeare and Company bookshop in Paris

It’s a long and juju-licious story how I found D and how we started working together. Suffice it to say, coming to terms with allowing someone so deeply into my project was not easy.
The language barrier was the least of our challenges. We spoke and wrote in French. I loved learning new vocabulary and practicing my French.
More challenging was his French disinclination to ever give any praise. Praise, for the French, is idle or intentional flattery that only makes the recipient soft and weak.
I also had to release my need to look good and open to suggestions and criticism.
But once I learned how to manage the emotional challenges, the play of collaborating became very fun.

The practical matters of collaborating

It took some time to get our stride with how we were going to work on the project together. A 100,000-word, thirty-three chapter novel is a big beast to manage. One big document, many chapters, hundreds of pages…how to keep it all straight?
1. Google docs We operated not only on different continents, but also on different operating systems. Him, Linux. Me, Mac.
D is a bit software obsessed and tried several different formats so each of us could share and work on the documents.
But the best solution turned out to be google docs. We were able to:

  • Share files in one consolidated place
  • See and retrieve all previous versions of the documents
  • View, edit and comment in full view of the other viewer
  • Comment in the sidebar to keep the manuscript itself cleaner
  • Easily organize and manage many files in shared folders

2. Gmail We communicated bigger conversations outside the documents easily using gmail. That’s no surprise but email was a major form of communication. I loved waking up to his notes about the book.
3. Dropbox Videos, songs, images and large written documents were all easy to share on our Dropbox folder. It’s free and easy to use.
4. Private site D built a site where he created a gallery of images. We tried to use the project management aspect of this site, but it turns out we didn’t need that. This was a great place to share a gallery of images and documents.
5. Skype We never used the video feature, but we were able to talk for hours (the longest session was nine hours). We could share links and files and look at the documents on google docs to make changes and discuss in real time.
Using these five valuable and free resources, we were able to work together across the ocean for ten months. He helped me develop the male French character in my novel, Paul. He also helped make the Nazi part a bit more menacing and exciting. He’d make suggestions, we’d brainstorm ideas, and I’d write scenes and get his feedback.

Fin

On May 16th, 2011, I woke up with my usual instinct: get up and see what D had sent during my sleep.
But no. We were done.
We are still friends and we stay in touch, but now that the project is complete, we aren’t in daily contact like we were as collaborators.
I learned so much about my writing and myself through this collaboration. The emotional challenges grew me as a person and the mechanics of partnering challenged me as a writer and businesswoman.

What about you?

There are plenty of collaboration tools out there. I’m not suggesting what we used is the best way; it’s what worked for us to drive the penultimate draft to completion.
You don’t have to be across the ocean from your collaborating partner. You could be in the next office, co-authoring a book that will push your work to a legacy state. It’s never been easier to work together to create something.
What indispensable and perhaps free tools do you use to collaborate with others? For other types of artists, what helps you collaborate with others?
 

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My Sane Book Launch

A few years ago I submitted an essay to a Funds for Writers contest. The challenge was to plan an exciting year in the life of your project. I thought it would be fun to draft a dynamic marketing plan for Chasing Sylvia Beach. I figured if I had to do the work of promoting a book, I might as well make it as creative as possible.
With brio, I generated tons of ideas about how I would get the word out. It was fun to let my imagination run free. I didn’t win the contest, but I left with a larger-than-life vision for the promotion of my novel.
Over the years, I hyped up the project with the aim of hitting Amazon bestseller lists. Then social media marketing exploded, and so did the plans. Facebook! Twitter! I even conceived of a scintillating idea to give away a weekend trip to Paris.
My fun marketing plan was now a monster, and one I had no hope of controlling.

Owning my launch

For all creators, there’s this moment where the rubber meets the road. This is the place where we truly ‘get’ that there’s a real limit to what one can do with one’s time, energy and attention.
Sometimes when we’re daunted by the scope of our vision, we abandon it altogether. But learning how to scale back is vital. The dynamism of our ideas demands both structure and flexibility.
A few months out to launch, the more anxious I became. The more I realized I couldn’t possibly execute on all my great ideas.
A breakthrough session with my business mentor  helped me see where I could scale back. With more attention to my own agenda and goals for the book (not someone else’s), I was able to focus on what was important in this launch.
It was important to me to enjoy the process as much as possible. My intention was to be focused and open to the wonderful surprises awaiting me on the other side of publication.
More relieved than disappointed, I started to embrace a sane book launch.

Ongoing calibration

Even with this new and liberating perspective, I struggled to keep my focus on my own agenda.
I was still spending too much time trying to follow others’ leads. Any time I needed to do something – write a press release, write back cover copy, come up with a blog tour plan – I’d do copious research about the ‘best’ way to do it.
Every time, I’d spend 20 minutes researching and then abandoning the thread. Overwhelmed, confused, disheartened, I’d not only lose the connection to my own original impulse, I felt incapable of doing it the way I was supposed to.
A call with my mastermind partner helped re-orient me. She advised me to unplug, step away from all the advice and how-tos, and get clear on what was meaningful for me.
Relief washed over me. Within an hour of our call, I found a solution to a challenge I’d been stumped by, and it wasn’t about Facebook at all.

Finally in the groove

At a party the other night, sipping a Fat Tire and munching on tapas. Conversation turned toward me when someone asked, “What are you up to?”
“I’m launching my novel this summer!” I replied with enthusiasm. We talked about it for a little while and then the conversation moved on. A friend turned to me and said “You seem so calm, so Zen!”
I thought about how stressed out I had been in recent months. How much emotional churn I had gone through as the launch date approached. How twice a day unbidden, this thought lurches its way into my consciousness, “OH MY GOD IT’S X WEEKS AWAY!”
This is a visceral thought/fear/impulse that rises up and passes away. If I jump on it, I’ll start squirreling away with all the details. And then I’ll spend my time feeling fearful and stressed.
When I am anxious, my mind is desperate for control. I start sending up thought flares, ordering to-dos and schedules. But the more I fuel the emotional churn with mental churn, the more miserable I am. This is the ever-faster treadmill feeling of overwhelm we know all too well.
This was when I realized, at that well-earned Sunday evening party that this is the moment I’ve been building toward since I started writing this book in 1999.
This is the time of my life. I get to see the fruits of my creative labor meet my audience and have an impact.
This is it.
I’m not going to blow this precious time by making myself insane. I’m not gunning for the best-seller list. I’m not pushing to promote my book like mad in the first three months of its life. I’m not attached to how people will receive this book. (I will keep telling myself that until I believe it!)
My focus now is to enjoy the process of preparing my work for its debut. I consider it a gift I sincerely give to the world.
Chasing Sylvia Beach officially launches on June 22nd, 2012. The pre-sale Limited Edition is available from June 11th – 21st. Get your copy from the author here.

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Chasing Sylvia Beach Limited Edition Available Now

It’s a very exciting day: today I share what’s special about the limited edition paperback of Chasing Sylvia Beach.
I’ll give you a hint: it’s art, that I made, to accompany the paperback. It’s guaranteed to delight lovers of paper and stamps and ink and books.
Find out what I’ve created for you.
I’m only selling a limited number of these through June 21st, so reserve your copy now.
Tell your friends…trust me, they’ll want to be in on this too.

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Your Best Writing Year Ever? Let's Check In

In January I invited you to have your best writing year ever. I even showed you how.
Six months later, it’s time for a check-in. Because doing an assessment at the end of the year won’t help you make any course corrections if your writing year is, well, somewhat less than best.
Feel free to read my advice on having your best writing year ever.
Then come and answer these coaching inquiries:
How well are you holding your focus? 100%? 50%? Hardly at all?
If you’re holding your focus:
How is your progress meeting your expectations and goals?
What needs to be adjusted for a more satisfying year?
If you haven’t held your writing focus for the year:
What are you giving your time to instead?
This is not an exercise designed to give your inner critic a reason to party, nah nah nah you, or recite his annoying refrain: “I told you so.”
This is a chance to take an honest and kind look at how your writing is going, notice what you’d like to change, and have at it – do what you need to do to celebrate 2012 as your best writing year ever.
I’d love to hear how it’s going. Leave a comment below to share your satisfying progress.

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Blogging Artists Thrive in Class

One of my favorite things is teaching people to write more easily for their blogs. Blogging well takes a lot of thought and effort. It’s easy to feel stressed by the challenges of keeping a vibrant blog alive.
It’s with both pride and sadness that I finish another round of the Blog Triage class I co-lead with Alyson Stanfield of Art Biz Coach. Our students, artists from around the world, worked hard to make their blogs a place that honors, reflects and promotes their art.
Take a look at their blogs – you may just make a new friend, fall for a piece of art, or be inspired to buff up your own blog.

Isadora Arielle, Port Townsend, Washington
Sarah Atlee, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Amadea Bailey, Los Angeles, California
Stacey-Ann Cole, Peterborough, United Kingdom
Janice Earhart, Morrison, Colorado
Frances Clements Fawcett, Port Townsend, Washington
Frances’s site crashed in the middle of class! She’s rebuilding at her website, linked here.
Robin Fingher, Perth, Australia
Suzanne Gibbs, Tustin, California
Jaime Howard, Jacksonville, Florida
Julie Johnston, Packwood, Iowa
Karen LeGault, Oakland, California
Kevan Lunney, East Brunswick, New Jersey
Vickie Martin, Decatur, Georgia
Mary Ellen Merrigan, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Barbara Parish, Hesperia, California
MJ Russell, Charlotte, Vermont
Doris Sanders, Denver, Colorado
Lynda Schlosberg, Boston, Massachusetts
Linda Steele, Victoria, Australia
Janice Tanton, Canmore, AB, Canada
Fay Terry, Pinehurst, North Carolina
Jill Thoreson, Webster City, Iowa
Janet Vanderhoof, Morgan Hill, California
Sandra Verhoog, The Hague, Netherlands
Andrea Wedell, France
Kristina Wentzell, Keene, New Hampshire
Janine Whitling, Queensland, Australia
The class is over now, but we offer a self-study version of Blog Triage that even seasoned bloggers love. Pick up your copy today.
 

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Three Profoundly Simple Ways to Connect with Your Readers in Your Book

You hear a lot of buzz about values. But what are they and how can they contribute to writing your book? I recently wrote about the deep link between your values and your themes.

In this article we’ll look at three specific ways your values can help you connect with your readers.

Consider your book a conversation leader

Recently I went to see Kodro Rinzler talk about his book, The Buddha Walks into a Bar at the Tattered Cover in Denver. I participated in a conversation he facilitated about meditation, relationships and awareness.

It reminded me that my novel Chasing Sylvia Beach isn’t just a story I want to share; it’s a vehicle for me to lead conversations about things that matter to me and my readers.

In my leadership training, my leader edge became clear: I am here to lead and engage in meaningful conversations. I do that in my coaching, in my speaking, in my writing and in my classes.

Knowing the values inherent in my book allows me to know the subjects of the conversations I am leading.
Knowing your values and themes will help you connect with readers who also share these values and resonate with your themes.

Sum it up with heart

Do you cringe when someone asks what your book is about? Every author has to develop a pithy and catchy response to this question.

It seems the pitch or elevator speech for your book can reach listeners more easily from a theme and value-based approach rather than a plot line approach. Notice the difference between these two:

It’s a book about a young woman who travels through time to Paris 1937 and has to befriend her literary heroine in order to find her way home.

It’s a book about finding your voice in order to find your way home.

Neither of them are bad. But the values-based pitch is connecting with readers on an emotional, not intellectual level. Resonating with readers who share your values will be more satisfying for both of you.

I share the specific plot and if the person is interested in more, I broach the themes. This provides a way to connect to what’s meaningful in the book for you and for them.

Stoke your inner fire to keep going

Use your values to spur you on in your writing. Over the 13 years it has taken to write Chasing Sylvia Beach, I used my value of curiosity to drive me through the rough spots where I wanted to give up.

Curiosity helped me want to know a) what was going to happen in the story and b) what will happen when the book comes out. If I had decided to give up the book, I would not have given myself the chance to see what’s on the other side of all the time I invested.
These are just three ways to use values to connect with your readers. The more clarity you have with your values, the easier it will be to discuss your book.

How do you use your values to connect and stay connected to writing your book? 

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Trouver Sa Voix – Find Your Voice

This is part of the Claim Your Authority series.
The French have an expression, ‘trouver sa voie’. I translate this as ‘ to find her path’. It can also be spelled ‘trouver sa voix’, which means ‘find her voice’.
When I set out to write a novel, I thought I was being clever. I thought writing about Sylvia Beach would allow me to avoid that first, autobiographical novel.
Writing from Sylvia’s perspective, I loved my lyrical passages where I tried to inhabit Sylvia’s world.
But after I came back from a week researching in Sylvia’s archives in Princeton, my enthusiasm for the novel ground to a halt. I could only go so far inventing Sylvia’s truths for myself. I respected her too much to try to push her gentle struggles into a sensationalistic spotlight. She would have hated that.
Shortly after my return from Princeton, I had a breakthrough. During a free writing session with my group, my pen lead me to engage Sylvia directly in a dialogue. Instantly the writing was electrified. Instantly I was closer not only to Sylvia but to something vital in myself.
I showed the pages to Carl and he said, Yes! Write more of that!
So I kept going with this me-like character and her interactions with Sylvia Beach, because it felt much better than trying to write Sylvia’s story. I had no idea how I was going to deal with what had effectively become a ‘time travel novel’, but I plunged forward anyway.
This character became Lily Heller. She made plucky choices that I wouldn’t have dared. As I wrote, I both met and grew myself. The story helped show me who I am and what is important to me.
Making this change put me solidly on my path. I became a witness both of Sylvia and myself. 
Here’s a truth I discovered that’s at the core of my coaching, teaching and my own creative quest: we need role models but those role models can only take us so far before we have to forge our own path.
With Sylvia as a distant guide and the novel as an intimate and challenging proving ground, I kept questing for my voice/path. Staying with this project forced me to see and understand insights I would have lost if I had skipped to other, simpler projects.
Finding your voice as a writer is one of the biggest challenges in writing. I’m still finding my voice. But writing and publishing this novel has taken me a long way toward discovering – and owning – my voie/voix.
What has helped you find your voice and path? What role models have taken you to the edge and forced you to find your own way?
Download a PDF of this article. 

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Read This: The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Chris Guillebeau’s work at The Art of Non-Conformity and the World Domination Summit.

Introducing Chris Guillebeau at West Side Books, Denver

Chris’s encouraging approach to life as an adventure has always appealed to me. He applies his consummate curiosity to the subject of entrepreneurship in his latest book, The $100 Startup.
Filled with case studies and grounded, simple advice about how to launch and run a small business, this book will inspire those just starting and those who’ve been in business for awhile and who need a perspective refresher.
Chris just launched this book and has embarked on his book tour. We hosted him in Denver in 2010 for his Art of Non-Conformity book tour.
This year, he’ll be speaking on Friday, May 18th, 2012 at 7:30 pm at the Tattered Cover in Highlands Ranch. I’ll be there and look forward to the discussion that Chris will initiate about entrepreneurship.
Enjoy my video review, with a revelation of a surprise connection between my business and this book. Below the video I’ve shared about my own $100 startup.

My (Less than) $100 Startup

In May, 1999 I quit my job at the bookstore and struck out on my entrepreneurial path. I’d read an article about coaching, attended a weekend introductory course, and knew that coaching was the career for me.
I didn’t have savings, I didn’t have a golden parachute, and I didn’t have a plan other than to coach and write.
Frankly, I didn’t even know I was going into business.
I’m sure I didn’t have $100 but I didn’t leap from my job without ways to support myself. I’d always relied on multiple streams of income, so I moved forward on the bridge of my existing skills.

A financial bridge to fund the startup

If you’re considering self-employment, you may need to have a financial bridge to support you while you build your business. This could be made using the skills from your former work.
My bridge had these sources of income:
Personal chef  Every week, I’d cook a week’s worth of delicious and healthy vegetarian meals for a family.
Cooking classes At this time I was in the middle of my ten-year career as a cooking instructor. I had a small following, and several of these people became my first clients and also came to my other workshops.
Writing classes I had been teaching writing since 1996. I earned money teaching classes at a local writing school and leading free write groups in my home.
Writing I was a columnist for Life on Capitol Hill. I wrote a monthly article and was paid $50 per. This of course was a pittance but it built confidence in my writing and gave me clips to prove I was a published writer.

Pushing the leap

The next year I pushed myself out of the safety net of Denver and moved to Boulder. With no money, no boyfriend, no job, no nothing, I needed to take a job while I built my business.
Part of me felt this was a defeat. But a friend shook some sense into me. “Girlfriend, you need cash! Just go find a part-time job.”
I went to interviews, and in one office, I broke down in tears. “I just want to build my coaching business,” I cried to the sympathetic woman interviewing me.
Finally, I found a job at the box office at Chautauqua. I sold concert tickets and made friends. In the winter I worked at a cooking school.
Both of these jobs allowed me time to develop my own business while earning money. (The first job also led to some lucrative opportunities for me, but that’s another story.)
In February 2001 I went fully self-employed. I haven’t punched a time clock since.

It’s possible to build a lean startup

I’m a lot like many of the entrepreneurs featured in The $100 Startup. I had an idea, the inspiration to help others and a perfect blend of courage and ignorance.
If you’re considering taking your own entrepreneurial leap, The $100 Startup gives both information and solid advice for bringing your idea into the business realm.

Over to you

What sources of income can you use to support yourself while you build your business? 
Leave a comment below telling about how you’ve funded your startup and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a hardcover copy of $100 Startup.
Comment by Monday, May 21st. I’ll draw a winner at random and announce it here.

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Find Your Edge – It's Further Than You Think

A few years ago, I did a crazy thing: I held the yoga pose ‘horse’ for 70 minutes. That’s right. One hour and ten minutes.
There was a lot of craziness in that situation:
I did it during a friendly yoga competition. Competition and yoga don’t belong in the same sentence, let alone the same practice. Crazy.
The prize was for a Manduka yoga mat. I didn’t need or want a yoga mat – I already had four mats at home. Crazy!
But here’s the really crazy thing: When the contest started and the pose announced, I groaned. The yoga teacher mentioned that the previous year’s record had been 28 minutes.
Here’s what I thought: “I hate that pose. I can’t even hold it for five minutes!”
Right there in that moment, I defined my edge. I had about five minutes holding a strenuous, quadriceps-burning pose. I surely wouldn’t win.
Before I go on with the story, what about you? When and how do you define your edge?

When considering the book you’re writing, what edge do you draw in your mind?
Back to the yoga story. It gets crazier.
Now, I’m strong-ish. Not athlete strong, but I do practice yoga a lot and ride my bike all the time. Still, my mind told me that I couldn’t do this.
But the evidence started piling up against my belief. We’d started with about 30 people. Soon most of them peeled off and we were down to a handful of ‘competitors’.
After 35 minutes the organizers started to get tough, raising the stakes. We were told to lift our heels and keep them lifted. Which meant holding this pose on our toes.
Okay, the four remaining crazy-yoginis took that in stride. Then they called in the tattooed, drill sergeant kind of yoga teacher. He put us through various paces. We hopped back and forth, dipped our upper bodies up and down. Yet we’re still holding this crazy pose.
Frankly, I didn’t even know why I was doing it. But I knew the longer I stood there, the more determined I was to not surrender.
Later, as I pedaled home on noodles for legs, I realized that my edge is way further than my mind thought.
Now I know this without a doubt: I am capable of WAY more than I knew possible.
And because I believe we’re all in this together, I believe YOU are capable of way more than your mind thinks.
Finally, with the spring night falling and patience all around waning, the teachers called the contest, surrendering for the three of us remaining fools who refused to surrender. Instead of awarding two yoga mats, they gave each of us one.
We are extraordinarily resilient, all of us. Yet we fool ourselves into believing that our edges are closer than we think. That we are weaker than we think.
My work as a coach is not to push you in ridiculous ways, but to remind you that you are more, can do and be more than you think. Not as a push into overdrive or straining, but as a way to access and express the infinite potential inside each of us.
But language like that can be vague and cliché. It’s our lived experiences that remind us our capacity is often way, way greater than we think.

What’s your (perceived) and (real) edge?

Consider your own edge-pushing experiences. Times as a parent when you held your patience in the face of a screaming infant. Times as an employee or student when you over-delivered on a project or task.
Borrow from your life experiences to contribute to your power as an emerging author. When you come to your edge with your subject matter and mental fog rises up to threaten your focus and commitment, know that you have it in you to keep going. Not to force yourself, but to stay with the book until it’s done.
I wrote sixteen drafts of Chasing Sylvia Beach in the face of at least triple that number in rejections. I never would have known I had it in me to keep going, to keep improving, to keep growing myself against my edge of what’s possible.
I’m not any more badass than any of you. Seriously. I, too, want to abandon difficult things and go for the low-hanging fruit. But I’ve become addicted to the thrill of overcoming challenges and shooting for the impossible.
Your edges will look and feel different than mine. But know them, and push past them.
What edges can you push past this week?

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Read This: The Mother's Wisdom Deck Giveaway

Are you mothering with soul?
How would you know if you were?
A gorgeous new card deck helps mothers slow down, take a moment for themselves, and find a deeper connection to soul. My friend, writer Elizabeth Marglin, has just released The Mother’s Wisdom Deck, co-authored with Niki Dewart and with lovely illustrations by Jenny Kostecki.
I’m not a mother but I have great respect for women who are. Bringing up children is a full-time job and most mothers are also working outside the home.
Elizabeth gave me a copy of The Mother’s Wisdom Deck to share with you.
This is a gorgeous and inspiring deck. I wanted one even though I am not a mother.
Whether you’re a mother or not, you’re probably bringing mothering to something. I’m birthing my novel, Chasing Sylvia Beach, after a 12-year gestation period! When I pause to reflect on the whole process, I realize that yes, I mothered this project with soul. It’s the pauses – and using a deck of cards helps us slow down – that give us the true sense of soul.
Leave a comment below about how you are mothering with soul. On Sunday, May 13th, 2012, I’ll choose a comment at random for the winner of a copy of The Mother’s Wisdom Deck.
Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers and to all mothering efforts.