Creativity

Any change in our routine — holidays, vacations, visits from loved ones — can bring a slump in our creative work. Even when we’re completely into our book or art projects, there’s often an inertia that keeps us from getting back into the groove.

Shifting from one mode to another is a challenge for most creatives. We want to get into the flow, but there are a million things we need to do first. Then, when we’re in the flow, it’s hard to tear ourselves away and return to the ‘real’ world.

I coach all my clients on this. It’s one of the biggest problems we solve together – how to get back into the groove.

Here are three things that help my clients rekindle their dedication to their projects.

Lower the bar. Expecting to jump back in full speed just adds pressure. Let your return be as slow as it needs to, but be firm with yourself about getting back to your writing and creative pursuits. Build up to where you left off, if needed. Start with brief (10 minute) free-writes or similar warm-up exercises. I invite my clients to have a 15-minute ‘date’ with their project, to get back in touch without pressure.

Connect to the love. What do you love about your writing practice, your project? You may take a few moments to jot down what you love about it. If you have already done this writing, take it out and revisit your passion.

Design new support structures. Make appointments with your mastermind partners and set up a meeting with your coach or writing buddies to design structure and accountability that works for you.

Beating yourself up over what’s actually a natural ebb and flow cycle doesn’t help us get on track. Be kind to yourself as you resume your writing or other creative work.

What works for you to get back to the writing or art-making?

I’m plugging away at my Lisbon novel. Like most of us, I always want to do more than I actually do. Sigh.

As a coach, I know how to get things across the finish line. But that doesn’t mean that wrangling focus is easy.

My deadline for a completed draft (that I can send to an editor) is October 14. That’s when I go to Europe to lead Paris Sketchbook and do a reconnaissance trip for Capture the Lisbon Wow. A trip makes for a strong deadline/motivator to keep working.

But that’s months away. I need a shorter deadline for real focus. My commitment for this summer is to make the novel my #1 priority. ‘Summer’ seems endless and long. But when reality check the calendar, I have only nine weeks. This excludes the weeks when I am leading my Vermont and Montana retreats. (We have a few spots in those if you need a break from your routine to uplevel your joy.)

Some weeks have more client meetings than others. Like you, I have to squeeze my passion project into the spaces around paid work. Here’s how I have shifted things to honor my #1 priority:

No new work projects. This is harder than it might seem; I love to tinker with the systems that make my work work. My focus is my clients, my retreats, and my novel. That’s it.

I’ve set aside my non-fiction book for now. It was okay to work on two projects earlier this year. But I am highly motivated to get this novel done and into the world. Hopefully by 2025!

Reduce my subscriptions. I love reading others’ newsletters. The trouble is, I am easily distracted and think I need to know about/do/take on the thing they are talking about. This week I unsubscribed from a lot of newsletters that I don’t really read. It was hard to let go of hearing from people I love, but I can go back when I don’t need such focus.

Put the novel first. On non-client days, I usually write my newsletter and work on my creativity retreats. Now, I start the workday with the novel.

Join a writing challenge. Jami Attenberg has her free #1000wordsofsummer challenge. Can I write 1,000 words a day for two weeks? Indeed I can, and this will add an extra layer of focus. Check it out and join us. 

I’m fortunate to have a flexible schedule. These measures help, and I still have to deal with the insecurities and cluelessness about writing a novel. It helps me a ton to write about this in my author notebook.

I’m sharing more about how to stay focused in my newsletter, Impulses. Get your subscription here.

What are you working on this summer and how is it helping you focus? Share in a comment below.

Many of us have complex relationships with our bodies, and this course is an opportunity to cultivate a new, more harmonious connection with ourselves. Whether navigating a major life change or simply seeking to honor your body as it is, Reclaim Your Body’s Wisdom will guide you toward a deeper understanding and appreciation of yourself.

At Feathered Pipe Ranch near Helena, Montana, this yoga and writing retreat takes place on August 19 – 24, 2023.

Co-led by yoga teacher De West and writing coach Cynthia Morris, this will be a transformative and fun retreat. Experience the transformative power of yoga and writing in Reclaim Your Body’s Wisdom, a unique course that invites you to explore the innate wisdom of your body.

In this retreat, we’ll use yoga, writing, and creativity to access insights that have been hidden from us for years. With plenty of integration time and a relaxed pace, you can stabilize your understanding and solidify the insights you’ll take home with you. As a community, we’ll share laughter and lightness throughout, and you’ll have the chance to let your body flow at our dance party!

By the end of the course, you’ll leave with:

• a new language for communicating with your body,
• a deep awareness of how your senses guide your truth, and
• a recognition of yourself on a more authentic level.

Join us on this transformative journey towards self-discovery and embrace the wisdom of your body. Spaces are limited. Reserve your spot here.

Escape the busyness of daily life and reconnect with yourself in the serene Montana Rocky Mountains. Surrounded by the scent of pine trees and refreshing breezes, you’ll savor the delicious organic food the ranch has to offer and enjoy plenty of solo time.

Meals at the Ranch are delicious, homemade, mostly organic, and locally sourced. Gluten-free and dairy-free options are abundant. Beyond that, the kitchen is skilled with customizing special diets. You can also book a massage with one of the outstanding bodyworkers, take a hot tub, hike a mountain path, or jump in the lake in the warm afternoons. Take a hike through the forest, swim in the lake, or relax in a hammock as you access a new sacredness of being in your perfectly imperfect body.

Optional evening activities could include meditation circle, fun writing games,  Q&A, Dance Party, evening hikes (weather dependent), restorative yoga, Bonfire connection, and stargazing! *some nights will be free nights as well.

This retreat is the reset you’ve been craving, and you’ll leave feeling wiser, refreshed, and ready for whatever life invites you to do next. All bodies and genders are welcome; no prior writing or yoga experience is necessary. Bring a friend along, and you’ll both save $100.

Spaces are limited. Reserve your spot here.

Being a writer or an artist requires a lot from us. Yet it’s not all about discipline and focus and whatever it takes to finish projects. What are ephemeral necessities

These are the things artists and writers have in their lives on a regular. They include: 

• slowing down
• noticing feelings
• describing their inner world in words or images
• engaging and celebrating all the senses
• being open – to surprises, synchronicities, suggestions.

These are the hard-to-articulate ephemeral necessities things that make up a writer. All these pieces contribute to how and what we write. 

I cultivate ephemeral necessities when I get out of my routine. Travel really fluffs up my creative energy. So many of may values and themes are honored when I leave the comfort of home. 

What ephemeral necessities do you feel need a ‘fluffing up’? On my creativity retreats, all these things and more get their due. 

We particularly lean into the invisible requirements of creativity in Meet Your Writer in Paris. You’ll get access to the things that make your writer sing inside and out. 

The early registration discount for Meet Your Writer in Paris ended yesterday, but I am leaving it open for one more day. Find all the details here and reserve your spot to meet your writer in Paris. 

What ephemeral necessities do you cultivate regularly? Leave a comment below! 

I want to let you know about something magical I will be co-leading this year. The Vermont Landscape with Lorraine Glessner. I was camping with friends and we were chatting about American states we wanted to visit. Vermont came up and I said, yes, I’d like to go there. I’ve never been, and I have a couple of clients who live there that I’d like to visit. 

The next morning, at the campfire with my coffee and journal, I got a distinct inner nudge to check my email. I resisted because I am trying to keep weekends to myself and not my work self. But after three nudges, I got my phone out and checked the email. 

Subject line: Co-teach a retreat

Inside was an invitation from encaustics artist Lorraine Glessner, whom I had coached years before. She leads retreats and invites other artists to co-lead with her. This time, she was looking for a writer. 

When looking at my website, she saw my Paris retreats and felt there was a strong synchronicity. 

And guess where she leads these retreats? Vermont. A mere twelve hours after I said I’d love to visit Vermont, an invitation I couldn’t refuse showed up. 

I was giddy and alight with magic for hours. My mind wanted to sort out how, exactly, this kind of thing happens. My magical self said, just enjoy it. 

In July, we will co-lead The Vermont Landscape as Muse: Encaustic on Paper & the Written Word. I will of course be leading the writing part of it. Spaces are limited to just ten participants, so if this is appealing to you, check it out and snag your spot now. 

My Paris creativity retreats also had this kind of magic surrounding them. For more information on them, have a look at Paris Sketchbook or Meet Your Writer in Paris.

Leave a comment below! 

I’m not immune to the stuff that makes life feel deflated. I fall prey to the things my clients do: forgetting our milestone wins, getting overwhelmed, and letting doubt and insecurity into the writing room.

Luckily I believe in walking my talk. I don’t ask my clients to do anything I don’t do myself. So as I prepare to lead Annual Review for Creatives, I pulled the productivity bus over to get a view of the bigger picture. And boy, am I glad I did.

Somehow stuff that happened in the early part of the year got into the way back. I had to use some of the methods I teach in Annual Review for Creatives to recall that I had:

• Drafted my book, Design Your Creative Life
• Was a reader for the Courage to Write grant
• Took two writing classes
• Designed a coaching workshop around my book, The Busy Woman’s Guide to Writing a World-Changing Book
• FINALLY got my coaching work around values and themes into a workshop – Your Creative DNA.
• Drafted a novel! Complete surprise.

These are just a few of the things I designed, wrote, or manifested this year. If I had not taken the time to write it all down, I would have thought this year was ‘meh’ creatively. But instead, I realize it’s been one of the best years of my life. I feel empowered to keep going on the books I drafted this year and do other projects.

Make your year feel even better with a reflection process. This will help you feel a sense of wonder, appreciation and gratitude for what you’ve done, however small.

Reserve your spot in the Annual Review for Creatives workshop here.

I recently signed up for an online course delivered by email. It was a seven-day program, and it didn’t cost much. I was excited about it. But guess what? Guess how many days of the program I actually showed up for? You’re right – three. You probably guessed this because you have likely done this yourself.

While it seems like a good idea to be able to take a class on your own, often we flake out on it. I don’t blame myself or beat myself up about it – and I don’t judge you, either. I just think it’s a flaw in the way people are delivering their good content now. To get more people into the program, they sacrifice an actual connection with the people they’re serving.

I think this is the biggest problem with online learning today. Self-study, on-demand programs can be great, and sure, some of us manage to work through a self-guided class all on our own. More often, though, we don’t set ourselves up to do the work. What originally seemed like a good idea becomes yet another thing you didn’t do. It becomes a drain on your vital life energy. Even free courses can become a drag if you don’t show up to do the work.

I prefer to spend time with the people I’m helping. That’s why most of my workshops are live or include time with me. I’ve got one coming up I want to be sure you know about, because it’s truly life-changing and I love teaching it.

One of my favorite workshops is the Annual Review for Creatives. We get to take a ‘mini-retreat’ together to reflect on the year and all we’ve done. This program is designed specifically for creative people. It’s all too easy to let our writing or art-making efforts go under the radar.

In this workshop, we give ourselves credit for all the ways we showed up for our creative selves. It’s fun, empowering and effective. And it’s live!

We meet on Friday, December 9th for three hours. I’ll guide you through my process for making the most of the year. I’ll also share some of my highlights from 2022, including surprises and wins I didn’t plan at the outset.

Get your seat here. And if for some reason you cannot make the live event, you can access the recordings and handouts through December 31, 2022.

If you’re like me, when you travel, you get a ton of inspiration. When I lead writing and creativity workshops, I invite people to gather their inspiration in one place. I call this ‘Flashes of Inspiration’. It’s a page at the back of my notebook where I write down all the wacky ideas I get. I don’t worry about feasibility or whether I will ever implement these ideas. It’s easier to find these gems later when they’re all in one place.

As a coach, I am about actionable ideas. There’s a point where more ideas aren’t really good. We creative types can easily get overwhelmed and then just do nothing. 

But while walking with my group in Paris, I reconsidered the value of ideas. Whenever I get an idea, I think to myself, “This is a GREAT idea!” I am full of enthusiasm, possibility, and joy. It doesn’t really matter if the idea is good or actionable. What if just the idea in itself, that blip of SQUEEE!! Is enough? What if we didn’t have to take action on everything?

I get joy from looking at my Flashes of Inspiration list. I typed up the ideas I got while leading Paris Sketchbook and Write Your Heart Out in Paris. The last item on the list is where my coach or project manager wants to come in. Do I need to make this list actionable? Probably not. Usually, things that rise to the top of the priority list get done. Sometimes, years later, you will pick up a list and see you’ve done most of them. 

Here’s my list, shared with you, with all the wild and whackery of it, in no particular order. 

1. Invite a ‘focus’ group of people for different sections of the book, most specifically ‘space’. “Listening party” (from Krista Tippett)
2. Paint my one small wall with chalkboard paint and do patterns on it. Or paint a pattern on the wall. (recurring inspiration)
3. Go back to the Portugal romance – fictionalize it and make it fun. 
4. Write the Portugal novel as a graphic novel. 
5. Digitize the Paris coffee books – aka take photos and put them into Notion so when I am in Paris I can use it. 
6. Grow an indoor herb garden in the winter. 
7. Make some kind of art or sculpture from Steve’s matchbooks – what would be a cool way to display them? 
8. Print photo stickers for the sketchbook. 
9. Resume meditation practice!
10. Write up Gigia’s melon ball apple trick and send it to Cook’s Illustrated. 
11. Never eat molten chocolate cake again. 
12. Take a romance novel writing class. 
13. Take a graphic novel writing class. 
14. Go back to healthy eating!
15. Sign up for the swim class. 
16. Write 10 jokes a day. 
17. List and illustrate 100 things from my favorite Paris market. 
18. Try more abstract paintings. 
19. Do a giant painting for the living room and frame it in a gold frame. 
20. Turn Write Your Heart Out in Paris into a class or ebook (or it actually belongs in current WIP).
21. Something about Chardon – do a painting or write a bit about it. 
22. Do a book of all my illustrated city alphabets. 
23. Use Smart and Soul website for professionals who want to write personal projects. 
24. Illustrated series – sinks of Paris. They are so tiny and cute. 
25. When in Paris, have projects to do. Like when I researched and wrote a historical novel. 
26. Get a better tone for my phone and ipad timer. 
27. Make that dance mix I keep talking about. 
28. Set up a call with Andrea to talk about pattern design. 
29. Study French more. 
30. Hire a creativity coach. 
31. Write a novel about the weekend in France during NaNoWriMo. 
32. Do NaNoWriMo about the novel in France. 
33. Submit my illustrated journey blessings to a travel magazine like Afar. 
34. Gather my photos into a Dropbox folder. 
35. Choose which of these things I will do and when. 

How do you capture and take action on the inspiration when you get while traveling? Share your secrets below.

Have you ever been pulled away from a project? Perhaps you feared it was over and you wouldn’t get back to it. I know the feeling!

Now that I am back from France, it’s time to focus on my book. I took a hiatus during the summer and early fall. Turns out it’s a lot of work and focus required to lead two workshops in France! I didn’t have any bandwidth to focus on the book. 

Sure, I have been thinking about my book and making notes about it. But I haven’t been driving it forward the way I would like. 

This happens all the time – our steady going on our projects gets interrupted. Life will always throw us a distraction or something that we cannot avoid. 

It can be distressing to be pulled away from our work. But a break doesn’t have to mean a breakup. Here are a couple of suggestions to make getting back into the groove easier. 

Invite a deeper trust. Know that you will get back into it. Connect to the reason why you do it in the first place. Trust that you and your project won’t be done until the project itself is done. 

Relinquish any angst or self-recriminiation about taking a pause. It’s just life. It’s not you or your lack of discipline. Okay, maybe it is, but you will know the difference between procrastination and an unavoidable interruption. 

If you can, give yourself a return date. I knew I wouldn’t be doing any work on it until I came back from France. So I gave myself the return date of October 24th. I’m using the Atelier to help me with weekly accountability. 

Getting back into a project you’ve been away for can be daunting. Where to start? I suggest a 15-minute date with your project. 

Give yourself a short period of time to get acquainted. Don’t expect yourself to produce anything. Just get in touch with it. Read over what you’ve written. See what’s next. Give yourself the chance to get excited about it again. Before you know it, you will have clarity on the next steps. Set yourself up for a work session to do those next things. 

Make the return graceful, not stressful. What has helped you come back to a project? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

I wish it weren’t true but sometimes you will HATE writing your book.

I used to think that when we love our topic, we should love writing about it.

And that writing a book should be a great adventure, start to finish.

I was writing yet another draft of my novel. I had to take a walk to air out my thoughts. OMG this is so HARD, I remember thinking.

I was learning as I went how to craft a story. DUH! How would I know how to write a novel? Only by doing it – badly.

On the walk, a voice in my head replied to my whiney “It’s so HARD!” with “Yes, it’s hard. So? You can learn anything.”

Knowing book writing is hard work invited my values of learning, curiosity, and challenge to rise up. Now, for all 9 books I’ve written, whenever it got hard, I didn’t cave in. I leaned in.

Normalizing the work of writing a book is one of the biggest gifts I give my clients. And now you have it. You’re welcome.

Have you given up on your book or major body of work because you mistake the ‘hard’ work of writing to be a fault of your own?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

I like to think that each of us has a predominant feeling tone. We see this tone reflected in our writing or creative work. We connect with it through other’s art: movies, music, art often allows us to experience our feeling tone.

My feeling tone is a blend of melancholy/hope/joy. I love things that bring a sense of the poignancy of life to the forefront. Life is a mixed bag, right? It’s sad and hopeful and gorgeous and funny all at once.

Art gives me a way to honor that blend of feelings. We started watching a show called This Is Us. We’ve been trying to avoid getting into TV shows because, well, you know. You get hooked. The next thing you know you’re watching every night.

I ask myself what is it that pulls me in? It’s wanting to be in that world. To experience that feeling tone.

This Is Us is a show with wonderful characters, all flawed, all fully human, all doing their best to be themselves. The themes revolve around parenting, being a sibling, and being successful at what we care most about.

We just love it. It’s a sweet show, and with all the trouble in the world and the other dark stuff we have been watching (Ozark), This Is Us is the show I need right now.

Turns out we have tuned into this program just as it’s coming to the finale of its 6-season run. Steve came into the studio the other day to announce,“Sweetie. There are 150 episodes of the show.” I thought, Great! That’s a year of nightly watching. OY VEY!

What words describe your feeling tone in your art and life? What shows, music or art reflect that feeling tone back to you? Share in the comments below.

Last Call Ya’ll for Impulse Writing Club!

Registration for the Impulse Writing Club is still open. Want to join us for 16 weeks of writing? Register today!

I published my first novel ten years ago.

It took 12 years and 17 drafts.

Whaaaaat?!?!

I learned so many things from writing that book. One gift I received was learning that I am a tenacious person.

When committed to something, I will stay with it to the end. I finish and publish books, launch programs and lead workshops in France.

Writing that book gave me those ‘finishing skills’. It gave me the confidence to try all kinds of things that seemed beyond my reach.

Every project we finish has a gift for us at the finish line. What have you gained from completing a major project?

What project are you finally ready to commit to? A book, a body of artwork, a professional project all benefit from focus and support. 

Enrollment is open for the Original Impulse Atelier. This is my eight-month coaching group where we all dive into one project each. It starts in September, but there is some pre-work that can be done in August if you’d like to get a head start. 

All the details are here. 

Plan ahead for a productive season with us 

Hey! If you are already thinking ahead to autumn and to the deliciousness of focus that season brings, consider the Atelier. This coaching program runs along the school year calendar. In it, each member – me included – focuses on one project. We make great progress and learn a ton about our creative process. 

The Atelier is accepting applications now – if you want to make serious and fun progress on a project, this is the program for you. All the details are here. 

A cool reading job I did this month 

Recently, I was invited to be a juror for the Courage to Write literary grant sponsored by the DeGroot Family Foundation. Two other jurors and I read 33 applications. They included a letter and a sample of the writing. We were judging on several criteria, including of course the quality of the writing. 

I accepted this invitation because I have never done this. I knew I would learn from doing it. 

It was fun and an honor to peek into these writers’ worlds. To learn about their passion projects and to appreciate the commitment they have to write even when life is super busy and complicated. 

I also wanted to be a juror because pitching your idea in a succinct and compelling way is vital for anyone wanting to bring their work to the world. I help my Atelier members learn how to present their ideas. It’s not easy!

After reading through all the applications, I have one piece of advice for anyone who wants to present their idea to the world. 

Make it easy for people to talk about your work. Some might call this the ‘elevator pitch’. Whatever you call it, get the central idea of your project into one short sentence that’s easy for people to remember. 

I found myself wanting to share a couple of the project ideas with my husband. The easier it was to refer to the project, the more likely we are to share it. 

What makes for good writing? 

I recently finished Maggie O’Farrell’s This Must Be the Place and Tana French’s The Likeness. Now I’m reading The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett. 

It’s a rare book that I LOVE. So I’ve been curious about what I consider good writing. In this post, I share some thoughts from my book group and also what I consider ‘good writing’. 

This piece focuses on fiction. I read a lot of non-fiction, too, and that kind of book has different criteria for me. 

This is of course highly subjective, but this is the kind of thing I ponder in the middle of just about everything: what makes for good writing? 

My book club had a couple of less than compelling picks last year, so as we prepare to choose our next set of books, we collectively asked ‘what makes for good writing?’ 

I took some notes and by the end of the discussion, of course it was obvious that we all have different takes on ‘good writing’. And we also realized that we want that variety. If we all had the same metrics, the discussion would be uninspired. 

Here are some of the things we want when we are reading fiction. 

• Easy to get into and read
• Be able to relax, enjoy, and be immersed in the book
• Don’t want to be distracted from the story
• No didacticism, teachy, preachy stuff (sorry Barbara Kingsolver)
• Emotionally intelligent
• Want a challenge/want to learn something/makes you think/changes you 
• Like when the author is trying to do something different/unique storytelling (How Much of These Hills Is Gold)

For me, I love lyrical prose. I adore sentences that move me, stop me reading, make me go WHOA. I want to be moved emotionally and I want a peek into a world. 

I mostly read historical fiction by women featuring strong female characters. I tend to avoid contemporary fiction that mirrors real life too much. Honestly, I read fiction at night to shut off the world. I don’t want something that is more of the same. 

That’s it for today! What is ‘good writing’ for you as a reader? As a writer? Share your thoughts on the Original Impulse blog here.

I am away this week on a retreat, totally off-grid. Not looking at the screen at all.

I’m writing this in advance and as an advocate of stepping away from the fray. I do take weekends off and I do get more space in the summer. But a whole week away from all my obligations and routines?

It sounds good and it’s also scary. I noticed all my fears and patterns pop up like popcorn before I left. Would the food be enough for me? Would I get along with the other participants?

This summer I have really noticed how uncomfortable change is. DUH, right? It’s easy to feel the discomfort of where we are. It’s easy to feel desire for where we want to be. But between the two, we encounter a lot of thrash. We don’t easily let go of beliefs, habits, and fears that want to keep us in the known.

I witness my clients as they go through the thrash around writing and creating. Like most things, wouldn’t it be nice if it were just a matter of a slogan – Just do it! Or a schedule we could stick to?

But no. Life is meant to challenge us. If we want to grow, we have to go through the growing pains.

Here’s to giving yourself permission to have growing pains. Here’s to being kind to yourself as you go through the thrash.

What helps you get through the thrash? Feel free to share your thoughts on the Original Impulse blog here.