The Writing Life

If you’re like me and practically every creative person I know, you’ve got more going on than you can reasonably handle. Yet we seem to be missing the message – adding more and more to do doesn’t always  feel great. Overwhelm is a real stressor and can degrade the quality of our days.

I try all kinds of things to be sane with my work expectations, and I always return to a simple, quick and easy method to cope with – and fend off – overwhelm. When I share this with my students and clients, it’s a huge relief to them. Finally, a way to begin organizing and prioritizing creative projects.

Our problem is we love many things. At once. All the time. But then we’re running around feeling stressed and not enjoying any one project because we’re devoted to so many of them.

A stern taskmaster would tell you to focus, to choose only one at a time. But I know you and I know me and we can’t do just one thing.

Here’s what I do to have a grip on the projects I take on and how to stop myself from taking on way too much.

I call it Mind Mapping Your Plate.

Here’s how to mind map your month

Before the beginning of the month, take one sheet of paper or a page in your notebook. NOT a big one – just a regular size piece of paper.

Put the month in the middle and make radial bubbles or boxes for EACH MAJOR PROJECT or AREA OF YOUR LIFE.

On the map, put items you are focused on this month. The things that are your priority this month. You can develop out the map with smaller pieces of each project. For the sake of illustrating it for you here, I just added the main projects.

It’s a lot on my plate in June, isn’t it? Notice the box at the bottom: Does not include. I don’t include the things I do on an ongoing basis. I probably should, because then I would have a more accurate picture of ALL the things I am spending my time on. But I use this to manage projects, not my entire schedule.

Additional notes

Notice how travel is a project. Each trip is its own project with planning, taking and returning from. That’s a lot of energy.

Note the # of work days in the middle heart. This doesn’t include travel days and Saturdays and Sundays. Only 13 days in the office! Whoa! That seriously makes me think about how to focus my time and energy on those days.

Since I published this, I have added more things. There’s the copy writing for a client. There’s the interview request. There will always be more things to do. I know it’s difficult to leave space for these things, but I try.

You can also map out writing projects with this method.

See additional notes at the bottom of the mind map.

Have you tried this method for organizing yourself? Do it now! It can take less than 5 minutes. Let us know how it goes.

Hello creative friends and happy Monday!
I hope your weekend replenished and refreshed you for the week ahead. I love the fresh start Monday gives us.
And it’s time for a little creative accountability, if you want it. First, let’s check in on last week. How did it go? Did committing to one thing here help you do that thing?
It helped me a LOT. I had committed to making and posting one video. When Thursday, my appointed video day, rolled around, I did not want to do it. I had a lot of meetings that day and if I hadn’t publicly said I would make a video, I would have bailed on the commitment. But I can’t hold your tootsies to the fire and not do the same for myself!
So I got my pretty dress on and made sure my curls weren’t TOTALLY wacky and set up the video system. And I made a video. And then another, and another and before an hour had passed, I had clocked 6 videos. Yes, SIX!
This is what happens when we set a low bar. We usually are able to over-deliver and then we feel great. I felt completely powerful and successful and proud of having done all that.
I posted the video and encouraged a lot of people to be more creative. I’ve got a few bits and bobs to add to the other videos and then I can schedule them for upcoming weeks. This method of batching my tasks really works for me, helping me play in many different media so I can do a lot of different things.
My commitment this week: prepare the two presentations I am giving on creativity in Fort Collins and in Costa Rica. I know those will happen because I am being paid to show up and teach, so it’s a little bit of cheating on my part to not add another thing to do.
But I also know that adding more for the sake of it isn’t my priority this week. So I am content with that. And excited to speak about this thing that is my life’s work: how to be more creatively successful and satisfied.
How about you? What worked for you last week and what will you do this week? 

I’ve got something exciting to share with you, but first, I’ll tell the story.
As a writer’s coach, I’m always looking for ways to make writing easier. When we get into the ‘zone’, writing can feel magical. We finally lose our critical self-consciousness. We slip away from time. Our words guide us to new territory, and we welcome the surprises and the wisdom our pens offer up. We discover our wisdom and our voice. We discover Writual.

How we access Writual

Since 1994, I’ve been leading writing workshops that teach writers how to cultivate this magical space, where writer’s block is a distant memory. Where the inner critic is outside shoveling snow. I call this space Writual.
Writual is accessed through the intentional surrender we can find with the free-writing method. Our pens or fingers on the keyboard provide access to our authenticity. Writual cuts through the noise to get to the heart of our truth.
Practicing Writual feels very different from the writing sessions that come from disciplining or hounding ourselves to write from guilt. When you have adopted your Writual practice, you’re much less likely to avoid your writing.
In my Free-Write Fling class, students find their groove using the free-writing method and my Writual Blessings. The transformations they experience are profound: more confidence, more joy and more sense of their authenticity.

Writual Blessings are your powerful writing ally

Writual [rich-oo-uh l] The sacred act of writing with intention and surrender. Origin: writing + ritual = Writual
Blessing [bles-ing] praise, devotion, especially grace before a meal
Writual Blessings help us enter this sacred writing zone. When writers use them as a prompt, they tap their own deep well of wisdom. It’s been great to see how Writual Blessings have served as my allies in helping writers find joy and confidence.
Writual Blessings serve as permission slips to the coveted space of writing freedom. It’s amazing how much the Flingers love them and how much they’ve made a difference in their writing. They have found focus and solace from the Writual Blessings.

I want more people to enjoy the pleasure that these affirmations bring. So from the hundreds of Blessings I’ve written, I made a deck of Writual Blessings cards. I chose 36 of my favorites. I hand-lettered them and added watercolor illustrations. I made a deck of portable cards for writers who would love to have support to access their authentic expression.
There are lots of ways to use these cards, including:

• writing prompt
• visual reminder of your intention
• permission slip from your writing coach
• page marker for your journal or favorite book
• and more….

I’ve ordered a limited number of these unique writers’ card decks for sale. If this kind of colorful encouragement is something you could use for your writing, you’ll want to order your deck now.
To make it easier for you, I’m paying for shipping through March 31st. Get your deck here and let your writing become joyful and easier.
Get your deck here, and if you’ve got writing buddies, pick up a couple of decks for them. You’ll love the bulk discount I am offering. Remember, shipping is on me through March 31st.

You’re in the middle of writing the most fabulous paragraph when the phone rings. It’s your child’s school and you’ve forgotten to pick her up.
You leap up, caroming from blissful creative mode to full-on panic mode. You rush out the door, the cursor on your screen blinking, your creative bliss lost.
Sound familiar? This wrenching transition style happens all too often. We lose track of time and pay the cost. We become grumpy, resentful and our desire to write dissipates. It’s one of the main reasons we fear entering the creative zone. We’re afraid we won’t be able to make a graceful return to the ordinary world where our real-world obligations await us.
It doesn’t have to be wrenching. Transitions between life and writing can be easy. But it requires some effort and some training on our part to make transitioning between our roles work for us.
How can writers and artists make the transition smooth and easy? I suggest ritualized acts help to honor the creative time. Below are ten transition methods that my clients have used successfully. Experiment to see which rituals work for you. [Read more…] about Make Your Creative Time More Effective

People often ask me what they can use free-writing for. In  my experience, it’s great for every kind of personal or professional writing imaginable – for the first draft at least.
This week, I brainstormed 20 ways you can use free-writing now, even if you don’t consider yourself a writer. Best of all, free-writing is a great way to just. get. started.
Check all the ways you see free-writing as useful for you now. This will help you to identify how you can use writing now to enjoy your life and creativity more.
[Read more…] about Get your writing moving, no matter what

These days. we’re encouraged to ‘tell our story’. The story of how we started. The story of how we got to where we are. The story of our business and who we’re here to serve.
By sharing these stories publicly, we’re able to connect to others. But telling our stories isn’t just a good idea for our blog or business efforts. Writing our own stories connects us to our past and our future.
Telling our stories – even to ourselves – gives us the chance to see who we’ve been, the choices we’ve made and how we’ve lived our lives. When we write our stories, we see ourselves as characters. With a bit of creative distance, we can develop compassion for our choices, for our fumbles, for our disastrous relationships.
Reflecting on choices we’ve made gives us the chance to make new stories. Stories that suit the truth of who we really are. Through writing our stories, we understand the arc of our lives better.
As I start the Write Your Paris Stories class today, I already see how much this city has formed me. I arrived in Paris for the first time at age 17, fresh from the Ohio countryside.

In three short weeks, I changed. I saw things I’d never seen before – a big city with monumental charm swooped into my heart and claimed me forever. It’s not all pretty, though. Every good story has plenty of drama and pain, and Paris has served up my share of that.
I’m looking forward to teaching this class and also to being a student. Because I know that writing our stories – or making any art – even if it’s just for us, has enormous value. I look forward to the surprises and insights that await me in those well-known tales I’ve lived.
Each of us is an intricate, deep web of stories that define our lives. Finding the ones that we need and want to tell is where we get to bring our creativity to bear.
What stories define you? What stories do you tell to connect with others?
If writing your Paris stories is appealing to you, please join our online writing class. It’s never too late!