Getting into the Creative Zone

October 12, 2011 by 6 Comments

I’ve heard from many creatives that it takes too long to get in and out of the “creative zone” so they can’t find the time to do their creative work, because they have to have big long chunks of time to get into the groove, actually do the work, and get back out of it.

I used to believe this too.

When I first set up my Sacred Writing Time on Fridays, I was trying to do some work on my coaching business and then do some writing, but I found it extremely difficult to do.

I figured it was because it was “too hard to shift gears” from one type of work to another.

What’s true about this is that they ARE different kinds of work.

So I decided that Fridays would be ONLY for writing. And that helped for a while.

Creating Everyday Turns It Around

But then I started my Writer’s Accountability Circle, and I made a commitment to writing every weekday.

I reorganized my schedule to include writing time at the beginning of each day, and while I’ve sometimes struggled to do it first, I’ve pretty much managed to write every single day I intended to.

I’ve also found that jumping right back into my writing is nowhere near as hard as it used to be.

Turns out that creating more frequently, even for lesser amounts of time, makes it easier to keep your work fresh in your mind (something I’ve talked about in my free tips series for writers), and therefore easier to dive back into.

Resistance Is Oh-So-Obvious

Plus I’m finding that when I really do put my writing first, my resistance is much more obvious. (More on resistance here.)

And therefore much easier to bust.

Case in point: Yesterday morning when I came home to write after dropping off my son at school, I found my fear coming up big time.

See, I’m at a key transition point in my writing where I’m moving into new territory, and my fearful self thinks I won’t be able to come up with anything new.

Luckily, due to the daily Writer’s Circle question I answer, “What negative self-statements did you notice?” I’m more clear about what I’m telling myself than I used to be.

So I was able to say to myself, “Okay, this is fear coming up. I’m going to do the best I can to face it and do this anyway. What will help me?”

And I had the insight almost instantaneously to use mind-mapping to help me get unstuck.

So I did.

And it did! I came up with a great new spin on one of my concepts that I’m very happy with.

To Sum Up

  • We have lots of excuses for not doing our creative work.
  • Resistance is more obvious and solvable when you face it every day.
  • Writing (or creating, depending on your “thing”) daily helps keep your work fresh in your mind.
  • Time to get out of “all or nothing” thinking.
  • Fear is only fear. Nothing more, nothing less. It takes courage to face it, but it’s worth it.

Your Turn

What do you think about all this? I’d love to hear from you in the comment section below, about:

  • How resistance shows up for you.
  • What you’re doing to move through it anyway.
  • What stories you’ve recently busted yourself on.

Also, if you’d like to read more along these lines, you might be interested in my Free Tips Series for Writers, “How to Stop Making Excuses and Start Writing,” here. I’ve written 5 lessons so far and will be adding to them soon.

And if you’d like to vote on the topics you’d most like to hear about, you can do so, here:

[polldaddy poll=”5577143″]

Jenna

 

Coming Attractions

~> November 1st. Tuesday. The next session of my Writer’s Circle starts. Really, don’t miss it. If you want to write but you aren’t finding the time for it or being consistent or accountable to your dream, this will give you just the kick in the pants you’re looking for. Sign up here.

~> November 10th. My next Life Purpose Breakthrough ‘Big Vision’ Group. Sold out. Details.

 


~> Next Tuesday. Right Brain Business Planning with my buddy Kris Carey. We’ve had to postpone our last two sessions (resistance??) so we’ll be regrouping next week. :)

~> Ongoing. Writing in 10 day stretches for the ProSeries class at ScreenwritingU. So far so good.

~> FRIDAYS & mornings too. Sacred writing time. The Do Not Disturb sign is up.

Filed Under: Creativity, Writing Tagged With: , , ,

Writers, This Is For You

September 30, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Whether you’re a novelist, screenwriter, poet, singer-songwriter, playwright, or sci fi maven, you know that getting your butt in the seat and getting your writing done isn’t always the easiest thing to do.

But you also know that if you don’t make your writing happen, you will have left your life’s great work undone.

I’ve been writing professionally for the last 9 years as a coach, and I’m now developing my creative writing abilities as well. I know what it takes to get my writing done, and I’ve created a number of supports, including my new Writer’s Circle, to help you claim your dream of being a writer or get back on the horse as a writer to contend with.

In honor of the official grand opening of my Writer’s Circle, which opens to the public on Tuesday, October 4th after our initial beta test run, I’m publishing a free writing tips series called “How to Stop Making Excuses and Start Writing.”

If you’re ready to get on with your writing, sign up now to receive my Free Tips Series at https://calledtowrite.com/free-writing-tips

Filed Under: Creativity, Productivity, Writing Tagged With: , , , ,

The Dreaded ‘D’-Word

September 14, 2011 by 5 Comments

Lately I’ve been talking a lot with my very right-brained, creative, multi-passionate, multi-talented clients and cohorts about the “D”-word.

Yeah, that’s right.

Discipline.

It’s enough to make an artist cower in terror behind legions of excuses and doubts or pipe up with even a little disdain.

(I’m an artist, I like to go with the flow / wait for the right mood to strike / follow the energy / be divinely inspired.)

(Not that there’s really anything wrong with that. As an intuitive, an empath, and a Four, I can relate to ALL of that, and I don’t even think it’s “wrong” per se.)

But the thing is, when it comes to getting our creative work out into the world, we often go to sleep on ourselves instead of doing the work to make it happen.

We go to sleep on those deeper-yet-oh-so-slippery truths that tell us what we need to do our best work.

We forget.

We get busy with other things.

We wait for something that never comes.

Is Discipline Really the Enemy?

It never ceases to astonish me how little actual discipline is practiced when it comes to doing the hard work of creating our stuff.

And by hard, I don’t mean Hard. I mean HARD.

The kind of hard that keeps you massively resisting showing up to your writing or your canvas or your practice development, even when you don’t even realize it (we’ll save the other D-word conversation for another day).

You think you’re too busy, you need to make more money first, or your kids need too much of your attention.

Ha!

The truth is, you need to make a commitment to get your Butt In Your Seat and show up to the creative Big Dream you know you are here to fulfill.

There is simply No Other Way it is going to happen.

One thing we do know is that the artists who take regular action to see their work through to completion are the ones who quietly make it happen.

Here’s the funny thing about all of this.

You don’t need to force yourself to make big, giant, rigid commitments of time and energy to make your work happen.

It’s much simpler than that.

Make discipline your friend and ally.

Just commit to taking regular, consistent, and small steps and you’ll move forward in a sustainable way to seeing your dream become a reality.

Inspiration From Seth Godin:

“While you and I have been busy running down dead ends and wasting our effort, scientists have been busy trying to figure out what actually works. And they know how:

  •     Small steps work.
  •     Consistent effort works.
  •     Group support works.

That’s it. Three things. Set a goal, and in small, consistent steps, work to reach it. Get support from your peers when you start flagging. Repeat.

You will change.” 

Your Turn

For me this looks like screenwriting every weekday for a minimum of 15 minutes and reporting in about it to my Writer’s Circle group.

What does it look like for you?

I’d love to hear from you.

 

Jenna

 

Coming Attractions

~> October 6th. The next session of my Writer’s Circle accountability system starts. Stay tuned for details about how you can participate.

~> November 10th. My next Life Purpose Breakthrough ‘Big Vision’ Group. Details. Only 3 spots remaining.

 


~> This Thursday. Right Brain Business Planning with my buddy Kris Carey. We’re closing in on completion!

~> FRIDAYS & now morning times too. Sacred writing time. The Do Not Disturb sign is up.

 

 

Filed Under: Creativity, Getting Stuff Done, Productivity Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Creative Inspiration vs. Creative Resistance

July 27, 2011 by 5 Comments

Is it necessary to be “creatively inspired” before pursuing creative projects, or is waiting for creative inspiration a pitfall that trips us up?

Another way of saying this is: Do you have to be in the ‘right mood’ or ‘right energy’ in order to be creative?

Steven Pressfield would call this “resistance,” and say instead that what we need to do is show up and “do the work” no matter what pain, doubt, terror, or mood we might encounter in the process.

There’s more on this subject in my article, “Resistance is Futile.”

My experience is that often when I think I “can’t” create, and I do it anyway, the act of engaging with my art puts me in a whole new energy state, usually one that is more uplifted and inspired.

Other times, when I’m really stuck in my thinking or in a bad mood (yes, me too), I can jolt myself out of it by wondering about creative solutions, which puts me in a more resourceful creative state.

It seems like if I ask the right question, like, “I wonder how I could make my character more convincing as a tough, surly broad?” :) or “I wonder how I could make contact with the sci fi filmmakers?” all kinds of new answers start flowing to me.

Your Turn

I’d love to hear from you about any or all of these:

  • Do you wait for inspiration to strike when it comes to your creative projects?
  • Do you know how to draw on your inspiration at will (and if so, how do you do it)?
  • Or do you get your butt in seat and start writing (or whatever your artistic equivalent is)?

 

Coming Attractions

~> July & August. Doing Creative Destiny Assessments with visionary creatives ready to claim their creative destiny. Interested? Email me here to request a session.

~> August 4th. My next Life Purpose Breakthrough ‘Big Vision’ Group. SOLD OUT. Details. If you’re interested in the next group (probably in September), email my team here and we’ll add you to the list.

~> September. Beta-testing my new writer’s accountability system with a select group and offering Life Purpose Coaching Groups. Stay tuned for more info.

 


~> MONDAYS. Right Brain Business Planning with my buddy Kris Carey.

~> FRIDAYS. Sacred writing days. The Do Not Disturb sign is up.

~> Vacationing with my family in August (at least part of it!).

Filed Under: Creativity Tagged With: , ,

Resistance Is Futile

April 26, 2011 by 4 Comments

Resistance is swirling all around us this week.

Are You Resisting Success?

Danielle LaPorte recently posted a powerful article called “How to Resist Success” on her blog about how we self-sabotage to avoid success.

In it, she quoted Steven Pressfield, one of my heros and the author of The War of Art, from his new book Do The Work: “The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.” (Great news — you can get the Kindle version of his new book for free for a limited time.)

All the more reason to go for it, n’est-ce pas?

How to Choose Which Idea to Pursue First

I also spotted Marie Forleo’s online video interview with Steven Pressfield. My favorite piece of advice from him was about how to choose which one of your ideas to pursue first: The one that scares you the most.

The Many, Many Forms of Resistance

Then today as I was preparing for my Artist’s Way Accountability and Support Group, and reading “Week 8: Recovering a Sense of Strength” in The Artist’s Way, I found the concept of Resistance coming up big time. Julia Cameron talks about the creative blocks we come up with to avoid our art:

  • I’m too old. (age block)
  • What am I going to get out of it? (finished product block)
  • I’m too busy. (workaholism)
  • I have more important things to do first. (workaholism)
  • I have to overhaul my whole life first. (drama)

Taking Action to Overcome Resistance

Julia makes the point that we must take small, daily, creative actions to accomplish our creative goals rather than looking for one big sweeping gesture. This is one of my biggest pitfalls.

Steven Pressfield makes a similar point about showing up every day, to do the work.

Jennifer Louden says, “Just. Do. The. Writing.”

Sonia Choquette taught us, “Suit up. Shut up. Show Up.” (I’m fairly certain she attributes this teaching to Julia Cameron herself.)

What To Do With All This

At the end of our session today, we outlined our Secret [Big] Dreams. “In a perfect world, I would secretly love to be a ______________.” My answer: A published author.

Then we identified our “true north” for that dream — the how-you-know-when-you-get-there goal. Mine: A real physical book published with a core group 0f raving fans.

We picked a mentor for that dream. (Mine: Steven Pressfield. Seems obvious!)

Then we identified a 5 year vision and a 1 year action plan. My one year action plan looked like this: Write regularly. Get clear on what to focus on.

So I asked myself, “Of all my ideas, what would scare me the most?” The answer: A creativity book. (Holy shit, Batman.)

My participants asked why — my “Who do I think I am?” stories come up fast. But I’m ready to go there anyway. So now I know what my book is about, and I can get to work on it along with my screenplay (which I’ve been working on this week, hurrah!). Yowza.

What’s your secret Big Dream?

I’d love it if you’d share it with me, and the action you can take TODAY to move toward it. Mine: Writing this blog post.

 

 

Coming Up

~> May 3rd, 2011. My Artist’s Way Accountability & Support Group continues. Details.

~>May 26th, 2011. Mark your calendar! My brand new event for getting you back on track with what you were put here to do will be happening on May 26th — only 4 spots available. Stay tuned for details.

~>May 28th, 2011. Next broadcast of my Dreamification Radio show on Radio Lightworker. Details. Listen from anywhere in the world to this Internet radio show.

Filed Under: Creativity Tagged With: , , , ,
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