I’ve been blocked in my writing for a bit now.

Okay, weeks!

I’ve been working with the marvelous Debora Seidman of Writing The Prayer of Your Life. And, today we had a fun session that I want to share with you.

Essentially, I have two parts of me that are in conflict.

When I told Debora that it was like the clash of The Titans (think Greek myths), she suggested I create a play with these two characters.

So, I made up this play. What was fun is I got to be the Director and the playwright. And, then as the play unfolded I got to be a character in the play.

What was really freeing was when I got stuck Debora kept saying, “it’s a rehersal! You can do anything!”

WOW! That lead to cool events and major ahas.

It was fun Playing with words… and characters. I can’t wait to see what happens in the play!!

It’s been a rainy "Spring" here in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies.

We’re just rearranging the flower gardens in our back yard, making room for a new garden shed. The rain is a blessing — it  means I don’t have to water them.

But, in a couple of months, if we have our usual hot, dry prairie Summer, I’ll be out every few days watering the plants. If don’t they”ll wither and die!

How come I know that about plants BUT I forget that principle when it comes to my Creative Garden?

I’m reading Julia Cameron’s latest masterpiece, "Finding Water". I was struck by this quote from Abraham Maslow, "A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be."

Yet, when pressed for time what do I give up? My writing!

And, I see that in my friends who are writers and eclectic creatives.

And, then they get SICK. They WITHER.

If I am to flourish I must DO my ART!

I must water my Creative Garden.

One way to do that is Blogging.

What will you do to Water Your Garden?

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My best buddy is, among many other things, a writer and aspiring novelist.

Like many would be novelists and other creative eclectics she does not currently ‘make her living’ doing her passion.

What to I mean "doing her passion’?

I mean actually making a living, paying the rent, financing her lifestyle, by working as a writer and novelist!

It’s not that she doesn’t write. She does. She writes articles — and gives them away. She ‘pays the rent’ by working as a policy analyst, writing policy briefs.

Like many of my clients she yearns to live a life filled to the brim with work that isn’t work — the work of her creative self expression.

But, the rent must be paid. The food purchased. The car fueled. So, she works at a job that meets some of her creative needs, with people that she likes and that fills her belly BUT not her soul.

And, like so many others she pours her energy into her JOB. She pours the water of her creativity onto what I think of as the Vegetable Garden. It feeds her belly. It sustains her body.

But, she forgets to water the Garden of Her Soul.

NO! All the water of creativity is poured in sustaining the body — BUT not the soul and spirit.

Is the same true for you?

Do you pour all the Water of your Creativity onto your "Job"?

When you don’t water the Garden of Your Soul your spirit withers. My friend finds that she gets SICK! And, her first reaction is to pour even more into her JOB — into the basics. To say, "Oh! I’ll just give up the writing for now. I can’t do it all. I can do the writing later when I feel better!"

WRONG!

She is ILL because she is not watering the RIGHT garden.

What she needs to do is to water her Soul Garden. To sit in front of the computer and write. To pick up a brush and paint. To grab some coloured tiles and make mosaics.

She needs to CREATE.

Only when she waters her Soul Garden will her energy return. Only then will the illness leave.

I recently started reading and doing The Work laid out in Julia Cameron’s masterpiece, The Artist’s Way.

Last Sunday I got to Chapter 4: Recovering a Sense of Integrity. One of the weekly exercises is Reading Deprivation.

The idea is simple and powerful. For one week I’ve stopped reading stuff like: the bajillion newsletter I’ve subscribed to; Yahoo news; Google’s RSS feed; the dozen or so Blog’s I frequent; the forums I belong to; the books on my To-Read Shelf; the, well, you get the point.

An interesting experiment.

I’ve realized just how much crap I read… that I don’t need to.

I’ve had a few small burst of creative ideas and energy.

I’ve enjoyed just staring out the window and watching the clouds scud across the sky as they turn orange, red, and purple following the setting Sun.

I’ve also been to see how I try to justify sneaking in a few ‘reads’.. "Oh! I just have to look at this e-mail to see if its important." HA!

I think I’ll do it again… next month.

Oh, and boy am I going to cancel a few subscriptions!

I was delighted to be interviewed by coach Susan Henderson.

Susan is the brainchild behind the Blog "The Sucessful Dilettante" — a site that features interview with Creative, Eclectic, Mulitaltented professonals.

Check out my story here.

Long time ezine reader and Business Coach, Sandra Schrift, passed on this  excellent article . . .

How to Create Sizzling Speech and Book Titles

Do
you know the name of the book that was written in 1937 and outsold
every book except the Bible? It was “How to Win Friends and Influence
People.” This is a great title that is timeless because it focuses on
two benefits that most of us want all the time: winning friends and
influencing people.

Another
example: “What’s Holding you Back?” Thirty days to Having the Courage
and Confidence to Do What You Want, Meet Whom You Want, and Go Where
You Want by Sam Horn. The benefits are: having courage and confidence
to meet and go where you want.

Five ways to design your speech and/or best-selling book titles.

1.Use alliteration  [the same letter starts successive words]
*Monday Morning Mindfulness  (the name of my ezine)
*Living Your Life
*Sense and Sensibility

2.Ask a question
*Are You Getting the Love You Want?
*Does Everything Get Better After Fifty?
*Have You Hugged Your Kids Today?

3.Write a Rhyme
*Niche and Get Rich
*The Cat in the Hat
*Be Funny and Make Money”

4.Use words such as “How,” “Secret,” “Power,”
*How to Become a Highly Paid Professional Speaker”
*How to Write a Novel in 100 days or Less
*The World’s Best Known Marketing Secret
*The Power of Now

5.The Rule of Three
*Monday Morning Mindfulness
*No Honor, No Guts, No Glory
*Shake, Rattle and Roll

“Tell
me a Story”…After you craft your sizzling speech title, you then need
to tell stories to your audience so that you grab and hold their
attention. As an engaging speaker, you will want to relate your story
to your content. Your own personal stories will make your content very
vivid and interesting.

Screenwriter,
Robert McKee says, “Stories are the creative conversion of life itself
into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience.They are the
currency of human contact.” Most of us delineate our thoughts visually,
so use very descriptive words to help the audience see what they hear
from you.

Use
coaching stories that relate to the needs and interests of your
audience. For example, if you are trying to enroll small business
clients, tell exciting stories about how your satisfied clients
benefited from your coaching sessions.

It’s
okay to be funny. If you think funny thoughts, you will live and relive
your story as you tell your story. It is best to be in the “now.” Your
words need to create an image in the audience’s mind so that they will
remember your story.

When
telling your stories, be dramatic, maintain eye contact, use theatrical
gestures , vary your tone and above all…Be a Model of Excellence!

Copyright © 2006  Sandra Schrift.  All rights reserved.

This just in from Susan Fuller:

Here’s how my colleague Diana Laird begins her FIRST ever Blog post:

I will start by admitting that patience didn’t come naturally to me. I had to work at it. My younger years were frought with these escalations. I believe the politically correct term for it is “Drama”. Who are we kidding with that? It’s really anger and self importance.  Plain and simple.

I have learned some great tools to help patience and rational thought seep in before a situation escalates. So, how can we handle those feelings of self grandeur?

Check out the rest of the wisdom of the Get-A-Life Coach!

Would you like a cushy job?

How about Cheese Sculptor?

Check it out at CNN online . 

You’re fed up with your current MacJob! Who can blame you?

So you quit but have no new job lined up.

Since you:

• aren’t living at home,
• your parents have no plans of providing free accomodations or supporting you financially,
• therefore, need a new job.

What do you do for work?

Let’s assume you have half-a-clue about what you want to be when you grow up. Then my first piece of advice is start looking for entry level jobs in the career field that most appeals to you. For example, if you want to be a writer look for jobs with magazines, publishers, and so on.

In any case, DO write down SOME criteria for your ‘in-between’ job. What mininum income will you need? What won’t you do? What hours would you pefer to work (number per week and time of day)?

Make a list of the skills you have that you’d a) like to use and b) can use. Look first for those jobs that tap into the like to use category of skills.

Create a list of Top Three kinds of jobs you’d really like to get. Then network with relatives and friends and colleagues and share that list with them. It’s easier for people to help you if they have specifics. So, just telling people you’re looking for work is next to useless.

Promptly send Thank You notes to people who respond with referrals.

Make a job search plan. It doesn’t have to be fancy. BUT, do have a plan…

And, act on it!

Get your butt out of bed! Get on the phone. Write e-mails. DO something. Action leads to answers.

Warning: At first you may be excited about leaving. But, that excitement can turn into depression, especially as Winter nears. Get moving before the blue meanies take resisdence.

Hell! Take a job. Any, job. You quit once. If it really sucks, you can quit again. Experiment. Try.

Oh, and get, find, or create a support group. Navigating the job search desert is easier with companions.