Summer Newsletter 2008
Greetings All –
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in 2008 (so far!) is to ask for what I want. Sounds simple, right? But you’d be surprised how many people don’t do that and then wonder why people aren’t reading their minds.
It’s in that spirit that I’m dedicating the bulk of this newsletter to my life coaching client, Mirna Zapata, and asking you to click on the link below to vote for her in the USA World Showcase that took place in Las Vegas over Memorial Day weekend. Mirna recently won a first-place trophy in the Solo Female, Potential Performer category in this talent competition. Now, all the trophy winners are eligible for the $100,000 grand prize and it’s awarded by online voting.
You may recall from previous newsletters that Mirna was living in a homeless shelter when I met her and has since begun her life anew. I have heard her sing — she’s good! On June 18, I told Mirna’s story in my Game Plan column on FOXBusiness.com in a piece called Homeless to Home Free and the response was terrific.
NOW FOR THE VOTING:
http://www.usatalentcompetition.com/vote/vote.htm
When you click on the link above you’ll see Mirna is listed under ‘Show 2′ and the first round of voting for her takes place from July 13-16. You can vote multiple times and you’ll see that it asks you to confirm your vote by clicking a second time. As is laid out on the page, each week the finalists narrow down until the voting concludes August 20. (IMPORTANT NOTE: The finalists need to recruit votes on an ongoing basis in order to win).
Please do a good thing, vote, and forward this to lots of people so they, too, can cast a vote for Mirna. If you would like a weekly reminder from me to vote each of the next five weeks, I’d be happy to send an email to give you a nudge. Just email me with that request and I’ll create a list.
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MORE SCOOP …
… For detailed information on how to best ask for what you want, check out the classic book The Aladdin Factor by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen.
… Writing Game Plan continues to be a blast. Read my take on the Sex and the City movie, the recent Rush Limbaugh piece in The New York Times Magazine, or checking in on lessons learned at the halfway point of 2008.
… There’s still plenty of time to make 2008 the year you start living. I’m currently taking new clients, so drop me a line and we’ll put a plan in place that’ll rock your world.
Spring 2008 Newsletter
Greetings All –
Let’s call this April-May combo the Swing Into Spring Newsletter. I’m in the process of redesigning my website with terrific web guy Peter Lacis and can’t wait to unveil that soon. In the meantime, much to report!
I attended Conversation Among Masters, a coaching conference in Asheville, N.C., in April and came back energized and ready to take my business and my life to the next level. Two books I must recommend based on hearing the authors speak there are: The Taboos of Leadership by Anthony F. Smith and Steering by Starlight by Martha Beck. They are both thinkers who know how to live life.
For all those who have been asking how to find my Game Plan life coaching columns on FOXBusiness.com, it just got a whole lot easier because FOX redesigned its homepage for easier access to its lead stories. So check it out every Wednesday and Friday for a fresh Game Plan. If you miss a column on the day it goes live, you can always find them all on my website archive: http://nancola.com/pages/press.html or use the search box feature on FOXBusiness.com.
As always, thanks for reading!
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SPRING IN YOUR STEP
Here are some ideas to ponder from my recent interviews with Stacy London, Anthony F. Smith and Julia Cameron as you spruce up your life in this season of renewal:
1.) The Ripple Effect of Looking Good
Every so often with my life coaching clients, I enjoy setting goals that, in some form or another, are about getting the “outside” to match the “inside.” I’m not positive, but I think I may have inadvertently borrowed that wording from the hosts of one of my favorite television shows – TLC’s What Not to Wear.
So, I figure, if I’m going to delve into the topic, why not go to the source?
Enter Stacy London, a sharp-witted stylist with a do-good bent, and the co-host with Clinton Kelly of the popular makeover show. I suggested to London in our recent interview that, with spring easing in, it sets the mood nicely for talking about taking stock of our “outside.” She agreed. But take heed: This discussion is not about yellow being the hot color for spring or your hips being too wide to pull off a pencil skirt; it’s about how looking good can impact your life.
“You can’t underestimate the power of feeling good, of looking good,” London said.
Read the rest of the article here: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/lifestyle-money/travel-lifestyle/article/ripple-effect-looking-good_540902_22.html
2.) Balance, Wherefore Art Thou?
Life coaches tend to relish the idea of helping their clients reach this much coveted “place” called work-life balance. Some will even break out a pie chart to figure out what areas of a client’s life need to be trimmed and which ones should be filled out more. Too much career here. Too little spiritual there.
Until a few weeks ago, I had a pretty fixed idea of what the ideal life pie should look like. It closely resembled the (utopian?) societal norm where career, family, health, creative pursuits, social life, hobbies and spirit are nicely represented. But I just read a book called The Taboos of Leadership, The 10 Secrets No One Will Tell You About Leaders and What They Really Think by Anthony F. Smith and it made me rethink the options for divvying up that pie.
Maybe we should put down the knife and try to open our minds to alternate possibilities before we start slicing. Why are we assuming that everyone sees balance the same way? Aren’t we being short-sighted?
Smith, co-founder and managing director of the Leadership Research Institute, writes of work-life balance through the prism of a leader. His work takes a scholarly approach to leadership and his client roster over 20-plus years in coaching and consulting includes McKinsey & Company, American Express, the National Football League, General Electric and the Walt Disney Company. But his overall message on this topic applies universally – work-life balance is very personal.
Read the rest of the article here: http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/personal-finance/lifestyle-money/lifestyle-money/work-life-balance-personal/-1616138015
3.) An Artist and a Teacher
I can’t recall a time in my 20 or so years in journalism when I started an interview with a disclaimer, but then again I had never had Julia Cameron sitting before me.
“Part of the reason I’m a life coach is you,” I began. “So I cannot approach this like it’s just some interview. I don’t have objectivity and it’s very personal. The Artist’s Way is infused through what I do.”
Cameron — the playwright, the song writer, the poet and the author of 25 books — had just finished headlining a book event sponsored by Ladies Who Launch – a network that promotes entrepreneurship and creativity as a lifestyle – before 130 people at Barnes and Noble on 66th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Then she had signed copies of her new book, The Writing Diet, Write Yourself Right-Size, for most of those present.
Now here we were, she in a cushioned chair looking at me with her signature earnest eyes and nodding just the slightest bit as I spoke. I asked if people often say these kinds of things to her.
Read the rest of the article here: http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/personal-finance/lifestyle-money/lifestyle-money/artist-teacher/
What a privilege to receive wisdom from people who are using their gifts every day!
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COOL THINGS MY FRIENDS ARE DOING: Poet and writing teacher James Nave is bringing The Writing Salon, Writing From the Imaginative Storm — his venture with co-director Allegra Huston — to Taos, New Mexico, in July. This is a chance for you to joyfully and playfully indulge in your writing in a beautiful, spiritual setting. For more information, check out the website: http://thewritingsalon.net/.
March 2008 Newsletter
Greetings All –
Let’s call this one a potpourri! So much going on!
With spring around the corner, I thought I’d clean house, so to speak, and let you know what’s happening, plus share some wisdom in a different format. Please forward this to anyone you think might be interested!
Read on …
A number of you have asked about Mirna, my client who is working her way out of homelessness. Mirna is a delightful person, a shining light, and the woman can belt out a tune!I wrote about her situation in previous newsletters and if you’re still interesting in helping her take a giant step toward her dream of being a professional singer, the time is NOW. She has to send in her full application fee to the USA World Showcase by the end of March (she’s been sending it in pieces as she gets donations). Plus, I’d love to see her get one night of lodging and airfare so she doesn’t have to take a bus to Las Vegas.
At this point, $300 more would accomplish the fee and lodging. If you would like to contribute, please send me a check or money order by March 15 and I will see that it gets put to good use: P.O. Box 832, Hoboken, NJ 07030.
Thank you!
Next week, March 13 to be exact, I’ll be appearing as a guest with career consultant Maggie Mistal on Martha Stewart Living Radio Sirius 112. We’ll be talking about “Career Serendipity” and if my first conversation with Maggie is any indication, it will be lively. The show is at 3 p.m. EST.
For more information, check out .
Also, while I’m on the topic of radio, if you missed my interview on Women On Top with host Erin Weed in Denver, we talked advice, we dished about The Secret and we even talked about Mirna. Check it out on my Web site press page.
Speaking of Erin Weed, I’m excited about my upcoming Game Plan column on her and her business, Girls Fight Back. It is no coincidence that the column will go live on Friday, March 7, as I timed it to celebrate International Women’s Day (March 8). Erin’s vision of every girl being equipped to protect herself when she enters college is already national in scope and as far as I can see it has no bounds.
Another inspiring woman, Shannon Durig, will be the subject of a Game Plan column this month. Shannon has played the lead in the Broadway hit Hairspray since 2005 and will celebrate her 1,000th show next week. Read about how it feels to be “1,000 shows into the dream” and other nuggets from my conversation with her in the March 14 edition of Game Plan.
As always, if you miss any Game Plan columns on FOXBusiness.com, the entire archive is on my Web site press page.
I didn’t even know who Brad Bird was before the Academy Awards, but his Oscar moment is one I will long remember.
“I want to thank the Academy and I also want to thank my junior high guidance counselor for a meeting we had where he asked me, ‘What do you want to do with your life?’” the writer/director of Ratatouille said as he accepted the award for best animated feature film. “I said, ‘I want to make movies’ and he said, ‘What else do you want to do with your life?’ I said, ‘Make movies’ and he said, ‘What if you couldn’t make movies?’ I said, ‘I’d have to find a way that I could.’ ‘What if movies didn’t exist?’ ‘I’d have to invent them’ and we went on like this until we were sick of each other. I only realized just recently that he gave me the perfect training for the movie business.”
Oh, the people who direct us early in life! Bless them and curse them for their praise and their criticism. Many of us in life coaching have them to thank for our jobs today because so many of our clients want to recapture the joy they felt while painting, acting, writing, playing an instrument, shooting photos or other creative pursuits. Many of them did not go the Brad Bird route. Instead of being persistent, they listened to their elders, took the road well traveled and majored in something not remotely related to their passion.
To read more of this article, click here.
My clients have been improving their daily lives, taking risks, daring to imagine sweeping changes. I even unblocked a terrific guy in just one session, as you can see from his phone message to me: “I want to thank you for our session together. It was clarifying and exciting. I went home and I wrote like mad all night. [The next day] I took a walk and I listened to like 18 pieces of music and at least half dozen, I think, are excellent.”
Contact me for a consultation and let’s see what we can do together.
February 2008 Newsletter
Greetings All –
Well, the day of red and pink is imminent. Do you have plans? How do you feel about them? Going with the flow and laying out the cash? Detaching altogether?
It’s disheartening what Valentine’s Day brings out in so many people. The need to belong. The need to hide. The need to over-indulge. The need to one up. I say we take back our power and make this day what it is supposed to be about — the love we have in our lives. NOT the love we think is missing from our lives, but the love that is already there.
I just wrote about this in Game Plan, my life coaching column on FoxBusiness.com, in a piece entitled, Think Less About Your Love Life, More About Love. Check it out here.
Please consider forwarding this to some people who might benefit from a positive message on Valentine’s Day.
Call it crazy integrity, but I think it’s time to reveal that one of my earlier “success” stories has taken a bit of a turn. In my Fall 2007 newsletter, I talked about a piece of a tree given to me by a friend. I had nursed it from a Dixie cup to a full-fledged clay pot, a home that would allow it to flourish.
Well, it is no longer flourishing. It is dead.
I was so proud to have brought it along and to have seen the parallels to my own life. At the time I wrote, “I am not nearly the first and surely won’t be the last person to draw the metaphor of a tree’s growth to human development. But I am awed by the parallels nonetheless. How apt that my life was feeling crowded and that I have taken steps to uncrowd it. How fascinating to see one’s own life stages mirrored back from a juicy green plant.”
While it is true that my life has opened up considerably, that I have created space, perhaps I was too quick to extract the lesson of the tree. “Maybe it means your old life was supposed to wither and make room for a fresh start,” a friend suggested. That is not far-fetched, as my dream of making a living as a coach and columnist has come to fruition after years of due diligence and it feels magical and new.
Whatever the case may be, I am now choosing to focus on the thriving plant life in my home and not the one that got away (see Valentine’s Day message above). I rejoice in the ivy that is gorgeously taking over my bedroom window sill. And I marvel at my Rose of Jericho, which is over three years old. Or is it four? This is a plant said to symbolize peace, power and abundance and it is often called the “resurrection plant.” It lives in a shapely glass vase in my kitchen.
There is life here.
Hmmmm. Maybe some flowers would be nice …
COOL THINGS MY FRIENDS ARE DOING:
Writing From The Imaginative Storm — If you think the concept is intriguing, wait until you see the nifty website: www.thewritingsalon.net. Go to the Salon section to see what the dynamic duo of James Nave and Allegra Huston are offering writers in their upcoming salons in Savannah, Asheville and Taos.
Director Holly Paar’s recent entry into the Asheville Fringe Festival, Last Dinner With Friends, is the beginning of an ongoing project about the end of the world. For information about how to get involved, check out her website.
January 2008 Newsletter
Greetings All –
Has the honeymoon worn off yet? You know, that glow-y first two weeks of a fresh year when you vow “everything will be different.” If you’re cruising along with a new attitude and your goals are cookin’, way to go! If you’re already discouraged or derailed, you know where to find me.
At the very least, take a look at my Game Plan life coaching columns on FOX Business and get some sound advice for putting a solid foundation in place. This year’s columns have covered creative ideas for goal setting, assessing the present, and creating a vision for the near future.
You can do this.
Well, let’s just say it. I started the brand spankin’ New Year with a stomach virus. A nasty version that pretty much wrestled me to the ground. I don’t even like typing the word ’sickness’ let alone actually dealing with it. I was whiny and begging for mercy.
And then I remembered how I used this space last month to espouse the benefits of gratitude and that it might be nice to practice what I preach, not just then, but now. Right now. There had to be something to appreciate in all this.
So once I turned a corner physically, I set about to examine what my imposed stillness was meant to show me. Hello! First and foremost, it was meant to impose stillness. Sounds crazy, right? The extreme of getting sick just to get a rest and some time for introspection. But truly, if I hadn’t been stopped short in this way, I would have kept going on what I now call “The Busy Treadmill.” Don’t get me wrong. Busy can be good. But busy with no plan just keeps you looping in circles. And busy for the sake of busy is posing. “Never mistake motion for action,” Ernest Hemingway said.
Second, it was meant to show me how soothing and right it feels to take time out for stillness every day. Our spiritual lives often go in cycles. Sometimes we are ultra-focused on nurturing our spirit, almost showering ourselves with spiritual knowledge and wisdom. And then once we absorb it we incorporate it into our lives in a philosophical way, which is good, but neglect to feed it regularly with an infusion of fresh insight or knowledge. I stand guilty as charged and as a result have incorporated daily readings of the Tao Te Ching into my day.
Third, not to be graphic about it, but a stomach virus comes with a fair amount of purging. Once I felt stronger, I started carrying over the purging concept to those things that needed a good, hard look — finances, storage space, decor. Call me crazy, but there’s something cleansing about spending a Sunday simultaneously watching football, basking in the aroma of chicken soup simmering on the stove, and shredding documents. Do I know how to party or what?
Seriously, though, this was not the dream way for a life coach to start a New Year. Or, ultimately, was it?
COOL THINGS MY FRIENDS ARE DOING:
Elena Skye’s Demolition String Band not only has a great CD called Different Kinds of Love, check out this cool gig: A Monkees Night Reprise at Southpaw (125 5th Ave.) in Brooklyn on Jan. 25 at 9 p.m. To get a feel for what the band’s about, take a look at this write-up on the ASCAP website.
As the proud owner of a Mary Ann Farley original work of art, it is hard not to gush when I send you to her online store with wares featuring her fabulously vibrant art. They make great gifts, too!
GIVE A GIRL A DREAM:
Last month I wrote about Mirna, my homeless client whose audition earned her a spot in the USA World Showcase in Las Vegas in May. It’s a great opportunity to reach her goal of becoming a professional singer. If you’d like to help sponsor her, please make out your check or money order to USA World Showcase and send it to me at P.O. Box 832, Hoboken, NJ 07030. I would love to reach the $1,000 mark for her, as she is working hard to better her life. Many thanks to those of you who have already contributed to her cause.
December 2007 Newsletter
Happy Holidays All –
I am soooooooooooo excited about my new life coaching column called Game Plan on Foxbusiness.com! It’s a terrific forum to talk about living life fully and passionately. The column runs on the home page Wednesdays and Fridays and on other days can be found on the Lifestyle & Money page under Personal Finance.
Check out the latest installment here.
I hope you’ll become regular readers!
I know the official month for giving thanks tends to be November since we have a holiday dedicated to the concept, but I am compelled to write about it now, in December. This is prompted partly by things happening in my own life, but also because of a life coaching client.
Last week I received an email from a client who was very discouraged by her finances after reviewing them carefully. She has been working with a Suze Orman book and, instead of detaching from some hard facts, has been engaging them. That is bound to be painful. I wrote her back and acknowledged her for taking it on.
Her next email made me smile one of those big smiles that takes up your whole face. She had listed the myriad of things in her life for which she is grateful. Wonderful, juicy, meaningful things that she has made happen in her life. That email told me a lot about her, mostly that she is a kindred spirit.
About three years ago I recall telling a minister that I had noticed the first paragraph of my Morning Pages — a stream of consciousness journaling ritual I do — had become a series of ‘thank yous’ for people and situations in my life. I can’t pinpoint the exact shift, but I can assure you I was not exactly the most grateful person on the planet for much of my adult life. The minister raised her eyebrows, nodded and gave me a knowing look that said, “You’re moving in the right direction.”
That is probably why, when my apartment was broken into last week, I had an overwhelming feeling of gratitude after the initial shock wore off. I am safe. Most of my belongings weren’t touched. People who love me were there in a flash. Priceless.
That said, was I angry when I realized nearly a week later that the guy took two books of holiday stamps? Yes. And my MP3 player? Yes, that one even prompted some not-so-nice words to fly out of my mouth. I’m human. But overall, overwhelmingly, I feel thankful. So does my client.
There is a way to take on life’s challenges, even the unpleasant ones, that is enriching to the spirit. In the thick of this holiday season, when energy gets low and nerves are frazzled, it’s a good reminder.
Be thankful this December.
November 2007 Newsletter
Greetings & Happy Thanksgiving –
As you think about finishing 2007 with a flourish, why not also consider starting 2008 with a life-affirming plan? What is falling through the cracks? What are you putting off yet again? What’s that idea in the back of your mind that would take your life to another level?
It’s time for a fresh start and you know it. This is what I do! Contact me for a consultation and I guarantee you will be energized and inspired to LIVE better, fuller, bigger. I’m waiting …
The time for holiday gatherings is upon us and I’m getting ready for the confused faces and quizzical comments that follow when new people I meet ask what I do.
“I’m a life coach. (Insert confused face here). I help people set goals and then work with them to put actions in place to achieve them,” I invariably say.
Folks are usually very intrigued or completely disinterested by that point. The thing is, I could talk for days about the joys of doing something I’m this passionate about. I could wax philosophical about the power of life coaching. I could explain that I am humbled and gratified to be doing a job I had never even heard of before I started doing it and am thrilled to be deriving immense satisfaction from it.
But really the strongest selling point for me doing this job comes via my clients. Not in testimonials, but in the progress reports I receive each week. They’re inspiring and I’m compelled to share here a list of achievements from just the last two weeks. In the interest of client/coach confidentiality, I have modified the facts so the identities are protected. Here are some of the recent accomplishments and works-in-progress from my clients:
I was also delighted to learn that a homeless client, thanks to due diligence, found out she will likely be living in her own place by January 1, 2008. Did I mention all of this has occurred in just the last TWO weeks? Is this a job or what?
How does one convey that kind of job satisfaction over holiday cocktails? By raising a glass and smiling, methinks.
And, in quieter times, by simply saying, “Thank you.”
Fall 2007 Newsletter
Greetings All –
Since my September was so packed with activity, including an intensive week-long writing workshop in New England, my monthly newsletter got away from me. So I’m combining it with October and bringing you this snazzy Fall edition.
It’s such a natural time of year for change! Drop me a line and let’s set up a life coaching consultation. We’ll create your goals and then work together to effect real change. Click here for contact info.
Scroll down for this month’s message.
Over a year ago, a sweet friend gave me a snippet of a tree she has in her living room. She presented it to me in a paper cup filled with water so its roots would stay nicely nourished. It remained in there for weeks until I finally went out and bought some potting soil and one of those plastic pots that looks like clay.
Now here’s my true confession. I never believed in my ability to actually keep a plant (or tree!) alive. Hence, the “fake” clay pot. Yet I felt there was clearly a shift taking place within me. I gave the tree a place of prominence in my kitchen. I watered it diligently and trimmed the leaves where needed. I didn’t hover, but I was attentive.
A few months later, a couple that lives in my building gave me an ivy plant in a quaint wicker basket. It, too, was a piece snipped from their own thriving plant. They had no way of knowing what an act of faith this was! It has been thriving on my bedroom window sill among candles and other treasures for nearly a year.
I share all of this because this week I noticed that the tree has outgrown its fake clay pot. It was like a rite of passage for me to select a real one and give my tree a sturdy and spacious home in which to flourish. It can spread out and thrive and become what it’s supposed to be in this new, palpably fresh environment.
I am not nearly the first and surely won’t be the last person to draw the metaphor of a tree’s growth to human development. But I am awed by the parallels nonetheless. How apt that my life was feeling crowded and that I have taken steps to uncrowd it. How fascinating to see one’s own life stages mirrored back from a juicy green plant.
How exhilarating for the plant and me to feel all roomy and at home.
August 2007 Newsletter
Greetings All –
Summer is in the home stretch — hope you’ve made the most of it so far. However, if you’re already thinking about fall and want to do some creative exploration, consider my workshop titled, Writing: Luxury or Necessity? on September 23 at 2 p.m. It’s a Sunday afternoon and takes place in a relaxing studio with futons and pillows. Dreamy, right? For more information, click here.
Also, I welcome cheers and jeers on my new blog about manifesting those things we want in life: www.theuniversalflow.blogspot.com.
Enough already with balance!
Can you believe I’m saying this? (Life coaches everywhere are collectively cringing.) Well, my latest life lesson is that sometimes it’s about getting used to imbalance and having peace around that.
Now, to be clear, I’m not talking about the workaholic just toiling away and saying “What the heck. A balanced life is hopeless anyway. My kids can raise themselves. Let the dishes pile to the sky.” What I’m referring to is that thing we so often do when we’re trying to divide ourselves up into pieces — not be in the moment for anything.
“Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else,” Gloria Steinem said. I couldn’t agree with this more. But is that necessarily a good thing? If everything else I do comes with the thought that I should be doing something else, am I living in the present? That “should” word can be dangerous.
Recently after reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, I was compelled to read her website and learn more about her. I was taken with this quote about writing, “As for discipline — it’s important, but sort of over-rated … You will make vows: ‘I’m going to write for an hour every day,’ and then you won’t do it … The more important virtue for a writer, I believe, is self-forgiveness.”
Obviously this principle is about way more than writing. Insert your thing of choice. For instance, if you’re not getting to the gym that often or at all, put it back in your schedule and don’t waste time fretting over how much time you missed. The bottom line is that if your mind is often preoccupied with how to achieve balance, you may be expending too much energy on it. The idea is to find peace with what’s realistic and true.
Or you can continue to self-flagellate and see where that gets you.
July 2007 Newsletter
Greetings All –
Sometimes one of the toughest things to do as life coaches is to practice what we preach. While we strive to help clients achieve balance, embrace their dreams, find creative solutions and overcome fear, sometimes we have to remind ourselves to check in on our own lives.
It is this kind of self-examination that led me to thinking I have something to express outside of my existing blog. Hence, the creation of my new blog — www.theuniversalflow.blogspot.com — which is scathingly honest and has a spiritual bent. Check it out and if it moves you, please pass it on!
My mother called me last weekend to tell me Scott Baio has a life coach. Apparently he so badly wants to know why he’s 45 and single that not only has he hired one, but he’s opted to air all of his dirty laundry regarding this topic on a reality show.
I know you’re laughing out loud right now, thinking I’ve lost my cotton-picking mind. But here’s why I’m writing about it — you never know where you’re going to get a dose of inspiration. The life coach tells Mr. Baio he needs to stay celibate for eight weeks and my first thought is that’s a crazy action to assign to a client. I mean, my clients come away from our sessions with tasks like making phone calls, doing research, writing lists.
Hmmmm. That sounded boring even as my hands went over the keyboard to write it. Dull, dull, dull. Maybe we need to shake things up a little more, whether being guided by a coach or doing a little self-coaching. One of my current clients got jazzed about a dormant book idea from an out-of-the-box exercise I gave her, an exercise she admits she was reluctant to do. Her openness and trust led to a breakthrough in her writing life.
I recently attended a writing workshop where the facilitator fired exercises at us like a drill sargeant. Name the protagonist in your novel. What is his or her goal in the book? What is the opposite of that goal? Now write a paragraph with your protagonist experiencing the opposite of her goal. Boom, boom, boom. And I did it all with butterflies in my stomach. And it transformed my manuscript.
Pushing our limits might get tedious every day, but surely we can find ways to make this work for us so we get extra juiced about something in life on a regular basis.
Seriously, aren’t you just dying to know if it works for Scott Baio?
JOIN ME:
If a few hours of exploring writing in a relaxed atmosphere sounds heavenly, consider my upcoming workshops called, Writing: Luxury or Necessity? These are intimate and space is limited, so please reserve your spot in advance. For more information click here.
COOL THINGS MY FRIENDS ARE DOING:
Karen Parziale is a certified feng shui practitioner who offers a variety of services for your home and life. Contact her for more info at Kmparziale@aol.com
Robin Maggi is participating in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in the fall and has a lofty goal! If you’re looking to write a check for a good cause, this is it.
