Made my doctor’s day this morning. I led with: “I’ve been meditating daily since I saw you in September.” I was a wreck then, limping around with major back pain. Today I was effusing about the change in my mind/body over three months of rigorous healing/rejuvenation, including all kinds of exercise, yoga, meditation, at-home PT, etc. She was like, “Now… Read More
Being is the Foundation for Striving
“A[n] assumption of self-actualization theory is that it very strongly requires a pluralism of individual differences…. Such a true acceptance of individual differences has several key implications that should be stated briefly… it means that we try to make a rose into a good rose, rather than seek to change roses into lilies.” –Abraham Maslow, creator of the famous hierarchy… Read More
What’s Your True North? (Or How To Change Your Bad Habits)
I change goals all the time – but that’s because I’ve rethought what my purpose is and then re-align my goals to follow that compass heading. As we near the end of the year, it’s natural to look back, see where we’ve been, then look forward and set a new direction. I’m in the middle of a seven-week goal… Read More
Mindjack For Real
Amazon “The amygdala, a key node in the brain’s stress circuitry, shows dampened activity from a mere thirty or so hours of MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) practice.” —Altered Traits by Goleman and Davidson This books is a fascinating collection of all the science studies of meditation, including a historical look at how far Western understanding has come. There are… Read More
Defining Reality Situationally
“People define reality situationally a lot of the time, and the further someone is from self-awareness and accountability, the more dramatic that can be from the outside.” – from my friend JC Andrijeski Related: this Burger King Anti-bullying ad will wreck you. This applies to people in general, to characters in books, and to writers themselves. To write is to attempt… Read More
Let’s Talk About Failure…
I do things with a high probability of failure built into them just for the learning experience. So, let’s talk about failure. I fail—all the time, in fact. I’m constantly daring, risking, and there’s a certain amount of failure that comes with that. I don’t like it, mind you. It’s painful. Monetary loss can hurt, personal pride hits are hard,… Read More
On How to Listen
A lady in a lake gave me a sword. I know its power and its secrets. My mind says, “We can unlock everything with this!” And I agree. I can see it, and my ambition is already halfway down the path. My body says, “You’re not strong enough to wield that sword.” I ask my brain, “Are we afraid? Is… Read More
TRAINING YOUR INTUITION
I wrote this blog post 3 years ago, but I’m still using the concepts today. I’m about to start a new book, and I have to incorporate a big twist I unexpectedly conjured in the last one. *Unexpected* because it wasn’t in the outline, but when I got to writing the penultimate chapter, I realized there wasn’t enough substance in… Read More
MEDITATION AND WRITING
So, already I feel like a fraud just typing those words. Because who am I to talk about meditation? Or mindfulness? I use both in my writing – I *believe* in the power of both – but it’s not like I’m a Tibetan monk or a Mindfulness Guru. (^^the crazy that plays in my head sometimes^^) The following is my… Read More
It Will Always Be Hard – The Struggle of Art
“When does it start to get easier?” the newbie author asks me. “Never. It will always be hard,” I say. I feel like the Harsh Mistress of Author Truths in that moment. But it’s better to slay that expectation in the crib than let it grow into a monster that will cripple that new author. Example: I’ve written a lot… Read More
ACHIEVING THE FLOW STATE
“A composer of music, for instance, may know that he wishes to write a song, or a flute concerto, but other than that, his goals are usually quite vague. And how does he know whether the notes he is writing down are “right” or “wrong”? The same situation holds true for the artist painting a picture, and for all activities… Read More
RESISTANCE: How to Overcome It
I’ve just lost two days to battling Resistance. I’m telling you this to 1- let you know that this still happens to writers who have been writing for years and have many novels under their belts and who consider themselves Highly Trained Resistance Fighters (TM pending), and 2 – to give you some insight into how I do battle. KEY… Read More
DRIVE and Indie Publishing – Part 4 – OUTWARD MARKERS OF SUCCESS
DRIVE by Daniel Pink is all about internal motivation and how autonomy, mastery, and serving a higher purpose are things that fulfill us. I’ve always been very internally motivated. I’ve also always been driven. These are two separate things – you can have ambition but be motivated by external rewards, or you can have internal motivation but no ambition that’s… Read More
DRIVE and Indie Publishing, Part 2 – Turning Work into Play and Play into Work
“Once we realize that the boundaries between work and play are artificial, we can take matters in hand and begin the difficult task of making life more livable.” – DRIVE by Daniel Pink I write full-time, which I often call “playing full-time” but in reality, I have three teen boys and a husband and home and a life, and it’s… Read More
DRIVE and Indie Publishing – Part 1 – Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose
I have many thoughts about Daniel Pink’s book DRIVE and how its theories of motivation intersect with indie publishing. MANY THOUGHTS. So many I have to break this into parts. A PRIMER DRIVE is about Motivation 3.0 – the autonomy, mastery, and purpose that drives our intrinsic motivation to work, play, live, and create. Motivation 2.0 is your typical carrots-and-sticks… Read More