create the leap Archives - Page 2 of 3

Nov 23 2015

How To Get Started With A Creative Routine – Invest In Your Creativity

This is Step 4 in my How To Get Started With A Creative Routine Series

Invest in your creativity

What can you invest in that will give you the highest return for your creative work?

Investing doesn’t always mean money. It can be time, energy or focus.

When you commit to stepping from hobbyist to professional, you will increase that leap tremendously if you invest in your creative work.

That could mean hiring a babysitter so you have several uninterrupted hours to work.

You might take a course to hone your craft, find a mentor, a group to join, or books on your craft.

I experienced years of trying to do it alone and I’ve watched other creatives do the same. We think if we can just sneak off and get a bit done, then someday…someday…when we’re good enough…we’ll get it done and show others.

That is great when you’re enjoying it as a hobby.

It won’t work if you want to take it seriously.

Someday doesn’t exist and there is nothing for your mind to focus on. It is the perpetual carrot in front of the donkey – it can never be grasped and eaten.

Every artist is a beginner and every artist has an area where they need some help and support.

Seek the counsel of those who’ve been where you are and have gone beyond.

I started by buying the Artists Way by Julia Cameron. I had no clue how to evoke my muse or build my confidence or even what the life of an artist looked or felt like. My next step was to find a group of other writers so I wouldn’t feel so alone.

Surround yourself with others who are creatives and who understand the stuff that creatives go through.

Invest in the knowledge and support that will help you expand and build your confidence and skills.

The longer you wait to do this, the more that ‘someday’ will rule your path.

Stop feeling overwhelmed at everything you need to do to have a prosperous career with your art/writing.
Join our Free group for Creatives to learn how to build your platform Click here to join!

Here is Step 3

Here is Step 2

Here is Step 1

Sep 25 2015

What Is It Like To Have A Writing Deadline?

Have you wondered what it’s like to be all in and working towards a deadline with your creative work?

I’m interrupting my series of Getting Started With a Creative Routine to interview Randi Janelle.

I think its better to talk to someone who is in the middle of it, than for me to yak on about what it takes to set boundaries and commit your time.

Randi’s goal is to finish her novel and release it on Halloween, 2015. That’s less than 5 months away.

For anyone who has spent years working on a novel, you know how scary a deadline for it being DONE can be.

For many creatives, getting started and building momentum can be easy, but getting to the finish successfully can be very hard…and scary.

I want to start off by saying thank you to Randi, because she took the time to answer my questions during her very committed time!

To Randi: You’re in the middle of a manic write to a deadline now–what has been the hardest change in your routine?

Sitting, eyes glued to the computer! Because I teach yoga twice a week, I’m getting out of the house and working at a coffee shop and the studio on those days, so at least I get out of the house a bit. Though I do like having my space, and there’s a little bit of making notes and transferring them at home once I have the whole of the novels laid out in front of me as usual.

How many hours a day are you writing?

12-14 hours

What have you done that has helped you?

Writing! I knew this would be the case, because it’s happened before. Truly, the hardest part is simply starting! Once I’ve dove into the story, the rest is easy. It comes and I’m thinking about it constantly and I want to get quickly into that desk chair when I wake up in the morning. Having the deadline and taking it seriously helps, because people understand that’s where I’m at and they rally along with me.

What helps you stay on track and motivated?

Cutting out other parts of my routine to clear space to write. The only reason I’m doing this interview is because my day started a little earlier than usual, so I’m taking that time to do this! Otherwise, my energy is generally LEAVE ME ALONE!! Haha. I do have this spacey quality to me now, nutty-professor-esque, and people are getting the vibe that I’m more into my book than listening to them. After some time, they give up.

I just keep thinking of the big, cold, bubbletastic bottle of champagne we will be drinking once this draft is done. It will be the first COMPLETED draft of a novel that I’ve ever had. I’ve written for many years, but with this project in particular, it keeps growing so the finish line has always extended out further. It will be a serious milestone for me, and the thought of completing a big first keeps me moving!

How do you stay out of becoming overwhelmed and stressing over the looming deadline?

It’s certainly happened. I’ve had days where I wake up and I prepare these monolgues…I’m sorry, but I just can’t make dinner at all this week, please forgive me, I can’t do chores neither…cue desperate hair-pulling whines. But then I get to work and the joy of the creative process relaxes me. By the simple act of it raising my energy, all the stress and worries about what others expect of me fall away. And then the writing is down and I get ever closer to finishing.

Again, the trick is simply to do what we’re so good at–creating!

How are those around you–family, roomies, friends–reacting to your schedule changes?

Instead of the dramatic monologue, I simply offered to have pizza delivered. My credit card company’s treat! Haha. At this point, time for me is the most precious.

I’m working to finish the first novel in a series of three. I’ll be releasing it on Halloween, so I am taking note that the release dates of the other novels will be early spring. So I can play in summer! I’ve had invites to go float on a river on an inflatable recliner, camping, free concerts downtown, general playing with my friends–all declined so I can finish this. It hasn’t been easy. Every time I hope that I’ll get to a certain point so I can play. But what do they say, genius takes time? Maybe that’s just what I tell myself.

So yes, I’ve had to combat peer pressure in a way I haven’t experienced since high school. But it helps me stay resolute: this is important to me; this is my purpose; this is worthwhile. I would not be enjoying the play, having the deadline poking me with a disapproving frown, anyway.

And, being a dramatic writer, I think… This book, the work that I’m doing right now will last for years, centuries! I can always float down the river later when the book is in the hands of my editor. 🙂

Thank you Randi!

Besides being a writer with a deadline looming, she is also a performance poet, a photographer

and a yoga instructor at Weaverville Yoga. Check out her website and sign up to get in on all the exciting (and non-traditional) goodies she has for her followers as we all wait in anticipatory glee for the release of her first book, The Story on October 31, 2015.

Sep 03 2015

How To Get Started With A Creative Routine – Step 3

Welcome back to my series on how to get started with a creative routine.

In step 1, I mentioned the illusion of time.

I’m going to expand on that because it is SO very important when you’re getting started.

Think back on a time when you met someone new and had a crush, or started dating.

If you were really interested, it began taking up a lot of your time and thought, right?

Because you met them, did it give you more time? No, but somehow you made time for them, even if you were already super busy.

You probably had to give up something else in your life in order to make room for them.

Less time with your besties, or less time watching TV, or less time getting your work done.

We always make time for what we love, want and are excited about!

At some point, when you make the decision to get serious about your art, you will need to place your creative time in a high priority slot.

It will need to go from playing with the paints when the mood strikes you, to spending time each day painting.

There is something in your life that you’ll need to give less attention to in order to give more attention to your creativity.

What will it be?

This is your first phase of discipline and responsibility to your work. When you commit to this, things have to change.

It’s like starting a new job. You have to be there at 8 a.m. You can’t stay up until 3 a.m. anymore. You have to rearrange your schedule.

Just as you need to put in the effort to keep a relationship going, you will need to put in the effort to stay focused on your creative work.

Because it is ‘creative’ work and it seems to bubble up whenever it wants to, doesn’t mean that you only wait to be inspired to work.

This is why training your brain to be productive at the very beginning is so important. When you sit at your desk to write, or get out your paints or sit in your favorite chair with special music on to write a poem, you set the intention to be productive – even if you don’t feel inspired beforehand. You’re telling your creative muse that you’re ready.

One of the difficult things you might experience once you begin a routine is in setting boundaries with those you live with and are close to.

Unless you go somewhere to work, you’re probably going to be working from home.

Those you live with are going to need to know that your time “working” is just the same as if you were in an office or workplace somewhere else. It can be hard for them to take your time seriously, when you’re sitting on the couch, or in your bedroom or at the kitchen table. Interruptions and expectations for your time might be frequent because others don’t realize that this is serious work for you – especially if you work in the evenings, or on the weekends.

This means you’ll need to clearly communicate to others that when you are working, you need that time to be respected and not interrupted unless… (and you need to set the parameter for what interruptions are OK).

As with any commitment to a new dream, if others don’t know about it or understand it, they won’t see it as having the importance that you know it has.

You might need help from a spouse or kids in order to carve out some extra time in your day.

I’ve experienced and seen this part of setting up a routine hi-jack a commitment to serious creative work.

Why?

Because we’re afraid to tell those we love that we’ve decided to go for it. We don’t want to rock the boat or seem as if we’re being rude when we can’t go out with friends or we ask a spouse to cook dinner or we tell our kids to leave us alone. Sadly, it can turn into battles we’d rather not deal with, so we put it off.

Don’t wait until you have time to get serious, because trust me, it will never show up.

You have to make the time, and clearly communicate to those around you what you are doing, what you need and to honor the time you will be spending.

If YOU aren’t serious and respecting the time, no one else will either.

This doesn’t mean you become a hermit!

As a creative, you need time to relax, to have fun, to be inspired and to refill your creative juices.

What needs to change in your schedule?
What do you need to let those around you know?
What boundaries do you need to set in order to not be interrupted when you are working?
What do you need to let go of in order to create a ‘space’ energetically, time-wise and physically, so you can get serious about your work?

Tired of feeling confused about building a platform for your creative work?
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Jun 16 2015

How To Get Started With a Creative Routine – Step 1

Do you have a desire to get serious about your creative work? Want to take the first steps in going from a hobbyist to a professional creative?

This is the first post in a series on How to Get Started: The Inner Game and the Outer Strategies

I’d always loved writing and had notebooks full as a kid, but back in the early 90’s, I wanted to get serious about it. It wouldn’t leave me alone. I had story ideas and characters that were in my head talking to me all the time.

How does one get started?

This was pre-internet for me, so my start was slow and agonizing – the World Wide Web has made it so much easier!

In looking back, I can see where I got hung up and what took me so long that could’ve been avoided.

I’m sharing a series of posts that will help you get started if:

You want to stop just playing with your creativity and start taking it seriously.
You want to set up a routine and be consistent and see projects to the end (instead of living with piles of ideas).
You want to pursue the path of getting your work out there.
You yearn to be a professional creative and not just a hobbyist.

In everything I teach and do with my coaching clients, I always start with the inner game.

It will save you a LOT of time and headaches!

No matter what you want to start doing in your life, you have to have the inner stuff aligned in order for anything you do outwardly to be successful.

Each post will have an inner game changer and an outer strategy to get you set up and going.

Today’s post will be Step #1: Know the outcome you want.

When you think about getting serious about your work (whatever you do creatively), what is the end result you want?

Here is where you need to remove yourself from what everyone else is doing and take the time to imagine what YOU want.

If you’re a visual artist, how do you imagine your work being seen and felt?

Is it in others’ homes? In galleries? In local specialty shops and boutiques? In an online store? Is it custom work? Produced in quantity? Is it functional art? Décor? Inspirational?

You need to imagine and feel exactly what makes you giddy when you imagine the end results.

It is the same if you’re a writer. Where do you see your work once it is done?

Is it on bookstore shelves? Kindle? Are you reading at bookstores? Reading at schools? Is your book all tattered and stuffed into purses because it is a faithful companion? Is it written in and pulled out to thumb through frequently? Is it being read by women? Men? Teenagers? Seniors? Does it help relax and allow escape? Teach important life lessons? Does it inspire or entertain?

Get Specific.

Make notes as you think about the end results of your work. Keep an ongoing list of what comes to you.

TIP: There are NO rules. YOU decide. Don’t think about what looks the most profitable, or the easiest. Don’t let someone else tell you how it should be. This keeps you open to intuitive hits as well as using your creativity not only to create the work, but also for ways to share it!

When you can see and fully feel the outcome you want (and keep in mind, if this changes along the way – that is OK!), then your inner guidance and brain will get to work in helping this come about.

The outer strategy:

The next thing you want to do is to create a literal space that evokes the essence of your end result.

Depending on the type of work you do, you might need a desk or a table or just a chair to sit in as you work away on your laptop.

Regardless of what you need to use, you still want to evoke the right feelings that will become a trigger for you to get to work.

If you’re a dog owner, you probably have/do something that your dog recognizes as “time to go out or play.” You have a routine, a way that you go about getting ready to take your dog out that it is familiar with. You don’t even have to say anything.

In the same way, you need to train your brain to take your work seriously and get down to business. You need to prime the pump of your creativity, so that when you sit down to work, you are productive.

You do this by setting something up that evokes your senses in some way and gets you ready.

You can do this no matter where you are – even if your writing time is your commute to work each morning!

When I was a Swim Coach, I drove 45 minutes each way to work. It was on that drive that I would work on my plotting. I had a small recorder to talk into if I needed to. Technology makes it easy today, as we can talk into our cell phones to take notes.

Because that became my habit, as soon as I got onto the highway, my brain kicked into gear and I got into my story and ideas would flow.

Create a mood for your work.

I wrote paranormal stories, so I wanted to create a mood that represented that for me.

When I wrote at home, I lit candles, or played specific music or had a collage of images I put together in front of me. It put me in the mood. I could go from thinking about or doing something non related to my story, to being in the zone for creating, simply because I surrounded myself with certain sounds, scents or images.

When I was painting, I’d play recorded tapes of Abraham-Hicks. I’d get into a zone and work intuitively.

Some writers wear certain clothes, or put on a hat or robe or certain shoes. Some play a specific soundtrack, set up a specific snack to nibble on, or look at specific images where they’re writing.

Not only does this train your brain to get to work, but it sets the mood and gets you into that space for creating.

The most important thing to consider when setting up a space is to purposefully use that area, time or activity for your work. And to take it seriously. As long as you are still in that frame of mind of hobbyist, so are those around you, your brain, and the Universe.

YOU must take it seriously in order for others and all the unseen help available to you, to take it seriously.

Setting your “space” sets the energy and helps you get going.

TIP: Decide right now that you will no longer buy into the illusion of “there isn’t any time for me to create.”

YOU shape your time. We all have responsibilities, jobs, kids, pets, etc., that we have to deal with. The priorities get the time. When you get serious and decide to make the time, the time is there.

Please join us in the Create The Leap Facebook Community as we discuss getting started. (and have fun talking together!)

May 18 2015

Learn How to Use Mercury Retrograde to Expand Your Creativity

OMG, it’s Mercury Retrograde and I get to Say YAY!

Huh?

You heard me. NO more dread and looking over my shoulder waiting for something to crash, go haywire, or to feel bombarded or in need of a cave.

I want to share with you how to use every Mercury Retrograde as an opportunity ( and to look forward to it!!).

There are ways to use the 9 weeks a year as a way to heal, expand and evolve your creativity and your creative business!

There are benefits and you can use them to plan your Creative Year!

If you’re not focusing on planning, to-do lists and making major decisions for those retrograde weeks of the year, what can you do that is beneficial as a Creative?

In this challenge you’ll learn about 5 benefits to using Mercury retrograde for your Creative work. (and how to use them!)

merRx challenge

In this free 7 day Challenge, you will:

Identify your personal Mercury style and start using the MerRx to empower your creative work!
PLAN your Financial Goals during Mercury Retrogrades!
Use a Mercury Retrograde to open you to new perspectives and greater truths and how to use that to expand your creativity.
Use a Mercury Retrograde to expand and ensure the success of your Creative Business.
Learn how to use a Mercury Retrograde to tap into your intuition for answers.

Join the free YAY for Mercury Retrograde Challenge, and you’ll also be eligible for a several sweeeet prizes – all for free!

The actual event will begin on Monday, May 25^th and go to Sunday, May 31^st. We will be smack dab in the middle of this upcoming Mercury Retrograde! (OMG, do we dare!?!)

In this 7 day Mercury Retrograde Challenge, we’re going to look at it in a new way, while in the middle of it.

Plan to have a fun, relaxing and exploratory time during this retrograde.

This challenge will help you learn to USE it in a new way that can be very beneficial to your Creative work!

What I hope you get from this, besides a new perspective, is a way to use a MerRx as a time to expand, increase and super-charge your manifesting and creativity.

On Day 1 – You’re going to learn about your personal Mercury (how you think and communicate) tendencies and how retrogrades might affect you. No more freaked out feelings of dread – YOU get to say how it will go for you from now on! AND Discover How “Your” Mercury Can Reveal Your Demons or Diamonds and how to use it in your Creative work to empower you!

On Day 2 – Use the Mercury Retrogrades in each year to PLAN Your Financial Goals! (But, wait, we shouldn’t plan during a retrograde! Oh, sneaky me – I’ve got a juicy secret to show you!)

On day 3 – Learn How to Use a Mercury Retrograde to Open You To New Perspectives and Greater Truths and how to use that to expand your Creativity!

On day 4 – Learn How to use a Mercury Retrograde to Expand and Ensure the Success of your Creative Business

On Day 5 – Use a Mercury Retrograde to Tap into Your Intuition for Answers

On Day 6 & 7– You’ll use what you’ve learned to create some wonderful new work!

Ready to see Mercury Retrogrades in a new way and use it to awesomesize your creativity?

Be sure to join us for the free 7 day YAY For Mercury Retrograde Challenge.

All you need to do is sign up below and I’ll see you there!

*Once you hit the Submit button, be sure to check your email, as one will be coming to you from me – a “confirm subscription” email – maybe even check the Spam box. If you use Gmail, it will show up in your Promotions Tab. You can then move it to your Primary box so you won’t miss anything!

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