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Seeing stars

February 3, 2013
Orion Nebula

Orion Nebula – by the Smithsonian Institute via flickr

These words are running around my head…

Look at the stars,

Look how they shine for you,

And all the things that you do.

Yes, they are from a song from a while ago, “Yellow” by Coldplay but it’s suddenly on high rotation in my head and I woke up to these words running through me in the middle of last night. They are beautiful, speak of possibility, potential, opportunity. They are sad and make me think of my brother and what I didn’t get to say to him when he couldn’t see the light shining any more. They are words of encouragement to continue to see the light and positives ahead.

These words sit by my desk…

Perhaps they are not the stars but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy

This is an Eskimo proverb apparently. Even before I came across this quote, it was how I liked to think of the stars. I found myself in my deepest moments of grief looking up into the stars with some sense of connection and comfort. It’s something I still do.

These stars shine for me…

I wrote about my seven stars a few years ago when I was just starting out here. These stars still shine for me. Weekly, daily, their words and projects influence and guide me. Here are some recent thoughts on their influence:

Shanna Germain wrote a brilliant post ‘Do the Words: On (Writing) Productivity‘ based on sitting and writing in a cafe while overhearing a conversation about all the barriers the speakers faced to writing. She tweeted:

People at next table spent 2 hrs kvetching about writer’s block. In that time, I wrote 827 words, edited 2 stories. Shut up. Do the words.

Shanna cuts through, does the words, gets on with it and through the resistance and is such a great example of writing productively. This is a message I will be remembering this year: stop talking (or blogging) about it and just get on with it!

Susannah Conway. What can I say, I am a huge fan and cannot capture just how influential Susannah has been to me. This recent post, ‘From the Heart‘ just floored me as Susannah reflected so openly on both the personal toll of her work effort and her sense of being alone; my heart and many others went out to her in return. This post demonstrated, in the deepest way, the sheer vulnerability and honesty that is ‘Blogging from the Heart’, why it is so valuable and how the online community of the heart can provide so much support to each other.

Danielle LaPorte’s ‘Desire Map‘ project and current posts continue to cut through to new thinking. Elsewhere, I was reading about email overload this morning and rules about managing this in the workplace in terms of redefining when people can/can’t email and should/shouldn’t read emails. Part of me is thinking, ‘good idea, we need to manage this better in my workplace‘ and another part of me is thinking, ‘well, what about personal choice and the customer, who might want an answer now?’ Shortly after, I read this post from Danielle, Bag your Boundaries. Wham! Love that fresh, pure, direct thinking.’ You can have both, Danielle says:

You can protect yourself and be open-hearted.

Cool! So I am now thinking about how I can do this in my workplace from a different perspective altogether.

And then there’s Chris Guillebeau who probably started all this; through him I linked up with Danielle and then through to Susannah. He has helped me make so many connections – people, thoughts, plans – and is still out there building empires, fostering world domination and writing posts that, like Danielle, make me look at things from a non-conformist standpoint. Take for example, ‘Changing the System’:

If you want something to change, therefore, show us an alternative. Show us a new way of life.

You are the role model. Not the politician, not the celebrity, not the evangelist. Don’t throw up your hands in resignation, and don’t look for another leader.

It’s all on you, in other words. No pressure.

Whew! No pressure indeed! But it’s so true. It’s easy to complain; it’s easy to give up or to look for someone else to lead but the solutions come from taking responsibility and working through to find another way. My work role as a leader is about making a difference. This is the exactly the way I need to lead: finding the alternatives and being the role model, helping us to work through them.

So, I am seeing stars all around me, a constellation of words, thoughts and song that gather and cluster to propel me to also shine.

What stars are you seeing? What’s making you shine?

blogging creativity inspiration & influence

My seven stars

May 19, 2010
I would like to acknowledge seven key people I have been reading online, whose journeys I have been following and who have been an inspiration to me. They have been like stars in a constellation guiding me to being able to express myself here in this way at this time. They are all people who transcend in their own ways, cutting through and conveying a clear message to get out there and just do it. I have heard echoes from the seven stars, “Just start…” “Start where you are…” “Begin…” They are wonderful role models who have done just that and are now a long way down the road with their own special message for the world through their hard work, clear vision and commitment.

I will introduce them in this post, then spend some time on each one over the next weeks to really give them justice and to acknowledge what they have given to me and I’m sure many others. Hopefully this also leads more people to them and their great work.

Okay – so my seven stars I celebrate are (drumroll in background…):

The famous “Seven Sisters” of the Pleiades. Image by jimkster, via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.

Danielle LaPorte

I came across Danielle LaPorte through her book, ‘Style Statement’, co-authored with Carrie McCarthy. I worked through the book assiduously and searched for Danielle online to find her at White Hot Truth. Through this work, I better understand my key style drivers, what makes me tick, why I like what I like, why it’s important and especially through White Hot Truth, how to cut through the restrictive perceptions that hold you back. Her business is about entrepreneurship and her current product is ‘The Firestarter Sessions: a digital experience for entrepreneurs.  A great source of style, truth and connection to others. Truly white hot.

Chris Guillebeau

Danielle profiles and interviews other people on her site which led me to Chris Guillebeau and The Art of Non-Conformity. Chris is an absolute online inspiration. I spoke of him in my previous post, ‘Why transcending?’ His journey, his thought pieces and his publications are powerful enablers to setting and achieving your goals. His posts are a rich mix of travel experiences, reflections and challenges. Chris’s writing often seems to be timely for me, chiming in with my own thoughts, indecision or addressing a current paralysis. I am not the only one as the long list of comments to his blog posts attests. The Unconventional Guides, Art and Money, Travel Ninja, A Brief Guide to World Domination, Social Media as a Force for Good – are all brilliant pieces.

Susannah Conway

I also found Susannah Conway’s beautiful site and  photography through Danielle. Writing from Bath in the UK, Susannah’s themes especially align with my own: creativity, getting through pain, writing and images as vehicles for expression and moving on. Her e-course ‘Unravelling’ is wildly popular – I still haven’t managed to get into it! The course uses photography and journaling – two of my favourite things – to work through healing and acceptance. Susannah’s site is pure beauty and I am always touched. Sometimes it’s a laugh of connection, sometimes a cry of pain  –  but always a warm, encouraging and open place like sitting beside a warm fire full of heart.

Sage Cohen

I found Sage through her wonderful book, ‘Writing the Life Poetic: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry’.  Anyone who writes and reads poetry knows they live a rarefied life that struggles sometimes to find a place. It’s easy to lose your way and not many people understand it. As it says on the back cover, WTLP is ‘the inspirational companion you’ve been looking for to help you  build confidence in your poetic voice…’ Hallelujah! It is so true. Sage has a number of sites including Writing the Life Poetic and also conducts the best poetry writing course by email and workbook: Poetry for the People. I have been privileged to work through two levels of Poetry for the People and I am in awe of Sage’s poetic wisdom – she is very aptly named! Poet, teacher, blogger, mother, writer…

Shanna Germain

Shanna is fantastically without boundaries and goes everywhere and anywhere in writing and in life. A writer of  poetry, novels, short stories, erotica – she is amazingly prolific and documents her writing life intimately. I first joined up with her when she was on a remote Scottish island last year living a writing life. Fantastic, I thought, living my dream – and then you experience the actual day to day of Shanna’s writing life and realise what hard and solitary work it is. I laugh out loud often and love the way she structures her writing story, different blogs, morphing in and out and setting herself projects that she absolutely commits to – writing a poem or significant part of a novel every day. This year – a learning project every week in Chapter 38: ‘A girl. A brain. 52 ways to fill it’.

Joanna Penn

Joanna lives in Australia and has set up an incredibly consistent blog, ‘The Creative Penn’ about ‘Writing, Publishing Options, Sales and Promotion for your book. I came across Joanna on a list of the top 30 bloggers to watch. I have learnt so much from reading the blog and especially from her podcast interviews available online and free from itunes. I listen to them in my car on the way to work and have learnt about ebooks, using video, podcasting, itunes, authentic voice, beating procrastination, romance writing, crime writing and more. The whole publishing game has changed and Joanna has captured perfectly how social media can work for writers. And she has a full-time job and she is writing a novel. A real role model for moi.

Colleen Wainwright

And the communicatrix, Colleen Wainwright. Colleen and I were born a week apart so communicatrix: A Virgo’s Guide to the Universe rings incredibly true for me. Obviously we have had different experiences and backgrounds, but the essence is eerily familiar. Fantastically clear and self-deprecating at the same time, it is about being a better communicator and the skills and search for same. Hilarious, incisive and full of great links and reads, I just love it. Friday round-up is especially insightful – always something to take away. This week’s link to an article by Jeffrey Zeldman on the beauty of life  was a gift that bought tears to my eyes. Colleen’s writing is full of such gifts.

My seven stars are truly a constellation – they interconnect, flow and bounce ideas back and forth and create such a cosmic storm here, I can only respond.  And I think, what if they had not ‘just started…..’  where would I be today without their influence? I hope to shine also to illuminate myself likewise and light the way to others.

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blogging creativity love, loss & longing music & images

Beauty and creativity

June 22, 2010

     

Further to the post of May 19 on my ‘seven stars’ – the blogging writers who have inspired me – I want to celebrate these stars further as I move forward. I acknowledged and celebrated them in that summary post but each deserves a bright and sparkling place of their own here in between other musings and jottings. I wish to acknowledge what they have given me, the windows they open, what is inspiring and what they offer to others. I am already sprinkling this through my posts in various ways, but they deserve more considering what they have given me.    

To celebrate beauty, healing and creativity, I encourage you to visit Susannah Conway’s sites:    

 http://www.susannahconway.com/ In her own words: ‘This is the online home of Susannah Conway, a photographer, writer and creator of the Unravelling e-courses. A self-confessed Polaroid fanatic, she shares insights on her blog while exploring the world through her camera lens.’    

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/inkonmyfingers/sets/ Susannah’s photographs on flickr    

You can also see Susannah talking about her creativity in a video interview, ‘Burning questions with Susannah Conway: beauty that heals’ at Danielle LaPorte’s White Hot Truth.    

What Susannah gives me:    

Clear open heart, beauty, creativity, something special to take away every time I read and visit, vulnerability, courage, a model for being open and creative and what that can do for other people, someone else talking like I feel about moving through grief, pain and healing, how that happens, what it feels like, creative ways to do this, reflections on light and shadow.    

And anyone who  takes the  most beautiful photographs of her piles of moleskine journals, a box full of old penguin paperbacks she has just found at a garage sale, all the gorgeously titled books in her library sorted by colour and her  poloraid camera collection is so very cool in my books and I just swoon with pleasure at the sights.    

One of my most treasured posts is ‘Five years’ , a reflection on grief that has travelled now through five years. I connect through music with those I have loved and lost, and this post ends with an invitation to play a Kings of Leon song for Susannah’s partner whom she loved and lost. The song ends up being played loud all around the world by readers, including by me here in Sydney, with many tears shed all over in layers of connection.    

Visit and be sometimes delighted, sometimes saddened, always touched in some special way and always inspired.    

 Moleskine and penguin pics by Susannah Conway and used with her kind permission.  

 

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blogging

The 7 link challenge

July 24, 2010

I only have about 16 posts so far being a fairly newbie blogger but what the hell, I am jumping in to the 7 link challenge  from Darren Rowse at problogger. I love a chance to reflect on where I am, where I’ve been and where I’m going in all aspects of life: writing, work, relationships, family, blogging. 

The idea from problogger is: 

‘to publish a post that is a list of 7 links to posts that you and others have written that respond to the following 7 categories. Your links should be to:

  • Your first post
  • A post you enjoyed writing the most
  • A post which had a great discussion
  • A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written
  • Your most helpful post
  • A post with a title that you are proud of
  • A post that you wish more people had read’

I first came across the challenge at Susannah Conway’s beautiful site and here’s Susannah’s interpretation. As a regular reader of her blog over the past twelve months, it was exciting to see her first post, what it heralded, the intentioned first steps and the special posts chosen from so many. There are many comments with links from Susannah’s post and many more on the original problogger site posting. You can see the effect and the excitement. This idea is so clever in so many ways:

  • it’s based on reflection on where you have been and what you have achieved
  • it has a cumulative and connecting effect with others
  • it enables you to find a whole lot of new people to read about, link to and talk to
  • it’s a way of people linking to and learning about your own blog work
  • it’s a way of learning about blogging itself: tags, memes, how the tech side works

Genius! I can’t wait to find some time soon to read through all the comments and links on both the problogger and Susannah Conway sites with so many potential treasures to be found. So here’s my list, albeit from a limited but special pool. To be honest, I have had the best time with blogging since I started nearly three months ago.

My first post: Welcome to Transcending – May 2, 2010

The post I enjoyed writing the most: Why Transcending?  – because it coalesced months, maybe years, of thinking and feeling and it felt very right when it came together

A post with great discussion: I loved the comments from my key influencing people on My seven stars – I was so honoured by the warm and encouraging responses from people I had learnt from. It was like meeting my favourite celebrities 🙂

A post from someone else’s blog I wish I had written: Many posts from my seven stars inspire me but I loved the post Transitions by Chris Guillebeau on The Art of Non-Conformity for its sheer brilliance in articulating an intensely felt thought I could relate to. Chris is excellent at that special skill. I constantly marvel at his writing and reflect about what he has written.

My most helpful post: I am noticing some interest in the post Planning to be fluid about goalsetting. The links in that post are very powerful sources of information that have helped me immensely.

Post with a title you are proud of : The value of howling into the wind – on one of her wonderful podcasts, Joanna Penn from The Creative Penn talks about the feeling of ‘howling into the wind’ to describe how she felt as a blogger when she started. I loved the phrase, it captured how I felt and I used it to think about the value of this space where you finally launch off but you know so few people are reading your words.

A post that I wish more people had read: It was difficult to write and probably difficult to read but The healing power of family history was about a critical journey for me through a (still) difficult time. I hope that it might help other people to find an anchor through their grief.

Off to read some other fantastic 7 link challenge posts! Thanks Darren and Susannah for all the fantastic leads!

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blogging creativity writing

Blog writing heroes

October 10, 2010

 Last post, I wrote about ‘The Writer as Hero’ and how my favourite writers inspire me and my writing, just as sporting heroes might be a source of inspiration to others. I’m excited to be writing today about my blog writing heroes. These are the people I have followed online through their blogs who have successfully built a blogging presence and reader platform over time, committed to regular writing both on and off their blog and are writing towards further publication of their work offline.

These writers are among My Seven Stars and are such great role models with unique vision, commitment to craft and belief in their goals. They have set writing goals, strived to put this into practice and shared the journey with others through their blogs. They are true writing heroes influential in their impact on my personal journey of a writing life and that of many others.

I celebrate the following blog writing heroes:

Chris Guillebeau

Chris has just published the book of  ‘The Art of Non-Conformity’ after building a successful blog of the same name. As Chris says,

One of the main reasons why I started AONC was to write a book. It only took two and a half years (it’s not dead, but publishing is indeed a sloooow industry), but here we are.

This dream is the same for many writers and I count myself among them. Here is someone who started the journey and committed to the vision of the ‘art of non-conformity’ in all its forms: travel, the nature of work, how we write, entrepreneurship, living your dream and providing the tools and the model for how to do it practically. I am a big fan and Chris’s work has been very influential to me over the past 18 months since I started among his readership. I am loving watching Chris promote his book across all 50 states in the US on the Unconventional Book Tour. In addition, designated proceeds from his book go towards his charity project in Ethiopia. The book and the projects around it are an excellent practical demonstration in every way of the ‘art of non-conformity’.

Joanna Penn

Joanna is another inspiration in writing, blogging and publishing; not least because she manages all this with a day job in another sphere. Through the ‘The Creative Penn’, Joanna has built up a strong audience of people interested in writing and publishing through providing loads of useful information, podcasts, links and experiential tips. Her resources on writing are excellent. Apart from this, Joanna has written a number of non-fiction books and is currently working on her first fiction book, ‘Pentecost’. On her blog, she shares the experience of writing this novel with her readers in posts such as ‘Editing your Novel: High level Story Read Through’ and ‘7 reasons why you should read your book out loud’. I look forward to reading ‘Pentecost’ when it is finished; I’m sure many of Joanna’s other readers are also looking forward to it. In this way, Joanna is developing the very platform based audience that she blogs about as a new publishing trend.

Susannah Conway

Susannah started her blog in 2006 and has developed a strong following for her beautiful work based around photography and creativity of all kinds that has grown out of grief and her healing journey.  Susannah has also created the Unravelling e-course based on photography and journalling as reconnecting and healing tools for how you see yourself and your world. I am a current Unraveller and although only in week 2, it is already a fabulously powerful personal experience. In May this year, Susannah announced ‘Unravelling: the Book’. She shares her writing journey on her book in posts like this one on overcoming getting stuck on a long piece of writing. Again, the reader platform for the book is already growing exponentially even before it is written based on Susannah’s blog and Unravelling presence.

Shanna Germain

Shanna is also writing her book, a novel, now. I have loved following Shanna’s writing journey from when I first joined her when she was writing on a remote Scottish island some time ago. Shanna documents her writing life, her commitment, her goals, her striving towards them and her publishing successes which have been many. In a great recent post, Here I Go, Shanna explains how she has been writing away, has had her novel accepted for publication on the basis of a synopsis and the first third, and how she is off for five days to a retreat in the woods to enter further into the writing experience of the novel. I am so excited for her. It is what I would love to be doing and hope one day to do; but Shanna is doing the hard work of making this real now. All courage to her.

Sage Cohen

Sage is a published poet, author of ‘Like the Heart, the World’ as well as the exceptional “Writing the Life Poetic: an Invitation to Read and Write Poetry’, one of the best ever books on the subtle art of writing poetry.  She also teaches the ‘Poetry for the People’ online courses of which I am a ‘graduate’ of levels 1 and 2. I loved these courses for their excellent teaching, mentoring and encouragement that truly helps poets to develop and re-engage. Sage has a blog and an ezine as well as a new book to be published through Writers’ Digest out in December this year, The Productive Writer. It’s available by pre-order through Amazon now. I know this book will be full of Sage’s practical and tested advice on productivity and writing. Again, Sage has built her readership through an online presence and e-courses in advance of the publication of her book.

So a sincere thanks to my blog writing heroes for being so personally inspiring to me.

Who are your blog writing heroes? How do they inspire you?

Image, Young woman blogging – after Marie-Denise Villers  by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com from flickr and used under a Creative Commons license with thanks

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blogging creativity planning & productivity

Looking back, moving forward

January 13, 2011

A new year is traditionally a time for resolutions; however, there seems to be a renewed focus on the more concrete work of reviewing the past year and celebrating milestones and special moments as a prelude to future planning.

I am especially enjoying this review process in the blogs I read: the people’s journeys I follow there; their aims and strivings; the progress and success they celebrate in various ways and the collective cheering on in progress to their goals I can take part in. This looking back, checking progress, highlighting achievements and tracking the journey is a critical part of moving forward and I am inspired and informed by the journeys of others.

The review can take the form of the writing of a blog as a way of accountability, checking in with readers on the set metrics of progress; for others, it is sheer celebration; for others, it’s a ‘warts and all’ reflection on what happened in 2010 and also what created interest in readers. For most, it’s a combination of all these.

I’m loving reading some of my favourite bloggers’ reflections on their work and achievements in 2010 and directions for 2011. Here are some of my favourite recent reviews:

Joanna Penn’s Review of the Creative Penn Goals for 2010 celebrates the accountability of blogging and how it motivates. Joanna set some incredibly high goals for 2010 and has achieved much. Read about her wonderful achievements including completing her novel and being way up on the lists of bloggers in the writing field.

For sheer celebratory energy, you can’t beat the white hot retrospective by Danielle La Porte. I am big believer in celebrating achievements as a solid and strengthening base for moving forward and this post just shows you why it’s so powerful. I especially loved the manifesto of encouragement – one of my favourite posts of 2010. As Danielle says:

With 900+ tweets, 3800 Facebook shares and 2,600+ StumbleUpons, the manifesto of encouragement took on a life of its own.

It truly was a magical piece of inspired thought and writing that engendered so much depth of heartfelt words in others. I look forward to the sequel and something I can hold in my hand!

Colleen Wainwright, aka The Communicatrix, reflects on the 100 things I learned in 2010 and what’s more has been doing this same process since 2004. Clever, funny, insightful as always, and like Colleen’s weekly round-ups, a rich read – especially for a fellow Virgo. I am thankful for the many valued reflections and resources that come through Colleen’s annual reviews such as how much growth can come from the darkest times.

I’ve only recently started reading Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist blog though clearly many other people are ahead of me here. It’s honest, on the edge and often controversial, it seems, as reflected in the number of comments and the level of engagement of her readers. In her recent, Most popular posts of 2010, Penelope provides a summary of the posts that generated the most comments. It’s another great way of reflecting on progress and a clever way to review.

Shanna Germain, whom I love reading for her incredible commitment to writing and publication and her documentation of the journey, has written a fantastic 2010 Writing Stats post demonstrating her passion and productivity in writing in 2010 and setting the metrics for writing goals for 2011. Chris Guillebeau emphasises the importance of metrics in personal planning and this is a great example of how to measure progress and success: number of submissions, rejections, words written, progress to goal. It’s super impressive in both process and achievements.

My seven stars  still mostly light the way for me as I blog forward but I’m loving finding new voices to read to inform my own path. And yes, I know, I need to work on my own review and goals. It’s coming in its own good time and I look forward to it.

In the meantime, reading and reflecting on the reviews of others is very inspiring in informing my own moving forward.

Who’s lighting your path for 2011?

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