inspiration Archives

Creative and connected #2 – this week’s inspiration

June 23, 2017

Inspiring resources to keep you creative and connected!

Here’s a round up of what I’ve enjoyed and shared this week on various social platforms:

Podcasts

My favourite podcast listen of the week was Joanna Penn’s recent chat (5 June 2017) with Nick Stephenson on The Creative Penn podcast: How to Manage Your Time and Automate your Author Marketing.

The conversation focuses on designing our businesses to suit our personalities and reflects on how especially for introverts, some activities can be especially draining and not a good return on the time invested. Joanna and Nick talk about how to say no to opportunities and options that aren’t a good fit. There’s also a special focus on how to automate parts of your business so it’s not so labour intensive. Whether you are working on an author or coaching business or just looking at how you prioritise and manage your time, it’s excellent and fun listening.

Books and reading notes

Much of my focus in reading right now is going into the ebook that I am writing on the books that have influenced me. I look forward to sharing this with you soon. Plus my daily Tarot Narratives on Instagram feature revisiting favourite and connected reads that tarot inspires. So there’s a lot of reading going on traversing realms I have already visited that is only making me want to read many books all over again!

I’ve also focused on finishing the books I’ve been reading recently. I finished ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’ which was an enjoyable fantasy read – and not a genre I read very often. I’m also close to finishing ‘Rise Sister Rise’, by Rebecca Campbell which is inspiring me every time I open it and is highly recommended. I’m also making good progress with Business for Authors: How to be an Author Entrepreneur by Joanna Penn as an audiobook when I’m on the road. All these were mentioned in more detail in last week’s Creative and Connected post.

I’m looking forward to starting some new reads this coming week. My planned reads are:

Love Warrior – by Glennon Doyle Melton – a memoir I’ve heard so much about and want to experience.

Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity, by David Whyte – recommended by my dear friend Katherine and a book I know I need to read right now. It’s well overdue. This book is about work as an opportunity for discovery and growth.

The Exquisite Risk: Daring to Live an Authentic Life, by Mark Nepo – a book that’s been sitting close by because I know I need to read it. It popped up in one of my Tarot Narratives this week to remind me it’s time!

Both David Whyte and Mark Nepo are favourite authors because they focus on journeys to wholeness – such as how the corporate world and poetry come together and living a life with nothing held back whatever the context. These are themes that I connect with so strongly as I develop my coaching and writing work in the world and support others with feeling wholehearted.

Blog/Twitter/Instagram posts and interactions:

In terms of reads and posts on personality and MBTI preferences and functions, I enjoyed these reads:

On Life Reaction: this read about managing intuitive and sensoric functions in relationships
This video from Carl Jung and shared by @uber_chill also explains these differences.

I love this story told by Carl Jung which has helped me understand the intuitive vs sensory type differences.

You might also enjoy my own post here on Quiet Writing on Personality, story and Introverted Intuition which provides a brief overview of personality and focuses on my dominant function, Introverted Intuition, as a starting point.

Many thanks to Quiet Writing reader Claire of the beautiful Nest of Mist for alerting me to Debra Eve’s Later Bloomer website where ‘Creativity Never Gets Old’ – and hooray for that! Debra’s website is a fabulous celebration of late bloomers from all walks of life – artists, athletes, explorers and writers – and encourages us to embrace creativity wherever we are in our lives. I especially enjoyed the post on James Michener – one of my dear Dad’s favourite authors. I can remember summer holidays by the beach with ‘The Source’ and other similar epic novels being eagerly embraced with such relish and joy. The post made me think of how creativity and a love of reading is communicated through family connections and through what we see others enjoy. I think my Dad was an INTJ MBTI type like me – he also really loved Ayn Rand!

On Instagram, there’s been a fabulous week of prompts around #mywritinglife created by Vanessa Carnevale which started on Monday 19 June. The prompts are:

Writing Space
Current WIP
Favourite Books
Inspiration
Writing Fuel
Current Read
TBR Pile

There’s still time to join in or just take the time to make some new writer connections via the hashtag. There’s inspiration and insight there into workspaces, works in progress and favourite books.

Here’s my post for day 4 Inspiration based on a walk in the Royal National Park and location as muse – my local environment is such a source of inspiration!

Day #4 #mywritinglife #inspiration Location as muse: where I live, my sanctuary and sacred creative space. This pic from a winter solstice walk in the Royal National Park and the beautiful Curracurrang pool where I swam. #quietwriting

A post shared by Terri Connellan (@writingquietly) on Jun 22, 2017 at 4:04am PDT

I am also so enjoying my Tarot Narrative project and posts each day on Instagram, working with tarot and oracle cards to prepare the guidance intuitively, linking them with books and the interactions arising from this. It’s become such a deep practice to start my day. Thanks for the engaging connection with this work – I hope it’s helpful and welcome any feedback!

Creative and Connected is a regular post each Friday. I hope you enjoy it – I would love any feedback via social media or comments and let me know what you are enjoying too! Have a fabulous creative weekend.

Here’s a final thought from Julia Cameron:

#creativity #juliacameron #theartistsway #artist #writing

A post shared by Julia Cameron (@juliacameronlive) on Jun 22, 2017 at 8:46am PDT

Keep in touch

Subscribe via email (see the link at the top and below) to make sure you receive updates from Quiet Writing and its passions in 2017. This includes MBTI developments, coaching, creativity and other connections to help express your unique voice in the world. My free ebook on the books that have shaped my story is coming soon for subscribers only – so sign up to be the first to receive it!

Quiet Writing is on Facebook – Please visit here and ‘Like’ to keep in touch and interact with the growing Quiet Writing community. There are regular posts on tarot, intuition, influence, passion, creativity, productivity, writing, voice, introversion and personality including Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

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6 Inspiring Podcasts for Creatives and Book Lovers

Creative and Connected #1

creativity inspiration & influence

Creative and connected #1 – this week’s inspiration

June 16, 2017

Inspiring resources to keep you creative and connected!

Here’s a round up of what I’ve enjoyed and shared this week on various social platforms:

Podcasts

Biddy Tarot podcast: #78 The Reluctant Tarot Reader with Raven Mardirosian

This podcast chat explores tarot as an intuitive tool for wisdom and guidance and some of the personal and cultural reasons it can feel uncomfortable for those of us who identify as ‘tarot readers’. It traverses issues of tarot and Christianity and how tarot can be a tool for healing and bringing disparate parts of ourselves back together. A fabulous conversation!

Sara Tasker Hashtag Authentic podcast: #20 All Things Instagram with Humphrey & Grace

A chat with Julia of Humphrey and Grace about all things IG and given she has 200K followers, there is plenty of experience to tap into! I especially enjoyed the reflections on learning from mistakes on IG to improve our creative work.

Caroline Donahue’s Secret Library Podcast: #54 How Writers Make a Living with Manjula Martin

Thought-provoking discussion on writers and money based on Manjula’s work in this space including her blog “Who pays writers?” and her new anthology “Scratch: Writers, Money and the Art of Making a Living” that gathers together thoughts on writers on this topic. This excellent interview explores a range of issues around writers and money including expectations, historical issues, current perspectives and reflections on why writing as a career is so undervalued, especially monetarily.

Books and reading notes

I’m keen to chase up both The Reluctant Tarot Reader and Scratch as new reads from the above podcasts!

Reading wise, I seem to be having trouble finishing books right now with so much else going on but here’s what I’m enjoying:

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs – A bit late to the party on this one but enjoying it’s quirkiness, photographs and the way the author has woven the found images into the narrative. Next, to catch up on the movie!

Rise Sister Rise, Rebecca Campbell – Loving this book which I dive into from time to time for a spiritual refresh and connection to what matters. Nearly finished, it’s heavily underlined and one to go back to for deeper dives especially the exercises to promote further thinking and heart work.

Business for Authors: How to be an Author Entrepreneur, Joanna Penn – Listening to this as an audiobook and it’s a great coverage of all issues around being an author entrepreneur. I listen to Joanna’s podcast and am a reader of her non-fiction books. This is a comprehensive review of contemporary business issues for indie authors and publishers.

Blog/Twitter/Instagram posts and interactions:

Susan Storm on The 5 Biggest Misconceptions about INFJs : via Twitter – where I am @writingquietly

Dr Jenny Brockis on Safety at Work: why it pays to use your noggin – on mindfulness, cognitive health and brain safety: via Twitter

What Makes People Tic, by Luca, age 11 about her brother Mani, Tourette’s Syndrome and tics – in the national newspaper for young Australians, Crinkling News. Such a beautiful statement of respect and understanding, written with love that made me cry, quite a few times: via Twitter

Enjoying interactions with Work Search on Twitter about recruitment and inclusive approaches – this is an interesting company with a unique approach that embraces diversity and an excellent Twitter feed!

And on Instagram @writingquietly – so enjoying my own Tarot Narratives each day, preparing them and the interactions arising from them. Thanks for the engaging connection and welcome any feedback!

Creative and Connected is a new regular post for each Friday. I hope you enjoy it – love any feedback via social media or comments and let me know what you are enjoying too! Have a fabulous creative weekend!

Keep in touch

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6 Inspiring Podcasts for Creatives and Book Lovers

creativity inspiration & influence planning & productivity

6 inspiring podcasts for creatives and book lovers

June 4, 2017

Podcasts are the best on-the-go inspiration for creatives and book lovers. Here are my 6 top podcasts for firing up your learning about books, blogging, writing and creative entrepreneurship.

Listening to podcasts – my experiences and tips

If you’re not listening to podcasts, now’s the time to start! And if you are, you know the joy of learning and connection it provides, so here are my hot tips and recommendations.

Whether it’s commuting on the train, driving in the personal space of your car, relaxing at home with a cup of tea or when you are exercising or cleaning, make use of that time to feed your creativity and help you prepare for future action. Take the time to learn about new people, new skills, new books, new ideas.

I’ve been listening to podcasts for a long time now, mostly because I live in a fairly remote place and have a long drive or train trip to anywhere. I cannot tell you how much I have learnt over the years from listening to podcasts. It’s like sowing seeds you can harvest straight away or down the track in so many ways.

Some people worry about not being able to take notes on the go. But I say, just relax, listen, let it all wash over you and soak in. If you love a podcast and want to take more from it, take the time to listen again with a notebook and pen in hand.

I’ve connected with people I’ve met through listening to podcasts; they’ve shaped my writing, coaching, self-care and reading practices. I know a hell of a lot about self-publishing, being an indie author and successful author mindset, information built up over years that I’m now armed with for the next steps.

I’m focusing on brand, blogging, social media and creative entrepreneurship at the moment as I shape new practices around coaching and writing so I’ve been listening to some new podcasts to skill up and be motivated around that.

I love books and reading, so podcasts help me to learn about new books, revisit old ones and discover classics I’ve never read or even heard of. Book-focused podcasts celebrate and share the pleasure of reading and creating books and so are very precious, like kindred souls.

And a tip for me – go with the unexpected and unusual! You never know what you might learn. I’ve learnt so much from podcasts that initially looked like they had nothing to do with my sphere of interests. Like this episode: Discipline and Practice in Writing and Swordfighting with Guy Windsor on The Creative Penn podcast. Easy to skip over as you think: what’s swordfighting got to do with me? Turns out plenty, so keep your eyes and ears open for the unexpected and broaden those horizons and connections.

So, here are the 6 inspiring podcasts for creatives and book lovers that I’m listening to right now! Links are in the title.

1 The Creative Penn Podcast – Joanna Penn

The Creative Penn Podcast launched in March 2009 and is edging up to Episode #400 as I write. I’m proud to say I’ve been listening pretty well since the start. I also support Joanna via Patreon because her shows are simply awesome. They cover “inspiration and information on writing and creativity, publishing options, book marketing and creative entrepreneurship“, I have learnt so much from Joanna about being a writer, an indie author, the book industry and a successful creative entrepreneur.

Joanna is a fabulous role model in writing and self-publishing and I’ve followed her journey as she left her day job and became over time a successful six figure author and creative entrepreneur. She is the most generous person, always giving insights into process, learnings and mindset based on her experience.

The podcasts include updates from Joanna about her writing, creative life and business as well as a round up of key trends in publishing, especially indie publishing. Joanna celebrates and embodies that self-publishing as an indie author is not a vanity thing, but a way of having an inspiring and self-directed creative life. Worked on over time, it’s a lifestyle that can also support you well financially too.

Some favourite episodes that have influenced me deeply with changed practices, connections and ideas:

Use your own life story to bring depth to your writing – with Steve Pressfield

How to find your author voice – with Roz Morris

Self-care and productivity for authors – with Ellen Bard

Productivity for creative people – with Mark McGuinness

The Artist’s Journey – with Steven Pressfield

2 Hashtag Authentic – for Instagram, blogging and beyond – Sara Tasker

Developed and hosted by Sara Tasker, who is on Instagram as @me_and_orla, it’s filled with creative inspiration for Instagrammers, bloggers and online creatives. With 205,000 followers on Instagram and a ton of practical experience, Sara is an Instagram coach and photographic influencer. Each episode is full of tips shared in a spirit of support and co-creation. I’ve learnt about the journeys of so many amazing Instagram influencers and creatives – and this has sparked so much creativity.

Some favourite episodes that have kindled ideas and supported creative practice and productivity:

Creating your ideal working week – with Jen Carrington

A social media, blogging and Instagram Q&A – with Sara

The power of personal projects – with Xanthe Berkley

I love this quote from Ira Glass discussed in the personal projects podcast with Xanthe Berkley (full quote in the show notes at the link above)

Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.
–Ira Glass

3 Make It Happen: a podcast for bloggers and creatives – Jen Carrington

After listening to the fabulous podcast chat between Sara Tasker and Jen Carrington on creating your ideal working week on Hashtag Authentic, I then made my way over to Jen Carrington’s website and her work.

It’s so practically encouraging and inspiring. Jen is a coach for big-hearted creative business owners and is based in Manchester, UK. Her blog posts are so helpful for those aiming to step up their own blogging work. And her podcasts are straight down the line insights, direct from Jen about such topics as:

S05 E08: Show Up As If You’re Already Where You Want To Be

S05 E06: Staying Connected To Your Version Of Success

S05 E02: Redefining Your Working Week

You’ll need a pen and notebook for this one because every statement is a gem of opportunity.

And Sara and Jen have launched a joint podcast recently which is another gem:

Letters from a Hopeful Creative

4 The Secret Library Podcast – Caroline Donahue

Caroline Donahue is a woman after my own heart: a reader, a writer, a coach who works with writers and an introvert who works with tarot and story. And she is also a super podcast creator and host exploring the most fascinating topics. Caroline’s mantra is that “books are a map, not just an escape” and this podcast is about all things books – the reading, writing, publishing, creation and enjoyment of books – as maps for growth, creativity and enjoyment.

With a love of tarot and intuitive practice, these themes feature strongly in Caroline’s interviews and the subjects explored. Perfect listening for an intuitive, tarot-reading, book-loving soul like me!

The episodes are diverse and inspiring – here are some of my favourites:

Episode #31 Kim Krans on The Wild Unknown

Episode #35 Amy Kuretsky on the healthy writer

Episode #42 Ezzie Spencer writes by the light of the moon

Episode #38 with V E Schwab

5 Magic Lessons – Elizabeth Gilbert

‘Big Magic: Creative living beyond fear’ has been widely read and influenced so many people. It was a catalyst for me in finally stepping into my creativity and authenticity more wholeheartedly in recent times. Liz Gilbert created the podcast because she felt she wasn’t finished with the subject and wanted to have “real conversations with real people” about “roadmaps for the path to creativity“. I am so glad she did.

Each interview focuses on a chat with a creative person who feels they are thwarted in some way in creating their big magic in the world. Liz coaches them and connects them with a special creative person who can inspire them and help with their goals and overcome fear. We get access to so much creative wisdom through this connection.

It’s a powerful combination and discussion. People bare their vulnerability and are held in such a special place as they break through the fear. The conversations provide moments of clarity and breakthrough and have supported and fuelled my own creative breakthroughs. It proves for me yet again the power of story in creativity.

They are all fabulous so hard to pick favourites but ones that have especially spoken to me are:

Series 1, Episode 1 Do what ignites your soul

Series 1, Episode 9 Dear Creativity and Fear

Episode 204 “Who gets to decide if you’re a legitimate artist?” featuring Mark Nepo

But do listen to all of them – brilliant inspiration to create your work in the world!

6 The Casual Academic: A Literary Podcast

Billed as ‘literary discussion without the pretense – just good books‘ – that’s exactly why I love this podcast. Alex Johnson and Jacob Welcker, both based in Spain, share book love in a way that bridges academia with the every day.

As a person with a background in literature, it’s helped me reconnect with literary fiction. I’ve discovered books and authors new to me that are so fascinating, especially Clarice Lispector’s ‘Near to the Wild Heart’ and H P Lovecraft’s ‘At the Mountains of Madness’. I’ve also been reminded of authors who I’ve loved reading that I need to revisit: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Margaret Atwood, Shirley Jackson, Ursula Le Guin.

Starting out as a book club over Google Hangouts with friends all over the world, the podcast has retained that casual feel. But it’s backed in by informed, engaging and well-researched commentary. Just listening to the podcasts has helped me reconnect with literature. As a result, my reading list is growing but it’s oh so rich! Plus Alex and Jacob have the best voices to listen to as they read and chat – they have so much fun, it makes me smile as I listen and learn.

A couple of my favourites episodes:

Episode 13: Mirages, Dread, and the Unreliable Narrator in Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness”

Episode 19: Narrative Techniques & The Thing Itself in Clarice Lispector’s “Near to the Wild Heart”

Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’

You can download my free 94-page ebook on the 36 Books that Shaped my Story – just sign up with your email address in the box to the right or below. You will also receive updates from Quiet Writing and its passions. This includes personality type, coaching, creativity, writing, tarot and other connections to help express your unique voice in the world.

Quiet Writing is on Facebook and Instagram – keep in touch and interact with the growing Quiet Writing community.

If you enjoyed this post, please share via your preferred social media channel – links are below.

You might also enjoy:

Shining a quiet light: working the gifts of introversion

Practical tools to increase writing productivity

Intuition, writing and work: eight ways intuition can guide your creativity

Featured image via Pexels and used with permission and thanks.

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inspiration & influence reading notes

“You are the authority on you” – a review of Danielle LaPorte’s ‘White Hot Truth’

April 4, 2017

“I’m a seeker who writes about what I find. And maybe, on just the right day, I can help you flatten your learning curve. If I’ve got anything to say, it’s this: you are the authority on you.”
Danielle LaPorte – White Hot Truth: Clarity for keeping it real on your spiritual path from one seeker to another

I am a huge fan of Danielle LaPorte. I love her clear, crisp, grounded, heart-filled way of talking and thinking. Her work is concurrently suffused with spirit and light whilst being grounded in experience and day to day living.

She speaks directly to my heart, and I’ve been listening for nearly 10 years now since I first came across her work when I was somewhat completely brought to my knees with the open-hearted surgery that is grief.

Back then, Danielle’s web-site was called White Hot Truth, something I needed at a time when each day had the consistency of mud I tried to swim through. “Yes, I’ll have some of that ‘White Hot Truth’ please“. I read and followed, a gentle disciple of the heart, as Danielle spoke to me of hope and self-compassion.

I’ve since followed her work and when I saw that White Hot Truth was coming back in another form as a book, I signed up to read ahead, review and be part of the ‘White Hot Truth’ launch team. I knew from experience this would be something very special, a honed diamond sparkling its message for me and others to catch.

The light in White Hot Truth

White Hot Truth is this diamond, each chapter a facet of light, grounded in a memoir-kind of reflection, distilling experience that heads straight for the heart. I alternated between reading on-screen and listening to Danielle’s voice via the audiobook. This made the reading process all the richer as I shifted between my voice engaging directly with the words, and Danielle’s voice reading her own.

The book traverses so many realms – it’s deep and wide but its terrain is clear and sweeps away any barriers to understanding in its path. The essence of the book is to become aware of the lies or unhelpful blocks that may have found their way into our trusting hearts including the “really big lies” of inadequacy, authority and affiliation. And to recognise that we are able to take in so much influence and so many ideas and still be the authority on ourselves, the one to make the decisions with wisdom, the one to set boundaries with an open heart.

Some quotes from White Hot Truth

Danielle draws from wide sources to find the most perfect quotes to place strategically. And then sprinkled through like stars sending their energy through the text, there are Danielle’s own quotable quotes and truthbombs.

A few of my favourites of so many I have highlighted:

On flow: “It was too much flow and not enough restraint. I was a river in need of some riverbanks.”

On forgiveness: “The heart runs on its own clock, untethered from calendar days or years.”

On self-help: “The best self-help is self-compassion.”

On approval: “Working for approval takes up a lot of energy, and it can be a huge distraction from seeing the gifts that you already hold in your hands.”

Wisdom, paradox and authenticity in White Hot Truth

A key piece of wisdom threaded through-out is that of paradox. White Hot Truth shows how with clarity, you can take both perspectives and find a path. For example, you can lead with your heart and your head. You don’t have to choose. How many of us have shut down one side of the equation because we fear losing the other, when really it’s a false dichotomy. I know I have. This book opens up paradox as a kind of wisdom.

I read White Hot Truth concurrently with Marrow by Elizabeth Lesser. In Marrow, Elizabeth talks about ‘Authenticity Deficit Disorder’, how we tiptoe around those things we really want to say or be, those things that really matter as we go through our days. It seems that sometimes it takes a tragedy, serious illness or terrible grief to make us go there to the marrow. And even then we can manage to side step it.

In White Hot Truth, Danielle speaks directly, supporting us to honour our authenticity and love who and what we are. She encourages us to recognise where we may have inadvertently blunted our ability to cut through. She shows us how to speak up without fear, through being a voice and model for how to speak up.

Being real and who we are as influence

Mark Nepo in The Book of Awakening talks about the energy of being real, of ‘mana’, of the extraordinary power of being who we are to influence others:

In this way, without any intent to shape others, we simply have to be authentic, and a sense of ‘mana’, of spiritual light and warmth, will emanate from our souls, causing others to grow – not towards us, but towards the light that moves through us.

White Hot Truth made me smile with recognition and more than once, I held my heart as my eyes filled with tears as something broke through, probably self-compassion.

At times laugh-out-loud funny, other times shocking and sobering, it’s a ball of bright authentic light offered as a guide from one seeker to another to illuminate our path. I’m so grateful for its warm and passionate influence. Like ‘The Hierophant’ card in tarot, this book is a teacher and a reminder that:

….we are not alone; we can actually take someone else’s advice and methods and recast them to meet our own needs

Playing with Symbols, Monicka Clio Sakki

In fact White Hot Truth encourages us to do exactly that and for you to be the authority on you. I know it will shape and guide my own inspired path now and for years to come.

Review and Publication notes:

White Hot Truth will be published on 16 May 2017 and is available on pre-order. Because I am part of the White Hot Truth Launch Team, I got the advanced digital copy. You can get a chance to listen to the book before it’s in stores with the free audio book. Find out how here: daniellelaporte.com/whitehottruth/

Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’

You can download my free 95-page ebook on the 36 Books that Shaped my Story – just sign up with your email address in the box to the right or below. You will also receive updates from Quiet Writing and its passions. This includes personality type, coaching, creativity, writing, tarot and other connections to help express your unique voice in the world.

Quiet Writing is on Facebook and Instagram – keep in touch and interact with the growing Quiet Writing community.

If you enjoyed this post, please share via your preferred social media channel – links are below.

You might also enjoy:

Influence, gratitude and choosing to shine – Danielle LaPorte

20 practical ways of showing up and being brave (and helpful)

Intuition, writing and work – eight ways intuition can guide your creativity

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inspiration & influence reading notes

Reading Australian women writers in 2017

February 6, 2017

Working out what to read next is always a challenge. But books by Australian women writers are always on my mind and that’s in no small measure due to the Australian Women Writers Challenge.

It’s the sixth year of the Australian Women Writers Challenge and it has done much to change the face of how Australian women’s writing is seen and celebrated. The challenge is part of a world-wide movement to raise awareness of excellent writing by women, helping readers to “challenge the subconscious stereotypes that govern our choice of books to read.”

The challenge was started in 2012 by Elizabeth Lhuede in response to gender imbalance in books reviewed, in reading preferences and choices and in award representation. It has created a groundswell of readers, reviewers and bloggers making a conscious choice to read, review, recommend and celebrate books written by Australian women.

Promoting Australian women’s writing

I participate to help promote Australian women’s writing. The challenge overall has resulted in thousands of Australian women writers’ books being read and reviewed. It’s led to increased national and international recognition of the initiative’s achievements, built slowly over time.

The challenge has made me keep my antenna up about Australian women writers’ successes, awards and commendations. The Australian Women Writers Challenge connects with other movements aiming to raise awareness of writing by women – VIDA Women in Literary Arts, The Stella Prize and #readwomen on twitter celebrating women’s writing. I’m proud to be a Stella Sparks supporter, this year highlighting the impact of nonfiction writing by women on Australian culture and society.

It’s always so fabulous to see Australian women writers succeeding locally and on the world stage including seeing their stories made into movies. Think ‘The Light Between Oceans’ and ‘The Dressmaker’ in recent times.

My experience with the challenge

It was natural for me to want to engage with this challenge from the start. I have a great love of Australian women’s writing. My Australian literature bookshelf is about 80% women writers. This passion developed naturally during my university literature studies and has endured. It’s my history and lineage. They are not the only writers I enjoy, but they are the writers closest to my experience with all the local references, influences and language especially as it relates to women.

I also want to contribute to the legacy of writing by Australian women into the future. The challenge has kept my writing heart alive and is an inspiration as I read. It’s a message too that I am also able to write and create, express my stories and find space for my narratives in whatever form. As my heritage, it’s where I can find linkage, possibilities and a springboard for creating.

What’s in it for participants?

I’ve signed up again in 2017 because it’s now an integral part of my reading choices. I continue to be inspired and excited by Australian women’s writing. There are so many Australian women writers’ works I simply would not have noticed or enjoyed if not for the challenge.

Many of these books were picked up because I was looking for Australian women writers in libraries, bookshops and online. I possibly would not have read ‘The Light Between Oceans’, ‘Poet’s Cottage’, ‘The Longing’ or ‘Claustrophobia’ if not for the challenge. These have become some of my favourite reading experiences over the years.

I have deliberately read across genres and the challenge has contributed to my enjoyment of the beautifully science fiction inspired, ‘When We Have Wings’, the Celtic fantasy world of ‘Sea Hearts’ and the weaving medieval narrative of ‘The Scrivener’s Tale’.

I’ve been more aware and excited when Australian women writers have been nominated, short-listed and won awards for their books. And I’ve sought out the books to see why they were celebrated in their achievements, especially ‘Questions of Travel’, ‘Burial Rites’, ‘Mateship with Birds’, ‘All the Birds, Singing’ and ‘The Natural Way of Things.’

How I’ve participated and what I’ve read over the years

In terms of participation, my reading lists are not enormous – around 6 to 7 books a year. (Some participants would have read this many books already this year – at least!) I’ve engaged with the AWW community via social media, tweeting and blogging and contributing in that way. I’ve made some great online connections with Australian women writers and readers. This has enriched my reading life and extended beyond it.

Last year, my reading attention was elsewhere and my AWW focus was a bit light on, so I am keen to engage more in 2017. I also hope to do better with the reviewing side this year.

Here’s my reading list so far over the past 5 years of the Australian Women Writers’ Challenge:

2012:
Searching for the Secret River: A Writing Memoir – Kate Grenville
Sarah Thornhill – Kate Grenville
When We Have Wings – Claire Corbett
The Light Between Oceans – M L Stedman
Poet’s Cottage – Josephine Pennicott
The Engagement – Chloe Hooper
Disquiet – Julia Leigh

2013:
Fishing for Tigers – Emily Maguire
Sea Hearts – Margo Lanagan
Sydney – Delia Falconer
The Secret Keeper – Kate Morton
The Scrivener’s Tale – Fiona McIntosh
The Longing – Candice Bruce

2014:
Questions of Travel – Michelle de Kretser
Burial Rites – Hannah Kent
Mateship with Birds – Carrie Tiffany
Currawong Manor – Josephine Pennicott
The Fictional Woman – Tara Moss
Claustrophobia – Tracy Ryan
All the Birds, Singing – Evie Wyld

2015:
The Golden Age – Joan London
The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka – Clare Wright
Three Wishes – Liane Moriarty
A Short History of Richard Kline – Amanda Lohrey
The Husband’s Secret – Liane Moriarty
Big Little Lies – Liane Moriarty
The Lake House – Kate Morton

2016:
One Life – Kate Grenville
The Natural Way of Things – Charlotte Wood

It’s been a rich journey and I encourage you to seek out the voices of women writers that excite and sustain you wherever they may be.

What am I planning to read (and review) in 2017?

My list so far for 2017 includes:

The Good People – Hannah Kent
Indelible Ink – Fiona McGregor
Speaking Out – Tara Moss
The Wife Drought – Annabel Crabb
Resilience – Anne Deveson

This year has a special focus on classics and forgotten Australian women writers. Readers are encouraged to review one or two classics, including books “that might once have been popular but which have now fallen out of favour.” A classics Bingo card will soon be released to encourage people to read books from various decades.

This post, ‘100 Years of Australian Women’s writing online’, outlines the significant efforts to collate digital archives and documents to support the challenge. Elizabeth Lhuede is compiling a list of digital archives and downloads, finding many more classic and forgotten books online than anticipated. So much richness is to be found there!

To find out more about the challenge:

If you want to know about the background to the challenge, you can read about it here. And you can sign up for 2017 here. You can participate to whatever level you can manage and there’s no ‘failing’, just doing what you can (as I do!).

The AWW reading and writing community is generous, diverse and inspiring. You can connect via the blog, through twitter @AusWomenWriters or hashtag #AWW2017, via the vibrant Facebook community or through Goodreads. There are readers, writers and reviewers from all walks of life reading so diversely and widely. The consolidated reviews are excellent and highlight the work of AWW readers and writers across all genres.

The pleasures and learning are immense, raising awareness of reading choices and celebrating narratives and works by Australian women. It inspires women to find their voice through reading the voices of others. It’s no light-weight endeavour. These are the voices of creative possibilities and I treasure them.

I look forward to another year of reading books by Australian women writers. I hope you’ll join the challenge and connect with the community to inform your reading choices. And a special thanks to Elizabeth Lhuede for initiating the challenge and continuing the leadership of its evolution in 2017. I, for one, am so appreciative.

Thought pieces:

This Stella Prize podcast ‘Winning Women’ features a conversation between Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction winner Eimear McBride and 2016 Stella Prize winner Charlotte Wood. It’s a riveting and rich discussion on the work of both writers and gender in writing.

Via the Sydney Writers’ Festival Instagram account and Charlotte Wood, last year’s Stella Prize winner, some inspiring words to finish:

Upon receiving the 2016 Stella Prize, #CharlotteWood recited her five reasons to keep #writing, penned when she considered quitting.
1. To make something beautiful. Beauty does not have to mean prettiness, but can emerge from the scope of one’s imagination, the precision of one’s words, the steadiness and honesty of one’s gaze.
2. To make something truthful.
3. To make use of what you have and who you are. Even a limited talent brings an obligation to explore it, develop it, exercise it, be grateful for it.
4. To make, at all. To create is to defy emptiness. It is generous, it affirms. To make is to add to the world, not subtract from it. It enlarges, does not diminish.
5. Because as Iris Murdoch said, paying attention is a moral act. To write truthfully is to honour the luck and the intricate detail of being alive.

Keep in touch

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Subscribe via email (see the link at the top and below) to make sure you receive updates from Quiet Writing and its passions in 2017 – including MBTI developments and other connections to help express your unique voice in the world.

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creativity writing

Creativity and connection via Instagram

November 9, 2016

Instagram is an excellent source of creativity, inspiration and connection with kindred community. One of the key ways people link up is via daily prompts. The beauty and benefits of such prompt journeys are myriad but the main ones are creativity and connection.

Stretching your creativity

Firstly, creativity: you are given a word or phrase to make with what you will. It can be just noticing details in your everyday routine or remembering something from a past time. It can encourage you to dig out material that you wish to refocus on. You can recognise new patterns as the word triggers associations that relate to current experiences. And you can also bounce off others for your own creative boost enjoying their related journeys.

As Instagram is primarily a visual medium, you have the challenge of representing the word associations visually. Or you can start with an image and connect the word, visual and thoughts together. Each day is different.

Practically, I keep an eye on next day’s prompt or at least check on it early in the day. I sometimes respond quickly if there’s something immediate that comes to mind. Other times, it’s a slow touchpoint I come back to, thinking of it as I go about my day.

On some occasions, there’s a bit more brain racking and research. The prompt ‘unicorn’ from Susannah Conway’s August Break this year had me going through cupboards and pulling books off the shelves looking for unicorns. The prompts that resulted were fantastic and sometimes hilarious as people found or rediscovered unicorns in their environment.(I eventually uncovered them in ‘The Book of Symbols’ – I knew they were around somewhere!) People also improvised, including the memorable ‘be your own unicorn’ from the fabulous Kylie McDonnell.

And some prompts lead to a deep reflection and engagement. Experience October 2016 led by Rae Ritchie inspired my last post, connecting the word for the day, ‘sapphire’, with a poem I wrote many years ago and finally put out there into the light. Navigating through November led by India Ross aka @ofearthandstars has inspired new thoughts via the prompt, ‘stretch’ and I share the writing from this below: ‘Stretch marks on the soul.’

Fostering connection and community

Many in my Instagram sphere have connected over time via Susannah Conway’s brilliant community prompt initiatives The August Break and April Love. Clearly there is a need for continuing connection in this way. It takes people to step up, lead and put in the work to create online communities whether it be for the long or the short term. And it takes a creative community to keep the momentum going.

The current round of prompts mentioned above builds on links from these initiatives. Another key one has been #taleswithfriends, led by the wonderful Tori, ‘curatrix of the everyday’ aka @unfoldtheday. I have been a keen and appreciative participant of these various initiatives and help to spread the word and build connection.

The kindred creative connection established via Instagram, and these prompt quests especially, runs very deep. As an INTJ, with an emphasis on the introvert and writing and reading as my ways to engage with the world, the camaraderie and connection of my IG friends has become core to my day and world. Last year, I was away from home working for eight months and on my own most of the time. My IG buddies kept me connected, inspired and supported each day, alongside my family, friends and local networks. And this continues. There’s support there when you are feeling low or on your own and also when there’s good news to share. There’s cheering, encouragement and practical suggestions like what to read and how to ignite joy and celebrate life in the every day.

And you can enjoy the balance of day and night and the seasons as they inversely change across the hemispheres. It’s been lovely watching the first snow elsewhere in the world as our days warm up and we have our first swims of the season here.

The thread of creativity helps me to get up and walk and take photographs, to really notice the flowers in the gardens around me and to share what I am reading and thinking about. Likewise the celebration of quiet and the beautiful place where I live has been a mainstay of my IG experiences. Seeing it through others’ eyes has made me remember just how special it is. You can forget this at times, being so close.

A word, a rock, a thought

So in the end ~ a word, a rock, a thought ~ are what it took to create the piece below. That and walking and sitting down to connect it together whilst at the beach feeling it all. I share that creative connection with you here. And I thank those who support this journey via IG and other valued creative communities. We are all in this together: noticing, witnessing, sharing and quietly writing. You can connect with me on Instagram as @writingquietly

Stretch marks on the soul

Look back on your life and you find times when the universe expanded you. Maybe there was violence, maybe love, maybe conflict, disagreement, passion, disappointment, blood, elation, surprise.

Sometimes these are large public events, traumas witnessed, flowers sent, cards received, phone calls made, heads bowed.

Other times, these are silent events, perhaps recorded in journals as cries for help, little cuts of disappointment, pieces of our hopes and souls shredded. Sometimes no one else even knows.

If you stopped and thought, you could perhaps count the stretch marks on your soul, the events that changed you forever – the birth, the rejection, the letter, the phone call, the knock on the door, the ring, the travel to be with someone, the news on the television, the sudden something that lurched you out of the everyday or changed your dreams. Or made ordinary life extraordinary or a twilight zone for a while.

You can feel as you remember: the stares at a wall seeking answers; the hair falling from your head into your fingers; the look on a loved one’s face as they arrive to tell you the terrible news you don’t as yet know; the peace of sleep after the journey of giving birth through the night.

The beautiful or agonising stretch marks on your soul.

You can just witness them, know they are there but mostly ignore them. Or you can tend them, rub oil in, to promote healing so those stretch marks blend a little more into your being, your body and mind absorbing them.

These marks are signs of birth, and sadly also sometimes scars from the death of things longed for: love, connection, family, people to stay alive longer or forever, something to not stop or wanting that so desired and cherished thing to just finally happen.

These stigmata, these talismans, these shields, these signs: I bear them with grace, bending to their lessons, looking skyward through the leaves of spring for answers. I wrap their wisdom round me as I head for home.

Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’

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If you enjoyed this post, please share via your preferred social media channel – links are below.

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