fbpx
Browsing Tag

twitter

creativity inspiration & influence

Creative and connected #2 – this week’s inspiration

June 23, 2017

creative and connected

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.

creative and connected

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:

  1. Writing Space
  2. Current WIP
  3. Favourite Books
  4. Inspiration
  5. Writing Fuel
  6. Current Read
  7. 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!


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


 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).

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

You might also enjoy:

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

creative and connected

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!

creative and connected

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).

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

You might also enjoy:

6 Inspiring Podcasts for Creatives and Book Lovers

blogging creativity

Angel and muse

April 22, 2011

You wonder about all the time you spend online sometimes, where it’s heading, where it’s taking you. Where all the twitter followers might take you, how you can ever read all the valued work of the people you follow; for me: the writers, readers, bloggers, family historians, cancer researchers, vintage lovers, photographers, artists, entrepreneurs, creatives and other ‘out theres’ paving a blazing way.

You wonder how you might ever keep up with all the blogs you love and subscribe to, clumsily it seems, through a series of readers that overwhelm you. You wonder how you will capture the essence of each crafted voice and message you admire or learn from and how you will apply them to your own journey.

And then you lie here in the middle of the night in hospital after an operation, full of painkillers and strange emotions, and receive the most blessed message from a fellow traveller, more a leader and teacher, met through your various journeys in your online world.

In this case, it’s from Susannah Conway, angel and muse to me and many, as we are in the middle of engaging in our Unravelling 2 e-course journey. In the midst of pain, the message about ‘Stories’ and what we will be thinking through and working on this week hits a poignant space, the tears start but it also makes my heart soar and immediately celebrate possibilities. And I start writing again, if here, full of painkillers in the middle of the night.

That’s why I twitter, blog,  flickr, read blogs, subscribe to Susannah Conway, Colleen Wainwright, Chris Guillebeau, Danielle LaPorte, Sage Cohen, Shanna Germain, Jonathan Fields and Joanna Penn. Why I love the creative inventions and reinventions I find on etsy and in delish and love reading about people dealing with fear and challenges in fearless.  Why I engage with these very special people and their products, read their work and their reviews, listen to their podcasts, follow their entrepreneurship, their stories, their journeys, buy their books, join their online classes and apply the thoughts, processes and aspirations to myself as I journey on.

It all leads to engaging with like others and knowing what real stories I can tell, what my role as angel and muse in an online space might be, finding the unique transcendent voice that might articulate the story or experience that others might learn from, add to or grow from, imperfect and flawed as it is, a reaching to a sacred creative place.

Postscript:

No dramas with the op – I am fine and recovering and it’s nothing major!

If you do have a recommendation for an RSS reader that doesn’t overwhelm or any other strategies for dealing with all the blogs you come across and want to keep up with, I would heartily appreciate any tips!

Share

3 Comments
blogging

‘Bird by bird’: learning @ twitter

August 2, 2010

Many of you will know Anne Lamott’s insightful book, ‘Bird by bird: some instructions on writing and life’ . The phrase, ‘Bird by bird’ comes from a story about Anne’s brother, overwhelmed by a study on birds he has to complete. Anne’s father tells him, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.” Anne uses this metaphor to talk about writing and the need to keep moving ahead one steady step at a time, with short assignments or a focus on paragraphs, perhaps, but as long as you turn up at the table and actually sit down to write.

My sojourn into twitter has been a bit like that, learning how to build one step at a time. I’d been interested in the phenomenon of twitter but didn’t really understand it. I was finally pushed, through work, to set up a twitter account for a workshop where we explored new technologies and innovation. Once I’d set up an account, I began to explore. I started by following my key blogging reads and influences – Joanna Penn, Chris Guillebeau, Danielle LaPorte, the communicatrix, Sage Cohen. Joanna especially is a big twitter aficionado and talks on her podcasts about twitter as her main social media platform along with her blog. I learnt from the  podcasts. I watched and studied my key influences and how they used twitter to connect, be useful, get to know others, share information, gather feedback, advise about their own work and convey something about themselves. All in 140 character bite sizes of information.

Miraculously, people started following me. The birds began to flock and call. It still amazes me and I treat each follower interested me in as a gift and am honoured.  The tweets initially seem all over the place as they build. I try to read them all and work out how to respond. I feel overwhelmed and wonder how these people with hundreds and thousands of followers manage all the attention and communication. I search for some clues from other more experienced twitter players and find some useful advice to move forward.

Joanna Penn is incredibly helpful as always, as a role model and through her writing and podcasts. From The Creative Penn, I learn how twitter can connect with other social media, the value of being useful and finding my own ways to add value. Joanna’s  post on ‘Social Networking for Authors: Tips for using twitter effectively’  was really useful to get started. Reading it again now, there is still so much more I need to understand and apply – such as use of hashtags and using tweetdeck or similar tools more effectively. This article is an excellent starting point with lots of links to other twitter tips especially for writers. (Note to self: go back to this great post and learn some more now you are further along.)

Similarly in his excellent article, Free Advice, Chris Guillebeau emphasises that: ‘The best way to build a following is by doing stuff away from Twitter, and encouraging people who find you elsewhere to add you on Twitter…’  That makes sense and is where I find value on twitter and hopefully where I can add value over time. Chris also comments on the power of twitter, that 25% of his business comes from twitter even though in the previous 30 days he only mentioned his actual business on twitter once.

Naomi Dunford in ‘How to get 8379 new Twitter Followers by Christmas’, provides a blitz of a framework for gaining a twitter presence using a structured approach of tweets over a few days with a formula which is roughly: 1/4 retweeting, 1/4 responding, 1/4 sharing and 1/4 ‘stuff from your own head’ to show you are a human being. Then repeat…Best to read the article for the whole story – it is well set out in steps and phase one and two, plus humour throughout so it’s not so terribly serious. I haven’t gone the whole way with this, more due to my timeframes than anything, but love the structure and have used the ratio formula to try to balance my own tweets and also learn the ‘rules’.

There’s so much I still don’t understand but I have found twitter to be an incredible network of connection and unlimited possibilities. I am especially honoured by the kindness of people I have met through twitter and their genuine interest in me.  People I read and love are amazingly following my tweets. New people are connecting with my story and themes, and I am connecting with theirs. C Patrick Schulze, whose author’s blog I was reading, wrote this blog post for me on planning a novel. It’s about writing a story, not a novel, and has been incredibly useful for where I am now with my own story in moving on with writing. Where else could you get such connection? Every day I log on to twitter and find people connected to me in my thoughts and interests, and I learn more about them, reading their work and thoughts and what they are reading.

‘Bird by bird’ I will move ahead in this space. I wonder how the people with hundreds and tens and hundreds of thousands of followers manage these diverse and dense flocks, but I guess it builds by stealth and you manage it best as anything else likely to overwhelm you, as Anne Lamott suggests, one step at a time.

What has learning to twitter been like for you?

Image, Birds of Paradise by Jen_Mo from flickr and used under a Creative Commons license with thanks

Share

5 Comments

PRIVACY POLICY

Privacy Policy

COOKIE POLICY

Cookie Policy