Hear Jane Roar! » Julia Cameron

Increase Your Creativity and Fire Up the Muse – Erica Jong

Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:25:39 +0000

Finding the motivation to do what you love — such as be creative or write a book– is a constant struggle. Even artists and writers who earn a living from their creativity struggle with the muse from time to time!

What roadblocks do you face when you’re trying to be creative? Fear, doubt, uncertainty, lack of time, rejection sensitivity, perfectionism, procrastination, self-criticism, impatience?

You’re not alone, my friend.

“Everyone has talent; what is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.” ~ Erica Jong.

Helping writers find “the dark place” is why I wrote 73 Ways to Fire Up (or Just Fire) the Muse: How to Write When You Don’t Wanna, or Think You Can’t. It offers solutions to most obstacles, with practical tips and inspirational wisdom from professional freelance writers, novelists, journalism professors, and other successful scribes. This ebook also offers “quick quips” from published authors (because quips and tips are what I’m all about!).

Here’s what one reader says:

“After reading your ebook I am totally charged! It’s motivational, easy to read, and speaks directly to me and every one of my writing angsts and blocks – your energy vibrates off the page. It’s like having you personally talking to me, telling it like it is and encouraging me on. It spoke to so many of my blocks – and I credit it with firing me up after being on simmer for so long.” ~ Maggie R.

I love it — that’s exactly what I was hoping would happen! If you’re struggling to find the motivation to do what you love, this book will help…

In this ebook, you’ll find:

15 obstacles – common to most writers – that block a productive writing life or career.
73 tips for overcoming obstacles from freelance writers, published authors, journalism professors, & other successful scribes.
Dozens of thought-provoking quips from famous authors.

You’ll learn practical ways to bypass various roadblocks: no time to write, fear of rejection, reluctance to waste time on a project that may never get published, not feeling good enough, lack of self-discipline, procrastination, perfectionism, disorganization, work and life commitments, online distractions, offline distractions, internal distractions, external distractions, lions and tigers and bears – oh my!

You’ll learn what works, what doesn’t work, and why.

Each chapter in this ebook can stand alone; you don’t necessarily need to read it from top to bottom. You can choose the obstacle that plagues you from the Table of Contents and dive right in. You can save certain chapters until later in your career (such as Chapter 3.5: “5 Things to Do While You Wait for Publication”).

And the best part is, you can re-read it whenever you need a “booster shot” in one particular area (because obstacles come and go over time).

$9.95 US

If you have any thoughts or questions on ”firing up the muse” or finding the motivation to do what you love to do, please comment below…

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Finding the Motivation to Do What You Love – Julia Cameron

Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 01:21:24 +0000

The life lesson: even if you love to write, paint, dance, or learn – it’s still a struggle to find the time, energy, and motivation to do what you love! The successful woman: Julia Cameron.

Cameron wrote this funky little book called How to Avoid Making Art (or Anything Else You Enjoy).

It’s a quick read, with drawings that illustrate her point that there are millions of things we do instead of chasing our dreams. The illustrations represent all the stuff we do when we know better, when we should be doing what we love. It’s stuff that steals our energy, time, and life…and our dreams.

I’ve taken Julia Cameron’s tongue-in-cheek advice for avoiding doing you love, and turned each statement around. It’s now motivation to do what you love, my friends!

Finding the Motivation to Do What You Love – Julia Cameron

“Be available to everyone at any time. Do not nurture yourself or set boundaries.” Finding the motivation to do what you love means you have to take care of you. It’ll be hard to do at first – for both you and your people – but once you all get used to it, you’re on your way!

“Acquire a high maintenance relationship.” By this, I think Julia Cameron means hooking up with a partner or friend who needs your constant attention. Some people need more time and energy than others (high maintenance!), if you invite such people into your life, you’re stealing your own time and energy.

“Talk about it so you don’t have to do it.” Finding the motivation to do what you love means stop talking about your longing to be a doctor or writer or mother. Start taking action steps towards small, specific goals.

“Surround yourself with jealous, blocked, negative companions.” Oh man. Julia Cameron must have personal experience with “friends” like this. To find the motivation to do what you love, surround yourself with creative, inspirational people who support, love, and encourage you.

“Let others’ problems become your problems so that your time and energy are depleted.” Instead of taking on other people’s problems and expectations, let them work out their own stuff. That’ll give you the time, energy, and motivation to do you love. Read Letting Go of Other People’s Expectations – Maria Shriver for help letting go!

“If your pets aren’t high maintenance enough, get more of them to take up any extra free time or money you might have.” To find the motivation to do what you love, draw the line at high-maintenance pets (just like high-maintenance friends). Simplify your life, and focus on where you really want to go.

“Tell yourself you can’t afford art supplies. Buy five expensive cappuccinos while you discuss this with friends.” Ha ha ha, Julia Cameron. It’s funny because it’s true! Where do you spend your money? Are you losing the motivation to do what you love because you’re buying too many shoes or hats or cappuccinos? Budget your money so you have the resources to do what you love.

You know when you’re letting life, friends, kids, work, or tv drain your time and energy. You know when you’re not acting in your own best interests, or when you’re ignoring your gut instincts, or when you’ve lost the motivation to do what you love.

You know when you’re wasting your life.

Get to it, my friends. Find your way back to your artist’s easel, school, exercise routine, travel adventures, or writing project.

Get back to your life.

And if you’re not ready to get back to your life yet, read How to Motivate Yourself – Amelia Earhart!

What are your thoughts on these finding the motivation to do what you love? I welcome your comments below!

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10 Ways to Lose 10 Pounds – Julia Cameron

Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:12:54 +0000

The life lesson: There’s more than one way to lose 10 pounds – because we all have different weight loss personalities. The successful woman: Julia Cameron, author of The Writing Diet — in which she shares her best ways to lose ten pounds.

“I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something,” says Cameron. “Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow.”

Whether you want to lose ten pounds or write a bestselling novel — you have to commit yourself by saying you’re doing it! Click on the cover for more info on her book, The Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right-Size. And, read on for Julia Cameron’s interesting weight loss tips and dieters’ stories.

10 Ways to Lose 10 Pounds – Julia Cameron

1. Know when you eat to please others. Do you overeat at your mom’s or when you’re with your sister-in-law? Be aware of eating to make other people happy – especially your partner. Many women gain weight after getting married or moving in with their partners, because they tend to mimic their partner’s eating habits. According to Cameron in The Writing Diet, if you stop eating to please others, you’ll find it easier to lose weight.

2. Eat clean. “For optimum weight loss, it’s best to eat clean – that is, to shape your diet so that refined sugars, flours, and starches are kept to a minimum,” writes Cameron in The Writing Diet. “Three days off sugar, and you no longer lust after sweets. A piece of fruit will satisfy what used to be a candy-bar craving.” Eating clean is a newish way to lose ten pounds.

3. Open your “Pandora’s Box of Emotions” and express your forbidden feelings in healthy ways (not by binge eating). Write out your feelings to help you identify why you’re eating. Are you sad because of your brother? Are you stressed because of work? Writing – especially while you’re eating – can help you identify and deal with your feelings.

4. Let go of “quick weight loss” advertisements. “What we are after is the permanent shift in lifestyle, not the quick fix of an extreme diet,” says Cameron. “If we lower our consumption by 250 calories a day and raise our exercise by 250 calories a day, that’s a moderate shift that results in a pound’s loss weekly.” A pound a week may seem slow – it can lead to permanent weight loss.

5. Know your trigger foods. Do you love fat, salt, sugar, crunchy, soft, bitter, or warm? Some foods trigger an eating binge. Knowing what to avoid or control can lead to greater weight loss and increased self-confidence.

6. Live one day at a time. It’s not a sexy, glamorous way to lose ten pounds – but it works. Take one meal, one afternoon, one day at a time. Eat well for today. Exercise for today. Sweat a little and move your body – just for today.

7. Scale back on the scale. “Freed from the tyranny of numbers, we begin instead to focus on ourselves and our own perceptions,” says Cameron in The Writing Diet. “When we release ourselves from the daily use of the scale, we find ourselves able to embrace a more “easy does it” approach to weight loss. We begin to see that as long as we are moving in the right direction, the speed at which we reach our destination matters less.” One way to lose weight ten pounds is to let go of your obsession with the scale.

8. Drink 3 glasses of water to overcome temptation. When you’re tempted to tear into that bag of Lay’s or Oreo chocolate chip cookies, drink three glasses of water first. Don’t deny yourself the potato chips or cookies; just drink the water first. You may wash away the craving…this is my favorite way to lose ten pounds! Water fills you up and make you less likely to eat “bad” foods.

9. Look at your diet relapses. “For many of us, a diet is an exercise in futility and self-flagellation,” writes Cameron in The Writing Diet. “We set a plan in motion and then we sabotage it. We take a step toward our goal and then we relapse. We undo the good we’ve done.” Figure out why you sabotage your weight loss efforts. Do you relapse at night? What are you favorite relapse foods? Who are you with? Effective weight loss motivation involves canceling out your relapse with hobbies, exercise, writing, and self-awareness.

10. Learn to let yourself be pretty. “Many of us have to get over a “martyred” mode of dressing. Overweight and oversize, we tend to think of ourselves ad draft horses – good workers but little else,” writes Cameron. “It is a shock to find that we are still sexually appealing. Not all men are attracted to skinny women.” Wear lacy undies, and discard your “low self-worth” undies. That will create an upward spiral that’ll make it easy for you to lose that last ten pounds – and keep it off!

Do you have any thoughts or questions about these ten ways to lose ten pounds? Please comment below…

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