Tag Archives: Goals

Class begins

Goals, ,

Thursday was the first class of the Wild Angels Poets and Writers group. True to tradition there was a major storm that day. Despite the cold, the wind and massive amounts of rain nine people showed up to recommit to their writing.

There are folks who do well all by themselves. They are excellent self-motivators who can work hours alone and not give in to depression, sadness or defeat. I know a few people like that and I do admire them tremendously. I can spend hours alone. But I do need to come out of the cave and interact with people and get some feedback.

Where do you stand? Can you go it totally alone, or, do you need some interaction like a shot of B12 to get you energized?

I have been running the writers group for nine years. This fall begins our tenth and final year for this particular workshop. Many talented writers have come and gone over the course of the group. We have lost over five people to illnesses. The group mourns these losses. We mourn the loss of a particular poetic voice that we will never hear from again.  We have had really new writers, experienced writers, crazy writers, sweet & kind writers. We have had writers who hated everything we offered them. We have had writers who wanted us to pick them out of the crowd and make them more special then anyone else. Those writers leave in a huff, writing group emails to complain about us.

Then we have the writers who are so happy to be there. They are so happy to have a place to share their work. These are the writers who have something so profound to say it has taken them a lifetime to feel safe enough to share their work publicly.

At some point one or two of our favorite writers become the kind of writes who can work totally on their own.  The experience has given them the confidence to go off and write.

This past Thursday, while the wind and rain raged, we gathered to share work and discuss goals. Since this is our last year we are asking them to go big. Choose a huge goal and use the group as a support to achieve their dream.

No matter what kind of writer you are must develop a thick skin and keep an open heart. Choose a big goal and go for it. Take a risk today and see what happens tomorrow.

Step up…

Inspiration, , ,

  “… step up, think bigger, be bolder, eliminate fear and competition, and attract money and opportunities.“ Ali Brown

I was talking to someone about my life and how things were falling down around me.  I mean it. Lost my job. Have health issues. There is this leak in my living room window. My favorite large bookcase broke, a shelf snapped. Now it leans dangerously against my desk supported on the other side by three file cabinets. Renovations were done in apartment upstairs and that unleashed vermin like a plague of locusts into my apartment.

She couldn’t help but laugh. It sounded like a cartoon to her. I had to agree the state of things have become absurd. As I sit at my desk each day it feels like I am in the midst of the perfect storm. Except I am the calm center of the storm. Occasionally something comes out of squall and cackles at me and I just swat it back.

There are things I am concerned about but if I were in a state of panic I could not handle problems effectively.  Ali Brown is known as the Ezine Queen building her empire on teaching people how to effectively build a business through a well crafted ezine newsletter.  She has certainly taken that piece and crafted an incredible empire for herself.  Reading her last newsletter I was struck by  how she was able to shift her mindset to reach way beyond her comfort zone.

I pulled out the statement above and have posted it over my computer. If you are crafting a business, creating art, writing your first novel it helps to be reminded of those who have gone before and succeeded.

A year from now I do think I will look back at this time as the moment I took my big steps. Where do you want to be a year from now?