Blog

Any time hustle and bustle, memories or grief, the suffering you read about in the news or know is happening next door, or even a sheet pan of overcooked cookies winds you up, do this: Breathe in… pause... sip in a little more. Pause. Sigh LOUDLY. Simple but it works....

December is a month that invites us to delight in its magic and connection while bringing with it ambivalence, perhaps stress, and often, grief. I miss my parents. I miss living near my kids. I miss my sister. When things are hectic or hard, our brains are habituated...

We all get the message each year that the holidays are supposed to be a joyful, celebratory, most wonderful time of the year. We see the ads, the holiday movie snippets, the happy posts on social. My wish for you is that this is true. That the holidays are wonderful...

Not liking your creative work is as common as being hungry and as fixable as getting a snack. But us creatives forget this when we're in the middle of an "I suck" marathon. We can grind to a halt for weeks, months, or years.  But it need not be that way. Here’s...

I’m doing a series on creative burnout. Read Part 1, Part Two and Part 3 if you wish. We do not create in a vacuum. We stand on the shoulders of those that have come before us. We draw on inspiration and influences from a multitude of sources. We rely on other...

I’m doing a series on creative burnout. Part 1 is here and Part Two is here. Once upon a time, I spent four years working on a memoir that never jelled, and then, right on the heels of letting that project go, I quickly wrote a non-fiction book proposal that my agent...

I’m doing a series of creative burnout. Part 1 is here. There is one very simple thing that I know helps me tremendously when I am feeling creatively dry and friable. It’s simple but not easy because our brains do not want to do it, so as I tell you about this very...

*Creative burnout is “the feeling that you’ve drained all of your creativity, and that there is nothing left. If you’re dreading to start work, feel tired and stressed all the time, and suspect you’ll never be able to create something good ever again, you might be...

We’ve all read about how the pandemic has created the Great Reset for millions -- people changing jobs, leaving industries, searching for better work conditions, better pay, more meaningful work. It’s exciting. But I’m also sensing another trend, and that’s a deep...

Sometimes you have to write and you aren’t a writer or you are, but you don’t want to do this particular piece of writing. Perhaps you need to create content to market your business, or for a work assignment, or you need an artist statement, or even because you’ve...

What do you desire right now? A really good piece of toast?  Better health?  The scene you are writing in your novel to hold together beautifully? The world to remember civility?  Everyone to rally together to avert the worsening climate crisis? Pause....

I heard from three creators recently who are struggling with why bother? A reporter who wants to write personal essays but wonders why anybody would care when the world is dying. A non-fiction writer who has reported on the climate crisis and now wants to write...

It’s tough out there. Between the IPCC report on climate change, the devastating spread of the Delta variant, the wildfires, and extreme weather worldwide (it looks like a nuclear winter outside my window right now), I’ll be honest: my mood is fragile. I can only...

I've been writing since high school. More accurately, I've been learning how to write since high school. The editor of The Woman’s Comfort Book, my first book published in 1992 that went on to sell 350,000 copies and is still in print, told me a few years ago, “You...

I love comfort. I started my career writing about comfort and self-care with The Woman’s Comfort Book. I believe in the transformative power of healthy comfort. But I also intimately know the fine line between “Time for a nap because I’m tired” and “Time for a nap...

Probably the most common question I get from the writers and creators I work with is: “It’s hard sometimes to give my creative work a feeling of importance. It’s easier to do the things I’ve been asked to do by others or I’m getting paid to do. I’ve been working on...

The last year+ has caused many of us to reassess what matters to us. To make changes, or start to make changes, to explore what has more heart and more meaning.  Or as one client said to me, “I’m tired of supporting everybody else to shine. It’s my damn time.” If...

We are all in liminal space. Betwixt and between what was and what will be. Personally and collectively.  Richard Rohr writes about liminal space in Everything Belongs: “...often remain trapped in what we call normalcy--"the way things are." Life then revolves...

I spent a lot of the last year inside the house, as did most of the world. We decided early on to play it super safe, plus it was simply too hard to parse risk every single day: was it safe to run with friends? Which friends were safe? Did we need to wear masks or...