Blog
What You Can Learn From My 120,000 Words of Failure
As I shared last month, the memoir I sweated over for four years and 120,000 words is kaput. I’ve started calling it “the book that shall not be named.” I promised I would share what I learned from the book failing. I hope these are useful to you. #1 - NOTHING IS...
![[April] Jen’s Monthly Round-Up](https://jenniferlouden.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Copy-of-Why-You-Cant-Possibly-Be-an-Imposter-11-1-1024x536-1-400x250.png)
[April] Jen’s Monthly Round-Up
I spent a big chunk of March in Patagonia (Chile and Argentina) trekking and trail running with my husband and bonus son Aidan. The landscape dwarfed any I’ve ever been in. We drove through native grasslands with nary a fence in sight. We hiked into a basin beneath...
Making Space for New Voices – Guest Post with Nailah Blades Wylie
I've long been wanting to use my platform to highlight the work of women of color. One way to bring down the scourge of racism is to make space for other voices. To not take up all the air in the room. To listen. Welcome to the inaugural post with Nailah Blades Wylie!...
How to Prevent Breaking Promises to Yourself
Last week we talked about how to recover when you’ve broken a promise you made to yourself. This week, let’s illuminate how to make promises you can keep. Most of us never learned how to make clear promises to ourselves. And that causes us a whole lot of unnecessary...
What to do When You Break a Promise You Made to Yourself
Saturday I planned on running 5 miles. Friday night, I drank two glasses of red wine with my friend Dana. Red wine gives me a weird hangover, a sticky mix of weepy and headachy. (But it was so fun to celebrate my friend’s new job.) I did not run on Saturday. Felt...
![[March] Jen’s monthly round-up](https://jenniferlouden.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Copy-of-Why-You-Cant-Possibly-Be-an-Imposter-4-400x250.png)
[March] Jen’s monthly round-up
March means Spring! I’ve always thought March should be considered the beginning of the new year. Of course so did ancient cultures. Everything quickening and gathering energy to spring into new life. I’m feeling that new beginning energy in such a lovely way. As I...
My Memoir Doesn’t Work And Why I’m Not Devastated About It
If right now you are telling yourself it’s all been done before, who cares if you write the novel or paint the painting or start the business, and anyway, who do you think you are to be a maker, a creator, a writer? If those kind of stories are WHY you are not making...
Did another day just whoosh by…
Without you getting any writing done? Another day without writing or painting or working out or finally trying out those new recipes? Another day when everything and everybody else took precedence. Or you started but then didn’t know what exactly to do so you got...
Making Space for New Voices – Guest Post with Kerra Bolton
I've long been wanting to use my platform to highlight the work of women of color. One way to bring down the scourge of racism is to make space for other voices. To not take up all the air in the room. To listen. Welcome to the inaugural post with writer and activist...
![[February] Jen’s Monthly Roundup](https://jenniferlouden.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Copy-of-Why-You-Cant-Possibly-Be-an-Imposter-400x250.png)
[February] Jen’s Monthly Roundup
Happy February! Have you heard the saying that February is the new January? In other words, it’s always a good time to begin again. Speaking of which, I wrote this on my Facebook page and it got a ton of attention so I thought I would share it here. We will be...
How to Stop Criticizing Yourself and Start (or Keep) Writing
Note: While this is post is about writing, it applies to any creative activity. I heard from three writers this past week who are struggling to allow their voices to emerge. A reporter who wants to write personal essays, a non-fiction writer bogged down by her...
Why You Can’t Possibly Be An Imposter
I taught a class at Creative Live* on Monday on Getting your Writing Done and one segment is called Why you Can’t Possibly be an Imposter. While the following thoughts are specific to writers, perhaps they can be applied to other creative pursuits… and maybe being...
What if New Year Planning Makes You Anxious?
Thousands of women have downloaded The Writer’s Oasis Organizer and I delighted you are loving it so much and even more so, using it! Thank you! And I forgot to mention a VERY important part of dreaming and planning (Writer’s Oasis members I’ll dive into this in more...
A Fable for 2018…
Once upon a time, a girl made something from nothing. She made fairy castles from mud and twigs, painted her dreams in every color and spun worlds from words. Oh how she loved the Making. The bubbling luminescent Love of it gilded everything with possibility. And then...
How & Why to Celebrate Everything Little Thing You Do
When you celebrate something you did, you fire positive emotions that teach your pliable sweet brain: I can trust myself to keep my commitments! It feels good to take action! I did my scary sh*t and nothing ate me! And when you don’t acknowledge what you did, when you...
Do you have a book in you? Are you supposed to?
I've written a lot of books. I'm currently writing a book. I'm the kind of book nerd who when someone says, “Can you recommend a book?” my heart beats faster, I sit up straighter, and I remind myself to try not to overwhelm the poor person. I put books on a pedestal....
Are you honoring the creative seasons of your life?
The other day when I was out for a run, I looked up at Longs Peak, the big mountain that looms over my town, and I got to thinking about the peak I’ve been climbing for five years -- writing my newest book. It’s been a long hard climb with a lot of detours. By far the...
5 Ways to Claim Your Writing Superpower
I just back from leading a writing retreat in Taos, which filled up my heart and soul in a thousand ways, and made me so proud of myself. I have learned to do this work! About half the women who attend my retreats come back again and again and several reflected to me...
When you don’t tell the truth… to yourself
When was the last time you discovered something about yourself that you didn't like? For me that would have been Tuesday in morning meditation... And most of the last three years. Because that's how long I've spent working on my new book which is mostly a memoir....
[VIDEO] Writing made me do it…
With this short and grateful love letter to what writing has made me do and what it's made possible for me, I offer you a way to claim and celebrate what writing has made you do, and might "make" you do in the future. I loved making my list. Now I'd love to know,...
![[VIDEO] 10 sentences to clarity…](https://jenniferlouden.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/HOW-TO-FIND-1-400x250.png)
[VIDEO] 10 sentences to clarity…
In today's video I invite you to do a powerful short exercise - IN WRITING! - that might reveal some fresh insights and simple steps to take you toward an emerging or well loved desire. You'll need writing materials, a few minutes, and your imagination because before...
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