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![[VIDEO] How to develop, own & share your voice… without judgment](https://jenniferlouden.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/FROM-LUMBERJACKBLOG-1-400x250.png)
[VIDEO] How to develop, own & share your voice… without judgment
Of the things that can block your creativity and productivity like a dam on a wild river, I think the most powerful one might be the fear of being judged. Criticized. Trashed. Found lacking. And I've only met a few lucky souls who are immune to this fear, either...
![[VIDEO] How to move from writing for yourself to writing for others](https://jenniferlouden.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/FROM-LUMBERJACKBLOG-400x250.png)
[VIDEO] How to move from writing for yourself to writing for others
Are you like me and you use writing to figure out your life? To figure out how you feel about things, how to decide about things, and how to move forward - or not- on the most important things in your life? Writing for ourselves and to ourselves is a powerful...
![[VIDEO] How to switch from your creative brain to your business brain…](https://jenniferlouden.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/HOW-TO-FIND-1-2-400x250.png)
[VIDEO] How to switch from your creative brain to your business brain…
The challenge I talk about in today's video is one that comes up a lot. It comes up when I'm talking with my friends, my colleagues, my students, and whenever anyone finds out that I'm a writer AND a long time business owner. Here's the question I get: How do you...
![[VIDEO] How to pick up where you left off… when you’re scared](https://jenniferlouden.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/HOW-TO-FIND-1-1-400x250.png)
[VIDEO] How to pick up where you left off… when you’re scared
I’ve been traveling a lot lately and while I've worked on my memoir when I can, and when I am home, it's been patchy. It was just too much for my heart to write while I was visiting my mom in memory care last week. The emotional wallop of feeding my mom pureed food...
![[VIDEO] How to write to change the world…](https://jenniferlouden.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/HOW-TO-FIND-1-400x250.png)
[VIDEO] How to write to change the world…
Some of the most powerful change in the world has come from words on a page. Think about how many significant and meaningful changes started when someone scribbled something down in a pamphlet and stood on a street corner selling them for a tuppence, or on a napkin...
![[VIDEO] How to take of yourself when you’re writing personal stories…](https://jenniferlouden.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/HOW-TO-FIND-400x250.png)
[VIDEO] How to take of yourself when you’re writing personal stories…
I'm knee deep in writing my memoir right now. I half love it. And I half feel drained and sucked dry after each session. No matter how frequently I try to make art of my own life through telling my most personal stories, each time I do it it feels like I'm getting...
![[VIDEO] What the heck is my writing even about?](https://jenniferlouden.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HOW-TO-FIND-1-400x250.png)
[VIDEO] What the heck is my writing even about?
Can you relate to this... You sit down to write. And you write and write. You probably have periods where you get so excited you can barely stand yourself with how much you can write. Flow baby flow! And other times, it's like exercising after recovering from the flu...
![[VIDEO] “How do you find time to write when your plate is so full already?”](https://jenniferlouden.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/HOW-TO-FIND-400x250.png)
[VIDEO] “How do you find time to write when your plate is so full already?”
I'm surrounded by writers in my life. I take writing classes as a student and teach writing retreats and hang out with writers. And I meet a lot of people who've always dreamed of writing, but are still waiting for the day when they finally put their glorious words to...
![[VIDEO] “How do I start (and contain) my writing project?”](https://jenniferlouden.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FROM-LUMBERJACKBLOG-400x250.png)
[VIDEO] “How do I start (and contain) my writing project?”
Often times when we get an idea for a new writing project our energy goes through the roof. We're so excited about our new idea and to write about it that we can barely stand ourselves. Which can be a good thing. Or not. Sometimes the excitement of our desire also...
Best Books on Writing (That Aren’t the Same 5 Everyone Else Suggests)
I admit it. I get a little pissy when someone writes a ‘favorite writing books' post and it always includes the same five books. It’s not that I don’t like Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott or On Writing by Stephen King. These are grand books full of insights but guess...
How Feedback Can Help You Thrive… Plus My Memoir-in-Progress
We’re in week one of my Get Your Scary S**t Done course with a group of wonderful brave souls, and someone emailed me a question about how to ask for feedback without being crushed by it. Which is astonishingly synchronistic because I just spent the weekend with my...
How One Metaphor Can Change Everything
Some ten years ago, when writing The Life Organizer, I stumbled upon a super useful metaphor for organizing your life that has since rocked my world and tens of thousands of other people’s worlds, too. You start with a stove. A plain, simple four burner stove. Not a...
9 Surprising Ways to Get Your Scary Sh*t Done
Here’s an idea: let’s not waste any time feeling alone or special in our boondoggles, horn-swallows, tomorrow-is-the-day, and various adorable ways that we get in our own way when it comes to doing what we really want to do. Because we all get in our way. We all turn...
Are These Tripping You Up?
I have kind of a big secret that I'm sharing with you today. When I tell people I'm really prone to doing this "thing", they don't believe me. At first. But then I tell them what I've learned over the years that actually makes it look like I don't do this thing and...
Choosing: It’s the ticket price to the creative life
Fear camouflages itself as confusion and keeps brilliant creative women from the pleasures and successes of a fully expressed life. And fear’s number one choice when trying to trip you up? Your inability to choose. Your refusal to take a seat at the table of desire....
What If You Already Knew?
“Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.” ― Pema Chödrön As usual, Pema nails it. Meditation teacher Richard Miller calls it out in a different way - degraded wisdom. The way I understand this is life wants us to be whole and so it gives...
What’s the Story You’re Telling About Your Creative Projects?
I've been interested in story making from a lot of different perspectives for a really long time. In this video I share my take on story and how the one you tell yourself about your most important work can either move you closer to or draw you further away from your...
What I’ve Been Reading
It’s time for a reading post! These are the books I’ve read recently that stood out for me and a tiny bit of why. I hope it adds to your reading life! (All quotes are from the book's blurbs.) Novels The Nix by Nathan Hill I’m jumping on the train with all the other...
Building Your Creative Lineage
On a recent Brain Trust call (the mastermind group I’ve been part of for 9+ years), Eric said something about his habit of forgetting what he had created: "While I’m in the midst of creating, I’m so joyful - even when it’s tough going - and I feel such a sense of...
The Lure of Doing Nothing
As you are no doubt painfully aware, the last week was a horrific one in the U.S., and the weeks and months before that: for the LGBT community, for Muslims celebrating Ramadan, for travelers in Turkey, for the new country of South Sudan… and the list goes on. So much...
What Does Finding Your Writing Voice Do For You?
There are several subjects within the huge realm of writing that I'm obsessed with: Structure - how to arrange your thoughts and ideas in a way that makes sense to the reader, creates meaning, and helps you get stuff done; Showing Your Mistakes - challenging yourself...
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