Blog

The Indispensable Creative Importance of Being Witnessed

The Indispensable Creative Importance of Being Witnessed

I’m creating a self-guided writing retreat for you about Finding your Voice by Writing your Story. (Audio, e-book, and special extras: fingers crossed we release it on June 15th.) A suggestion I make in the retreat is to read an exercise aloud to another person. When...

My Favorite Retreat Dance Music

My Favorite Retreat Dance Music

I’ve just led one of my annual Taos writing retreats. I’m flush with gratitude for the courage of women who create and for the sanctity of retreat space that fosters such alchemy. And I’m grateful for Marianne Elliott for being with me in this adventure! One of the...

A Peek into How I Manage All My Creative Projects and Ideas

A Peek into How I Manage All My Creative Projects and Ideas

A question I often get goes something like: “I have too many ideas! I get so overwhelmed and disorganized. Then I get so discouraged and quit!” What if having too many ideas was not the issue? What if the issue was how you think about having so many ideas? And what if...

What’s Your Mousetrap?

What’s Your Mousetrap?

I attended a writing class in Denver recently and the teacher began by saying she had prizes for us. Who doesn’t love a prize! She blindfolded a student and told her to reach for prize - a book - but "Wait, just a second." And then she placed a mousetrap between her...

How to Stay in the Zone When Creating

How to Stay in the Zone When Creating

I used to struggle oh so desperately with getting into, let alone staying, in the “zone” when creating. Friends would talk about getting lost for hours in their writing and I feel a twinge of shame. Maybe I wasn’t a real writer since I rarely experienced the fabled...

Are You Addicted to Dopamine?

Are You Addicted to Dopamine?

If you visit Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest / YouTube, do you keep scrolling and clicking — even when you want to stop? Do you ever find yourself fighting the urge to look at your smartphone while hanging out with people you love? Do you ever freak out at how long...

10 Ways to Discern if Your Idea is Worth Sticking With

10 Ways to Discern if Your Idea is Worth Sticking With

At the Oasis we are musing about what it takes to stick with an idea, a project, a business. We’ve been talking about how more delightful it is to dream up new ideas. Oh, the zing of beginning! The flush of possibility is a powerful kind of drug. Of course, this can...

What I’ve Been Reading

What I’ve Been Reading

It’s time for a post where upon I gush upon the books I’ve been loving reading. I make a (somewhat) regular habit of reviewing what I read for 3 reasons: To improve my writing. Why did I like this book? Why did I find myself skimming this one? Why does this one haunt...

How I’m STILL Learning to Write

How I’m STILL Learning to Write

Not too long after my first book was published, my editor made an off-hand remark over a dinner one night that my first book proposal hadn’t been well written. I froze. Mumbled something. Tried to pretend as though her words were not about to throw me into an...

Is This Your Biggest Enemy? For Sure, It’s Mine.

Is This Your Biggest Enemy? For Sure, It’s Mine.

I don’t like to think in “enemy" terms about our inner lives but allow me to do so for a moment, and then I’ll move to more effective strategies. Thanks! * * * I’m writing a book. I’m into the second shitty draft. I’m learning about structure in a whole new way. And...

Rebel to Find Your Creative Desires

Rebel to Find Your Creative Desires

Hi! I made a video for you all about a surprisingly effective way to get into action on your creative desires without using willpower or effort. We’ve been experimenting at the Oasis with being in action on what we most care about by going in “the back door” of our...

Why You Work With Comfort & Discomfort to Create Masterfully

Why You Work With Comfort & Discomfort to Create Masterfully

I started running on October 12th. If you had told me then or even two months ago that I would be running a half marathon on March 5th, I would have politely asked you how much Merlot you had before dinner. What is even more surprising than the miles ran (60+ in...

If You Write or Create Anything, Which You Do, Read This

If You Write or Create Anything, Which You Do, Read This

I have stumbled across a sublime, exhilarating creative practice I must share with you. It's from Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg, which I bought recently on a whim. I think I really love this book, but I’m not sure yet except for this bit...

3 Big Juicy Insights That Have Changed the Way I Live My Life

3 Big Juicy Insights That Have Changed the Way I Live My Life

I'm honored to be in a position where people ask me, “How do you make all of this business and life stuff work?” And when people asked me this 10 years ago I probably rattled off a long list of what I do. It would have sounded like a lot (because it was) and it would...

If They Wrote a Story About You Today, What Would They Say?

If They Wrote a Story About You Today, What Would They Say?

I’m in the midst of writing my memoir and things are getting more…. real. The book is taking form and that’s both an exciting and terrifying process. I’m all over the map with how I feel about the book. Today: inspired. Yesterday: defeated (oh inner resistance you are...

Why Your Hopeful Heart Matters So Greatly

Why Your Hopeful Heart Matters So Greatly

Somedays I admit to being afraid of the creeping darkness of overwhelm, disenchantment, and outrage that tries to threaten our world. I feel sad when I see people throw up their hands and murmur, “Too late. Too complex. Too many bad people with too much money and...

How to Stay the Course When Your Life is Truly Delightful

How to Stay the Course When Your Life is Truly Delightful

You did the work. You created, you let go, you grieved, you waited, and... over days and months, and yes, years, you shaped a life that is a true reflection of your desires and values. Oh, yes, you did. Now: Can you stay in it, enjoy it, when it becomes totally...

The Antidote to Imposed Haste

The Antidote to Imposed Haste

This blog post was made possible by the wise women of the Oasis. "Imposed haste.” Can you feel the looming tyranny of that phrase pressing on your chest? Imposed haste: "generations beyond the beyond” pushing you to do more, accomplish more, to “show them” you are...

Let Yourself Be Seen

Let Yourself Be Seen

I am not a runner. I have proclaimed this many times. I had knee surgery on my right knee twice. I am short and somewhat stocky. People like me are better for, say, the shot put than running. I do not run. Except, apparently, I do not know the first thing about myself...

How Lowering Your Standards Leads to Greatness

How Lowering Your Standards Leads to Greatness

There is a famous story in the writing world that I often tell at my retreats. It goes like this: the poet Bill Stafford was known for being prolific. The poet Robert Bly once asked him, "Bill, how do you manage to write so much?" According to writerly legend,...

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