Blog
When something won’t stop gnawing at you
What am I doing with New York Times best-selling author Anne Lamott? I’ll tell you but first, a little back story. Years ago, I wrote a magazine column for Whole Living, which then got bought by Martha Stewart and became Body & Soul. In addition to the column, I...
The simple truth you overlook to be the creator you were born to be
I recently shared a passage from George Saunders’ delightful writing book A Swim in the Pond in the Rain with my Non-fiction Mastermind and I want to share it with you too. Saunders explains how as writers (or any kind of creators!) we may have romantic dreams of what...
Creative Triage After A Hurt or Disappointment
Last week I explored that horrible moment when someone tries to crush your creative dreams and this week, let’s talk creative triage-- or how to keep from getting stuck in a stinky story that you suck and it isn’t safe to keep going. Because if you don’t address your...
When Someone Tries to Crush your Dream
I became a creativity mentor and writing coach because of a conversation with another writer in my 20’s. I was making inroads in my career as a professional screenwriter but struggling mightily with my confidence when another writer said to me, “Maybe you aren’t...
How to Create when You Feel like a Fraud
Have you been feeling unsure of yourself recently? I know my confidence has certainly taken a hit lately. For me, it’s connected to the pandemic -- the social isolation has triggered old stories of not belonging and my weird goofiness being too much. How about for...
How to Create During a Pandemic
If your creative self is feeling flattened by the pandemic, as is mine, consider this email a treasure chest of creative care and feeding from my creative heart to yours. Light one of the scented candles you got as a gift for the holidays, put on some music, and...
What’s Your Root Story?
I recently taught a webinar called How to Fail at Business Without Really Trying and I wanted to share a key takeaway from my talk that transcends business and is important for getting out of your way so you can make more of what you want in life. Which is… What’s...
The 5 biggest mistakes I’ve made in my business
I’ve worked for myself for nearly 30-years. I had a straight-job for only a little over a year after college, working at a famous talent agency, and then I started writing screenplays, then publishing books, speaking and teaching, and in 1999, creating online...
How to Take Action on the BIG issue without Getting Overwhelmed
In my last blog, I talked about ditching climate shame, and how important is it that we become activists for big system changes because while it is important to change our own consumption habits, it can’t alone alleviate the crisis. Greta Thunberg went to Davos in...
Ditch the Climate Shame
In my latest book, Why Bother?, I wrote about how I had been dodging my desire to do more about the climate emergency. As someone who has followed the climate crisis since high school (yep, that long), I had gotten in the habit of throwing up my hands and giving...
How Do You Balance the World’s Horror with your Calling?
Anybody else horrified by the events at the U.S Capitol on January 6? The shame of seeing white supremacists in the People’s House brought me to tears of rage and grief, and the leaden grief of not being surprised and not being in denial. It all feels so big, my mind...
Why New Year Planning Fails
When I close my eyes, I can see the room at the retreat center. My student and I sit opposite each other. Everyone else is napping or hiking or reading. The silence has a physical presence I recognize as a sign of the sacred. “Everybody else gets what they need,” her...
A Bright Pick Up For Your Heart And Mood
Let’s start with a hug, because I miss them. Try this: next time you pretend to air hug someone from afar, hug yourself and have them do the same if they wish. It feels good. It’s grim in our world right now. So I figured the best thing I could offer this week is a...
Why “Just Do What’s Most Important First” Can Backfire
We’ve all heard the advice: do the most important task first thing in your day. It’s fine advice, but I often see it backfiring with people I work with. Why? You have to know what’s most important. Which means you have to be willing to name and own what you want....
Jen’s Gift Guide for You
Hello, Holidays! Oh yes, holidays are coming even if we may not be with our people. That absence is making me think about gifts and delighting my friends and family from afar a bit more than usual. I’ve made a list of things I love in hopes it inspires you, and I made...
Hope is harder for the human brain
The day the U.S. election was called I was determined to savor my joy! https://vimeo.com/477522042/933be27758 The day after, I wrote this on Facebook: Torn between the rush of this new beginning--wanting to clean my dirty floors! Organize office! Start...
My Favorite Books
Reading is my solace, my excitement, my learning, how I ground myself. I read very widely, so get ready for an eclectic list of books. Some are new, some are not. I’ve only included my raves, because I have no desire to be a critic. Writing a book is too hard, as I...
Resignation – That Mood that Kills
I recently wrote about how good it is to remember you are not your mood. Today I wanted to talk about a particular mood that nobody likes to admit to being in. Resignation. Yuck. So passive, so glum, so Eeyore. And so deadly. Resignation kills change, kills desire,...
How To Ask For What You Want
A friend was telling me about how hard it is for her to ask her family for what she wants. “I mumble and kinda slide from the room, hoping I can get upstairs to my writing before anyone asks me for something.” I got halfway up from my chair and mimicked creeping from...
You Are Not Your Mood
Long ago when I was in my ontological coaching training, I learned this interesting theory: humans are always in a mood. Moods are the background tone of our lives, but we easily forget that we are in a mood and, instead, we believe we are our moods and that our moods are fixed and will never change.
Together, Let Us Thwart the Despair Mindset
Since writing my book Why Bother? I have developed a new skill: sussing out the despair mindset.
I instantly spot it in conversations with friends, on social media, and in op-ed pieces.
It’s so tempting to agree with a friend complaining about her marriage, with someone saying the election in the US will be stolen, or with my own mind whispering, “Everyone pays attention to so-and-so’s new book and not yours, so just give up.”
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