Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

Archives for August 2017

Time Management Tip: The Easiest Way to Make the Most of Tiny Bits of “Leftover” Time

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Start with a question: ask as heartfully as possible in that precise moment. I like to close my eyes and put my hand over my heart, breathe in and ask “What is the most useful way for me to invest this next ___ minutes?”

Just before I started to write for this five minutes, I asked the same question.

My intention was to come to my keyboard and speed write. After all, I need to take Samuel to school in ten minutes so I felt squeezed to begin with but my heart told me differently, “Meditate for five minutes on the question, then write for five minutes.”

Our hearts are constantly ready for us to take note and listen.

We tend to scurry about with our to-do lists ringing in our ears, slightly off kilter or else so lock-step in focus we drown out those longings of our powerful hearts.

So today, I took five to meditate and then this five to write.

My eyes look up and I see a neighbor walking her dog, one I rarely talk to but instead we exchange eye contact, do a half-nod and smile. She takes time every day to walk her dog. She doesn’t walk quickly, but she walks. Picks a foot up and puts it down.

In five minutes I can do a quick sweep of my kitchen, a time of cleaning my counter tops. I can straighten my drawers, clean my bathroom counter, I can put together a sandwich, I can write a thank you note, a blog post, I can schedule social media. I can pick up my phone and write a note to use later, I can edit an image, I can write a few simple “I’m thinking of you texts.” I can scan headlines.

I can mindfully invest five minutes to make the world better because of my devotion to intention.

My timer applause ends, signaling to me this five minute investment is now over.

I took a chunk of time that seemed “unusable” between folding laundry and waiting to take my son that could have gotten lost scrolling my facebook feed or something like that. Instead, I meditated and wrote a blog post that will most surely make a positive difference in someone else’s life: perhaps in yours.

The world is waiting for your words: take five minutes and get them on the page.

 

 

 

Here I am writing by the graveside of Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women – a highly successful book that hasn’t been out of print for more than 100 years.

Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world.  She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist  whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people’s creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in soon!

To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

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What Brings Light to the Darkness? Daily Writing, Everytime

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I didn’t know for certain whether I would write today. I’ve been feeling lousy – new medicine and adjustments to it have not been smooth – and I just didn’t feel like it.

Yes, that would be me, who knows and has known for years, the value of daily writing practice.

What is up with that?

I sat at my desk for a tiny slice of time and made a writing affirmation image and realized the message was as much for me as it is for anyone else.

Funny how often that happens.

So I will stand hand-in-hand, heart-to-heart, soul-to-soul with the affirmation I just wrote.

Read it, say it, write it with me now:

Daily writing brings light to the darkness. When I write, I feel confident, capable and courageous.

Yes, that statement is true. I have remembered and written into that truth so many times: daily writing does bring light to the darkness. It helps to process what may feel unsayable until it is written. It is silent and you are with it alone – with no one else lobbing judgment at you, you say to yourself what is so and in doing exactly that, you shine the light on it.

When I confess to the page, “I feel lousy, this medicine has been kicking my butt straight into silence” is like a flashlight of clarity. “Wow, it has been keeping me from doing what I love. I haven’t done many livestream broadcasts because I’ve been so tired. I haven’t made many images and beyond my braindumping, I haven’t written at all.”

The light of clarity reminds me I don’t have to stay in this zone of silence, this disempowering slice of experience.

Instead, I realize while it may be the medicine’s side effects at cause, I may now make choices and step into a variety of solutions.

And writing for five minutes, #5for5BrainDump style has power.

Here’s more evidence.

(My timer went off three sentences ago this time. I’ll stop and hit publish, even if the confession itself feels wobbly. That’s part of being courageous.)

 

Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops,

Coming Up: 30 Days of Writing Passionately

books, performances and simply being herself out in the world.  She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist  whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people’s creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in soon!

To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

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Writing Prompt: What Compels you? #5for5BrainDump

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This morning I was driven to write about what compels me – what draws me forward – what insistently attracts my attention.  Do you know that feeling?

I even started a short video of what compelled me visually in a neighborhood near my own.

The question, “What compels me?”  or “What calls to me?” may bring up new surprises and delights that are simply waiting for you to take note. Like Greg Levoy wrote, “Calls are essentially questions. They aren’t questions you necessarily need to answer outright; they are questions to which you need to respond, expose yourself, and kneel before.”

Are you ready?

This is what compels me: Stories – history – play. Playful stories of history and literature.

People’s lives.

I believe everyone has a story. Truly. I’m not just hanging out in that airy-fairy story of privilege and tragedy or tragedy to victory or pauper to princess or any of the clichés we are so accustomed to today.

Ask people, “What was it that made you decide to….?” And stories tumble out.

Often times the teller doesn’t recognize how interesting or attractive her story is. He doesn’t recognize himself as worthy of praise or admiration. “Oh, this is so easy,” they say, “nothing special” while the rest of us look on in awe thinking “If this is nothing special. I’m in trouble.”

Places compel me – perhaps it is the echo of the people who inhabited the spaces? What did they think, feel, what objects did they cherish? What did they create and what stirred them into creating it in the first place?

What would that 19th century writer want me to know?

I want to hear it – from her, in her own words and cadence and modest luxury, perhaps/

I am compelled by differences, light, reflections and instrumental music. Lately binaural beats have been favored. I wonder if they have altered my mood as I have been cheerier lately.

I am compelled by questions to live and gifts I can give and receive.

I am compelled to know what compels you.

Applause came two sentences ago so I must stop writing, but I don’t really want to stop writing. If you write to this prompt, please comment and share your link below. 

Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world.  She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist  whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people’s creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in soon!

To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

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Secret Hint to Making The Most from Your Brain Dump Experience

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Two memorable conversations keep popping into my head as I begin to write:

  1. Never go to bed angry.
  2. Love means never having to say you’re sorry.

I don’t know that I whole heartedly agree (or disagree, actually) with either of them.

I agree, it is better for our overall feelings of positivity and gratitude if we fall asleep in a state of contented curiosity rather than angry lament, but sometimes the energy of anger clears out a lot of gunk – or is that just our habitual way of experiencing the world?

I could talk (write) myself into a corner with this one and perhaps that is part of the point my subconscious and writing practice is making here.

We make it a practice to complete our brain dumps and free flow writing with thirty seconds of gratitude and praise about anything: what you may have discovered and uncovered during writing or anything at all. The point is to finish the writing practice on an emotional upswing.

If we always ended our writing practice feeling like garbage most of us would give up our writing practice. It is natural to want to feel better.

We don’t want to feel like crap, we inherently want to feel well or at least better than when we sat down to write.

Maybe part of your gratitude IS saying you are sorry.

Love and forgiveness go hand-in-hand as do love and gratitude.

Admitting our weaknesses – is a pathway to wholeness and gratitude.

(And the timer tells me five minutes is up – so this concludes today’s entry about one of my favorite secrets to always ending on an upbeat note, thus preserving the practice that is such a grand, sustaining partner in my life.)

Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world.  She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed media artist whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people’s creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in soon!

To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

 Follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

 

 

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Experiments in Brain Dumping: What I Learned May Help You, Too!

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I did an experiment last week with the process I created, the #5for5BrainDump.

I wrote using prompted brain dumps for five minutes a day for five consecutive days, allowing my thoughts to pour onto the page and then I published the unedited writing on my blog.

I wrote these reflections on Friday and I published last week six times on my blog.  This will technically be my first post of the new week or my seventh post from last week.

What did I learn?

It is best to have a blog template ready to go – I made mine on Sunday – so that when it was time to do my five minute writing all I had to do was the five minute writing, copy paste and publish. I know for many the hardest part is pushing that publish button.

I think next week I will have the prompts ready ahead of time so all the images will be uploaded as well so it will be a simple copy, paste and done. I really ran with the Eleanor Roosevelt quote this week and I wasn’t expecting that, so I will allow myself to be open to whatever flows this week.

I want to keep a table of contents each week as I go with highlights of each post. I have found in my enormous body of work there is much that sits, forgotten, that is worth being re-published and shared with the world.

I want to explore how this practice may help with entrepreneurs as well. This will be a part of my focus next week – because I know once people begin to explore these methods, they may experience greater flow in their work world as well.

AND THE APPLAUSE SAYS – 5 minutes is up!

(Yes, this was written #5for5BrainDump style with several small edits on Sunday morning, just a different way of managing the content stream.)

Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world.  She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed media artist whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people’s creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in soon!

To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

 Follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

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Does it Matter What Causes Your Block or Simply Get Over It? #5for5BrainDump

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For months – or over a year, rather, my neighbors have gotten in the way of my writing on my porch. It is a favored space for me to sit and write in the morning or broadcast or drink coffee and find peace while rocking in the oversized red rocking chair. The new neighbors with their questionable “friends” and other “accessories” have kept me inside, until lately.

For months – since May, I haven’t slept in my Virginia Woolf room I started creating well over a year ago. When Emma came home, I gave it to her as a temporary space until we juggled bedrooms and I took up residence on the couch. Yesterday, I slept beside the window and walk up this morning in the grey light, happy to find myself under the breeze from the gentle ceiling fan and the carefully picked out art showing me Virginia’s room.

It felt so good until my mind started scattering marbles all over the floor and I lost the deep peace – for a moment or twelve.

“One step at a time, one thing at a time, one solution at a time” are some of my favorite watch words lately to bring me back into presence.

They are soothing, another word which has become a frequent visitor in my lexicon.

The applause says time is up, which I’ll accept.

I did also want to honor my age old tradition of writing haiku on Friday. I sat on my porch this morning and wrote, even with my less than optimal neighbors bent over cars and having folks in and out before 7 am.

Haiku writing is healing: a simple poetry form, a sacred prayer form as well, here is a song suite from this morning that was born when I invited myself to say what needed and wanted to be written.

We heal one haiku at a time

 What I want to say

Yogurt calms rumbles

Ativan calms inner howls

Wait: tide will go out….

fake it til you make it

Sunrise through elm tree

Red rocking chair and coffee

Alta Vista peace

Worst strategy:

Please don’t nag at me

Each contact leaves a blister

Longer time to heal – 

Best strategy

I’m thinking of you –

Let’s create this together

Your work helps the world 

 

Prompt: Haiku is simply a seventeen syllable poem, a short work of art.

Some say it is like an inhalation and an exhalation.

I often start my haiku with what is in front of me, which can be seen in “fake it til you make it” above.

The worst strategy and best strategy are microcosm statements of what works well – and doesn’t work well – in communication with me. I realize it is helpful to be able to express these thoughts to people, especially when I am experiencing depression.

So start with something in front of you and write it in this micropoem container.

______/ ________ / ________/ ______/______

______/ ________ / ________/ ______/______/_____/______

______/ ________ / ________/ ______/______

Next, if you are an entrepreneur, see how you might fit your business story in a tiny haiku. For the artful entrepreneur, combining headline writing and copywriting with haiku adds another layer of creative play.

Set your timer for five minutes – and write as many haiku as you’re able!

Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world.  She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist  whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people’s creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in soon!

To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

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Trust the Page to Hold Your Heart, Always

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It is never a bad time to write.

Nearly everywhere you find yourself, in every situation, it is a good time to write.

Sometimes I write in my head, the inner narrative keeping me company when I’m alone. I may be observing the street scene in front of me or the memory behind me, yet I know this quiet contemplative “writing” soothes me, whether the leaves on the mulberry mask the sunshine or the fog covers my lawn with such density I can’t see the cars drive down the street, writing is my companion.

Its always been that way.

For some people it is a dog, a pet, a lover, a best friend, a workout, a walk, a drive, a shopping trip.

For me, it is words, strung together on a page or a document or even just in my mind.

Word-love – sometimes lust – attuned to the greatest good – it is never a bad time to write.

I’ve trained myself to focus and upon the light as I end my writing rather than any destructive elements that appear when we open our mind and heart onto the page. We process pain, grief and the elements of life some categorize as “less than” which I know to be, at times, filled with sacred bliss when one allows them space to move within.

Writing has helped me consistently to engage such experiences and heal, grow and morph through a partnership with love and gratitude amidst their experience rather than deny their experience.

It is never a bad time to write.

Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world.  She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist  whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people’s creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in soon!

To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

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Discovering New Strength, Thoughts and Ooops, That Not-So-Surprising Surprise

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Preface:

It took me far too long to begin to write to this prompt. Multi-fold procrastination which I might describe as block which reminds me: most everything that looks like block is actually fear.

One of the reasons people do not do a writing practice on an ongoing nature is “fear of stirring up more than one may want to stir up.”

Mine is like a book with many chapters: I am afraid of failing, falling short of not living up to… whatever it is I daily don’t live up to and I am afraid of making people angry and I am afraid of finding myself all alone because of everything I have noted up until now.

(It took me a full five minutes to explain my procrastination so please grant me another five to write about today’s prompt:

Starting… now.

My renewed thoughts are….

This morning I looked outside and my heart literally felt like it enlarged in my chest: the garbage collectors had come by my home and taken my trash away. The trash can was no longer overflowing! It was ready to be rolled back to its place beside my house! I didn’t have to worry about it getting knocked over or making a bigger mess. It was gone, gone, gone and although I had a full day ahead with some not-so-pleasant tasks on the list, my heart was happy and in turn, my happiness has continued to expand.

And perhaps be a foundation for the more challenging prompt –

One risk my heart is longing to take….

I want to start over again after Samuel graduates from high school. I see myself being a vagabond, leading tours for people who are either writers or literary junkies or a combination of both.  I want to take people on explorations of self and literature while having a ridiculously good time. I want to help people find their guiding inner writers, their favorite quotes and deeply textured writing fairy god-mothers (and fathers, I would suppose)

I want to risk building bridges with people from “I can’t” to “I will” to productive, heartfelt creativity while adventuring, while exploring new and familiar spaces.

And then… applause is here. We have been heard.

 

Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world.  She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist  whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people’s creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in soon!

To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

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Build Momentum: Be Willing to Risk Writing Badly (again and again and again.)

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Yesterday, Eleanor Roosevelt reminded me “With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” This blog post doesn’t have much of either content wise and yet there is strength, courage and even a few quiet chuckles in hitting the “publish” button.

Today’s thoughts come courtesy of a long ago writing prompt I wrote for writers who aspired increased boldness.

The original blog post is filled with prompts to make you consider risk-taking in your writing and strengthening yourself to be more mindfully bold. At the bottom of my 5 minute writing, I will share the link to the original post so that you may access all the prompts, too.

“To take that risk, to offer life and remain alive, open yourself like this and become whole.”

Margaret Atwood

I took a risk this weekend that seems so foolish I almost hesitate to claim it. Risks seem like such big things, like jumping out of an airplane or quitting one’s job and running off to the south of France to stomp grapes or something more consequential than rebranding a facebook group or announcing a new program.

Yet if there wasn’t inherent risk, why would I have procrastinated so long?

And why don’t we take more risks, why don’t we flex our courage muscle more regularly and with more panache.

Even in the writing of this, Katherine came into the room and it feels like a risk to continue writing and it feels like a risk to not continue writing.

It is a risk to continue writing when it feels like it is going so badly.

= = =

Take two, after delivering Samuel to school and going to the grocery store to get yogurt to calm my belly.

I had to stop and start again because the television was too loud (space sharing) and the sound of my fingers hitting the keyboard with my headphones on is somehow more distracting than without. That is, my silenced headphones and now – we are back.

I took a risk by admitting my failure openly on the first round.

What if people never speak to me, leave my facebook group or point and laugh because I didn’t succeed using my own methods and prompts?

I hear my kinder gentler self: “You wouldn’t want to spend time with those sorts of people anyway, now would you?”

I get back on track and keep moving my fingers.

It is a risk to admit our failures and in our culture, for women, it is oftentimes a risk to tout our successes for fear of seeming a show-off or a braggart. I cringe when people tell me, as an actor, “You stole the show!”

No, I can’t steal the show, that isn’t nice!

I risk a lot when I disagree or don’t stand in total alignment with people I love. I’ve gotten the brunt of this in the last year with friends seeming to forget I exist and the invitations have diminished because I am not a “one-line” thinker, instead I risk believing what I believe and not allowing their opinions of those beliefs to get in my way.

I risk dying alone.

I laugh at that high drama, but sometimes it feels that way when we take risks.

It feels like it is too much to bear.

I risk publishing that high drama especially after failing at my own techniques just a moment ago.

I hear the applause and I cringe.

I didn’t fail this time. I got thoughts on the page – at least partially coherent. Useful for some form of content?

Perhaps.

Thinking I’ll swipe a line for a poem and see what more these risks want to tell me – and perhaps tell you – in the process.

Eeep. Next comes publish.

 – And here is the promised link to the original prompt – 

Coming Up: 30 Days of Writing Passionately

Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world.  She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist  whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people’s creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in soon!

To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

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Move Your Writing & Your Quality of Life Forward with Inspirational Quotes

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“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”

Eleanor Roosevelt reminded me of this today. New strength with the sunrise, even if it is invisible – with the new day I have a whole slate of new choices. With each week, a new clean crisp canvas.

Lots of other people complain about Mondays. I rejoice in Mondays and actively seek out fabulousness each other day of the week. Currently I’m working on incorporating a full day of rest at least once a month. Surprising how challenging this has become.

I don’t mean rest to smoosh in all the stuff I’ve missed out on from working – I mean rest to simply sit and be and have a completely open, quiet calendar. Intentionally. Weird. Wonderful.

I am going to repeat today’s quote each day this week for several reasons.

#1) I know is power in memorizing significant thought leaders wisdom. “With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”

#2) I believe in the message it sends and it will both serve as a reminder and an attractor of new strength and new thoughts. Remember the tenet, “What we focus upon grows.”

#3) I feel empowered when I hear the quote aloud and feel my pencil write it. “With the new days comes new strength and new thoughts.” My face smiles automatically when I think about Eleanor Roosevelt. Smiles make us happier, instantly.

#4) I think this experiment will teach me, make me aware of new facets of living and writing I am not even vaguely aware of yet.

#5) I intend to have an enjoyable, deeply playful experience of momentum with my writing by repeating and integrating these thoughts more and more deeply via repetition as prayerful affirmation. “With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”

I am ready. Are you ready for today’s story? Find a short quote from a favorite writer to use each day this week as I am using the one from Eleanor Roosevelt and experimentally play with the direction it leads you with your writing this week. Please let me know how it goes – –

 

 

 

Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world.  She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed media artist whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people’s creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in soon!

To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world.  She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed media artist whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people’s creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in soon!

To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735.

Check out the links above and below to follow her on your favorite social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.

 

 

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