Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

Beyond Emotional Groundhog Day: Surrender to Empowered Yes

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Last year was supposed to be a year of living my dream life, focusing on fulfilling many dreams I had set aside for decades, moving to a manse in Northwest New Jersey and instead – very little of that came to fruition.

Almost but Not Quite: Again and Again and Again

In April and the first week of May, I felt closer to my dream life than I had in decades and then circumstances imploded which resulted in me surrendering to what was right in front of me and staying on the West Coast from May through mid-September.  

I remember in Mid-May, spinning my wheels and desperately reaching for different results everywhere I went. The single worst moment was telling my son he ought not come home on the days between his Spring Semester and Summer School. The silence on his end of the phone line followed by “ok, if you don’t want me to come home….” and then to explain to him the chaotic circumstances would not be a restful or enjoyable time for him. 

I came up with an alternative plan so I could visit him for dinner in Las Vegas and race back home. This was literally an 18 hour turn around because of that heartbreaking phone call. The ping-pong ball effect was in full force during May and June and into early July.

In June of 2022 I wrote: “I am notoriously slow at processing tough information. I usually go mute at first, perhaps out of a sense (a wish?) of denial.”

Surrender is NOT giving up, it is Being Real.

It was on an exhausted day in early July I chose to wave the metaphorical white flag and said, “I am all in. I am all in to do whatever needs to get done here in Bakersfield in order to ensure things here with my family in California will flourish when I return to the East Coast.”

I created parameters and avenues for mini-adventures like going to San Francisco and going to the Grand Canyon and Phoenix on the way to Las Vegas after the moments when my son did visit. This quick tour combined creating sweet memories and inviting better futures to be made into form.

These challenges have morphed in ways that shifted my ideas about what it means to say an empowered YES as well as the power of surrender, which is a different sort of yes.

Stepping into an Empowered Yes

Stepping into the empowered YES with love, joy, fear, regret (both accepting what has happened, even the unpleasant and prevention of future regret), sorrow and the hint of possibility. 

Life is lived in staying whole whether in bliss or sorrow. We keep our eyes on the horizon, looking for the openings, standing in and for grace. This allows us to look back and say “Thank goodness I went all in for that horrible scenario because… the celebration of overcoming and healing and transformation would not be here otherwise.”

I no longer cry when I recount last Summer. The tears did their healing work. Tears teach us “my body recognizes the magnitude of this sharing and honors it by releasing salt water, like depths of the oceans.”

I’ll take it. I’ll take a more restful form of discovery for the next time. 

Now I will continue writing from the heart, hugging trees and having meaningful conversations as I create this manse-life back in Northwest New Jersey. 

What will you continue to do this month? What will you continue doing this season and this year?

Woman hugging a cartoon tree - white with black polka dots

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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Messy Still-Life: A Writer’s Life

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A messy writer's desk in early January. A tea cup, pens, collections of nothingness.

I woke up this morning with my alarm greeting me like this:

“It’s a bright sparkly new day”

Since I had a tough time falling asleep it was quite generous of my alarm to remind me it is a bright sparkly day even though it is foggy outside, the day is still ripening and will be sparkly no matter how much of the sun shines through.

Even with a second alarm telling me “You are a miracle!” and I had an hour of joyful writing somewhere around 10:30 I lost my steam. 

I was co-working and committed to optimism so I found and read a poem and brewed some coffee to see if I might settle into a productive groove.

It is four days into the New Year and I consider this stanza of “Poem for the New Year” from WS Merwin. He wrote,

“our hopes such as they are

invisible before us

untouched and still possible”

On the first day of this year, I stood in an empty field and gazed lovingly at sunrise. I was visited by unknown, strange-to-me birds and serenaded by a flock of geese who swooped close by the tops of the trees.

Hope stirred my chest and laughter spilled from hope’s seeds within me.

The thing is, when there has been much sadness and not much sustained hope made into form over the recent seasons, maintaining those feelings from the dawn of the new year isn’t as easy as it might have been in past years.

And it is a sparkly new (about five hours in now) day. I am a miracle, still. As are you, sitting here, reading.

“Cozy jazz” is spilling through the speaker beside me.

Suddenly the fog outside my window no longer feels like an oppressive cage and a smile is now firmly rooted on my face.

A messy still life: a tea cup and saucer filled with coffee, pens, a well used ancient keyboard… notebooks. Suddenly that’s perfectly fine, too. They remind me of Merwin’s poem with my slight revision  “our hopes (and our writing lives) such as they are invisible before us (until we choose to be content with our perfectly imperfect selves)untouched and still possible” (as the words drip from our fingers to the keyboard to the page.)

Woman (Julie Jordan Scott Julie JordanScott) seeming to burst through a broken wall on an abandoned home.

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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Are you Multi-Passionate? Mix your passions to see the resulting growth & expansion

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A book and a coffee cup and a woman's hand beneath the words "Writing experiments stir one passion into another and expand each exponentially." Julie JordanScottt

Three things I love: writing, reading and poetry. Beyond these I also love theater, performance, music, passionate discussions and learning. I love taking what I learn and using it in my writing, in the courses I teach, in my speaking and performance gigs.

One of the ways to integrate the varied things you love into the rest of your life is via experiments. Right now I am in the midst of several – many of which I won’t or don’t choose to talk or write about but this one, oh how sweet this one is.

Last week, I used a poem written by Teresa of Avila in my morning writing practice. 

I scooped up lines from it and used them as part of my daily affirmation, another part of my writing practice and every day living.

This week I am using a poem by Rita Dove, former Poet Laureate of the United States. Her poem, “The First Book,” is the opening or introductory poem in Caroline Kennedy’s collection, “Poems to Learn by Heart.”

The poem starts like this:

“Open it.

Go ahead, it won’t bite.

Well… maybe a little.”

Ahhhh. How illustrative of so many different things! When we are courageous enough to experiment in a tiny bit frightening way, we grow. In the Let Our Words Flow Creative Community on Facebook (join us here), we will also be using this poem and this experiment to encourage our creative impulse to swerve a tiny bit into scary places.

Journaling question for the Let Our Words flow creative community invites us to open the possibility of the transformative power of fear.

Last week I wasn’t expecting to have one poem make such a difference. It was astounding sometimes, it made me laugh at other times and the way the lines from the poem synchronistically answered questions I was asking or solved conundrums I was having was very close to divine.

As I wrote that sentence, my back got straighter, almost like my body was recognizing something my mind wasn’t ready to recognize yet.

Do you ever experiment in your life and work? I would love to hear about it in the comments. If you don’t experiment (yet) what sort of fun might you have with it?

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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How to Easily Create 3 Social Media Posts (or more) from 1 Blog Post

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Image of a computer monitor and phone with Beatrix Potter Books on it with the title "How to Make 3 New Social Media Posts from 1 Blog Post" inspiration for writing, blogging and social media with Julie Jordan Scott"

One of the biggest challenges for people wanting to impact the world positively through social media is finding the time to “get it all done”.  Without a strategy – and without the means to manage one’s to do list – we run the risk of becoming discouraged. 

Instead, let’s look at how simple it is to take one blog post to create 3 or more completely different social media posts. Repurposing – using content in different ways – will connect and engage different people with your messages. It will also inspire members of your community and yes, bring more people into your blog and beyond.

The easiest social media post to make from your blog post is to take your blog image and use canva to resize it to use on social media stories.

Social Media Post Example 1: A Story

For example, I took the 3 Easy Content Strategies from Beatrix Potter post earlier this week. Before I even published my blog I had an image ready to share on instagram and facebook stories. This is an effortless way I shared that story along with a link to my blog post. 

On Instagram, I also shared the story into  a highlight (by the way, if you look my highlights are not updated and need work – all in good time) so it will also be accessible in the days and weeks to come.

This is an instagram story sized image I shared immediately after my blog post was "live". Note how I kept space on the graphic (which I easily resized on canva) to add the link to the story.

This is how the story image looked – note how I left space for the link in the story so people can go straight to my blog post from the story.

What I am doing next is recreating the blog post into no more than 5 sentences to share on Linked In, Facebook, and/or in an Instagram Post or Carousel Post.

I simply go into the blog post again and use the headers as my “sentence starters.” This is my starting place – and I may even edit it down to shorter sentences but this first new social media post will work wonderfully as is, don’t you think?

Example 2: Condensed Blog Post to the Facebook Business Page and the Linked.

Below is an example of what I gleaned from the original post – below are links so you may see what it looks like on those platforms.

It might surprise you to know Beatrix Potter, a 19th Century children’s author, has wisdom for 21st century content creators.

Beatrix Potter was actually a multi-passionate creator who was an entrepreneur, a scientific illustrator and a wildlife conservationist who started writing her beloved Peter Rabbit – the work she is best known for – in order to have something to share with the sick child of her governess.

It was in her dedication to science experiments, mostly “amateur” and her hunger for knowledge that  helped her artistic endeavors

Beatrix Potter’s greeting cards and stories that began as letters to a sick child turned into what we would now call “merch” were not because she  wanted to launch an empire we would still be talking about all these years later, but because she was a woman who followed her fascinations and lived according to her passions.

She meant what she said when she wrote, “With opportunity the world is very interesting.”

Inspired? Here is a prompt for you to use to create a story or social media post following the lead of Beatrix Potter:

  • What is something delicious about what you are offering or observing today? Relate what you are offering to a specific flavor and be silly, creative, surprising with what you say. Try this in the form of a letter like what Beatrix Potter did for her governesses child. 

See this story on my Linked In Page here:

See this story on my Facebook Page, Writing Camp with Julie JordanScott

Example 3: Simple Social Media Quote Graphic

To write a simple third post, find quotes by Beatrix Potter your readers may enjoy. Use the quotes to make simple Canva graphics and share them daily in a facebook group, in a message to your email list, or make a free quote ebook giveaway or lead magnet.

The effort (which isn’t much) will make the endeavor quite satisfying.

While I was on Canva I took 5 minutes to make two different sizes so tomorrow I can post an Instragram Carouself post. See how simple this all an be with a bit of strategy?

Beatrix Potter was a scientist. Repurposing content is like a science experiment. You might even make it a deeper scientific experiment by checking out the analytics as you begin implementing these ideas.

What is your biggest take away or gold nugget from this blog post?

Julie Jordan-Scott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Northwest New Jersey (Sussex Borough, Nj) where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch exclusive reel videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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Ordinary Adventures in Mindfulness & Caregiving

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Plants and nature symbolize mindfulness in the every day. Passing a fragile yet full of potential plant from one hand to another is indicative of everyday ordinary adventures in mindfulness and caregiving.

Mindfulness in Everyday Life

“The best way to capture moments is to pay attention. This is how we cultivate mindfulness.”

Jon Kabat-Zin

I am aware I am feeling disgruntled today. It started when I woke up and realized I had less than an hour until I needed to facilitate a meeting I didn’t really feel like facilitating. 

I took a deep breath and moved forward, anyway.

Not what we think of as mindfulness and yet, mindful.

This is not what I would call quintessential mindfulness AND there are aspects of it that ARE mindful which may be constructive to point out.

  1. Recognition of how I was feeling. Disgruntled. Didn’t feel like doing what was on my to-do list. 
  2. First action: a deep breath.  I stopped mindlessly scrolling and took the action that would help me move forward to facilitate the meeting.
  3. When I got dressed, I actually practiced balancing. One foot in my shorts. Hold. Second foot in my shorts. Hold.
  4. Sat at my desk and was the first one to the zoom room meeting. 

After the meeting I needed to focus on caregiving tasks. With that came more aggravation. Within the caregiving I offered myself attempts at self-compassion and compassion for the other person. None of this segment felt mindful EXCEPT….

  1. I was as aware of my feelings and my responses to those feelings.
  2. I was able to calm myself from being more angry and cranky. 

Reflections in Mindfulness

I notice as I retell the story, the awareness and the kindness I am showing to myself by not making my emotions the enemy, not making the person I am caregiving for the “bad guy” and recognizing these are the current circumstances which I have the power to process through using writing as a tool I am doing is also mindful in its own way.

I allow myself to flop back in my chair in response to the a-ha’s of discovery from this exercise. I smile at myself and with myself. 

I remember a quote I saw last night, another from Jon Kabat-Zinn. “Mindfulness is a way of befriending ourselves and our experience.”

Mindfully beginning again…. (and again.)

I am starting to write again. I can feel my spine straight up, not leaning against the back of the chair. The light is blocked by the lacy curtains. I notice I ought to get out my dust mop and dance with the dust bunnies after I finish writing. My breath is filling my lungs and my lungs are singing in reply. It is Monday. It is the 4th of July. Samuel isn’t here. I miss him and am aware he gets upset at sentimentality so I will leave that thought to sit beside me without needing to pick it up and share it with him.

The person I am caregiving sends me messages that are slightly upsetting. I attempt to stay calm about them and I do. I am calm as I do a bit of research and return his messages and communicate I will honor his request when I am finished writing. 

Interesting: boundaries are easier with mindfulness. 

Mindfulness Lessons

I was actually more mindful than I thought this morning, even though I thought I wasn’t.

Basic mindfulness does not always look like a zen garden at dusk. Sometimes mindfulness looks like having tough conversations without letting our emotions hijack us.

Tell me about your experience(s) with mindfulness in the comments. I would love to hear from you.

Hugging a cartoon tree is almost as fun as hugging a tree outside, almost. Creator of #377TreeHugs, Julie Jordan Scott, enjoys hugging a black and white cartoon tree in downtown Bakersfield.

Julie Jordan-Scott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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Let’s Get Creative: Write, Journal, Doodle, Jot about Freedom

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This is the weekend we are celebrating freedom in the United States. To ignore our country’s current struggles on this holiday working feels unauthentic – so instead, I invite you to consider how you recognize freedom in your everyday life before making something inspired by freedom.

Use creativity to explore how you have or would like to experience freedom

Open a new document or get our your journal and begin with the sentence starters in the image. Write for at least five minutes freely, stream-of-consciousness style. You may want to get your juices flowing by beginning with a comment below before you leave.

  • Freedom feels like
  • Freedom is….
  • Freedom tastes like
  • Freedom looks like
  • I know freedom when….
  • I am grateful for freedom because…
  • I would describe freedom to an alien by saying….
  • Freedom sounds like
  • Freedom smells like

To further spark your writing and creativity

To further spark your writing, watch this video and use it as a prompt in addition or instead of the freedom prompt.

Please begin your response to the prompts that are offered here in the comments. I would love to hear from you!

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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July: 2022 Begin Again”The Best is Yet to Be”

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I am a relentless optimist, usually. Today as we begin a new month, I am reclaiming my Optimistic Hat as will many of us in the community of bloggers in the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

Ultimate Blog Challenge banner for Fridays which will be recaps and refreshers. Today is all about goals: being and doing goals, intentions and writing goals.

Recap: The Year that Wasn’t

I had some ambitious yet also not too outrageous goals when 2022 started.

Unfortunately, my brother’s death with less than two weeks left to go in 2021 helped start everything off in a rather dark way. Two family deaths in a short time was nearly unbearable.

I didn’t factor in grief as well as the health failures of another family member in which were healing after I left California in February and came to a climax in March – when I returned for three weeks and then in May, when I returned for final stages of that healing only to find his health had slidden beyond the place where it had started getting bad.

It had become a crisis so I had to give up my sabbatical on the east coast for a time not just for standard caregiving but for crisis caregiving. 

Somehow the past me knew I would be best off by setting goals differently this year.

Refresh Intention: Goals of Being + Goals of Doing

CS Lewis Quote: There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind." Relax about the year so far and settle into what is next.

Goals of Being are more like the Miss Congeniality winner intentions and goals: engaging, kind but not threatening – more like the one who builds up others confidence rather than setting the bar too high for the average person.

Goals and intentions of doing focus on accomplishments, achievements, tangible, measurable tasks and the like.

I revisited my goals for the year and was thrilled when I realized my crowning glory was in the goals and intentions of being. Here are some examples:

I am consistently 

  • Enjoy the process, whatever the process becomes
  • Be present to what is rather than what was or what is to be in the future.
  • Create small, daily goals and move forward with love toward a desired result
  • Practice clear, soulful communication
  • Do a daily self-belonging check in as a part of my work-prep session (since I have been caregiving and not business building, my work is showing tender loving care to my family member and others providing health care and service to my family member.
  • Playful experimentation and practicing passionate detachment about the results: I continue to write and do writing and creative experiments even while not working on building my business. This is as close to “doing” as these goals are!

Looking into July, I will be returning to my original 2022 goals and updating them on my Friday weekly recap posts here. My hope is I encourage you as well to look at your own goals and intentions as I do – with authenticity, courage and hope.

Caregiving, Grieving and the Creative Life

My professional life work includes creative life coaching, facilitating personal growth programs, classes, courses and workshops. My caregiving life this year has included several members of my family. Health, Grief, Aging, Support.

It is very difficult to schedule classes, clients, speaking engagements and live streams or set goals and intentions around this while grieving or caring for loved ones. I can barely schedule one hour ahead, much less a few weeks or months ahead.

Since April 2021 I have both grieved and taken care of others, simultaneously.

During these months I have continued to be active creatively: I’ve written a short play (it was produced in May and I was able to see it while I was in Bakersfield), I have been in a play in a new community. I have written many blog posts, poetry, completed a 377 daily challenge and while in New Jersey my primary task was working on the completion of several book projects while rebuilding my business. I have participated in other blog challenges and I hope to complete this one.

Since mid-May until now, in early July, the caregiving has taken over all other activities except for writing and creative practices in the early morning moments and late night moments. Most of the time, that is.

I don’t know if I could even attempt the Ultimate Blog Challenge without this continued attention to creativity. I am so grateful for the people who will visit in July and comment, share my work and get to know me better or get reacquainted. 

I’m grateful to celebrate with you in all your best hopes, goals and intentions.

I have come to value friendships on an even higher plane since my father died and the many tumultuous chapters since then. You may have helped me and didn’t even know it. For this and other things, I am grateful you are here, reading.

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

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Rise… with Prompts You Never Knew You Needed

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A tree with birds rising from it. Words on the image say "Rise Prompts for Different Purposes.

Today, it is time to rise up, separately and together.

Rising up is a choice. First, an example and a story:

I’ve been consciously walking for a couple months now, but a year ago, I could barely walk at all.I spent thirteen long days in the hospital with pneumonia, Valley Fever and Sepsis. My doctors told me I needed to include walking in my healing regime. I got good at getting out of bed and sitting up, but the walking part besides walking to the restroom and back wasn’t something I felt so great about. It took my friend Beth coming by and insisting we walk.

She held my arm and off we slowly went. 

Beth and I became an instant community and we rose up, together.

After that, I was willing to walk and I did walk. People visited me and we slowly walked. I even had landmark goals like the Pumpkin window – that was a big highlight. My friend Tim tried to get me to walk more – but his suggestion felt too far.

Rising up for you may mean making a phone call (and writing a script before making that call.)

Rising up for you may mean writing for five minutes on a subject that makes you angry and you are concerned you will get angrier so you don’t do anything. By the way, one of my favorite notes to self is anger in and of itself is not bad, it may be constructive. This morning I walked 7 flights of stairs because I was angry. It worked in that instance.

Rising up may be stretching your arms over your head once a day. Write a gratitude entry about how good it feels. Repeat tomorrow twice. Tell a friend about it in a text message. Continue. Continue. Continue.

Rising up may mean writing with a friend or writing live on a zoom session

There are prompts and videos you can write with today – tag one of your writing friends and set a time to come in and use one of the #5for5BrainDump videos at the Let Our Words Flow Creative Community or one of the many prompts in the albums or by searching the popular topics that show up in the group. (Check the MEDIA tab in the group.)

Rising up may mean setting a goal today to finish editing one chapter by Friday.Today, we are rising and writing about it.

Prompts for different sorts of Writing

Copy & Paste Texts: (Simply copy, add to a text or direct message and send. You may also add your own brief message to personalize)

1. I have noticed how you rise to the occasion over and over again. Thank you for your inspiration.

2. I haven’t heard from you lately. Is there anything you are facing I may help you with? I miss hearing from you

3. Hey, I am looking for someone I may reach out to when I’m feeling stuck or need inspiration. Would you be willing to receive an occasional check in text from me?

Copy Writing and Social Media Posts

How can your product serve as encouragement to help the people who are interested in your product face their challenges?

Write a heartfelt letter to a possible client/student/buyer and then mold it into a sales letter.

Fiction Writers:

Two options:

1) Write backstory about how your main character has a history of overcoming challenges.

2) Inject a “rise up” story/scene for a secondary character that fills a more stagnant part of your book with a new energy.

Lifestyle Bloggers and Vloggers

We’re getting toward summer when people stop working towards the goals they made earlier in the year.

How can you invigorate your audiences to rise up and over whatever they’re facing amidst the realities of 2022?

Memoir/Life Writers

Make a list of the times you have chosen to rise up. If the timeline doesn’t fit within the outline of your current memoir, how might it help with fleshing out the unseen or backstory in your memoir?

Bonus: How might it be useful in marketing your memoir once it is published.

Poets

Think of metaphors for rising up and use that metaphor to write your poem. Here are some examples to start you off:1) Early shoots of flowers in late winter/early spring2) A child taking her first step3) The beginnings of a difficult conversation.

Quotes and General Prompts

“When Monrovia rises, the city rises witha bang, and I wake up with a soft prayer on my lips.”Patricia Jabbeh Wesley

Prompt: When I wake up, I…..

“Sometimes we have to reach rock bottom before we’re willing to rise up and overcome our trials.” Dana Arcuri

Prompt: I remember when I rose above rock bottom…..

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.”

J.K. Rowling

Prompt: I am guilty of allowing failure to block my progress, and now to rewrite that story, I will ….

Finally, save this link to Maya Angelou’s classic poem, “Still I Rise” and read it as would make you feel ready to rise (even if you don’t really feel like it.)Maya Angelou’s Poem “Still I Rise“

And now, write! Run and write with the words you find here.

Rise separately, Rise together… RISE.

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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How to Wake Up Everyday With Content You are Proud to Publish

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This simple 5 step or less technique may become your best way to create consistently good content you are proud to publish.

Start an evening or end-of-the-work-day writing practice. It is a simple and meaningful formula that will fill your content with helpful, interesting stories/information/transformations.

  1. Write a question, by hand, in a small notebook. This question may be something you are struggling with and/or what your clients/subscribers struggle with, too.
  2. After you write the question, note three to five gratitudes, in writing, in the same small notebook. Experiment with re-writing the question in a slightly different way after writing your gratitudes.
  3. Within an hour of waking or arrival in your workspace, pull out the notebook and write for five minutes in response to the question. If you get stuck or writing stalls – which is rare because your subconscious mind has literally doing your creative work all night long for you – write about your gratitudes as a back up plan.
  4. Bonus: Add your question to a closing thought of the work day or conversation before you sleep. Post the question on social media before the end of the day or before bedtime. If you have a partner, ask them what they think about the question. Fall asleep with a healthy curiosity.
  5. Wake up with content ready to go. When you tap “publish” you will be proud.

Try this as an experiment for at least three to five consecutive days. Please come back and let me know how it goes for you.

If you already have a writing practice, see how this might augment what you are doing now. Tell me about it in the comments.

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.

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Make Your World Better By Becoming an Intentional Yay-Sayer

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Let’s replace naysaying – taking away people’s joyful visions and instead become active yay-sayers: celebrating accomplishments through joyful acknowledgment.

What has your experience of naysayers been like? The practice of naysaying can be like pouring poison over my ideas. Depending on whether or not I am having a good day or not, someone sneering down their nose with a critique can shut off my positive, forward moving flow almost immediately.

Recently in Brene Brown’s book, Atlas of the Heart, I read about freudenfreude: experiencing joy from other people’s joy. I did my own research and found a fascinating article from Dr. Catherine Chambliss from Ursinus College. She wrote, “Schadenfreude refers to the unattractive human tendency to take pleasure in the misery of others. Freudenfreude describes its opposite, the lovely enjoyment of another person’s success.”

Let’s fill our day with freudenfreude and yaysaying. When someone says something they are happy or proud or delighted by, I challenge you to respond with yay-saying and curiosity. First, share sincere praise and celebration. Follow it up with a question about the success.

Here are some questions to use and modify for your purposes.

* Your idea is so interesting to me – how did you come up with it?

* Oh, you must feel so great. What will you do next to go further with this?

* I love how you told this story. Do you have any advice or wisdom so I may learn just a tiny bit from your success?

These questions both intentionally share the joy of the others accomplishment and they also may help you determine if this is a person you would like to develop a deeper friendship with, too. If they don’t want to share the tiniest bit of how they got there or what they’re dreaming of next, perhaps you don’t want to spend more time with them after all.

On the other hand, if they are friendly and generous to share their joy a bit, this is a signal that the yay-saying may indeed become reciprocal. In the future, they will be more likely to be a person who understands the value of freudenfreude and shower you with joyful praise, too.

We need more of this in the world, don’t we?

Speaking of which, what have you accomplished lately? I want to share your joy!

Julie JordanScott is a Creative Life Coach, an award-winning storyteller, actor and poet whose photos and mixed media art graces the walls of collectors across the United States. Her writing has appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Amazon best sellers list and on American Greetings Holiday cards (and other greeting cards). She currently lives in a manse in Sussex, NJ, where she is working on finishing her most recent book project, hugging trees daily and enjoys having random inspirational conversations with strangers.

Follow on Instagram to Watch IGTV exclusive videos, stories and posts about writing and the creative process.

Let our Words Flow Writing Community: the only one missing is you! Join us in the Private Writing Group by clicking here.


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