Writing Tips – Creative Life Midwife

Stories are Waiting to Be Heard: Are You Listening?

March 9, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

What makes us better story tellers?

Ever since I was a little girl, I loved listening to stories. As I grew older, I fell in love with telling stories, both written and spoken. There is something sacred especially in telling about a moment in time in your life when something happened – something clicked and you knew… something you hadn’t known a moment before. It is in that knowing something new, that a-ha or epiphany moment that compels us to share whatever it was because we know, we just know, this may be a contribution to someone else.

It isn’t always easy to find a place to share our stories: with grown children there isn’t shared mealtime anymore and my friends are often busy with their own thing so when we are together we are sitting in a dark movie theater or seeing a play or talking about minutia rather than what matters.

As I wrote these words, I realized there is an a-ha within this situation itself. On those occasions when my stories are heard by others who value what I am saying, I feel my most alive. I feel valued, I feel worthy, I feel grateful to have people taking me and my message seriously.

I am a member of toastmasters so I have a regular, formal outlet for sharing curated stories which are then evaluated and assessed by my peers. This is helpful and heart opening and it isn’t necessarily the same as sitting around a circle for hours, speaking and listening with laughter and sometimes tears punctuating the vulnerable connections made because we are listening and speaking with our hearts.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we spent more time listening and speaking for no reason except for the joy of it?

Prompt for Writing, Creating, Conversation or Contemplation:

“When people listen to my stories, I feel…”

“When I listen to other people’s stories, I feel….”

5 Minute Writing Prompt: I remember the time last Fall when…. write about anything at all for five minutes without stopping, using shopping, Thanksgiving, Halloween or an unexpected surprise as your topic.

Julie JordanScott looks to heaven as she takes a pause in her writing.

Julie JordanScott is the Creative Life Midwife. A writer, speaker, life coach and multi-creative who “walks her talk” she provides the world fuel for creativity, intentional connection and purposeful passion in order to eradicate loneliness and the symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Writers: Think First of Your Readers – Wisdom from Adrienne Rich

March 8, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

Poet Adrienne Rich's quote is within a pink circle which is surrounded by starts. The quote says, "I know you are reading this poem in a room where too much has happened for you to bear."

I collected quotes for Women’s History Month looking mostly for women writers I admire, I trust for their quality, and the quotes I offer are not “overdone” – seen constantly and shared constantly and overdone.

This quote from Adrienne Rich was chosen, graphic was made but I didn’t give myself space to listen to it or allow it to get close to me until it was time to add it into a post. It was then its power slayed me.

A writer standing at a white board looks down at her notepad, listening to the advice "Writers, speak to your readers." She smiles in understanding.

One of the first things I learned as a writer seeking publication was to write with my audience in mind.

In the writing workshops I facilitate I sometimes lead a visualization where the participants imagine a stadium filled with readers of their future book. In our mind’s eye, we drop into the stadium and float around watching the faces of the readers as each person reads the works-in-progress which in our imagination has now become a thoroughly enjoyed book.

It is a sort of holy silence in the stadium, eyes steadily scanning the pages at slightly different points in the story since we all read at a different pace.

I never took that exercise into where people might actually be reading our books, except for me with “Dear Autism Mom” I imagined a mom at the park, holding onto the book and reading it as she sits on a bench and her children play independently.

Perhaps this is because I remember being a younger mom, reading books while my children played, enjoying the respite except for when the needed my help to get momentum going on the swings.

In “Dedication” by Adrienne Rich, we are greeted, each person who reads her words, in a line of the poem. She speaks to the reader directly – and for me, the line “I know you are reading this in a room where too much has happened for you to bear,” reached out and pulled me close. It was like looking at myself, nose to nose, only it wasn’t me. This meant someone else was listening.

Someone else was listening to me and recognizing what I was saying as sacred.

Someone else was understanding me, someone felt compassion for what I was going through.

When we do our jobs as writers, our readers feel as if they are not alone. They sense they are a part of something bigger than themselves. They expand to become a part of the world you created with them, in a collaborative process from writer to reader and back again.

Prompt:

Take a moment to read “Dedication” by Adrienne Rich. In the link there is a recording available as well as the written poem.

Note the intricate, individualized awareness Rich has toward her readers.

Now it is your turn.

Write a list of qualities of your reader.

Bring them to life through description, description that uses multiple senses and where possible, use a setting as well. Take five minutes and write a short essay, story or poem in which you “break the fourth wall” and speak directly to the reader you describe thoroughly.

Julie JordanScott typing a love poem on the edge of a foothill of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

This post is a part of the Women’s History Month Writing Quotes & Prompts series from Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, and her Word-Love Writing Community you may join for free on Facebook. During March, there will be daily discussions on the quotes and prompts we present here, too. Join the conversation and improve your writing at the same time!

3 Easy Ways to Be More Creative Now

March 4, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

Are you stumped to find a way to express yourself creatively?

Today in this post and in the video above, we will talk about easy ways, such simple ways to get into the creative flow.

We all get stumped and stuck with stuff from time to time. We get so busy living our lives that we never seem to have any leftover – any down time where we are able to finally get to that task of starting a blog or having our own podcast or making that video.

That’s why it is so important to honor your call to be creative – even when feel like you are too busy to do so.

Learn how to create in small chunks of time.

I have been writing and publishing content since my children were babies. I would write everywhere. In hot Bakersfield summers we would go to the Fast Food places not for the food, but for the indoor playland. I would buy one soda, a milk and some French fries and my kids were happy AND COOL and I would scribble articles and outlines on the back of the tray liner.

I would carry a small notebook in my purse, though now I often use my phone for this same purpose. One of my tactics is to listen to other people’s conversations and write them down, verbatim, so I learn how people actually talk so that when I wrote dialogue, it sounds like people talking not like a writer writing like she thinks people talk.

Do you get that distinction?

On to our next easy tip to find your way back to your creativity.

2.Learn how to create in small chunks of time..

For you writers: You may believe you must do your writing in one specific place. The truth is, that is a block you have created for yourself – another way to measure up to an ideal.

Waiting for your child to get out of their gymnastics lessons, sitting in any waiting room, riding on the train from station to station – pull out your phone on the notes section and put your thoughts down. Use where you are to stir those creative juices.

You may find you get so creative “out and about” that this will become a NEW ideal – but the most valuable thing you can do is train yourself to be right and be able to create – wherever you are.

Letting go of perfectionism will help you let go of doing it in any one specific way and instead, do it where and how and whenever you find yourself.

3. Find a creative accountability buddy either short term or long term.

This is a person you will reach out to and say something like, “Hey, I am about to start my art-journaling (or writing or video making or blogging or painting or whatever it is.) and I will check in with you when I am done.”

This helps in an infinite number of ways. You will be heard, you will be encouraged and you will get more done.

How to find such a person? Seek assistance in the communities you are already a part of, for example a facebook group.

How to find your buddy?

Ask around the communities you are in right now – perhaps you are in a facebook group.

You may make your ask like this:

“Who else is struggling creatively? I would love to have an accountability buddy to check in with today.”

I know, this feels very vulnerable. That’s the thing – creativity itself is vulnerable. The better we get at being vulnerable, the better we will be as creatives. The two go hand in hand, heart to heart, soul to soul. How exciting that you will finally make what you have wanted to make and be who you have always wanted to be.

Are you ready to commit to passionate action now?

What are you going to commit to TODAY to make your creative life take shape?

Writers: Let’s Fall in Love with Revision Using the Wisdom of May Sarton

March 4, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

Just reading this makes me feel better about revision. So much of my creative life gets stuck in revision and editing.

Writer sitting at a typewriter revising her writing.

I am highly practiced at creating different versions of the same piece of content and ruthlessly cutting and shaping for different purposes – in fact, I make this into something of a game to share social media posts made up of earlier blog posts or book chapters.

For my current work-in-progress, I am choosing to address the final revisions and edits from this new perspective. There is no universal rule saying I can’t have a variety of versions for different purposes, especially in this time of using more content for social media posts.

I can feel the weight coming off my shoulders.

What do you think about revisions and edits?

.Prompt: When I think about editing and revising, I feel…

The idea of taking one piece of writing and using it for multiple purposes (social media posts, blogging, public speaking) is…

Julie JordanScott writing poetry at a downtown Bakersfield flower shop.

Last night I didn’t feel, this morning I wrote…

January 25, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 8 Comments

Last night I didn’t feel well, so I opted out of book club and then tossed and turned and kvetched the night away, shaking my fist at the new moon until I allowed her to hold me close.

This morning I wrote my 35^th haiku in thirty-five consecutive days. I haven’t left my porch yet. I continued with my morning writing practice and lit my candle in another new, sustaining ritual pointing towards intentional connection in all I do, make and live. I did this before I drank my first cup of coffee.

I don’t know what today will hold specifically and I have several distinctive containers – a toastmasters meeting and a book club meeting – for deliberate connections with people. As I wrote that sentence, it occurred to me I may take those appointments (before this I saw them as duties) as ways to truly see and hear specific people who also gather in these groups.

What I mean by “seeing and hearing specific people” is I will not only mindfully listen to people as they speak, I will also initiate conversations with people who may not be engaged – those who may be feeling left out or unimportant to others in the group.

When I show up this way it isn’t so much of a battle to get there, although I believe a shower is in order and I have yet to achieve that!

Why is this worthy of sharing on my blog?

It is worthy of sharing because our future is built on our everyday moments, our conscious intention or lack thereof. If we choose to stay focused on anger and disassociation from everyone who doesn’t think, feel, create and move through the day exactly as we do, we miss opportunities for surprise, delight and increased meaning and creativity.

What of this message today resonates with you?

Transformational Question to Live Today: What if….. I forget to be afraid

January 23, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 2 Comments

ballet dancers from 1924 remind us to forget to be afraid... what if you forget to be afraid, today?

I remember when I was leading a daily coaching group and we used the prompt, “When I forget to be afraid, I…”

We used what I call a “popcorn” method where people spoke “into the center” of the results that flow when we, as individuals and collectively, stop being imprisoned by fear and all the feelings associated with it.

Responses went like this:

When I forget to be afraid, I…

can do what I most want to do (without caring what people think)
notice the words flow, effortlessly
find answers to the questions that haunt me
laugh, a lot, about nothing and everything
go beyond planning into action

When I forget to be afraid, I…

and as we continued to go deeper, more conscious bravery begins to take form.

What if we forget to be afraid, both individually and collectively?

Walls and barriers fall when we don’t hesitate, when we stand up and speak up with courage and fullness and confidence.

Consider what it will take to get you there.

Do you need more practice in courage?

Today, do something small that makes you slightly shaky. It doesn’t have to be big and no one needs to know. YOU will know. Tomorrow, repeat – either with the same action or something else.

I guarantee if you do something every day for the next seven days that makes you feel nervous, you will find your courage stretched and your confidence is either soaring or about to lift off.

What if you forget to be afraid?

Write it, speak it, put it into practice.

Writing with Pen & Paper Vs Computer: Friend, Foe or Collaborators?

January 13, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 9 Comments

The debate for writers: do we use computers or do we use paper and pen? Image of keyboard and hands notebook and phone to the side.

This is a question people ask me regularly: “Do you write with a pen (or pencil) and paper or do you write using your computer?”

My response: “Both”

The follow up question is often, “Do you do one sort of writing on the computer and another kind in your notebook?”

My response, “Not necessarily. And sometimes I write on my phone.”

This tends to frustrate people who want “the one pure secret to how to create a lot of content really fast”. If they were honest, they wouldl admit to the underlying desire being “because I want to make a lot of money and quit my day job.”

I’m not calling this a bad thing, I appreciate the ambition for abundance. The problem is, writing well isn’t always an exact recipe. I know lots of copywriters will tell you different. Copywriters may have an exact recipe for sales letters and they may have products to teach you how to write blog posts without ever writing.

If you want to write and you would like to write well and you would like to know about different ways of getting to a positive end result, please continue reading.

Generally, I approach writing projects like this:

I prefer to keep an old fashioned spiral notebook or composition book for my daily writing practice, which I usually do in the early morning. Most recently I’ve written three pages in the morning with the first page being standard brain dumping, simple free flow writing. The second page is a 21 item list of “What I did yesterday” – an inverse to-do list, “This is what I actually did.” with no basis in good, bad or indifferent. Just the facts.

Depending on the size of your notebook, these 21 lines may take up almost a complete page.

I finish that page with commentary on the list or more free writing.

The third page is whatever I need it to be. Sometimes I pre-write quotes or questions at the top of the page. Sometimes I write my word of the year or theme of the month on the page. Sometimes I will write something that is bothering me at the top of the page so that I may work through it.

I always end with at least six lines of gratitude because this insures my end on an up note.

This way my morning writing serves me to learn about patterns in my life (What did I do? What did I do I may write about? What is troubling me? What is inspiring me? Who are the people I am investing time in and what are the projects I’m ignoring?

All of this is done the old fashioned way: pencil or pen to blue lined spiral notebook or composition book paper. Brene Brown reminds us “The way to move information from your head to your heart is through your hands.”

Yes, this may include tapping on your computer keyboard or into your phone, but the pace of the notebook is slower. It connects you to your history and to the history of others in your life.

If there is information in your notebook to use in future writing (including something like this) the words and understanding will be deepened by re-reading what you wrote by hand and adding it into a computer document.

I encourage you to try writing differently from time-to-time. Don’t get too stuck in the idea there is a right way and there is a wrong way.

Instead, playfully experiment with different ways.

There is no wrong way to do this – there is simply and purely writing – and the love for expressing yourself and perhaps for other audiences as well.

Create a Remarkable Life: Celebrate Your “Small” Wins (because truly no win is small.)

January 10, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 3 Comments

Building blocks make their way to success.

It is mid-January: do you know where your goals are?

A bit over a week ago many of us boldly spoke proclamations about what we aimed to achieve in this momentous first year of a brand new decade!

You may be one of those people who rolled your eyes at others enthusiasm and lamented “What’s the point?”

It may be because I nearly died in October, but I took a different approach this year and it is working brilliantly. I created three goals for the New Year that aren’t grand and glorious, they aren’t outrageous or audacious. These goals and projects are tiny goals I approach daily as if they were brand new.

Let’s look at one of those goals and see how you may use it to craft a small, daily goal for yourself.

Daily Goal: Write a haiku in the morning to post on social media based on a morning photo I take.

Here’s how I have been creating this daily for the past twenty days.

Be ready to take a photo daily, whether or not there is something inspiring or even pretty to take a photo. It may not be at all interesting. Take a photo anyway.
Throw words and syllables (I call them units of sound) together without worrying about whether or not they are any good – at this point this is more about creating a ‘word pool” to choose words from to sculpt your short poem. Play around with different variations to discover what thoughts might make sense and also fit into the famous 5-7-5 haiku guidelines. By the way, haikus are very short poems. They are of Japanese origin and in English are commonly seen as three lined poems with the first and third lines having five syllables and the middle line having seven syllables.
Become more comfortable thinking there is nothing to say.
Some days you will take lots of photos to find one I find remotely good enough. Other days you will take only one. A fringe benefit to the daily nature of this goal is it is naturally a great healer of perfectionism. It teaches you to say “Yes. This will do.” I have been pleasantly surprised by photos and poems that did nothing for me yet somehow magically spoke to someone who found it on my social media feed.
Don’t worry if people “see” you out and about taking photos of unusual or not often photographed things. Today I bumped into a gentleman who was headed into a museum to do volunteer work. He asked if I was also a volunteer, because he didn’t seem to understand why I would be taking a photo of a wall. I asked about his volunteer gig. I like to think I brightened his day. He didn’t ask about my photo and I didn’t share, I focused on him. People love being seen and heard. Brightening other people’s days is a bonus from this goal on many levels.
Offer myself grace if I don’t post my photos and poems in the morning.
Do a happy dance when I write a haiku and/or take a photo I really like.
Embrace revision as a part of the process. Note to self: Share that process! It gives others permission to “not get it right the first time.”
Give yourself milestones along the way to bigger milestones. Celebrate EACH day for the success you have created that day.
This is my recipe for small goal leading to remarkable life success. You may choose to follow it, modify it, ignore it or even laugh at it. As Louisa May Alcott said, “Let my name stand among those who are willing to bear ridicule and reproach for the truth’s sake, and so earn some right to rejoice when the victory is won.”
Be prepared to be satisfied and surprised with what comes as a result. You’re allowed and encouraged to brag but as with everything else, there are no requirements – simply lots of love.

Final food for thought: New Years is not the only time to create new goals and vision for yourself. I actually start my own new year on my birthday. This year I am doing my weekly goal checks and planning on Wednesdays because Mondays tend to be hectic plus people complain about Mondays. When they talk about Wednesdays, they’re usually talking about happy activities.

What will your first or next small, do-able, fresh new goal be?

How to Ignite Your Journaling or Daily Writing Easily to End Journal Burnout

January 4, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 5 Comments

Are you interested in revitalizing your journaling or daily writing practice?

Three months ago I made a change in my writing practice routine and it has made a huge difference for me. Considering I literally lost one of the last three months because I almost died from sepsis, this is even more remarkable.

As the new year begins, I am even more excited to bring the message of reawakening, restoring and being fully alive into the world.

Ready to try it? Watch this simple 4 minute video and read below to see some of the nitty gritty “how to” in the “What I did yesterday” sequence.

What did I do yesterday?

Tried to go to Open Mic at Dagny’s
Took a shopping cart photo and wrote my morning haiku
Enjoyed breakfast at Denny’s with Parker.
Drank coffee
Made Samuel his favorite meal
Listened to “Dare to Lead” by Brene Brown as I drove around
Wrote a blog post
Went on an adventure at the river bread (delivered sheer joy and a bunch of content.)
Decided not to do laundry

This is about when I start to lose steam, so I continue my numbering and go back and fill in as things pop into my head. Things can be simple – ridiculously simple like “Wore my black thrifted sweater I love so much.” Or “responded to an email”.

Even if you can’t come up with twenty “things I did” yesterday, simply starting this practice will help you to notice more as you experience life that you may take into your journaling as well as into other types of writing.

You may even make it into a game to think how much fun you are able to create in one day!

Tomorrow I will share 21 easy ways to make your day more “write-about-able”.

Come back to explore with me further as you not only revitalize your journaling, you may find yourself revitalizing your entire life!

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, has found herself revitalized after a near-death experience in October. She is more than ready and able now to take you to a richer, deeper, more passionately alive life experience. Join her free facebook group for writers – the Word Love Writing Community – now to become a better, more consistent writer.

How to Use Your Text & Other “Throwaway Writing” to Make All Your Writing Easier.

July 3, 2019 by jjscreativelifemidwife 5 Comments

The artists among us might say “Let’s Woo Your Muse” Clearly it is time to restore your writing voice now. Time to discover (or rediscover) the words within that are waiting to be written.

Your muse may have become jaded so these promps will restore your faith AND help you get your goodies on paper

Here’s what we’ll do. We will give you an inspiring quote and write a variety of prompts from it so you have a menu of sorts to elevate you to express yourself.

We are starting today with beat poet Allen Ginsburg. He is helping us figure out what to do with leftovers: text messages, emails, half written instagram captions, unfinished essays and novels we left behind in a pile of whatever thought or interruption came along to distract us.

Have you ever found stuff you put aside or buried in scraps and thought later, “This isn’t bad!”

Let’s scoop up the wisdom we’ve started and never finished and see what’s left to create from a new perspective.

Quote:

“Time’s left its remnants and qualities for me to use — my words piled up, my texts, my manuscripts, my loves.”

Allen Ginsberg

A remnant is a leftover bit of fabric like crumbs are leftover on the plate. When I was a little girl, my mom sewed much of my clothing, she would sometimes buy the remnants that were left on the end of a bolt after someone else used the majority of the fabric.

She would use it to make doll clothes or accent pieces on projects or, since she collected fabric like I collect books, sometimes we just put it away to inspire us.

Time’s remnants are leftover bits of that are connected to a specific time, space or experience and in Ginsberg’s quote, tidbits of writing. The texts he is speaking of are not like today’s texts, messages from one cell phone to another. He is talking about books written and not published.

Those tidbits hold the power of story within them: they are the substance of nostalgic “remember when…” conversations that make connect us to one another. Remember there is power in using storytelling in all our content.

I oftentimes suggest to my coaching clients and people in my workshops to glean or pick up bits and pieces of text messages and emails and Instagram posts to inspire or fill-in-the-blanks of other writing. The other place to look is remnants of memory or conversation.

A women is typing in the countryside, another way of looking at a remnant of time and words, launching inspiration into the air.

Questions:

What remnants has time left you? Pick one remnant and describe it as richly and fully as you can with words that relate to t=e senses, not abstractions like “wonderful” or “awesome”.

What remnants have you left in the lives of people you love or co-workers or even frenemies? Write a small tidbit of a story about one of the remnants. Use these as inspiration for characters in fiction or screen plays.

Lists:

Make a list of 5 – 10 remnants of time in your life you would like to make into a quilt. Be fanciful and true.

Make a list of 5 – 10 remnants of time in your life you would NOT like ANYONE to remember. Be honest, be vulnerable.

Traditional writing prompts:

From the lists and the original questions, choose one which resonates and write interchangeably from these prompts.

I remember….

I wish…

I think….

I can’t leave without saying there are no rights and wrongs as to following the prompts here. There is only showing up for your life and your creativity and using what inspires you to fulfill your dreams, passion and purpose.

You may also choose to use these as conversation starters. I imagine there could be many heartful discussions from what we have launched here.

Do me a favor: leave a comment to tell me which prompt you will scoop up first so that I may support you fully in this adventure of creativity.

I love nothing more than supporting your process.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, and a Mother of three. One of her
greatest joys include loving people into their greatness they just aren’t quite able to realize yet. To set up a complimentary exploratory session, please visit here. Be sure to follow her on Social Media platforms so you may participate in one of her upcoming events. You won’t want to miss a thing – your future self will thank you!