Writing Tips – Creative Life Midwife

Stop the Writer’s (or any) Block Before It Stops You

July 28, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 4 Comments

Block – the brick wall – it shows up for the best of us.

If people insist they don’t know what it feels like to be stuck or blocked or feel resistance, I would question their authenticity.

Maybe I am judging my imperfection or maybe I recognize nature ebbs and flows and as we are a part of nature, block is bound to happen. What matters is what we do as individuals when blocks appear.

Randy Pausch shared this quote which I return to whenever the block starts to feel too big:

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.”

A brick wall with plants on the side including a quote from Julie Jordan Scott "Blocks appear in order to reconnect us with our desires." and the prompt: "When I started this, what was my intention?" BONUS: Restart your writing with a sentence (or more) of gratitude.

1. Leave “the problem” of block where it lives. Walk away and restrict your thought about the block itself, especially if those thoughts are coated in negative self-talk.

2. Do mundane, meaningless activities, especially if they will be of service to others.

3. If you are compelled, research another area of passion in your life.

4. Stay away from the “problem” until you are at peace with “it” and, in fact, are able to not consider it problematic anymore.

5. Remember, it isn’t “the problem” that is the problem, it is your opinion about the problem that creates the lack of movement and the sticky malaise. If you say “Writing block sucks!” it will suck. If you say “This block is giving my opportunity for growth – and in the future I will warmly embrace growth without the block!”

I took my own advice when I was blocked yesterday – and once again my writing flows, proving sometimes the best medicine for what ails you is to step away and focus anywhere except “the block” or “the problem” or “my ridiculous inabilities.”

Julie JordanScott creates content to inspire creative people to lead more satisfying lives even during this pandemic. Walking and sitting at the Panorama Bluffs helps her feel centered.

Julie JordanScott, the Creative Life Midwife, is a writer, a poet performer, a Creativity Coach, A Social Media Whiz 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.

Julie is also one of the Founders of Bridge to the New Year. Join us now in mid-2020 in #Refresh2020 to reflect, connect, intend and taking passionate action to create a truly remarkable rest of 2020.

3 Top Ways to Most Effectively Use Your Journal Writing as a Content Creator

July 27, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife Leave a Comment

As a blogger with a social media account, there is a constant demand to creator more content, create more content, create more content. I have a secret for you: some of your best content ideas may be found in your journal or everyday notebook you write in "just to braindump or blow off steam" before you get down to your "real writing."

As a blogger with multiple social media accounts, there is a constant demand to creator more content, create more content, create more content. I have a secret for you: some of your best content ideas may be found in your journal or everyday notebook you write in “just to braindump or blow off steam” before you get down to your “real writing.”

Here are the three most important ways to take your notebooks and make them into sizzling content.

Have a separate to-do list or planner next to you to jot notes about content ideas and strategies as they pop up. Immediately, in one fluid motion , do this. Treat your separate list as if it is a part of the same document. Be fluid as you jot items in there without losing your writing momentum.

Either midday or at the end of the afternoon, review your morning journal writing for the day to highlight and capture any particularly interesting turns of phrase or insights you had during the earlier session. Consider the action you may want to take from the insights you had and/or if what you wrote in your free writing may be a source for future blog posts, video scripts, speeches or social media posts.

Set aside a time to review your past journals. Sometimes when we are too close to the writing, we can’t gain from our messages. Once we have lived longer, the voice of our “past self” seems to magically become wiser. Be sure to use a highlighter and/or a separate to-do list (like in #1) to follow up.

Be prepared to instantly become a more productive content creator from writing you once thought was a throw away. Your journal or free writing notebook is where you are most likely your most authentic self. Use it for your good and the use of others.

Julie JordanScott writing poetry at a downtown Bakersfield flower shop.

Julie is also one of the Founders of Bridge to the New Year. Join us now in 2020 in #Refresh2020 to reflect, connect, intend and taking passionate action to create a truly remarkable rest of 2020. Click the graphic below to join the Private Facebook Group to join the conversation!

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I don’t want to, but I do it anyway. Everyday.

July 24, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 4 Comments

Most mornings I wake up and think I ought to just sleep in. I can skip a day: just this time no one will notice. It’s a pandemic, no one is paying attention, no one really cares.

Then something lifts me up and out of bed and says “Get up, get out, create.” or as I said a long time ago, “Show up. Look up. Translate.”

When I codified my plan to do something daily that made me feel better – created guidelines for my personal creative practice – since I stuck with what I codified my life experienced has changed radically for the better.

Today I realized how my seeing has become so much more alert since I started my daily morning haiku practice. I think even more so since I chose to write sunrise haiku.

This slight change in schedule – on purpose – has allowed me into each day as it begins. It feels like an initiation into a society who are all in on a secret the people who are asleep all around us don’t have a chance to get.

Just as the sunrises at Lake Ming in Bakersfield. Ducks in the lake swim as the sky brightens.

Seriously: today I sat at a table at Lake Ming and had my phone in its tripod and the rays of sunrise made visible through the camera reached to me as I watched and wrote, as if it was saying thank you.

People get caught up – I get caught up – in anger and frustration and a sense of incredulity when I witness even the slightest taste of the horrors swirling around us as of late.

The sunrise reaching out to me – in gratitude – and my “new seeing” is a feeling of communion I haven’t felt since holding my newborns or when I was a little girl in the back seat of our turquoise country squire watching in awe as I believed the stars were actually following me, specifically. That’s what it felt like on that magical evening so long ago.

This simple act of writing haiku every day has helped me to reconnect with everyday miracles and wonder. It wasn’t an instant awareness with the first few haiku, but now – a day doesn’t go by without a surprise.

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

Discover More than A Title Can Hold: Poetry & Writing Meditation

May 19, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 2 Comments

Morning writing time: coffee is beside me, a timer is set. All my metaphorical cards are on the table beside a quote, a line of poetry. “It is so near to the heart, an eternal pasture,” from poet, Robert Duncan.

I’ve allotted five minutes to write meditatively so I write. I write free-flow style, not thinking or editing, just allow whatever wants to be heard to be heard without judgment.

The words come from my keyboard and a memory pops up, quite happily and next, a painful memory right on its heels. “What are you thinking, having a good memory? Who do you think you are? You know you aren’t worthy of good memories or happy times or God forbid, nice things! Get off your high horse!”

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

Who is running the show here? Is it the smart, funny, woman labeled as brave and capable leader by quite a few people? Is it instead this nasty alternative voice roaming about her head, roping up her truthful, constructive, happy thoughts in attempt to put them in thought quarantine?

My eyes look up and catch a typo. “Heals” in place of “heels” which is precisely what I decided today as I drove home from my daily haiku discovery time.

“That’s it!” I had declared earlier, as I drove home. “I am done with being mean and belittling to myself. It is poison!” Thoughts begin the healing. Actions are the glue which keep the healing together as they begin to build a foundation.

Writing and meditation: Breathe in: you are allowed to be all the goodness and light that is you. Breathe out, More goodness and light for all, please.`

It is so near to the heart, this healing, this lying down and resting time, this peace, this pleasantness, this receiving of grace.

I look up from the keyboard and watch a man walk by my house in a grey and red track suit. It is cold outside today – unusual in Bakersfield at this time of year. I see my sprinkler water, feeding the hungry soil. Another typo – feeding the hungry soul.

Soil and soul, only one letter different.

Today I am being aware of openings, alert to spaces as they speak to me. I am inviting synchronicity and light to tap me on my shoulder or draw me close in a hug, whispering “Look, over here,” as has happened several times today.

I invite you to do the same.

Look at the typos I’ve written as evidence. I wrote heals instead of heels, like high heals on a shoe or heals as in the back of my foot.

I wrote soul as in my interior self versus soil, the place where plants grow.

Truthful, constructive, capable, happy is who I am. God (in whatever name you prefer: nature, love, universe, divinity, creator) is definitely not forbidding me from anything good or right or holy or me being exactly me.

Now – as in the present place I am in, is forever my eternal pasture, near to my heart, when I engage with it like I am this morning.

Does that make sense? Would it be helpful to say more?

Let’s say what I just said, slightly differently.

I invite you to do the same.

You are allowed to be all the goodness and light that is you.

Today's poetry meditation line comes from Robert Duncan's "Often I am Permitted to Return to a Meadow". The line I chose specifically is "It is so near the heart, an eternal pasture." and the view is wildflowers in a pasture, absolutely gorgeous.

I’ll dip back into meditation for a bit – and trust you are choosing not to listen to any nasty, alternative voices and are instead replacing it with the capable, strong, courageous person you know yourself capable of being and becoming, starting here and now.

Coffee cups and flowers with the message "You are invited. Coffee and intentional conversation resumes May 25, 2020. We meet on Zoom at 1:30 PM Pacific time Monday through Saturday in order to keep one another company during this uncertain time and together we build meaningful community."

Before we go – next week I will continue the Monday through Saturday Coffee, Tea & Intentional Conversation Time at 1:30 to 2:30 Pacific time via Zoom. We started when the Sheltering in Place orders started and will continue at least until June 15. You may join us once or as many times as you like. For more information and to register (this is how you get the log in details) visit here. There is no charge, though you will receive emails from me.

How to Write About Your Life in 5 Easy, Meditative Steps –

May 1, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 6 Comments

May is National Meditation Month: We will be blending poetry and meditation to create, make and activate a more mindful, art-filled life. — To read the complete poem on the Poetry Foundation Website, please visit here.

In May we are blending poetry & meditation to create, make and live a more mindful, art-filled life. I will be sharing my writings that blossom from the meditations as well as videos, images and other helpful tools for you along the way. Today, we are sharing free-flow meditative writing followed by 5 Steps to Making Peace through Witnessing Your Life with Writing – and in doing so, we circle back to where we started – with poetry and the words under the words.

Lavender blossoms surround the words "May is National Meditation Month" and here we are blending poetry and meditation to create, make and live a more mindful, art-filled life.

Yesterday afternoon during the #5for5BrainDump which may be used as a meditative writing practice, the words that flowed were these:

The words under my words are… optimistic most of the time. They are like the comic I saw today that my friend shared of the three views of the heart: the optimist a big red perfectly Hallmark heart, a dramatic broken heart to proclaim the pessimist and an image most like a human biological heart for the realist. I most often refer to my words as optimistic realism but they don’t feel like that right now, when I allow the space to roam about my chest and up and out my throat.

The words under my words are are battling for control. My words under my words are slightly scratchy, that annoying base of the throat tickle – feel like I might be getting sick but because I know what my nervous cough sound like, I recognize this. I recognize this. They feel like, might they be a virus? Are we still allowed to say that word except for as in “Novel” or “Corona” or “Covid”?

My words above, below and beneath my words at eye level feel crusty and stale, grumpy and stagnant. They’re old and scabbed and calcified. Tainted and negative and not good. Not good.

This morning, before I turn to another daily poem, I revisted yesterday’s words and add – The words under my words are just right as they are – crusty and stagnant and stinky are equally rich and valuable as the flowing and soft gentle breeze on a hill wearing a gorgeous white lace dress with perfect hair.

Today and my words in it will be – as I allow them to be.

It is when I don’t allow them to be and me to be and you to be and the emotions that pop to be that my shoulders become like earrings and my gut becomes a roller coaster.

I trust my words, today, and I trust the leaning tower of ancient historical words to be more of a cradle that gently rocks me than a car spiraling out of control on a roller coaster. The word-cradle is in my breath and my heartbeat, my pulse and my womb, my brokenness and my sometimes polished exterior.

No need to battle and pretend there is such a thing as control.

Your words – under your words – spend time holding them close, with love and grace. Hold space for joy amidst the not-so-joyful and the belly laughter amidst the tears of sadness.

Now: A simple 5 step process for you to witness your life in words – all of your life – from a meditative, mindful frame of mind.

Day 1: a vase of irises shares how the words under words will be made more peaceful when we make peace through witnessing "what is" , blending poetry and meditation to create, make and live a more mindful, art-filled life.

We write from a place of peace: we don’t judge the writing as it falls off the tip of our pens or fingers on the keyboard or fingers on our screens. We allow the words to fall as they will without editing, judgment or forethought.

We are witnesses, not judges. We hold space for ourselves to enjoy the process regardless of what story our words are telling.

Step One has the irises in a vase and advises us to use clear, descriptive, sense based words. These words may be colors, flavors and other objective details rather than words like "amazing" or "nice" or "pleasant".

Write what you experience, not what your opinion is about what you experience. Instead of “It was good” or “I think it is pretty” write “The bright purple irises fill the glass vase with the twine tied in a bow.” “There was a hint of vanilla in the chocolate chip cookies” or “He was over six feet tall, which made my five foot four inch frame feel tiny.” Yes, there is some opinion in that final sentence, but see how it is supported in fact?

There is a beautiful shade of green, slightly mottled with purple on the other side of the vase of irises. Step 2 is "Write in snapshots or moments in time rather than large periods of time all at once. When you write in snapshots you capture the core of your story, of the "what happened."

You can practice this by taking actual photos of your life as it happens or looking at a photo from the past and writing about what was happening when the photo was taken. Immerse yourself back in that moment of with rich, sensory details. Once you master this, your writing will become increasingly magnetic and at the same time, connect you to your readers more and more deeply no matter what you are writing.

At the center of all good writing is a daily (or close to daily) writing practice. One way to stay in the witness is to make a list of what happened the day before during your writing practice time. When we do so, our subconscious mind will begin cataloguing details and your writing choices will become richer.

People often resist the idea of writing practice. It sounds like too much or a chore or something inherently unpleasant or without a purpose. When one tries and sustains this, it becomes deeply pleasurable and life changing in the most positive direction one might suspect. Try it for a small amount of time at first and see how it works. Experiment with different times of day and different methods of “containment” – I write in notebooks and other times on my phone and with my computer keyboard. Allow yourself to try different means and methods.

Step 4 invites us to lovingly lower our expectations. Rejoice in the perfectly imperfect and live outside the judgment zone when we are witnesses to our life.

Recognize what you write will not be perfect – part of the practice is to welcome the imperfect, the grammatical mistakes and the misspellings. Sometimes these are the most valuable parts of the growth experience. Enjoy the process for the sake of the process. Document the facts, not what you think of the facts. Begin to appreciate the imperfections with as much love and joy as the “perfections.”

Final Step: Revisit your daily (or whenever close to daily) free flow, meditative style writing once a week to glean life patterns, creative patterns and celebrate your growing awareness of witness.

Revisiting your writing is a deep pleasure as well as a method to note your progress. I can return to notebooks years later and wonder who this person was – while delighting in her moment-by-moment delight and discovery. Sometimes I long for her presence or find I have wandered off course and the past-me from my writing notebooks reminds me. The witnessing me of the past reaches out to the witnessing me of the future.

This is miraculous, just like you are miraculous.

You may follow along here on the blog as well as via social media. There will be different daily versions on different social media platforms. I suggest starting here on the blog and on Instagram for Instagram Live and IGTV episodes. You may see Facebook Live for 5 for 5 Brain Dump sessions at Writing Camp with JJS which may be accessed here.

Woman writing on the front porch of a brick home, — Write wherever you find yourself.

Julie JordanScott has been writing since before she was literate by dictating her thoughts to her mother and then copying in thick crayons onto construction paper. She was a pioneer in epublishing and continues to reach readers through her blog, bestselling books, greeting cards and her essays and poems in anthologies. Join her for one of her upcoming #5for5BrainDump programs or an upcoming writing circle or writing for social media programs.

Beating Writer’s Block in One Quick Visit to Google Land: Don’t Give Up: There is Even a Video!

April 26, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 7 Comments

Julie JordanScott is ready to teach about ending writer's block and even having fun while doing it. There is even a video to watch with the same image on it!

I was so excited to sit down at the keyboard today and write: I had a nice, healthy swath of time to write – finally – and I sat down with my keyboard and then – nothing.

So I turned on a podcast, which isn’t smart because language just gets in the way of me creating my own narrative. When I am hearing someone else’s narrative in my ear as I attempt to write myself, nothing happens but itchy discomfort and nothing constructive as far as me creating content.

What listening to language does is moves me to get up and declutter rather than sit down and write.

I could declutter.

It would be smart to declutter but no, I will not declutter.

I wanted to use this rare wide swath of time to write.

I turned to YouTube, my favorite source of instrumental music. I was recommended jazz music, a book club with Simon Sinek, an upcoming livestream so I could become more financially successful or….. Willpower.

I clicked on the Jazz music but before I heard music there was an advertisement meant to take me away from what I wanted to hear: pure musical notes, not more information about conspiracy theorists or anything, please.

Pure musical notes, no matter how mediocre at this point.

Finally, mediocre jazz and from the ends of my fingers to the keyboard. Nothing.

I turned to Charles Bukowski who wrote, “writing about writing block is better than not writing at all.”

Ray Bradbury joins the conversation. He talks about writing everyday and then adds, “Read intensely.”

Does Ray want me to pick up that book I was reading earlier today instead of sitting at the keyboard attempting to write?

Does any woman except Maya Angelou (who I appreciate a lot) have anything to say on the subject?

“Almost all good writings begin with terrible first efforts” so sayeth Anne Lamott. “You need to start somewhere.”

I wasn’t wild about the last book I read by Anne Lamott, but she has written so much I have enjoyed I am entering into a secret pact with her she knows nothing about:

To Anne, I pledge I am going to write five sentences about random topics I find by googling my own name and seeing what comes after…Julie is…..1

“Julie is her name.” (From a singer named Julie London who I have never heard of until just now.)

My parents named me Julie after careful consideration of other names such as Joanne, Jill and maybe Jane – they were concerned, after all, that I might get teased for the combination of “Julie Jordan.” I didn’t get teased but I did endure many teachers singing to me on the first day of school with me acting as if I had never heard that song with my name in it ever before.”

“Julie is underappreciated.” From Urban Dictionary.

When someone finally notices you are uniquely fabulous, you don’t stop to google them or ask for a reference check, or interview them about their political or religious views but perhaps I should have on that fateful day I met you-know-who.

Julie was the first child Kelly and Delaney met at their first Kidsave event.

I don’t believe in happy endings.

Julie passed away peacefully at her home on Monday morning, April 6, 2020, surrounded by her loving family.

See what I mean? A woman with my name but seven years younger than I am died a few weeks ago leaving her husband named Kenneth and three children.

“Julie is a popular French first name which is originally derived from the Latin Julia that could mean youthful, soft-haired, gorgeous or vivacious.”

From this Julie is… I would prefer the latter two meanings, especially if “known to be wise, intuitive and inciteful” was included in the mix.

What I noticed, however, in finding five different paths to take with my writing I actually found more: I could take most of these branches of words and write at least two or three different beginnings and an infinite number of endings.

Next time you have nothing to write about, google your name and “is” – take the first couple and then scroll until you find something you find slightly appealing or even vaguely appealing with the smallest bit of tweaking.

At first glance, the obituary felt oddly familiar given the names and number of children but from the other Julie’s life, I could go very deeply into my own experiences.

The “I don’t believe in happy endings” was visceral. I will pick that up and run with it.

If your name was Julie, which of these five would you write from first?

I challenge you at some point in the next five days to google “your first name is” and use at least one of them as a writing prompt.

Now I want to nap. That was invigorating and tiring.

Please let me know how it goes – and watch the video if you would like to see some of how my inner process works when it isn’t just written on the page. 🙂

If your name was Julie, which of these five would you write from first?

I challenge you at some point in the next five days to google “your first name is” and use at least one of them as a writing prompt.

Now I want to nap. That was invigorating and tiring.

Creative Life Midwife: WRiter, Speaker, Mom, Artist.... and owner of this blog/website.

Julie JordanScott has been writing since before she was literate by dictating her thoughts to her mother and then copying in thick crayons onto construction paper. She was a pioneer in epublishing and continues to reach readers through her blog, best selling books, greeting cards and her essays and poems in anthologies. Join her for one of her upcoming #5for5BrainDump programs or an upcoming writing circle or writing for social media programs.

Speaking of Trees: How Listening Like a Tree May Make You More Human

April 17, 2020 by jjscreativelifemidwife 6 Comments

When we talk of trees, we honor several qualities our human friends might not understand or apply quite so readily.

We honor quiet listening, listening like the tree listens.

When we listen like this we listen without giving advice. We give complete permission for the other to speak, just say whatever is longing to be said.

When we listen as trees, we aren’t thinking “Do I believe the same things? Do I agree with what she is saying? How can I argue with their point in order to make them agree with me?”

The tree does none of that. The tree isn’t planning to speak when it is her turn. She isn’t being dismissive because our opinions differ.

The tree stands beside us, patiently, without judgment, without rushing in to offer “magic bullet” or the latest hack or portion that will be what finally convinces because the tree recognizes it is connection, rather than convincing, that allows us to grow and flourish.

When we listen as the tree listens, we honor shadow – which sometimes makes the living more comfortable when it is too warm in direct sun though at other times, we may become downright chilly in the shadows. In those moments we may choose to step back into the sun.

The tree stands and offers us to gain comfort in her shadow and learn to relate differently to the shadows we bring with us. She reminds us sometimes it is cold in the shadow and the sunshine brings warmth. This doesn’t make shadow wrong, it just makes the shadow different than the direct light.

Sometimes in the shadow we fuss and squirm and sometimes we stay dryer and warmer because of her shadow-protection.

The tree teaches us to honor shadow.

When we listen like the tree we honor rootedness – staying in place – without wishing, wanting or moving to another destination.

We learn from the tree to honor rootedness – staying in place – without wishing, wanting or moving to another destination. It feels so good when we stand, rooted, with the tree and allow ourselves to lift up with our arms – exposing our heart and giving our face to the sky to be kissed.

Can you feel the hugging back when you do that, when you stay delightedly in place?

I feel so full and rich and treasured when I allow myself to fully understand what it means to feel this rooted, this grounded – as I’ve discovered my place and space in the world.

Do you have a tree you especially admire or enjoy?

Stand with the tree, or stand with me, right now – under this tree.

Breathe with the tree.

Quietly allow the tree’s presence it’s due attention.

Return to your notebook or keyboard and allow the words to flow from your fingertips. Yield your stuff – the gunk and the muck and the sticky repetitive thougths – in honor of the tree.

Write a thank you note to the tree you most admire. See if you may craft your gratitudes into a poem.

Inspired by the Poem What Kind of Times Are These by Adrienne Rich.

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When we talk of trees, we honor several qualities our human friends might not understand or apply quite so readily. 🌲 We honor quiet listening. Listening without giving advice while offering us permission to speak. Listening without judgment, without rushing in with the “magic bullet.” . 🌳 We honor shadow – which sometimes makes the living more comfortable when it is too warm in direct sun though at other times, we may become downright chilly. In those moments we may choose to step back into the sun. . 🌲 We honor rootedness – staying in place – without wishing, wanting or moving to another destination. Do you have a tree you especially admire or enjoy? Write a thank you note to the tree and see if you may craft your gratitudes into a poem. . . . . . . #AdrienneRich #AdrienneRichQuote #WritingInspiration #writerslife #writinggoals #creativepractice #timeoutforwriting #dailywriting #writingpractice #writeeverywhere #NaPoWriMo #NaPoWriMo2020 #NationalPoetryMonth2020 #poetryloving #poetryislife #poetryhive #instapoets #writingprompt #writingprompts #wordsarepowerful #freewrite #setyourwordsfree #treesofinstagram #wisdomfromtrees #deeplyrooted

A post shared by JJS ~ Life Coach for Creatives (@juliejordanscott) on Apr 14, 2020 at 10:58am PDT

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.

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?