Stumbling Toward Genius

You might have the dream of writing a book. Maybe you have more than one book idea. If you're like me, you have an abundance of ideas. One of the biggest ways we stumble in our creative work is not choosing at all. This keeps us on the sidelines of our dreams. In this solo episode, you will hear a few ways to look at how to choose among your brilliant ideas. I will share some perspectives that will hopefully help with any creative decision, not just choosing which book to write. I'll also talk about the book I am currently writing and how I made the decision to write this now and not earlier. Be sure to check the episode webpage for my choosing checklist to help with your creative decisions.

You might not be the most organized person in the world. Writing a book calls for some degree of organization - your time, content, and chapters need a bit of order. Wrangling your ideas from chaos to order is part of the job of writing a book. In this solo episode, I share two challenges authors face and offer a few ideas to get it together to get your book written.

So many people write books based on their life experiences. This does many things for us. One main gift of writing a book from your experiences is you get to reframe and process the experience more powerfully. Writing things down helps us get clarity and confidence in ways we wouldn't just thinking about them.

Writing a book of our experiences gives us the chance to connect with other people having the same experience. This can give us a chance to be of service and also to connect with a community of people we may not have otherwise. Chances are, our problems are ones others have, too. Sharing our stories helps others live more powerfully.

In this week's episode of Stumbling Toward Genius, I talk with my friend and fellow coach Karen Wright about her second book, The Accidental Alpha Woman.

Here's how it often goes. We have an idea for a book. It can grow inside us for years. We love this idea and we cherish it. Our idea expands and morphs and gives us a sense of having something precious. But I believe our ideas have a shelf life. Our talents are not Twinkies with no expiration date. I also believe that making our ideas real is way more satisfying than holding onto them, cherishing the sense of possibility.

In this episode, I'll share some of the common pitfalls that keep us at the starting gate of a book or any other project. You'll hear about the new book I am writing and how I am going through all these pitfalls even though this is my ninth book. And, I'll give you strategies that help me and my clients get past the obstacles that we stumble over when we get started with a project.

I'll also share a confession about how I responded to one of my biggest creative wins. It's not what I expected!

Finally, you'll hear how I am getting more reading into my days. This is important to me feeling like me and I am grateful I found this way to read more.

Pam Slim seeks to connect people as communities. She believes that through our work together, we can build the kind of world we want to inhabit. Her latest book, The Widest Net, shows business owners how to connect within communities instead of speaking from afar to audiences. In this episode, Pam shares what's at the core of her work and how even though this book felt so right, it was a challenge to write.

What are your plans for your creativity next year? Perhaps you have a project in mind and can't wait to get started. That's me!

Or maybe you don't know what you want to work on. There are possible projects. Your friends have clear goals. But you don't know what you want to do.

In this episode of Stumbling Toward Genius, I will share a perspective on how to focus your creative time so you feel satisfied and on track no matter what happens. It's not goal-setting. It's both broad and specific, and I think you'll love it.

As a kid, Sean McMullin couldn't stop drawing and making things. But an episode at a new school shut his artist down. Tune in to hear how Sean brought his artist back to life, and how he makes art a central part of his days.

At the end of the year, it's tempting to just dive into planning for the next year. But if we don't pause to reflect on the year we had, we rob ourselves of much of the empowerment and joy we earned through our actions. For creatives especially, doing an annual review process can give us the confidence and courage to brave new things. In this solo episode, Cynthia shares why it's so important to reflect. She also shares some of the major challenges she experienced, some creative wins, including one of the biggest creative projects of her life.

Voice is one of the most important elements of writing. Somehow, even though our voice is right there within us all the time, it's oddly elusive when it comes to expressing ourselves. Mark McGuinness, the host of the podcast A Mouthful of Air, shares some surprising perspectives on how poetry helps us access not only voice but other essentials for writers.

When you're a writer, people will often say you have a gift with language. What if we used our words as a gift? I love the idea of being generous with your words. There are a million ways to do this. I suspect you give the gift of your words all the time. In this episode of Stumbling Toward Genius, I share a few thoughts on how to use your words as a gift to others. Plus, a special treat from one of my clients who generously agreed to give the gift of his words to us here.