Life Coaching Tip for Writers: Do Your Thing

Today I want to introduce you to three folks I've come across lately who seem to be living bravely, from the inside-out.  They're taking risks, owning what they love and "doing their 'thing.'"

Ready to meet a genre-crossing freelancer, a cross-dressing cyclist and a food blogger who's making a meal of misfortune? 

To help you do more of your own 'thing,' I've included a few coaching questions after each mini-profile.  Have fun with this.

Meet "The Productive Muse"

"You may write for a living, but are you really writing?" asks Jenny Cromie, an experienced freelancer, in a recent post on her blog, The Productive Muse.

In "Are You Really Writing Your Own Stories?", Jenny confesses that it has taken her six months to make time and space to get started writing what she really wants:  essays and a memoir.

"It's one thing to write an article about some business topic with quotes from other people," she says.  "But it's quite another to write a story or essay inspired by your own experiences--something that is completely original, and not reported. The kind of writing I'm talking about involves full disclosure, imagination, and an investment of time that may ultimately yield nothing and go nowhere.  There's fear attached to that."

I was inspired by Jenny's spark as she described her decision to finally try writing essays and memoir.

  "...[N]ow I'm writing my own story line," she says.  "Where it will go, I have no idea.  But hopefully, I'll like where it ends up."

Can you relate?

• Are giving voice to your own stories?   If not, is fear getting in your way? 
• If you can relate to Jenny, I dare ya:  this week, try investing just a small slice of writing energy and time into writing more of what you'd love to work on (regardless of its potential yield or commercial viability).

Introducing "Leggs"

"Leggs" is my husband's and my nickname for the guy who inspired this piece, a cross-dressing cyclist who commutes by bike here in Marin County, California.

"Leggs" has long legs. Lean legs. Very, very tan legs. And Leggs has a preference for wearing blowsy micro-minis that really show off his physique. 

When he cycles by, the guy turns heads.

Last week I drove past Leggs as he pedaled up a huge hill.  He was leaning into the incline, his face animated by a big grin.  He seemed to be genuinely enjoying the tough ascent. (I should tell you that I once cycled up that same huge hill.  The expression on my face was, I'm certain, the purest of agonies.)

Why the heck was Leggs smiling?  Because he's in good shape? Sure.  (And how many times must he have had to summit that hill before it became easy for him?)  More than the good workout, though, I believe Leggs was smiling because he's living his life unabashedly doing his own thing. 

Leggs accepts himself.  He wears what makes him happy.  And he tackles very big hills.

• Are you limiting what you write because you're concerned with how your work will be received? 

• What "big hills" have you been avoiding in your writing?  (In your life?)  Are you ready to push yourself?  Would personalized coaching to help you meet the challenge?

Get to Know "Poor Girl Eats Well"

I recently reconnected with an old friend through Facebook.  Turns out she's Poor Girl Eats Well, and she blogs about "how to eat ridiculously well on a minuscule budget."  (This week I'm going to try her "Easiest Blackberries & Cream Popsicles EVER" recipe with berries from the big blackberry bush on our driveway.  Yum.)

I don't think "Poor Girl," a/k/a Kimberly Morales, set out to be "a food writer," but she's gotten attention from CNN.com and regional papers in Sacramento, and her blog readership is loyal and growing.

In Poor Girl's latest post, Kimberly writes:

"I'd hesitated about posting these [blackberry popsicles] because they just look a little strange.  Then I thought: Darnit, there's just not enough periwinkle or lilac-colored food in this world, and that's just a shame."

Kimberly's on a path to success because she writes what she knows.  And she writes in a way that's all hers: she's authentic. Enthusiastic. 

• Are you in touch with your opinions?  Your quirks?  Your passions?  
  
• Are you fully expressing yourself in your writing?  Your life?

Vonnegut on "Doing Your Thing"

I hope this post has inspired you to do a little more of "your own thing" when you write.  I'll leave you with words on the topic from Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: 

“Don’t trim your sails to every wind, just go ahead and write and see what happens. Don’t look at the market. Don’t look at the bestseller list to see what’s selling. That wouldn’t help anyway. You have to write what you write, or get out of the business.”   

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Comments

[Jenny Cromie]

Thanks Marla for the above mention! :-)

[Marla]

Hi Marsanne, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I truly empathize with your dilemma.

Some folks find relief by optimizing their paying gigs to better support their creative writing.

Others use the Nike maxim: "Just do it."

You know how it great it feels to invest time in exercising, even when things are beyond busy for you and you "don't really have the time?"

Afterwards, you're more energetic and often your available time seems more relaxed and plentiful.

I think that choosing to make some time (even a very little, at first) to write what we love can shift our experience of time in the very same way.

-Coach Marla

[Marsanne]

I have a hard time writing what I want to write. It's the time thing - In order to pay the bills, I must write things that I don't particularly enjoy, which cuts into my time for writing things that I do enjoy. You've inspired me to make sure that I make the time - now I just have to figure out when :)