Cynthia Morris's Blog, page 29
April 3, 2018
Write a manifesto for your book
When I talked about my book idea with my colleagues, I felt the fire and the passion of what I want to share with my readers. I sat down to write an introduction, a ‘what this is about’. I wanted to write something that rang true, that would incite joy and possibility and empowerment.
But when the moment of truth came, my writing felt stiff and formal. It turns out this happens a lot. We set out to write the introduction, but it all seems too big. Too much to gather in one chapter. An introduction is a sort of stand and deliver moment. It should explain what’s to come.
But you may not know what exactly will be in your book, so starting there, while it seems to make sense, actually clogs up our ink. Still, it’s helpful to have a clear rallying cry about your book. This will galvanize and energize you throughout the writing process. It will also give you a way to easily communicate what your book is about, should you choose to talk about it with other.
I suggest writing a manifesto to serve as this rallying cry. Write the introduction after you’ve written the book.
Draft your book’s manifesto now
A manifesto is about what the impact you’re committed to having for your audience. A manifesto is a stake – what you’re taking a stand for. Try this exercise that I use with my clients and that finally worked for me to carve out what I wanted to say.
(Note: if you have stage fright or dread public speaking, imagine that for the sake of this exercise, you are released of that fear.)
Imagine that you’re in a room full of the specific people you wish to reach. You’re on stage, looking out over your audience. They’re smiling at you, sending love and appreciation. They are eager to hear what you have to say.
You have five minutes to tell them what you want to share. Answer these three questions to get to the heart of your work:
• What do you want for them?
• What must they know now?
• What do you want them to do with the knowledge you’ve given them?
Imagine yourself speaking to your people, from your heart, as if this were your one and only opportunity to do so. The time is now. The need to share your work is urgent.
Feel free to speak it aloud and record it. You can play it back later. Use Dragon Dictation software, ‘voice to typing’ in a Google doc or other recording device. Or just speak it, then type like mad what you’ve written. You can also set a timer for 10 minutes and free-write your answers to these questions.
Conjuring up a direct and sincere communication with the people you’re writing for can lead you past insecurities that are common at the beginning of writing a book.
Drafting your manifesto can help you focus on your work as a gift to your people instead of a reflection on how great you are. Your manifesto will help you get out of your own way and hush your inner critic.
This may take several drafts, and it may take time. Don’t worry about it. Get the gist of it out and keep going.
You can write a manifesto or rallying cray for any project, not just a book. Try it and see how it impacts you and your project.
Excerpted from my upcoming book, The Busy Woman’s Guide to Writing a World-Changing Book.
Books are powerful. Books can change lives.
Women are powerful. Women change lives.
Women writing books = power pair. Women’s books change the world.
Women’s voices are ringing more loudly and truly than ever.
Now is the time to bring your truth, your expertise and your power to light.
Now is the time to access and express your wisdom. The world needs it more than ever.
The world needs you more than ever.
Write. Write it now. We need it.
The post Write a manifesto for your book appeared first on Original Impulse .
Manifesto
Excerpted from my upcoming book, The Busy Woman’s Guide to Writing a World-Changing Book.
Books are powerful. Books can change lives.
Women are powerful. Women change lives.
Women writing books = power pair. Women’s books change the world.
Women’s voices are ringing more loudly and truly than ever.
Now is the time to bring your truth, your expertise and your power to light.
Now is the time to access and express your wisdom. The world needs it more than ever.
The world needs you more than ever.
Write. Write it now. We need it.
The post Manifesto appeared first on Original Impulse .
March 28, 2018
Your Story Is Your Power book group discussion
Your Story Is Your Power: Free Your Feminine Voice is co-written with Susie Herrick, a psychotherapist and trainer. It offers a whole new way to look at our stories, the ones we are aware of and the ones that are culturally embedded in us.
This book promises to help us see, feel and act in new and empowering ways. I think we need that, yes? The world needs our voices and our stories, and we need to access them in ways that empower us. This book helps us do that.
Beautifully illustrated with simple but powerful exercises, Your Story Is Your Power: Free Your Feminine Voice is a must for anyone seeking to know, like and trust themselves more.
I had the pleasure and privilege of meeting the authors in person at an event at the Book Bar in Denver. I was so inspired by their presentation that I wanted to share this book with more people.
I’m hosting a book group gathering to discuss the book and share our stories. Get your copy of the book here, and sign up here to join us on Thursday, May 10th at 11:00 PST, NOON MST, 1:00 CET, 2:00 EST, 7:00 UK 8:00 France.
You’ll receive a reminder notice about the gathering with information to join via video conference or phone.
Join the book group for Your Story Is Your PowerEmail AddressFirst Name
Last Name
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March 22, 2018
Are You up for the 100 Day Project Challenge?
It’s that time again, the 100 Day Project! The 100 Day Project is a free community project inspired by Elle Luna. There’s no need to sign up, nothing to join. It starts April 3rd, and all that is required is to do something every day for 100 days.
You could write daily for 15 minutes and by the end of 100 days, have collected a serious amount of writing. It doesn’t have to be creative. A friend of mine did a 100-day tidying project. It was cool to follow along.
Challenges can be wonderful for us creatives. They can:
• help us stay focused.
• keep us on track.
• give us much-needed structure.
• can teach us about our medium and about ourselves.
• give us a community of like-minded creatives.
Work in a series can really grow your creativity.
I thrive on these kind of challenges, but only because I make sure they are right for me at the time. I’ve done The 100 Day Project twice – in 2015 (watercolor paintings) and 2017 (painting people). I also did 185 cups series in 2016. Before I leap in and say YES!, I always have to check in with myself about doing them.
See if you fall prey to some of the patterns that can make a challenge more of a mess than a success.
I sometimes take on too much. I love piling on the creative projects. Before I say yes, I take the following steps.
Look at my calendar. What else is happening during that period? I am going to be on my honeymoon in Hawaii and a work retreat in Paris, but those places should inspire the pattern making. I can’t wait to capture the flowers of Hawaii and the architectural patterns of Paris.
What other projects are on my plate? I do have a lot going on now but if I choose something simple, I should be able to do it daily.
When will I do the work? I generally like to start with art, so on days where I don’t have client calls, I can begin in the studio. On client days, the pattern making will be a nice change from the client work later in the day.
Use my questions to make your decision. Do you have the space and time and focus to do this now? April 3rd – July 11th.
I want to be sure the actual work is serving me creatively. I haven’t been making as much art this year aside from birthday cards and the daily self-portrait series. So I’m ready for a creative challenge now. I want to choose something that I’ve wanted to do, that will develop a skill or buff up a weak spot. The portraits I did last year helped me get over the ‘I can’t draw people’ belief.
What 100-part series would serve you now?
Don’t be over-ambitious with the specific project. For this 100 Day Project, I am going to indulge my passion for patterns. I didn’t do enough of them in my other projects and want to play with the inspiration I got from Japan. Choose something that is easy but engaging.
What feels doable for you now?
Doing it for others. Sometimes I take things on because others are doing it and for god’s sake I don’t want to miss anything! But this time, I’m doing this because it’s fun and I like working in a series. I have loved playing with patterns. After my Japan trip I did some Japanese-inspired patterns and want to get back to that. I want to push my creative edge in this way, perhaps with new materials and concepts. I’m excited!
Are you excited/engaged with this project idea?
Sometimes the sharing daily part doesn’t suit me and my goals. Earlier this year, I noticed that for my One True Line series and my self-portrait series, the sharing part really squelched my creativity and originality. I had to stop sharing to be as authentic as I wanted. For this pattern project, I won’t put pressure on myself to share every day. I’ll be on my honeymoon and working in Paris, so while I will do the daily project, I won’t stress out if I can’t post every day.
What sharing style/frequency works for you? Do you need the accountability of sharing daily? Where and how will you share?
Having unclear motivations. It’s always helpful for me to ask myself: For the sake of what am I doing this? I want to be doing art that springs from my internal drive, from my original impulse. I don’t want to do it for approval or to show off. I am doing this because I have been toying with patterns for years and this will feel like a working studio of pattern exploration. Just writing that makes me excited.
What motivates you to do a project like this?
Will you do it? You might be thinking, oh hell no! This is not my kind of thing. I salute you for knowing yourself and honoring what’s right for you. Find out more and join the movement here. Use the hashtag #the100dayproject.
Help me with my pattern project!
I mentioned some of the patterns I fall prey to in my creative life. I bet you had some in mind as you read this!
For my pattern project, I plan to do abstract and colorful patterns. And I thought it would be fun to depict the patterns that play out in our creative lives. Some of these include checking email many times a day, taking on too many projects at once, and not finishing projects.
What patterns play out in your creative process? Share your challenges below. I may use the pattern to visually make a pattern.
Share your thoughts about doing The 100 Day Challenge below!
The post Are You up for the 100 Day Project Challenge? appeared first on Original Impulse .
February 25, 2018
Magical Journey, Magical Journal
What if you could enjoy life as a creative journey – the type of journey where everything is magical and becomes easier and easier as you go along? It would be the grandest of all adventures! Join Cynthia Morris, a local author, artist, and life coach, on a transformative journey to explore and map out the territory of your inner self. This class was born out of Cynthia’s reflection on how visual journaling literally made her an artist.
Her early journals were about keeping a sketchbook and jotting down notes. When she re-visited them, though, she found them full of hidden insights about herself and immediately realized the value of journaling as a means of personal discovery. In her words, “journals reflect you back to you”. She also realized that she’d followed a similar process in each book, which was key to her ability to delve deeper into self. She’ll show you how to use this process to travel magically and capture your experiences in a meaningful way. T
I am excited to teach this new class at Two Hands Paperie. Magical Journey, Magical Journal is a unique travel and creativity class that has allowed me to look at what I really believe about magic and travel and creativity.
I’ve had so many experiences that show me that the world is a magical place and that keeping an illustrated journal highlights that. I can’t wait to share this.
The class sold out right away and there’s a big waiting list, so I suspect this is something others are craving too, this connection to magic. Would this be a class you would want to take from me online?
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February 21, 2018
Harness your focus to do quality work
You’re ready to get to work on your book or body of work or whatever your dream project is.
You go to your ‘zone’ and prepare to get into your flow state. But first, you check in. You check email. You check Facebook. You check Instagram. You check to make sure someone has liked or loved or responded to you.
You know what happens next. You’ve frittered away your focus and lost your precious creative time.
From what I have seen with my clients, the biggest challenge we face is lack of FOCUS. It’s incredibly difficult to harness our attention and focus on anything for longer than a few minutes.
And yet our attention and ability to focus is the #1 thing that is required to make anything. We need to be able to shut out others’ voices and opinions. In order to be a writer, artist or business owner, we need to temporarily suspend our other roles as mother, employee, caregiver, household manager.
We must continually train our attention and focus. As we near the completion of a book or body of work, our fears and insecurities grow and focus gets dimmer. We need to be vigilant and protective of our ability to focus.
The ability to wrangle our focus is the main skill we need to cultivate. My clients have found success with some of the following:
Start with smaller bits of time and build to longer creative sessions.Use a timer. The Pomodoro Technique is an example of this, but you can use any timer. My writing students like Insight Timer because they can program the interval bells to their liking.Practice simple rituals to enter and exit the creative zone.Change locations to do the work, even if it means simply shifting the easel.Use free-writing or a sketchbook as a way to warm up before the real work.At the end of the day, while all these things can be helpful, we must take responsibility for the quality of our attention. The quality of our focus is reflected in the quality of our work.
What helps you to harness your focus so you can get your creative work done? Share below in the comments section what helps you focus.
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February 7, 2018
How to access our authentic voice
Artists and writers have been gifted with talents that must be made into contributions. The big challenge seems to find our voice and express our authenticity. What’s so close to us is often so elusive.
It’s easy to imitate, and indeed that is where we begin. It’s important to our learning process. But like all great artists who break into their own style and voice, so must we all seek and express our true voice, our true selves.
How do we access that truly authentic part of ourselves? Why is this so important if we are writers, artists or business people? It’s a good idea for all of us to try to be ourselves – that’s the path to happiness. But it’s vital for creative people.
Without our authentic voice, we blend in to the chorus.
Without our unique point of view, we are mere imitators.
Without our particular moves, we are dancers to someone else’s choreography.
Without our courage, we are followers and not leaders.
I am on a quest to help us all access our authentic, powerfully creative self. I consider this core to be a marriage of our life experiences and the divine forces that guide us and have gifted us so generously.
But how? How do we find our authentic voice and words?
The practices I teach my clients and students can bring us closer to our essence. But before all these practices, the first requirement is courage. We often fear we have nothing to say, or that our truth will hurt others. We use these fears to stay shut down, to stay safe. But I believe this path to our essence is the only path worth taking. I use several approaches to make this path to the true self easier.
Some of our tools include:
Free-writing. You’ve heard me rave about how powerful this is for so many kinds of writing. It’s especially powerful as a tool of freeing the voice and the self. http://www.originalimpulse.com/devote...
Visual journaling. This colorful noodling and doodling as a response to the world’s bounty brings us closer to the authentic self. The people who come to my workshops in Paris and Boulder are always surprised at what emerges on the page. The processes I use help us bypass the inner critic and the logical mind to access that playful, naive place where often the best art is made.
Walking. Being outside, moving our bodies is an act that honors our basic humanity. Our bodies, moving through space, taking in the world around us. As we walk, we open ourselves to new insight. We often encounter things that give us new associations. The name of my company, Original Impulse, came to me on a walk in early 2000.
Notice censorship. When do you censor yourself? We often speak differently according to who we’re with. I swear a lot, but chances are my students, clients and strangers don’t know this. I don’t use curse words when writing and not when working. (Most of the time!)
There may be other times when you censor yourself that aren’t really necessary. Pay attention this week to when you tamp down your true voice.
My personal and business coaching, my workshops and retreats are designed to help you access this artful, truthful core. The packaging may be different, but the result is always the same: people leave more connected to their true nature. They leave with a buoyancy and a confidence that can fuel their daring creative lives.
What helps you access your authentic self? Share below in the Comments section.
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January 25, 2018
Bring your legacy project to the table
I’m writing another book! It’s a book about writing books (so meta!).
The working title is The Busy Woman’s Guide to Writing a World-Changing Book. This has been outlined and partially drafted and sitting in my Evernote files for years.
It feels so good to get this project off the way back burner and onto my current work flow. It feels good to put all the things I have been sharing with clients and teaching in classes into a form that so many more people can access. To me, this is a legacy project that will live beyond me and hopefully – as the title suggests – change the world.
Many of my clients are at the place where it’s time to do their legacy work. They’ve become experts in their field, and the time is ripe to extend their knowledge to a greater audience.
It’s not always easy to add a legacy project to our docket. But it’s ultimately worth it.
I know myself – I am most fulfilled and happy when I have a big project to work on. Last year I wrote Visit Paris Like an Artist and it was such fun to bring the ideas inside me out to the world.
I am using the Atelier to stay on track (I’m easily distracted by new projects). In February I will be doing 15 minute daily writing bursts to make even more progress.
What about you? What legacy project are you bringing out of the closet, dusting off and engaging with? If it’s a writing project, you might want to join us to write every day in February.
The Devoted Writer helps writers of all genres and levels get their words out with ease. And there are always a lot of non-writers in my classes, too. Everyone has to write, and this is the perfect way to finally get butt-in-chair time.
Join a global group of dedicated writers and me for a powerful writing month like none other. All the details are here.
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January 9, 2018
Seeking your authentic expression
Years ago, I had the fortune to be on a panel about creative lifestyles with Barbara Winter, Barbara Sher and Valerie Young. I told my story of all the weird jobs I had held and how it led me to my work as a coach.
Afterward, Barbara Sher came up to me and told me “You are so authentic!” I took that as a compliment, though I wondered what exactly that meant.
On a job interview, when asked why they should hire me, I said, I’m authentic! Later, I wondered, what does that actually mean?
Sometimes if feels like our authenticity is a far-away place we don’t know how to get to. Despite our ability to share so much online, we often censor ourselves in how we present ourselves online, in our creative work, in our jobs and even in our relationships.
We don’t say what we really mean. We edit ourselves for the environment. We revise our communication so it suits the listener rather than coming from a deep, true place.
A certain amount of this is social conditioning, and it’s a good thing. But when it comes to writing or creating bodies of work, censoring ourselves is death to our creativity.
If you’re like me, when you read something that’s deeply honest or see a performer who is completely ‘in her skin’, you’re moved. You can tell when someone is giving you their fullest, most true expression. It perhaps inspires you to be more fully expressed yourself.
I have been writing and making art for decades now, and I am still on the quest of more and more authenticity. It’s an ongoing process of digging deeper to find not only what, but how I want to share my gifts.
With this goal in mind, I launched a daily challenge for myself: One True Line. Every day I write and share something that is true for me at the time. It’s surprisingly uncomfortable, and yet I know from experience that when I share something that is real and raw, it’s more compelling than the surface or cliche stuff.
I have to keep asking myself ‘what’s true?’ and also keep in check my concern over others’ response. It’s only just begun and I can see that I have many lines to pen to get to my true self.
The way I’m seeking access to this authentic self is free-writing. I’ve been using and teaching this tool since 1996 and it’s stunning how it helps us get past the inner critic, shed social conventions and get to the core of who we are and what we want to say. I write a lot of lines, in a drive toward the core.
In the classes I teach we use this method, and we don’t share our writing. Having this public accountability alongside privacy allows participants to feel free without worrying about how the writing will be received. This freedom opens up a whole new layer of authenticity and connectedness with the self. It’s astonishing how much power writers gain from this process. I use free-writing for everything I write and it’s helping me with my One True Line challenge*.
If that kind of freedom sounds like something you could use in your life, for a book you are writing or for your own personal enlightenment, I invite you to join us in my new online class The Devoted Writer.
During the month of February we will be writing daily together in a free and empowering way. Find out all the details here and join me to bring more authenticity into the world.
I’d love to hear how you seek and find your authenticity. Please share your thoughts in the comment area below.
*Follow my One True Line on Instagram.
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