Cynthia Morris's Blog, page 33

Be the Gateway: Interview with Author Dan Blank

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing my friend Dan Blank about his new book. Dan is a soulful maestro at helping creative people bring their work into the world.

Dan’s book, Be the Gateway: A Practical Guide to Sharing Your Work and Engaging an Audience is wonderful for anyone who those who want their creative work to get out into the world and make a difference.

If you want to share your voice and inspire people with your writing, art, craft, or creative idea, you have to be the gateway for them. Instead of throwing products out into the marketplace, you open them up to a new way of looking at the world, of knowing themselves, and connecting with others. You unlock new experiences for them — not just through what you create, but through the unique way in which you share it with the world.

Too often we think about the creative process as being separate from the marketing process. Instead, view them as the same. Replace the inclination to promote with the desire to share and engage. How and why you create is a story — and is the best asset you can use to truly engage people. Be the Gateway shows you how to use that gift with joy and confidence.

My interview with Dan reveals insights about his process with writing and publishing this book that inspired me. Enjoy the audio or video of the interview below.

To watch the video, click here to access my Dropbox folder. You can watch the entire thing on your mobile device or download to watch on your computer.

Listen here for the audio:

http://www.originalimpulse.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/DanBlankInterview.mp3

What did this interview inspire in you? Leave a comment below for me and Dan!

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Surprises await you in your creative work

I just finished my new e-book: Visit Paris Like an Artist. I shipped the document off to Kate, my designer, who will sprinkle it with magic and my illustrations. It will be out later this month, so stay tuned for more details!

This project came at me sideways, and sometimes our projects do that – sneak up on us. I’ve learned that every thing we make makes us. We gain things from making and completing works that we can’t get any other way. Confidence. Energy. Renewed hope. I am so glad I stayed with this one because it almost didn’t happen this way.

And, surprise! Projects rarely cross the finish line looking like they did when we first imagined them. This current e-book is even better than I could have imagined. First it was a section in my annual review. My vision had been to make a whole travel section with several Paris pieces, robust with places, people and things I recommend.

But this didn’t really belong in an annual review and it added unnecessary heft. So I cut it. It can make an e-book, I thought, and it will be something people can turn to when they want advice from me on how to travel to Paris.

This project wasn’t top of mind or deep in heart, but when I began the Write ON coaching group in January, I chose this as my project’s focus. (I always participate in my writing groups because that’s the way I am – in it with you.)

In the first weeks, I dutifully showed up for my writing sessions to be true to my word. It took time to wrangle the project into coherence. I had to decide what it was, exactly and what I wanted to say and share. The e-book expanded and contracted and finally settled into its right shape.

In this process, something brightened and lightened in me. I began to have fun. The project suddenly seemed really great. The closer I got to the finish line, the more excited I became.

In the next cycle of Write ON, I will be focusing on the marketing materials to get this out into as many hands as I can. Honestly, the marketing writing is the very last thing I like doing in my business. But it’s necessary. However, that doesn’t mean it has to be drudgery! So I intend to make writing sales copy and making videos and illustrated pieces a really, really fun part of March.

Fun and focus is the approach that works for me, and it’s one my clients love, too. We may think we need to discipline and force ourselves to do the work. At the beginning, that may be true. But once we are engaged with our project, something takes over. Something magical. Something powerful. We grow as our projects grow. It becomes easier to show up and we clearly see the positive effects in the rest of our lives.

The rewards at the end are often surprising. I didn’t know I would be so enthusiastic about this e-book. I have a really good feeling about it. It’s very me and reflective of my love affair with both the creative process and Paris. I can’t wait to share it with you!

But for now, I hope you are encouraged to stick with your creative projects. If you do, you will be rewarded in ways you can’t even imagine.

Write ON

We begin another cycle of Write ON next week. Yes, indeed, this coaching group for writers with a project is going to light up lives from the UK to France and all across the United States.

We have three spots left! Is one of them yours? Are you ready to bring your writing project to the front burner? If so, snag your spot here – don’t hesitate because I know these spaces will fill quickly and there are a limited number of seats in this powerfully fun coaching group. Can’t wait to write with you!

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Half Caff pattern

Since the cleanse I have been drinking my coffee with very little caffeine. I love this pattern representing all the cups of coffee at half caffeine.

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Dancing Cups and Glasses

Another cup pattern in my #365cups series.

View in Instagram ⇒

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Cup Party

153/365 Cups, 6″ x 6″ watercolor and ink on paper. More fun pattern play![image error]

View in Instagram ⇒

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Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day, 8″ x 8″, watercolor, ink and stamps on paper. I really don’t like this holiday but I love love, so let’s celebrate that. And happy birthday, Mom!

 

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A HIP plan for making a BIG DREAM real

Changing it up with patterns for my 365 Cups series

Many things exerted an influence on me last month. A powerful call with my coach. Our new government’s actions. A big birthday on my horizon. A desire to GO FOR IT rose up in me that I couldn’t keep ignoring. It was clear that this is the time to really go for my big dreams.

I won’t share everything I am planning with you now. Okay, a sneak peek when you scroll down to the bottom of this article. But for now, let’s tay on this topic of how we actually make big changes.

Here’s my Big Dream that for years I have wanted, talked about, and never really done anything about:

I want to invent something is useful for women. I want to contribute something to make women’s lives better.

The notion that I could be an inventor came years ago, when I met the creator of the pumpkin carving kit. That’s right. I know this woman, a friend of a friend, a mother and a very spiritually-inclined person. It’s interesting how meeting one person who has done something remarkable makes me think I can do that, too.

When I mentioned my Big Dream to my coach, she took it seriously more seriously than I had. Her faith in me kindled my own faith. I asked myself, what if I actually went for this inventor thing? What does it take to be an inventor?

I really had no idea how to invent something, but it seemed that creative thinking was a place to start. My plan became to develop my thinking towards an innovation mindset. I am giving myself this entire year to change my thinking. Here is my HIP plan for developing my innovator mindset.

Healthy – tend to my health on a new level so I have the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual resources to be my best.
Input – take in new input to stimulate a sense of possibility and to spark new ideas
Process – process information in new ways.

Specific actions I am taking now:

Healthy

• yoga, walks, tough yoga classes
• aerobic exercise classes – dancing
• cleanse of sugar, dairy, gluten, etc.

Input

• read books that challenge me
• read books about creativity and innovation
• read books about successful innovators
• listen to podcasts about invention (How I Built This, Side Hustle School, The Moment, Design Matters)
• accessing things that are outside of my domain
• reading the Sunday New York Times and the New Yorker magazine
• listen to people to hear what their challenges are
• go to one local event per week related to design, creativity and innovation

Process

• notice my thoughts, especially the wimpy ones that make me think I can’t do this
• journal daily as an interaction with my Soul Self
• take notes about what I am reading
• make lists of things that bother me that I would like to change
• making changes in my daily work and creative practices to be a daily change agent

This will be a long-term process, and yet I am dedicated. I have given myself the entire year to develop new ways of thinking. This year is about cultivating an innovator’s mindset and I feel like a complete beginner.

How does this relate to you and to the Seth Godin interview? Ongoing change is required to be a fulfilled creative. When we think about our romantic relationships, we tend to resist our partner’s attempts to change us. Don’t you love me the way I am? we cry. We want to be accepted as we are.

I am here to be your change agent. Everything I do is an effort to help you be more creative, make more art, write more soulfully. My newsletter, blog, videos, art, classes, books, trips to Paris – all are my attempts to help you meet – and exceed – your creative goals.

How is that going? Have I changed you? Or have you resisted the change? We often think we want to change, but we don’t make efforts toward that. I thought I was doing pretty well on this score. But I saw that there are still plenty of places where I resist or ignore the call to shift. Sometimes we change only when we get the cosmic shove – a death, an illness, an abrupt change in our circumstances may be the only way we will change.

I prefer to initiate change, and to bring compassionate humor to my resistance and that of my clients. I’ve seen a lot of this in my Write ON program – the desire to change, the signing up for it, the resistance, the sometimes Herculean efforts to drive past resistance, and then all the glorious gains on the other side. Here are some of the things my students and my one-one coaching clients have gained from being willing to change:

Confidence in themselves and their art.
Self-trust in themselves when they say they will do their creative work.
Joy in creating; less angst.
Insight about what it takes to make things.
Personal power.

All of these benefits of change help make the creative life a rich and rewarding one. This year calls me to up level in many ways – and I am ready for it.

If you’ve read this far, thank you. I’m curious about your plan for going for your BIG DREAM this year.

And, I would really love to know: how can I help you meet your creative goals? If my newsletter, videos, art, books, classes and retreats aren’t helping you be your best creative self, what would? What is missing from what I offer you? Let me know, or leave a comment below.

Sneak peek: a BIG thing I am applying for this month is rallying all my forces of chutzpah. It’s a true ’Stand and Deliver’ moment and I am going for it. I am planning a BIG trip later in the year to celebrate my birthday. I will let you in on all the details very soon.

Thanks for being an Impulses subscriber and for being in the conversation with me.

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Pattern Play in my Cup Series

Aerial View, 6″ x 6″ watercolor and ink on paper, 150/365 Cups. I love exploring pattern and have been having a blast riffing off of Jacqueline Groag’s amazing pattern designs. You can learn a lot by studying a master.

Continuing to grow from Lisa Congdon’s class about idea generation.

 

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Friday Reads: This week’s stack

This week’s stack of books. Yes I am reading all of these. There’s a whole other stack of books I’m not actually reading. In the stack you will see hints of where I am traveling this year, hints about an e-book I am writing and the art I am making, the novel of a friend, and a book related to my overall goal of thinking more creatively.

I am such a book glutton and love how the books I read change my life in such a direct way.

 

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My favorite coffee drinks

8″ x 8″ watercolor, ink and marker on paper. I love all three of these coffee drinks. I believe each one of them has a specific amount and should be served in a specific kind of cup or glass. When somebody serves me a cappuccino in a giant bowl cup, it drives me crazy.

 

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