Mark David Gerson's Blog, page 30

Birthing Your Book...With Ease

If you're in Los Angeles this weekend, please drop by the Conscious Life Expo at the Airport Hilton and say hi. I'll be giving a talk on "Birthing Your Book with Ease" (free with Expo admission) on Friday, Feb 12 at 7pm. And I'll be at the Lighted Bridge Communications booth (#505) all weekend (Feb 12-14), signing books and offering discounted mini-coaching sessions on writing.

Whether you're in L.A. or not, if you need help birthing your book, consider private coaching sessions. Or join my

Infinite Possibility, Infinite Flow

A version of this piece first appeared in my no-longer-active New Earth Chronicles blog two years ago, long before the financial meltdown of 2009. In rereading it tonight, it feels as current now as it did then. And so I reprint it here for you.

"You enter into this lifetime in the leap of faith your soul takes into the being in your mother's womb. You take that one huge leap only to discover that such leaps never cease being demanded of you."
— The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to...

The Muse & You with Mark David Gerson (#8): Radio About Writing, Creativity & Life

Episode Eight:
Thursday, Feb 18, 1pm ET
(click here to listen live or to the archived version any time after the show airs)

• Ask the Writing Coach (your questions for me about writing and creativity) and a special feature interview with book-marketer extraordinaire Penny Sansevieri author of Red Hot Internet Publicity: An Insider's Guide to Promoting Your Book on the Internet


If you want to know anything about online book marketing, there's no better person to ask than Penny C. Sansevieri. CEO o...

Free Your Stories, Free Your Life

I never intended for The MoonQuest to be such a powerful metaphor both for my creative journey and for creative blocks and the creative process. But that's what it turned out to be...through my act of surrender to the story that wanted to be told through me.

In the book excerpt I share on this video, the main character is visited by a Muse-like being who insists he tell his story.

Na'an says it is my story. Perhaps she is right. Is that why the words come so reluctantly? So many seasons of...

Feeling Rejected? Don't Be Dejected!

I didn't discover Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time until I was an adult in the early years of my spiritual awakening. It's a gem of a book, filled -- as is all her writing -- with spiritual truths for young adults and adults alike. Today, nearly two decades after that first reading, the profound wisdom of this prolific author and devout Episcopalian continues to inspire me.

One of my favorite L'Engle stories, apart from the one that follows, comes from one of her nonfiction books -- I...

The Muse & You with Mark David Gerson (#7): Radio About Writing, Creativity & Life

Episode Seven:
Thursday, Jan 21, 1pm ET
(click here to listen live or to the archived version any time after the show airs)

• Ask the Writing Coach (your questions for me about writing and creativity) and a feature interview with poet Cristina M.R. Norcross author of Unsung Love Songs and The Red Drum


If there's one thing you can say about Cristina M.R. Norcross, it's that she's dedicated and committed to her writing. Over the years she's clerked in a shoe store and gourmet candy shop, she's work...

Larger Than Life

A version of this article appeared in my New Earth Chronicles blog in June 2008.

Back in October 2006 when I was visiting Toronto, a friend treated me to a ticket to Barbra Streisand's first-ever concert performance in that city. Although we were sitting high in the rafters in a hockey arena that was anything but intimate, I was startled by how fully and personally her energy filled every corner of that venue.

"She's larger than life," I remember gushing to my friend at intermission.

I recalle...

Snap a Pic for Me and Promote Yourself - Part III

This is the third installment of my online readers' gallery, featuring photos of people reading my books. (You'll find the first two posts here and here.)

With the release in ebook form of both my books, this version adds a new twist: e-readers as well as hard-copy readers.

If you'd like to join the online fun (and get your book, business or web site promoted), read on...

Do you have a copy of either of my books? If so, I'd love to include a pic of you reading either The Voice of the Muse...

Shadow and Light

This piece is adapted from one I originally published in August 2007, during the final leg of my 30-month full-time road odyssey. I reprint it now, during this Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza season, as a reminder of the play of shadow and light in our lives.

The shadows will tell me the story and I will write what I see. 
~ The MoonQuest: A True Fantasy

There's a scene in my novel, The MoonQuest , where one of the characters, horrified by the tyranny that has overtaken neighboring lands, describes th...

Write (Right) Now

Too often we sit in judgment of ourselves and our work.

"This isn't good enough," we think. "This will never be good enough." Or, "This story has been told better before by someone else." Or, "This book has been written before."

Know this now and for all time: It is good enough. In this moment, this word is good enough, and so is this one.

This moment is always as good as it gets -- in this moment. So make the best of it. In this moment, give yourself permission to write the worst junk in the w...