• Creativity,  Fitness

    Want to be more creative? Maybe go for a run.

    I started exercising regularly when my youngest baby started sleeping through the night. I took a Crystal Paine’s online course about reworking your morning routine. My new morning routine began with a tiny bit of exercise. Soon after, I also started a journaling practice and then started getting more intentional about creativity. I found the exercise woke up my brain and helped me have more energy throughout the day. I started small and then built up to a couch to 5k program. I have been running for 5 years now and have done several running races and triathlons. What does fitness have to do with a creative practice? For me,…

  • Creativity

    Five Ways to Click into a Creative Headspace

    Get started faster! Circling the Runway When I sit down to work on my novel, I turn on my computer and instead of jumping right into the next scene, I often check my Facebook notifications or my Medium stats for the day. I might check my work email and then my personal email. Maybe I will write back to my friends on Messenger. I don’t mean to waste time, but my resistance often manifests in needing to circle the runway a bit before I dive in. Eric Maisel, in Secrets of a Creativity Coach, talks about reducing what it takes to click into the creative mindset. He defines the problem…

  • Creativity,  Goal setting,  Mindfulness

    Writing a First Novel?

    Take it piece by piece I have been writing non-fiction articles and blogging for many years, so writing article-length items is normal for me. An idea for a novel-length fantasy story has been brewing in the back of my mind all these years and I have finally started putting the ideas on paper. I wondered if I would even have what it takes to write novel-length fiction. It’s so much longer than anything I’ve ever written before! I had a few false starts where I wrote one scene here and there but fizzled out. I bought myself a copy of Save the Cat! Writes a Novel and did some deep-down…