Your Own Energy

The first thing to realize is that you are in control of your own energy. You can begin to use basic energy--the kind that comes from food, air, loving relationships, nature's beauty and the flow of creativity--for your own good. All these sources of energy are available to you all the time.d They are a part of your birthright; they connect you to the flow of life, which is constantly renewing itself ~ Deepak Chopra

There are days when I cannot count on any else's energy but my own. As a matter of fact, I've just had a couple of weeks of relying on my own energy to move forward on my next project. Just when it seems like things should be getting easier with writing, it just gets tougher and tougher.

Sometimes the only energy I can muster is to sit down and get started on the task and just do it.  The simple act of doing helps me do more. It's one of the easiest lessons I've learned about this endeavor.

I hope you can gleam the same wisdom as it applies to your dream journey.  Just do it and you will find the energy you need to continue.

Where do you find energy?

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Is it possible for two Civil War veterans to find their place in the world on the Kansas Prairie?
 
When the War Between the States ended in 1865 many Americans emerged from the turmoil energized by their possibilities for the future. Frank Greerson and Gregory Young were no different. After battling southern rebels and preserving the Union, the two men set out to battle the Kansas Prairie and build a life together. Frank yearned for his own farm, away from his family—even at the risk of alienating them. Gregory, an only child, returned home to claim his inheritance to help finance their adventure out west.

Between the difficult work of establishing a farm on the unforgiving Kansas prairie, and the additional obstacles provided by the weather, Native Americans and wild animals, will their love and loyalty be enough to sustain them through the hardships?

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Thoughts, Words, Actions

Every thought you produce, anything you say, any action you do, it bears your signature ~ Thich Nhat Hank

I think that anyone following a dream goal is worthy of respect.  Today's quote speaks to that even further.  I think it's just as important to build your dream with dignity and ethics as well.

For every step you achieve in your dream journey, there are hundreds (or thousands) behind you looking up to you.  When we share our accomplishments on social media, we have all these followers looking up to us for guidance and example.

What example does your dream journey hold for others?

Your Greatest Strength

When I walk into a boardroom or stand before an audience or just move through the world, I bring all my history with me--all the the people who paved the way for me are part of who I am. I take my greatest strength from their strength ~ Oprah Winfrey

Where do you get your greatest strength? Maybe it's from your dream journey community. That's where I get a lot of my strength. I love following fellow writers on Facebook and Twitter and seeing them reach their daily goals.

I'm also finding strength from my writing group. I belong to a group of six other beginning writers who critique each others work on a weekly basis.  Each of my partners has a different strength in their writing and suggestions.  As I rewrite Disappear with Me in preparation for submission, I hear their individual suggestions in my head.  All their suggestions strengthening my writing.

Who do you gather strength from on your dream journey?

The Right Frame of Mind

Lucky people create, notice, and act upon the chance opportunities in their lives. Being in the right place at the right time is actually all about being in the right state of mind ~ Richard Wiseman

Are you in the right state of mind?  Even I can admit, there have been times on my dream journey when I have not been in the right state of mind to find opportunity or receive feedback.

Since Saturday, I have been completing retyping my manuscript, Disappear With Me.  Yes, I am a writer and typing is what I do, but before this I had always just massaged the manuscript in its original form.  But I recently read this advice in a book, but I was resistant to try to this method.

All I could think about was the expense in ink and paper so I'd have the manuscript printed out to work from.  All I could think about was how much longer it would take to get the manuscript ready for submission.  I used every excuse I could think of to not try this method.

Yet, when I look back on many of the methods I used to be productive, most of them I reluctantly tried at first. So, armed with just my iPad and laptop, I started this retyping my manuscript on Saturday.  I figured out an acceptable word count goal to rewrite each day to get this manuscript ready for submission within a month. And with the right state of mind, I am much more excited about my second novel than I have ever been, as Leander's story gets refined little by little each day.

Tell me about a time when you were resistant change and were pleasantly surprised when you tried something new, I'd love to hear.

A Different Story

Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told.  I decided I was safe.  I was strong. I was brave ~ Cheryl Strayed

A co-worker of mine shared with me that she promoted to unit leader in her direct sales business over the weekend.  Actually, she promoted to the next level up because she promoted another unit leader with her.  What wonderful news!  She's changing the story she's been told and is finding success in sales in today's economy.

No matter what your dream journey or dream goal, you'll always have to tell yourself a different story than what everyone tells you.  As recent as a couple of years ago, someone told me not to get an MFA in Creative Writing because a career in writing wouldn't pay as much as a getting an MBA and staying in business.  Talk about having to tell yourself a different story.

No matter what your dream journey, someone is always going to be there telling you it can't be done right now, in the future, or ever.  You just have to tell yourself a different story that it can be done, by you.

What's a "different story" you had to tell yourself and how did you make it come true?

For Art and For Life

I had to be strong enough to allow myself to be vulnerable.  Great lesson.  For art and for life ~ Jane Lynch

I hate the expression "It's not personal, it's business."  I've poured my heart and soul into nearly every project or team that's been successful.  And that's the way it's been with my dream goals.

When you're following a dream journey, many times you need other peoples' help.  If you're in direct sales, you need hosts and team members.  If you're trying to get published, you need at least one editor who understands your work enough to take a chance on you.

When was the last time you had a vulnerability moment?

One Stone at a Time

The best way to move a mountain is one stone at a time.  Nothing is insurmountable if you take one step before you take the next ~ Ed and Deb Shapiro

I remember doing a group interview for a job and once of the interviewers asked me, "How do you move mountains?"  My answer was, "One stone at a time." 

Whenever you have a daunting task ahead, dream goal or otherwise, it's always easier to break things down into smaller steps and goals.  Even when I quit smoking, I celebrated all my little milestones:  each day until it was a week.  Each week until it was a month.  Then one month became three, three became six, six became nine, and finally I was celebrating my first year smoke free.  I just just celebrated sixteen years smoke free.

I recently went through this exercise with my manuscript, Disappear with Me.  I want it ready for submission in June.  I counted the weeks until then and the number of pages left to edit.  I now have a daily and weekly goal of pages that need editing to have the manuscript ready for submission in June.

Tell me about time you had a big goal and how you broke it down?

Tuning In

If you ask people (as I often do) how they make decisions, "lucky" people will talk about tuning in to information and instincts, while "unlucky" people often mention pushing away the uncomfortable feeling they were headed for trouble ~ Martha Beck

If there's anything I've learned about following your dreams, I've definitely had to step out of my comfort zone to achieve many of the goals I've set for myself.  That has been tough.  But once I stepped out of my comfort zone, made goals and routines and stuck to them, most recently, my writing dreams are slowly coming true.

What are you doing this weekend to step out of your comfort zone and start making your dreams come true?

That is For You

Look at the sky:  that is for you.  Look at each person's face as you pass on the street:  those faces are for you [...] Remember this when you wake up in the morning and think you have nothing ~ Miranda July

Can you believe it's the beginning of March already?  We're already two months into 2013.  How is your year going so far?

A year ago, I found my spark.  I found a regular blogging routine that has me posting four days a week.  I found the end of my first novel, A Place to Call Their Own, and finished writing the first draft.  I found a new job with a new schedule that allowed me to the time to write and earn a living.

What a difference a year can make!  A year later I'm still blogging regularly, I finished A Place to Call Their Own, and I finished the first draft of a second novel, Disappear with Me.  And later this year, A Place to Call Their Own is scheduled to be published by Musa Publishing.

If you haven't started your dream journey this year, it's not too late.  Just imagine what you might be able to say a year from now about your accomplishments.

How is your 2013 going?  I'd love to hear!

An Inhabited Garden

The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers, & cities; but to know someone who thinks and feels with us, and who, though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden ~ Johann van Goethe

Have you figured out what wakes you up each day or what excites you so much you're unable to sleep at night?  Did you know that there's probably others out there, on the same dream journey as yourself?  Even at the some point along the way?

Belonging to a community of other people actively engaging in their dream journeys has been very helpful for me.  Social media makes that even easier in today's world.  There are Facebook groups, Twitter hashtags, and Google+ communities you can search to find others actively engaged in your similar dream journey.

For writers, one of my new favorite communities is the Writer's Dojo on Google+.  What's your favorite online spot to find community?

The Path of Joy

Learning to live in the preset moment is part of the path of joy ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach

I've talked a lot about creating a vision and goals for the future.  I've talked a lot about using visualization to get you through the tough times.  Look at all my dream boards on Pinterest!

I hope I've also made clear the importance of working in the present moment.  No matter how much you visualize and plan, I'm convinced your dreams won't come true without hard work.  That's where your routines and boundaries come in. No matter what your dream journey, you have to have routine, focused activities to achieve those stretch goals.

I'll also be the first to admit that sometimes those routines can get to be more of a chores.  That happened to me last summer.  But I worked through those feelings and just two months later, my second novel was written.  Now nine months later, I'm getting ready to publish my first novel with Musa Publishing.

Have you been working in the present moment?

Your Are Not Alone

Many people need desperately to receive this message: "I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people don't care about them.  You are not alone." ~ Kurt Vonnegut

Do you ever feel like you're alone on your dream journey?  When I do, I just take a look at my Twitter or Facebook feeds and understand quickly that I am not alone.  It helps me. 

You can find community in many places.  Social media helps many people connect all over the country and world.  Depending on your dream journey, many times you can find local groups for support, education, and inspiration.

Where do you find community on your dream journey?

Canvas to Our Imagination

The world is but canvas to our imaginations ~ Henry David Thorreau

I hope that you have a productive weekend planned.  For some of us, that include working on our dream journey goals.  I have lots of editing waiting for me.

For others, it means rest and relaxation.  You'll have completed your goals for the week and have planned to just enjoy the weekend with your family and friends.  And that's awesome.

Are you more or less productive on your goals during the weekend?

Right or Better

Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right or better ~ John Updike

No matter what your dream journey, I believe it certainly does become creative when one cares about doing it right or better. 

No matter what your dream journey, you should be able to obtain books and other reading material to help you on your journey.  I am blessed to have such resources available for writer like myself, aspiring to be published.  In the last six months I've honed my reading schedule to assist with getting better at the craft of writing.

I am on schedule where I read a novel that I want to emulate, a book for research, and finally a book to improve my writing.  Recently I finished reading Writing 21st Century Fiction by Donald Maass to help improve my writing/storytelling.  I am currently reading The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton  because its plot resembles what I'm trying to accomplish with Disappear With Me.  When I am finished with The Forgotten Garden, I will be moving to research for my next book, The Higher Law.

What types of books do you read to further your dream journey? 

We Do Not Need Magic

We do not need magic to change the world, we all carry the power we need inside ourselves already:  we have the power to imagine better ~ J.K. Rowling

The power to imagine better gets better each time we are creative.  It took me four years to write my first manuscript, largely due to the fact that I didn't plan my novel beyond its premise.  Last year, I sat down and brainstormed the end of the novel after writing two-thirds of it.

Recognizing the power of outlining and planning, I outlined my entire second novel, Disappear With Me.  With that outline in hand, I was able to write the first draft (at 90,000 words)in just four months!  Again, the more creative I used, the better my "imagining" became.

I am now entrenched in editing Disappear With Me.  Even as I work through each chapter I am coming up with new and different ideas to use in the novel.  It's been a wonderful experience.  And when I am done with Disappear with Me, once again I will return to A Place to Call Their Own and continue to massage it.

My point is that as I gain more experience with my writing, I'm becoming more creative.  Instead of running out of ideas, which is my fear, I am coming up with more and more of them.  The same can work for you in your dream journey.  The more ideas one comes up with and implement on your dream journey, the more creative one tends to be.

What have you done on your dream journey that's been a breath of fresh air?

Open Your Heart

The possibility for rich relationships exists all around you -- you simply have to open your eyes, open your mouth, and most importantly, open your heart ~ Cheryl Richardson

No matter what your dream journey, the going can be lonely sometimes.  Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person trying to write a novel and be published in today's publishing world and no one else has had the struggles writing that I have.  Hah!

The cool thing about today's social network society is that there are millions of other writers to connect with on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, you name it.  It's nice to be able to build community and gain insight from others who are doing the same thing that I am doing. 

Again, no matter what your dream journey, you should also be able to seek them out on the various social networks.  Like the quote says, you just have to be open!

Do you have any New Year's Resolutions around social networking this year?  I'd love to hear!

The Life that is Waiting for You

We must be willing to let go of the life we've planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us ~ Joseph Campbell

Happy New Year, once again!  I hope your year is starting off the way you want!  Mine sure is...

This is a great time of year to examine your life and determine whether you're missing out on anything.  Traditionally it's the time of year most individuals and organizations review their goals for the upcoming year and start working towards them.  And that's why today's quote seems so appropriate.

I let go of the life I had planned five years ago when my partner and I moved from Denver, Colorado to Bella Vista, Arkansas.  I knew that I wouldn't live in Colorado for my entire life, I just didn't realize it would be so soon before I left.  It was during the employment transition that I started writing my first novel.  Five years later, I've written two novels and have started a third.  I'll be looking to publish the first two this year.

So if you're struggling in your dream journey, see if you can determine if there's anything you haven't let go to make it happen.  Maybe there's something you're holding onto that is preventing you from having the life that is waiting for you?

What are your New Year's Resolutions/Goals?  I'd love to hear!

The Mystery of Grace

I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it founds us ~ Anne Lamott

I like this quote so much today, I'm going to leave it at that.  I hope your dream journey is providing you all the grace you deserve in life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

All we have is all we need.  All we need is the awareness of how blessed we really are ~ Sara Ban Breathnach

It's Thanksgiving Day in the U.S.  Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope this day brings you joy, however you celebrate, what ever you do.

I feel really blessed this year to have my writing on track where it needs to be, to have a job that absolutely enjoy.  I have a schedule that allows me the time in the morning to work on my writing when I am at my best and I have bosses that allow me the time off on Friday so I can enjoy a nice long weekend.

Whether it's Thanksgiving or not where you are, what are you thankful for this year?

A Calm White Page

[Writing is] being able to take something whole and fiercely alive that exists inside you in some unknowable combination of thought, feeling, physicality, and spirit, and to then store it like a genie in tense, tiny black symbols on a calm white page ~ Mary Gaitskill

Being a dreamer is also like taking your thoughts, feelings, physicality, and spirit and storing it in your work.

There are about six weeks left of the year.  For some, you've met your goals and you can glide through the holidays pretty easily.  For others, Thanksgiving is the time that the busy season begins through the end of the year.

Whatever the season brings for you, I hope you make the most of it.  If there is still time for you to meet your goals, I wish you the best of the luck.  I feel very fortunate and humble to have exceeded my goals for 2012.  I finished my first novel, A Place to Call Their Own.  After some editing and feedback I am ready to send it to an editor. 

But I exceeded even my own expectations by completing the first draft of a second novel, Disappear With Me.  I am ready to start my own round of self editing and then it should be ready for submissions or self publication next year as well. 

I haven't figured out my goals exactly for 2013, you'll have to keep in tune.  I am very happy with what I've accomplished this year.

Did your 2012 go as planned?