I had the pleasure of traveling to BlissDom09 in Nashville over the weekend--a conference of more than 300 bloggers. The keynote address was given by Jen Lancaster, who has her fourth memoir coming out in May.
She has a wicked sense of humor, a contagious laugh and I enjoyed her talk immensely. And I know I probably would have even if I hadn't been sitting next to one of her biggest fans (if not her biggest fan).
Often I bemoan the fact that I don't always have all the time I would like to follow my creative work to its completion. (How many of us have ideas scrawled on grocery lists or on notepaper tucked in as a bookmark?)
I have a children's book that moves higher up the pile of my creative work, only to push all the other ideas and creative work down. And that is just one pile.
Listening to Jen Lancaster convinced me I need to follow through and (again) set attainable goals. Amazingly, she convinced me of this even as she admitted to having a marathon writing session in the months leading up to her deadlines--8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for weeks on end. Mind you, I don't have the publishing contract(s) yet, but certainly honoring the creative work is one big step towards moving the book up the pile--or something else and spending even an extra 15 minutes on it.
She mentioned that, according to Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers, it is a lot of hard work, amassing up to 10,000 hours to become good at something. It is not going to be your talent that guarantees your success, but spending time at your craft and celebrating that you get to do it. Even if it is just a few extra minutes a day.
Celebrating your craft--what a fantastic way to celebrate you!
Elizabeth King Humphrey is a creativity coach and the moderator/main blogger for CoastalCarolinaMoms.com. She is also a freelance writer, columnist and blogs for wilmaville.com. She knows she needs a couple extra minutes each day to spend creatively, but she's been enjoying the energizing company of the BlissDom and WOW! women.
When do you do your best writing?
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
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4 comments:
"Celebrate your craft." What a fantastic mantra, and something to keep in mind whenever the going gets tough (like you receive 4 rejections in one day like I did yesterday!). Thanks for the uplifting post. Sounds like a great conference.
Great post, Elizabeth!
Elizabeth,
Great post! I wish I could've gone to Blissdom! I love the energy at conferences--and the inspiration I always bring home from them!
Jen Lancaster is hilarious. I love her blog: Jensylvania. On a good day, I could only hope to channel 10% of her humor! Even a quick trip to her blog reminds me I need to get back to creating something new. And I love that my book is on the shelf directly across from hers at my local B&N. Maybe some of her prolific-ness will rub off on me when I walk by! LOL
Thanks for sharing your Blissdom experience!
I need to set aside time for writing stories again. At one point, I was doing 1,000 words a day and finished a rough draft of a novel in no time, but since I started writing for profit... well, let's just say that it's nice to pay the bills, but I've forgotten what it's like to finish a story!
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