inspiration

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It’s Not Too Late for Your Book in 2018

Tomorrow…

It’s a word that’s ripe with promise. It feels shiny and new. There’s so much that can be accomplished… tomorrow.

Now, I’m not an expert on overcoming procrastination. In fact, I’m just as good at procrastinating as you are (and maybe even better!). And I’m all too familiar with the seduction that tomorrow holds.

  • Or this weekend.
  • Or next week.
  • Or in the spring.

Veteran’s Day was last week. And that starts the slide into The Holidays – that time when we feel that we’re in limbo and everything has to wait until … AFTER. After Thanksgiving. After holiday shopping. After the kids go back to school. After. After. After.

Plus the weeks between Christmas and New Year’s? It’s a limbo period on the calendar. When one year is winding down and the next looms on the horizon, fresh with promise of a new beginning.

It’s all too easy to put your dreams on hold – waiting for the New Year. It’s all too easy to write off the rest of 2017 – and forget about a more powerful word:

Now.

More immediate than even today, NOW is a word of power.

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Where’s the Line Between Rest-Reboot and Flat-Out Procrastination?

I’ll admit it:

I’m not the best at “self-care.”

I do my best to eat well, sleep as much as I can (mom of a 13-month-old here!), and move my bones every day.

I also do my best to not let clients down, meet my deadlines, and power through the regular case of the “I-don’t-wannas” that are part of the human condition.

Don’t binge watch Netflix and THINK you’re actually resting and rebooting your brain, your soul, and your creativity! Click To Tweet

It all begs the question:

Just where IS the line between needing a rest-reboot and kidding yourself that watching another episode of “Fixer Upper” isn’t really just avoiding a looming project or impending deadline?

Here are the three questions I ask myself:
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What’s on Your Bookshelf? Must-Have Resource Books for Authors

These are my “can’t live without” books for writing. To make your life easier, I’ve linked to their page on Amazon.com so you can just buy them with a click.

A dictionary (A GOOD dictionary)
Mine is a Webster’s and it was what I asked for from my grandmother when I graduated from high school. Now, before you point out that there’s an app for that (or a website or a widget or a thingymabob) there’s a REASON I still have an honest to goodness dictionary sitting on my shelf. When you look up a word for its correct spelling, definition or usage in a digital format you get exactly what you’re looking for and nothing else. When you look it up in a paper dictionary, you get to read all the other words that are on the page! And those other words always spark ideas.
Get Kim's Can't Live Without List of Resources for An Author. #freeresource #amwriting Click To Tweet
A thesaurus
I have two: the matching Webster’s to my dictionary and a really cool one by Roget’s called the Super Thesaurus. Of course you can look up synonyms and antonyms online, and even click to be taken to definition of any word you don’t recognize, there’s still something to be said for the ideas sparked by the orderly row of words on the page.

Rhyming Dictionary
I got this for writing poetry actually but keep it around because there’s something powerful and magical when you’re writing sales copy and you’re able to weave in slant rhyme or alliteration. It takes us back to our childhood, makes us feel safe, and makes me want to buy!

Words That Sell & MORE Words That Sell
Both by Richard Bayan.
It’s all there in the title: Words That Sell and MORE Words That Sell! The reason I recommend this in print is because it’s been my experience that reference books like this one just don’t work digitally. I discovered that buying a verb book for Italian. Sure it SEEMS like the hyperlinks work but they don’t always. Just get it in paper! PLUS you can dog ear your favorite pages!

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
By Marie Kondo
Why a book on de-cluttering in my resource list? This book reminds me that life is about what I keep—those things that spark joy—and not about what I discard. I also keep this book around because it reminds me that a seemingly “insignificant” or “niche” message can have profound and far-reaching impact on the world. (Your message matters!)

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Candles, Love, and Bear Hugs

Last August I wrote an article about feeling like a lone candle in the dark. Since then, I’ve carried that metaphor into a few different pieces – either articles or my weekly personal note to you in the newsletter.

Candles are a lot like love.

Lighting a candle from one already lit diminishes the first candle NOT AT ALL.

Love doesn’t divide, it multiplies. The more you give, the more you have.

Today, one candle to another, I want to send you my love. I want to reach through these words and wrap my arms around you in a hug (I give GREAT hugs) and be with you for a moment.

It’s not a quiet, sad kind of love with a gentle, gentle hug.

Nope, my fellow candle, it’s a big bear hug, I haven’t seen you in months and I’ve MISSED you, jump up and down and celebrate kind of hug. It’s the joyous way toddlers CRASH into legs with abandon, wrapping sticky arms around you in an unashamed burst of joy.

See, I’ve figured some stuff out since last August.

1. I’m not carrying your dream – you are!
Here’s the thing – you never actually ASKED me to carry it in the first place. So all that stress and worry and aching arms and heart over carrying your dream of being a published author – it was never mine in the first place. I stressed myself out (and maybe you too!) for something that wasn’t mine.

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Eat. You’ll feel better. – Kim’s Motto for 2018

Every January, I work my way through the Shining Year workbooks from Leonie Dawson. I love taking the time to dream up my year ahead. There’s one page in the Life workbook that asks me to create mottos for the year.

Gotta tell you, it’s always been a challenge for me to fill out that page. As message-focused as I am, and as message-focused as my clients are, this little motto usually has me beat.

This year, I found one – and I wanted to share it with you:

Eat. You’ll feel better.

(Hang with me, I’ve got a point!)

I’ve found that when I’m tired and the project Just.Isn’t.Working it’s usually because I’m hungry or thirsty – or both! (With a 4-month-old baby saying I’m tired is rather redundant and obvious!)

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5 Ways to Stay Inspired for Your Book (no matter what!)

For me, there’s a big difference between being inspired to write and having the motivation to write. One is about fun and ideas and flow and the other is about working towards a goal and keeping the end in mind.

I think that most books START with inspiration. You get that great idea, have that little voice whispering in your ear, or just get flat-out excited. It’s perfect to take those great feelings and get started! It’s that serendipitous moment that kick-starts the creativity.

Motivation is what keeps you going after the initial inspiration fades.

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t believe in writer’s block. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a LOT easier to write when inspiration is knocking.

Inspiration fades. 5 ways to keep writing anyway. Click To Tweet

And inspiration probably WILL fade over time. Work ethic and the “I’m not going to let anything get in my way” need to take over so eventually, the writing gets completed. Motivation is a needed ingredient in your writing. But inspiration, ah, inspiration! Without it, nothing would get started.

Don’t for one second think that inspiration is limited to writing fiction! All writing is creative. You have to find the right order of words to express your thoughts. (If you’ve ever struggled to convey your thoughts you know what I mean!)

5 Ways to Stay Inspired

1. When inspiration hits: WRITE
It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, drop everything and get words on paper. Period. No excuses. Inspiration doesn’t come around every day so make the most of it when it’s around. I’ve scribbled article drafts on napkins and done character sketches on the back of envelopes. And yes, I’m THAT WOMAN who’s pulled over to jot a note in the dust of the hood of my truck.

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Are You Writing a Book You Love?

Let’s talk about love…

At the risk of sounding overly sappy or 80’s movie corny…

Are you in love with your book?

Do you get the warm fuzzy feelings when you think of it?

Let me pause here:

I get it that you might feel overwhelmed with the amount of work ahead of you or the unknowns you’re facing. Especially around publishing… I’m talking about the topic you’re writing about, divorced from the work.

Do you get choked up imagining that person pulling your book off a shelf in a bookstore, curling up with it at home, and realizing that THIS was the book they needed?

Do you feel like you’re writing a love letter to the person who needs your message?

Do you?

Or are you writing the book you feel you should write? Writing it because:

… you want to be seen as an expert, so you’re pouring everything you know into one book.
… will do anything for more clients, and you’ve heard a book is the way to do that.
… it’s ‘time’ for you to write a book – you’ve done as much as you can in your business so this is the next step.
… feel like the book you’d love to write isn’t the one that you should write right now.

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