Dean and I practice Flying Star Feng Shui. I know it sounds like a circus act. There’s no swinging or falling involved, I assure you.

When you have flow in your environment, you have SPACE for words and ideas. Feng shui literally means-Wind water…imagine the fluidity of wind gently moving water in a constant direction…flow.

Right now my desk has four projects on it and some of them relate to writing, most don’t. I’ve got a few birthdays coming up, and bills, receipts, brochures, project ideas for my Astro-Intuitive counseling biz, and other stuff spread out. But usually I clear my desk at night before bed, so when I sit down in the morning to write I have a clear space. Folders, files, note pads are all great but THEN you have to actually use them to organize everything.

Go do that now. I’ll wait…

Anyway…my surroundings most definitely affect my writing. I conjure more evocative scenes when it’s raining outside than not. When there’s snow, I’m apt to write more poetic verse. Then there are days when I need absolute quiet and serenity. Ta da…Sedona and my office window do the trick nicely. The red mountains support me. They let me bounce ideas around without uttering a single word. And they don’t talk back. It’s really an ideal relationship.

It’s so crucial that you feel supported by your writing environment. Make it pretty or clean. De-clutter! Oh. That gives me an idea for the next post. Fong Schwong…aka Feng shui. Til next time.

I’ll reread the pages and have revelations about what to edit or not…Then I’ll read the pages ALOUD to see where the flow bottles up or runs on like a sentence that never wants to stop so it includes everything that has nothing to do with what’s pertinent to the story. See? Like that.

When I speak my pages aloud, I can hear where my storytelling naturally adds a pause or speeds up. That’s also been a very valuable tool for editing. Hope it helps you!

My husband, also a writer, would say, “Just write a scene, you can always go back and put it in somewhere later.”
I thanked him for the suggestion, tried that, but it didn’t work. It felt slow and laborious. I was needing an instantaneous result. (Aries trait…la la la.)

What I’ve found works best for me is to write, then come back to the pages and get a jump-start on the next scene by re-reading the last 5 or 6 pages. It feels like I hit the ground running with a momentum that helps me to keep going. Kind of like the high jump at a sporting event. As I read a few previous pages I suddenly pick up speed and leap into the next scene, clearing the bar for that day! I comb through pages as I pick up speed and words that need editing STOP MY momentum. That’s when I see where I could add or subtract a scene.

It’s a tremendous method I continue to use in everything I write. See if it works for you!
(Now if I can only apply it to dropping a few pounds!)

I’ll pick up a book at the library or bookstore and my husband Dean laughs at me and says, “But you’ve already read that.”

“Oh. I have? Did I like it?” And then I open it again and sigh, “Oh yeahhhh.” Then it all rushes back. “I remember now. I LOVE this book!”

So I’ve decided to keep a list. What a concept. I have a cute little journal with a list of all the books I’m reading. Okay, it’s not that I don’t remember ANY of the books I read, it just takes me longer to remember some. In the past few years, I’m a mom returning from sleep deprivation and reading the back of cereal boxes.

Happy to say that our daughter is twelve and very self sufficient. So what am I reading now? Just about everything I can get my hands on!

Well…I just got done reading Karen Harper’s ‘Mistress Shakespeare’ which I liked a lot. Even though I’m not so sure William Shakespeare actually wrote anything! (Another topic for another day, perhaps.)

Then I did my absolute best to get through Robert Massie’s ‘Catherine the Great’ but halfway through I almost imploded with info. It’s so well written but the facts alone require data storage that my brain just didn’t have this month. When I’m ready to write my thesis on Catherine, I’ll most certainly get back to it! (Especially since she was a Taurus!)

Then I read Zoe Klein’s ‘Drawing in the Dust’ which is a must read. Fun, rich, smart, classy.

Zipped through our daughter’s recommends (I read what she’s reading at her request). The ‘Maximum Ride’ series by James Patterson is perfect lighter reading to offset Massie’s book.

I’m now on book two of George Martin’s ‘Game of Thrones’ which is…thick…but fantastic characters and plots abound. The little-man dude is my fav…clever, self-centered, quasi-kind, manipulative…friend or foe? We’ll see.

What are you reading?

I suggested that she forget about a publisher and instead, to imagine the following (I advise the same for you). Forget about an agent or manager. Forget about an editor. Forget about the money you hope to make as an author or the notoriety. Forget it all and ask yourself this…How do I feel when I write? That’s the only question you want to ask yourself. And if your answer opens your heart, gives you a giddy feeling, or helps you to feel free or connected to something greater, makes you feel like you’re sharing something with the world, that you’re fulfilling your purpose somehow, then writing is your profession.

A profession is what your Spirit is here to share with the world. If you don’t feel those things or anything akin, then writing is your hobby or current job du jour and you’ll think even more about how to get a publisher, how much money you can make on your book or how much fame you’ll garnish MORE THAN the joy of writing.

There’s no write or wrong here. No judgments. Be honest about the INTENTION. When you know your intention, the ‘HOW’s’ fall into place. The Cosmos always shows you the ‘HOW.’ Always…promise!

My husband, Dean, is my other ultimate support. A writer himself, he’s also my motivator (and the comma police!).

“How many pages did you write today?” He’d ask.

“Um…well. A…lot…of…words?” I’d reply.

Doesn’t work anymore. With his (ahem) encouragment I’m now able to set a daily goal for myself. Ya’ know it’s funny. I set intentions all of the time and teach that to my clients in my spiritual counseling biz. Why, then, couldn’t or wouldn’t I do that with writing?

I scanned my resistance and realized that setting a writing goal felt like a huge burden. I set unrealistic goals of fifteen or twenty pages in my time alloted. Yikes. So I did what I do whenever I get stuck…I CHANGED MY MIND.

I set small goals like, one page for today, or today I’ll write two pages. Then when I looked back at the end of the day–whaddyaknow? I’d written four or five. It helped me to feel so darn productive. It’s a method that works so well, my daughter uses it with homework.

What USED to feel like an enormous pressure, suddenly became a freeing experience. See if that works for you with any goal.

You may have the inspiration to write and all of the accompanying excitement, but you may be unsure as to the actual topic. Easy. As an intuitive channel, I’ve spent years studying how the brain works so I can help my clients get over themselves. The frontal lobe can be overworked like a muscle when you’re working out. You can push yourself to ‘think’ of a topic but if you’ve been doing that for hours the frontal lobe will get tired.

The quickest way to revive is to give yourself a completely different focus. Mentally ‘walk away’ from your focus. Go wash dishes, take a walk, meditate, play with the puppy, do a crossword puzzle, bake cookies with your kids, fold laundry and watch an episode of ‘Glee’ (one of my favorite pasttimes) or otherwise get out of your head.

After about fifteen minutes, you’ll feel like you’ve had a nap and suddenly AH HA…something comes while you’re changing the kitty litter. Yes, the fresh scent of cedar comingles with a protaganist’s plight and you have your beginning.

I grabbed a pen and paper and wrote down the name of the maritime archeologist, googled her, and emailed her what I was writing and could she help me out. She was right in the middle of a dig but she took the time to email me back with just what I needed! People on tv have email addresses…so email them!