Writing

What Does Your Creative Muse Say About Your Book?

December 11, 2017 by Lisa Tener

creative writing muse — Meet Your Muse and Get Re-Inspired

I thought I knew what book she “should” write before we consulted her creative muse.

I was wrong.

It happens.

And that’s why I love my process for helping new authors clarify their book concept: they look within for their final answers.

consulting creative muse — Here’s another book whose author got clarity by consulting her creative muse.

Your Book Concept: The Whats of Your Book

What do I mean by book concept? Think of it as the “whats” of your book:

What’s your vision for what your book will accomplish in the world, in your readers’ lives and in your own life?
What’s your book about?
Who’s it for? (Or what’s the target market if you want to be a stickler about the “whats”?)
What features do you want to include?
What content do you plan for it?
What fits and what should you save for an in depth course or private consulting or the next book?
What’s the structure of your book?
What method of publishing do you choose?

I like to have clients determine the whats well before writing. You’ll save much time and heartache by doing this kind of planning first.

And so, these are the questions we tackle during the book concept consultation.

The Creative Muse Process

We start with your vision and work from there. I share what I know about the publishing industry and help an author evaluate whether to plan on self publishing or whether their book is a likely candidate for traditional publishing (and what it would take to get there).

We brainstorm ideas to make the book fresh and resonant for the target audience. We get creative.

As we go, we make a list of questions for the author’s creative muse—her creative source, her highest guidance, her inner knowing.

At that point, I guide the author in my favorite exercise, which I call, “Meet Your Muse.”

I asked the author to ask her creative muse to, “Show me my readers.”

These readers were younger than we expected. They were a completely different market from that of the primary book she planned to write. And the content was completely different as well!

creative writing muse as hawk — Your muse may be a totem animal, wise being or just a felt sense of connecting with something greater than yourself.

Yet, her muse remained firm. “These are your people.”

So we went with it and she got more clarity on the content, title, motivations and even her big picture business plan. WOW.

A few times she said, “I think…” and I knew she was back in her head and it wasn’t her creative muse speaking. We returned to the muse and got a consistent and inspiring message.

When I asked her how it felt to see herself making this her primary focus she said, “Light. It feels right.”

What would your creative muse say about your book idea? You can find out by trying the free guided visualization for writers here.

7 Ways to Keep Your Book Alive When You Don’t Have Time to Write It

November 29, 2017 by Lisa Tener

VIP Day with book writing coach Lisa — Teri Cavangh attended a workshop with me 5 or 6 years ago when she “retired” and planned to write her book. An amazing new job opportunity and her volunteer work got in the way of her plan but now she’s retired again and her surprise job inspired the new vision for her book. We got together this Fall for a VIP day to plan her book! Clearly, her book is coming in its own perfect timing.

Keep Your Book Alive

This past weekend I heard from people who had joined the Write Your Book community in 2011, 2012, 2013. It blew my mind that they’d stayed on my list that long, reading emails, commenting on blog posts, keeping their books alive and waiting for the right time to write their books—perhaps just starting, or perhaps returning to material they began years ago. In the past few days, many of them have stepped up and committed to programs that can help them produce a first draft in as little as eight weeks.

Don’t worry. I’m not going to tell you to buy anything or step up yourself. In fact, I’m going to suggest you give yourself some slack if you’re not ready!

Relax

You may not have the time, “head space,” or energy to commit to write a first draft in the next several months, but I imagine you do want to stay connected to your book. You want to think about it, maybe do some writing when you can.

What you don’t want is to forget about that dream completely. You want to hold on to that spark of inspiration, maybe even have it grow into a cozy fireplace fire to warm you.

I can tell you that any time you spend on your book will help make that book a reality in the future, whether you’re “just” day dreaming about your future as a published author or you’re actually typing words into a computer file for Chapter 3. You’re keeping your book alive.

How Tara Kept Her Book Alive

I met Tara Mardigan in 2010 at Harvard Medical School’s publishing course and she confessed that she “always wanted to write a book.” We kept in touch over the years. Three and a half years later, I worked with her and her co-author Kate Weiler as they conceptualized and structured the book that became Real Fit Kitchen, published in 2015 by Fair Winds Press. During the interim, Tara took one of my classes, commented on blog posts and read my newsletters when she could make the time.

real fit kitchen book cover At the time, as nutritionist for the Red Sox who also saw private clients, Tara wasn’t able to make time to devote herself to her book for several years. She kept it alive by reading, noting ideas on index cards, filing away recipes and thinking about book ideas from time to time. All that time reading emails and blog posts, staying connected, I imagine her subconscious was also working on the book. And all those recipes filed away saved time later when writing in full swing.

How Carol Stayed Inspired and Got Unstuck

I met Carol Lambert at the Harvard Medical School CME Publishing course as well. Carol, too, took a hiatus during an intense time, yet her worked helped her stay connected to her publishing dreams.

“My inspiring clinical work that I immersed myself in each week kept the flame lit in the value of what I had to offer. I never let go of the strong desire to write what I learned in order to reach more women—a much wider audience—who could benefit. At one point, I asked myself what would I regret at 80 years old and the first thing that came to my mind was, “Not finishing my book.” This set me on a course to prioritize my writing all the way to completion.”

Your Turn

I can share many other examples of now-published authors, or emerging authors who have signed a book deal and are completing their manuscripts, who did not truly “buckle down” for many years. Now, some writers feel guilty about not writing, or even shameful. Please, don’t do that to yourself. These gestating authors may even read a newsletter article or blog post and use the information to beat themselves up over not producing. But not you. Please, use others’ successes to fuel your own. Take joy in their accomplishments and know that this will be you one day.

Find little ways to move forward with your book and trust that you are on the right path.

Carol Lambert took a couple of years off before finishing her book proposal.

How Will You Keep Your Book Alive?

Here are 7 Ways to Keep Your Book Alive:

Read About Writing Books: This will keep the conversation about your book alive within you. You can use the time to learn about book writing and publishing so that when you do have time to write, you write from a space of being informed.
Fantasize About Your Life as a Published Author: That’s right. Daydream. As you imagine your book making a difference in your readers’ lives and transforming your own, that positive energy will help motivate you to create space in your life for your book.
Allow Ideas to Percolate, Take Notes and File Them: You can start small with notes, ideas, recipes, exercises—any little thing that inspires you. It will keep you moving forward and save time when you do write your book. It also takes off some pressure when you don’t have to come up with everything all at once, particularly if you get a book deal and need to write on deadline.
Connect with Your Vision from Time to Time: When I work with emerging authors, I have them create a vision statement to read each day or whenever they write. They work on the vision statement until it feels like a 10 out of 10 on the inspiration scale. You might consider creating a vision statement or vision board. Post it somewhere you can see it every day.
Revisit the Idea from Time to Time: Don’t leave it for forever. Schedule it in your calendar to ask yourself once or twice a year, “Is the time now? Could I make the time to write my book?” Feel into your heart and see what answer you get. If you feel excited, maybe it’s time. If you feel a clear no, that’s an answer too. If you feel afraid, that may tell you that it is time to muster up the courage and get support to explore.
Plan for a Time When You Will Make Time: If now’s not the time, can you plan to take some things off your plate in the next six months or year?
Look for Stories in Everyday Life: A client’s breakthrough, a personal challenge, an odd encounter during your day can all help illustrate points you wish to make in your book. Be on the lookout for little things that could fit in your book and jot down some notes or make an audio recording on your phone, so you have access to the details when you’re ready to pull it all together. Carol shared with me yesterday that she, “collected vignettes from my clinical work that provided illustrations of my theoretical findings which both validated what I wanted to say and inspired me to hold on to my dream to write my book.”

Please share what you’re doing to keep your book alive, or ask your questions as a comment below.

Book a VIP Day: Get That Fall Magic Working for Your Book

November 9, 2017 by Lisa Tener

Working on Teri’s book concept during her VIP Day.

Years ago, Teri Cavanagh drove from Cape Cod to Wakefield, Rhode Island for a workshop I was giving on Writing in the Zone (or was it Jump Start Your Book). She left with the promise she’d be back one day to write her book.

Just when she thought the time had come, an incredible job opportunity came her way and she had to put the book aside.

This fall, though, the time for her book truly had arrived. She’d cleared her plate and ordered a “she shed” to create a special place to write her book. And she signed up for a VIP day to get clear on the book concept, structure, title and…well…I’ll let her tell it. Suffice it to say, I think I enjoyed our VIP Day as much as Teri.

What Teri Said About Her Book Writing VIP Day

“I knew I needed my VIP meeting DAY with Lisa when I realized I was just going in circles not getting my dream of writing my book started. I discovered being my own coach was not a winning formula at all.

Teri’s “She Shed” from Home Depot. It will be built on site just after Thanksgiving!

“I wanted to find a title for my book as well as have Lisa provide me with structure for content, edit my writing a bit and provide advice on the marketing ideas.

“We accomplished so much on my special VIP day. I overcame challenges and concerns about finding the right title. Our brainstorming session was so much fun exploring creative avenues. We landed on exactly the right title and subtitle to capture the promise and intention of why I wanted to write this book.

“Lisa’s ‘meet my muse’ exercise, brought new and exciting insight for how I might develop each chapter, allowing for more spontaneity for my stories. Lisa’s keen editing has definitely brought my sample chapters to life for my readers, as well as tightened up my writing for greater impact.

On the porch: I must have said something funny!

“My next round of writing will definitely yield better results now that I know how to bring it to life for my readers, how to tighten the writing and much more.

“I can’t say enough about my day:the return on my investment in myself, the value I received from my expert coach, Lisa. The special extras of a brainstorming walk in nature, a wholesome lunch and sitting on her lovely deck while working together made my day a WOW!!”

This time of year can also be a wonderful time to work on your book. When it gets colder (at least here in the Northeast), we often turn inward and plant the seeds for our creative projects.

Lissa Wheeler’s VIP Day Was Instrumental In Completing and Publishing Her Book

Here’s an example of another VIP day from a few years ago with Lissa Wheeler, whose book, Engaging Resilience, became an Amazon Bestseller with all five star reviews (15 of them so far!). In just one day, Lissa and I:

– Polished her manuscript

– Planned her strategy for platform building

– Created a break through on a particular challenge

– Reconnected Lissa with her confidence and passion

– Helped Lissa commit to her next steps in a way that felt do-able, enjoyable and sustainable, rather than pushing herself.

Saunderstown Beach

We paced ourselves with a walk around Saunderstown enjoying the gardens, the beach and Narragansett Bay while we brainstormed about a couple of a challenges and helped her get unstuck about a particular issue, coming up with a plan that created ease and calm where there had been fear.

She left refreshed, reignited, with very clear plans, including the revisions to make to her manuscript.

What Lissa Says About Her VIP Day

“My VIP Day with Lisa Tener addressed my biggest challenges, created breakthroughs with several issues that had been blocking my path and helped me get a huge chunk of work done in one day.

“As a complete novice in writing. Lisa’s Bring Your Book to Life® Program gave me confidence that I could write a book.

author head shot Lissa Wheeler — Lissa Wheeler

“As my next step, I brought my first draft to my VIP Day, where Lisa helped me understand the big picture, the changes needed to make my book easy—and a pleasure—for the reader.

“In our VIP Day, Lisa also introduced me to the marketing process and educated me to build my website and reach potential readers.

“I left with a much clearer idea of editing and how to make the information accessible, effortless to read.

“I love how Lisa paced the day. We started with editing. After, we took a walk— which was such a pleasure—and explored my personal issues with writing—where I lacked confidence, fear of being seen and fear of success.

“Our conversation helped me feel less intimidated and made the next steps feel do-able.

“After a delicious lunch we looked at the marketing aspects. Lisa educated me about my website, as well as social media, which always intimidated me. She showed me how it can be a useful and friendly tool.

“Lisa helped me honor my own pacing.

“It was a lot of fun. I left with a clear plan of my next steps and dates and a feeling that ‘this is going to happen for me.’

book cover — Engaging Resilience became an Amazon Bestseller!

“And it did! My book, Engaging Resilience, became an Amazon Bestseller and is now making a difference in people’s lives.

“Publishing my book has brought in new clients from unexpected sources, which is fun. My dream is to educate the larger bodywork community about the trauma work described in my book. Becoming a published author has started to open those doors as I connect with people in my field who can help me make that happen.”

Is It Time for Your VIP Day with Your Book Writing and Publishing Coach?

Is it your turn to get the kind of help that could jump start (or help you finish!) your book or book proposal?

If you would like to get feedback, brainstorm, get unstuck and make significant progress on your book or book proposal…CLICK TO TWEETa VIP day may be just what you need.

You and I will both prepare for your VIP day before and after, together and individually, so that you will get the most out of the experience and also have the momentum, support and accountability to continue to make great strides after the event. VIP days cost $4,997, including our preparation and follow up activities and calls.

But you can save 30% when you order during our Thanksgiving sale. Keep your eyes out for my post-Thanksgiving emails where I will be offering a 30% savings for four days (you can use the VIP Day whenever you want; you just need to purchase during those 4 days for the savings).

You don’t have to wait for the sale to explore though. If you would like to chat with me and see whether a VIP day is what you need to make your big leap, contact me to discuss your vision, needs and desired outcome.

Taking Risks, Teaching and Writing in Thailand

June 6, 2017 by Lisa Tener

Teaching and Writing in Thailand: Taking Risks

As I planned my time for teaching and writing in Thailand, I asked my inner muse for clarity about my trip to Thailand. “Don’t plan,” she advised. “Be in the moment. Let it unfold. See where you’re led.”

Though it challenged me, I listened to my muse.

I had a couple of ideas for where I wanted to visit on my days off from teaching, but I mostly let go of those ideas and set out on adventures that presented themselves day to day.

Discovering the Chao Phraya River and a New Teacher

Much of my adventure centered around an article I read in the Bangkok Post about Kundalini Yoga teacher Sunderta She Kaur and the Shaolin Staff Qigong class she would be offering at The Siam Hotel that week. I’d been praying for a qigong teacher/mentor and, though the idea of practicing with a staff didn’t particularly appeal to me, I decided to reach out, in case this was my answered prayer—though a teacher halfway across the globe seemed a bit extreme.

I scheduled a private session for the following day and, at Sunderta’s urging, I took the “sky train”—think above ground “subway”—and met her at Saphan Taksin BTS Station pier on the Chao Phraya River.

I’d been intimidated by the river on my first trip to Bangkok, but my muse seemed to lead me there.

We took the Siam Hotel taxi boat up river, about a 45 minute ride taking us past old homes, dilapidated industrial spaces, skyscraper hotels and residences, elaborate and colorful Buddhist temples (my favorite), barges, taxi boats, long tail boats (for traveling the city’s canals)—such variety.
The journey seemed to tell a story of Bangkok—about its traditional-modern-artistic-anciently-rooted-spiritual culture.

The cool breeze on the river, as well as the covered boat, served as the perfect antidote to the otherwise steamy weather.
Our river trip was followed by a private lesson in Shaolin Staff Qigong, in an exquisite space on a circular marble dais, followed by Kundalini yoga breath work and then a gong sound meditation.

My teacher, Sunderta, teaching Shaolin Staff Qigong at The Siam

The staff techniques turned out to be especially appealing—Twisting Dragon, Carry the Moon, Lifting the Sky, Cleaning the Rice, Dancing Crane, Monkey Alert. Each move taught me about energy flow, conservation, efficiency.

It felt as if the staff imbued me with a sense of support, strength and power. It helped guide my movements and focus my energy.

Later, I spent a few minutes sipping ginger tea in a quiet spa room followed by a relaxing lunch by the river with Sunderta, learning more about her Manitoba roots and her yoga and qigong journey.

The professors at NIDA Business School asked great questions and also shared their book writing strategies with each other.

I reviewed the movements—sans staff—that night in my hotel room at the Radisson Hotel and again the morning before I taught a writing and publishing workshop at NIDA Business School.

Renewed and Refreshed

The qigong series helped me feel strong, focused, mentally prepared for the class, despite having traveled 30 hours door-to-door just two days prior—operating halfway around the world in an opposing time zone.

Until my workshop finished, I hardly wrote. I jotted down a few rough notes. That’s all. The productive “do-er” in me wanted more.

I let it be okay—both the not writing much and the judgment about it.

Flowing Like a River

Once class ended, the words began to flow and I captured the surprises and quirky details of my trip. But I didn’t “make” the next few days about writing, despite feeling tempted to do so.

I listened to my muse. I let it be about surrender and trust.

And that helped my writing flow.

I had thought that my writing in Thailand about this trip might complete the writing I began on my first trip, but it didn’t. The two bodies of work, if you can call it that, have their own themes, tone and voice.

I let that be okay, too.

Sometimes you just have to write and let the writing take you where it wants—up a river; under an awning at a temple during a raging thunderstorm; in Shivassana—corpse pose—listening to the whistles, caws and songs of the garden birds outside the opulent marble room; to about a dozen colorfully neon-lit banks (to wire my Thai baht payment to my bank); through the flooded streets of Sukhumvit; and to a warming shower.

Trying to control where the writing travels stops the flow. And so you follow the muse and wait.

I’m still waiting. I’m not sure how these trips will tie together in a book or whether they will at all.

And that’s okay. As long as I keep writing—in Thailand and when I return home.

Writing, Publishing and Platform-Building Tips from #Harvardwriters2017

April 5, 2017 by Lisa Tener

writers at the harvard medical publishing course — Dr. James Zender; Alan Rozanski, MD; Lisa Tener, MS; Candyce Ossefort-Russell, LPC-S

It’s a high moment.

We sit around the oak table in the Oak Room in Boston’s Fairmont Hotel, Copley Square. Harvard Medical School’s CME writing and publishing course has just ended and the air seems charged with enthusiasm and insights.

I am with three clients—Dr. James Zender, expert in auto accident recovery; and two participants in my Bring Your Book to Life® Program, grief expert Candyce Ossefort-Russell and Alan Rozanski, MD, pioneer of Behavioral Cardiology and author of over 200 academic articles and research studies.

We share the takeaways, the shifts, the new ideas.

We brainstorm on the structure of Alan’s book. Alan could write a dozen books and still have more research to share. His challenge? To pare it down to the one theme of this book, yet give readers all the tools they need to implement—and stick with—the health strategies he offers.

James shares the new platform-building initiatives he is planning after speaking with an interested agent.

With Candyce Ossefort-Russell at Harvard Medical school publishing course

Candyce shares how she’d been working on her book on and off for five years until the aha moment swimming at the Y when she realized that if she died that day her only regret would be not having written and published her grief book.

If you missed the course, I hope to share a few insights during the next few days. Today, Candyce, Alan and James offer their takeaways:

Alan Rozanski, MD found himself inspired, “to be among a sea of like-minded individuals in the health field.” Alan returns home clearer on “the need to build a platform and develop a strategy for developing a social media presence.” He now plans to develop both a website and blog. His takeaways:

“It’s important to put yourself in a situation where you need to pitch your book. It helps you refine the idea.”
“I learned from Rusty Shelton that a website needs to gives visitors a clear action step. I’m now working on a short ebook that helps readers assess and improve their current vitality.”
“I realized how important it is to connect with people in the book industry in order to develop an action plan for success. In addition to my book coach, Lisa Tener, there were agents, publishers, a publicist and many types of editors. Just from my 70 second pitch, an agent requested to see my proposal when it’s done.”

Candyce Ossefort-Russell shared this:

“I learned from Dr. Julie Silver that I need to be able to describe my book in one sentence. This challenge forced me to become extremely clear in my own mind about what I’m writing about, which makes my book writing more focused; and having this powerful sentence makes it much easier to share with anyone what my book is about.”
“Rusty Shelton made it clear that social media is not just about numbers. It can be used to build relationships with people I find interesting. Kristin Meekhof expanded on this idea by saying she used gentleness and gratitude to build her online relationships. The idea of building relationships with gentleness and gratitude makes the whole prospect of building my platform a positive challenge instead of a necessary evil.”
“Kindra Hall presented a novel way to think about anecdotes. The typical writing advice is to show instead of tell. By giving us the storytelling basic formula of Normal ->Explosion -> New Normal made the idea of showing come alive in a new way.”

Dr. James Zender’s favorite tips:

“Our brains are wired to connect to stories so the best lectures and writing utilize that structure. Easy to say and easy to forget, but critical to drawing in readers.”
“With the extreme highs and lows one can experience writing a book and book proposal, having a book coach can be a better mood stabilizer than Lexapro!”

I first met Dr. Zender at the conference two years ago. In addition to working together on his book proposal, he has been working assidously on his platform as an author. He developed a new website for auto accident survivors and other audiences, became a blogger for Psychology Today (publishing 18 posts, half of which were featured as “essential reads”), developed a lecture series, keynoted at a conference and spoke at several others, applied to speak at several other national and international conferences, and was interviewed for a series of podcasts by McGraw Hill’s Professional Insights Blog.

If you attended the course for the first time this year, let Dr. Zender be an inspiration to you. List your planned activities for the year. Prioritize them. Implement them. Check them off. From building a website to blogging to writing a book proposal, you can do it!

But you can’t do it all at once. Make a plan that’s do-able. Figure out what you’ll give up to make the time for this. Schedule specific times to work on your book, proposal and platform, each individually.

Course attendees: Share your takeaways and aha moments!

Here’s What You Need When Your Writing Practice Falls Apart

March 16, 2017 by Lisa Tener

What to do when your writing practice falls apart?

Yesterday’s email started with this:

“I’ve fallen off. Crazy work week…I’m lost!”

It’s not uncommon when someone commits to my Bring Your Book to Life^® Program that at some point they wonder, “What was I thinking? How am I going to get that first draft written in the next 8 [or 7 or 6 or 5] weeks?”

Suzette actually knew before she committed that she’d need more than 8 weeks, since this was a busy time for her.

When she signed up for Bring Your Book to Life^® it was with the intention of getting clear on her book concept and outline and maybe write a first draft of a chapter or two within the time frame, then doing most of her writing this summer when her academic schedule let up.

However, hearing other people whipping through chapters and reading powerful writing at the end of our groups calls, she suddenly panicked.

[bctt tweet=”When Your Writing Practice Falls Apart, Steps 1-4 ” username=”LisaTener”]

I had Suzette relax and ask herself some questions to get into a calmer and more rational space. The facts were actually much better and clearer than the emotions she had been feeling.

Slow Down: Take a breath. You may even be on track with what you committed to. You may just be panicking because that’s what humans do.
Ask, “What did I say I’d do?” What did you commit to? Write it down or speak it aloud to someone.
Ask, “What did I actually do?” Maybe you did what you said. Maybe you’re close. Or maybe you’re realizing your expectations were unrealistic.
Regroup: “Does my action plan need updating?” Do you need to find an extra two hours a week more than you planned to meet your goal? If not, would you be comfortable setting a new target date? Can you find a way to hold yourself accountable in the additional time you set?

Since Suzette had set a goal of finishing her book or book proposal this summer, I suggested she replace her book vision statement with a course vision statement and read the latter instead each day and whenever she began a writing session.

Here’s what I suggested for her new course-oriented vision statement:

With Bring Your Book to Life^®, I set myself up for summer success—an outline I love and a delightful and fun writing habit that joyfully pulls me along.

She could return to the book vision this summer, but for now, the course vision seemed much more calming and inviting.

Part 2 of When Your Writing Practice Falls Apart: Get Inspired and Have Fun

Okay, so now, after her initial reaction to her writing practice seemingly falling apart, Suzette took stock of where she truly was and it wasn’t at all far from her initial intent. She’d just gotten nervous when she looked at what others were accomplishing.

“I don’t want the book to become one more pain in the butt I have to accomplish. I enjoy writing. Writing delights me.”

Now, we had to move Suzette from irritation and frustration to joy and delight again.

start writing — You don’t have to go far for a writing retreat. This is in my friend Tracy’s backyard.

I asked her what would make writing fun for her. “Can you imagine writing as a delightful retreat from all the other things you have to do?”

“Can you view it as a vacation? A peaceful luxury time.”

“An oasis!” Suzette chimed in. “Yes, I can. I love that.”

A writing oasis.

Suzette used the example of exercise. “It can be a chore or I can enjoy it. I can know all the endorphins I’m producing and I can have fun and get my yayas.”

So, we’d revisited her commitment and saw that she was on track and we’d reframed the context to make it fun again. We changed the vision statement to reflect her goals for the short time period and keep her head in the game.

Our next step was to consult her “Muse.”

What’s Your Muse Got to Say?

For the Greeks, the Muses were the goddesses of inspiration in a variety of fields. When I talk about consulting your muse, I think of directly accessing your creative source, the font of inspiration, your inner knowing, that wise and all-knowing aspect of you.

Sometimes the muse shows up as a wise being, a spiritual teacher, an animal totem, a symbol, an archetype. Other times the muse just sounds like that regular voice inside your head or you just get this felt sense that you’re connecting to something deeper than the everyday you. It may feel like the muse is inside you or outside of you. Doesn’t matter.

“Am I making this up?” I hear that a lot. Don’t worry. That doesn’t matter either. Just go with what you get when you do the exercise.

I led Suzette in a guided visualization where she walked through a meadow into the woods to a clearing with a small building where her muse was waiting.

We asked her muse what it wanted her to know about this stress and sense that she was behind.”It’s gonna be okay.”

“Be Patient.”

“It’s all going to work out.”

I asked Suzette to take that in. Feel it in her body. “It’s all going to work out. How does that feel?”

“Concept is one thing. Feeling it is really good.”

I then asked Suzette to ask her muse how to make the time spent on her book—planning and writing—fun, an oasis.

author with book — Mara Zimmerman. author of How to Meditate and Why: Meditation is an excellent way to get into that space for writing in the zone.

Her muse suggested that, “An element of preparatory ritual would make it fun. Changing my state into one of joy and creativity. I think of music.

Her muse’s response could not have been more timely. Two days before Week 5 and one of week 5’s main lessons is how to create a writing ritual that helps you get in the groove and write in the zone—in that state of inspired flow.

Her muse also suggested creating a good space to write in, to create more spaciousness.

“My home is littered with stacks of paper from work. My muse wants me to clear space so it’s not cluttered.”

I asked whether the space should be in her home or outside of it. It seemed that for her home would be best, but her muse also suggested further consideration.

For some people, it’s important to get out of the house to be in a space not associated with other household or work activities. For others, home is an oasis, provided you create an inspiring space to write.

I loved that her muse suggested creating space because that is actually step 1 of the writing ritual I call “Writing in the Zone.” We talk about both inner space where we can get in touch with the stillness where work can begin and we also explore external space such as a writing desk, a room to write or another inspiring space.

We asked her muse about outline, as well, since that was one of her main goals for the class now—to create a structure for her book.

“Next time, play with your outline. Change it. Sit down and put out five ideas. Experiment. Be bold with structure, not hung up on developing perfection.”

She liked that. “It’s feels like we’ve created space for my book now.”

Her final advice from her muse: “You’ve got this.”

How do you experience your inner muse? How do you work with your muse? Has your muse ever helped you when you felt your writing practice was falling apart? Share your comments and questions below.