Create If Writing

Real Passion Resonates

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I used to sing in a gospel choir. I was the small white girl in the middle whose voice you couldn’t hear and who was a half-beat off rhythm with the swaying. My voice is pretty but small—not a typical gospel choir voice in sound or power. I loved being a part of the choir, standing among the powerful voices in a tiny room where we practiced.

 Every so often, something remarkable happened in that small practice room. When we all really got our parts, the timbre and power of the voices in the room fused reverberated deep in my chest. When this happened, there was a sense of power and unity. My small voice joined the bigger voices to create a unified sound and vibration. It was like some giant bell swinging to life and shaking the bell tower with its ring.
In those moments, I felt alive. I felt completely at peace with everything and everyone around me. It felt as though THAT very moment was what life was all about. I GOT it. WE got it.
Real passion resonates with your audience and makes you stand out from all the other voices.
Following our dreams and passions can have the same effect. When we are living in a present moment, doing what we were created to do or what we desire most in a pure sense, that fulfillment rings as truth in our souls. We FEEL it and we KNOW. And others feel it as well. Your passion resonates with their passion and the result is a gathering together and a swelling up and a rising.

Real passion RESONATES within you and to the world outside.

Your passion is what will drive you to create and to create specific things that will resonate with your ideal readers. Passion will infuse your voice and define your brand. It’s what makes you, YOU.
Don’t hold back or bridle your passion. Let it steer your course and help define your way. It will draw people to you and what you are creating. And you will feel more fulfilled along the way.
Need help with applying your passion to your work? Consider my Foundation Series, a mini-course to help you define your purpose and apply it to your blog, images, email, and social media presence. Watch the first workshop for free!
What makes your small voice whole? What is it that makes you feel alive and connects you to something greater?

Holly Homer on Using Facebook without Formulas – 004

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I talked to Holly Homer and finally have the Three Keys to TOTAL DOMINATION online! Simply pay me $50 in three easy installments plus $9.95 for shipping and handling and you can learn Holly Homer’s Three Keys and the secret formula for Facebook success!

JUST KIDDING. But does that sound at all familiar? I feel like I see this sales pitch from different places every single day. Spoiler alert: THERE IS NO SECRET FORMULA IN THIS PODCAST. Holly, who speaks at conferences all over about Facebook and blogging, does share how often Quirkymomma posts every day. (Your jaw might drop.) But this conversation is more about creativity and inspiration. She talks about how she used analytics to make Facebook work, but also how she likes to throw the rules out the window. If you are feeling pressured by the so-called “rules” of social media, this episode is for YOU.

Listen to Create If Writing – Episode 004

 

You can find Holly at Kids Activities Blog, Business 2 Blogger, as well as on Facebook at Quirkymomma, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest. If you are a blogger, you MUST check out her newest venture with Paula Rollo & Becky Mansfield (both also coming up on the podcast!), Blogger 2 Business. B2B is all about education and training for bloggers at all levels to kick it up a notch. Or ten. Right now you will get 30 days of tips delivered to your inbox when you sign up!

Tips for using Facebook with Holly Homer

 

At a Glance

  • I personally subscribe to the school of making mistakes until you figure it out, as Holly does. Is that how you work through things? (I also like learning from other people’s mistakes.)
  • Fun Fact: Holly suspects that she has more domain names than shoes.
  • Holly said that we are living in an age when you can start with an idea to making a living in your living room. It is a time like no other! Have YOU experienced this? Do you see the possibilities or does that seem like a reach?
  • For success with Facebook, Holly & her blogging partner Rachel Miller paid attention to the analytics to see what Facebook liked and didn’t like. They tailored posts in that way.
  • At the same time, they chucked out the “rules” and suggestions from other people. For example: the Facebook page QuirkyMomma isn’t branded to the name of the blog, Kids Activities Blog. They also post a crazy amount per day instead of the two times a day that people were suggesting at the start of their growth.
  • Blogging was a gift to Holly at a time when her kids were small. It gave the gift of being able to step back and think of how to tell the story even of a bad day with a silver lining.
  • If you get caught up in numbers and the pressure, take a step back. Strategize about how you can reach your goals without losing your voice.
  • “The end product is so irrelevant in what we do. It’s more about…the process of sitting down with a child and having and experience, having an adventure.” -Holly Homer

Should you be using a Facebook page or a Facebook group? Read my tips here.

Want tips for using Facebook? Forget the formulas.

Relevant Links

Facebook Organic Growth – an interview with Holly for the Social Media Examiner
101 Kids Activities book from Holly Homer and Rachel Miller

My Big Takeaway

I loved what Holly said in that last quote. It’s not about making something beautiful that will show well in a Pinterest photo. It should be about the process, the adventure, the experience. Doesn’t that hold true with our art? Though I will say this: I want to find that perfect marriage where I make something I’m truly proud of as an end product, but where I also enjoy the PROCESS. As a writer, I want my words to come together in a remarkable way. But I want to ENJOY writing. Most of the time, I do!

What I Want to Know from You

-Do you enjoy the process of what you do? Or is it more about accomplishing goals and having that end product? (No judgment here! I’m simply curious.)

-Have you found your own “formula” that works for your goals?

Blaine Hogan on the Portfolio Life

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Have you ever experienced one of those strange journeys in life? The kind where you start at point A and end up at point Q? (This podcast is one of those journeys for me!) Today’s interview is with Blaine Hogan. Blaine started out as an actor, but as he began to really make it, a series of panic attacks derailed his career and brought his life to a halt. He is now the Creative Director at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago and the founder of the course Make Better. I first ran across Blaine years ago in an episode of one of my favorite shows, Prison Break. Listen to his story in the podcast to see how he came from there to creating a course like Make Better. Truly inspiring stuff!

Listen to Create If Writing – Episode 002

You can connect with Blaine on the Make Better site, or follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Create If Writing Episode (3)

At a Glance 

  • I loved Blaine’s understanding of art as a spiritual experience: “The lights would go down and someone tells you the most true thing they know.” Do YOU think of art as spiritual in some way?
  • Have you ever unraveled in the best possible way, as Blaine says he did?
  • Has your life ever taken you on one of those surprise journeys? Were you pleased with the destination & the journey itself?
  • “Disorganization is not a badge of honor for creative professionals.” What I took from this is that we often need great discipline and organization to create, especially in the middle of busy lives.
  • Do you feel like you need validation (self-validation or validation from others) to let yourself write or create?
  • Has being an adult stifled or killed your creativity? In what ways do we encourage creativity in children but discourage it in adults?
  • Blaine mentioned the discipline of being AWARE, and giving yourself credit that what seems like a small though over breakfast might be important. Write it down. Put it on the computer. File it away. Write every day.
  • “Never stare at the blank page.” Do you have hope or guilt with the blank page?
  • Are you a good starter or finisher? (Or maybe a good middler?)
  • Do you struggle with a sense of artist guilt if you miss a day or don’t accomplish your goal?
  • If you have kids, how do you balance having kids & creating art?
  • “I am not my work.”  <- Do you find that as freeing as I do??
  • I loved his idea of not creating a singular project, but our life as a portfolio. How do you think mindset might change creative work?
  • Do you think you could make it through a silent retreat???

Life is a portfolio, not a series of projects.

Relevant Links

Make Better
The Wounded Heart by Dan B. Allender
Seth Godin
Paul Jarvis
Willow Creek Community Church

 My Big Takeaway

THERE WERE SO MANY. I love thinking of the idea of a portfolio rather than projects. I have so many projects and sometimes I think they are all in their separate boxes, unrelated. Thinking of my whole life as a portfolio gave me a sense of hope and also the freedom to HAVE so many random projects. I also have even more of a sense of validation for art just by talking to other artists. I hope listening gave YOU the same sense of validation! As far as a practical takeaway, I love the idea of keeping something handy to write down those thoughts through the day. I’ve been keeping a small notebook in my purse for the past few months and have found that I write things in it all the time. Sometimes to-do lists and sometimes fragments of a poem or story.

Do you think of life as a project or a PORTFOLIO?
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 What I Want to Know from YOU

I’m nosy. I want to know all of these things in the comments and I want to know them NOW.

-Do you feel like you have lost some sense of creativity as an adult?
-Have you had to overcome something (whether that’s fear or a traumatic event or criticism or something different) to continue following your passion?
-What inspired you most from this conversation with Blaine?
-Do you have a way of collecting your random daily thoughts?

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Creativity – Episode 001

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In this inaugural podcast episode I am talking about creativity, writing, and the origin of this site and podcast. I am a little weird in that I get excited about writing, but I also LOVE social media and the idea of connecting with people. (That’s how I try to think of platform—connecting with people with mutual interests.) Maybe creativity looks like baking. Maybe it looks like coming up with activities for your kids. Maybe it looks like content creation in the blog world or the professional one. Maybe it looks like writing a novel or a song or a devotional book. Whatever your avenue is, I hope this episode encourages you to embrace it!

Listen to Create If Writing – Episode 001

 

At a Glance: Confessions & Creativity

  • What energizes your creativity?
  • Do you get more excited about the creative side of art-making or the platform-building side?
  • Sometimes as adults we need validation that creativity and following your dreams is not just okay, but HEALTHY.
  • We are created to be creative. Whether from the Genesis narrative or not, do you agree?

When are we most fulfilled as humans? Answer in the #podcast.
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Creativity matters more than we think. Why we should give ourselves permission to create.

Relevant Links

If: Gathering
Re:Write Conference
Resource List (my ever-growing list of helpful links!)
Ted Talks on Creativity

What I Want to Know From YOU

I’m nosy. I want to know all of these things in the comments and I want to know them NOW.

-Whether it’s a job, hobby, or something in between, what do you like to create?
-When do you feel most whole and fulfilled in your life?

 

 

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