Activating the Creativity Area of Your Home or Office

It all begins with the bagua. Once you understand this simple Feng Shui tool, you can activate the energy (the chi) in the creativity segment of your home or office. When you lay out the Bagua in your home or apartment, you’ll see nine different sectors in your home, corresponding to various areas of your life. If you are looking into the room from the door, the children and creativity area is the section against the right wall, up to the center of the space. To enhance your creativity, you want to focus on the energy in this space.

You can also lay the bagua over your office floor plan or your desk, enhancing your creativity by focusing on that area of the bagua in any space.

Assess the Chi

When you enter the creativity area of the room where you write, how do you feel? Look around: What colors are dominant? What objects do you see? If you feel you have uplifting chi in that space, chances are your creativity isn’t suffering at all.

But if the area makes you feel down, depressed or simply “stuck,” this could explain why you are not having as much success as you should in your writing career. Your creativity may be suffering.

Enhance the Creativity Segment of the Room

The children and creativity segment of the ba gua corresponds with the element metal and the color white. Placing anything metal in that area, including creative sculptures made of metal or colorful artwork in metal frames, will enhance the chi in that corner.

Here are some other objects you can use the children/creativity area of the room to encourage the flow of uplifting chi:

• Metal windchimes or a bell. These objects not only represent the element of metal, but they increase “sound chi” with bright, lively chimes. Wind chimes also add movement to an area, helping the chi flow.
• Metal Toys. What can be more playful and creative than toys? Add fun metal toys — such as race cars or a fun metal toy that swings with kinetic energy — to your creativity area to add a sense of playfulness to your workday.
• White flowers. You can enhance a space with “living chi,” by adding objects such as plants or flowers. White plants, which correspond to the color of the element metal, work best in the creativity area of your home or office. Be sure to replace flowers as soon as they become wilted. Fresh flowers bring living chi to a space, but dead flowers should be removed immediately.

The Command Position

Whether you have a home office or work at your kitchen table, the place where you write should have you sitting in the command position of that room. http://www.kenlauher.com/feng-shui-tips/bid/8990/Feng-Shui-Your-Office-to-Advance-Your-Career-and-Make-More-Money The command position places you so you can see the door, but are not directly in line with it.

If you must sit with your back to the door, placing a mirror in front of you will help you avoid the feeling of “being stabbed in the back” by clients and people you work with.

Dress for Creativity

Along with organizing and decorating our workspace with objects designed to enhance our creativity and enhance the flow of chi, we can also dress in colors that raise our creative chi. White, as the color that corresponds with metal, is a good color for writers, as is bright blue and green. Green represents new hope and new ideas. You can also incorporate rainbow colors into your wardrobe to enhance your creativity.

Ken Lauher advises individuals, businesses and organizations on how to implement practical Feng Shui solutions to help achieve their goals and live a more fulfilling life.

His inspiring and transformational work with well-known actors, actresses, TV hosts, singers, songwriters, CEOs, businesses, and corporations has made him a sought-after speaker on feng shui and life enhancement. Ken recently appeared on NBC’s Weekend Today show and TLC’s Moving Up!

Based in New York City, Ken works with local, national and international clients. To learn more about Ken, to download your free Feng Shui Guide, or to schedule a Feng Shui consultation, please visit www.kenlauher.com.

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Exercise is important for multiple reasons.  Exerting energy in bursts offers inspiration, boosts your metabolism, provides an outlet to physically exert frustrations, and helps keep your body healthy to handle the stressors of the day.  Spending the weekend away from the computer with your family offers plenty of activities that serve a dual purpose: exercise and bonding. 

Tips and Suggestions:

• A picnic lunch at the park.
  • When planning your picnic out, remember to include plenty of items for outdoor fun.  Outdoor balls, wiffle balls and bats, plastic golfing games, frisbees, horseshoes and a volleyball serve in a pinch depending on your location.  If you find a part that serves different outdoor sports, invite friends and extended family to come along for added conversation and fun.
• Walking along the waterways.
  • There’s a great program sponsored by Geocaching.com called, “Cache in, trash out.”  You can apply the same principle to any outdoors walk you take.  Carry with you a couple of small trash bags and pick up any debris along the way that could harm the space you have to meander.  Not only are you doing your body good when walking, you’ve made a positive impact on the environment.  Who couldn’t feel good about that?
• Biking and Hiking in the hills and mountains.
  • Planning a trip to the mountains takes a bit more planning.  You must remember all your basic necessities including water, survival tools (knife, flints, flares) as well as pack high energy foods capable of sustaining you in the event you are trapped for the night.  Investing in insulating blankets to carry is a wise idea, too.  Seldom do people find themselves stuck on the mountain with no way down, but if it happened to you, it would provide an amazing story to pitch to an editor once you return to civilization.
• Visiting a zoo or other local museum.
  • When the weather is less than favorable for an outdoor adventure, spending time inside might just serve you well.  As long as you are away from your work space and doing something outside your normal routine.  Walking through a zoo or large museum will exercise your body and mind.  Animals and displays from the past will recharge your inspirational pool. 

For many writers, finding balance between home and family can be difficult.  No matter how you are pulled to put in an extra couple of hours, make sure you are choosing your hours wisely.  If you can spent time out recharging yourself and build memories with your family, it’s more than worth staying up an hour later or rising an hour early to finish out that assignment.  Afterall, why work hard to achieve success when you aren’t reaping the benefits of what you sow?

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I love colorful pictures, paintings, and crafts that were created by inspired minds of today and yesterday. I am not overly picky about what can inspire me, as long as it is aesthetically pleasing and accesses the visual thinking area of my mind. I can weave a story around captivating elements within a picture.

Artistic Imagery for the Writer

Here’s a fun little exercise that I like to use when my creative well is running dry. You don’t even have to take a trip to a museum to find breathtaking works of art, although you certainly could!

1. Type in a random word into your favorite search engine or photo site, coupled with the word “art”. I love flowers, so I might try “flower art”, whereas if you are focusing on writing an interview, you might look for “female art”.
2. Click on the image results of your search query. The internet is full of images in every style, medium, and expression. Choose three of the images that jump out at you immediately. Don’t worry too much if they don’t appear to be your favorites, or if they don’t match the mood of your writing project. As long as they elicit an emotional response from you, they are likely to be useful!
3. Take the three images and try to create a mini-story in your mind. For example, you might have one picture of a young woman, another of a castle, and another of a field of flowers. The basic story behind these three images is: “There is a woman in a castle surrounded by flowers.”
4. Now, ask yourself all sorts of questions. “Why is the woman there? Does she live there? Has the castle been abandoned, with the flowers growing everywhere? Is she alone? Where will she go? What will she find in the castle? Does she like the flowers?” These kinds of questions will get your creative juices flowing, and you may find a plot line for a short story or novel hidden within these pictures!
5. Tie these images back into your non-fiction writing project. The young woman can stand for yourself, or the subject you’re writing about. You may need to write from a new point of view, or find the human angle to your otherwise dull topic. The castle may stand for a real life physical location. Where is your topic making the most impact? Where is the headquarters located? For more abstract art, such as flowers, you may be able to compare your subject to the flowers, and list all the reasons why it is so.

Inspiration Out in the Open

Art is everywhere! And not just limited to images, photos, or paintings. Sculpture and crafts are 3D visions of the mind’s eye brought to life. Nature is living, breathing art! Others find beauty and creativity in architecture, fashion, film, and interior decorating.

Keep your eyes and mind open, and you will begin to see the beauty and the stories all around you.

What inspires you the most? How do you bring those images out of real life and down into words? Are more literal descriptive passages your style, or do you use art as a jumping point into deeper discussion and meaning?

Photo Credit: Dalbera

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However, not all writing strikes excitement into the depths of your heart. Let’s face it, highly technical writing can be dry and lifeless, and it takes a special breed of writer to get excited about articles stuffed with SEO keywords. Many assignments that will cross your path won’t breech your wealth of knowledge or interest.

Stoke Your Writing Passion

How to keep the writing fires burning? Like any loving relationship, tending to your writing passion requires tenderness and care. Trudging through one incredibly dull writing project after another will snuff out the last smoldering remains of your writing passion! Yet we all have to accept some uninspiring writing assignments once in awhile. Even the flame of writing passion that burns brightly at the beginning of the best writing projects can grow dim over time.

Here are some of the hottest (!) tips to stoke your love of writing to new heights:

• Schedule your writing first. Start your writing day off right by working on your favorite type of writing first. It stretches those early morning creative muscles and the inspiration can spread to your other writing projects throughout the day. Do you have a budding novel that you don’t have much time to write? A quick 30 minutes will jumpstart your writing day and bring steady progress as well.
• Alternate between dull and exciting writing. Dragging through a mundane piece? Take a break and switch off to something more lively. Even if you need to complete the harder project immediately, it won’t get done quickly if you’re scraping the bottom of your creativity. Working on an engaging piece can get the pen or keyboard moving, and you can switch back to your higher priority (but less lovely) writing when you are ready.
• Remember why you love writing. Do you love crafting interesting characters? Make your real life subjects come alive in your non-fiction writing, by learning what motivates them and how they are changing the world. Can you describe anything with clarity and attention to detail? Transfer your exposition talents to mundane topics, to capture your audience’s attention. Your writing passion can carry over to all forms of writing, with a little creativity.

With time and attention, your writing passion can be sustained throughout your writing career. Don’t let the writing doldrums get you down! All of our writing deserves our best effort, and the rewards of a passionate relationship with our writing can last a lifetime.

How do you keep the writing home fires burning? What area of writing really excites you? Share your love of writing here!

Photo Credit: Photos8.com

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But there are also times that our brains look like a vast, white space. And no matter how hard we try to tap into our inner muse; no matter how many different techniques we use, we can’t seem to find those perfect first words. Sometimes, it seems, the only words that come to mind are: contract, deadline, SEO, or even bills.

I mentioned my lack of words on a social media media site a while back and got the following response:

“Start out writing your name, address and a description of the room in which you’re writing. I wrote a newspaper column for nearly 20 years. I’m very practiced in breaking up log-jams in the writerly brain. Just remember, there’s a torrent just behind that dam!” – K. C. Compton (Editor, at Ogden Publications)

Excellent advice, K.C.! (Of course, I guess that’s why she is one of the Editor’s-In-Chief for Ogden Publications, huh?)

It’s during the times that we’re grasping desperately for words – any word – that we can apply the following tips, as well as K.C.’s advice.

7 Surefire Ways to Find New Words

1. Grab a notebook and start writing a list. This list can be about anything: your dreams,  pros and cons of something you’ve been considering, maintenance or other projects for your house – even a grocery list.
2. Take a break and play Scrabble. What better way to enjoy some time – and company – than being hands-on with letters and words?!
3. Write a thank you note or friendly letter to someone. Think warm thoughts and share your heart with the recipient.
4. Email or IM a friend. If that friend is a writer, that’s even better. They can help lift your spirits and jog your memory about past times you’ve had abundant writing inspiration.
5. Read your favorite blog or a few pages from a book that’s nearby. Words from one of your favorite authors/bloggers will help get your creative juices flowing.
6. Get up from your computer and go in to another room or outside. It’s amazing how much difference a view makes. By simply stepping in to the next room or popping outside for a few minutes, you can refuel your mind. Look at old photos or sit on your porch or deck for a spell – absorb your surroundings and soak up the inspiration life brings!
7. Pamper yourself. Something like a cup of hot tea and your favorite magazine, a 20-minute soak in a warm bath sprinkled with lavender essential oil or bath salts, or a short nap can provide just the amount of rejuvenation your body needs to crank up your muse once again.

What do you do to find new words when your writing well has run dry? Do you stand beneath the idea waterfall? Or use any of the tips I shared above? Do you have a fabulous technique to share with us? Chime in!

Did you enjoy this article? Feel free to visit the other articles Michele has written for Writer’s Round-About–or contact her to write for you.

Photo Credit: Wordle, created by Michele Tune

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You’re just wasting time blabbing to people you don’t know.

Get off that computer and get a life.

Why can’t you get a real job?

How much money can you make playing on the computer anyway?

These are just a few of the insults and sarcastic remarks freelancers often hear.

Add on to that the multi-job stress syndrome most freelancers endure and you’ll need more than a few natural remedies to calm you down!

Social Media = Less Stress?

Not only is Social Media an excellent way to market yourself and network your way to the top, it’s a learning process that improves with time. And during that time that you’re learning and building solid relationships, you are doing something else: de-stressing. That’s right!

By mingling on the various Social Media sites, all sorts of things can cross your virtual path. Think: inspirational quotes, new gigs, lasting friendships, encouragement, funny jokes, and so much more.

It can be so relaxing to be inspired, to inspire others, or to just have a good laugh. Social Media is more than a “waste of time” as many seem to believe, it’s a networking tool that allows you to share with the world who you are and what your business is about, while giving you a few minutes here and there to simultaneously take your mind off your work and just breathe.

It’s pretty easy to imagine that those who participate in Social Media frequently (or at least sometimes) aren’t as stressed and worn down as those who work non-stop, without a break of some sort – especially a mental one. And Social Media does provide a mental and emotional support system that surpasses anything most people could fathom.

Wind Down, Gear Up

Brain overload can happen fast. Your health is worth taking time out to regroup. You’ve heard many times through life (I’m sure) that you only have one body, one life, one mind — it’s your job to take care of yourself and cherish your time here on earth.

It may seem like nonsense, and some people may judge you for it, but I assure you that Social Media is not a waste of time!

By hopping on the Social Media circuits during “break time” you’re allowing your mind and body to wind down from work. You’re being refreshed in so many ways. And all this means that you’re mind will be gearing up to get back to work again.

New Friends, New Clients, New Sources

The bonus to your “play time” online is that you’ll (more than likely) eventually rub cyber elbows with future clients, editors, and even sources for your articles. It’s crazy to think that even though you’re taking a break from work and taking a few minutes to just enjoy life, that you’re actually continuing to represent your business. And if your Social Media following/friends grows over time (they usually always do) then your business is being exposed to hundreds, thousands, even millions of people while you sip your favorite drink and chat. I’d say that makes Social Media the perfect prescription for MJSS, wouldn’t you?

Did you enjoy this article? Feel free to visit the other articles Michele has written for Writer’s Round-About–or contact her to write for you.

Do you feel less stressed when you’re surfing the Social Media waves? Are you astounded that you can lightheartedly enjoy yourself while representing your professional services at the same time? What does Social Media mean to you? Have you gained new clients, sources, or lasting friendships? Tell us all about it!

Photo Credit: clix

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Some of the most stressful times in a person’s life are moving, death, births, divorces, and weddings. All of those events are life altering. It is possible to write during those periods, even if the writing doesn’t produce an article at that exact moment. Recording your ideas becomes a necessary step to include with any major change in your life.

While undergoing any life changing time in your life, keep a notebook and pen with you at all times. The notebook doesn’t have to be fancy or large. A simple flip pad will do – and can fit in the back pocket of your jeans. Along side that notebook, keep a pen or pencil handy to scribble away ideas, thoughts, emotions or bits of conversation. After the words are scribbled, put the notebook away until you need it again.

When life has settled down and routine becomes familiar, you can pull out that same notebook and refer back to the pages. The mind is incredible, once you place words onto the page, you naturally recall the moment and everything associated to it. You will hear voices of dialogue, expressions on faces, emotions within, and, perhaps most importantly, the words played in your mind.

Ah, yes, those words. They are the ones that create the characters of a novel, a poem about the beautiful sky, and the article you’ve promised to write for an editor on the other end of a paycheck. With just a few simple words on a piece of paper, you will be capable of recalling all the information you need to complete that looming assignment or resume the novel that had you stuck.

It is a simple exercise that takes a bit of practice to master. Nurture your Muse by writing down all the words she supplies you. When it comes time to work through a challenging time in your life, your Muse will be kind to you. Chronicle your thoughts and ideas and begin learning how to recall the information she provided when the idea originally popped.

I’ll never go without my notebook and pen. You could say that they saved my tail during my most recent move. How has your notebook and pen saved you? Do you prefer a certain style of notebook or type of pen? What do you love most about your favorite notebook and pen?

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It has happened to me hundreds of times.  My schedule is clear, children are occupied, housework is caught up, and suddenly my writing time flops because I don’t know how to start.  Starting is necessary to reach a finished article, short story, poem or novel. In order to write, you must practice writing on a regular basis. Inspiring writing comes with routine, innovation, and determination.

• Writing Bursts

  Ban together with fellow writers and have a writing burst.  Twenty to thirty minutes of free writing will loosen the words – and your fingers – while building the creative juices.

• Musical Melodies

  Playing a music selection during your writing time will help train your body to write during those same melodies.  Music will also create a white noise, blending all the distracting sounds.  A particular music selection can also bring back the inspiration of a particular story if you stop the tract when it becomes necessary to move onto other scheduled items.

• Lists

  Writing out your lists for the day, including to-do’s, shopping, bills, and chores will allow you the opportunity to clear your mind of those tasks and focus on what you have set down to do during your writing time.

• Scheduling

  It is not only important, but vital to a writer’s life to schedule your day around the time you write, not the other way around.  If you are trying to take care of life first and fail to nurture the writer within you, the writer within you will fail to perform when time comes.

• Taking the phone off the hook

  Yes, I absolutely mean that.  The phone can be a major distraction.  Friends and family call when they feel the need to share a funny story or complain about the clerk at the store forgetting to give change.  There is no use in telling anyone to call you x many times in a row if it is an emergency.  There will always be one person who believes the clogged sink is worth interrupting you.  Unless you are a plumber and are able to snake a drain, it is NOT important.

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As writers, we struggle against inspiration and creativity but can we truly know the source of insight and ideas? Our job is to show up, hands on keys or pen on page, be there, each day and perform the act of writing; participate in the process. We can’t control the quality of our creativity, we can’t control how receptive to our thoughts readers will be or which novel makes it to the best seller lists and which don’t. Our part of the process is to show up at the keyboard and get the words on the page.

Listen as Elizabeth discusses the importance of nurturing creativity and trusting the “genius” that exists outside of ourselves, and in putting aside fear to do the job.

What are your thoughts about what Elizabeth has shared? Do you feel creativity is an external power? Where do you think your own creativity comes from?

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Financial stress can be a motivator; or detrimental to a freelance writer…

Recently, my husband and I refinanced our family car.  We were quite shocked at the difference in interest percents and the payments when all was said and done.  I realized that the stress of a three-hundred dollar payment was huge in how I approached my writing.

In the back of my mind, I thought about all of our bills every time I applied for a gig or wrote an article.  I quickly realized as I looked at our new loan terms that, finally, I had more freedom to truly follow my writing dreams and desires.  I no longer had to be held hostage by the end figure of a project.

If financial stress is bogging you down, consider these options:

• Refinance.

  Know the financial market and look at options that will reduce your overall cost without increasing the length of your term.  Consider non-profit banking options such as Federal Credit Unions.  Credit Unions are tax exempt and can offer you a much lower interest rate than the standard bank.

• Know your debt.

  Create a detailed list of your debts.  By knowing exactly where you stand financially, you will put yourself into a better position to make wise financial choices and eliminate stress.

• Budgeting.

  Look at your complete budget.  Find where you have steady income, moderately stable income and sporadic income.  Focus on replacing the sporadic income with writing jobs that provide much more reliable income opportunities.  (Hot Tip: Don’t forget to ask your editor if they have any additional work you could do!)

• Start small.

  As you examine your debts, find the smallest amounts and pay them off first.  Paying a $25 medical bill and wiping it off your list will reduce your stress.  The smallest bills are the easiest to eliminate and generally won’t put you into a financial bind.

• Build savings.

  If you have $500 – $1000 in savings, the stress of a family emergency, vehicle trouble or unexpected bill won’t increase your stress levels.  There’s a great sense of security when you have a bit of financial padding.

• Bartering.

  Should you find yourself in need of new brakes or an emergency dental procedure, consider bartering or exchanging your services.  Many companies will accept the offer for free advertising in lieu of the work they perform.

Take measures to reduce your debt and financial responsibility.  As you begin seeing debts fall off your list, you will feel a greater creative flow.  Following your writing dreams becomes a bit simpler and the writing process becomes much easier.  You will have freedom to weed through writing opportunities more thoroughly, selecting those that best fit your writing goals and personal desires.  Most of all, you can enjoy new-found reasons to express yourself through words!

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