Nude: Profile © Sarah Marie Lacy, 2011. 12″x16″ oil on canvas. Used with permission.

Buying a piece of original art is an amazing feeling. And thought artists rarely “make” money on their work — considering the time and preparation that goes into each piece — it can still be out of most people’s price range to purchase a painting.

Enter Sarah Marie Lacy. Sarah is a very talented painter, who shares her art and her process on line. After surviving the acute stages of an ongoing chronic illness, Sarah is in a place of strength and productivity and has been invited to study painting in Paris. As part of her fundraising efforts, she’s offering us her original works of art on a Pay-What-You-Can basis.

 Click here to see her generous offerings through 3/20/11.

Today at Behind the Mic, Sarah tells about her brave experiment, and lets us in on what it feels like to send one of her babies off to a new home.  Sarah, step right up… 

Tell us about this opportunity in France and how you are funding it?

I am honored to have been accepted into Studio Escalier’s summer program, which is a 3 month intensive classical figure painting and drawing course. They only accept 12 students each time, so I’m still pinching myself.

I’ve been doing a variety of things to fund this trip – up until now, mostly selling paintings & prints, and subscriptions to my private email list, “Sketches from the Road”, where every week I’ll send out an email sharing my photos, tales and paintings as well as a little video post.

This weekend though, I’m doing something a little different – I’m running an experimental “Pay What You Can” event for my artwork. Basically, people can make me an offer on my artwork, and if it’s fair and I feel comfortable with it, they get it!

What makes you nervous about a pay-what-you-can project?

I think what made me most nervous was worrying about getting offers of $10 for a big painting and having to turn people down. I’m a people pleaser, so it would have been a challenge for me to say no, especially if it was someone that I liked a lot and if I knew they loved the painting.

What energizes you about this experiment?

Funnily enough, it’s the experimental quality of this project that excites me. I like trying something different and new, especiallywhen it comes to marketing art. I had no expectations, but I’d seen a lot of internet marketing folks doing it, so I thought – how would this work with art? Would it work at all? Would people bite or not? It’s been fun seeing people’s reactions – everything from total shock to excitement.

How does it feel when you send off a much-loved piece of work to a new home?

It’s actually the most wonderful feeling. I get really excited about sending my work to new places. I create my work forpeople to experience and enjoy. No matter how much I love a painting, unless I’ve painted it for myself, I feel like the circle isn’t complete until someone else is enjoying it. I believe that for every painting, there is the perfect owner, so when that owner shows up, it’s a really beautiful feeling.

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Sarah Marie Lacy writes wisely and eloquently about thriving in the creative life on her blog.   She also help artists, writers, and other creatives get a website set up in a weekend! Click here to get on the early bird list for the next class. Don’t forget the Pay What You Can experiment is only available through 3/20/2011 and I already bought “Strawberries,” so you better get on it! :-)

Also, I am a terrible actress.

So today I want to give you little peek into the neurosis that is me, trying to build a model for my work that is sustainable. (ie. some stuff for free, some stuff for fee) 

As you know, I’ve recently launched an online soul spa, Flock: Soulcare with Magpie Girl. You may also have heard that I’m in the process of writing a book and creating content for several ECourses. Oh, and P.S., revamping my website. Right now most of these are in various stages of production, and all of them are stuck until my lovely designer can finish the artwork. (Apparently this does not happen by magic, nor overnight. Damn.)

Oh, and p.s. more money is going out than is coming in.

I have been blogging for 7 years, false-starting books for the last 3, and trying to figure out how to offer soulcare to a happy band of misfits for as long as I can remember. Now, when I’m ready to send things out in the world I feel stymied and stuck.

I can’t tell if I’m “going slow to go fast,” or just fucking things up.

My Gremlins are telling me that I’m charging to much, and that people don’t like me, and that my lack of art and computer skills are going to bog me down forever. Basically all the normal things the Gremlins say.  I’ve fed them taffy and made them martinis– I’ve even taken them out for a walk,  and nothing is calming them down.

So here is what I am going to do:

1) I will tell you True Things about this process.
2) You will SEE them.
3) This will help the Real feel  more Real. 

So if you could, if you wouldn’t mind…after reading this could you please put a note, or at least “I SEE  YOU” in the comments? That would really, really help.

Thanks!

1. “Honoring my Work Makes it More Powerful” — This is my mantra. It reminds me to charge for things. (I have to say it a lot.)

2. Heretics break new ground. Don’t fear the stake.

3. “It’s all happening.”

4. Your creative pattern is “wait, wait, GO!”  Watch for the green light.

5. You don’t have to be afraid of being big…

6. …and Small is Beautiful.

7. Generosity is a form of wisdom. Even if the people you promoted don’t promote you back, it is still worth taking the time to help out.

8.Eventually you will tip, go viral, and find (more) of your people.

Okay folks, time for me to go back to creating products. I knew I could count on you!

Thanks for being here.

You guys, I am so depressed. Seriously, the last three days I have barely gotten out of bed. The winter is kicking my ass. And yet, everyday, I write. What are the mantras you say to get you thru the resistance? Do tell!

*8 Mantras for Writers

1) hello resistance. hope you’ll be going along soon.
2) you can show up at the page.
3) breathe the next breath, write the next word.
4) you don’t have to be first or best, just creating is worth it.
5) your story matters, sing it from the rooftops.
6) shitty first drafts are writing.
7) everything counts: outlining, drafting, editing.
8) any writing is enough for today.

What are your mantras for fighting resistance? Organize your mind and give us a little preview in the comments, or grab a buttonand play along. If you post on your list on your blog, please give us the permalink in the Mr. Linky below so we can come say hi! Thanks for being here.

This morning in our One Q Interview, I’m excited to introduce you to my soulsister, Jolie Guillebeau. Jolie is an artists living in Portland, Oregon, and has just kicked off a new project: 100 Painting in 100 Days. There’s something on the easel every day at Jolie’s place — and lucky you! You can buy her art work at ridiculously low prices. The painting from day one costs just $1. Day two, $2. You get the idea. I’ve already bought a beautiful still life of an egg, and I’m skulking around her mailing list waiting for other kitchen-related items to appear.

Jolie has taught me a lot about setting your vision and reaching a firm, clear goal. (That second part is problem for my monkey-mind). Today she talks to us about goal setting, and reaching for 100.

Q:   You and your hubs are like the queen and king of goal setting. What made you choose this ambitious goal of 100 paintings in 100 days? What are you hoping to learn about yourself and your creative process in the midst of this challenge?

Queen of goal setting? I’m not so sure.

Mostly it was about getting myself back in front of my easel. 2009 was a really hard year in a lot of ways for several reasons. We moved away from our community in Seattle to Portland (where I didn’t know anyone), and I lost my moorings for awhile. I had artsy friends in Seattle and worked at a museum, so I was getting regular feedback and always talking and thinking about my work with other people. Once we moved to Portland, I missed that and I found my well of creativity dried out pretty quickly. I floundered and my self-esteem plummeted.

It took me nearly a year to find roots here in Portland, and find some of that community again. By December, I had that support, and I was on my way again, but I hadn’t really picked up a paintbrush in months. So (of course) I set goals. We went away on our annual goal setting vacation, and I read (or re-read) a few books that inspired me: Making a Living Without a Job; Write It Down, Make It Happen; and  The Gift by Hafiz. Then I started making a plan.

On that trip, I decided my word for 2010 would be “Stretch.” And I tried to figure out what that meant for me. I’m pretty comfortable with my painting style, which was something I worked on in the past, but because of perfectionism I’m pretty slow. Which means that it generally takes me around 30-50 hours to get a painting to a point that I’m happy with it. At that rate, it’s pretty hard to sell a painting at a living wage. So I decided to stretch my perfectionist tendencies. Making 100 paintings in 100 days was the best way to do that for me.

Also, making a commitment like this puts me in front of my easel everyday. I have to paint now, people are watching. I don’t have time to let myself get stuck. And, for me, the more I paint, the better I feel about myself and the quieter The Gremlins get.

Want to hear more from Jolie Guillebeau? Join us at our on-line soulspa, Flock: soulcare with Magpie Girl.  Our 1Q interviews always turn into 3Q Interviews in the Flock. Jolie’s answering our questions about balancing “fast and dirty” work with quality work. She’s also helping us suss out healthier ways of thinking about how (and how much) we get paid for the work of our hands (and our hearts.) Come join us in the Flock!

The monkey-ish part of my mind is telling me that everything is going to fall apart: I’ll get sick again and not be able to keep up. No one will pay for my services and skill. And the loudest message of all: “Everyone Else is more Helpful than You.”

I’m embarrassingly predictable.

Part of this pattern is attributable to my religious upbringing, which drilled into my subconscious this If/Then clause:

If you ‘step out to do God’s work’ then you will ‘come under attack.’

I point this out because I know many of my readers are in the same boat. I think part of what we do here together, is to re-write our inner narratives so they reflects more health, more shalom. When my voices loom large and I start defining things as “attack,” it helps to remember that this discombobulated feeling is actually a normal part of the creative process; that many of my artistic friends express the same phenomenon; and that like the physical reality of childbirth, eventually these hormonally-things level out.

In the wake of this gremlin uprising, I decided to check in with some of my favorite writers. Once a week or so I go through the blogs on my RSS feeds. I follow about 50 people, and checking in on them is one of my favorite things to do when I feel stuck, or overwhelmed, or lonely. There is so much beauty in these writers and artists, so much wisdom, and hope and breakthrough. Today was no different. Everyone seemed to have cooked up good stuff over the holidays. But this time, instead of inspiring me, those rich, winsome posts started getting me down. “See,” said the monkey gremlins “I told you Everyone Else is More Helpful than You.”

I started getting whiney. Whiney, insecure, and jealous. I don’t want those feelings. I don’t even feel like they belong to me. They belong to my miserly, selfish, un-generous Evil Twin. The real me is grateful and generous. The real me celebrates the success and wisdom of Other Women. The real me is Dangerously Giving. The real me is madly in love with Abundance and throws things out into the universe two handfuls at a time.

So in an effort to quite my Gremlins, settle my Monkey Mind, and banish my Evil Twin, I decided to sing. (Tra La La!) As an antidote, I am Singing the Praises of kind bloggers who have brought wisdom, insight and beauty into my life today. I’m honoring their Passion and Attentiveness. I’m saying: “Hey, look over there at what THEY did!” Most of all, I’m being grateful. Because at my core, that is my truest self.

May you find all these good things and more today.

Much Warmth,

Rachelle

Bloggers to Banish The Gremlin Blues

If you need to banish fear from your life: write a Dear Fear letter with The Penny Has Dropped. (She starts with “Dear Fear, fuck off….). And for more on fear, have a cuppa with the ElderWoman (via Anchors and Masts).

If you need a rite of letting go for the New Year:  Pink Coyote has a powerful one. (It involves fire!)

If you need to set aside all the rush and emotion and ups and downs of The Holidays and just celebrate possibility, The Bliss Chick can help.

If you are dreading re-entry to your work/school/normal routine, The Girl Who Cried Epiphany has some good thoughts on dealing with other people’s energy. (A constant growing edge for me.)

Who gave you the food you needed today? Share some link love in the comments below and pass the goodness on!

This week’s guest post is by the energetic Danette Relic, life coach at The Drawing Board and hostess of creative self expression workshops. She’ll be teaching us about something I know very little about — Tantra — and how it connects to Creativity. I know you’re already intrigued. So Danette, take it away…

Tantra and Your Creative Energy
by Danette Relic

Let me guess, you hear Tantra and you think, 8-hour romp in the sheets with Sting.  Yes? But what is Tantra? What is Art?

Since beginning my studies of Tantra, I have learned that there is so very much more to learn.  The discussion of what Tantra is seems to resemble a beautifully tangled garden; there are theories about the initial source of growth, about all the influences that have shaped it’s development, and even those who identify which parts of the garden are valuable and which parts are weeds that have invaded it along the way. 

For the purpose of giving you a sense of Tantra before going on, I like these three points taken from a list of what Tantra is, from the book Tantra for Erotic Empowerment: the key to enriching your sexual life by Mark A. Michaels and Patricia Johnson. 

* Tantra is an ancient tradition that recognizes sexual energy as a source of personal and spiritual empowerment.  This sets it apart from most Western traditions and helps explain why most Westerners have reduced it to its sexual elements alone.

 * Tantra is the magic of transforming your consciousness and thereby transforming your entire being.  Your body is the most powerful tool for bringing about this transformation.

 * Tantra is the discipline of becoming yourself completely.  In the end, there is nothing at all to do.

Trying to find one complete definition for Tantra seems to be a lot like trying to answer the question, What is Art?

 Which makes sense to me, because I see Tantra and Art, or specifically, Tantra and Creativity, to be curiously linked up.  I’ve noticed them at parties, huddled together on the sofa, or giggling by the punch bowl in some secret exchange.  Of course they are.  Sexuality and Creativity splash around in the same orange chakra, the sacral chakra, located just below your navel.

There are 3 aspects of Tantra that also serve as juicy connectors for creative energy: Senses, Pleasure, and Self-Expression.

Senses: The Language of Experience

The senses are your gateway to the world around you.  There are limitless experiences at our fingertips (tips of our tongues, tips of our noses, space just outside our ears) all the time, right now.  It is like a river we can dip into at any time, a radio that we can tune into and tune out of as we please.  What do you use most often?  Which sense do you often leave out?

When it comes to Tantra, the senses are how we can experience the sacred through the physical.  The connection to sexual practices are obvious, but what about creativity?

Consider your senses as an infinite bank of ideas.  The senses spark the imagination, memory, story and sensation.  The smell of crayons.  The exact colour of the tile in your first lover’s bathroom.  The song that takes your breath away.  The taste of tears.  The sensation of a wet bathing suit as it pulls away from your body.  These are all entry points to your own creative mind-body connection.  Your senses contain the beginnings of poems, stories, sculptures, drawings, colours, dances and songs.  Imagine what creative responses are possible using just your senses as a springboard?

Pleasure: What Lights You Up?

 Never mind what looks good, what feels good?

Tantra has a lovely relationship with pleasure.  Unlike many spiritual practices, Tantra embraces pleasure, including sexual pleasure, as a sacred gift.  Again, I don’t think I need to point out how pleasure and sexual practices might be a good fit.  Now, how about your creative practice?

Close your eyes and move crayons across the page until you find the way that gives your arm the most pleasure.  Seek the joy of repetitive motions, peeling of tissue, the coolness of clay, the satisfaction of big messy gestures or tiny intricate tasks using beads or precision markings.  What process brings you the most pleasure, if the end result would never be seen by anyone?

Materials, movements, images, colours, ideas…find the ones that light you up and make you feel good.  Let pleasure be your only compass as you create.  What do you notice?

Self-Expression: You are Naturally Creative

 This is a belief I hold strongly: we are all naturally creative beings.  If you are looking for proof, watch children for any length of time.  We all started there, singing and drawing and making believe.  There was no shame in showing our voices to the world.

In Tantra, as you pay intimate attention to your senses and pleasure, you also open yourself to the experience of being at one with sensation, a channel for the energy to move through, like sound moves through a drum.  In sexual practices, self-expression is the glorious way we respond to pleasure, with breath and sound and movement.

You are the instrument, for sensation, for pleasure, for creative energy to bloom through.  It’s as natural as taking in a breath.  Inhale air from the world around you, feel it flow and change temperature inside you, then release it, without judging it, back into the world, as something new.

I hesitate to extend this example with water, but bear with me for a second.  Aside from the first thing you are thinking of, the water you put into your body moves back out into the world through your sweat and tears, expressions of joy, sorrow, dance, hard work and lovemaking. 

Here is the connection to creativity: once you have taken in through your senses and discovered where pleasure resonates for you, you can release this beauty back out into the world, in whatever form you feel most drawn to.

Only you can create art from your own experience.  You are a unique creation yourself, and your voice is the only one that can tell your story.  

You get to show the world how beautiful it is, just by being you and loving the sacredness of being alive.

Wait, am I talking about Tantra or Creativity? 

They both sound delicious.

As many of you know, I am in deep blog crush with Susannah Conway. Not only did I gain many riches from her magically popular Unravelling courses, but she also keeps me company here on the other side of the pond as we Twitter our day away. I think you two should meet!

But before I let Susannah introduce herself, let me pontificate a little about the bounty that comes from her talented eye.

A gift of Susannah’s photographylet’s the receiver:

-step back in time.
-bring back gentility.
-capture the pretty.
-sigh a little.

Susannah’s photos-and-journal Unravelling courses help you:

-see who you are from the toes up.
-cherish your favorite things.
-honor your connections.
-feel accomplished.

What treasured gifts from a dreamy lady! Friends, meet Susannah Conway…

Artist’s Statement

Susannah Conway is a photographer, writer and the creator of the Unravelling e-courses; she is also a Polaroid obsessive, an extroverted introvert and a fake blonde. She spent many years as a fashion editor and freelance journalist in London, and enjoyed attending fashion shows because she liked to watch the people in the audience. In 2005 her partner died from a sudden heart attack and her entire world crumbled. She returned to the south coast to heal in solitude, and over the years has rediscovered her true calling though her passion for photography and writing. She now shares her wisdom with people around the world via her blog, Ink on my fingers, and her e-courses, and is currently writing her first book. She is proud to call herself a ‘family of one’ and likes travelling to far-off lands. Her superpowers are absolute truth-telling and shining the light.  She remains a work-in-progress… always.

Meet April Vega, one part of the trio that is Harp 46. April and I met when she and the band spent a year in Seattle exploring the Pacific Northwest.  Listening to April play her Celtic harp while our soulcare community lay blissfully on the floor is one of my all-time favorite memories of our house on Densmore street is. True, the harp is a lilting and peaceful instrument; but it’s April’s presence as a musician that brings relaxation and inspiration to every musical moment.

One of my favorite holiday albums is Harp 56′s Angels Among Us available to preview and for purchase at CD Baby, orITunes. (Don’t miss it, it’s amazing!)  And now April, along with her husband Nuc and brother-in-law Posido, have released an intriguing new album, Entanglement — a blend of world rhythms to enliven you day. I find  it to be energizing without being frantic — a rare gem for your listening pleasure.

In this Monday’s guest post, April talks about living the creative life when baby makes three, and how the collaborative process works for the band as they write new music. I love what she has to say about how parenting while creating focuses your vision, and how sometimes you have to change a project mid-stream when The Muse decides to take it another way. Here’s April…

I’ve always loved how song emerge out of your jam sessions together. How would you describe the process of writing a new songs together?
      
Harp 46 is as collaborative as it gets, artistically speaking.  It’s funny, this album actually started out as an idea that I had to finally do a solo album.  You know, I wanted to make the voice totally my own, have complete artistic control, really let myself go a little crazy.  But as I started writing the songs, and performing them in front of small cafe-type audiences, I couldn’t help but either hear other parts for Nuc and Posido; or hear weaknesses in the songs that I knew my rhythm section would be able to strengthen up.  I guess it just wasn’t the right time for a solo album!

Our writing process varies.  Some of the songs on this album, maybe half, were little song-zygotes that I composed during my son’s nap time.  I’d bring them to rehearsal and they would, inevitably, become more complex (and therefore more interesting).  The rest were just born out of extended jam sessions, where one of us would start playing a little snippet – maybe just a couple measures of music – and then we’d just follow the music and see where it led us.  That’s very much our style – just using our ears as a guide to write music.

Nuc and Posido have this compositional approach to things – an approach that is both endearing and maddening – where they like to have one piece of a song that sounds really good, and then they try to find the most odd, incompatible thing they can play either superimposed on it, or right next to it.  They do that during rehearsals, and then I’ll generally state my opinion of the sound (not usually positive) and then we just work on getting that odd piece of the puzzle to fit in.  It’s a little confrontational, actually. So we have a lot of that mixture-exploration in all our music – a gospel beat under a Celtic jig, for example, or a hip-hop bass line that emerges from a middle-eastern sounding tune.  Eventually we play with it and it works.  I guess that’s how we create our own little challenges to overcome!

I’ve been listening to your music for a long time now, and it’s a delight to see your work evolving as an artist. How does this album vary from your previous work?

You know, I wasn’t expecting this, but when we first heard the album after being in the studio for a few days, I was just knocked out by how mature it sounded.  Not “mature” like, old lady music, but just that the music had so much more depth and intricacy than our previous albums.  I’m not saying I didn’t like our earlier work – I really do like it all – but this album is just a different step for us.  For one thing, the compositions are much more complex.  There is also clearly a lot of improvisational “conversation” going on between us – it’s much more akin to how we sound in a live concert situation, I think, when we are just letting loose and having fun with the music.  I had no idea it was going to sound like that, by the way.  Sometimes the microphones hear a lot better than our own ears!

How has your creative process changed and adapted now that you and Nuc are parents?

Oh, it is just so much more difficult.  I’m sure that won’t surprise you or any of your readers!  I don’t even know how we got the thing done, to tell you the truth.  It’s half miracle.  We had babysitters galore for a few weeks when we were in the studio.  We tried to rehearse after our son’s bedtime (he can sleep through anything) but sometimes needed those day-long rehearsals too… so much juggling.  And now, with album promo on the front-burner, let me tell you, it is impossible and I’m not doing enough of anything.  My immune system is taking a major beatdown.  All of this used to be so enlivening for me and now it is just crushing me!  Amazing how much work those little people require.

I guess if there’s one positive influence on my creative process it would be that I have more ability to just sit down and get it done.  Time is such a commodity, as any parent will tell you.  I don’t have time to meander through thoughts and ideas – although that kind of time may very well be beneficial to me! – so there were several times with this album, particularly in the beginning stages, where I would sit down with the harp and just kind of force myself to spit something out.  Good, bad, mediocre – didn’t matter.  That’s another benefit of the collaborative nature of a band – I could take something half-baked to rehearsal and we could fix it up and make it sound good.  I guess having a kid around made me a lot more dependent on the rest of the band, which seems to mirror life in general – I know I’ve certainly become a lot more dependent on practically everything in our community now that I’m a parent.

If you were the virtual DJ feature on my Zune, what three songs/artists would you mix into a playlist with this track?

Hmmm.  I would probably go with Lossby Al Petteway and Amy White , Kothbiroby Ayub Ogada (this is on the Constant Gardener soundtrack), and Jump!by Van Halen… but that’s just because I dig Van Halen :)

You can find April’s music at the Harp 46 website. Give someone you love the gift of music this season! Thanks for being here.

L’Orangerie, built specifically for Monet’s last great work, his waterlilies series.

Paul and I both love Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. We’ve traveled the world to worship at Impressionists Temples: The Getty Museum, our Mecca in Los Angeles. The Art Institute in Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Even the tiny Impressionist room in the Glyptotek in Copenhagen, with a painting by Renoir of our neighborhood park. And now, at long last, the Musee d’Orsay and L’Orangerie in Paris.

As a teenager I would see posters and calendars full of pastel reproductions of Monet’s waterlilies or Van Gogh’s sunflowers and think, “Ick. Too pretty.” Then I went to the Art Institute of Chicago, walked into the enormous Impressionist wing, and nearly fell to my knees. The impact of those pieces in real life, the depth of the paint strokes, the vibrations of the color — there’s no way to reproduce it. No way at all.

The more I’ve learned about the Impressionists–and perhaps even more so, the post-Impressionists– the more I’ve come to feel a kinship with them.  Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and dear, broken Vincent Van Gogh and Henri de Toulouse-Latrec: I adore them all. I feel if I could meet them today we would be like siblings: all bickering and laughing: remembering and reaching. These painters, who we now see as little more than producers of decorative posters, were once brave, bold radicals.

In the last 1800′s, there were two ways to succeed as artists: show in the Salon, or show in the Academy. Both French institutions presented perfectly executed works of art. And, both institutions insisted there was only one way to create and present said art. “Real” art, said the Institution, was neo-classical art. These acceptable pieces depicted the same set of myths and Bible stories, all portrayed with familiar, formulaic precision. It was pretty, perfected, and above all tame.

The Impressionists saw another way, craved another way. Truth came at them from odd angles, and they wanted to express the impressions reality made upon them. But the Academy and the Salon had no room for exploration. The new work was considered ugly, inappropriate, and misconstrued. So the new Impressionists broke away. They left paying jobs and secure posts. They gave up the professional credentials and the assured success that  came with membership in the Institution. They risked everything. The Impressionists were reformers — not to make a name for themselves — but because it was the only way to be themselves. 

Take for instance Edgar Degas, a privileged child from a family of wealthy bankers, who painted successfully in the Academic style — until he met the Impressionists. Or Edouard Manet, formally trained and accepted into the Salon, who threw his “opportunities” aside and instead surrounded himself with artists experimenting in new techniques. Or my favorite, Vincent Van Gogh, a seminary student with a guaranteed career in the church, who left it behind to follow the deep pull art, truth, and post-impressionism had on his heart.

I suppose by now you are seeing the parallels that draw me to these rebellious souls. I too had a career which was controlled by two great institutions — the Catholic and the Protestant. I too was set up for immenent success within that system. I too fell in with a crowd of outliers. I too left it all behind to follow a pull towards something “post.” (In this case, post-modernism as opposed to post-impressionism.) Like Van Gogh I battle depression. Like Toulouse-Latrec I work around a broken body. Like Monet I tend to circle around the same source material over and over again.

These are my kinsmen, these heretics we. And in their stories I find comfort.

What great artists are your withmates? Who in history partners you on your journey? Do tell in the comments below. 

Stayed tune for my next Post-Impressionist post: Vincent Van Gogh and The Terrible Need. Join the mailing list or follow me on Twitter and you won’t miss a thing. Thank you for being here!

I feel a little hesitant to write about Rowena Murillo’s work, because I feel quite unsure about how to describe how it effects me. I’ve been thinking about this the last few days, and the only thing I can come up with is that Rowen is so in it. She doesn’t stand outside her work and create what she thinks will sell, or even what she thinks people might need. Instead she creates what is present. And you know what? It is exactly what people — at least what this person, needs.

I think part of it is that Rowena has a naturally perfected balance of  the show and the tell. She doesn’t  show us too little, making it impossible for us to get at the meaning. And she doesn’t tell it too us to straight, which would make us resistant to the obviousness of the message. Instead she gives us just enough direction to get us into the rabbit hole, and the pull of wonder takes us the rest of the way.

Speaking of rabbit holes, don’t miss what Rowena is doing on her blog right now — a new series of Flying Girls as an altered book, rooted firmly in the words of Miss Alice of Wonderland. And as you do your holiday shopping, please remember her well-stocked Etsy shop with affordable prints.

Someday I will have a datebook with page after page of Rowena’s goodness. Someday I will have a painting as large as my living room wall of  Flying Girl Swims, or Explore Undiscovered Lands. Someday we will share opposite sides of a second-hand table, painted red, and make wonders. But until that day, I think we all should say a little “hallelujah” for the way Rowena and her Flying Girls help us live in our own skin. Can I get an “Amen?”

Artist’s Statement: Rowena Murillo

 ”I almost never know what I am going to paint until I put the brush to the paper.  Or perhaps I have an idea of where to start, but the process of creating transforms the concept, the idea, and the artist.

Visions don’t come real. Accidents detour the plan. Unexpected happenings change the goal. Synchronicity picks the path.  But I keep going. I keep looking at what I have and seeing what I could have.  I am guided by the process. 

My philosophy on life is much the same– follow the serendipity and acknowledge the beauty, and through that, find meaning.”

One of the more challenging parts of living a creative life is discovering your best working rhythm. We all have a work pattern that suits our energy levels and nurtures us with alternating periods of work and rest, gathering and creating.

I have spent plenty of time trying to force myself into a “productive” work routine that ended up being anything butproductive, simply because it didn’t match my natural habits. Like lifecoach Jena Strong always says, ”It’s all about function.”  That’s why this week’s  *8Things is all about uncovering your creative patterns. The rhythm is already there, you just have to pull off the blanket and see what is there waiting for you.

How do you like to work? When do you like to start, how long it takes for you to get into the flow, do you like to work in silence or with music? Your intuitive voice will help access the information you need to uncover a work rhythm that supports your creative pursuits. Write down *8Things you know about Your Creative Rhythm and put them in the comments below or grab a button and play along by putting a permalink to your post in the list below.

Special thanks to this week to Sarah and at Creative Lessons who gave me the idea for this *8Things list; to Jen Lee for her excellent “Making Soup” metaphor about the ebb and flow of the creating process; and to Dee Wilcox at the Creative Perch for sharing this *8Things list with a wider audience. Thanks for being here!

Rachelle’s *8Things: Creative Rhythm

1. Embrace Your BioRhythm: There is no point in me trying to write before noon. I do administrative work in the morning in my PJ’s, shower after lunch, the get to writing.
2. Manage Your Downloads:  Just because I have a huge download of creative ideas doesn’t mean I have to do them all at once. I can suppress the hyper-mania if I remember they’ll keep.
3. Know Your Tender Spots:After announcing a project or sending it out to the world I’m virtually guaranteed to have a bout of self-doubt and insecurity. I enlist help.
4. Trouble Shoot Your Wheel of Work Weak Spots:  I like generating ideas and starting things. I’ m not so good with the middle and the finish. During that part of the a project I have to write out an hour by hour daily schedule to get it DONE.
5. Don’t Isolate:  I live abroad and work at home — so seeing another adult IN REAL LIFE at least once a week is imperative!
6. Know What You Need:  It’s true, I’m a feedback whore. I like immediate reaction to what I’m working on. Thus, I blog.
7. What’s Your Addiction of Choice?: Facebook and Twitter I can manage, YouTube and Hulu suck me in like a black hole
8. Your Nutrional Needs. Must. Have. Input. Artists dates are a must. I try to go to a gallery, garden, or performance once a month.

Sometime Twitter yields real treasures. Such is the case of Naoko Stoop, a beautiful artist I discovered via a kind tweet. Naoko’s beautiful images transport me to magical world. Handcrafted scrapbooking goodness combined with fine draftsmanship make each image a delight to the eye. After viewing this slideshow of her work, I feel like I’ve been submerged in a warm bath.

Naoko has beautiful prints for sale on line, as well as perfect, understated hoilday greeting cards. You can find her at ther site Brown Paper Bag, or at her Etsy shop. And you can learn more about this clever artist in her statement below. Thank you Naoko, for bringing warmth and whimsy to our winter days!

Artist’s Statement: Naoko Stoop

Hello, I am Naoko Stoop, a self taught artist, based in Brooklyn NY. I love to read fairy tales from all over the world, and live in a magical world myself. 

Since I was little, I was fascinated with creating things on used paper: old books, newspapers, magazines, wrapping paper, letters and envelops.

My “Brown Paper Bag Collection” came from this fascination. I use recycled folded brown paperbags as my canvas. They have already had a sense of purpose in their previous forms. It is like detatching them from their old roles and combining with my mischievous drawings to create something new form something old. After a lot of experiments with paper and various inks, I have established a way to draw on used paper bags without losing the color and texture of the medium.

I also draw a little girl with a red knit cap. This series is playful and cheerful with colorful paint on wood panels.  She is not someone but she is everyone. She is a childhood image that everyone has in her or his mind. I am trying to create images that project the beauty in life.

Please visit Naoko Stoop at her website and her online shop. Tell her Magpie Girl sent you!  

If  you’ve been hanging out for even a little bit here at Magpie Girl, you know how much I adore my life coach, Jena Strong of Strong Coaching. (website : blog) She’s the perfect combination of compassionate gentleness and no nonsense direction.

Today Jena is here to help with something so many of us in the creative realm struggle with: the imposter syndrome. Do you ever feel like you don’t belong? Do you think everyone else knows what they are doing while you are splashing around in the deep end? Then this my friend is for you. Jena, take it away….

The Imposter Sydrome: Diagnosis and Treatment
by Jena Strong

Let’s get the bad news over with first. The Imposter Syndrome is rampant. President Obama should declare a national emergency. Free vaccine clinics should be set up. Thousands, millions perhaps, of talented, creative, wise, and caring individuals suffer from this debilitating, delusional condition.

Now for the good news. There are only a few symptoms and they are really all facets of the same thing: A mistaken belief that you are not good enough. And best of all, the Imposter Syndrome is highly responsive to treatment. Continue reading to learn more, and if you believe you are suffering from the Imposter Syndrome, please! Seek help immediately.

GENERAL SYMPTOMS

A nagging voice in your head saying things like, “You call yourself a real _______?” Blank may be filled in with profession or vocation of your choice: Writer, Artist, Life Coach, Teacher, Business Owner, Mom, etc.

Habit of comparing yourself to Other People on a regular basis, wherein you usually come up short.

Certainty that said Other People have It All Figured Out, i.e. they are more confident, competent, and eminently more qualified than you to do whatever it is that you do. And by the way, they most definitely do notsuffer from the Imposter Syndrome themselves.

Underlying anxiety that it is only a matter of time before somebody realizes you are a fraud – and calls you on it, most likely in a humiliating, public manner.

TREATMENT

Remember that other People are not paying that much attention to you.They are much more self-absorbed than that. In fact, there is a significant chance that they themselves are suffering from the Imposter Syndrome, in which case they are most likely thinking how much more confident, competent, talented, creative, accomplished, and qualified YOU are than they are.

Trust the fear. I know this seems contradictory, but here’s what I mean: The more persistent that nagging voice is that’s calling you a con-artist, the more likely it is that you are actually doing exactly what you are meant to be doing. Know that the voice will get louder before it dies down, especially if you start ignoring it, but it will, in time, begin to give up the fight and let you do your work in this world fully and without doubt, second-guessing, and insecurity. Marianne Williamson said it most famously: “We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?…Your playing small does not serve the world.”

Get to know your gremlin. I cannot recommend this enough. The book Taming Your Gremlin by Richard Carson is playful and highly useful for this; it’s the only book I ask my coaching clients to read. The fact is, the Imposter Syndrome is the gremlin’s distorted way of trying to protect you from failure. The clearer you get about what you’re really up to, the more impotent your gremlin will begin to feel. Consider writing your gremlin a letter telling him or her why you are bored with the Imposter Syndrome and how it is you plan to move forward.

Make a conscious choice about where to place your attention. Having a working relationship with your Gremlin will come in very handy here. You can start talking to him or her, e.g. “Gremlin (or Shirley or Drill Sergeant or whatever your gremlin’s name may be), I appreciate what you’re up to here, but I’m actually much more interested in _______ (making my art, writing my book, teaching my class, building my business, nurturing my relationships, changing the world) than in your relentless attempts to make me feel small and incompetent. Now go have a cup of tea and I’ll check in with you later.”

Do It Anyway. My father’s best advice to me, on my wedding day, was “Start. Keep Going.” Action is the greatest form of reclaiming your power from the falsity of the Imposter Syndrome. Sure, your gremlin will keep trying to win you back, but the more you move forward, noticing her but not letting her run the show, the more discouraged she will become. (Pretty soon, your gremlin may herself wind up with a case of the Imposter Syndrome. “I’m a total fraud! Who am I to call myself a gremlin?” she may cry. And we will all shed big alligator tears for her.)

Be Honest. Share. Connect. Tell Your Story. Things fester in the dark. Silence, hiding, shame, embarrassment – all of these keep us from shining, from sharing our light and our experience and our wisdom and our gifts with each other. What a loss. Amazing things happen when you choose to speak the truth: it gives the people around you permission to do the same, and everything begins to change.

Find a Buddy. We do this work alone, but we don’t do this work alone. Having a witness, a fellow gremlin-warrior, someone who knows what we’re up to, someone to help hold us accountable, someone to help us get back up when we fall, makes all the difference and helps guarantee our success. Or you might consider working with a life coach.

Celebrate. As you move through this process, bring your awareness to the times when you forget to feel like an imposter. Write them down in a special journal. Take yourself on a date or do something kind for someone who is feeling unsteady. Most importantly, be good to yourself – and spread the love.

For more Jena Strong goodness you can find her in at least a half-dozen places here at Magpie Girl, or WAY better yet, find her at Strong Coaching where she takes local and long-distant clients under her coaching wing.

Over the years I’ve found that statement to be endlessly true, and the more I work with artists the more I am captured by the deep intersection between creativity and spirituality. So today I’d like to features a few artists I adore.

Rowena Murillo of Warrior Girl draws hauntingly evocative images. Her Flying Girl print series is a particular favorite of mine and features strong feminine images of adventure and bravery. Flying Girl embodies that mysterious state of being I like to describe as “standing in your own power.” Flying Girl is a Warrior, or The Miracle is Now  is one of my special favorites. (I will certainly be thinking of her when I visit Joan of Arc’s memorials in Rouen next week!) Here’s Rowena’s poetic description of her flying warrior:

‘”Like Joan of Arc, Flying Girl is lead by her conviction, her vision, her inspiration.
Unlike Joan of Arc, Flying Girl is in control of the fires and will not let them consume her. She recognizes that the miracle is all around her, every day, every moment. And her quest is in gentleness and acceptance. This is the power of ‘yes.’ This is the power of ‘now.’”

Rowena’s prints are affordably priced and make soulful, inspiring gifts for yourself or someone you love.

Susie Lubell of Mishmish Studios wins the Magpie Girl award for best Etsy shop tagline: “Juicy art for home and life.” Can’t you just feel the abundance? Susie’s vibrant, enthusiastic watercolor prints radiate the meaning of the word “blessing.” Her Jewish roots infuse her work, such as this gorgeous Hamsa, “a palm-shaped amulet popular throughout the Middle East and North Africa as defense against the evil eye.” I also think this beautiful household  blessing would be a fabulous hostess gift if you are traveling this holiday season. It offers the recipient this blessing for their home:

“Let no sadness come through this gate,
Let no trouble come to this dwelling,
Let no fear come through this door,
Let no conflict be in this place,
Let this home be filled with the blessing of joy,
and peace.”

Susie also creates original ketubahs (traditional Jewish marriage contracts), prints for bris and baby naming ceremonies and wall art for children.

Kelly Rae Roberts has been selling like gangbusters lately and hardly needs a shout out from little ole’ me. But with the beautiful, inspiring images, I just couldn’t resist singing her praises in case one of you lovely readers out there is missing out. Wouldn’t Journey of the Heart make a wonderful, heartfelt gift for the soulsisters in your life? Or one of these necklaces would surely shore up your faith or nuture your creative spirit.

Finally, for those of you who still love a fresh box of Crayolas, Kara Jones at Mother Henna has just released a fun new project. It’s a coloring book to help you “come one step closer to your sacred self.” Remember the days when you got a new coloring book for the plane ride to grandma’s house? I definitely think you need this one for your next flight!

Who are your favorite soulful artists? Where will you be shopping for heartfelt, encouraging gifts this holiday season? Do tell in the comments below.

These are emerging thoughts and I share them with not an un-small amount of trepidation. But they won’t leave me alone, these wonderings, and I need all the contributors to The Giant Pool of Wisdom to help me out.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately — off and on for years really — about this odd and wonderful bubble we live in. On good-humor days I think of it as something like “the women’s creative empowerment community.” I like it, this loose group of wonderful women who are finding their voice, expressing their creativity, and rebuilding their spirituality in the studio instead of the sanctuary. (Or as I like to think of it, the studio has become the sanctuary.) I love working in this milieu. I know, that I know, that I know these are my people. And nothing gives me more joy than teaching and learning in this world.

On cynical-humor days I think of myself as “the middle-class middle-aged white woman doing crafts.” Do you know what I mean? Kind of cushy, and whiney, and little bit frivolous. It makes me think of all those Jane Austen novels. How all the female characters embroidered, or did crewel work, or played the harpsichord. “The womanly arts,” they were called.  It was what women did when they weren’t allowed to do anything else. Correction, it was what privileged women did when then didn’t have to do anything else (and also, they weren’t allowed. A combination then.)  On cynical days I substitute “embroidery, crewel work, and harpsichord” with “mixed media collage, photography, and guitar lessons” and I feel a little–well, frivolous.

Then I get my feminist dander up and I remember that women’s work has always been downgraded. The most amazing intricate needle and tapestry work would be referred to as “craft” while oil paintings done in the all-male studios of yore were classified as “art.” Even now, women are severely under-represented in galleries and museums, as the film Who Does She Think She Is so passionately demonstrates. This distinction is still there — it’s changing, true — but it’s still there. And it bothers me.

But in addition to this feminist outrage, more than the slight discomfort I feel around my so-called cushy life, I am deeply bothered by the imbalance that I feel between two worlds I admire and desire: The introspective and necessary world of self-fulfillment and self-expression. And the equally necessary world of charity and social justice. I feel…unsatisfied…with the extent to which these two worlds intertwine. And I see other creative women trying to find a way to tie the two together as well. There are ripples out there, and rumors of another way. We are exploring. We are finding the connection.

It’s already so hard to make a living, to make your art, to raise your kids, to tell your story, and to be in a relationship. How can we possibly do any more?  (Throw in all these mysterious “women’s diseases” like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and migraines and it gets even harder.) And yet, and yet….

I guess it’s that I feel, YES, your story is important. Yes, you, white girl with the two kids and the minivan. You story, your creative dreams are essential to the universe. But so are our African sisters’, so are our Latina sisters’, so is every sisters’. And how do they find the strength to tell their stories, after a day of trying to make ends meet. How do we help? How do we partner?  How do we teach and learn from each other?

I keep thinking about Fredrick Beuchner’s famous quote about vocation from Wishful Thinking:

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

Where is that place for me? For you? For the creative community of us — we, the ladies who art. Where is the seam that weaves together our deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger?

In the excellent but now defunct television series Joan of Arcadia, God tells Joan that she has suffered from “a crisis of imagination.”  I think that might be it. In spite of all our creativity, I think we are suffering from a crisis of imagination. I think there is more.

Recently, I’ve been listening to Pride, Prejudice and Zombies, a freaking brilliant adaptation of the Jane Austen novel in which the characters do not practice “The Womanly Arts,” but rather are trained in “The Deadly Arts.” The art of combat. The art of defense. These are not little women. These are Warrior Girls. How can we be warrior girls for our sisters? How can champion their right to be in this world?

Really I have very little idea. But I know it’s always a good plan to take a step. It might not be the step that works out, but it will lead you to the next, and the next, until you find the path. So my step, right now, is to put both feet quite firmly on one particular stepping stone. I will announce that I have fallen in love with the Apparent Project, a program run by people I know and adore in Haiti. Through the Apparent Project, Shelley and Corrigan Clay, who are artists,  feed street kids, house kids who were forced to be left behind due to poverty, adopt orphans into their own family, and help women learn skills to support their families. I am head-over-heels with this small, grassroots program— in much the same way that I am in love with art. But I can you imagine me, the migraineur, in Haiti? No. Help. At. All.

So I will do what little I can. I will give ten percent of whatever profit I make this year – from my upcoming EBooks and Ecourses and whatever else might come my way—I will give ten percent of that profit to Haiti. And, whenever I can think of a way to encourage others to chip-in, through the A Year Without Clothes Pledge, or any other thing that crosses my path, I will do so. I will not have a crisis of imagination. I will learn to connect the dots.

It won’t be much. But perhaps this is the practice that will open the door, the rehearsal that will shine light on the solution to this hunger in my life. To be a mother, and an artist…and a warrior girl for others.

 Do you think we can find the way? Let’s jump.

Click here to contribute to the chip-in for the Apparent Project, or tell us your ideas in the comments below. Thank you for being here!

So here it is my sweet Magpie Girl friends, all raw and in the mess.

I’m working hard right now. I’m finally well enough that I can work. My iron levels are no longer at a near-critical state, and my energy has dramatically improved. Now I can actually stay awake all day. I don’t have to go up the stairs to my studio on my hands and knees (literally), and the migraine pain doesn’t lay me up nearly as often. It feels good, just to be able to work this hard.

Coming Now(ish): Magpie Girl Guidebooks!
I’ve got two small PDF books on the cusp of being done. They are in that endless editing process where all the little details need to be decided upon on in the design, and all the typos need to be fixed in the text. The main book is a slim volume called SoulRetreats: How to host a tribe with art and soul. It goes to the editor this weekend, and will be for sale the first or second week of November.

The supplemental book is SoulFood: How to cook for a tribe. It just went to the designer today, and I hope to have it available for you as a free download by the end of the month. (I wanted both of them up for my 40th, but I’m letting go of self-imposed deadlines and trying not to be a drama queen about it.) These two books are part of a new series of  Magpie Girl Guides.  (There are 4 more planned.) I could not be more thrilled that the first two are a collaborative effort with my Soulsisters! I’m just so damned proud and grateful I can hardly stop beaming over it.

Up Next: Your Soultribe!
On the heels of these book projects is my newest brainchild – on-line Soultribes! I’ll be offering two Soultribes beginning in January:

• Soulcraft Circle will be focused on doing a monthly art-based spiritual practice together.
• Magpie Girl’s High Holy Days will be about celebrating seasonal rites and rituals based on my own kooky Magpie Girl mix of traditions.

Both Soultribes will feature a private website where you’ll receive monthly assignments from moi, plus a place to share your experiences with others. Artful soulcare with a tribe! What could be better?

Won’t it be a great to start the New Year with a tribe around you? I’m “pinch me” excited!

The Way It Makes me Feel
In the midst of all this creating I’m vacillating wildly between opposing emotions. One minute I’m thinking, “Squee! I have so many lovely pals!”; and the next I’m desperately lonely. Monday I may be happy to spread around the goodness regarding all my virtual collegues’ courses, books, and other offerings. Tuesday I may be dying of jealousy. The first hour of the workday I may feel secure that I’m following my passion. By lunch I’m Mrs. McDoubtyPants. I haven’t felt like this since I was expecting the girls. It feels like pregnancy.

Even as I type that I know it’s right. It is like pregnancy — all hormones and mood swings and cravings–because something good is about to get born. And I have all of you with me in the birthing room. What a lucky girl I am! (Oh, I am so holding on to that with both hands for when the labor gets tough.)

So there you have it…if you write down the mess, you come to clarity. Without you dear readers, I never would have gotten there. (Thank you for listening to me spout.) I’m in the transition stage of labor now, and I may grab you by the neck and scream, “You! YOU did this to me!” (and then demand jewlery.)  But eventually we’ll hear that first tiny cry of new life and we’ll all just sit around glowing at what we helped get born. Thanks for holding this space for me. You are my very favorite midwives.

See you on the other side!

Much Warmth,

Rachelle

One of today’s posts is by Jennifer McGuiggan of The Word Cellar. Jennifer is a professional freelance writer and editor. As such, she knows a thing or two about creative cycles. She’s talked me out of more than one slump, launching me past my sticking points and on to project completion. Today she shares with Magpie Girl readers “The Wheel of Work” concept. Join Jennifer as she shows us how to propel ourselves past our natural sticking points by playing to our strengths — and enlisting help for the rest.

Overcoming Your Natural Sticking Points (Innovator’s Edition)
By Jennifer McGuiggan

I can’t figure out how to start this blog post, which is absolutely perfect. Perfect because I’m trying to write about overcoming your natural sticking point in a project. And mine just happens to be this exact point: the point between brainstorming/mapping out the idea and refining/finalizing the project. I get stuck at the beginning of production and creation.

I used to wonder why “everyone else” has such great ideas and gets so much done. My husband, ever my cheerleader, pointed out that I do have a lot of potentially great ideas, all floating around in my head or stashed away in notebooks. He regularly reminds me that I do manage to get stuff done, even big things like starting a freelance writing and editing business; researching/applying to/enrolling in graduate school; and navigating the treacherous waters of real estate and mortgages to buy our first house.

So what’s the problem, I wondered. Why do I sometimes get so stuck that I jump ship and leave my ideas to languish on the deck?

Then a friend shared the concept of the Wheel of Work with me and the pieces fell into place. The wheel tracks the eight phases of a project and can help us to see where we thrive and where we need support. (Note: I don’t know the original source of the Wheel of Work. If you do, please tell us in the comments.)

The Wheel of Work

I’m naturally skilled in the conceptual half, particularly Advising, Innovating, and Developing. This means I’m good at brainstorming and connecting ideas, thinking about things in new and unexpected ways, researching, and collecting resources. But when it’s time to Organize and Produce, I seize up. All those possible directions and a desire to “do it right” can stymie my attempts at creating. I dream things up, but then I have trouble Organizing my thoughts and moving into Production.

If you look at the wheel, you’ll see that Organize and Produce are opposite of Advise and Innovate. This is usually the case: The pieces of the wheel furthest away from our natural strengths are the pieces we find to be most difficult.

If you get stuck at the point of creation, here are four tips on getting from idea generation to post-production.

1. Collect your project ideas in one place. I struggle with this and tend to have scraps of paper and journal pages littered with ideas. But I do my best to put them all in one notebook that’s segmented for different idea types, like essay and article ideas, resources to consult, and possible collaborative projects. This way, I know where everything is and can keep track of my brain jumble.

2. Consider the path of least resistance. Natural-born innovators often end up with long lists of potential projects and no sense of direction. When you have too many projects to choose from, or even too many possible directions within a single project idea, you can end up quitting before you start because you feel overwhelmed. If you can’t figure out what project to focus on, prioritize your list of ideas. The criteria you use for prioritizing is up to you. Maybe you want to pick the project that you think has the most money-making potential. Maybe one project seems ripe for the picking because your audience is hungry for it.

When in doubt, I say go for the one that most appeals to you. We tend to think that anything “good” has to be “hard,” but I say do what works and feels good. Don’t think of it as the easy way out. Rather, think of it was the easy way through. The same thing applies to choosing a direction within one particular project. For example, I just kept on writing this post, going in the direction that seemed easiest as I went along. As I got further down the path, I could more clearly see what needed to come next and where I needed to go back and revamp things.

3. Stop assuming and get the facts.One of the ways that we sabotage ourselves is by making assumptions. We assume that we can’t afford a graphic designer, so why bother to start writing that ebook? We assume we won’t find a vacant room at the bed and breakfast we love, so why bother to plan that getaway? We assume we’ll run out of ideas halfway through the article, so why bother to create an outline? Stop it with the what-ifs! Don’t let a lack of information dictate your progress. Worrying about what may-or-may-not-be just keeps you stuck. Get the facts you need to figure out the next steps. And remember that not every step of a project is contingent upon another step. Figure out what you can do concurrently, like writing the ebook content while waiting to hear back from designers. If you stay committed to the project, you’ll find a way to make it work.

4. Enlist help. Chances are you have friends and colleagues who are naturally skilled in other parts of the Wheel of Work. When you’re stuck on how to begin or what to do next, ask for input from someone you trust. Even someone with the same sticking points as you may be able to help. For example, although I struggle to see my way forward at the beginning of my projects, I do it with ease and confidence when working with my clients. We tend to create drama and fear around our natural sticking points when it comes to our own projects because we’re emotionally attached to them. An outsider doesn’t have the same baggage and can point the way forward.

This is how I get past my natural sticking points. What are your sticking points along the Wheel of Work and how do you overcome them? Add to the Giant Pool of Wisdom by leaving your suggestions in the comments.

Jennifer McGuiggan is a professional writing, editing, and consulting services to businesses, organizations, and individuals. Read about her services at The Word Cellar and browse through her portfolio to learn more.

You write all the way to the fence,
then there’s nothing
left to do but tear it down and
expand the border. To stretch
your life by trading Safe and Secure.
To stare the beast, It’s Not Enough, in the
face and let it off its leash….

-from You Write to the Fence, by Jen Lee

This week’s Magpie Girl favorite is a lovely palm-sized book  by Jen Lee, she of the soul-felt stories.

Fortunes is a beautiful collection of etheral toy camera images and prose-like poems chronicling the liminal space that is our 30′s and 40′s. When I cracked it open it was like finding an instant companion for all my issues. Finding your art; dealing with mothers and daughters; tapping into a midlife sexual revolution —- it’s all in here in pitch-perfected prose. It is a rare writer who creates work which is both rich with image and yet spare and accessible. Jen Lee achieves it here with aplomb. There’s not a superfelous word on the plate,  and still such a rich meal!

You can purchase Fortunes  here, either alone or as a duo (one for you, one for a friend.) If you are making the handmade pledge this season, Fortunes would be a lovely envelope-sized gift to slip in with the holiday card you’re sending to an artful friend. And if you are a writer, or think maybe perhaps you sort-of-want-to-be, then take a look at Jen’s new journal for writers, Take me with You.

May these small treasures bring big joy and beauty to your world today. 
Magpie Girl’s Promise: I adore my readers, so I only review productsI truly believe in. I never review a product — even one I’ve received for free — unless I truly love it. My complimentary copy of Fortunes perfectly fits the bill. Click the link to find  all my Favorite Things, and maybe one of yours! Thank you for being here.

Meet Lisa Alexander, soulsister and collborative divorce and conflict resolution specialist. Lisa is full of practical, straight-forward advice that is rooted in true soulfulness, which a rock solid combination. At our Soulsisters retreat she set me straight on pricing, and I’ve been carrying her in back pocket for reinforcement ever since. Now you get to tap into her financial smarts in this guest post on honouring your work through values-based pricing.

Value Based Pricing with Lisa Alexander

Being your own boss is one of the best things in the world, in my humble opinion.  You’ve got the freedom to choose when you’ll work and what sort of work you’ll do.  Yeah, it’s no fun to pilfer from the stationary supply cupboard when you’re the one who has to stock and pay for the supplies, but that’s a small price to pay for the joy that comes with being your own boss.

If you’re selling widgets, it’s relatively easy to figure out what to charge.  You look at what other widget sellers are charging, you sharpen your pencil and figure out what the cost of widget production is and you can relatively easily come to a bottom line.

But what do you do when your commodity is your time?  Some of us sell the work of our hands — paintings, material crafts, our words — and we carefully note the cost of our materials, but then have to figure out what value we’ve added by transforming those basic materials.   Others of us sell our ideas, skills and wisdom.  It’s even harder to figure out what to charge when your product is intangible — it’s your words, your way of listening, the specialized knowledge you have carefully learned, your way of leading someone into an encounter with themselves in this new reality you’ve helped them create.  How on earth do you put a value on that?

I’ve done a lot of thinking about how to charge for my time, as I’ve been a lawyer for ten years now, and self-employed for almost seven of those years.   When I started off, the firm I worked with set my hourly rate, so I didn’t have to grapple with setting an initial threshold charge.  Thank goodness for that, as up until that time, I’d never earned more than about $15 per hour, and that was for an incredibly fancy dishwashing job at a unionized hospital.  The idea of asking someone to pay me in the triple digit numbers was incredibly scary; I figured that if I was going to ask for money, I’d better damn well be able to deliver, plus do cartwheels, wash their car and prove that I could walk on the moon.  

It is the rare person amongst us that is confident that she or he is worth every penny of what they are charging.  The rest of us usually grapple with impostor syndrome at some point in our money earning lives.  Almost every woman I’ve ever talked to has experienced this phenomenon.   Impostor syndrome can be paralyzing to those of us charging for an intangible service. 

As much as I’d love to wave my magic wand and give clarity to each of you who is struggling to figure out how to charge what you’re worth for the service or goods that you’re providing, that’s not reality.  But perhaps you might find some clarity (and a big can of impostor-syndrome-be-gone) in the following hard learned lessons:

• Do your homework.  What are people of your experience, education and training charging for the same type of service/goods?  Make sure you are looking within your own community, as rates fluctuate from community to community.
• Set your rates/price on the lower end of the scale, when you are starting out.  You’ll be working out all sorts of kinks and feeling under pressure to perform for top dollar will hold you back from taking the sort of risks you need to take when you’re starting out.
• Don’t stay at the low end of the scale.  Within at least one year, bump up your rates/price.  Do this even if no one has purchased a single thing from you.  (Be honest – if no one has purchased from you and if, after a scathingly honest critique of why not you find the reason is you’ve over priced yourself, you’ll know this tip is not for you).
• Bump your rates up at regular intervals, provided that your industry is one in which there is a range of rates, and after you’ve been established two years.,
• Remind yourself that it normally takes three to six months to be comfortable with your new price.  Say it out loud.  Write it down.  When people ask the cost, tell it to them straight with no apologies.  No apologies, I said.  None.  Not even a squeak of an apology.  And definitely no excuses.
• Honour the work you do.  If you don’t honour it, no one else will either.
• Fake it until you make it.  This tip got me through the first part of my career and was invaluable when I became my own boss.  I was concerned that everyone but me knew what was going on.  It turns out that they didn’t always know what was going on.   They’re all faking it until they make it too.  And one day, you’ll find out you’re making it, not faking it.
• Think big and believe in yourself.  That is something my dad always told us growing up and it’s deep in my bones now.
• Don’t back away from your asking price.  You are worth it.  You do know what you’re talking about.  You’ve worked hard to get to this place.
• Make value-based deals. Don’t make deals unless what you’re getting in return is equal to the value of what you’re offering.
• Plan ahead. Always save the right amount to pay your taxes and for a rainy day.

Lisa Alexander is a collaborative lawyer and mediator practicing in Vancouver, British Columbia. You can say ‘thank you’ for her guest post at Magpie Girl today in the comments below. And don’t forget to give us your tips and thoughts about charging for your work by adding them to the Giant Pool of Wisdom, now forming. Thanks for being here!

Thankfully I’ve stumbled upon Art + Money: Thriving as an artist without selling out by Chris Guillebeau and Zoë Westhof. This manual, plus the accompanying artist interviews, gives practical tips and guidelines for getting your work out there, connecting to you audience, and telling your story.

Art + Money is offered at two levels. The $39  Starving Artist version includes the 55 page guide, 3 artists interviews on mp3, and free updates for 6 months. The Picasso version is $58 and includes 3 additional artists interviews. (I’ve not reviewed this part of the product.)  Chris is also an incredibly accessible person who actively supports his product and his community.

I know there’s a lot of stuff out there promising to help you sell, sell, sell — and most of it relies on becoming a superstar on Technorati or having the biggest blog readership on the block. Art + Money does not take that approach. Rather it helps you connect your work, your story, and your people into a comprehensive whole that will help you earn either a supplemental income or a living wage — depending on how much time you want to put into it.

While it’s geared primarily for visual artists, it’s also great for writers. Just replace artists/galleries with writers/publishing as you read. And wherever it stays “studio” think “bookstore.” A lot of the links and suggested sites are specifically for selling visual art, but as a writer you’ll still find about 70% of the content applicable. 

Art + Money helped me redefining marketing as “sharing your story with your people” – which I already do and love! It’s also confirming my hunch that time on Twitter and Facebook promoting my work—and promoting the work of others in my community—is time well spent. In concrete terms, Art + Money:

• helps me figure out pricing.
• encourages me to keep on with my choice to not pursue traditional publishing.
• shows me how to fine tune my social networking methods.
• teaches me to launch my upcoming products and courses.

I would say the book is especially helpful if you are not yet blogging or using social networking, or if you have not figured out how to focus your blogging and networking in a way that supports your creative work. And if you are they type of person who is inspired by the stories of working artists, the interviews will be a big boon to you as well.

I hope Art + Money scratches where it itches and helps you bring your creative dreams closer to reality. 

Magpie Girl’s Promise: I adore my readers, so I only review products I truly believe in. In this case, I purchased the product at full price and decided to become an affiliate ambassador for Art + Money. If you purchase this book through the links on my site you’ll not only get a great product, you’ll also support my work. Thanks for being here!