I am home safe and sound (my bag is still MIA; thankfully I had my computer and notes with me so am just trusting my favorite jeans and pj’s etc will show up eventually). It will take awhile to fully digest all I learned from the Writer’s Conference. You know the feeling of standing there with a thimble in front of a fire hose trying to get what you think you need. I ended up just letting the firehose drench, nourish, cool and get me thoroughly wet. I realize “I” am the seed that was being watered, I didn’t need to capture or hold the water in a container, I’m the container. So I let all the words and feelings, ideas and stories wash over me, soak into me and cleanse me of old or no longer useful thoughts I had about writing and publishing. It was kind of great letting go of what I thought I would have to do. At this moment my feelings are more vibration than feeling, if that makes any sense. I feel movement, possibility and creativity mixed with a healthy shot of “Holy Sh**!” thrown in for the sense of adventure on the horizon.
A beautiful energy of peace and joy……
I still will ask within each step of the way. Since this was a Spiritual Writers Conference this was highlighted and affirmed by each and every speaker. I will try to share a few things that stick out in my mind and heart about the weekend. This helps me both remember and acknowledge all I gleaned.
10 Things I Learned at the Spiritual Writers Conference
1. Content is still paramount. (good, rich, wonderful, useful, REAL, thoughtful)
2. You need a platform (as big as you can build it) AND the Spirit works in unfathomable ways no matter what or who your platform is
3. Best Work Forward! (If you have three or four (or more) books to publish send in your BEST work first. It doesn’t matter how good the second and third book is if they never publish the first.)
4. Mike Dooley of Notes from the Universe and Infinite Possibilities fame is 100% delightful and worth traveling any distance to hear and enjoy his heart
Mike Dooley
5. Editing is critical and there are many different kinds of editing (developmental, content, technical, copy) and each matters in its own way
6. The energy of peace and openness was truly a divine presence at the Conference (i.e. I have never seen 500+ people be and feel so relaxed and delighted without spilling over into the overdrive of excitement and agitation)
7. You can write as catharsis but you can’t publish as catharsis
8. The goal is to write a book (or blog or video series) so good that after reading it, people tell their friends about it
9. Action breads clarity
10. The Divine knows the shortest, quickest, happiest way to get you where you want to go
Spring in Chicago (glad I live in California;)
One of the things I loved about this gathering was how even as they shared the “how to’s” in publishing and writing, they also shared, each step of the way that it mattered. Reid Tracy, now President of Hay House said on the final day: “Imagine if each of you 500+ people published a book that each sold 5,000 copies, that is still 2.5 million people being affected by your message. What you have to say matters and can make a difference.” Another speaker put it like this: “There are some people who will only get the message the way you deliver it.”
The best feeling overall post conference is I can do this (in, through, with Holy Spirit) and I still want to. And that is enough for now.
