Setting Yourself Up

I'm setting myself up. Again. Typically this reference is negative -- we are setting ourselves up for disappointment, rejection and failure.

Yup.

I'm at the place in my life where rejections and failures are benchmarks for future successes. Something is going to happen; I'm going to end up somewhere. I'm going to get a yes or a no. And all rejections have led to the remarkable life I find myself in now. 

With my writing clients I remind them to write forward till the projects done. Spend a little time on re-writing what you wrote the day before then have most of your writing be new material. Keep getting the stories down. There will be a lot of messes and misses. Good. 

Just so in life. Keep living forward. Where contemplation is fundamental to a fulfilling life, too much reflection on the past keeps you in the past. Review the present in leu of the past while living forward. 

Set yourself up for as many failures as possible. Join in. Jump in. Eleven books later, this signing up before I feel ready, or smart enough, or good enough has worked well for me. Send out the query letter. Finish the darn book. Call her. Apply for that job. Take the long shot. Attend the meeting. Speak your truth. Write and post that blog. Sing outside the shower.  Declutter your creative spaces.

Set yourself up. 

So, I'm setting myself up with 5 days of writing on my novel. I'm going to spend the entire time focused on writing forward and finishing this final draft. (Final draft is a bit of an oxymoron, don't you think?) I'm headed to Pepin Wisconsin, next week. I'm staying at an airbnb out in the country, surrounded by restored prairie. I'm hoping the villain in my book shows up. I expect to get to the end of my book. How's that for a set up?
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​See you on the other side. 


 Mind•Body•Word: 3 Days of Yoga & Writing at Holy Wisdom Monastery YOGA & Writing Retreat this August, 2019. August 27, 28, and 29.   Explore True Self on the mat and page with yoga teacher (and blogger) Molly Chanson and writing sherpa and counselor, Julie Tallard Johnson Three days of attending to mind, body and word in a beautiful, natural setting. Includes meals, writing prompts, retreat time, time to write, yoga for any level, inspiration. $150.00  To register contact: Molly Chanson at  [email protected]. 773-259-1202 

Book Release!! The Red Thread: Touching Reality in our Everyday Lives will be released in April, 2020 by Shanti Arts.  I offer ways to touch reality through simple practices like Hosting The Edge, the Inner Labyrinth, and other simple tools to discover your truest self and greatest potentials. ​This book is based on the teachings and my conversations with Parker J Palmer. 

I have room for a few in my writing circles. One opening in my Tuesday morning Mount Horeb circle.