Next Step

I have a challenge for you. I'd like to know what you feel is the next step in your writers journey. So I challenge you to respond and answer these questions.

* What have I done in the last month to further my writing?
* What limitations do I have that has stopped me from writing?
* Have I set a time in my day to write?
* What do I feel that I need, that I am not receiving, to jump start my writing?
* Do I have writers block?
* Am I a procrastinator?
*What are my fears about my written words?

I'd like you to answer these questions, and I will post the answers. My goal is to have an interactive dialogue with you. I am so passionate about the transformational power of the pen that I want to do all I can to help you make your dream come true. Look forward to interesting tidbits of writing.

I'll meet you on the transformational road of writing.
*

Transformational Writers Workshop

So all the buzz today is about building your platform, and/or billing yourself as an expert in your field. I consider this to be the next step in your writers journey. If you have published, or if you have not, it's time NOW to take that crucial step moving from the creative side of writing to the business side of writing.

Timing is everything, pacing is everything, and creating interest and excitement about your work is the name of the game. Creating a buzz about the information that only you have and using your red hot passion about the material is the most powerful and successful way to prove this point.

How? You may ask, well I have answers, and if you have some answers, please share them with me. I'm always open to exciting ways to define ourselves.

But before I give you some of the answers, ask yourself :

• Am I ready to move to center stage
• Why I have to become a sale person
• How will reading my book/story/poetry help the reader
• Am I open to attending writers events
• Why I need to join a writers/community organization
• How do I feel about someone editing my work

Sounds like a lot of work, it is so worthwhile. One of the vehicles to help answer these questions is Reflections Intermediate Writers Workshop. We call it intermediate but it really is transformational. You see, there is a important step between writing and publishing, and it's the stage in which you believe in yourself, you change and grow by transforming into the great writer that lives inside.

One of the most important things about transformation is momentum.

Momentum can make all the difference between achieving your goals and having to live with the disappointment and frustration of never actually realizing what you desire. Momentum is a powerful force that is not only necessary, but also essential in achieving real success. Without momentum you have to consistently apply a lot of effort and willpower that will eventually cause you to just give up.

Small actions are nothing but the building blocks of big actions and great successes. Every big goal only consists of a series of smaller goals. When you act immediately, your action puts you in a psychological state that encourages more action and consequently greater results.

(Excerpts from Intermediate Writers Workshop)

I'm talking about gaining the sustaining power to complete your work and create yourself into a successful author. I hear all the time about people who start something, but never finish it. I must confess I used to be one of those people, but not anymore and another thing that helped me and continues to help me when I'm in a transformational stage is affirmations.

Affirmations are powerful tools to help you move from one state of mind to another. You have to speak the process of change into existence. You have the unique ability to define or redefine your identity, which affects your behavior. Affirmations will help you modify your behavior to obtain the results that you seek.

Developing your elevator pitch, understanding time lines and deadlines, learning different writing styles, writing on topics in this workshop will be personal stories of transformation, learn the copyright process and achieve the next step in your personal writing project by writing articles that you can use to submit for publications and/or to post on your own blog that you create in the workshop.

This is it!!! Now is the time!!!! Go to http://www.reflectionspublishings.net/ for more information about the workshop. Starting on Saturday September 12th.

Sign up today, as a follower of this blog, sign up today for the Transformational Workshop. Take the next step in the writing journey, lets make this an interactive blog by posting your comments, suggestions and answers. See you on the 12th and on the world wide web.

Combustible Process of Transformation

Hey,

I want to invite you to become a follower of Transforming Through Writing. On the sidebar near the top is a follower bar, click on it and sign up and you will automatically receive my new posts. Exciting things are happening and I want you to share the journey with me.



On August 22ND, Ray and I will be at The Los Angeles Black Book Expo, and you want to be there. It is so wonderful to be part of the literary community in Los Angeles, and the more I make myself open up to the writing world, opportunities arise.



I am on a journey of discovery, understanding the power and energy that I have in creating my day and as I do, I open up to the wonder of God as new and powerful things begin to manifest in my life. The more I expose myself - the more open and vulnerable I allow myself to be, the more I learn. Thus, the combustible process of transformation continues...

Taking the Next Step

Reflections Publishing and Genesis Writers Group is pleased to announce a joint effort to produce and publish Genesis's 3rd book in their Light Series. "Love Light" Stories of Inspiration and Love, is a book of stories, poems, quotes, art submitted by members of our communities showing how Love Heals the Community.

We want everyone involved, This is a opportunity for you to write about those experiences that show the nurturing power of love, forgiveness, hope and courage. Write about the miracles, the defining moments of your live, we need the legacies and quotes of your family that have been passed down from generation to generation.

The mission of this book is:

To illuminate and inspire our communities through personal expressions of

the healing power of love for unity, harmony and peace.

So, stay tuned, call for stories and guidelines are coming soon...just start writing.

Also, I will be at The Los Angeles Black Book Expo on August 22nd in Exposition Park.

Exciting Times for Writers

When you are starting the journey of writing, it's important to involve yourself with writers. Join an writers club, writing group, or organization. A great and wonderful event is coming up next month.

Ray and I have a booth on Publishers Row. at the Leimert Park Book Festival on June 6th, 2009. We have exciting events coming up, come join the festivities, and workshops, Nikki Giovinni is a featured guest this year.

Come and sit with us a while, share with us all your latest information drop off your flyers, and leave a business cards for a drawing.

Also in August we will be participating in the Los Angeles Black Book Expo in Exposition Park.
This is a great time for writers, come and join the journey with us.

What is Your Fear About Writing?

What are your fears about writing???
I ask this question all the time and I get the same answers

1. Afraid my grammar is not right
2. Someone might reject my work
3. What if I don"t finish?
4. Can't handle any negative critique

So I pose this question again - What is your fear, what is stopping you from completing that manuscript you have worked on for the past several years?

The next post will have the answers that I receive.

The Business of Writing

Creative Writing is fun, I feel good and I am doing something worthwhile. I am accomplishing something, something lasting, a legacy for all to read. The words come and they nurture me. I read them again and again and marvel that I created them.
The words have sound, they tell a story and I enjoy the journey of the story, but what do I do after I've written a story?
Do I leave it on the computer and email it to a few good friends and talk about it with them?
Do I bury it in the shoebox under my bed?

What do I do with my writing?

Well, I must know that in order for me to get my writing out, I must submit it, I must seek out sources to publish in. Newsletters helped me a lot. Most organizations and businesses have company newsletters, so I began to write a story about my relationship with the organizations and/or business that I was part of and then submitted.l

The first time I saw my name in print was in a newsletter and it was on the front page. I still have that newsletter years later. It was the first step in moving my writing from my computer to print.

So write for a newsletter, there are tons on the Internet, the best feeling is to see your name in print. It does wonders for the self esteem. Pick a topic and write about it and submit it, it just might be published.

Writing through Writers Block

Sometimes I just need to put the pen to the paper, but I'm not always disciplined.
Then a funny thing started happening, when I set a time to write and I kept it no matter what, I saw that it's not that hard to write. And the more I write the easier it becomes.

Now I know how the best selling authors do it, it is all about timetables and deadlines.
In the past I have been strictly guided by the creative forces that were in me, I had to wait until the mood hit, the words pouring from the depth of my soul. It felt good to write and read the words, but that wasn't happening all the time.

So how was I going to transform? From being a casual writer to a writer making money?
How do I take my writing from a sport to a career?

No telephone, no television, no visitors, I write in the midnight hour, it's my best time, What's yours? I write when I don't want too, I write, fueling by a inner power that lets me know that I am being transformed.

Another way that I overcome writers block is when I let it go. If I am working on a certain story, or part of a story, I put it down and write about something else, or edit some work. I just let the source of my block go, for now, and always it comes back. Sometime in the middle of the night, keep a pad and pen by my bed, and if I don't write down the bright idea right away, it's gone by morning.

So I transform because I don't stop, I transform when the writer's block lifts. Then I'm back on board again.