Autumn is a time of change. It’s my favorite season but this year it is too much.

I just moved house to Baltimore. It’s nice, and there are many varigated leaves outside of our window.

We got it for a deal, because we are the first tenants since it was bought and rented and there are various problems.

But at least we have more space. Filled with boxes.

My altar and meditation chair are across my office of boxes and I cannot get them together until the boxes are gone.

Priorities have led me to need dishes and towels and underwear and all those other things.

I probably should be meditating though. It’s cold up there, though.

Sigh. It has been a really really draining couple of weeks as my environment shifts, and my relationships shift, and it seems like all areas of my life have shifted.

And my poor wonderful blog has shifted locations and almost all the blogfeeds are messed up and I am still unhappy with certain parts, the fonts, the fact that no one can leave comments, the copy, and then there is my business which is changing a lot right now, too.

I’m editing my novel From Girl To Goddess. Tomorrow I will be a third of the way through noting all the problems and writing ideas, and it is coming along. But it, too is changing.

Right now it feels like the only thing stable in my life is my fat cat Heidi and how she loves to be pet. She looooves it. Purrrrr.

But she has wandered off somewhere now.

I know all these changes are good and healthy, but I am exhausted.

There is a reason I keep going. And it’s not for me really.

Any time I get all about me I burn out or get stressed or  put my head down, curl my arms tight around my legs and ball up my fists.

I’m being really honest because this is what I do. I do it for me but I also do it for you.

If I lie, if I am fake, if I am dishonest about where I am at, it’s a disservice to you. And I love you.

I want you to be real. And when things are hard I want you to know that you aren’t alone, you are not the only one. 

You are the reason I am putting my desk as it was. So I can work for you.

You are the reason I want my website just right. So you can enjoy and connect with it.

You are the reason I have to find my inspirational quotes and get them just right. So I can inspire you.

You are the reason I have to practice my piano and my song. So you can hear it.

You are the reason I get to edit my novel. So you can read it.

You are the reason I am putting together a sacred writing course. So you can take it.

I do it for you. You are my motivation for healing.

What’s yours?

Read my Article “Motivation for Healing” on Holistic Diva Living

PS I found Heidi. She was curled up under the blanket right next to me. Perhaps there is hope after all. 🙂

So how do you write a novel that you can actually let somebody read one day?

Here are three tips in a quick and easy video so you can write fast and share with friends later.

Four years ago I dove into my first National Novel Writing experience with very little time but a lot of passion.

I gave up around Thanksgiving. My draft had switched countries and genres in the middle and I was 15,000 words behind schedule.

One or two scenes peaked my imagination, but otherwise I felt hopeless to share it with anyone ever.

I did share that scene with a screen writer on the internet, and we went out on a few dates. It was saucy 😉

But that’s another story.

Another year went by, another NaNoNovel and still I could not get it together into something that made any kind of sense!

And so SIGH by the time the third attempt came around last year, I finally got it together. I finished From Girl to Goddess on time, and it wasn’t total crap for once.

I shared it all with a critique partner and then I edited it again, again, and I’m editing again now. And now I actually tell people about it in public, like people I respect and don’t even know that well, and I tell them I am self publishing it in February– wow!

It’s pretty cool.

I might make some money, but I’ll gain more in credibility as a writer, in building relationships with everyone who reads me, in traveling the globe with my words.

So if you are writing a novel for #NaNoWriMo– watch this video above.

Watch my video so you write a better novel this year that you can SHARE with people you love and respect.

Mwah

xx Sofia Wren

P.S. Who do you want to read your novel one day? Leave me a note in the comments.

Want to learn more about writing? Receive all my writing articles automatically in your inbox by joining here

 

Learn how to Plot for #NaNoWriMo Pantser Style

In this season it is my tradition to honor the people who I love, who have paved the way for me, and who have passed.

When I lost my mother at age three, I didn’t understand what death was.

What I knew was that I felt loss, and grief. I also felt different because I didn’t have a mom like everyone else seemed to.

I felt sad not to have any memories.

Somewhere down the line I learned it was a tradition on Halloween to honor ancestors.

Specifically during the two weeks before and after October 31st, the veils between the living and the dead are said to thin.

I began training as a Wiccan high priestess and along the way I learned how to be open and listening.

I learned how to feel connected to my mother’s spirit.

This is an intensely personal experience for me and I am sure it would be for you, too.

But so incredibly healing.

I think everyone should have an opportunity to try this, so I have created an easy template of a ceremony that you are welcome to use for your healing reconnection with your loved ones.

Add the words or prayers that resonate with you.

 How will you celebrate Halloween? Let me know in the comments.

 

Want to Learn How to Honor Your Ancestors? Quick! Click Here to get started

Remember the best time to do this is by November 15th.

And Don’t Miss the Year At A Glance Halloween Giveaway

RSVP Going on Facebook to Enter by November 5th to receive insight into your year ahead with a 13 month intuitive card reading.

Plan it to be the best year possible and learn what shifts you need to get there!

To Increase productivity is a big task—and I believe it is one that cannot be done alone.

Over the last year I have benefited strongly from three different ways to receive the support and kicks in the pants to get things done.

1. Personal Professional Coaches
2. Personal Accountability Partners
3. Groups of Likeminds

All three of these have their benefits and range in price.

• From Totally free (hooking up with people you meet in person, social media or wherever),
• A Little Expensive (signing up for a class or program that has a facebook group to stay in touch with other people in the group),
• To More Expensive (a personal coach with an expertise that you need to hone in on what you need to know and do).

Paying money can meet benefiting from more expertise AND it has the upside of giving you more motivation to get shit done.

But if you don’t have cash coming in then you might want to find an accountability partner or a group of likeminds.

Why? Oh why not. It is so much easier to get things done when you add another person.

Plus adding people who understand what you are trying to achieve, who think it is worth it, and who believe in you, adds a magical emotional and moral element to get you past all the fears, and crap that comes up when we are striding forward into new victories.

Trust me. I could write a whole post on that, and maybe I will.

Here’s what I have found are key elements to a beneficial partnering relationship:

[continue reading…]

 

I’m celebrating holding my book: From Girl to Goddess.  She just arrived in the mail.

“College grad and doormat Sam challenges herself to grasp more control in her relationships but can she handle who she becomes on this side of the whip?”

 

It’s been about a year since I began the project, which I rewrote last year during NanoWrimo. Since then I’ve edited once or twice…or three times in parts…

Editing drafts get fuzzy but I will call this Draft 3.

I’m about to get my hands dirty with blue ink and cover this baby with notes for improvement. Things have already changed from a few weeks ago.

But enough of my boring process!! 

I have a surprise for you.

I wrote an article about my juicy inspiration for Blakely at Indiscriminate Writes and included—-for the first time ever—-a first chapter excerpt!

About my inspiration:

I needed to write, I needed to express the pain that had built inside of me and which sought release.

Click here for more….

Something I have realized in a big way this week is that money isn’t everything. Like really really realized.

Yes, money is a good thing, yes, I need it to survive, but more importantly it’s a consequence of what happens when I am helping people.

I didn’t use to think that, and some part of me still don’t. But they are the parts I have decided not to listen to anymore. The biggest fears I have is ending my life without a legacy. It’s not about hitting an income goal.

I’m as old as my mother was when she had me 26 years ago. Three years later, she died, and I was left as her legacy. In the time I have, I want to create things that will be here when I am not.

I can’t control what will happen, if some accident or illness takes me tomorrow or next week.

These things are not up to me to decide, and so I have to do everything I can to leave a mark on the world as soon as possible.

This means not waiting until it all becomes clear or perfect.

This means not waiting until my website is perfect, I have the perfect elevator pitch, the perfect vision of how my book should be, the perfect anything.

Because life is a learning experience and every second I languish worrying about how I look or how not enough I am, is feeding into the very fear I want to avoid. It has been holding me back, this lack of perfect clarity for how my entire life will go.

I’m ready for clarity about now to December, or now to next year, small steps, leave the mountains for later, and let’s do this.

What are you procrastinating? What are you waiting to be perfect before you decide to complete it?

And here’s a song. This post is inspired by Fabienne Fredrickson of Client Attraction. I just attended her Millionaire Mindset Retreat.

Do you need or want more money? Do you ever feel guilty or concerned that this is not a spiritual thing to think about?

If you are just starting a business, offering something new or thinking to raise your rates—it’s easy for doubts to come up. Are you worried this might cause harm to others or rub people the wrong way?

I know all about this, because I’ve lived it many times. Hear and see me share my thoughts above. I’ve been a dedicated spiritual student of many teachers for the last three years and an entrepreneur for the last two.

Leave a comment if you would like to continue the discussion.

BONUS— did you check out My Free ECourse, The 7 Mistakes Luminaries Make and How to Shine Through? It’s aimed to help sensitive people who want to make a difference in the world to overcome really common problems.  Check it out at my new site http://www.sofiawren.com

This week I launched my new site at SofiaWren.com and informed over 45 people How to Be a Global Blogger. This blog will be moving soon.

I’m feeling a little on fire and so that means it’s time for a good ol’ rant.

What’s the deal with female sexuality?

As a kid I was the best kid ever–I got good grades, I joined clubs, I got a part time job. I didn’t have my first kiss until 16.

Later that year I got my first boyfriend, and I was so cautious. THANK GOD. If my dad were to marry his current girlfriend, then my first boyfriend would now be my cousin.

The other day me and my Ex-now-Cuz literally high fived. When we broke up we were still both still virgins. Horray! I have saved myself from cousin weirdness forever.

I wanted to mention this to share that female sexuality is not something I’ve embraced, so to speak, for very long in my life.

Yes, there are reasons to be cautious, but then there is reason to express freely as well.

In my teens sexuality held a terrifying allure, and still does so to a lesser degree today.

But as an adult, it’s also obvious that female sexuality is powerful and magnetic.Check out the site of any female CEO–they look pretty good, don’t they? It’s not just that they can afford endless beauty treatments, it’s that they own their power.

I did not grow up in my power at all.

I really had a lot of issues around being attractive for a very large portion of my life. My confidence was so shot, and I was always worrying about my skin or my small boobs or felt awkward.

Yes, I’m thin, but the grass is always greener on the other side, and we women can find a billion ways to decide we are not good enough.

In addition to that I worried so much about being too visibly attractive because I worried about jealousy, cattiness, ruining my reputation, or disappointing my teachers.

Yes, it’s important to make good decisions especially as a youth in a ridiculously small town. BUT many of the factors that compelled me to make that choice were really negative and harmful.

When I am talking about sexuality, what I’m really talking about is freedom to BE whole.

Maybe society has always feared female sexuality because there are no limits. No (man in power) wants to see an insatiable woman that no man can satisfy.

To me the image of the witch is a woman in her power, and in touch with the earth & spiritual realm for healing, understanding, and the living the life she wants. And that power has been condemned.There’s a Papal Bull  released just before the witchcraft hunting craze accusing a certain kind of person of vile acts, but really one accusation stands out to my eyes. These witch people “hinder men from begetting and women from conceiving.”

Did the whole witch craze really start because people had to blame their sexual inadequacies on others? (In addition to their dead animals or bad harvests and sick children and blah blah blahs)

Why does our self image have anything to do with another person? Or how other people will see us? Or what other people think?

The thing about seeing the world as a woman is that I don’t define sexuality as sex.I don’t define sexuality as being in a relationship or not being in a relationship. I don’t define sexuality as having anything touching your sexual parts.

Sexuality is like sensuality~ it’s a natural part of every person on the planet.

It’s in our DNA. It’s saying I belong here, and I’m allowed to be a part of things with everything that I am. To feel proud, powerful, and like love itself.

It’s a natural part of breathing, making love to the air around us.

It’s like eating delicious food, a glass of wine. (and most certainly like eating chocolate)

It’s smelling good things, and clean linens.

It’s brushing hair out of your face and admiring the beauty in your eyes.

It’s appreciating the laugh lines and the wisdom held within them.

It’s deciding that your shape is perfect the way it is because you can dance just fine.

It’s the euphoria after a workout.

It’s the feel of water on your skin in the pool or ocean.

It’s holding another’s warm hands.

We have a problem in our society of slicing everything up.

We separate the sex from the foreplay, the turned on from the excited.

Everyone is expected to put themselves in some kind of box, heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, polyamorous, pansexual, asexual, dominant, submissive, kinky, vanilla—-all the things that really only matter if you want to know if someone will let you into their bedroom.

I’ve decided not to care about the boxes because they are always too small an answer. I’ve decided not to care for this process of slicing up because I am ready to be whole.

What I want to do is to be fully expressed, and I invite you to join me. 

To stop waiting for an experience with someone else to draw out who you really are, to refuse to fully commit to any label as your identity, to let yourself feel whole, divine and magnetic no matter what your outsides.To be an expansive unlimited bundle of power and wonder and light.To decide you are gorgeous without waiting for anyone to tell you.

You are beautiful, and perfect and whole just the way you are. Congratulations. 

 

When I started my first blog at about age 12, I was so excited to have my friends read me. I’m 26 now and I’m a global blogger.

Some time in the last year I began to have a host of international visitors regularly come to my site. Think hundreds a week.

It didn’t involve me spending any money. It didn’t involve advertising or anything shady.

I have a few secrets up my sleeve which you can find out about on my talk next week on How to Be a Global Blogger.

But I wanted to talk a little bit about the benefits of intentionally blogging to reach a wider audience. Maybe it’s time for you to aim higher.

Here are some of these:

Reach people like you:

Even if you are a super weird, visionary, ahead of your time, unique person, there are people like you.

KNOW THIS. Human beings aren’t as dissimilar as we might imagine, so even if there are only 1 in 1 Thousand like you, then statistically there are still 7 million like you on the planet.

Ahhhh feel a big sigh of relief to feel connected to people who get you.

Take advantage of speaking English:

According to PBS, “More than 1 billion people are believed to speak some form of English. For every native speaker there are three nonnative speakers. Three-quarters of the world’s mail is in English and four-fifths of electronic information is stored in English.”

Do you speak English? Yes? Blog. Even if you don’t like writing, create audio or youtube videos to share.

Build a business:

Building international traffic to your site is a fabulous foundation for a business. You don’t even need to sell anything yet.

But once you have a base you can come up with a product whether you are selling ebooks, courses, subscriptions, or personal services. This makes your market virtually limitless.

And if you get super big, people might just fly around the world to meet you in person. It wasn’t for business, but someone did this for me once based on my writing.

Influence the world:

There’s something priceless about global blogging that I have to mention.

As a kid I always wanted to be a diplomat. I had already seen England, Italy and France by the time I was eight and I wanted a reason to travel the world, learn languages and understand other cultures.

I read all kinds of books about being a diplomat but I had to wait until 20 to apply.

As an adult, I recognized I was too free willed to hold a government position, so global blogging fulfills a special place for me.

As a global blogger you can become a cultural diplomat: someone who reaches other countries with your words and ideas. 

Imagine changing the world for free from your bedroom.

As long as you produce compelling content and can get people from other countries to find you, then you can build a following and inspire people around the world.

Who know how many lives you can change or touch as a global blogger?

Over the last year I’ve skyped with readers from India and New Zealand. I get all kinds of nice words from people I’ve only just met online, in addition to things people in my life say.

Never before have I felt like I mattered to more than my small inner circle. 

My blog is like a calling card that lets people know me in a deep way. So people who would have just been a facebook friend from California, or New York, a long distance away from me, can stay in touch with me and later tell me how I light up their life.

I hope you think about taking your message global, and letting more people into your heart. Together we will write a beautiful world into being. 

Below are ways I can help you reach the world.

Save the Dates:

Live Global Blogging Content Workshop on October 5th, 10-1 PM EST *Watch for your opportunity to buy a limited seat!*

Free Call: How to Be a Global Blogger on September 18th at 3 PM EST. SIGN UP NOW 

Even if you can’t show up for Live Q & A, you can grab the replay via email.