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Process: Find The True Value of Writing Your Book

writingfreeSofiaWrenIs there more to writing than making money?

Like many writers, I have a dream of getting on the best sellers lists, seeing my book sitting on a shelf in the grocery store for all to see.

I imagine that if I reach enough people with my amazing writing, then I’ll not only have respect, invitations to hang out with really cool people, a hoard of fans, but I’ll also have a very nice paycheck to enjoy as I sit in some international destination in a lounge chair next to a mixed drink complete with a baby umbrella.

Do you imagine something similar?

What is the dream you have about your book, or where your writing is going?

Whatever your dream is about how your writing will be received, there is real value in writing your book.

Maybe no publishers will want it. Maybe no one will press “add to cart” on Amazon.

Maybe none of the things that you hoped would happen happened.

But what if the true value of writing your book is something different altogether?

What if the process of writing your book is of such enormous value that by the time you finish, you won’t even care how your book is received?

For more than a year I have been writing or revising my book From Girl to Goddess.

That’s a long haul. I think I have a great book idea, and I do believe it fills a void in the marketplace.

I believe it will start some amazing conversations, and will open doors for me to participate in those to discuss women’s empowerment, sexuality, spirituality, stereotypes and gender norms. All of these are interests of mine.

I believe my book will advance my career. It will help me to be a spiritual life coach to amazing and unusual women. It will help those amazing clients find me, which is priceless.

I believe it will also allow me to teach others to write in a bigger way. I’ve been a writer since forever, a blogger for 15 years, a novelist for 5, but there is something magical about becoming published.

But what I never believed, it that in the editing process, I would evaluate not just my story but also my life. I would learn new things about myself, my past, my perspective, my voice, and who I want to be from now on.

No matter what anyone thinks about the lines across the page, I am a new person. I am a new confident whole person.

I have gained so much from the revision process, that I highly encourage anyone reading, especially anyone who has say an unedited NaNoWriMo draft sitting on their hard drive–to revise your book.

Finish your book. Look at your book.

And if you are a blogger–go through and make your blog a book.

Edit. Edit. Edit.

Because it is though the laborious editing process that you will see things about yourself more objectively than you have ever seen before.

You will learn new things about yourself that you could never have otherwise known.

You are ready to write a book and change your life forever.

It’s a process akin to life—you don’t have a real roadmap. You can make a guide, a plan, but what you have to do no matter what is take one foot and put it in front of the other.

Take the next step. Read that next page. Write your notes down and then read the next page and write the next notes.

Keep going.

And that’s how you’ll discover the true value of writing a book.

Blessings

xx Sofia Wren

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The holidays are rolling around– before you know it the New Year Will Be Upon Us! AHHHHHHHH

Haha. Not really, except…well..yeah, it’s true.

Every year I get taken by surprise how fast the year goes once Thanksgiving hits.

When it comes to planning, it’s the last thing I want to think about. That used to be a luxury I could afford because I was in school, but when I don’t have a set structure to my life, I’m the one who better be on track.

That means that waiting until January to plan my spring is about the worst thing I can do because I might not look up until my taxes are in.

For Creative and Business Types– Planning is not Optional! Unless you like wasting time. 

Bummer, right? Organizing smorganizing.

Well, I have a little treat for you.

I’ve created a free video which is going to empower you to plan your year with Tarot Readings Horray!

 Gimmie the Video!

If you’ve ever wondered how to give yourself a nice long term reading like a professional, my video will make it really easy to get started.

And if you prefer Oracle Cards (which are very pretty and usually very easy to read) than these tips will help you too.

Here’s why you want to get this video!

  • What a Tarot Spread is and Why You Need One
  • Which Popular Spread is Too Hard and 3 That Work Better
  • Where to Look Up the Best Free Card Interpretations on the Internet
  • What to Do If You Pull Something Negative
  • The #1 Thing You Must Remember To Do Every Time You Read Tarot

Click to get instant access for free

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Sofia Wren’s Journal: Change Full Moon

Photo by Chloe Sloat

Photo by Chloe Sloat

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. 🙂

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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

writingfreeSofiaWren

 

Learn how to Plot for #NaNoWriMo Pantser Style

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SofiaWrenLucindaKinchCauldron

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!

halloween2014SofiaWren

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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…]

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Special Preview: From Girl to Goddess

 

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.

About a year ago I began to write From Girl to Goddess. It started out with my pen scribbling and scribbling memories from 2009.
 
Some people would have thought it irresponsible to have moved on to a new story before I had finished editing Line of Isis, the mermaid fantasy which had been my baby for the previous two years.
 
But when we are called to write—who are we to stand in the way of inspiration?
 
To me this story had been waiting to be told since I lived it in 2009-2010. It was the year I became a woman, a true coming of age for me. An odd one, definitely.
 
I just wish my naïve youth hadn’t ended with heartbreak and disappointment. I just wished it hadn’t been a process of feeling unacceptable, unlovable, and strange. 

Click here for more….

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Process: Leaving an Imperfect Legacy

I am in the process of leaving my mark on the world.

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.

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Vlog: Is it Spiritual to Want and Charge Money?

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

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Sofia Wren’s Journal: Sexy Full Moon

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. 

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