Julie Unplugged

Soul Assignment: Becoming a More Engaged, Educated, Inspiring Woman Leader, Part 2

“ Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization. ”

— Eugene V. Debs

I was discouraged yesterday and believe it or not, I made that discouragement mean I was wrong. My not very productive thought was “If I was doing the right thing with my life, I wouldn’t feel discouraged. I wouldn’t feel discouraged.”

What I did next was important, though. I got up and moved away from my stuck place behind the keyboard.

I went about doing chores, taking care of my children, doing my afternoon Mom-Schlep and I allowed my mind to wander.

My mind wandered to my soul collage card from yesterday to Women and Leadership.

I had recently decided to leap into the discovery of current women in politics, especially those beyond the United States. I was an international relations major but somehow I had gotten way out of touch with the political world, especially on an international level.

One conversation knocked on my heart and helped me break through the inertia.

Last weekend I created a soul collage card that to me called me to personal leadership as well as the study of women leaders. I quickly discovered Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany.

I confess, I had never even heard of Angela Merkel until yesterday. Now, I am deep into a study of Merkel and other top women leaders. The Forbes list for 2011 includes two powerful wives, a handful of politicians and a smattering of business women.

This made me feel very uncomfortable. It made me feel squirmy in my seat and more than a little bit disappointed in myself. Instead of getting stuck deeper in the quicksand of “my shortcomings” instead I accepted that for the past and now, I have turned the corner into spending more time learning about women leaders so that I may also become a better leader in the work I do.

I may not be the secretary of state, I may not be the head of a multinational corporation worth billions, but I do serve on several educational committees and I run successful Writing Camp programs and am in the midst of raising three phenomenal human beings.

My discontent of today, my squirmy ickiness isn’t holding me back any more, my vision of being a better leader is pulling me forward.

What will you do, today, to become a more engaged, educated leader?

This may be as simple as a shift in thinking or a quick google search on a woman who intrigues you. Allow your vision of yourself as a better leader pull you forward. The discontent is the nudge and the vision is what gives you wings.

This is post #18/31 for the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Slowly and surely I am getting caught up!

Follow me on Twitter: @juliejordanscot 

Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook (THANK YOU!)

© 2012 by Julie Jordan Scott

Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & this Summer will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.

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10 "Lucky" Quotes to Inspire Your Blogging as Well as Your Life.

Sometimes when I start writing I begin with a bit of quote collecting for inspiration. Today as I was working to squeeze the most oomph from one "writing period" of two hours, I realized I could use this practice as a completely separate blog post. My topic: LUCKY -

I started to only feature women's quotes but then decided I didn't want to be exclusive so I added some quotes from men as well. Normally quote compilations are roughly 80% or more male, so here we are 70% female, 30% male.

So, thanks to another participant in the Ultimate Blog Challenge and one of my partners-in-blogging I have never been in touch with until today, Jacqueline Garwood (find her on twitter here) , wrote this blog post about... luck and power.

 

1. “Life is not easy. We all have problems-even tragedies-to deal with, and luck has nothing to do with it. Bad luck is only the superstitious excuse for those who don't have the wit to deal with the problems of life. ”
   ― Joan Lowery Nixon
2. “Listen Harry, your'e not a BAD person. You're a very good person, that, bad things happen to.”
   ― J.K. Rowling
3. “That is life, isn’t it? Fate. Luck. Chance. A long series of what-if’s that lead from one moment to the next, time never pausing for you to catch your breath, to make sense of the cards that have been handed to you. And all you can do is play your cards and hope for the best, because in the end, it all comes back to those three basics.
   Fate. Luck. Chance.”
   ― Kelseyleigh Reber
4. My idea is this: the artist is extremely lucky who is presented with the worst possible ordeal which will not actually kill him. At that point, he's in business: Beethoven's deafness, Goya's deafness, Milton's blindness, that kind of thing.” – John Berryman
5. “Sometimes not getting what you want is a brilliant stroke of luck.”
   ― Lori Myers
6. “Learn to recognize good luck when it's waving at you, hoping to get your attention.”
   ― Sally Koslow
7. “Luck is not as random as you think. Before that lottery ticket won the jackpot, someone had to buy it.”
   ― Vera Nazarian,
8. “Concentration attracts luck factor.”
   ― Amit Ray
9. “Here's the thing about luck...you don't know if it's good or bad until you have some perspective.” - Alice Hoffman
10. “Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known. ” Garrison Keiller

Here's what you can do besides just read this and forget it in five minutes. Take the quotes which speak to you the most and open a blank document. Make it into a writing prompt for a future blog post, essay, poem, or email to a friend. Use what you've discovered here and you may just become more lucky as a consequence.

Happy Blogging & Word-love to you!

Follow me on Twitter: @juliejordanscot 

Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook (THANK YOU!) 

© 2012 by Julie Jordan Scott

 

Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & this Summer will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.

Did you enjoyed this essay? Receive emails directly to your inbox for Free from Julie Jordan Scott via the Daily Passion Activator. One inspirational essay and poem (almost) every week day. Subscribe here now -

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How to Create an “Unpolished Gem File” for Your Blog Content (and Continue to Make it a Priority.)

I am not sure how I got started promoting the concept of maintaining an “Unpolished Gem” file. I can’t even remember when I started one myself. I do know it pops up when I teach bloggers and writers how to keep an unending flow of content coming into their blogs, guest posts, essays, articles and poetry.

I do remember when I started writing as a way to make a living: I built my life coaching business by writing articles and having them republished (back then primarily in ezines) so since that time I have had essays, how-to’s, top tens and almost anything else you can imaging published both on the internet and also in magazines, compilations, ebooks and ecourses.

The blood flowing through all of this is… The Unpolished Gem: little snips and nuggets of writing I started and didn’t necessarily use right away but I knew it was worth returning to – maybe – someday. Sometimes people hesitate to start a file, thinking it will be too overwhelming but part of the point of an Unpolished Gem file is it takes pressure off.

How? Well, it tells you “if you don’t have the juice, passion or desire to finish this right away, you don’t have to! If you are blocked half way through or even just have a title, you may tuck it into your unpolished gems file and move along to whatever else is on your agenda.

Your unpolished gem file also reminds you the truth of content: you will never run out of material. Certainly other people have written articles similar to this one. Maybe you have read a few. The difference is I have not yet squeezed out all the goodness from this topic. You reading this today is a fine example of that.

When you are blocked, you have multiple choices of where to go to write next. Just pick an unfinished one and write a sentence. If anything else comes, yes! If after one additional sentence you’re done, then you’re done for now. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Cliché and true.

How do you start an Unpolished Gem File? I am very simple with mine. I make a folder I call “UPGs”. Within my UPG folder are subfolders for both the month they were written and the topic it falls under. This particular essay (should it remain unfinished for a bit) will go in July2012 and Writing-Editing and maybe Writing-Inspiration.

Perhaps you are thinking, “This is all well and good, Julie, but I don’t have any writing I haven’t used on my blog.”

This makes me raise an eyebrow. Really?

Perhaps it is time to look at all the writing you do as possible future content. I am going to share seven places to look. Choose one place and glean – or collect – nuggets to write from later – every day this week. I guarantee if you try this, by the end of the week you will have more than enough content for your blog for a month or more.

1. Gold nugget paragraphs in emails, blog comments or facebook messages. When do people tell you, “Oh, that was so helpful!” or “Oh, please tell me more about…” these are hints that you should write that content. So do it. Copy, paste and just like that: an unpolished gem!

 

1. Tweets that get responses and interaction from people. Diamond Nugget: Anyone who has been using twitter for a while knows some tweets naturally attract conversation and questions. Look for patterns via your unpolished gems. Copy and paste the tweet that has garnished the most attention this week. Write an additional 140 characters. Tweet it and UPG it. This is repurposing at its finest.

 

 

1. Top 10 lists that seem to ask you for more details (especially if they have gotten lots of comments on your blog). Opal Nugget I started an ezine more than ten years ago based on this idea. At the time I thought I was writing a book. I still may be. But in the meantime, this fed my entire business! Look at any Top 10 lists you created (don’t have any? Create some! This right here is a Top 7 list: same concept, different number.)  Choose one (or more) of the tips and put it into an UPG…
2. If you keep a journal (a diary, a “notebook” as I call mine) I am willing to bet there are sections without that are pure Ruby Nuggets.  Take some time daily for a week to crack open journals from at least six months ago with a yellow highlighter and sticky notes in your hand. Highlight your best sentences, phrases and paragraphs. Mark the page with a sticky note. In the back of the journal, write a table of contents which may go something like this: “Item 1: Writing Gratitude Item 2: Forgiveness Item 3: Ending Procrastination Item 4: Befriending Block.” This is sooooo easy! Don’t make it harder than it is. Please.

 

1. Revisit Sections of earlier writings that call you “come back, come back!” Pluck, glean and write. You know that blog post from last September? The one about? Revisit it and just like with the journal, see what has stood the test of time. Revise the blog post accordingly. Maybe there is a Top 10 list waiting to be born or a poem or a How-to. You won’t know unless you glean, write and revise. Perfect Silver Nugget!
2. Emerald Nuggets from Stream of Consciousness Writing Exercises: This actually assumes you spend times when you write with NO purpose at all. Just to write. Well, if you don’t, I urge you to start. I write from quotes, from memes I find online and from images, works of art and even photos I take. Without thinking, just write and write and write. Time your writing and keep it to fifteen minutes at the maximum. What I find is I can get a lot written in 15 minutes and even though I originally sat down to write about Virginia Woolf’s Room of Her Own, I end up writing about an experience in a restaurant in Pueblo, Colorado that was waiting for me to listen. Take those “waiting” pieces of writing & morph into something publishable.

 

1. Finally, scoop up a handful of Garnet Nuggets from conversations that won’t stop replaying in your head. In my case, these conversations are sometimes actually overheard conversations I wrote into my cell phone note taker.  I have written a lot of “overheard poetry” but this also helps the fiction and memoir writer in creating and recreating dialogue. Because I did this yesterday, I can’t get the image of the two men at the table across from me at Jack in the Box out of my head. I know they are there to write about, so when I am done with this, I’m going to set my timer and just write… and see how the Garnet Nugget mixes with the Emerald Nugget so I can hit blogging and writing paydirt!

 

The bottom line is creating places where you have work-in-progress helps raise your confidence and simply enjoy your writing more. Isn’t that why you started to blog in the first place? Maybe it was to build your business, but I am willing to bet a big part of it was to find and stretch your voice more deeply and widely out into the world.

So today, start your Unpolished Gem file and put some writing nuggets inside.

 Follow me on Twitter: @juliejordanscot   

Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook (THANK YOU!)

© 2012 by Julie Jordan Scott

Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & this Summer will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.

Did you enjoyed this essay? Receive emails directly to your inbox for Free from Julie Jordan Scott via the Daily Passion Activator. One inspirational essay and poem (almost) every week day. Subscribe here now -

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