Monthly Archives: November 2016

I’m happy to report that I finished my final edit yesterday, and The Heart of the Goddess is in production! Which means, in this case, that BlackLion is formatting it and getting it ready to be published on Kindle and CreateSpace. Woo hoo! It also means that I’m pretty much done with my part of things, though I’ll have to look over the proof copy and such. And of course there’s the whole promoting it piece…

Tomorrow our free virtual Soulfulness Week gets started, and I’m really looking forward to that. I feel like I’m making good progress on my goals list for Round 4. The only thing I haven’t done at all is to read Patterns In the Void and make a revision plan. Perhaps I’ll do some of that this evening.

On this week’s to-do list:

• Make a promotion plan for the book.
• Make plans for winter holiday stuff (to-do list, budget, gift shopping needed, etc.). I want to do most of my shopping online this year, if at all possible.
• Start reading Patterns In the Void and making revision notes.
• Work on website copy for Self-Worth Tune-Up workshop and Alchemy of Core Beliefs course, both of which are coming up in January.

This week is already feeling much more spacious now that the book is off my plate. I’m so psyched! Oh, and I think I’m addicted to this writing-and-publishing-books thing. As I was finishing the final edit, I was already coming up with ideas for the next book – which also made me think “what am I, crazy?!” because it take so much effort and work and focus. I mean, I’d already decided to take 2017 off from writing a new non-fiction book, so I can focus on building the business and selling the books I’ve already made…but here I am with new ideas. That’s a sign of addiction, right? I can stop anytime I want to! Um, maybe. Heh heh…

Have a fantastic, productive week, and for those of you finishing NaNoWriMo, rock on! You’ve got this!

I haven’t posted in a while, but happily that’s because I’ve been so busy working on my goals. I’m one-third of the way through my final edit of my book manuscript (The Heart of the Goddess: A Handbook for Living Soulfully). I’ve written the blurb for the back, and all the front matter and such. BlackLion has been working on the cover, which is coming along nicely.

On Tuesday we made 6 videos – five for our upcoming Soulfulness Week free virtual event next week and the final one that we’d been putting off for the peaceful parenting project for some time. Yay! BlackLion edited all of the Soulfulness Week ones and added music and an open and close (so fancy!).

I had a terrific meeting today with a copywriter who is helping us with some marketing copy, as part of my business coaching program. She’s amazing! I’m so excited about what we came up with.

Tonight BlackLion is going over see our friend at Tinkering Gnome computer repair, as his computer suddenly decided not to work. Yikes! It has all the videos and my book cover on it, as well as a bunch of photos. Hopefully all will go smoothly with fixing it or at least recovering what we need immediately. Thankfully all of my writing content gets backed up regularly, so that won’t be an issue. And I know, I know, the videos and photos should be backed up as well, we just haven’t had a good place to store backups lately. Ah well, it’s like cars – things break down now and then. I’m usually pretty Zen about it. If all else fails we can re-record the videos, and we have all the raw photos from the book cover photo shoot on a disc, so it can be recreated too.

Tomorrow we are hosting Thanksgiving Dinner for 12, which will be a whole lot of fun, with yummy foods. I’m looking forward to that.

I’ve been doing Gratitude Wednesdays (when I’m around to post on Wednesday, ahem), and tomorrow is a huge Gratitude Day, so here’s my list!

I’m so thankful for:

• my amazing family and friends!
• our tech-savvy friend at Tinkering Gnome and her flexibility in helping us out in a pinch.
• being *almost* done with my part of book production.
• all of the positive response we’ve been getting about Soulfulness Week! So excited!
• delicious food to enjoy together.
• my warm home during this cold snap (which in Maine means now through March, heh heh).
• the amazing tribe of biz women I belong to, and how we all uplift and support one another.
• my love of writing and creativity. It’s such fun!
• the way I always have good books to read – I’m a bookworm and also a book magnet.

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it! And a productive week to all who wish it. Blessings!

I’ve always kind of hated that phrase, “now more than ever.” It became really popular after 9/11, and I just rolled my eyes, thinking of it as a sort of catch-all for “things have changed and we don’t like it.” I actually refused to say it for the short time that the public radio station I work part-time for used it as a tag line (though I don’t think anyone ever noticed).

This past week, though, I’ve felt like it’s one of those times where “now more than ever” kinda applies – particularly for people like me who are unapologetically liberal, pro-choice, pro-diversity, hippie Pagans.

I’m finding that my upcoming book, The Heart of the Goddess, while I didn’t write it to be trendy or because I foresaw this sort of thing (I really thought we’d be celebrating our first woman President), is resonating with many people. People who are in my camp are really trying to figure out what to do next, to make sure our values of tolerance, love, human rights, and supportive communities are nurtured and not trampled on. People are frightened, upset, and angry.

The values of the Divine Feminine, which I talk about in the book, are compassion, creative expression, holistic health, intuition, respect for diversity, communion with Nature, spiritual connection, and collaboration. Sounds like things we need more of in our lives, right?

So, what about my ROW80 goals? Thankfully, this was a week where I have my draft out to advance readers, so I didn’t have a bunch of book stuff to do. I did quite a bit of work on my business, though. We’re continuing to promote (and get) pre-orders for the book. BlackLion and I are making plans for an upcoming free virtual “Soulfulness Week,” and working on our road map for 2017, which includes a Facebook ad campaign. So it was a productive week, despite all the weirdness in the news.

I feel like the work I’m doing is vital, yes, “now more than ever.” Even more important, I love what I do. I’m so thankful for my freedom, creativity, and ability to devote my time to my passions. Onward!

I’m not doing NaNoWriMo this time around – I didn’t last year, either. I have a few friends who are doing it. I have to admit, I feel a tiny bit envious. I’m already putting it in the plans for November 2017. Yeah, I know, that’s a whole year away. I’m a Virgo, and an entrepreneur, and it’s the second-to-last month of the year – so of course I’m making my 2017 road map already. It’s been important to me, these past couple years, to focus on writing projects and other work that builds my business. This coming year, I’ll be focusing on getting our existing books, courses, and other offerings out to a wider audience – that will leave room in my writing schedule for some play time, which for me means fiction.

Even though I’m not tapped into the NaNoWriMo energy, I’m making some good progress. I’ve finished my first edit of my The Heart of the Goddess book draft, and built the Resources section as I went. I’ve found three advance readers (so far) who have the time to read the book pretty quickly and give me feedback. By the way, if you have the time and interest in devouring a book on the resurgence of the Feminine Divine in the next week, let me know!

My learning goal is going well. I’m participating in the Personal Finance Consciousness Circle, and reading the Denise Duffield-Thomas book, which is excellent. BlackLion and I are working on our Feline Dreamers community-building plans. I’ve been blogging pretty steadily. I’ve actually done some winter holiday preparations, which is good, because it’s sneaking up on us.

I just started my yearly “Pagan Lent” plan, which means that I give up refined sugar and alcohol from Halloween/Samhain until the Winter Solstice. I’m on day 6 and it’s been no problem at all. I think my body is used to it, as part of the yearly cycle. I also added a daily dance session, for exercise. I’m on day 2 of that. My spiritual practices continue to go well.

So, things are going great so far toward my Round 4 goals. Here are my mini-goals for the upcoming week:

• continue to promote pre-orders for The Heart of the Goddess
• get a couple more advance readers and send them the pdf
• make plans for our Facebook ad campaign that we’ve been working on
• work on the holiday collage cards
• make plans with BlackLion for our Soulfulness Week (part of our community-building work)

I wish you a productive week full of words, especially those doing NaNoWriMo or otherwise tracking their word counts!

I had to take some time away from The Heart of the Goddess book draft, after finishing it up. I set it aside completely for about a week. That’s normal, right? Now I’m halfway through my first edit, and creating the Resources section as I go. I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging, but wow. I’m impressed with the quality of this one. I think it’s my best yet – which makes sense, I guess, as everything improves with practice. This will be my fourth book, and it’s twice as long as the others. I wasn’t sure how it would go, this longer version, with more intermediate content. So I’m really super pleased that it’s coming along so well.

Blogging has been going along okay, though I skipped last week, aside from one post here to check in on Wednesday. I was just too busy to get to it. BlackLion and I are working on our road map for 2017 for Feline Dreamers, which is fun. We’re promoting the pre-orders for The Heart of the Goddess. I’ve been participating in my biz coaching program and the Personal Finance Consciousness Circle. Things are going well on all fronts. I’m very thankful!

Which reminds me – here’s my Wednesday gratitude list!

• So happy that I love my book draft, now that I’m in editing mode.
• I love my friends – they’re so supportive and fun and caring.
• Delighted to be selling pre-orders for the book – it’s my first time offering this!
• My fall biz retreat was FANTASTIC. Super inspiring.
• I’m thankful for hot tea, crisp days, and my cozy home.

Have a great week, everyone!