{WUW} Muse Whisper Sweetly to Me

5/11/2016

Your writing voice is the deepest possible reflection of who you are. The job of your voice is not to seduce or flatter or make well-shaped sentences. In your voice, your readers should be able to hear the contents of your mind, your heart, your soul. ~ Meg Rosoff

Iâ€™m participating in a Blog Link-up with Kris (With a K), from www.withakwriting.com, because she wants to hear about the role writing plays in our businesses.

She is giving a Writing Workshop for entrepreneurs and bloggers, starting May 25th, and she wants to give away a scholarship to one of the lovely bloggers who participate in this link up. You can participate and get a chance to win too.
Just copy and paste this bolded text into the introduction of your blog post answering the question, â€œHow has writing been beneficial to your business, and what do you want to Craft with your Voice next?â€

Finally, go back to Krisâ€™s blog on or after May 12th to add your link to the link-up party there, and you could win a scholarship to her new course: Craft Your Voice. Sheâ€™ll be drawing a name on the 18th of May for a COMPLETE scholarship to the 6 week writing course, so you can write and link-up your post any time before then.

Wordy Wanderings

Vesta enters Gemini (5/16, 2:29 pm EDT). Harnessing this energy involves all things creative with the written word. Freewriting and journaling are great ways to harness your inner writer, even if you don't identify with the written word as a creative pursuit. And if you need to feel extra inspired, you can check out some of my creative writing.

Embracing Other Perspectives

Celtic Tree Month of Hawthorn begins (5/13). This energy is all about duality & diversity. Hawthorn's time is an excellent one to see outside the box as well as look at it from another angle. Use this to explore new creative pursuits & angles, experimenting with new techniques or re-visiting old projects! How can you access your creativity & curiousity together to create something new?

Taking a Serious Chill Pill

ICYMI...I've been sick. Like not the kind I should be quarantined, just a general constant malaise. From allergies, to what looked like a cold (but turned out to be bronchitis...FUN!). It's amazing what simple illness can do to your energy levels. (And I say simple, as opposed to more chronic & debilitating things). But the helpful thing about it all is the forced slowing down & perspective shift that is taking a step back that inevitably comes.

Playing with Paper

Since I've been laid low I've been doing a lot of researching & learning all the basics I can about cardmaking. It's been on my list for awhile but has gone as yet unrealized due to the fact that I am a rather detailed researcher when it comes to these things...because I can't stand dabbling.

Creative Meanderings & Mental Pursuits

Along with the forced stillness has come a degree of contemplation on the artistic process, and namely my own. I've had a number of conversations with other artists (mostly painters), including Delisa over at Apocalypse Friday Yarns, about how they went about their work, inspiration, & creativity. One of the many things I learned was:

an affirming of "we all do it differently"
that some of my long held notions are how you say...less than helpful.

Awakening the Muse

The dear & lovely Kris Windley, over at With a K Writing is holding a scholarship contest and so I'm obliged to share here (to participate because O how I love her work!) how writing has been beneficial to my business & what I want to Craft with my Voice next...

So first off ~ a bit of a preamble...

I've always had a love affair with writing...be it telling stories verbally that would skip off into the ether, never quite remembered the same way. To penning madly in the middle of the night as inspiration struck and the words flew from my mind and onto the paper. Long ago I gave up my erstwhile dreams of becoming a published author. The deadlines, the critiquing...I knew writing under those sorts of pressures would squelch my inspiration and the words would fall flat before the left my fingers. So I put it away as a thing just for myself and went about other creative pursuits...

But the words wouldn't be silenced, and upon starting my business blogging came up. Surely no one would care about my creative pursuits, what I was working on...or would they? The reality with many artists is that words can provide a window into the soul, like the eyes of your masterpiece. While the picture may be worth a thousand words, it's still not actual words. And the words may differ depending on the point of view.

I realized the value of writing in my business as an avenue to explore beyond the mere visual of my work. From the flowing cadence of a well worded sentence within my copy, to an inspiring & informative blog post. It was also crucial for this writing to be polished, if not precisely pristine, to convey the message, inspire the reader, and on the other side...to motivate myself to write more.

The literary liberties I like to take were okay, in the face of something fun and creatively flirtatious. Rather than stoic & stuffy sentences strung along for research and grading, I could play with words, utter alliteration and affect with joyous abandon.

Writing for my business allowed me the joy and love I once knew for the written word to be renewed. It allows me to show the artist behind the work, in a new & beautiful way. But going forward I would love to be able to more clearly & consistently access this voice. To hone it to an even finer illustrative point for you, my dear reader.

In the comments below, share with me...

Do you work with words creatively?
How can you access your creativity in new & different ways?
If you're a business owner, will you be joining me in Kris' contest?

Thanks for tuning in to this week's "What's Up Wednesday?". Make sure you come back next week to see what's going on in my world! And if you haven't yet be sure to join my newsletter and connect with me on your favorite social media!