LAUNCH WHISPERS (15 FEBRUARY 2013)

On the 1st and 15th of every month, I share here some of the coolest things happening in the online world and the creative people who are bringing them to life.

Are you also bringing to life a new online program/service/offering you’d like to share with us (or do you have an ongoing offering you’d like me to feature)?

Click here to find out how you can have your launch news included in my bimonthly Launch Whispers.

Now let’s take a look at the marvelous offerings featured in this issue of Launch Whispers:

Free Write Fling by Cynthia Morris

During the month-long Free Write Fling, created by author and creative writing coach Cynthia Morris, you can join a fantastic crowd who is nurturing their love affair with words on a daily basis.

This takes about 15 minutes a day that you’ll spend giving yourself over to your Muse.

Like Cynthia says, “A quickie. A hot date with your Muse, every day, for 31 days.”

With the other writers, you will write daily and begin to worship your writing time. You’ll connect with your voice, have fun and make progress on a project if that is your focus.

After the month is finished, you’ll be hooked and won’t ever stand up your Muse again.

I wanted to know what makes the Free Write Fling different from other writing programs, and Cynthia immediately came up with 9 reasons.

Here’s what she said:

1. We don’t teach the craft of writing in the Free Write Fling. How to write a story, how to craft great sentences, we leave the art of writing to other classes. 

2. The focus of the class is to allow people the space to get their words out without being hindered by the inner critic. Usually when we sit down to write, our inner editor is always at our shoulder, pointing out how lame our thoughts and words are. 

Within the safe structure of free writing, we finally access our stride, our voice and the true things we want to say and express. 

3. The FWF is great for writers of all genres and levels of experience. A lot of people repeat the FWF – while the structure (a daily prompt) is always the same, the content (the prompts themselves) are different. Each day I offer a photo and word prompt. Students use the prompt to explore new writing or to make progress on a current project they’re working on. 

4. The class offers just enough structure and freedom so students can make progress on their own projects or simply get into the habit of writing daily. There’s not a lot of course material to wade through or the need to critique others’ work. 

5. That’s one of the unexpected benefits of the class – we don’t read or critique each other’s writing. I know that may seem counter-intuitive, but it actually gives so much freedom to simply have a place to write without judgment. The space this gives to start releasing your voice and relinquishing the hold the inner critic has is such a relief to students. 

6. Sometimes prompts you find online or in other classes are very complex. An example: ‘Write about a time you found yourself lost and had to find your way home.’ While there’s nothing wrong with that, it immediately puts you into the past, and into your mind where you’re thinking about that scenario and how you would write it. My prompts are more simple and open. A prompt like ‘lost’ allows you to interpret and play without over- thinking. 

7. You can get free prompts anywhere, why would you need to pay to be in the FWF? Many reasons, but the most important is that I interact with my students in the Fling Zone, our private online classroom. Students share victories, breakthroughs and ask questions, and I’m in the classroom to coach them through the process. I’ve taken other (more expensive) online classes and there is no interaction with the teacher. 

There are incentives to write everyday, outside your own motivation. Everyone who writes every single day wins a copy of my e-book Cross the Finish Line and is also entered into a drawing for a month of coaching with me. 

8. A lot of classes offer a great deal of material and students begin to feel overwhelmed and unable to ‘keep up’. This class is the exact opposite. It’s not a lot of material, and the commitment is only 15 minutes per day. Everyone, no matter how busy, can write for 15 minutes a day. 

9. I always join the students in the challenge of writing every day. I am both leading and alongside. I think that’s rare that the teacher has committed to do the same work and thus has an empathetic understanding during the class of what the students are asked to do.  

Click here to find out more about the Free Write Fling that begins on March 1st. Hopefully you’ll join us (well, I’m taking this class too!) 

Reclaiming Creativity Podcast by Alexia Petrakos

Alexia Petrakos is the creative spirit behind the Reclaiming Creativity Podcast. As a  “renaissance soul” Alexia has been deeply involved in different areas of art and creative solopreneurship.

After giving birth to a wonderful baby boy last year, she realized that it was hard to get to all the things she used to do.

Reclaiming Creativity is a podcast exploring how to reclaim your creative mojo after having kids. It’s a short podcast, no more than 20-30 minutes including monologues by Alexia about reclaiming her own creative mojo or interviews with moms who are prolifically creative.

Alexia explained what her podcast is about:

“It’s a podcast specifically on how to get back into a creative groove after a HUGE life upheaval (kids, or something else).

If we were doing creative work before kids, our creative expression may have taken a back seat (and rightly so!) to dealing with a new life. But after a while, if we don’t consciously move back towards the things we did before we had kids, we may never find your way.

And I’ve also found there are women who never really did anything ‘traditionally’ creative before kids and discovered their voice after getting to the point where they had to be more than ‘just mom’.”

She plans on releasing a new episode twice a month.

Realizing Your Creative Life interviews by Jocelyn Kelly

Creativity coach, short story writer and hypnotherapist Jocelyn Kelly has started publishing marvelous interviews with creatives from different fields.

Some of the people she has interviewed so far are introvert entrepreneur and coach Beth Buelow, cartoonist Nate Fakes and freelance writer and social entrepreneur Megan Hill.

Jocelyn will also be interviewing me on solopreneurism, entrepreneurism and partnerships. Sha has that awesome, interesting interview method that lets you go deep, and I’m looking forward to being featured on her blog.

You can visit Jocelyn’s blog Realizing Your Creative Life to read her colorful interviews.

The Perfectly Imperfect Project: Real Self-Care by Mara Glatzel and Tamarisk Saunders-Davies 

I discovered The Perfectly Imperfect Project: Real Self-Care, created by memoirist Mara Glatzel and coach and psychotherapist Tamarisk Saunders-Davies, quite some time after it took start.

The project aims to shed light on the topics of self-love and self-care by asking gorgeous and grounded women to share their experiences.

The premise is this: self-care is everywhere these days, and yet, many people seem to experience much difficulty in being able to truly tend to their bodies and spirits. Mara and Tamarisk wanted to boil down and distill the integral aspects of self-care, and engage in a conversation about the ways women take care of themselves on a daily basis.

I really enjoyed the articles, especially those by Sas Petherick, Nona Jordan, Susannah Conway, and Catherine Caine.

You can find the links of all contributors and their articles here.

The Possibility Spiral by Sibyl Chavis 

Around six years ago, attorney and HR executive Sibyl Chavis realized that something was “off” in her life and felt she had to find the solution.

She wasn’t sure what exactly was “wrong”, but she knew her life was not supposed to be about working a lot but never feeling like she was getting enough done, worrying about one thing or another, stressing about the future, and questioning if she was doing everything she was meant to be doing.

So, she went on a search to figure out what was “off” and discovered that she wasn’t  listening to the voice deep inside.

She had been ignoring her inner voice that urged her to believe in herself and what she was really capable of achieving. She needed to find her “something more.”

That commitment to find her way to her “something more” changed the entire course of her life.

Today, Sibyl runs the successful blog called The Possibility of Today, which inspires thousands of men and women to discover the steps they need to take to accomplish what really matters to them.

She’s also launched The Possibility Spiral, a 7-step system to find and live your “something more.”

In Sibyl’s words, “When you move up your Possibility Spiral the right way, you will be able to achieve whatever you set your mind to, overcome obstacles, and see opportunity all around you.”

What makes this course different is that it is based on a holistic approach that includes inner and outer steps to tap into your true potential.

Sibyl says, The Possibility Spiral is the shortest and most direct path that always must be traveled up in order to accomplish whatever it is you want.

Foundations of Marketing by Erica Holthausen

Erica Holthausen was one of my favorite people who took my Reset. Revive. Restart. program last December.

Erica’s new course the Foundations of Marketing is fantastically in line with her core business message: there is a way to successfully market yourself and your work while being honest, ethical and by staying true to your values.

Erica says this e-course is the first in a series of four classes that will take you through the 10 Steps to Honest Marketing. You can sign up for all four to save more than 20 percent. Or you can sign up for this course and then upgrade. If you do, the cost of this course will be applied to the series total.

Foundations of Marketing may be exactly what you need if you are a woman solo- or micropreneur with knowledge and wisdom to share who wants to be of service and make a difference in the world.

Registration closes on February 19th.

The Circle of Cohorts by Sandi Amorim and Yours Truly

If you’ve been considering attending my private training group for women solopreneurs, hurry up!

We’re closing the door on Feb. 28th and we don’t know when we’ll be opening it again.

Here’s how a few of our members explain why they joined us:

“The biggest roadblock for me joining was the expense. But then I looked at it as an investment in myself and what I want to become in 2013. I know this will be a year of change & shifting. I think the Circle of Cohorts is a wonderful support & motivating group to keep myself accountable and on track to achieving my dream of becoming a spiritual director with emphasis on creativity.” - D. M., artist

“As a newbie – I took blogging very seriously and did a number of courses in my first year. I was happy to pay as much as I could afford to get the best tutoring. It was all good, but I found the different advice and voices didn’t always resonate with me. I didn’t want to build my business on a formula. I love connecting with people and I was looking for a space where I felt confident to share my thoughts and dreams about how to build and grow my blog community. Enter Cigdem and Sandi. With their combination of peace, grace, omm, kick arse and business sass, I feel that I’ve stepped into a space where not only my blog will grow, but I will as well.” - Z. A., marketing specialist, writer

“I love Cigdem and Sandi and all they do. I love their online presence, the businesses they’ve built, and the interactions I’ve had with them (whether via email or in person). They’ve built business I admire and in a way that feels real and attainable for me.” – J. V., project manager and consultant

” I’m struggling trying to keep motivated and take action that follows a coherent plan to get me from A to B. I love the idea of a group that will nourish and kick my butt at the same time when required ” - K. B., web designer

Submit your application today.

If you also want to be featured in my next issue of Launch Whispers, click here to find out how it all works. 

Featured artist: Brilliant Carolyn Cochrane