Subscriber Newsletter
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Bonjour and welcome to your Paris Inspirational newsletter, created just for you!
Today is a look behind the scenes- from writing books to blogs. I know this newsletter is not the typical format of one but you know I'm all about looking at new perspectives, other ways ...to see. Today we take a look at some snippets of the Creative's Guide Book I'm writing. I'm slowly working through the first draft and the voice as well as its focus has gone through a number of directions. Some will make you laugh, sometimes cringe and other times reflect. Chime in to which direction you connect with best. Below, there is also a section for a sneak peek at the next newsletter, the audio version, about inventing a new word for "entrepreneur." I couldn't leave you without sites and sounds from Paris, so have a listen to this very lovely artist video from a song by Jacques Dutronc. I learned french from this song my first year in Paris! Let's continue to connect throughout the week on Instagram. |
"Being vulnerable sucks
but then I remember why I do it and put one foot in front of the other." - T Cooper |
The Book Quandry
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Notice how different these books are? From more of a technical paper meets personal development perspective to a memoir meets business book! This is a quandary I suspect all writers have- which direction to go and which voice to use. Below you'll find parts of the drafts I've been working on. While there is no certainty any of these snippets will end up in a book, they are fun to share. At the moment, I am writing one as more of an academic research paper and one as a guidebook. Who knows, maybe at some point they will merge. Over time you'll see how it all develops.
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My Writing Process
Snippet #1:
Maybe in my mind, I knew I was gonna break up with him at some point. I was starfished on carpet in the open space of my condo, light and shadows playing on my face in the afternoon. I layed the phone down against my ear. "We should totally go to Paris next time." "Why are you in such a rush?” Jeff says "Well, I mean we didn’t get to go last time and we were soooo close." I pressed my head further into pillow making my eyes roll up into the blue through the window behind me. “We went there for my work remember. You act like you aren’t grateful I just took you to London!” Yes...of coooourse, I'm just saying. I cut myself off. "Well….maybe next year.” Yeah, maybe, I thought. A year later, we broke up. He wanted Atlanta. I wanted Paris. Go figure. Now he has twins and wife who cooks. I have tattoos and a boyfriend who cooks. Life is good. Next Audio Newsletter
I’m getting ready to head to the States and as I was packing a lot of memories started to come up. Maybe I miss the palm trees, the large water scapes. My home town, San Francisco is also known for its bridges, its inclimate weather, lovely natural hikes, its hippie and hipster culture but it's also known for 20 year old tech tycoons driving cars you usually see in James Bond films. Just next door, Silicon valley is the hub of startups like Uber, Facebook, Apple among others. Everyone dabs in some sort of startup business there - entrepreneurship is highly regarded and usually written with a capital "E". I went to Business school and of course had businesses which means I sort of had the personality of an entrepreneur. So then why do I feel like I get hives each time I say the word “entrepreneur?” Do you hear the angst, the bit of anxiety? Let’s talk about 3 ways we can create success around this word….without getting the hives. Classes
Know of anyone who needs help launching their idea? In the Design your Business class, come away with a plan, a prototype, your social media strategy and online presentation, personalized for you and your own idea. Perfect for creative or divergent thinkers.
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Various notes describing my writing process and direction to a mentor of mine:
-So I've got 2 hours to write like the devil I guess so what will I write about or how will I start? I was thinking to maybe start with a compelling first opener for my adventure ...a “talking to myself” book. -Most of the time it’s just two of us in my head at once. Sometimes one of us gets out and My boyfriend gets confused who I’m talking to. I had to contain the voices a bit since moving in with him. -This is an ode to my younger self, the times I would slap myself to jar me out of the stupor of anxiety, or pep talk to . -I started off naming this book adventures in stuckland. Why was business grad school so easy and design grad school so tough? I was stuck. What was I doing there? -This is a story about shooting for the stars and how I ended up on my ass but Its a story with various events and consequential learnings. Those learnings Id like to turn into real tools to help people through it. Snippet #2
I’ve had two horrible parts of my life. I can’t remember the second one but I’m pretty sure there were two. -------------- I'm trying to think when the panic attacks started? Or rather, do they ever really start? It’s like they are lying in wait and one day, one thing or another pisses them off and they rip out of your chest like the Alien did to Bishop in that movie. I mean aren't we all a little susceptible to crazy? A little..off? A little OCD, ADD, ADHD, BTS and the rest of the 100s of letter combinations mental health gifts us? These attacks are only bad if you compare it to a standard of some-thing or according to some-one. The attacks don’t seem so...well, that bad. You feel like your insides have been scrubbed with a scotch bonnet, your breath cuts for a few minutes and feel like you're gonna die. Then it's over. You wipe yourself off, drink a gallon of water, try not to be late to an appointment and hope you've already prepared for that meeting. You just have to learn the secret of avoiding them. Like in the film, the Princess Bride, Westley and Buttercup discuss how to avoid the terrors of the infamous Fire Swap. How do they do it? {Buttercup, the princess, wearing a red vintage Alexander McQueen gown of course, is distraught after being rescued from the depths of quicksand. Low menacing music plays and the wind effects make you squirm as you wait for the hero to enter the scene. Owls in the distance feel like they beak snap you on the back of your neck. The camera pans to follow the couple’s careful steps and uncertain eyes. There is a sharp scream of a sad death of something and a growl of some thing not from their world. Wesley looks to the direction of the sound and says, “ah, it’s not so bad… I'm not saying I'd like to build a summer home here, but the trees actually are quite lovely.” “We’ll never succeed, we might as well die here.” “No no we have already succeeded.” Westly, the farm boy now in hero’s black, responds. “I mean, what are the three terrors of the fire swap? One, the flames spurt. No problem. There's a popping sound preceding each. We can avoid that. Two, the lightning sand. You were clever enough to discover what that looks like, so in the future we can avoid that too.” “But Wesley, what about the R.O.U.S’s?” “What? Rodents of unusual size? I don't think they exist.” Just then (duh dum dum...) the largest grodi-est, bear size of a rat tackles Wesley and they have it out.} Ok let's try this ourselves. What are our three terrors of anxiety, One, .... 
Refining The Word Entrepreneur
Check out the Latest Blog Post from the Series, "How to See": Real Life from an Emerging Designer, a Personal account. From Eco Designers to Designers turned Social Media Gurus, I examine "How to See" the word 'Start'. |