Category Archives: G.O.T.H. Series

Start Being a Beginner Again

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

A long-time fan of bestselling authors and coaches Marc and Angel Chernoff, I look forward to reading their emails and blog posts. Here’s an excerpt from a recent post:

“Starting over is not an option!”

Unfortunately that’s a lie many of us hold on to until the bitter end.

The idea of starting over being a bad thing is baked right into the fabric of our society’s education system. We send our children to a university when they’re 17 or 18, and basically tell them to choose a career path they’ll be happy with for the next 40 years. “But what if I choose wrong?” I remember thinking to myself. And that’s exactly what I did, in more ways than one. Over the years, however, I’ve learned the truth through experience: you can change paths anytime you want to, and oftentimes it’s absolutely necessary that you do.

Yes, starting over and making substantial changes in your life is almost always feasible. It won’t be easy of course, but neither is being stuck with a lifelong career you naively chose when you were a teenager. And neither is holding on to something that’s not meant to be, or something that’s already long gone.

The truth is, no one wins a game of chess by only moving forward; sometimes you have to move backward to put yourself in a position to win. And this is a perfect metaphor for life. Sometimes when it feels like you’re running into one dead end after another, it’s actually a sign that you’re not on the right path. Maybe you were meant to hang a left back when you took a right, and that’s perfectly fine. Life gradually teaches us that U-turns are allowed. So turn around when you must! There’s a big difference between giving up and starting over in the right direction. And there are three little words that can release you from your past mistakes and regrets, and get you back on track. These words are: “From now on…”

So from now on what should you do?

Mix it up a little bit. Take one step at a time. Find ways to provide a healthy challenge to your current understanding of life, and you will discover and experience far more of life’s magic in the days ahead.

Note: I highly recommend subscribing to Marc & Angel’s website.

Joy and Sadness

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In a recent post on the Writer Unboxed blog, author Kathleen McCleary offered suggestions on how to weave joy and sadness into our stories. Here’s an excerpt from that post:

Every good story has to include both joy and sadness, but it’s the challenges, the losses, the disappointments, that make the most interesting reading, as Tolstoy pointed out. (“Every happy family is alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”) So if my suggestions here focus more on the dark side than the light, it’s because, for better or worse, that’s what drives good fiction. Consider:

The flip side of joy. Your character may be experiencing a moment of profound joy—a wedding, a coronation, the birth of a child, a retirement celebration. What else is going on? Major life milestones often involve loss as well as celebration—the loss of freedom or the road not taken or the hope for a different ending. And I don’t mean a character having reservations about a major life event (is this really the person I should marry?) as much as I mean a character’s experience of conflicting emotions at the same time (I love this person and am thrilled to be getting married, AND I want to howl with grief because my beloved father is not here).

Who or what is your character grieving? We don’t only grieve for the people we lose. We grieve the experiences we never had and maybe never will have. We grieve scenarios or lives we imagined for ourselves that suddenly bump into a reality that makes it clear those imagined lives will never happen. We grieve our own lost physical abilities or good looks or health. We grieve the loss of routines, the loss of place, the loss of the familiar. The first house I owned was next door to a five-acre forest, filled with towering Douglas Firs and hemlock and cedar trees, as well as dogwood, maples, and more. One year a developer bought that parcel of land and cut down every last tree, and believe me, I grieved the loss of those trees every time I looked out the window or stepped outside. Even in the midst of happy times, we can be suddenly rocketed back into feelings of loss.

How does your character experience joy and grief? Intense emotions are intensely personal Characters may react differently to happy events—the wedding that delights your protagonist may fill her sister with sadness, while the birth of a child may terrify a grandparent who once lost a child of their own. Similarly, if you and someone else are grieving the loss of a person dear to you both, your experiences of that person are different, and the ways you feel that loss will be different. Maggie O’Farrell’s novel Hamnet (now a movie) includes one of the most vivid, searing depictions of grief I’ve ever read. The different ways the characters grieve almost splits them apart, until one of the characters is able to see and feel the way the other has poured their grief into a different outlet, and come to a new understanding.

How will your character’s grief be revealed. over the arc of your story? Grief is an upheaval; it can lead to divorce, estrangement, reconciliation, passion. I recently finished reading The Correspondent, Virginia Evan’s surprise bestseller, which deals with a character’s intense sorrow over the loss of a child (this is not a spoiler; it’s part of the book throughout). But it’s only as the character grows and changes over the course of the book that she can fully come to terms with the real source of her sadness, and the ending is a surprise.

Read the rest of the post here.

Don’t Quit Too Soon

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

Here is a thought-provoking excerpt from Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestselling book, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear:

I think a lot of people quit pursuing creative lives because they’re scared of the word interesting. My favorite meditation teacher, Pema Chödrön, once said that the biggest problem she sees with people’s meditation practice is that they quit just when things are starting to get interesting. Which is to say, they quit as soon as things aren’t easy anymore, as soon as it gets painful, or boring, or agitating. They quit as soon as they see something in their minds that scares them or hurts them. So they miss the good part, the wild part, the transformative part—the part when you push past the difficulty and enter into some raw new unexplored universe within yourself.

And maybe it’s like that with every important aspect of your life. Whatever it is you are pursuing, whatever it is you are seeking, whatever it is you are creating, be careful not to quit too soon. As my friend, Pastor Rob Bell warns: Don’t rush through the experiences and circumstances that have the most capacity to transform you.”

Don’t let go of your courage the moment things stop being easy or rewarding.

Because that moment?

That’s the moment when interesting begins.

Source: Big Magic, p. 247

On Becoming a Hero

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

Transformational teacher, Adam Markel, shares the following inspirational excerpt in his book, Pivot: The Art and Science of Reinventing Your Career and Life:

There are heroes everywhere.

We see them on the news. We read books about them and watch movies starring them. We share their stories.

Whether it’s a larger-than-life hero, such as Gandhi, or the guy who left the job he hated and thrives in his own small business, there are heroes everywhere. Heroes are real, and they’re part of every culture in every country through all of history.

They all have one thing in common: They are heroes because they live the life they dream.

A fundamental part of the hero’s journey, a term coined by Joseph Campbell, is to go from the known to the unknown. It’s about leaving the safe world that the hero knows and venturing to something new and unknown. A place to be tested. Think of Luke Skywalker leaving the farm. Bilbo Baggins leaving the Shire. Neo leaving the Matrix. They all left a comfortable, known, but ultimately unfulfilling “normal” life to find themselves and eventually to become heroes.

You don’t need to slay dragons or leave the planet to pivot. But there’s probably no better way to capture the essence of what it means to reinvent yourself.

To pivot, you’ll have to explore the unknown. I won’t ask you to burn your ships or face a dragon. But you may have to leave some of your comfortable routines and predictable patterns.

And in return?

You get to become a hero of your own life. And I believe that, deep inside, that’s what we all want. Because, deep down, we all know this truth: The only thing stopping you from changing your life is you.

The hero in this story is you. It’s your journey. No one can take it from you or do it for you. To pivot, you need to become the hero of your own life.

Because if you can pivot—if you can change your life and live your dreams…

…what can’t you do?

Source: Pivot: The Art and Science of Reinventing Your Life

The Power of Training

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

I enjoy receiving weekly doses of inspiration and motivation from a British writer and blogger named Lucy Mitchell. She has a delightful blogging voice that brings a smile and a thought-provoking pause to my day. Here’s an excerpt from a recent blog post:

For years, my social media feed has been a stream of writing advice, trending writer quotes and hacks on how to write more words. I have followed countless authors and writing coaches. I have spent hours celebrating their book successes, admiring their book covers, and appreciating their writing practices.

One day over the summer, I found myself spending more time scrolling through their feeds looking for motivation to write, but I wasn’t actually writing.

So, I made an odd decision. I started following professional athletes and filling up my social media feeds with their training vlogs. I still followed the authors, but I shifted my focus.

In my youth, I was a long-distance runner, so watching athletes train for the 800m and 1500m events felt like reconnecting with that younger version of myself. I started following GB athletes like Keely Hodgkinson, Georgia Hunter-Bell, Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie. I also followed American sprinters such as Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

I began watching their training vlogs on YouTube and their Insta reels, where they discuss discipline and the mental battles they face. I admired their physical dedication, the way they tracked progress, and their calm acceptance of failure as part of the growth process. I admired them for showing up to train in the pouring rain, the suffocating heat, and the times when they faced personal issues off the track. They persevered through the training despite the challenges.

Soon, something shifted inside me.

Athletes made me view discipline in a new light. Watching athletes train reframed discipline for me. They don’t just “feel like” going to training, they go because that’s who they are. Their discipline isn’t glamorous; it’s about repetition, consistency, and patience, in all weathers. Writing is not glamorous. I write books, and they often feel like marathons. My books require me to show up regularly, not when I feel like it.

Progress became about progress, not about perfection. Athletes celebrate small milestones, such as shaving off a second or two, achieving a better sprint, overcoming the little things in the finish, and improving their running style. I started celebrating the little wins with my writing. It became less about the outcome and more about the process.

The Power of Training. I have started viewing my writing sessions as my own form of training with adequate periods of rest afterwards. Instead of searching for motivation, I have begun building discipline. Instead of waiting for creativity to strike, I have trained for it.

Writing is a sport of endurance and a test of patience and mental toughness. It’s about showing up every day and trusting that repetition makes us stronger.

You can follow Lucy here.

Saying “NO” to Some Really Good Things

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

A long-time fan of bestselling authors and coaches Marc and Angel Chernoff, I look forward to reading their emails and blog posts. Here’s an excerpt from a recent post:

We all have opportunities and obligations, but a healthy and productive routine can only be found in the long run by properly managing your yeses. And yes, sometimes you have to say “no” to really good opportunities and obligations. You can’t always be agreeable — that’s how people take advantage of you. And that’s how you end up taking advantage of yourself, too. You have to set clear boundaries!

You might have to say no to certain favors, work projects, community associations, church activities, volunteer groups… coaching your kid’s sports teams, or some other seemingly worthwhile activity. I know what you’re thinking: it seems unfair to say no when these are very worthwhile things to do — it pains you to say no! But you must, because the alternative is that you’re going to do a poor job at each one, be stressed out, feel like you’re stuck in an endless cycle of busyness, and eventually you’ll reach a breaking point.

Truth be told, the main thing that keeps so many of us stuck in a debilitating cycle of overwhelm is the fantasy in our minds that we can be everything to everyone, everywhere at once, and a hero on all fronts. But again, that’s not reality. The reality is you’re not Superman or Wonder Woman — you’re human and you have limits. So, you have to let go of that idea of doing everything, pleasing everyone, and being everywhere.

In the end, you’re either going to do a few things well or everything poorly.

Now it’s YOUR turn…

Yes, it’s your turn to embrace the difference between being committed to the right things and being overcommitted to everything. It’s your turn to leave space on your calendar, to keep your life ordered and your schedule under-booked, and to create a foundation with a soft place to land, a wide margin of error, and room to think and breathe.

Note: I highly recommend subscribing to Marc & Angel’s website.

Living Freely and Lightly

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

Here’s a thought-provoking reflection from international speaker and bestselling author Joyce Meyer:

Living freely and lightly in the “unforced rhythms of grace” sounds good, doesn’t it? I’m sure you have had enough heavy stuff in your life. I have, too, and I want to live freely. It’s nice to know that with God, we don’t have to worry about things, figure everything out, or carry the burdens in our lives.

It is refreshing to realize that we don’t need to know everything about everything. We can get comfortable with saying, “I don’t know the answer to this dilemma, and I’m not going to worry about anything because God is in control, and I trust in him. I’m going to rest in Him and live freely and lightly.”

Worry isn’t restful at all. In fact, it steals rest and the benefits of rest from us. The next time you feel you are carrying a heavy burden in your mind or find yourself worried or anxious, remember that you can live freely and lightly with God’s help.

Source: Quiet Times with God by Joyce Meyer

Evaluate Your Daily Habits

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

A long-time fan of bestselling authors and coaches Marc and Angel Chernoff, I look forward to reading their emails and blog posts. Here’s an excerpt from a recent post:

Many of the most meaningful results you will ever achieve in your life — the milestones, the relationships, the love, the lessons — come from the little things you do repeatedly, every single day.

Regardless of your unique talents, knowledge, life circumstances, or how you personally define success, you don’t suddenly become successful. You become successful over time based on your willingness to try again and again — to create little daily habits that amass gradual progress, through thick and thin.

So, what do your little daily habits look like?

You really have to sort this out and get consistent with what’s right for you on a daily basis. Because failure occurs in the same way — it’s gradual. All your little daily failures (those that you don’t learn and grow from) come together and cause you to fail big. Think in terms of running a business:

You keep failing to check the books.

You keep failing to make the calls.

You keep failing to listen to your customers.

You keep failing to innovate.

You keep failing to do the little things that need to be done.

Then one day you wake up and your whole business has failed. It was all the little things you did or didn’t do on a daily basis — your habits — not just one inexplicable, catastrophic event.

Now, think about how this relates to your life: your life is your “business!”

Too often people overestimate the significance of one big defining moment and underestimate the value of making good choices and small steps of progress on a daily basis.

Don’t be one of them!

Keep reminding yourself that almost all of the results in your life — positive and negative alike — are the product of many small decisions made over time.
The little things you do today, and tomorrow, and the next day, truly matter!

Note: I highly recommend subscribing to Marc & Angel’s website.

Halfway There

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

Here’s a thought-provoking poem from Kate Baer:

Halfway There

Whatever happens,
you are free to go. Free
to peel off what’s left of this story and choose
another. It is not
too late
It is definitely worth the trouble.

Remember the story of the lion
lost without his courage.
Too scared, full of fury,
the great wizard
standing in the emerald tower
knowing the lion was already brave.

Accepting Rejection

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In a recent post on the Writer Unboxed blog, award-winning author Greer Macallister shared advice on accepting rejection. Here’s an excerpt from that post:

If you don’t learn to accept rejection gracefully early in your writing career, you’ll end up fighting a lot of unnecessary battles later. Which is bad for you on many different fronts.

Because while there are some battles worth fighting in publishing–fight for the right editor, for marketing, for the right cover and title–there are a lot more that you can only win by not fighting at all.

Editor doesn’t want your book? Accept it. A major bookstore isn’t stocking it? Accept it. Your friend’s book seems to be getting all the book clubs and TV options and buzzy-buzzy Most Anticipated coverage? Accept it, and wish them well. Bad Goodreads reviews? Accept them and move on (or don’t read them at all.)

Does this bent toward acceptance fly in the face of the wisdom that persistence is the writer’s most important trait? I’ve thought about it, and I don’t think so.

Persistence, after all, is not just pushing forward. It involves flexibility. Adaptation. Persistence doesn’t mean you send your first manuscript to 100 agents, and then another 100, then another 100. It means you query widely to agents you’ve researched, take a look at the responses, and decide how to move forward from there. Maybe you edit that first manuscript, or maybe you write a different one. Folded into that process is acceptance. You explore, you try, you fail, you accept, you adapt, you try again, and if everything comes together just right, you succeed.

You can read the rest of the post here.