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

Visualizing Success

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 longtime fan of Maeve Binchy, I have read many of her novels and short stories. Whenever I need an extra dose of inspiration, I reread sections of The Maeve Binchy Writers’ Club. Comprised of twenty letters written by Maeve, this guidebook offers advice and tips to writers and wannabe writers. Here’s a short segment from the letter on Visualizing Success:

It almost feels like tempting fate to visualize success. It’s like saying to the gods that we know we are going to win when we have a sneaking feeling that the gods mightn’t like such a cocky attitude and could easily dash us down. Yet I think it’s important that we try to do it all the same. It’s a powerful lever in keeping us at it, particularly on those days when anything seems more attractive than trying to get the ten pages done. So when Reality kicks in asking us who the hell do we think we are, Hemingway? it’s wiser not to listen to those voices. Better to choose the over-sunny way and ask yourself, why not me?

Source: The Maeve Binchy Writers Club, page 50

Stop Waiting!

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 receive a daily dose of inspiration from bestselling authors and coaches Marc and Angel Chernoff. Here’s a wake-up call from a recent email:

Like most of us, you’re likely putting a half-hearted and half-minded effort into most of the things you do on a daily basis. Because you’re still waiting…

You’re still waiting to “find” something to be passionate and joyous about in these “new normal” times.

What you need to do is the exact opposite!

When I was a kid, my grandmother used to tell me, “Stop looking for the next opportunity. The one you have in front of you is your opportunity.” She also said, “Too often we spend too much time attempting to perfect something before we ever even do it. Instead of waiting for perfection, just do your best with what you’ve got right now, and improve it along the way.”

Interestingly, recent psychological research indirectly reinforces my grandmother’s sentiments. For decades psychologists thought that our minds could alter our physical state, but not the other way around. Nowadays, however, it is widely documented that our bodies – for example, our momentary facial expressions and posture – can directly affect our mental and emotional state. So while it’s true that we change from the inside out, we also change from the outside in. And you can leverage this reality in your favor right now…

If you want more passion and joy in your life right now, do something about it right now.

Put your heart and soul into something!

Not into “the next opportunity,” but the small opportunity right in front of you.

Not into tomorrow’s work, but today’s work.

Not into tomorrow’s workout, but today’s workout.

Not into tomorrow’s relationships, but today’s relationships.

I’m certain you have plenty in your life right now that’s worth living for. You have people and lots of little circumstances you’re taking for granted. You have an endless reservoir of untapped potential within you, just waiting.

Stop waiting!

There is no next opportunity, only the one you have at this moment.

Put your heart and soul into what you’ve got right in front of you. Make it a habit!

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

How to Practice Letting Go

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 receive a daily dose of inspiration from bestselling authors and coaches Marc and Angel Chernoff. Here’s a timely segment from last Friday’s blog post:

Imagine you’re blindfolded and treading water in the center of a large swimming pool, and you’re struggling desperately to grab the edge of the pool that you think is nearby, but really it’s not—it’s far away. Trying to grab that imaginary edge is stressing you out, and tiring you out, as you splash around aimlessly trying to holding on to something that isn’t there.

Now imagine you pause, take a deep breath, and realize that there’s nothing nearby to hold on to. Just water around you. You can continue to struggle with grabbing at something that doesn’t exist… or you can accept that there’s only water around you, and relax, and float.

Truth be told, inner peace begins the moment you take a new breath and choose not to allow an uncontrollable event to dominate you in the present. You are not what happened to you. You are what you choose to become in this moment. Let go, breathe, and begin again.

Read the rest of the post here.

Writing in the Time of COVID-19

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.

Each Friday afternoon, I receive Funds for Writers, a free weekly newsletter from C. Hope Clark. Here’s a timely and thought-provoking reflection from a recent newsletter:

Before the COVID era, we moved like fish, the current and demands of survival directing us here and there to do what keeps us alive as writers. During this era, we aren’t certain what to do because the entire industry isn’t sure what to do. Even self-publishing, which was so sure of itself before the virus, hasn’t decided how to recuperate.

Now is the perfect time to decide who you intend to be as a writer.

But you don’t know what writing will be wanted, which publishers will still be alive, what topics will be in demand and which will have fallen off a cliff. But that is a good thing. You have no parameters. You have no directives. You have nobody telling you to write this or write that.

Now is probably the best, most wide-open time in your life to write what moves you.

I was told by a zillion people in my early years that nobody wanted to read Carolina Slade. Nobody liked a rural mystery. She was too quirky. I just turned in the fifth manuscript to the publisher, and a producer is working with a movie writer on a script.

The world doesn’t want more of the same. When it recovers from this virus, and when it starts shifting into a different normal way of life, there will be few rules of thumb. All will be different. That’s why you should start working on defining yourself now. Set goals. Work daily on those goals until they become habit. Suddenly you are a different person than before. . . probably closer to who you really are, because you have no shackles and no reins. You’re finally doing what you wanted to do.

Sign up to receive Hope’s newsletter here.

Writing Tips: Stephen King and Virginia Woolf

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.

Narrator Matilda Butler shares inspiration and writing tips from Stephen King and Virginia Woolf.


Believe in You

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.

Whenever I need a quick pick-me-upper, I listen to these motivational messages from Debbie Allen. Background music is by Patrick Ki.


Change One Thing

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 this time of COVID-19, it is so easy to become overwhelmed by our circumstances. Focusing on what is within our control and taking tiny steps toward future goals can help us gain perspective.

This excerpt from Cassie Werber‘s article provides more details:

In order to make any change in one’s life—whether it’s to get out of debt, become fit enough to run a marathon, or get on better with your family—start with a single change. It should be small; not a goal, but a tiny first step. It could be to run for ten minutes; to spend two minutes drawing; to prepare a healthy work lunch for one day a week. It could be to stay in hard conversations for a moment after you want to leave, and spend that moment trying to listen.

Leo Babauta (founder of Zen Habits) advises that to turn changes into habits, it’s important to make the change tiny, and let it embed: he suggests making one change every four to six weeks. Having experimented on himself, he also advises addressing one thing at a time, rather than trying to solve work, love, health, or family problems simultaneously. He’s boiled down all his teachings into what he calls one “algorithm…a series of steps that you can apply to make any change, no matter what your situation”:

1. Start very small.

2. Do only one change at a time.

3. Be present and enjoy the activity (don’t focus on results).

4. Be grateful for every step you take.

The beauty of the method is that its smallness removes the problems that result from many self-help recommendations and resolutions: too often they leave people quickly overwhelmed by the task in hand, or swamped by a sense of failure. The change should be so small it’s not hard to do. What takes rigor, for people drenched in stimuli and commitments, is identifying something that is truly small enough.

Source: The Zen Rule for Being Happy: Change One Thing

Poetry In the Time of COVID-19

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.

April is National Poetry Month, a month set aside to appreciate poets, past and present. Today, I’m sharing a timely poem from Lynn Ungar.

Read more about Lynn Ungar and her poems here.

Creating in the Time of Quarantine

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.

On Monday, Julianna Baggott, best-selling author of over twenty books, shared an inspirational post on the Writer Unboxed blog. Here’s an excerpt that resonated with me:

Don’t beat yourself up if this is hard. You should be rethinking your priorities; and it might be difficult — in light of all that’s going on — to prioritize your craft. The other day, I wrote a paragraph — that was it and not a hard paragraph — and I was pretty sure I deserved a parade.

Also if the work feels forced or faked or simply awful to make, remember that when this work is actually finished, no one (not even you, most likely) will remember whether you wrote it on a great writing day when everything felt organic, hitting full stride, or awful. The writing will exist and sometimes that’s all that you should ask of a first draft. It will have been rewritten — no matter how it was conceived. Sculptors begin with lump of clay. We have to sit down and make the lump. So do your future self a favor and create even when you’re faking it.

Read the rest of Julianna’s blog post here.