Category Archives: Inspiration
We Get to Surprise Ourselves
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 her latest book, Dear Writer, New York Times bestselling author Maggie Smith breaks down creativity into ten essential elements. Here’s an uplifting excerpt:
Writers are here to risk, to find new territory. We have to be very careful not to censor ourselves when we draft, not to impose order on the piece too early. So what if you’ve always written poems in meter? So what if all your stories are in first person? So what if you’ve never written a lyric essay? Or if you’ve only written essays? No one is born excelling at anything. Most babies aren’t even particularly good at the basics: eating and sleeping.
Don’t worry too much about the form as you get the raw material down; that would be like making a container at the same time as trying to fill it.
I’ve been thinking about how our work—and our lives—can stretch and change shape to accommodate more than we might think. About how writing and living both require imagination. We can’t change the past, but the rest is up for grabs. We get to make it up. We get to decide today, tomorrow, and on and on what we will try, do, and be.
On the page and off, we get to surprise ourselves.
Source: Dear Writer, pp. 76-77.
Doing Something Hard
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 her recent release, Secrets of Adulthood, bestselling author Gretchen Rubin shares witty and thought-provoking reflections. Here’s one of my favorites:
It’s easy to assume that accomplishing a difficult task would be easier at a different moment: “Before I had kids.” “Next summer.” “Ten years ago.”
In 1512, after competing the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo wrote to his father:
“I have finished the chapel I was painting: the pope is very happy with it, but other things haven’t turned out as well as I hoped. I blame the times which are so unfavorable to our art.”
Michelangelo was then living in the middle of the High Renaissance, a period that’s considered a pinnacle in the history of Western art.
When we’re doing something hard, it feels like the times are hard.
Source: Secrets of Adulthood, p. 88
Only You Can Change It
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:
Have you ever tried to suggest to someone who is seriously stressed out that they learn how to delegate some of their responsibilities to other people? If so, have you ever heard them answer, “If I don’t do it, it won’t get done”? I have heard those words, and I have also felt that way personally.
It is fairly easy to keep picking up responsibilities as we go through life, but sometimes we have a false sense of responsibility, and the end result is stress that can cause many problems. A lack of joy is only one of a long list of stress-related struggles. If you are feeling controlled and overwhelmed by your schedule, remember that you are the one who makes it, and only you can change it.
Some people keep the “it’s all up to me” attitude because it makes them feel important and needed. But our sense of worth and value should never come from what we do; it comes from who we are in Christ.
Ask yourself if you need to let some things go so you can enjoy your life. It is true that depending on other people is often disappointing, because they don’t always do what you depend on them to do, but there are many wonderful, faithful people who can be trusted and won’t let you down. If your first attempts at delegation do not work, keep trying until you find something that works for you.
Source: Strength for Each Day by Joyce Meyer
In Service of Your Writing
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 her latest book, Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life, New York Times bestselling author Maggie Smith breaks down creativity into ten essential elements. Here’s an uplifting excerpt:
Taking care of yourself is taking care of your creativity. Taking care of yourself as a whole human being is taking care of the writer in you.
But if you still have that “you should be writing every day” voice in your ear, do it! Write every day if you can. If you’re someone who benefits from ritual—same time, same place, same beverage, same music—then lean into that! But if you can’t work in such a regular way, for whatever reason—whether you’re feeling depleted or uninspired, or life’s rhythms and demands aren’t conducive to it right now—I’m inviting you to try this instead: Commit to doing at least one thing in service of your writing every day.
This one thing can be a small thing. You might scrawl some notes in a notebook or revise an existing piece. You might chip away at a book proposal. You might research journals or presses, query an agent, or submit work. You might request books at your local library for a project or do some background reading. Yes, reading counts. Thinking counts. And since I find that I do some of my best thinking in the shower, yes, showering counts too.
Or you might give yourself space—to think, to dream, to take a long noticing walk, to make connections, to pay attention.
Source: Dear Writer by Maggie Smith, pp. 7-8
Fun Friday!
Learning the Right Lesson
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 her recent release, Secrets of Adulthood, bestselling author Gretchen Rubin shares witty and thought-provoking reflections. Here’s one of my favorites:
Experience is a great teacher, but make sure that you’re not learning the wrong lesson.
In Aesop’s famous fable, the Hare challenged the Tortoise to a race. The Tortoise agreed, they set the course, and at the signal, they both started off. The Hare bounded ahead, but because he was so sure of winning, he stopped to take a nap. Meanwhile, the Tortoise plodded on. The Hare woke with a start just as the Tortoise was crossing the finish line.
The traditional moral of the fable is “Slow and steady wins the race.” But wouldn’t a more fitting moral be “Those with great gifts can be defeated by their own arrogance and idleness”? Or “Overconfidence fosters carelessness”? Or, as Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach wrote, “Since its famous victory over the hare, the tortoise thinks it’s a sprinter”—in other words, it’s easy to attribute a victory to our own abilities, when in fact we won due to circumstances or someone else’s mistakes.
Wisdom comes from discerning the truest lesson from an experience.
Source: Secrets of Adulthood, pp. 125-126
A New Direction
I’m happy to welcome author Gemma St. Claire. Today, Gemma shares an inspiring comeback story and her new release, Dreaming of the Dance.
Here’s Gemma!
Oh, how life can sometimes get in the way!
Nine years ago, I was tooling along, churning out a paranormal/ghost romance series as “Claire Gem.” The ideas just kept coming and I couldn’t type fast enough to get them down, and then…
The Big C came to call. A diagnosis of stomach cancer completely derailed my life. My doctors said it was “treatable,” and “if you had to get cancer, you got the best kind.” (Whoop dee do, I’m such an overachiever.)
But my writing life—along with lots of other things in my world, took a back seat while I endured 24 radiation treatments and the resulting burns and internal damage to my stomach and lungs.
Then, just when I thought I had this beast beat, another speed bump tripped me up (literally!), this time resulting in a fall that not only broke my shoulder but caused nerve damage—to my right arm and hand. I am right-handed… or was. For nearly two years, I couldn’t type, write, or even hold a fork with my right hand. I struggle with the residual nerve pain to this day.
“Claire Gem” got tired of waiting and drifted off somewhere. But my writing muse, sitting atop my monitor with a stern expression, demanded I continue to write. Thus, “Gemma St. Claire” was born.
To anyone who is faced with a life challenge that derails your plans, this quote by American media personality Germany Kent states my advice perfectly:
“Never underestimate the power you have to take your life in a new direction.”
My new series is sweet historical romance, where I take you back to 15th C Flanders to visit Coudenburg Palace in Brussels, when Duke Philip the Good reigned. You will meet the Daughters of the Duchess, a collection of the duke’s illegitimate daughters who were sprinkled about his dukedom. The Duchess Isabella has decided (in my fanciful recreation of her personality) to gather these forgotten daughters, one by one, and provide for them a better life. And, mayhap, love.
Tag Line
She dreams of a knight, but he shuns the title. Can a flawed but proud maiden see past the façade of knighthood to recognize real valor?
Blurb
Fifteenth Century, Burgundy. Eva of Utrecht is an unrecognized, illegitimate daughter of the Duke Philip III. Flawed by a birth defect that labels her a “creple,” Eva’s dreams of becoming a knight’s lady seem impossible… until a missive arrives from Coudenburg Castle. An invitation to the May Day Festival may be her chance to win the heart of one of duke’s knights.
Mathieu of Liège is the duke’s ostler, in charge of the horses and hunting falcons, a role he loves. Although a son of a knight, Mathieu has no interest in pursuing the warrior’s path, as he bears the scar on his face as evidence of “noble” brutality.
When he is charged as chaperone to the crippled Eva, his initial resentment turns to something he doesn’t know how to deal with: an affection for this flawed but proud and stubborn young beauty. Can he break through Eva’s pride to win her heart?
Buy Links
News Flash: Book Two in the Daughters of the Duchess series is now on preorder! https://amzn.to/42LrkZC
Author Bio and Links
Gemma St. Claire grew up in upstate New York many moons ago. She achieved her Bachelor of Arts from the New York Institute of Technology, followed by her Master of Fine Arts from Lesley University. She married her very own, HEA husband and raised three beautiful humans before bouncing about the country. She has landed in Florida and is finally able to devote her life to her writing.
Gemma is passionate about history, particularly the Middle Ages. She’s been to Belgium once and is set to travel back there in August of 2025, where she hopes to discover even more stories to spin and share with her readers.
She loves to hear from her readers, so drop her a note! You can find her here:
Substack | Website | Facebook | Twitter/X | Instagram | TikTok
New Beginnings for Women Over Fifty
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 are ten phenomenal woman who achieved success in their fifties and beyond:
Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director for her film The Hurt Locker at fifty-seven.
Julia Child was fifty when her first cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, was published.
Deb Haaland became the first Native-American to serve as a cabinet secretary at age sixty.
Arianna Huffington started The Huffington Post when she was fifty-five and Thrive Media at sixty-six.
Kris Jenner pitched her first TV show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, when she was fifty-two.
Toni Morrison wrote her first novel, The Bluest Eye, when she was forty. She won a Pulitzer at fifty-six, and a Novel Prize in Literature at sixty-two.
Maxine Waters was first elected as a congresswoman for California at age fifty-two
Betty White didn’t achieve icon status until she was cast on The Mary Tyler Moore Show at age fifty, and her popularity soared until her final days at ninety-nine.
Laura Ingalls Wilder published her first book, Little House in the Big Woods, at age sixty-four.
Dr. Ruth Westheimer was fifty-two when she got her first radio show, Sexually Speaking.
Learn What Works for You
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 D. L. White shared advice for new writers. Here’s an excerpt from that post:
Read. An author who doesn’t read is like a chef who never eats food. An artist who never goes to a gallery. Where do you discover new technique and new inspiration and let other people’s success motivate you? Where do you find community with readers and other authors? Read! In your genre for study (and of course enjoyment), outside of your genre for breadth of knowledge and to be able to say you read widely. I call all of that dessert. I like dessert.
Make sure you get some dessert!
I am also not a ‘write every day’ person, but determine at what cadence you’ll write and take that seriously. Plan it out, don’t make excuses, show up for yourself. Three-month break, one month of prep, thirty days of writing like a wild person, then edit? That’s how it’s gonna have to be. Learn what works for you, and lean into that, and don’t try to write like X author because you are not that author with their brain and personality and strengths. Learn yours and use them to your advantage.
Joanne Guidoccio 