With Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation in theaters I thought it’d be fun to repost this article I wrote a couple years ago about Tom Cruise and the art of being yourself.
Have you ever wondered how to express yourself artistically in a way that captures the hearts and ignites the imagination of other people? I have, and I learned the secret as to how when I met Tom Cruise.
There’s a new bandwagon in the writing community, actually, it’s in nearly every community. The trend dictates that it’s okay to fail, in fact, it’s not just okay – you should expect to fail. And if you’re not careful you might jump on, tricked into not living your passion and not striving to achieve your goals.
Indeed, failure is imminent. I’ve even stated as much. But there’s a problem and I discovered it the hard way. (It’s always the hard way, isn’t it?)
~ Note: This is a guest post by Lisa Tener, she is the recipient of the Silver Stevie Award for Mentor/Coach of the Year 2014. For a free guided visualization to connect with your inner muse, click here. You can also read Lisa’s book writing blog or find her articles on writing and publishing on the Huffington Post. ~
As writers, we often expect our inner muse to produce on demand. Sometimes it works and sometimes…you know…it starts with feeling a little blocked, turns into dread, you pass by your desk feeling guilty, and then you let the papers pile on your desk to completely avoid writing.
I’m not always comfortable admitting this, but I make mistakes all the time. Some are major blunders, and some are not that serious. All of them make me feel like an idiot on some level. Sometimes I wish I would never fail, make a mistake, or stub my darn toe again.
And yet, without the potential for failure, and actually falling on my face more than a few times, I would never have had any successes. I would never have tried harder, better, and strived to thrive. In fact, I would not have created this blog, and published any books on writing, and tried to connect with you on such a personal level.
I want to take a moment today to thank everyone who entered the recent mini writing contest. Thank you! If you didn’t find the time to enter, that’s okay, a new writing contest will be starting soon and you can enter that one if you like.
I ended a recent post with a quote by Stephen King about the muse and I am going to begin this post with the same quote:
There is a muse, but he’s not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter…
King believes there is a muse and I wholeheartedly agree with him; furthermore, I’ve discovered exactly who the muse is.
It’s someone you know.
When you’re in a critique group that works for you, it’s the best. They encourage you, provide accountability, as well as teach you how to be a better writer…