One of my best friends is a phenomenal graphic designer. Recently, she created an entire custom suite of invitation materials for her own wedding: save the date cards, maps, inserts, you name it – and we’re not talking pick a photo and order from Vistaprint here; I mean real, honest, beautiful, unique designs. Throughout the process, she kept sending me drafts asking, “Don’t you think this looks bad? Doesn’t it look so homegrown? It’s so simple it must look dumb – won’t every

Often times, when we lose someone special to us, we feel despondent or distressed. Sometimes the only way to describe this feeling is like there’s a hole left in the universe: you know for certain that this person’s qualities can never be replaced by all the rest of humanity. Never, in any combination, will anyone be able to replicate their personality, or talent, or humor, or faith…or anything about them at all. What they had to offer is gone. I experienced this feeling rece

Feeling overwhelmed? Reflect on your work's focus and who you aim to serve. Over the past week or so, I’ve heard several variations of the following statements, both in person and online: “Things are so confusing right now, I just don’t know what to do.” “Everything feels like it’s going crazy, I don’t know what to believe anymore.” “The world just feels upside down, I don’t know what to think." I’ve written before about the importance of finding your foundation to help you r

If the going gets tough, up your resilience by maintaining a strong connection to your foundation. Last night as rain began rolling through Houston, I was reminded why I love thunderstorms. Growing up in a farming family, we were hyper-aware of weather patterns, and I always had a respect for the weather’s innate power. Where we lived, it could bring healing rain or devastating floods; cool breezes or fierce tornadoes; fantastic ice sculptures or damaging hailstones. At some

Say goodbye to wasted time, shoddy work...and maybe even writer's block! Last week I had a piece of creative writing work to do, but I was just not feeling it. Some of my editing is highly technical and structured, but in other cases I have a lot of creative freedom to rewrite a text. I love this type of work, and it usually ends up being some of my favorite copy! But I need to be in the right frame of mind to complete it; otherwise, I end up either wasting time or doing work

Learn to silence any voices that say you can't, shouldn't, or never will. I saw an acquaintance at the gym yesterday who asked me how business was going. “I’m swamped!” I vented immediately. “A ton of projects came in right at the new year.” “Wow,” she said flatly, turning to walk away. “Sounds stressful. Good luck!” Later, I revisited the interaction in my head. Instead of having a nice conversation together, I said the first negative thing that came to mind, which shifted t

Get ready for the New Year by practicing these writing disciplines now If you’ve set any sort of writing goal for yourself, odds are it has been sitting on the back burner for a while as you’ve been trying to find the time, energy, or commitment to get it done…or even just started. Today I want to offer some quick tips that will help you find all three of these key factors, and give you the motivation to start out strong in 2017! 1. Set Aside Time This one sounds simple, ri

I hear from writers all the time who say that they’re just waiting for their next big piece of inspiration to come along before they start putting words on paper again. My question back to them is: What is this inspiration going to look like? Do you even know what you’re waiting for, or is this an excuse to not start writing anything, because you’re afraid of what the final product might be? Today I have a list of places to look for writing inspiration, in case you’re one of

In honor of yesterday's International Day of the Girl, today's post offers some quick advice on self-empowerment from an iconic and inspirational figure. Last year I had the honor of meeting Kathrine Switzer at an event hosted by Girls on the Run. You may know Kathrine by name as the first woman to officially register and run the Boston Marathon, but if not you’ll likely recognize her from the iconic black-and-white photos of the race director trying to tackle her out of “his