Conquista de um Revés leva a Criação de um Programa Written life Package

Posted on by taniacreations

Eu acabei de lançar os meus Podcasts Conquista do Espaço Criativo em português e inglês Australiano, com o meu novo site: creativespacemastery.com.

Nunca imaginaria que teria uma ideia para a vida, uma descoberta, durante ou por causa de uma entrevista de um emprego que não consegui. Eu estava conversando com uma CEO, a fundadora ou proprietária de uma empresa de serviços boutique muito interessante, e ela estava dizendo algo familiar para mim. Muito familiar, na verdade…

“Eu queria escrever um livro, há anos, na verdade, preciso fazer isso, eu tenho o conteúdo” ou algo assim, não posso jurar quais foram as palavras exatas.

O senso de urgência, a pressão, a necessidade de fazê-lo acontecer, o desejo de trazer aquele conhecimento específico à luz. Eu conheço esse sentimento, as histórias que pulsam de dentro do peito, aquelas que não se calam, não importa se você continua dizendo que tem outras prioridades.

Elas não se calam. E de vez em quando, em momentos de silêncio, ou quando você baixa a guarda, quando está perto de outros artistas, escritores — no caso dela, pessoas como eu — a voz grita mais alto e realmente pede atenção.

E por que não? Quantos líderes não fizeram isso, ouviram as vozes e seus livros fizeram tanto por eles, tornando-se ferramentas para transmitir seu conhecimento único para a indústria, tornando-se prova social, uma ferramenta para o envolvimento entre os funcionários, abrindo oportunidades para convites para networking, participações em palestras.

Um livro pode se transformar em um manual, uma ferramenta educacional e um legado, posicionando um pioneiro como um líder de pensamento que apresenta sua autoridade sobre o tema de sua expertise articulando perspectivas únicas. Uma vez feito, no mínimo, a voz que retira energia de outras tarefas se acalma.

A coisa se acelera e você fica realizado, com uma ferramenta de marketing e paz. Eu tive todos esses pensamentos depois dessa entrevista, refletindo sobre o sentimento da conversa que tive com a CEO que estava me entrevistando para um emprego, enquanto passou minutos falando sobre um livro que desejava escrever, mas para o qual não conseguia encontrar tempo ou o processo para começar.

Eu não consegui aquele emprego, mas não por causa daquela entrevista. E quando não o consegui, decidi enviar um e-mail para a CEO dizendo: ‘Se você decidir escrever seu livro e quiser minha ajuda com os desafios que mencionou, entre em contato, posso ajudar.’

E, ao escrever esse e-mail, o Programa Creative Space Written Life Mastery nasceu.

Percebi que tinha uma série de qualificações únicas para oferecer a pessoas com o gigante da narrativa martelando no peito. Eu tinha o processo criativo estruturado, tinha vinte anos de experiência corporativa, com o conhecimento de como ajudar equipes e executivos, trabalhando diretamente em recursos humanos, projetando cursos e ministrando treinamentos e gerenciando projetos.

Compreendo as pressões enfrentadas por executivos e pessoal corporativo excessivamente ocupados e a mentalidade que acompanha suas responsabilidades. Por outro lado, tive exposição a uma ampla variedade de indústrias e pessoas de todas as esferas da vida, primeiro crescendo dentro do mundo acadêmico, por causa dos meus pais, que trabalharam na mesma Universidade praticamente durante toda a vida e na qual vivemos no quintal. Sendo uma artista, escritora e dançarina, estou constantemente entre artistas, tendo até trabalhado na administração de uma empresa de danças latinas, entre outras.

Por último, tendo tirado um ano sabático para escrever e tendo uma pausa recente do trabalho, entendo como é ter que gerenciar o próprio tempo, o que pode ser tão avassalador quanto não ter tempo, como imagino que seria para alguém que acabou de se aposentar ou foi feito redundante. Nesse caso, o que sei não tem nada a ver com minhas habilidades como escritora.

Para esse propósito, minha força está na minha mente altamente organizada e estratégica e na sua capacidade de encontrar soluções individuais e personalizadas para os problemas. Maneiras criativas pelas quais as pessoas poderiam começar e manter um processo criativo para levar seus desejos criativos adiante. 

E assim, de uma entrevista que culminou em um emprego fracassado, nasceu uma nova ideia inspirada!

Mastery of Failure Creating a Written life Package

Posted on by taniacreations

I have just released my Creative Space Mastery Podcasts in English and Brazilian Portuguese, with my new website: creativespacemastery.com

I would never have imagined that I would have an idea for life, a breakthrough even, during or because of a job interview for a job I didn’t get. I was talking to a CEO, the founder or owner of a very interesting boutique services company and she was saying something familiar to me. Very familiar indeed… 

‘I have wanted to write a book, for years, actually, I need to do it, I have the content’ or something to this effect, I can’t swear to the words exactly. 

The sense of urgency, the pressure, the need to make it come out, the desire to bring that niche knowledge to light. I know that feeling, the stories that thump from inside the chest, the ones that will not be silenced no matter if you keep telling them you have other priorities. 

They do not shut up. And now and then, in moments of silence, or when you lower your guard, when you are around other artists, writers — in her case, people like me — the voice screams louder and it really claims for attention.

And why not? How many leaders haven’t done so, heard the voices and their books did so much for them, becoming tools to pass on their unique knowledge to their industry, becoming social proof, a tool for engagement between employees, opening opportunities for invitations for networking, speaking engagements. 

A book can transform into a manual, an educational tool, and a legacy, positioning a pioneer as a thought leader who presents their authority on the subject of their expertise by articulating unique perspectives. Once it’s done, at the very least, the voice taking energy from other tasks calms down.

It quickens and one is left accomplished, with a marketing tool, and peace. I had all these thoughts after that interview, reflecting on the feeling from the conversation I had with the CEO who was interviewing me for a job but spent minutes talking about a book she desired to write but couldn’t find the time or the process to start.

I didn’t get that job, but not because of that interview. And when I didn’t get it, I decided to send an email to the CEO saying ‘If you ever decide to write your book, and you would like my help with the challenges you mentioned, contact me, I can help.’

And, in the act of writing that email, the Creative Space Written Life Package was born.

I realised I had a series of unique qualifications to offer people with the giant of narrative pounding on their chest. I had the creative process structured I had twenty years of corporate experience, with the knowledge of assisting teams and executives, working directly within human resources, designing learning and management courses, delivering training, and managing projects.

I comprehend the pressures faced by excessively busy corporate executives and the mindset that accompanies their responsibilities.On the other hand, I had exposure to a wide variety of industries and people from all walks of life, first through growing up inside Academia, because of my parents, who worked at the same University practically all their lives and in which backyard we lived at. doing an artist, a writer and a dancer, I’m among artists constantly too, having even worked at the administration of a Latin Dance company among others. 

Lastly, having taken a sabbatical for writing and a recent break from work, I understand what it is like to have to manage your own time which can be as overwhelming as having no time, as I imagine it would be for someone who just retired or was made redundant. In this case, what I know, has nothing to do with my skills as a writer. 

For this purpose, my strength lies in my highly organised and strategic mind and its ability to find individual, catered solutions for problems. Creative ways in which people could start and maintain a creative process to see their wanna ties through. And from an interview that culminated in a failed job, a new inspired idea was born!

Creative Space Mastery Resources

Posted on by taniacreations

I’m writing the content for a Podcast I’m creating, Creative Space Mastery.

As I’m doing this, Creative Space Mastery, I have been thinking of my favourite resources in building my creative process…

I thought it would be useful to share:

Big Magic: How to Live a Creative Life, and Let Go of Your Fear, Elizabeth Gilbert

For me, the best lesson Elizabeth Gilbert writes in this book is about the creative genius being outside of the creator, that we just have to make space and hone the artistic ability to make it justice. 

This book is the one I would make a must-read to anyone in the throws of creation. It stokes a fire into the desire to create, bursts any perfectionism away, and stops you from delving into any failures of the past.

I think another lesson and the reason she was so successful with Eat Pray Love, is to bring to the world the concept that artists do not have to be tortured to create, contained in Big Magic. That lesson alone is a great kindness to the world, and the fact that she has been heard, is for me the connecting of the dots, the reason why everything happened for her the way it happened.

The War of Art, Steven Pressfield

This was my first encounter with the concept of the resistance that creating something can impose on an artist or creator. How hard it can be to finish something, and how just reaching completion is already an achievement.

The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly? Seth Godin

Seth Godin explores in depth the concepts of resistance and completion, and talks about pushing boundaries and pursuing audacious goals, this was a book that stayed with me and I call it my Green Book, it’s a sort of a bible on how to push through, and separate lack of inspiration from resistance.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King

Stephen King gave me another piece of the puzzle, my favourite part is when he talks about writing as archeology, the writer uncovering a story, not creating it, similar to Liz Gilbert, the story is outside the creator.

These authors are always great at showing us how they are just people like us, who started from nothing and grew through much work and even though success seems obvious from the outside it didn’t feel any obvious from the inside. 

The Novel Project: A Step-by-Step Guide to Your Novel, Memoir or Biography, Graeme Simsion

Graeme’s is a practical guide, and what I liked about this is to show how there are many more steps to creating something than just the one part, for example, to create a novel, the writing in itself is only a little bit. 

When a person is creating anything, you can’t consider just that one little part you like the best. In Big Magic Liz Gilbert calls that the sh$t-sandwich. There are parts you will love and parts you will not like so much, it will come with all crafts and choices.

The Elements of Eloquence: How To Turn the Perfect English Phrase, Mark Forsyth

This is for writers, but also for anyone who needs to write as part of their creative process. And if you like language, this is a fun and funny read!

The Elements of Eloquence is hilarious, I expected a dry book impossible to endure and it made me laugh out loud, I learnt a lot, it took my writing to another level and at the same time explained why I write in a certain way and use certain elements already.

The Truth, Terry Pratchett

The Truth is fiction, in a fictional world full of vampires and goblins, and it’s the 25th book in the Discworld series, but Terry Pratchett is a master at stripping the world of its trimmings and bringing reality to its bare bones and showing it to you outside of our assumed conventions. 

The Truth is about the invention of the press and the power of the written word. It contains so much wisdom in wit and comedy that you have to read it with your brain turned on or you could just laugh and miss the best of the book.

“The young man is also an idealist. He has yet to find out that what’s in the public interest is not what the public is interested in.”

“You cannot apply brakes to a volcano. Sometimes it is best to let these things run their course. They generally die down again after a while.”

― Terry Pratchett, The Truth

The Word is Murder, Anthony Horowitz

In another work of fiction, Anthony H. Makes himself a character interacting with a fictional detective and through transforming himself into the narrator we are given insights into his creative process. A fun way to be immersed in an artist’s humble and self-deprecating, day-to-day struggles while creating.

While you know his interactions with his frustrating detective aren’t real, the writing process, and filming interactions,  are definitely based on his reality. I loved being there, being part of it, and knowing how frustrating it can be and that being famous and making it doesn’t make any difference to the process itself. The struggles are the same.

The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

It is a favourite for many people for a reason, it teaches us to see the world with creative eyes, with inspiration, with possibility; it is the book that taught innovation before the word was trending.

It is the book that taught us to see the elephant inside the boa constrictor instead of a simple hat.

Inspiration for Writers, Emily Darcy

I have a collection of mini-books around me, Inspiration for Artists, Quotes about Coffee, Never Stop Dreaming, It’s Going to be Okay, mini-books that spoke to me, some I bought from used bookshops and others new.

I read a quote here and there to inspire me, or when I’m stuck. 

They help. They push me forward. They provide guidance, sometimes, they are an oracle too!

Making Time for Stories in the Dark

Posted on by taniacreations

You don’t need to be validated to want to make time for your passion. To be a published author to dedicate yourself to your writing. To be a recognised painter to find half an hour every week to paint without judging your colours.

To find time for what makes your heart sing, forget what others feel is valid, just listen to the song coming from within, and make time for the music notes.

I may not be traditionally published yet, but I am very good at being creative. Rain or Shine, in happiness or in sickness, in abundance or depletion. I can create through too much inspiration or when I’m at the bottom of the well looking up, when it’s so dark all I can feel is the walls around me. 

I’ll hold myself up on the walls and tell stories to the darkness. Incoherent, bleak stories as they may be.

Don’t worry about the quality, as long as there is creativity and there is passion in the creation, that is all that matters.

Bloody Writing

Posted on by taniacreations

This is something I’m writing in my book… a manuscript now in the second draft. Something I hope to have ready to send to publishers by the end of the year or early next year.

The book is written in second person, the older me, talks to the younger me, putting in perspective the conquest of the consistency in creative process I have achieved and how I have gotten there.

This is an extract:

“Do the best writing that you can with the time you have.

It will always be a work in progress.

The second level of brain dump is the first draft. You must hear what all the famous writers say about this. It will never be any good, you can’t be worried about making it good or it won’t come.

You have to let it free to be bad, so it can be born, dirty and bloody and screaming into the world. This messy ugly thing, that will become a work of art one day, when it is fully grown.

It has to be completely free to cause pain, and to burst blood vessels, to make you scream yourself hoarse like only childbirth can.

Remember that this level of freedom in the writing is the most enjoyable time of the writing journey if you let it free. Remind yourself of that daily while you are in that part of that journey because it doesn’t last.

Soon enough you will get to the revisions, editing, criticising, workshopping and the freedom will be curtailed.

Remember what you want to achieve with your writing, you want to set people “on passion” about their artistic pursuits. Remember and write until the blood taints everything and the child comes forth.”

Ducks in a Row

Posted on by taniacreations

I’m in between jobs, my ducks are aligning for the new position, so fingers crossed, all will happen soon.

I’m envisioning a place full of people for whom I will bring radiance every time I’m at work, and who will be wells of inspiration and engaging conversations for me; while together we will make the world a better place.

Meanwhile, I see myself having a few days where I can become a full time writer. I’m having days of writing, publishing, doing online courses on how to create an e-pub file, and nights of dancing or roller skating; swimming in the middle of the day, or sitting at coffee shops with my tablet for hours, or going to libraries… 

Ah… life as it is meant to be lived as an author. 

Wake up without a set time, the freedom of it all, it’s humbling and makes me so profoundly grateful. 

I have been doing the same for a few years on my writing days, once a week, but still, it’s good to do it days on end. Even if I have done it before while on holidays, or on writing-retreats-at-home that I created for myself during the lockdowns, still, this feels so unique. 

I’m taking this fleeting time at its fullest. It is as if I’m inhabiting a house for the first time that has always been mine, and now, I’m calling it Home. 

Where the Ripe Fruit is

Posted on by taniacreations

My writing intuition is pushing me towards writing about dancing and publishing old writings I had about the scene. I’m not sure why.

I’m overflowing with ideas suddenly.

I’m working on so many projects, it’s hard to fathom where the energy should be focused on, so I trust where the inspiration goes.

I take note of the ideas, I capture what comes. I trust.

And deliver what is ripe to be collected and proudly displayed.

Sensuality abounds.

www.taniacreations.com\the dancing bug

Going Verbal

Posted on by taniacreations

I think most days you forget that with each action, reaction, decision, word, you make, take, utter, you are deciding who you are that day.

Most days you function in the automatic, being the same person you were yesterday and the same person people around you — based on the image you have created of yourself externally — expect you to be tomorrow.

In reality, every day, at every moment, you are deciding who you are to be. Every day I can decide, for example, if I will be a powerful storyteller, or if I’m a being amidst chaos at work. 

Week after week, I’m choosing the storytelling path, and recently, I woke up inhabiting the same body, in the same bed I had gone to sleep, but with an idea so powerful, that it has been transforming my life since.

This idea is making my storytelling going verbal, oral I mean, like our forefathers. I have several projects cooking up, watch this space, (this is a keyword, more on that later) and I am preparing for it!