Sunday, August 17, 2008

Visions in San Francisco


Suzanne Macpherson

Working on: Proposals

Mood: Focused and Fearless!

Kudos to RWA for presenting Gail Blanke as their motivational speaker. Gail is an incredibly dynamic person and she set forth a wonderful path of thoughtful steps toward making our lives more genuine. For writers I think this was a particularly good presentation. I went home and read her book Between Trapezes and it very much spoke to me. I think that the San Francisco conference had much to offer in the way of inspiration for those of us in the process of reinventing ourselves.

As writers we can certainly connect with this affirmation:

Never Underestimate the Power of a Vision

Vision is what propels us into our stories. Vision is what makes us dare to put ourselves out there into the magical world of publishing. I’m going to skip the negative descriptions of the industry and go for a new vision. Every day editors read, buy and publish books. It is a never ending process. It is a revolving door! That means it never truly closes. Whenever that amazing moment happens when we slip into the revolving door and step over into the other side, into the beautiful marble tiled lobby of The Publishing World, that is our moment. We can’t MISS the moment because it is still revolving, waiting for us.

Courage, strength, and never underestimating the power of your vision is what takes you there. Sometimes that means things fall away - Gail talked about letting go of the old trapeze so you can grab on to the new one! That in-between space is where we take a deep breath and rejuvenate the vision. Maybe change genres, maybe re-evaluate the way we’ve always written and expand ourselves. Maybe go for a walk in the summer sun and feel the stress fall away. Maybe just bask in gratitude for how far we’ve come and where our vision has taken us so far.

I have a vision of a quiet house in the country. I’d like an office with a separate entrance so I can throw open the French doors and let the garden inspire me. In that office I can close my eyes and find my center- the part of me that delights in writing books that touch people’s hearts. In that office is a cat that likes to climb on the desk and watch me. Vases of flowers, bookcases full of great books, art on the wall, and all the papers filed behind the closed doors of a wall full of cupboards! In that office I will write a bestseller!

What is your vision?

Peace, Suzanne

6 comments:

Susan said...

Suzanne, Can I come work in your office??? I couldn't have how I want mine to be any better. Off to work in my garden now :)

Susan said...

Okay...rule no. 1 - read your post before sending it out :)

...I couldn't have described how I want mine to be...

Suzanne Macpherson said...

Sure!~ We'll make it big enough to have a party in. :~) suz

Jenny Gardiner said...

Oooohhh, I love your office vision. And I love that it's a place of serenity, calm, in which you will set about shaking up your hero/heroine's lives so that eventually they too can have their french doors opening out to the english garden ;-)

Jessa Slade said...

I love the image of hanging between the trapezes. (Trapazoi? What's the plural? Now I'm thinking stomach muscles.) What a scary place to be. And we're supposed to morph fear into exhiliration. Okay, start with that deep breath...

Anonymous said...

I loved the motivational speaker as well. Your visions make me smile really big!