What is the Writers’ Process Blog Tour?
The origins of the Writer’s Process Blog Tour are shrouded in mystery. Who started it? What was the intent? How many writers have participated? Does that apostrophe belong before or after the s?
These questions and others will remain unanswered, mostly because I haven’t done the research.
When I was asked to participate it simply sounded like a great idea and I dove in! Here’s what happened:
Within a day or so of each other, two of my online friends contacted me about participating. The thing is, before publishing your own WPBT post, you need to secure a few other writers who will continue the tour. That’s the beauty of the tour.
It’s a beautiful way to let more people into the world of your writing, and it follows a simple and elegant methodology.
Each participant writes a blog post like this one, answering the four questions about their writing process. At the close of the post, each participant links to a few other writers who then each publish a similar blog post, answering their writing process questions.
I was fortunate enough to be tagged by one of my first Twitter friends Frithjof Petscheleit of Bluebird Business Consulting and by my Awesome Conscious Introvert supporter Tanja Gardner. Go on and clickety-click those links – their posts are really fun!
I love how different they are from each other and how we have connected meaningfully anyway. Score one for extended soul-family!
So here are the questions we are asked to answer:
What am I working on?
I think this question is meant to ask what I’m writing about at the moment. The fact is, writing has been taking a back seat while I’ve been working on projects more related to my spiritual helpers. Projects like these:
– Retro Sundays. This is support during Mercury Retrograde and its shadows. It’s a combination of energy work, butterfly nudges and an active secret Facebook group. It runs three times each year, lasting for 8 or 9 weeks each time.
– Getting ready to open the doors for pendulum making. With my focus on Retro Sundays so frequently, my available time for beading my custom pendulums only happens a few times a year now. I’ll be opening the doors for orders for two weeks in August, then again in November.
– Investigating creating another deck or two. With both Butterfly Resonance Images and Soul Word Mandalas, I’ve developed quite a stock of inspiring images that may become decks or other useful spiritual helpers. I’m always on the lookout for the right way to share their beauty.
– Amethyst’s Magic Up Your Life Blog Challenge Extravaganza. Yes, I’ve actually agreed to do a blog challenge, but in my head it will always be an Extravaganza! Huzzah! My plan is for 2-3 posts each week for the month of August and no less than 10 posts in the month. My hope for this Extravaganza is that I will find my way back to my words to share with the world once again.
– I would include publishing my first book of poetry, but it’s the publisher who is working on that, not I. It’s exciting to know that words I wrote mean enough to print and share!
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I guess first I would have to know what my genre is. While it started as free-form poetry, it has evolved into an exploration of spirituality and butterfly energy. This might be considered an aid in wellness, or perhaps self-empowerment, which puts me into a pretty big pool.
Unlike those more established in the spiritual writing realm, I’m approaching this spirituality much like a butterfly. I follow wonder and beauty and my intuition, wherever they lead me. I’m inspired by the sacred in everything so I’m hard pressed to stick to a format or a schedule if I’m nudged to go in a different direction.
I also don’t have all the answers. The Universe is a Vast Mystery, flowing with Love, Gratitude and Beauty. I realize that the pieces revealed to me are tiny, intimate doorways to the Infinite. There is no Right Way, no Single Truth, no Gate-Keeper to the Divine.
We are all connected to each other and to the Divine. Our paths are unique, yet we are never alone. What I bring to you is yours to accept, to include in your ways, or to leave behind.
Why do I write what I do?
my heart
broken open
reveals the light
of Love
Sometimes I write to still the voice in my heart …
Sometimes I write because I don’t know where else to put difficult emotions (and maybe you would like to know you are not the only one who feels them) …
Sometimes I write to celebrate the wonder of life…
When I write and share my words, I feel my connection to the Divine – and to you – much more strongly. It can be like breath, like love, like the Infinite flowing through me.
And now that I write these words about it, I realize how much I have been missing writing. I’m so grateful for this tour!
How does my writing process work?
Lately, it hasn’t. Or, if you believe in the idea of Divine Timing (as I’d like to), it’s coming along just fine.
Turns out all those projects I have on the go and having a broken dishwasher are just a few of the things that use up time that I might have used for writing. Actually, I’ve got a pretty substantial list of things, but sharing it here will only sound like excuses.
Let’s focus on how it works when the process is working!
Usually, it starts as a kernel of an idea. Maybe an aha moment, maybe a sudden insight to something witnessed. Life and my reactions to it. And sometimes, just a random thought so out of the blue it must have come from somewhere else.
What follows can be quick, or can take weeks, but it always involves percolation. The idea needs to bubble and grow and blossom. This might involve conversation with others, or time spent with my hands in the sink, or lying on the grass in the sunshine with my fur-kids.
So often, if I sit down to write immediately, the copy languishes there, unfinished, unpolished and unshared. I regularly will publish a first draft with minor edits. Anything intended for a complete overhaul will probably be forgotten.
Perhaps the Extravaganza will help me bring all those notes and tidbits together into actual blog posts. That would be cool!
And this tour has reminded me that my words are worth sharing and it makes sense to make the time to write them. They are a beautiful companion to the other work that I am doing.
That’s my process and my post for the blog tour. Next up, these four of my soul-sisters – wonderful writers, each of them – will be posting about their own processes. I can’t wait to read theirs! You’ll read them, too, right?
She’s working on being a Real Writer.
You can hire her for web design, branding strategy, and business coaching at Metanoia Digital.
Through her decades of experience, acute empathy, and ancient wisdom, she’s here to awaken YOUR inner wisdom for YOUR best guidance – while making it all feel like being nurtured by Mama Gaia.
And when she’s not shamaning, you can find her indulging in photography, an excessive tarot and oracle habit and the occasional My Little Pony fanzone.
Wohoo! Thanks for running with the challenge and writing such a beautiful post.
I think the form of having to answer some set questions is a good exercise and forces us to answer questions we don’t usually ask ourselves. For example: Even though my blog should be in a clearly defined corner I do have the illusion that I break out of that more often than most 🙂
In our case it’s fun to observe the journey you are taking.
Thanks again for writing this!
Lots of butterflies!
Frithjof
What a BEAUTIFUL post, Teresa! I loved hearing about your process and I\’m SOOO excited about your upcoming work! These are tough questions and I\’m looking forward to getting started on them myself. But first! To gather up my fellow writers!<3
Oh, what a great idea! I’ve heard about business blogs doing blog tours, but this is the first time I’ve seen them done in such a heart-centered way. I would love to do this one day. How fun! Thank you for teaching me something new 🙂