keep going.

January 20, 2016 - Daily Notes

Last weekend, I discovered another new independent magazine that encourages women to write from the heart and has no advertising. My heart sank.

I took a breath and called one of my advisors. She is single and brave and in her late twenties. She is working on a so-far memoir and told me this story: Recently she discovered someone else already wrote the book she has been living, breathing, and writing for the last two years. Her mom sent her the link to it on Amazon a couple weeks ago and her heart sank.

This morning she sent me a link to another blog...another woman who, on the surface, appears to be doing exactly what my friend is doing. Except this woman shares only gorgeous, hipstery photographs and notes about herself and her boyfriend and their little dog all happily traveling around the country. There is no mess. It's all perfect-looking.

"How nice for them," I wrote to my friend. "This does not interest me."

Then I wrote this: "Your memoir is not about the uniqueness of life on the road. People have been doing that for decades now. The beauty and power and draw of your story is that you are a courageous woman, sharing her inner journey and the big questions that are alive in her heart. Read some Brene Brown if you have not already. Keep going. I am envisioning your book...it's beautiful. And needed. Not because there's an epic road trip. Because there's you."

My point is: Everything we do creatively has already been done. In fact, someone else is probably doing it right now. Do. Not. Worry. About. Them. 

There is a need for more inspiration in this world that you can imagine. Keep the focus on yourself. Listen to your own heart. Express what you hear there. 

Keep writing, painting, photographing, filming, dreaming, traveling, blogging, inventing, dancing, teaching, helping. Share your work. Encourage your close friends and make time in your day for them to encourage you...give each other attention. Small is where it begins. Intimate is how we make a difference.

After hitting send, I realized...the fact there is already another woman creating another beautiful magazine to give voice to the heart...it's exactly what I dreamed of when I started Lucia. It's starting. We've barely just begun, but we are already changing the world. You are part of it.

Let's keep going.

xo
laura

only light can do that.

January 18, 2016 - Daily Notes

““Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” ”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

I've been sleeping in since November. It is winter and in this northern latitude morning light does not come through my window until the hour hand is on the eight; most days my feet do not touch the floor until it does. "This is my secret," I tell myself. "My hidden fountain of youth, my private reserve for creativity."

It's also when I dream. Sometimes I wake up at seven a.m. and blink for a moment in the darkness. "One more hour," I whisper to the sky outside my window and go back to sleep so dreams can come. 

Telling people about my slumbrous winter habit feels strange. I do not even mention what time I rise in December. I let summer speak for me, those days when my eyes flutter open at six a.m. and do not close again until midnight--a routine which feels more accepted by our culture of busy. People understand busy. I wish we could understand still. 

Today, our country commemorates the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., a revolutionary peace-seeker who had a beautiful dream that one day our nation would rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I thought about him as I watched the light pour through my window this morning and as I walked to the shop to buy coffee. How he gave us clues as to how we can actually fulfill this dream, he told us what we each can do in our own way. How even I can make a difference...me, little old me. By shining light. You can, too. 

Light is a warm smile for a stranger. 
Light is self-forgiveness.
Light is an open mind.
Light is patience with a difficult person.
Light is remembering to breathe.
Light is stillness and listening for heart.
Light is gratitude.
Light is giving your full attention to someone when they speak.

{...and if you need to sleep in until eight a.m. during the winter months to recharge your inner light too, then hey, I fully support that!} 

xo
laura

email from the heart

January 17, 2016 - Daily Notes

Even email can be a practice in giving voice to the heart. These days, especially email. 

Today is Sunday and my to-do list for Lucia is singular: Answer every email. First, the messages I've been saving for days--even weeks--from writers, bloggers, artists and others. Before starting Lucia, I did expect I'd receive a lot more email. Twenty years working in public relations, where it has been my job to get the attention of editors and journalists for my clients, has taught me that an editor's inbox gets outrageously full.

Now I am learning the art of replying.

I have yet to master it. I do read every email that comes. I do not often reply immediately because I do not always know just what I'd like to say. Not at first. Usually I wish for time to linger on someone's blog, peruse her world on Instagram, look up essays he's written before, and gain enough of a sense of who this person is and what they create that my reply will be thoughtful, informed, valuable, authentic and connected.

It's tough to find time for this. I am learning to create time. It is important to me. Communicating with Lucia's readers and future writers is essential. 

It is raining in Seattle and I have one thing only on my list today: Give voice to the heart via emails. All of them. 

How do you manage email? Do you have advice? I am all ears.

xo
laura