Your Writing Mentor

Mary Knippel

Pink Writing Boots

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If you are wondering what connection these adorable pink boots have to do with writing, please read on. Just as I keep things fun using my fountain pen filled with purple ink when I journal, wearing these luxurious sheepskin boots helps me be comfortable and creative. I consider them to be a significant part of my writing process! I think so much better when my feet are toasty warm. In a way, the boots are a secret weapon, or somehow give me a superpower to stay focused and writing.

I did not come up with this idea of “writing boots” on my own. Several years ago, a colleague, who is a very successful romance writer, shared this invaluable writing tip with me. She spends many hours at her desk and suffers from poor circulation, especially in her feet. She discovered that investing in a pair of sheepskin boots was as truly a vital part of her writing toolbox to keep her tootsies warm while she writes as keeping the printer supplied with paper and ink. 

Do you ever wish you had a superpower to make life easier? Perhaps a particular item of clothing, or a unique accessory embedded with mystical powers that help you do things that are challenging for you?

Some feel there is power in lucky charms, like a rabbit’s foot or a four-leaf clover. There are many who have to see something before they can believe it. Others put their faith in crystals and calculate whether it’s a good day to do something by the alignment of the stars.

I am a devotee of sweet synchronicity. Nothing happens by chance as far as I am concerned.

There’s a reason why you stopped to read this article today. It’s not a coincidence that I spotted these pink boots on my way through the mall recently. Yes, I love the color pink even before it was October’s signature color to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Pink has much more significance for me because I am a two-time breast cancer survivor. I wear pink because I like the color and to draw attention to the fact that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. I happen to be one who the diagnosis visited twice, but I am not a statistic. And you don’t have to be a statistic either.

My pink writing boots were a fun way to get your attention so that I could share about a unique writing tool and to remind you that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. 

The heart of your story…

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We’re well past Labor Day Weekend, saying goodbye to the summer, and pondering the last quarter of the year. We’ve never seen a year like this past one. While many folks are fretting about what goals this year have slipped through the cracks, the current year has lots of room for success. Have you taken the time to reflect on the past year’s events up to this point? What needs attention, requires you to make changes, or decisions to guide you in living a life unleashed and being on purpose.

I know that people will only change when the behaviors that they have been using stops getting them the results that they want. The discomfort of the past must be great enough for the person to want to change the future. When we set our goals for the future and aim to be more on purpose with who we want to be, we need to see and feel the past as uncomfortable.

For me, living on purpose means to break my silence, rewrite my story from my perspective as only I can and telling my truth.

Nobody can tell my story but me. 

Nobody can tell YOUR story but YOU!

The truth is that you can rewrite the stories and unleash your true purpose in this life. You can ransom the gift you are to the world. 

The seeds of serving and seeing each other are planted within us. I believe that you do not labor when you are living your life on purpose and serve from your heart. I see us all having the same dream. We are all citizens in action every day to make the world a better place for all of us regardless of race, creed, color, age or religion. 

Every story is connected to the heartbeat of the world. We are each connected to one another on purpose from the heart.

photo credit:  Dreamstime.com

Questioning comma sense…

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Happy Punctuation Day!

Do you ever wonder how technology is being used as an excuse to cut corners in our modern age? And more than where good manners and etiquette are concerned. (Imagine wondering if sending a digital wedding invitation, or an e-mail thank you is appropriate?) A whole new language, word usage, and spelling have grown up along with the popularity of texting. A generation has grown up with household personal computers and has had no problems adapting to the shorthand of texting. True, it could be viewed as another way to keep the generation gap firmly in place. But, this language (or misuse of language)  is also seeping into e-mails. Business e-mails need to contain professional language, use proper grammar, and punctuation.  The written words you send out into the world are an extension of you and your business. Make sure it reflects the image you want to present.

 Above all, P.B.S.

No, I’m not suggesting you watch public television instead of writing. P.B.S. stands for Pause Before Send. Take the time to review your text, e-mail, blog or social media post to be sure it says what you want it to say in the manner and tone you want to convey. Delay hitting send if you are in any kind of emotional state. Save your message in draft and come back to it when you have had time to reflect and collect your thoughts. Try to write things out in your journal to create exactly the tone and include all the pertinent details of your post. After you have taken adequate time to consider what you have written by taking the time to pause before you send, you can confidently hit send and deliver your message to the world.

My job as a woman in business…

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It’s Business Women’s Day and I want to celebrate you…celebrate us! I realize that being a woman in business can be hard what with wearing all those hats and juggling all those expectations.

Sometimes we struggle with wondering what to say, and we think…that just doesn’t make any sense, or how in the world does an ordinary person like me find the words to write quality content on my blog?

Well, I’ll tell you a little secret.

I’m using my words right now and sharing quality content (I hope you think it’s quality content). My writing style is conversational – just like my speaking style. By writing about something that has been a challenge for you and offering a suggestion which may be the solution to your dilemma, I am providing quality content. 

That’s my job as Your Writing Mentor.

What I think happens to so many entrepreneurs is that they are overwhelmed by all the details of their business. 

Do you feel you have to wear roller skates to keep up?

Writing is a necessary and vital component of your business, but somewhere in the past you may have been told that you couldn’t write. So now, you are hesitant, reluctant, or even afraid of writing.

That breaks my heart because I know you have a lot to say.

You have a passion and are an expert at what you do. That’s your job. 

Writing about your business is you sharing your passion with readers in order to help them understand why you are doing what you do and to help them feel the way you feel. It is not rocket science. I believe everyone has a message to share. Sometimes it takes a little guidance for the words to come. Speaking from your heart allows you to capture the words…the authentic words…your readers are longing to hear. And when they hear them, they will recognize you as the solution they are seeking.

Okay,  I hear you thinking…”that’s easy for you to say,” I can energetically feel your resistance.

But think about this…what if because you expressed yourself, your thoughts and dreams, your challenges and solutions…someone else felt heard, you validated their thoughts, they felt someone else understood them, and as a consequence, they didn’t feel so alone.

What if you made a difference in someone else’s life because you expressed your thoughts?

Regardless of what has happened in the past, you are a successful business owner who is in charge of all the elements of your business…including writing!

No really, you are already an author. Now, it is a matter of moving the words from your head to the screen/paper and sharing them with your readers.

As far as the content goes, you already have that in your head because just about anything that interests you will interest the people who are looking to connect with you. Yes, that’s right…talk about- 

  • how your first job was such a disaster and the lessons it taught you 
  • how proud you are of the Little League team you sponsor
  • the yoga retreat or the trip you took to wine country (it’s important to have downtime and get recharged)
  • the fundraiser for your child’s school (volunteering is an important part of your life)
  • what is going on in your industry

…in other words, talk about your life and your business.

That’s my job to be your cheerleader, architect and nudge. To help you discover the story the world is waiting to hear from you. To be your champion and cheerleader by reminding you that no one else can share your message from your perspective. And to help you build the structure of your message so that it is received by those waiting to hear it. Also, to keep you on track by reminding you of the dream to make a difference and enthusiastically encouraging you to keep writing!

Photo credit:  Dreamstime.com

 

 

 

 

Celebrate World Gratitude Day

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A French proverb tells us that “Gratitude is the heart’s memory.”  Sarah Ban Breathnach

I am grateful for the first person who ever honestly, inexplicably and amazingly believed in my talent/gift/ability to write. How did she know? I am convinced she knew because she saw inside my soul. “I can’t wait to read your book,” she had said to me.  Her tone held encouragement, admiration and confidence.  She spoke with such faith of my dreams as reality and a foregone conclusion.

It was the end of October 1983. My father had just passed away and I was on a personal retreat at a small convent. There was a communal kitchen with huge loaves of brown bread and enormous jars of peanut butter, a six-slice toaster and refrigerator with a few apples and the pint of Half & Half I’d brought for my tea. On the other side of the room opposite the Formica table and eight chairs was a saggy dark green couch with a striped orange and brown afghan adorning the back cushions. The blanket, no doubt, was a donation from the Ladies Circle.  The best part about the sofa was that is was positioned in front of a large brick fireplace with an ample supply of wood.

I sat on one end of the couch watching the flames dance up the chimney. She sat on the other end; her plump sausage fingers buried in a wootle of baby blue yarn while the long silver knitting needles fenced at her direction. Her Clairol enhanced hair was pulled into a loose bun on the top of her head. She had a yellow No. 2 pencil stuck in it, a habit she’d picked up from work. I can still see her bent down and digging in a brown grocery bag looking for a ball of bright blue yarn to introduce to the dance her fingers were choreographing.

 I exchanged a pleasant hello, but turned to stare into the flames and hoped I wouldn’t have to start a conversation. She chatted without provocation about her life, only pausing once in a while to allow me to answer a cursory amount. I told her more than I’d realized when I left to go. She was a cook at Woolworth’s lunch counter she told me and this was her annual vacation from her husband and five children.  Usually, she was at work in her white shoes and apron with black polyester dress at 7 am Monday thru Friday and 5 am on Sat and Sunday. But it was her birthday and she was treating herself. She talked about baking apple pies because this was apple harvest time. I said my favorite and dads was the French Apple my mother made. But I didn’t know when she’d feel like making it since he was gone. I talked about how I was going to school and would graduate next June. How we were on a waiting list for a baby. How I wanted to be a writer. How I longed to write something people would want to read. And she kept knitting and listening.

I got up to go to my room, my cell really; collect my PJ’s and head down the hall to the shared bathroom to take a long soak accompanied by a good cry. She looked up from her half-finished scarf and fixed her tender dark brown eyes on me and her words washed over me, “I’m looking forward to reading your book.” I have to honor that faith!