Day 59: If You Want to Write

The world does not need more brands. The world needs more of YOU.

Creative ProcessJena SchwartzMay 10, 2020 Comment

Fear is the Common Denominator

Creative Process, CommunityJena SchwartzJanuary 20, 2020Truth, Fear, writing group, writing practiceComment

Surrendering to the Dark

“Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.”

Creative ProcessJena SchwartzDecember 20, 2019 Comments

Success: Looking Behind the Curtain

The more we look behind the curtain, the healthier we can be in our expectations of ourselves and the more compassionate we can be with each other.

11 things (beats staring at the blinking cursor)

Real Life, Creative Process, ObservationsJena SchwartzNovember 25, 2019writing exercise, writing practice, 11s, yoga, 30 day yoga challenge, Yoga with Adriene, Thanksgiving, Family, divorce, CoparentingComment

How Far Down the Rabbit Hole?

We will mess up. All of us. Every last one. It is absolutely inevitable.

Jewish Life, Community, Creative ProcessJena SchwartzNovember 13, 2019Comment

Cutting and rearranging in revision

So often, the material we start with winds up being necessary at first -- as way into the writing -- but ultimately extraneous.

Creative ProcessJena SchwartzOctober 22, 2019revision, writing exercise, submissionsComment

Balancing Practice with Action

Jews believe in two schools of being and doing.

Jewish Life, Creative ProcessJena SchwartzOctober 9, 2019Comment

Story Time: Inhabit Your Writing

Jena reads a story by Rabbi Alan Lew, illustrating the value of being present to the path of the creative process, rather than letting questions and outcomes.

11 things for when you don’t know what to write

We need you over here. There is only one you, and the lifetime of stories you carry in your bones. It doesn’t much matter where you start, only that you do.

Help Always Comes

It's the same mountain, you know. The one and very same mountain you've been scaling your whole life.

Community, Creative Process, ObservationsJena SchwartzSeptember 14, 2019Jewish Mysticism, death, Faith, trust, Keep going Comment

Something Good Is Worth Finding

We all have our stories about when we stopped. Stopped playing. Stopped creating. Stopped doing something that brought us joy because it wasn't practical or lucrative or productive.

On Not Chasing Things

Magic needs freedom.

And true freedom requires beginning here, with this moment of quiet and stillness.

You Are Not a Fish

The shadow side has strong muscle memory. Given the right conditions, this belief is quick to pop up, baiting me.

No Pressure

Genuine encouragement does not push or belittle or rush, it is like love. Patient, and kind.

Creative ProcessJena SchwartzJuly 18, 2019Comment

"Becoming"

What I can do is stay focused on the things that light me up, bring me joy in a deep sense, and make me feel most like myself rather than taking on more roles and tasks that I think I need in order to survive.

"Be Good to Yourself" :: Not Just Some Pithy Pablum

Hating on yourself is not cool. It doesn't exactly open the creative floodgates. And "being good to yourself" is neither as easy as it sounds or as shallow as it may seem. In fact, I'd argue that its depths are vast, and when you dive down, you'll find wreckage and treasure alike. And isn't that where the writing lives?

Knowing Never Leaves

Being honest with ourselves means letting go of some things. Sometimes these are entire identities. Other times, they may be jobs or relationships, or beliefs or ways of relating.

Creative Process, Real LifeJena SchwartzJune 19, 2019Trust, Intuition, Business, Becoming, Coaching, Poetry, WritingComment

In My Reality, I Make a Mess

Creative ProcessJena SchwartzJune 11, 2019writing, creativity, life, clarity, expectations, messy, learning, personal growth Comment

Home Is a Big Word

The truth is somewhere else, as usual. And that somewhere else is not far away at all but rather right here. It is here in the tapping of keys, in the release of words.

Real Life, Creative ProcessJena SchwartzMay 31, 2019Writing, writing practice, Showing Up, Patience, Travel, Israel, Ramon Crater, NegevComment

Blog

We all have our stories about when we stopped. Stopped playing. Stopped creating. Stopped doing something that brought us joy because it wasn't practical or lucrative or productive.

Magic needs freedom.