Writing coach and author Lisa Tener wants you to slow down
"Life--and creativity--just gets juicier when we go a little slower."
This week I am talking with Lisa Tener, award-winning book coach and award-winning author–of the books The Joy of Writing Journal and the brand-new Breathe. Write. Breathe.
Lisa served on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School’s continuing education course on writing and publishing books for over a dozen years. And she has helped hundreds of experts and thought leaders write and publish their books and secure five and six figure book deals.
I was so happy and honored to write the foreword for Lisa's new book, which draws a lot on Lisa's in-depth studies and practice of qigong. And if you've been with me since the “How to Be a Better Person” days, you may remember Lisa when she came on as a guest and walked me through her “meet your muse” exercise, which helps you get in touch with your intuition and receive messages from your subconscious that can help you move forward in your creative work or get insight into anything you may be facing where you could use a little guidance.
And lest you think Lisa is all about the woo, she also, I just found out while researching her for this episode, has her bachelor's and master's degree from MIT.
Listen to Lisa’s episodes:
Lisa Tener, practical matters: The tools that help Lisa get her writing done + an easy and fun physical exercise that gets you in the flow
Lisa Tener, inner stuff: Practical ways to get out of the fear of not making enough money + embracing surrender
Lise Tener, what’s next: The simple shift that “makes life juicier” + a recipe for Lisa’s all-time favorite tea
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“There’s a part of us that always feels insecure and will never feel safe, especially when it comes to financial security. It's definitely been an act of faith these past few months to really not be working much with clients and just be trusting that the money is going to come in the ways it needs to. One of the big challenges of being a writer is the money part.”
We covered:
How getting sick put her on the path to becoming a writer
How writing down her dreams helps fuel her writing
Working with the difficulty of earning a living from your writing
A peek inside the small village of people it takes to publish a book
The easy but powerful qigong move Lisa teaches to get you loosened up and ready to write
A look at the tools, places, and times of day that help Lisa get her writing done.
Her least favorite part about promoting her work, and how she works with that resistance
Finding the right balance between taking on work for clients to pay the bills and saving time and energy for your own work
Practical ways to get out of the fear of not making or having enough money
Tipping your internal scale to be more weighted toward surrender, and less weight toward trying to control everything
Her ninja trick for dealing with difficult people
How she’s used Family Systems Constellation Work to work through blockages both in life and in her mind
The trippy experience of re-reading something you first encountered years ago and having a completely new and different take on it
How discovering Sark’s books felt like a gift from the universe
Using Human Design as a tool to help you figure out what to do next
Manifesting teaching a retreat at place like Kripalu, Omega, or Esalen
The shift she’s working that “makes life juicier”
Why she’s feeling drawn to write more poetry
Lisa’s recipe for her all-time favorite tea
Her favorite dish at her favorite restaurant that sounds so good it inspired us to make a dinner date to go get it
“The thing that I know I need to shift is being more balanced. There's an extent to which I still try to push myself when I know that life—and creativity—just gets juicier when we go a little slower.”
Specific things we discussed:
The Ultimate Guide to Transforming Anger — Lisa’s first book
Lisa’s Get Your Writing Done class
Artist Susan Fox
Family Constellations, by Bert Hellinger
Creative Dreaming, by Patricia Garfield
Vincent’s Women by Donna Russo
Where to find Lisa:
Listen to past episodes:
Donna Russo, practical matters: Writing through trauma + taking yourself seriously as a writer in a culture that doesn’t value artists
Donna Russo, inner stuff: How to get yourself psyched to start a new project + stay steady through the pre-release nerves
Donna Russo, what’s coming up: How to keep writing fresh (11 books in) + a love song to lobster
Marlon Weems, practical matters: Writing in odd places, at odd times, using only your phone
Marlon Weems, inner stuff: Turns out growing up Black in the South in the 60s is excellent training for writing about topics that tend to invite trolls
Marlon Weems, what’s next: Manifesting an appearance on "Good Morning America" + the two wildly different songs that get Marlon moving
Shannon Watts, practical matters: The Facebook post heard 'round the world, the upsides of ADHD, and a standing desk fail
Shannon Watts, inner stuff: When your inner critic is terrified you'll come off as corny or woo-woo + taking aim at mom guilt
Shannon Watts, what’s next: Being OK with not exactly knowing what’s next + recipe for the perfect cup of coffee