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Writing from the Deeper Self
"Bringing Your Inner Treasures
to the Outer World . . ."
Book Development
with Naomi Rose
August 2008 Newsletter
1. Introduction: "We Write to See Who We Are"
2. Feature: "Refining and Being Refined: On Artistic Developing--
and Being Developed"
3. Product Notice:
"Starting Your Book is being revised"
1. Introduction
We
Write to See Who We Are
Why do we want to write books? Why do we even read books?
Despite all sorts of other reasons on the surface, I believe that we write
(and read) books to find out who we are. Not necessarily the surface identities--the
ones that we hang out in for a while and then they pass--but the deeper
identity, the pure being that perhaps was never seen when we were young,
and that as adults we need to learn how to see. As one psychologist revealed
in conversation, "Maybe people need to be seen more than they need
almost anything else."
This month's newsletter offers one lens into how we get to see and be
seen. Writing from the Deeper Self, of course, is all about this--both
in view of the person who is doing the writing, and what (and how) they
write, so that readers can see themselves deeply as well. I think that
the call to see who we are is getting stronger on a global level. And
this seeing can come about through direct, transformative means--through
(my thing) writing a book--or through something as mundane as updating
a brochure. When the heart is willing, the way comes through whatever
is available.
What this has to do with writing books is that books can heal. Healing,
which is my deepest interest at this time, including healing through the
arts, means coming into wholeness. If writing a book can make you whole,
then reading that book can catch the transmission. Wholeness, being the
reality of life, is not so far from us.
Sometimes we just need to turn in that direction and say, "Yes."
Naomi Rose
2. Feature
REFINING
AND BEING REFINED:
On Artistic Developing--and Being Developed
If you take a moment to really look at my logo, you will see that it is
a mandala made up of roses and pages. In the very center, in the heart
of the logo, is a pearl, surrounded by a flower. And beyond that, widening
out towards the outer rim of the circle, are book pages. Once on the actual
rim, the world-facing rim, there are flowers again.
When I first dreamed of Writing from the Deeper Self, over 20 years ago,
it was this relationship of hearts that was at the center. My vision was
of looking deep within to find the truth and beauty and healing, and writing
this in such a way that the actual pages were infused with this energy--that
the writer's state of being was transmitted in the writing. Then, when
a reader--in the privacy of her or his own heart--opened those pages,
she or he would be brought to the same place the writer was in the act
of writing. This heart- to-heart transmission was the gift, the point,
the urgency of care. The balm erasing separateness, in the deepest, most
private places.
Many years, and writings, and clients, have passed since that vision first
appeared. The beauty of receiving the vision is that it is wonderfully
inspiring; the difficulty is that it is unclear how it will come to pass
in reality. The beauty of embodying the vision, over time, is that it
produces real experiences, real life. The difficulty is remembering the
ideal vision that originally descended.
And so in the very detailed world of publishing, and of promoting one's
book (the "platform" publishers talk about these days), even
I have often lost sight of that heart-to-heart vision. It is so easy to
write to a public, to write to a trend, to write to something other than
the essence of what's in your heart. And it's also easy to lose heart
when attempting to climb the many mountains of detail in the conventional
way of getting one's book "out there." There is distribution
to be considered, and publicity, and site of sales. The promotion of a
book, it has been said, is a business in and of itself. And sometimes
it gets far, far away from the heart that wrote the book.
What if we took as a reality that all we are doing, in writing our books
or dreaming of writing our books, is touching the hearts of our readers?
Touching the heart of the world? What if we took as a reality that there
is only one heart, and if we can find our way into it, and write out of
it in a certain consciousness and level of adeptness, that we have touched
the heart of God, and that is what will birth our book into the world?
If this touches you, I invite you to simply contemplate it and let it
grow inside you, and see what emerges out of it. If you would like to
share any of that with me, please write and let me know. I seek a more
mystical approach to publishing than just the nuts and bolts. This is
a way that I like to call "A Mystic in the Marketplace." The
challenge is not so much learning the hoops of publishing, but remembering
the mystical reality, and touching into that, asking into that.
So this contemplation is July's suggestion: There is only one
heart, and if we can find our way into it, and write out of it in a certain
consciousness and level of adeptness, we have touched the heart of God--and
that is what will birth our book into the world.
3. Product Notice:
Starting
Your Book is being revised
Starting Your Book: A Guide to Navigating the Blank Page, by
Naomi Rose
While this very valuable book is available now as an e- book, I am in
the midst of substantially revising it. It will have more depth, more
intimacy, more walking you through the process of attending to yourself
so that you overflow into joyful writing. You are free to buy the book
now, but I think it will be much improved when the revision is finished.
I'll let you know when that time arrives. Meanwhile, you can look forward
to having a loving guide available in the book, to bring forth the loving
book-writing guide within you.