Look and Listen

Biography

I was born to two writers, for better and worse. The "better" was the immersion in the world of literature and in-print articulation at an age where I couldn't even follow the plots but only steep in the atmospheres adept writers made available. The "worse" was that writing, as I observed my parents doing it, held no joy. Deciding that life would not be for me, I turned my back on it for decades while working as an editor, a more left-brained career that nevertheless was a very valuable apprenticeship for the writing I later yearned to do and surrendered to. After spending many years working, as an editor, on the finished product alone, I felt a call to go deeper into the human and creative process--what happened within people while doing the book writing--and so developed a unique approach called "Writing from the Deeper Self" that depends on nonverbal knowings, initially, and then makes its way into words. I have written several books on the subject of money and the inner life (The Portable Blessings Ledger, MotherWealth: The Feminine Path to Money, and The Blessings Ledger--in progress), as well as on the creative process (e.g., Starting Your Book: A Guide to Navigating the Blank Page by Attending to What's Inside You. All and more are available from my online store, "The Creating & Comfort Store," at www.essentialwriting.com/bookstore.html. I love the idea of "Nothing Binding," and hope to connect with kindred spirits so that we can all bring our dreams, through books and other forms of writing, into the world.

Inspiration

While some writers have inspired me, of course, and some teachers as well (especially Morris Freedman in 6th grade, who assigned the class a novel and believed I was a great writer!), I think my inspiration comes more from nature and the mystical world than anything else. Being still and listening to what arises, being in nature, listening to music and making music bring me to a place of such deep inner feeling and gratitude that sometimes words must follow, to articulate--as best as I can--the subtle perceptions brought about by wordless presence. That, and the fact that I was born into what I probably have to call a "dynasty" of writers: both parents, a grandparent, a sister, a son, and myself. (Then I married a writer, the second time around.) Sometimes I push writing away, not wanting to live a "literary" life, uninterested in salons and the like. But when that sense of being called by the nameless whispers itself into my being, sooner or later writing does follow, even if what is named is so much less than what is unnameable.