SARK & Scott Mills – Setting Your Writer’s Voice Free

Most people come to their writing thinking they have just a few good stories or ideas — a limited capacity to create — when they actually have so much more to offer. They have powerful stories they’ve forgotten or places in their lives that can touch another deeply. In this first session, you’ll take stock to discover all the amazing assets you have to work with.

In this module, you’ll:

• Step into your own worth as a writer with something very important to say
• Be reminded of the passion and excitement that initially drew you to writing
• Reconnect to your passion and let it fuel you so you can write with joy and delight
• Get clear about what you really are most wanting to share, whether it be with your next-door neighbor or the world

“When you know the heart of your message, it’s much easier to ‘shout our barbaric yelps from the rooftops of the world.’” — Walt Whitman

This week, you’ll dive into your unique writer’s voice. We all have perspectives on the world that are different from anyone else’s and that didn’t come before you and will not come after you. Dr. Scott likes to say, “You are the only version of your song that the universe will ever sing.” So, we’ll explore how to inhabit your uniqueness.

(This is really counter to what so many creative people have been told all their lives — just fit in, be normal — but in writing we have to unlearn all that nonsense.)

In this module, you’ll:

• Discover your own unique perspective on the world. (You are more unique than you know)
• Practice using your unique perspective to draw out the heart of your stories and make them come alive for your reader. (Even something as simple a walk around the block can be given a particular aliveness when it is shared through your unique lens)
• Give yourself permission to be free. (One the biggest obstacles newer writers have is the notion that they have to be like someone else. Won’t it be fun to discover what it means to live outside the boundaries of normal in your writing?)

SARK has been cultivating her storytelling skills since the first grade, when she declared to her mother that she should do show-and-tell every day. (And she did just that, learning how to hold the attention of even the most sophisticated sixth graders.) The power of stories to transform, enlighten, excite, inspire and more lies at the heart of your writing. And this week, we will help you discover how to bring your stories to life.

In this module, you’ll:

• Understand the elements of a really good story
• Discover how to unleash your whole being to bring your full heart, mind and body to your writing. (When one of these elements is missing, stories often seem flat and unappealing)
• Learn to tell a story from multiple angles so you can add depth to each character in the tale

This week, you’ll discover the micromovements of writing — how to create a writing practice that goes with you. (Here’s a little secret — there is no right way to write a book or a story. There is only a right way for you — and we’ll help you discover that “write” way, so you can write a lot more than you thought possible without having to force yourself or feel bad when you skip a day.)

In this module, you’ll:

• Discover MicroMOVEments, a process of taking tiny steps that cause huge results — you’ll get more writing started and completed
• Shift your mind to think less about writing and, instead, write more
• Learn how to prepare yourself for writing, so when you are ready to write so are your words

This week, we’ll focus on the advanced (ninja level) strategies for dealing with your inner critics, so they don’t sabotage your writing efforts. These are techniques to help you tap the deep inner wisdom already within you so you can speak your truth more clearly and, thus, bring more depth and power to your writing.

In this module, you’ll:

• Discover how to manage your inner critics, so they don’t manage you — and your writing life. (These techniques can also ease the inner critics in other areas of your life)
• Learn tricks to turn off your critical inner dialogue
• Discover how to squelch the distractions that seem to flood your head as soon as you sit down to write: Did I leave the stove on? Is the door locked? Does the dog need to go for a walk?
• Discover easy ways to quiet your mind and make space for your creative genius to come out and play

For years, SARK has been telling people that writer’s block doesn’t exist. There are days when you are tired, there are days when you don’t feel like writing, but there are always words to flow — if you let them. This week, you’ll discover some of our favorite ways to jumpstart your writing process.

In this module, you’ll:

• Discover the real cause of “writer’s block” — the same thing that keeps you from doing many of the things that you most want to (most people call this self-sabotage)
• Find out how to work with self-sabotaging parts of yourself so you can get over the blocks and into action
• Learn how to get in the flow fast with a box of tricks that can break through the barriers in even the most “blocked” writer

Does your creative energy come in a trickle or a torrent? Are you a channel for creative energy or a generator? So many people can become exhausted by the writing process. But when you know how to ride the creative waves, your writing can flow freely.

In this module, you’ll:

• Learn to enter a creative zone, where your brain turns off all the other stuff. (It’s a little like taking the plunge into Wonderland where anything is possible. You just have to decide which direction you’d like to go)
• Give yourself permission to delight in your writing first, so that others can be delighted as well
• Dare to breathe life into the big writing project your heart is longing to create