Orna Ross

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Creative Living: Be More Creative

Your Monday Motivator: Kicking Off A Creative Intention Series

January 23, 2017

So, we’re more than halfway through January. How are those new year resolutions coming along? If you’ve been around here for a while, you know I’m not a big fan of relying on will-based discipline to creating what you want to create in your life. It doesn’t work too well for most of us, especially creative types. According to market researchers Opinion Research Corp., 92% of us go about our daily lives failing to create what we most want. Whether our desire is physical (as, in their study, 38% of the desires); emotional (31%), financial (34%) or, interestingly the biggest…

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Creating Happy Holidays Part 3: “Giving & Receiving”. From Creating Money, Creating Meaning

December 15, 2016

We each receive certain gifts when we come into this life – talents, interests and attributes – that we offer to others. In return, we may receive love, acknowledgement, appreciation, validation, money or other rewards. Receiving in these ways allows us to replenish the life force we have “spent” which in turn enables us to continue giving. If we look deeply at our relationships with others through the giving/receiving lens, we find they can all be categorized as: a. A relationship where you mostly give. b. A relationship where you mostly receive. c. A two-way flow relationship. Creative giving will…

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Log Your Create-Dates: A Creative Living Map
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Creative Writing: My Haiku

Haiku of the Week Features: Winter Sun

December 8, 2016

Tree shadows / in winter sun. Golden world / striated. Now Your Turn: Capture a moment of creative presence: Write a 3-7-3 or a 5-7-5 haiku. Here’s how. Use the 13 or 17 syllables to give a short summation of a moment: what you saw, heard, touched, tasted or smelled. Turn the moment in time into an image. Don’t tell us what happened, show us. Don’t tell us how you felt. Trust the images, the sense perception, to hold the emotion. A good haiku conveys a mood, without mentioning the person or mood. Every place, every moment in time, is full…

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Making a Living (and a Life) from Writing

November 19, 2016

Today, I’m going to be working with my friend and close colleague in self-publishing adventures, Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn. Jo is probably the world’s most popular indie author, for her generosity in sharing the details of her own self-publishing pathway, for her incredibly positive energy and impressive creative flow. Together we’re facilitating this unique one-day intensive for 45 writers at Regent’s Park University in London. Called “How to Make a Living (and a Life) from Writing”, it’s aimed at authors and bloggers who want to turn their writing into their job. We’ll be delving into the creative process, the different business models…

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Your Monday Motivator: Don’t Think, Just Do!

November 14, 2016

The theme of this week’s Monday motivator mailout is “Don’t Think, Just Do!” Each week I send a Monday mail as a reminder to creatives and creativists. The pull of the outer and conventional world is strong, so we all need reminding to focus on what we most want to create. This weekly reminder is full of tips and techniques to motivate and inspire you – and offers simple creative maps and tools to help you prioritize what’s most important to you this week. I’ll also bring news about what I’m creating myself right now, offer a free-writing prompt around our theme…

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Creative Writing: F-R-E-E Writing

Today’s Free-Writing Prompt: Thoughts About Writing In Your Life

November 1, 2016

Today’s F-R-E-E-Writing exercise is about writing and F-R-E-E-Writing itself. After listening to Show Episode from the Frankfurt Book Fair about writing and publishing a book, F-R-E-E-write your thoughts about whether you would like to write a book… and about writing generally. Do you like to write? Why? What kind of writing? What is your writing history? Can you remember learning to write? Who taught you? Was it fun? Did you like writing at school? Why? What do you think of the act of F-R-E-E-Writing itself? What might it do for you? How might it support the other things you want to create in…

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I’d love to hear what you think. Please comment in The Guestbook
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What’s Happening in Self-publishing This Week

November 20, 2015

Click over to the latest self-publishing news from my friends at the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) Advice Centre blog in this regular, lively post for indie authors. This week’s reports cover new developments in the industry, including a look at a recent NYC cross-cultural literary event, Festival Albertine;  ALLi’s upcoming new Members Rights’ Guide;  plus Amazon’s Kindle Scout reader-powered platform’s extended global availability, and much more. Keep up with the news, this Friday, and every Friday!

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January 23, 2017
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What’s Happening in Self-publishing This Week

November 13, 2015

Discover how e-books by independent authors continue to sell in greater numbers than trade-published works in our weekly round up of self-publishing news from the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) Author Advice Centre. The post highlights the competing sales data analysis on digital books, with headlines in the press giving incomplete figures. ALLi news also looks at how independent bookshops – recently seen as a threatened species – are making a comeback, and with a whole new look. Check out the regular news stories, and much more, each week from my friends and colleagues at ALLi – your first click for…

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Related posts
Your Monday Motivator: Kicking Off A Creative Intention Series
January 23, 2017
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December 15, 2016
Haiku of the Week Features: Winter Sun
December 8, 2016

What’s Happening in Self-publishing News This Week

November 6, 2015

Publishing events of interest to indie authors are an increasing fixture on the literary calendar, and the self-publishing news from my friends at the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi)  this week highlights a two-in-one conference coming up in London at the end of November (with ALLi members enjoying special discounts on tickets). Along with those details of Author Day and FutureBook 2015, other news featured by ALLi reporter Valerie Shanley is the buzz around Amazon’s new bookstore (not online, but the real thing) in Seattle this week, plus e-book subscription services – great value for readers, but a good deal for…

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Related posts
Your Monday Motivator: Kicking Off A Creative Intention Series
January 23, 2017
Creating Happy Holidays Part 3: “Giving & Receiving”. From Creating Money, Creating Meaning
December 15, 2016
Haiku of the Week Features: Winter Sun
December 8, 2016

What’s Happening in Self-publishing News

October 23, 2015

Take a click over to the latest self-publishing news post this week with reports on a new ebook distribution partnership, the result of a long-running battle over author copyright, and Amazon’s legal action against fake reviewers online. ALLi reporter Valerie Shanley gathers all the weekly news on the blog from my partners and friends at the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) – and well worth a regular Friday read.

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I’d love to hear what you think. Please comment in The Guestbook
Related posts
Your Monday Motivator: Kicking Off A Creative Intention Series
January 23, 2017
Creating Happy Holidays Part 3: “Giving & Receiving”. From Creating Money, Creating Meaning
December 15, 2016
Haiku of the Week Features: Winter Sun
December 8, 2016