Shae Hadden

Writing

Chrysalis: Getting Out of the Way

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Writers often talk of needing to retreat to write at some point in their creative process. Of a need to let things gestate and emerge in their own way, in their own time—almost as if writing is a chrysalis process. All my research, my writing, my life has plodded along this past year. Slow caterpillar movements shifted to a sudden breakdown in the last few weeks. And now the creation of something entirely new from all that has gone before.

San Francisco’s glorious sun feeds my smiles today. I love life enough to want to create many, many more days here—or somewhere very much like it (if such a place exists). For here I feel at home. The very air of conversations among my colleagues here generates me as a powerful creator.

In chrysalis, the speed at which imaginal cells
Coalesce and form themselves into lines and clusters
My ego cannot keep up with.

I feel my wings forming, the sun on my back.
This life is for me.
It’s not the life I expected.
And I’m grateful.

I’ve given up trying to control what’s happening. I’m curious to see what is emerging. Curious also to see who else will show up in the days ahead. 

All my focus now is on being an opportunity for infinite game players, as James Carse defines them. People who play with boundaries, rather than within them. Whose purpose is to keep the game going as long as possible. Who see me as an opportunity to realize what they envision is possible, and whom I see as an opportunity to contribute to as a co-creative ally.

Wanna play?

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What’s Emerging?

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Writing this book is an exercise in being with emergence. Patterns emerge out of the multiple conversations I’ve been having with coaches and coachees. Out of those patterns emerge multiple threads of ideas. And as I write those ideas down, a structure emerges from within the writing. It’s as if I could step aside and let the cosmos of the book grow into being.

“In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.”
Carl Jung

I don’t have to make it be organized. I can be part of what’s emerging.

It’s like those instances where things just spontaneously organize themselves—where the meaningless chaos we fear arranges itself into something new. Like a traffic pattern. A market trend. A complex of buildings. A network of relationships.

What are you allowing to emerge in your life?

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This blog post by Shae Hadden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Image by O12 from Pixabay

Bestselleritis

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“B is for bestseller.”
Mark Haddon

I’ve spent some time over the last month listening to several experts sharing their experience writing best-selling books. I figured I might as well see what wisdom resonated with me—after all, these individuals have become gurus by succeeding at selling many, many books over time. A few tips later, I’ve got cauliflower ears from listening to hours of talking heads on headset … and a new realization.

There must be a lot of people out there looking for help with starting, finishing and promoting their book. Eager people who have their hearts set on writing a bestseller—and only a bestseller. Otherwise, how could these experts be in such demand for sharing their expertise on how to be wildly successful in the book industry?

I define this compelling aspiration, this writer’s condition, as “Bestselleritis”. Symptoms can include:

  • Ÿ  A burning desire to be on the NY Times Bestseller List
  • Ÿ  An initial belief that bestsellers happen overnight
  • Ÿ  An obsession with what it will be like to be famous
  • Ÿ  Recurring conversations about writing a bestseller
  • Ÿ  An allergy to writing
  • Ÿ  A file folder of great story ideas
  • Ÿ  An archive of incomplete manuscripts
  • Ÿ  A fully booked schedule for the foreseeable future

Wisdom from people who have gone before can be helpful in dealing with this condition. I’ve learned that the following pills, although sometimes hard to swallow, can further alleviate uncomfortable symptoms.

  • Ÿ  Be committed to writing. Trust the process and stay focused.
  • Ÿ  Be disciplined. Do the work.
  • Ÿ  Be humble. Admit you don’t have all the answers.
  • Ÿ  Be willing to give up other things in life. Put aside distractions and take the small steps, day after day, that add up to success.

At the end of the day, completing and promoting this book is my responsibility—and mine alone—with or without expert help.

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Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay

Adventure

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“Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him to the public.”
Sir Winston Churchill

I ran across this quote today. A dear friend sent it to me a few months ago when they heard I was starting to write my own book. Still somewhat in shock that I had actually listened to the still small voice inside that had been prompting me for years to become a published author, I had put the quote aside to see if things would play out as Churchill described.

I’m six months into the project now, and I have to agree with Winston. Writing a book is an adventure. I consider this to be my first big Helen Keller “life is a daring adventure…or nothing” risk. Not in an Indiana Jones daredevil world traveler kind of way. More like a “being pregnant for the first time” kind of adventure.

Like a baby, this book has a life of its own. It’s changing and forming itself inside me as I watch. It pulls my energy, my time and my focus. I have to feed myself with ideas and experiences and conversations that nourish its growth. I’m reorganizing my life to support my health and well-being as it develops. This ‘baby’ is transforming me. This book is  literally changing my life.

So far, nothing about it has been a ‘toy’ or an ‘amusement’. It is my child … and it is my ‘mistress’.

This past week, I began writing again. I’ve been preoccupied with health issues and work for the past month, so it’s wonderful to come back to my notes  and really start to dig into what I like doing best: integrating ideas and communicating a succinct message in prose. I’m falling in love with my book. Each moment I spend with the manuscript is like a private bit of bliss. I entwine myself in each story. I feel my way into each sentence, caressing the words gently. I close my eyes, focusing for a final kiss, as I sense the ripeness of each chapter and deftly retrieve a title from the air.

I know many more experiences of being coached and many more coaching conversations await me. I welcome them with gratitude and an open mind.

But what I’m looking forward to most this summer, what turns me on each morning, is the thought that every day I’ll be expressing my love—of coaching, of people, of life—through my words.

I wonder whether Churchill was right about the rest of the adventure…?

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This blog post by Shae Hadden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Image by Andreas Wohlfahrt from Pixabay