Chocolate is a Woman’s Best Friend (just don’t tell my dog I said that!)

This morning, I’ve been taking it easy after our choral concert last night. I’ve discovered that I’m actually a closet ham…I love to sing, and the bigger the audience, the better
My friend Sharon and I sang “We need a Little Christmas” in comedy style with a Charlie Brown tree, and we couldn’t [...]

National Novel Writing Month is Here!

How cool is that, I ask you? What, you haven’t heard of NaNoWriMo?
Imagine thousands of people around the world, writing with the goal of 50,000 words completed in the month of November. The concept of “wherever two or more are gathered” is powerful. When you get together in a group with the same goals, [...]

Does Your Inner Critic Stop You Before You Get Started?

Ever catch yourself thinking “if only,” or “that’s a cool idea,” and instantly follow it with some variation of “I can’t do that”? Or, “it will never work”?
That’s your inner critic talking. Creativity genius Win Wenger calls it your “squelcher.”
Now I think there’s a good reason to have a squelcher … it literally [...]

Five Ways To Boost Your Creativity Naturally

Here are some fun tips to help you energize your creativity, from my recent class: Writing from the Heart: Developing Your Writer’s Intuition.
1) Change your scenery. New objects in the room or even a new room can stimulate new ideas. Take a few minutes to clean off your desk, or bring in some fresh flowers [...]

Writing from the heart … Local writing seminar in Arizona

If you live in Arizona, join me for a writing seminar in the cool Rim Country, sponsored by the Arizona Press Women:

Writing from the Heart:
Developing your Writer’s Intuition
with writing and creativity coach Jennifer Baltz

Saturday, July 11, 2009
9:30 AM – 12 Noon, Gila County Community College
201 N. Mudsprings Road, Payson, AZ
(Just 90 minutes from Phoenix)

Your [...]

Keep your momentum going…

When you begin a creative project, it’s tough to keep your momentum going. Sometimes projects sit half-finished for years…or they remain a fantasy and never get off the ground.
Life has a way of intervening. Maybe your commute took an extra 45 minutes today because of an accident on the freeway. Or you spent all day [...]

Great summer books to fire up your creative genius!

Today is the Summer Solstice (what with it being Father’s Day and all, I forgot!). Summer is officially here!
A great book can help to recharge your creative batteries! I’d like to share two of my favorite summer reads with you.

First up, Sarah Addison Allen’s Garden Spells…a lovely story set in the [...]

Seeing Your Available Resources

Ever notice that when you get stressed and stuck, your options seem, well, limited? That’s partly because when we get stressed, we also get tunnel vision, and often we can’t see something right in front of us that could help with the situation. Most of us have far more resources available to us…and that includes [...]

Stuck on a negative situation? This little tool can help!

Here’s a simple little tool you can use to reframe your thoughts when you find yourself getting stuck in negative thinking. Why is it important to do this? Well, for starters, negative thoughts bring your energy to a screeching halt! Quite simply, they waste your time. And that prevents you from focusing on what [...]

Singing the next note…

The other night in choral practice, our director stopped us cold in the middle of a song (it was Can You Feel the Love Tonight, from the Lion King). We were falling behind the beat, singing too slow. And when 80 people do that, it’s not pretty!
She said, “Think ahead to the next note you’re [...]

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