As this issue hits your inbox, I’ll be in Black Rock City for the ever-surreal annual Burning Man gathering in the desolate Nevada desert, getting my creative groove on. Talk about an opportunity to slough off the chaotic nuttiness of modern day existence. Time to get back in touch with what’s real and important for this journey called my life…

As Mark and I will be packing in all of our food, water, shelter, costumes, bikes, and gifts, I am so happy to have begun our preparation phase with the packing list we laboriously developed two years ago. I think that using this list is saving at least 1,563,885 brain cells.

Here’s another method for soothing the brain—and it’s for you! We are splitting the newsletter in two. Same good stuff, smaller pieces at a time. As mentioned last month, instead of all the newsletter sections appearing in one issue, the article, quote, and keep smiling will be in the first issue of the month, and the tip, In the News, and Featured At Project Simplify will be in the second. Shorter reading to help you find that deeper breath, get motivated and then continue on.

Have a great September, sign up for a workshop, and enjoy!

Shawn Tuttle
Chief Simplifier, Project Simplify
Co-editor, The Simplifier

10/8 Getting Serious with Information Organization aka Filing can be Fun, a Project Simplify workshop, Nevada City. For the inspiration behind this workshop, click here. For more details or to register, contact Shawn.

10/21 guest speaker at monthly meeting, South County Chamber of Commerce, Lake of the Pines (More details TBA)

11/11 and 11/19 Office Org. Foundation basics, SED Corp, Auburn (open to public) (More details TBA)

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."

-Aristotle

by Shawn Tuttle

I greatly admire the fluidity with which my interview subject Colleen Wainwright’s voice shines through her writing. Even though I’ve been writing for my own blog and newsletters for several years now, I still feel like I am discovering my style. (And for the long time reader who witnessed ProjectSimplify.com’s most recent visual make-over, my working with Colleen planted the seed that blossomed into this current design, which I love.)

Colleen Wainwright

Colleen Wainwright is a writer-designer-consultant who started calling herself "the communicatrix" when she hit three hyphens. She’s a prolific writer who keeps up a couple blogs, a monthly column about marketing for actors, book reviews, and a monthly newsletter. With wit, much cleverness, and beaucoup creativity, she helps creatives get their message out to the world while staying in line with their "fabulosity".

Unlike interviews we’ve published in the past, this one is on a very specific subject: establishing a writing practice. However, Colleen’s accessible approach has lessons and encouragement that can be applied to any neglected long-term goal.

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ST: Most people understand that writing (or any skill/art) requires daily practice, not only for mastery, but even to just get in a comfortable place with it. It’s easier when you do it frequently, you express more of yourself, etc.

However, considering how busy we are and how many demands on our time there are, taking time to write daily can be quite a challenge. Doing something that you have to “make time for” is more difficult in the long term than developing a habit (say, in the form of a standing appointment every morning) that requires minimal effort to fit into your schedule because it has become a “given” in your day.

Communicatrix: Well, I’ll have to start off by agreeing to disagree.

Having gone from making no time in my schedule to making regular time, I think that establishing a regular writing time is almost exactly like establishing a flossing habit or an exercise habit: it starts with a mindset (I want this! I’m gonna do it!) and then it’s a try/stumble/fail/move forward kind of success.

A huge hurdle is this idea that we need hours and hours. That’s just not true. It’s enormously helpful, and it’s a luxury I’m able to give myself, but you can start with fifteen minutes a day of you, in the chair, dumping stuff onto paper or a screen.

As you make it a habit, it should become easier to increase the time, both b/c you’re in the habit and b/c those around you will start taking your stated intention more seriously.

ST: How did you get in the habit of writing daily (or as much as you do)?

Communicatrix: For a long time, I did not write daily. I wrote in huge sweeps of time when I could grab them, and I wrote most every day, but it was still kind of erratic.

I finally put "10am – 12pm" in the calendar for writing as a recurring event, Monday through Friday. For the most part, I stick with it, although yeah, stuff still comes up and I’m weak, so I’ll deal with it in that so-called sacred time.

The blog (communicatrix.com) was the single biggest factor in getting me to write regularly. Something about the ease of it, the public accountability and the "not-real"-ness of it worked for me. Before blogs, I’d take stabs at writing stuff in Word or a text document, but the results were turgid and ponderous: that was "real" writing. So eff that. Find whatever makes it easy, then work your way into real. Note: the "real" comes when you’re not expecting it, in my experience.

ST: How much time do you spend writing daily?

Communicatrix: I write for at least two hours five days per week. I’ll usually take Friday off, since I do a lot of writing for the marketing blogs on Sunday (I’ve committed to a weekly roundup on my day-to-day experience with marketing in 2009) and I like to have something very fresh for Monday on communicatrix, to kick off the week in style.

In addition to that, I probably spend another hour and change per day writing substantial emails and other marketing-type stuff.

ST: Any other thoughts about establishing a writing practice?

Communicatrix: Be nice to yourself, but be firm. Also, this is a long game. It’s taken me years to develop good habits and something I wouldn’t be totally ashamed to call a body of work.

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ST’s final thought: I love her last answer. Boiling down those three sentence, I get a sweet motto for developing a new habit: Be nice to yourself, have patience and keep persevering!

You can check out Colleen’s fresh, and often spicy blogs online:

communicatrix.com http://communicatrix.com

The Virgo Guide to Marketing http://virgoguidetomarketing.com

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Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify.