I was at a Jewish renewal conference a week and a half ago…Jeez, has it already been that long since I got back?…and I don’t think a day went by that I didn’t talk to someone about a book they were writing or a book I thought they should write. Inevitably if I said, “I think you should write a book about that,” they responded, “Funny you should mention that…” and continued to tell me about an idea they had for a book.

For years I’ve wanted to write and publish or have published books on human potential, personal growth and practical spirituality from a Jewish perspective (but often pertinent to all people). Two years ago my literary agent asked me to turn my attention to books on writing and publishing. I took her advice. One of the two ideas I gave her was a book about how to blog a book. I’d simply fallen into the idea when I was placed on a panel at a conference by that same name. There were no experts on how to blog a book on the panel, so I became the expert. I started a blog one month before the conference about how to blog a book, and there I blogged a book about how to blog a book–and I finished the core of my book in six months. A few weeks ago I landed my first traditional publishing deal for that very same book and blog, How to Blog a Book.

There was a time when I might have thought this had nothing to do with my purpose. Now, I totally see that it does, and I see that God’s hand was working through  my agent’s wise advice. By helping people learn to blog their books–or write their books in any way shape or form–I help them create their dreams and tell their stories. I fulfill part of my purpose. As I succeed as in this area publishing myself, I can later turn back to those other books I wanted to write with a track record as a writer and an author, and it will be easier for me to succeed and to help people to create other things in their lives.

As life unfolds, your purpose always shines through. Watch. Listen. Pay attention. What do you do almost every day? Like me talking to people about books and stories, I see that this has become a huge part of my life over the last two years…almost more easily than the more spiritual and self-improvement based topics I felt were at the core of my purpose, the things I also feel passion about.

Helping people tell their stories is a holy task. I see that…and I’ll write more about that in my next post. For now, just know that your purpose is shining through. If you don’t see it, ask others around you if they do. It’s surely clear to someone.

That’s why we end up going for Tarot and psychic readings. We want someone else to show us the signs.

Recently I made  decision to focus more intently on my writing. Yes, I’ll continue working as an editor, but I want to do what I do best and write. I also want to finish the many books I’ve started and not finished as I’ve helped others write and publish their books.

I started thinking about a book I own, called Damn! Why Didn’t I Write That? by Marc McCutcheon. I remember reading it and feeling amazed at how many books the author had written. I felt the same way two weekends ago when I had the honor of spending two days with self-publishing guru Dan Poynter, author of How to Write Nonfiction and over 100 other books. I know I have at least 10 books in me.

Then it struck me. Two years ago at the San Francisco Writer’s Conference I won a copy of Damn! Why Didn’t I Write That? I gave it away saying, “I never win anything, and the one time I do it’s something I already own.” In retrospect, I see the sign. The subtitle on that book reads “How Ordinary People are Raking in $100,00.00 or More Writig Nonfiction Books and How You Can Too!”

And here I am two years later trying to figure out how to make money with my writing…me with my journalism degree and tons of knowledge about how to write and publish books.

The day I decided to focus on my writing, I sold one of my e-books off my website. Dan Poynter had just told me to convert my e-books into a format that would make them accessible to all e-book readers–so I could make more money with them by selling more copies. Think it was a sign?

I wasn’t sure if I should go to a bi-annual Jewish conference; I haven’t missed it in years. I turned in a proposal to teach, just as I have every two years. They accepted my proposal–early no less. A sign that I should go–despite the cost? I took it as such. And the program they asked me to teach is the subject of one  of the books I most want to write and publish. A sign? Hmmm. And I could write and self-publish the book, which exists in short form now, in time for the conference. A sign that I should work on that book? Someone contacted me recently asking if there were any updates to that book? Interesting…

I have a lot of book projects, I’ve been struggling with which one to take on first. I have an agent peddling a few, but this one I just mentioned has been tabled. Should I take it on by myself?

A friend told me how she self-published a very similar book–and sold 50,000 copies. A message to me? Maybe.

We tend to wait for big signs…God’s booming voice, lightning bolts and books falling off shelves. The signs tend to be small.

We can’t always see or feel God’s hand leading us through life, but it’s there all the same.

Do you see the signs in your life?

I know something about this since I am a writer and a professional editor and author advisor. I have dreams and aspirations of writing books that change people’s live. I help other people write books that they hope will change people’s lives as well or that will solve social issues or planetary problems.

My clients and I, as well as all such writers, are change agents using words as our tool to inspire others–our readers–to take action. In that way, our words have an enormous creative energy.

Do you have a desire to be a change agent? Do you have a desire to write a book that creates change on some level? If so, I’d like to share with you an interview I recently did with Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada, co-directors of the San Francisco Writing for Change Conference (Nov. 13-14, 2010). Michael and Elizabeth, both authors and literary agents, talked with me at length about what it takes to write and publish books about change. Our conversation was packed with helpful information. I hope it will inspire you to keep writing your book–or to start your book–and to get it published. I hope it will push you to become be the change agent you were meant to be.

Maybe you’ll come join Michael, Elizabeth and me at the Change Conference. If you do, please look for me. I’ll be one of the volunteers.

To listen to the interview, please click here.

Here’s some info on the conference:
The Third San Francisco Writing for Change Conference: Writing to Make a Difference / November 13-14, Hilton Financial/Chinatown / www.sfwritingforchange.org / Keynoters: Million-copy selling authors Millman (Way of the Peaceful Warrior) and John Robbins (Diet for a New America)

Michael Larsen is a literary agent and consultant to nonfiction writers. Elizabeth Pomada represents narrative non-fiction (memoir), adult commercial and literary fiction, women’s fiction, romance, thrillers, and mysteries. They are co-directors of the San Francisco Writers Conference and the San Francisco Writing for Change Conference.

Michael is the author of the third editions of How to Write a Book Proposal and How to Get a Literary Agent, and coauthor of the second edition of Guerrilla Marketing for Writers: 100 Weapons for Selling Your Work. Elizabeth is the author of the ninth, 30th-anniversary edition of Fun Places to Go with Children in Northern California. Mike and Elizabeth coauthored the six books in the Painted Ladies series. Publishers Weekly chose the second book in the series, Daughters of Painted Ladies, as one of the best books of the year.

If you need help writing or editing your book or book proposal, feel free to contact me.

If you need literary representation for your book about change, contact Michael or Elizabeth at www.larsenpomada.com.

Everyone just left but one woman who is staying an extra day and my roommate, who is also staying the two extra days.

Turning 50 didn’t really make that much difference to me. However, I had some writing projects I wanted to finish, and the idea of going away to finish them seemed efficient and enticing.

It also seemed a great way to affirm a few things to myself and to the world at large. It affirmed that I was worth spending time alone with. It affirmed that my writing was important—to me and in general. (This was important for my family to understand as well.) It affirmed that I was a writer. (You would think I would know this after all these years, but sometimes we need to restate what we know.) And it affirmed that if I put my mind to getting some writing done—if I set writing goals—I could meet them.

I’d never been on a writing retreat before; I’ve been writing since my early childhood years. Going away for the express purpose of only writing seemed exciting and daunting. The first few days I had the distraction of 24 writers and social time.  Now, it’s time for some serious writing, contemplation, meditation…and more writing.

What do you want to affirm to yourself? What have you not done before that you want to do?

When everyone in the house has gone to bed, a peace fall over the house. Even though I’m home alone during the day, the birds and squirrels keep me company with their constant chatter. At night, they, too are silent, except for an occasional horned owl. Since I’m on the West Coast, my email box also stops filling with new mail in the early morning, because the rest of the people around the United States have long ago gone to bed as well. The only people still awake seem to be on FaceBook and Twitter. 

Sometimes, if I want some company…or I just want to procrastinate…I go to Twitter, where I find a few cyber friends with whom to interact. In the darkness of my office, with just the light over my desk, I send out little messages across time and space. It’s an odd connection, but it makes me smile more often than not.

And then I go back to my writing…maybe a blog post or a piece for my San Jose Jewish Examiner.com column. Sometimes it’s an article for a dance magazine or a trade journal. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, it’s a piece on something close to my heart. Or possibly I’m just knocking out a project that I need to complete.

In the quiet of the early morning, I can finally focus. The house is quiet. The world is quiet. My mind is quiet. Well, the last may not be quiet true. My mind is filled with words, but I can finally hear them.

If I take a few minutes just to sit quietly, I can hear other things: my breath, the cat climbing onto the clean clothes in the living room (where she isn’t allowed to sleep), the fountain trickling behind me, the hum of the printer, the Still Small Voice. Ah…I remember that voice. 

That voice tells me to put aside the other projects and write from my heart. It tells me to finish my unfinished projects. It tells me to persevere. It tells me I’m on the right track. It tells me to slow down and listen.

And then it tells me to go to sleep. The rest can wait until morning…well, until I wake up.  The problem comes when I do slide into bed beside my sleeping (and snoring) husband, and I cannot sleep. My thoughts, my words, have become too loud. In the quiet of the morning, they have become amplified, and it takes a long time for me to find a way to turn down the volume and sleep. If only I could find a program that would type all those words into my computer for me as I lay there in bed and as I slept. Oh, the writing I could accomplish.

But would it record the Still Small Voice as well? Or can we only hear that when we are awake, when we are conscious? I think, somehow, the sound of that voice might not be picked up by even the best microphone.

Now, again, it whispers to me…

At least my writer’s life is passing me by. All I really want to do is write one of my books, or send out one of my proposals, or submit an article or essay of my own.

Instead, I’m forced to earn a living…measly as that living might be. And that’s how it feels: like a measly living. I’m living a measly life. I’m living measly. Measly living. The full life is passing by…I’m left with a measly portion.

Recently I attended a writers conference. I watched all those other writers pitch their books to agents. I attended as a volunteer. I didn’t pitch. I was focused on being an “expert” – a professional freelance editor (which is what I am). I was trying to drum up business. They were trying to make their dreams come true.

Most days, when I am not making a living, I am busy building my “platform,” becoming “known” in my field, because that’s what the agents and publishers say you must do to get published these days. All the while, I see the other writers, the ones with no platforms, pitching their books, getting literary representation and (some) even selling their books.

I posed a question recently on Linkedin in the Editors and Writers group asking which methodology was better for getting exposure to editors, agents and publishers: Facebook, Twitter, or blogging. Most people just told me to write.

Funny, spirit most often just tells me to write. After all, writers write.

But agents and publishers tell writers to go out and speak and to build mailing lists and to  gain web traffic. That makes this writer too busy to write.

And then it feels like life is passing me by, opportunities are passing me by while I try to conform to what everyone tells me I should be doing  and who I should be.

Maybe its time to listen…and to stop letting life pass me by. Maybe I need to grab another portion.

Stop procrastinating. Get the job done. Then I can get my REAL job done. And life my true life (along with all those other writers.

In both the Book Dr. sessions and the Pitch Contest, writers were able to hone the pitches they hoped would lead to their fulfilled desires – a published book. Then, on the last day of the conference, they could use that pitch with agents in a three-minute, face-to-face meeting during a session called “Speed Dating for Agents.” This would be their chance to have their dreams become reality, to have an agent voice interest and have that interest possibly lead not only to representation but to a book contract with a publishing company.

On Sunday morning I spent some of my time either in the “Speed Dating for Agents” room or walking up and down the line of people anxiously awaiting their turn to enter the room where those agents would hear pitch after pitch after pitch. As I did so, I was struck by the huge number of dream and desires held so tightly by this large amount of people.

“My goodness,” I thought, “look how many people have the dream of getting a book published! And this is just one small handful of the all the people in the world who share this dream. These are just the few with the money and the time and the interest in coming to this one conference.”

Indeed, there are thousands – millions – of people with the desire to have their writing published. That, however, represents just one dream. What about all the other dreams people hold dear to their hearts? Every person in this world, on this earth, has a dream or a desire they would like to see made manifest.

What’s the difference between the people standing in line to get into the “Speed Dating for Agents” session or the people in the room actually talking to literary agents at this one writing conference and all the other people in the world with dreams and desires? They are making their dreams come true. They are taking action to fulfill their desires and to bring their dreams into reality.

How many of us have a dream – of becoming a published author or hiking to the top of Mt. Everest or painting a portrait or becoming a nurse or running a marathon or losing 20 pounds or becoming successful in our business - and never do anything to realize that dream? It’s all well and good to dream, but there exists just one difference between a dreamer and someone who realizes his or her dream: one takes action and one doesn’t. In other words, one does something to make sure to fulfill his or her dream while the other simply continues to dream.

I believe in deliberate, conscious creation. I have often written about the fact that when we combine our thoughts of what we want with the feeling of having already having received our desires, we help bring that desire into physical existence. Yet, I have always qualified this by saying that we have to add to this formula inspired action. Or, if we don’t feel inspired, we must do what we know is required to bring that dream into reality.

These writers at the San Francisco Writers Conference, and writers like them at conferences all around the world, were doing something to manifest their dreams. They were imagining what it will be like to have their published book in their hands. They were visualizing an agent saying, “Yes, I want to represent you,” or a publisher saying, “I’ll send you a contract tomorrow,” and what that might feel like. But rather than just daydreaming – or even consciously visualizing, they wrote their books or their book proposals and they paid the money, got in a car or on a plane, and took the time to be somewhere where they could meet someone who could help them make their dream come true. They practiced their pitches. They overcame their fear and actually spoke to an agent. They took action to help manifest their desires.

So, as I stood in that Speed Dating for Agents room looking at all the nervous writers waiting their turn to speak with a literary agent, I could almost see their dreams and desires hovering above their heads like extra entities in the room. The room was filled not only with people but with dreams and desires manifesting slowly but surely as the dreamers took another step closer to the fulfillment of their desires.

I encourage you to ask yourself this one question: What one step are you going to take today to help bring your dream or desire into the room with you?

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After three days of socializing with fellow writers and learning from experts in the world of publishing, I left the conference, which was held at the Intercontinental Mark Hopkins Hotel on Nob Hill in San Francisco. A friend of mine had told me to stop at Grace Cathedral, which sits at the center of Nob Hill, and walk its labyrinth. Since I had never done so, I thought it a fitting ritualistic ending to my conference experience. Plus, the weather was beautiful and it was a perfect day for this activity. (On rainy days, you can walk the labyrinth inside the cathedral instead of the one outside.)

As I entered the labyrinth, I tried to quiet my mind, which was still filled with the excitement of meeting with agents, learning how to promote myself as a writer and stories of successful writers. I walked slowly, focusing on my footsteps. I must have looked a bit strange, since I was carrying a large vase of flowers, which I had “purchased” from the dining room with a donation towards the conference student scholarship fund. I imagined myself as a priestess carrying her offering towards the center of the labyrinth. As I progressed little by little, moving steadily toward the center, then doubling back and moving away, then meandering along the outskirts of the maze, then back again towards the center in a snake-like fashion, it dawned on me that the labyrinth provided a perfect metaphor for the publishing business. To many writers — myslef included, it seems that success is hidden somewhere (at the center) but the path to the goal of a published book sometimes take strange twists and turns and seems to lead us away from our goal. Sometimes we seem so close; in fact, we can see the center (a published book) as we walk just along the goal’s edge, but then wefind ourselves led far away again to the edges of the labyrinth. And sometimes we are too far away to get a good look at the center. Plus, it seems to take perseverance and patience and determination – traits necessary to succeed in publishing — to make your way ’round and ’round the labyrinth to the center point.

I did make it to the center of the Grace Cathedral labyrinth. There, I paused. I waited. (In the center, you are supposed to get a message or the answer to a question posed at the start of your walk.) I hadn’t posed a question; I’d asked too many during the last three days. In my head, the Still Small Voice said, “There’s nothing to do once you go in but to go back out.”

“Ah…just like writing,” I thought. You have to go inward to discover what you will write, to formulate your thoughts and assumptions, to find the inspiration for your ideas and the insights for your unique angle. And then, you must look and move outward. You have to begin writing and do whatever it takes to put that writing into the world for others to read.

I began walking again, this time away from the center of the labyrinth and back towards the entrance – now the exit. I retraced my steps, something I’ve done more than once during many a writing process. I made myself look up, not at my feet. I had to see where I was going, as any writer must. I had to look ahead. I walked now with anticipation and eagerness, like a writer in the flow, knowing what I want to say, how to say it and how to get from the beginning of the article, chapter or book to the end.

Yet, sometimes the writing process takes us in a different direction than we plan…just like the labyrinth. We think we are almost done, and then we turn a corner and head in another direction. We think we are close to the end, but we find ourselves as far away from the exit (the last words of the writing project) as we can possibly get. So we keep on writing, editing, revising, rewriting, until we weave our way out of our writing and into the world of published books. It seems the labyrinth represents a perfect metaphor for writing as well.

I left a carnation in the middle of the labyrinth…my offering to the publishing god or goddess or maybe to my higher self (the Still Small Voice), who always leads me in the right direction or to my inner priestess, who can not only invoke the Divine into a sacred space – like the center of the labyrinth – but also help me manifest my heart’s desire – a published book (or books).

When you are finding it difficult to write, or need an answer to a problem, take a trip to your nearest labyrinth. Pose your question or request before you begin. When you reach the center, see if an answer comes to you or an inspiration for your project. If not, keep walking and the answer will meet you on your way out. For more information on labyrinths, check out my article on the subject: http://www.consciouschoice.com/2002/cc1501/localgardens1501.html.

To receive notices when Nina posts a new blog, please send her an e-mail at namir@purespiritcreations.com with the words “New Blog Notification” in the subject line.