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On Saturday, September 12 at 10:15am Pacific, OG Rev and I discuss “Telling Your Fearless Truth” to kickoff the Craft Conference of Writing For Change: Worldwide 2020 (for a free pass, see below). A few weeks ago, we wrote the following description for our session together:

In these turbulent times, the call to speak one’s fearless truth summons us with the force of a trumpet blast. As the multitudes swarm cities all over the world with upraised fists crying “Black Lives Matter” and as the nation’s leaders debate whether to postpone a presidential election for the first time in history, the times call for truth speakers. More than ever, we are called upon to speak up, speak out, and speak back. For many of us, the words sit on the tip of our tongue, but the thought of actually expressing them frightens us into silence. This is especially true when what we have to say goes against convention, our families, and our friends. What does it mean to tell your fearless truth? Let’s discover it together.

Fearlessness

Now that the talk is nearly upon us, I wonder about my own fearless truth telling. That’s a big one. Fearlessness. When I put out the 1st edition of PARALLEL LIVES A 60’s Love Story four years ago, I was the farthest away from fearless than I’d ever been. But … still … I did it. In spite of my fears, my need to at least begin my own truth telling gave me the energy if not the courage to publish the bicultural historical novel about speaking up, shouting out, and fighting back against the “establishment.”

By the end of PARALLEL LIVES A 60’s Love Story, as our entire country raged, Nixon shouted about law and order, planted divisive seeds, and he broke the law. Some things never seem change. And me? I kept silent. I had a secret. I hid in my college classes high on pot next to boys who wanted me. 

Incentive to Change

“There is little incentive to change until there is agitation.” Brooke Warner. People demonstrate and protest and agitate to incentivize those in power to change business as usual and give justice, freedom, and fairness a try.

As the caldron burns hotter, lots of us are experiencing an inner agitation. The feeling of being fed up. Ready to speak out. Frustrated by all the opportunities wasted in silence and staying quiet. More and more, the incentive to speak up is as much to get rid of a twisting internal tension as it is about wanting change.

Fearless Proclamation

I wrote fearlessly about the Universal Story and transformation in Boundless Creativity: A Spiritual Guide for Overcoming Self-Doubt, Emotional Traps, and Other Creative Blocks. I fearlessly shared the 60s in the 2nd Edition of PARALLEL LIVES A 60’s Love Story as a mirror into the past that reflects much of what we face today.

Even so, too often, rather of speak my fearless truth, I hold back passively. So I thought I’d take this opportunity to lead by example by sharing more of my fearless truths. Scattered about this post are causes and beliefs I hold dear – a fearlessly proclamation of what I believe in and what I stand for.

When to Speak Up

Just as institutions – political, publishing, sports, religious, police — are feeling agitated to change, many of us are ready to stop thinking about what we would say, and say it already.

You know you’re ready to tell your fearless truth when you’ve just lost an argument and your opponent’s back is turned, you put your hands on your hips with a swagger and a snarl. Stop making faces behind someone’s back and planning for what you’d say, after the fact.

You’re ready to see what happens when you say out loud how you feel.

How to Speak Truth

  • Own your message
  • Own your feelings
  • Always: “I feel … “ Never “You … “
  • Consider not simply what is true. Ask yourself, what is the truth for all time?
  • Not against but what you’re for
  • Not in the past but what you’re for right now in the present

Message

Say it here and now. Stop repeating the same things to your friends over and over again. Let go of control. Stop simply coping and getting by. Be a maker of change.

  • Novelist
  • Memoirist
  • Activist
  • Painter
  • Artist
  • Street art
  • Singer
  • Songwriter
  • Sculptor
  • Fearlessly

For More

Join me:

  1. OG Rev and I discuss “Telling Your Fearless Truth”
    Saturday, 9/12 10:15am Pacific 

2.) I’m also presenting “Structuring a Book”
Sunday 9/13 10:15am Pacific
Whether you write non-fiction, fiction, or both, the more closely you structure your book to the expectations of your readers the easier time they’ll have sinking into the dream you create in fiction or the content you share in non-fiction. The universal pattern at the core of every great book I call the Universal Story. In Structuring a Book, I’ll introduce you to the four phases and four energetic markers of the Universal Story. Learn practical techniques to tap into the Universal Story and better direct the flow of your book to connect with your readers at a deep and profound level. What is left after the end of your book has the potential to transform not only you as the writer but all those who read your book as well.

Free Pass

Message me HERE if you’d like a free pass to all the Craft Sessions starting this weekend – 9/12 – 9/13.

Giveaway Contest

While you’re there, enter the CONTEST to win a free copy of Boundless Creativity: A Spiritual Workbook for Overcoming Self-Doubt, Emotional Traps, and Other Creative Blocks. 
You’ll be guided where and how to answer the following question in anyway you choose — video, audio, flash fiction, article, essay, fiction, whatever — WHAT KEEPS ME FROM WRITING? Winners will be announced at the end of September.