Project Mavens

The Art of Finding Natural Audience, with Marc Zegans

If you’re reading this article, then chances are you’re a working artist, or you’re well on your way to articulating your creative vision and following your creative career. You already know that you can’t do this alone. Finding the right team of collaborators and building creative community is crucial to your creative success.

Welcome to Building Creative Community, a new series in which I profile writers, artists, performers and thinkers who are redefining what it means to develop creative community. These creative artists are finding new ways to exercise their craft and gain support for their work. I’m eager to see how they do it, and you might be too.

To start the series, I decided to profile someone whose business is helping artists clarify their vision and achieve their best work. His latest book is focused on helping artists find their natural audience. I’m talking about creative development advisor, Marc Zegans.

Marc helps artists, writers, performers and other creative people thrive and shine. With 26 years of experience working with artists and innovators, as well as his own body of work as a poet, playwright and spoken word artist, Marc brings to the table a confident blend of business acumen and frontline artistic experience. He has a unique gift for helping creative individuals get past personal obstacles, and make crucial transitions from one stage to the next in their creative lives. One part muse, one part business advisor and one part shaman, Marc shares his insights in blunt, caring and penetrating fashion.

Marc’s book, Intentional Practice & The Art of Finding Natural Audience is what initially brought him to my attention. In Finding Natural Audience, Marc offers a concise outline for expanding the footprint of our creative work while strengthening the integrity of our vision. He shows us how to resolve the conundrum of wanting to promote our work, but not wanting to appear too “salesy.” We know that we need to develop a way of working that allows us to remain authentic, but still generates a sustainable income.

In Finding Natural Audience, Marc maps out a thoughtful and deliberate path to connecting with the key people who will help us build our audience and client base, and to reaching our true audience directly. In essence, Marc has created a how-to manual for developing vibrant, supportive, creative community – community in which all relationships are intentional, mutually beneficial, and based on good communication.

When we build a network of individuals, organizations and companies who share common standards, ideals and intentions, and are eager to think in terms of mutually beneficial outcomes, we kind of obviate the need for product-pushing sales methods. If we see our job as forming mutually beneficial community and bringing what we can offer to it, our role as connectors becomes transformed from an abrasive sales role into a matchmaking game. The more we know about each other, the more we are likely to find the people with whom we truly want to work and play, and they us.

One way I go forward is by sharing conversations, stories and other personal insights with prospective clients, collaborators or audience members. That’s why I started this series. It gives me a chance to speak with people with whom I want to form creative community.

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Here are some excerpts from my conversation with Marc Zegans:

Deborah: Although you are a poet and a seasoned performer, you also have an extensive background in innovation, strategic management and public policy. What parts of that experience do you bring into your current work with artists?

Marc: I spent many years studying and working with public managers who learned to innovate under some of the toughest conditions imaginable. University of Chicago Professor Lawrence Lynn describes their work as, “Impossible Jobs.” Despite the difficulty, these amazingly inventive and resourceful people are wonderful at discovering and capturing opportunities to do good. It might surprise you, but I discovered that the really excellent ones are profoundly concerned with the poetics and aesthetics of program design. They innovate by changing the implicit structural metaphors that have hitherto guided thinking in their fields. That’s what gives them their edge.

Deborah: That sounds intriguing, but what makes it important?

Marc: When an innovator or artist reframes a problem with images and language that are both novel and appropriate, new solutions emerge. The best solutions tend to be both deep and elegant; that’s where design aesthetics come into play. Again and again, you see the best innovators bringing a strong aesthetic to their work, one that drives them to discover bold, novel, persuasive, elegant and robust solutions to wicked problems. Artists face similar challenges, so my years of working with successful innovators in impossible jobs have given me a perspective that artists find both resonant and effective.

Deborah: Can you tell me a little bit more about this?

Marc: Artists are by nature interventionists. They dig deep in order to find something new and original to share with the world, but often they don’t have good tools for figuring out where and how to intervene in the larger system to produce the effects they are hoping to achieve.

My work in public policy gave me the ability to analyze complex social and economic systems and to understand how to create elegant interventions in these systems that make a positive difference. My work in strategic management showed me how to get things done on the ground under conditions of ignorance, uncertainty, scarcity and risk.

Now, artists tend to be very good strategists. They deal daily with scarcity, risk and the unknown by developing artistic strategies for producing under tight constraints – they have to, or they couldn’t make original art. I help them see that these strategic capabilities are resources they can recruit for themselves as they learn to thrive in the social and economic aspects of their artistic lives.

Deborah: We artists can be such a sensitive bunch, and it’s so easy to get paralyzed by the elements of our work that happen outside the actual creation of our art… So, when artists are looking to build a natural audience, what are the main considerations they should keep in mind?

Marc: That’s a great question. The first consideration to keep in mind is that finding people who will genuinely connect with our work is part of the creative process. Our creative process does not end when we finish the piece. Our work has to find its way into the world. Now we can use proxies like agents, publishers, galleries and the Internet to do the heavy lifting, but finding and developing an intimate connection with people whom our work will genuinely move is a tremendously important part of the creative process.

A second thought to keep in mind is that passionless promotion won’t make for good results. Often, artists recognize that they have to sell their work or find an audience, but they’re introverted, or perhaps they’re disdainful of people who aren’t artists, yet they feel like they need to promote, so they hold their noses and do it. There’s no fun in that, and it doesn’t lead to good results. If you want to attract great readers, collectors, clients or audience members, think about who really might get something out of seeing your work and why.

Where do they live? What do they do? Where do they hang out? How would you like to meet them? How would you like them to encounter your art? What are clever, creative and delightful ways to introduce your work to them? How can you use the tools of promotion to deepen the resonance of your work and the world’s connection to it? And how can you have fun with the process?

Deborah: Well, I’d say the best projects are the ones where everyone is having the most fun. The excitement and enthusiasm you can generate when you really enjoy what you’re doing is priceless. And I think that energy totally translates to the people you are trying to reach.

Marc: The key thing you said is “everyone is having the most fun.” When we’re creating authentic connection with people, they’re reaching back, bringing their own energy into the room. The energy flows in both directions, and that’s when it gets really exciting.

Can you feel it? This energy? I know I can!

If you’re excited about what you’ve read here, we’d love to hear from you!

If you’re an artist or an innovator who wants to thrive and shine, and if you’d like help strategizing your career or getting through some difficult points in your creative process, contact Marc at marc@mycreativedevelopment.com.

If you have creative work or a new project that you are ready to share with the world, and you’d like help building a strong audience, a supportive network or a robust collaborative circle, or if you simply want to be an email subscriber to this series, contact me at deborahosterpannell@gmail.com.

What the Hell is Branding, Anyway?

What the Hell is Branding, Anyway?

I’ve been having a lot of conversations about branding lately. For those of us who live in the world of branding, the term has almost become invisible. We eat, drink and breathe this stuff. It’s like water or air to us. But I had a conversation the other night with someone who was grappling with the need to brand her progressive religious organization. She was having a lot of trouble reconciling the crass, commercial connotations of the term, “branding,” with the need to build her congregation.

Here’s what I told her.

Branding, the way I see it is just a fancy term for building your tribe. You start by thinking about who you are – or your product, your business, your organization, etc… You figure out a way to describe it in its purest essence. The second part, and this is really the key, is for you to communicate about yourself in a way that will reach the people with whom you wish to connect.

It Is What It Is

Branding is creating messages that will get you to the right people. It’s about communicating in a way that your audience or your customers will recognize as honest and authentic. It’s about finding the best way to build your community, by creating genuine relationships.

Branding, in and of itself, is neither true nor deceptive. It’s a neutral term that describes the process. It can be carried out with varying degrees of integrity, depending on the nature of the people doing the branding. Personally, I’m a proponent of genuine, honest communication. I’m also in favor of quirky, original messages that always push the boundaries of current standards and practices just a bit. Or sometimes, a whole lot.

Are You Talking to Me?

Think about who you are speaking to, when you craft these messages. Your audience is not the whole wide world. As brilliant and earth shattering as your ideas or products may be (and I’m certain they are), you have to narrow your concept of your market just a tad. Start with your natural allies, the most obvious supporters. Trust me – if your stuff is that good, you can grow your audience from there.

Keeping it Real

OK, there’s all the rest of the details – market research, brand guidelines, graphic design, keywords, business plan – you know, all that stuff… but that’s not what we’re talking about here. My main concern is that regardless of your overall goals and strategies, whatever budget and other resources you bring to the table, no matter how brilliant are your ideas, none of that matters if you don’t know how to talk to people. Real people, like you and me.

Be clear. Be authentic. Be respectful. Be funny, if you can! Find your tribe, and talk to them the way you’d want them to talk to you. And that’s branding.

Practical Spirituality: A Conversation with Author, Celine Koropchak

Last year, I stumbled upon the blog, the_tovarysh_connection (pronounced, the toe-vahsh connection). I was struck by its simple language that resonated deeply within me. As I continued to read the posts, I became convinced that there was some deep spiritual presence at work in these words. At the time, the author was not named, and I found the whole blog a little mysterious, yet powerful. Occasionally I commented on one of the posts.

It wasn’t until a few months later that I learned that the author was a woman named Celine Koropchak, when she finally added a short bio with a photo to the site. My connection with her strengthened as she also began commenting on my blog posts. A classic internet friendship was beginning.

Soon Celine contacted me to let me know that she was planning to collect a year’s worth of her weekly writings into a book, and would I consider contributing a quote. I wrote back and asked her if I could please write the book’s introduction. When Celine asked for help in publishing an e-book edition, I brought in creative partners, writer Lillian Ann Slugocki and designer Jennifer Dopazo, who created the beautiful cover. Lillian developed an elegant, stylized format for the manuscript that became the blueprint for editing the book. We ended up titling it, One With All of Thee: Growing Your Sacred Connection.

Fast forward to the present. After formatting One With all of Thee for a soft-cover edition, I continue to work with Celine on marketing and promotion. I’m watching as she is slowly but surely becoming a full-fledged book author, embracing her role as scribe of the messages she’s been receiving from her special friends, her “Tovarysh,” for nearly her whole life. And slowly but surely, word of the book is getting around, and people are beginning to notice this scientist/blueberry farmer/book author who has some important messages to share with the world.

Here’s our most recent conversation:

Deborah Oster Pannell: So you’ve decided to retire from your day job and commit yourself more fully to promoting One With All of Thee. How is that transition going?

Celine Koropchak: I have never been happier. I feel as if I am living the life that I am supposed to be living and I feel such joy every day. This retirement for me has been a transition, absolutely. No longer do I have the day-to-day contact with people in the office and there is a part of that which I miss. But what I do have is more time to meditate, write, farm and share the words that I’ve been given. That’s not to say that I know exactly what I’m doing, because I don’t. The farming part I do, though that has its own rhythm. and challenges. But as far as putting myself out there and being the face of these words, in that I am forging a new path. I ask for help every day and can see my life slowly moving in another direction (or maybe not so slowly). A friend told me recently, when I was confessing that I was nervous, that the path that I’m on has taken a curve so that I can no longer see where I’ve been and am not sure what lies ahead. And that is what makes me nervous. I’ve never published a book before. I’ve never lived my life with such faith before. Someone recently commented on how courageous I am to do this. And I smiled and thought to myself, they must not hear my knees knocking together as I continue on this path.

DOP: You recently gave your first public presentation as the author of One With All of Thee. What was it like taking this show on the road?

CK: I was so very nervous about this presentation, even though I knew the group would be kind and receptive. I opened it by saying ‘My name is Celine Koropchak,and I channel’ as if I were in an AA meeting. Because, as I told them, I’ve never stated that in a public forum before. And I have been channeling for over 25 years. I was nervous because I am used to scientific presentations which are scripted and the only free-flowing portion is in the question and answer period. This presentation was exactly the opposite, and even though I wanted to plan out what I was going to say, I knew it had to be free-flowing. There were moments of sheer terror when I wasn’t sure what would come next. But the audience saw none of that, much to my surprise. What they saw was the joy I felt in being able to be the voice of these messages and honestly, despite the nerves, I did have fun. And I’m grateful that it was the joy and the fun that they saw rather than the nerves.

DOP: In branding, I often talk about the notion of “finding your tribe.” Who is your tribe? Who do you feel your book is speaking to, and how would you like to connect with them?

CK: This is not yet clear to me because I’m not sure exactly where this book fits. What calls to me are the voices of people who need comfort because I find these words so very comforting. Many of these messages are out there in other books, in other venues, so I know that people have heard these ideas before. The difference for me is in the voice in which they are stated. And it is in that voice that people will find comfort. I feel drawn to those who are in need of help and guidance who have not found it in any other venue. At the same time, the messages, as they continue to come are becoming more expansive and are giving more knowledge every week. It is almost like the first book is a primer for what is to follow. So I think these messages, especially the most recent ones, will also appeal to those who have already studied in these realms. So to answer your question, I’m not quite sure yet and am hoping that it will become more apparent in the days to come.

DOP: When I first began reading your blog, I was struck by the very down-to-earth quality of your writing, and the immediate relationship I felt not only to the words, but the wisdom contained in them. I find this kind of practical expression of spirituality very refreshing and exciting. How do you see your relationship to spirituality?

CK: What is that quote, ‘We are not human beings on a spiritual path, but spiritual beings on a human path’. That is how I see myself and all of us here on this physical plane. We are first and foremost spiritual beings with great insight and power to create our worlds. Yet, so many of us have not yet awakened to that truth about ourselves. For me, spirituality is not something we dabble in, it is a part of who we are. And so, for you to see this as a practical expression of spirituality is to see that this is a way of being, every moment of your day. Understanding your place, your true place in the world and out into infinity, allows you to bring in knowledge that is there for the taking. And it is best utilized when you combine that wisdom with compassion. For to me, the two have to go together or it doesn’t work and you are not being true to yourself.

DOP: At your recent presentation, one participant asked you to give her a better understanding of who you are. We know that you are a scientist by training. We also know that you are a blueberry farmer. And now, you have become a writer, although you hesitate to call yourself the author. Understanding that you are in a transitional place, have you thought more about how to answer this question?

CK: The problem with this question is that any label I put on myself then places me in a box. We do it all the time, tell me what you do and then I will have a better sense of who you are. Instead of telling you what I do, perhaps you should just see how I live my life. And what I hope you will see is that as a farmer, a scientist, a writer, I still incorporate my spiritual beliefs and practices in all of these areas. Honestly, I am just like everyone else. I question myself and my capabilities, I worry about what just happened or is about to happen, I often do things that I regret. But what I strive for is to minimize the worry, trust the process and have faith that following ‘my bliss’ as Joseph Campbell used to say, will put me in the exact spot I need to be at the perfect moment. I try to live in gratitude and be present in every moment, sometimes more successfully than others. I am leader, I am follower, I am teacher, I am student and I am moving forward on this path, no matter how often my knees knock together. For I made a promise a long time ago and intend to keep it because I know I will always have help along the way.

DOP: What’s it like having a relationship with beings from another plane? Are they guiding your moves now with regard to the book?

CK: Why don’t I ask you that same question, Deborah, for you also have a relationship with beings from another plane. We all do. For each of us it is probably a little different because we are all at different parts of the same path. And we all have different gifts which make our relationships with these divine beings more individualized. I’ve said this before and I will say it again, we all get messages, we all receive guidance and we all have our unique gifts that in our hands will help to change the world. It is having the courage, the faith, to trust in these relationships, these gifts in order to move ourselves forward.

As far as guidance for me for the book, what I get is more about timing rather than specifics. I am using my intuition to help us move forward. I am trusting the relationships that I’ve formed, with you as my agent and others as they appear in my life, to help move these words out into a larger forum. I watch for synchronicities and follow them. And I know that as long as we all trust our instincts and allow the rhythm to move us forward we will get this book and its message out.

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Branding Professionals: Don’t Sell Yourselves Short

Photo courtesy of Andrew Kist

Electra Lives (here’s a little soundtrack for you to enjoy while you’re reading…)

OK, how many of you branding professionals out there have been neglecting your own brand? C’mon, admit it. You build kickass websites for a living, and your own site is in desperate need of a refresh. Or, you handle social media for your clients, but you barely manage a tweet on your own behalf. You write amazing content for other people, but when was the last time you told your own story?

That’s not cool. Take a few minutes for yourself. Think of it as me time. You know, the way you give yourself some time to meditate in the morning (right? OK, that’s another discussion), or unwind with a hot bath or a glass of wine, or a long walk, or a silly movie…

Branding yourself should be fun.

Sure, there are the stats, and the regular posting schedules to think about, but mostly you want to remember what social media is supposed to be about. {crickets} It’s about being social, stupid. Meeting people. Making new friends. Learning something new. Sharing a laugh or an interesting story.

The internet is like a never ending party in a huge mansion.

There are people hanging out in all these different rooms in the house. There are more interesting people than you can imagine. Some of them are talking business, some are debating politics, while others are sharing photos of their kids.

Are you looking for support or community? It’s there, in endless variations. Are you looking for entertainment? A lot of people are telling jokes and spinning stories, and still others are trading creative ideas, dreams and visions.

You want inspiration? It’s there for the asking. You just have to find your people. They are out there, trust me. If you send up the right smoke signals, you will catch their attention.

Now don’t be shy.

Go out there and say hello. It’s easy. Not sure where to start? Google something you’re interested in – a hobby, your favorite TV show, or some topic that’s burning a hole in your brain. There are other people out there already posting about the same things. Read their articles, monitor their tweets, watch their videos. If you see something you like, say something!

The world of social media is just waiting for you to jump in and make your contribution. Don’t worry, you’ll make friends quickly. It’s easy. Just be honest, genuine and supportive. You will find a terrific spirit of generosity waiting for you, if you put it out there.

Note. If you are one of those people who lives for insulting other people or making anonymous, nasty comments on other people’s websites, I have no time for you. Unfortunately, I don’t see that type of behavior ending anytime soon – the world seems to have no shortage of cruel, angry people. So carry on with your vortex of negativity. I’ll be over here enjoying the company of my new friends…

Oh and by the way… that’s how you build your brand.

Join me as I re-brand this website during our upcoming branding workshop series in NYC, starting next week, Thursday, April 17th!

Project Mavens on the Move

Project Mavens has been busy over the long, cold winter, cooking up projects left and right. Now it’s time to come out of hibernation and share the fruits of our labor…

Launching in NYC on April 17th, The Branding Lounge: A series of workshops co-presented by myself and designer, Jennifer Dopazo. Six weeks of writing alternating with six weeks of visual design, for a comprehensive 12-week workshop. More details here

Happy to announce the successful launch of a new project: Young Dance Collective. Fresh off a successful Kickstarter campaign, and fabulous launch event, this one is especially exciting because it’s personal. My son is one of the company members!

One With All of Thee: Growing Your Sacred Connection, by Celine Koropchak, the book I co-edited and published with Lillian Ann Slugocki, is now available in both e-book and paperback editions. Featuring cover art by Jennifer Dopazo, this title is the first in a planned series.

Last fall saw the successful branding of LifeCycles: Resource Management for Lives in Transition. This consulting firm, headed by Lisa Horowitz, CLU, ChFC, offers coordination and support to family members managing the health care transition of an aging loved one. We just launched a new interview series with thought leaders in the field of caregiving and aging. First up, Lisa’s conversation with New York Times New Old Age Blog writer, Paula Span.

For food and culture lovers in New York City, it doesn’t get much better than the Cornelia Street Cafe. A charming West Village bistro with a full roster of music, spoken word and comedy performances happening nightly in its downstairs performance space, this neighborhood institution has been going strong since the 1970’s. Working with the gorgeous Culture Blog and Kitchen Blog, both designed by Lillian Ann Slugocki, she and I have been managing their social media outreach since last fall.

Coming up next:

Show Dogs Escape to the Seashore – A new children’s book by gold medal winning writer and international dog show judge, Marsha Hall Brown, illustrated by national award winning artist, Dawn Secord. I’ll be working with author Marsha Hall Brown to set up her northeast US book tour and sales, and brand the project on social media. Stay tuned for more details coming soon.

New Book of Everyday Spirituality Hits the Digital Market

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
New Book of Everyday Spirituality Hits the Digital Market

New York, NY, USA
September 24, 2013

One With All of Thee: Growing Your Sacred Connection (OWAT), now available as an e-book at Amazon, is a practical book of wisdom. It does not, strictly speaking, have a conventional author. In the sacred, philosophical tradition of Rumi, the Upanishads and the Kabala, this book channels a divine voice. Step by step, it guides us to embrace our connection to the cosmos— to the world beyond our own. It speaks directly to our time, to a world in flux, with clarity, concision and compassion.

Celine Koropchak, blueberry farmer and medical researcher, has been channeling these messages for over 20 years. Now, for the first time, she has collected a year’s worth of these writings into one volume. Readers of The Secret, The Four Agreements, and The Seat of the Soul, will find the subject matter familiar, presented here in a refreshingly direct manner.

Non-sectarian, non-judgmental advice for all kinds of people, regardless of their religious beliefs, OWAT is a book that cuts to the heart of the daily concerns and distractions that get in the way of access to our higher power. The writings are perfect for individuals in recovery from trauma, grief or substance abuse, those who are at an unfamiliar turning point in their lives and could use some friendly guidance, or individuals who are already on a spiritual path and would enjoy hearing gentle reminders from kindred spirits.

Designed to be read as daily, weekly or spontaneous inspiration, OWAT contains many tools for contemplation, personal development and spiritual evolution. It can also be read aloud and shared in groups, as an aid to community building and discussion. It’s a practical book with a benevolent and reassuring tone that many will find both comforting and empowering.

One With All of Thee: Growing Your Sacred Connection, published by Project Mavens and Blue Violet Press, is the first volume in a series.

Contact:
Deborah Oster Pannell
projectmavensnyc@gmail.com

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Jen Dopazo Awarded for Book Cover of Lillian Ann Slugocki’s The Blue Hours

Kudos to design maven and Candelita founder Jennifer Dopazo for her brilliant book cover design for literary maven Lillian Ann Slugocki’s groundbreaking book, The Blue Hours. For this beautiful work, Candelita was just honored with an American Graphic Design Award.

According to sponsors, Graphic Design USA, “The American Graphic Design Awards is our four decade old flagship competition, and is open to everyone in the graphic arts community — graphic design firms, advertising agencies, inhouse corporate and institutional designers, publishers and other media. It honors outstanding new work of all kinds in 23 categories from print and packaging to internet and interactive design.”

Jen’s designs are an integral part of the Project Mavens collective. Her work can also be seen at Flash Fiction Highway, a new literary project co-founded by Lillian and fellow writer, Meg Pokrass, and on the cover of the new Project Mavens publication via BlueViolet Press, One With All of Thee: Growing Your Sacred Connection.

Unstoppable: Project Mavens Brings Gamification to PlannerTech

The crowd at PlannerTech 2013 featuring Triberr founder, Dino Dogan. #techsytalk

On Tuesday, August 13th, hundreds of members of New York City’s event planning community assembled for what has become the industry’s hottest tech event: PlannerTech. Produced by Liz King Events, this full day educational symposium, now in its fourth year, showcases new event technology companies and features cutting edge presentations from industry leaders like international meetings technology expert Corbin Ball and Chief Digital Officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sree Sreenivasan. The event was held at the innovative downtown meetings and events center, Convene, and with its hashtag #techsytalk, was trending in the top two spots in NYC on Twitter, with almost 84,000 total social media impressions during the day!

Project Mavens founder Deborah Oster Pannell and scene maven & event consultant Patricia Ng led an all-day community building game that culminated in a riotous speed-auction of tech toys, gift certificates, and yes, a leather ice bucket shaped like a pumpkin. Throughout the morning and afternoon, participants were rewarded for getting to know one another by earning “Techsy Bucks” for interesting tidbits they learned about new friends they met and then sharing these anecdotes with Deborah and Patricia.

It’s amazing how excited people get at the prospect of winning something. In the end, a dozen prizes were auctioned off, with new friends pooling their Techsy Bucks to bid as high as $10,000 for prizes including an Apple TV, earbuds, speakers, gift cards from mobile car service app Uber and event planning software company etouches, a $300 credit from the mobile event networking app Bizzabo, and the infamous pumpkin ice bucket.

Project Mavens specializes in developing innovative communication to build community and business relationships. Partnering with the LKE team was a great opportunity to bring the potency of language and storytelling into a dynamic, live setting. Not to mention the fun of seeing grown people wave play money in the air as they competed for prizes.

One With All of Thee – The Buzz is Growing

Project Mavens has partnered with BlueViolet Press to develop an e-book, due to be published on September 15, 2013. One With All of Thee: Growing Your Sacred Connection is a practical book of wisdom that follows in the steps of other divinely inspired books such as A Course in Miracles and The Four Agreements. It offers sacred text for modern spiritual seekers, in the timeless spirit of The Gnostic Gospels and The Mahabharata.

Author Celine Koropchak has been receiving divine messages for nearly her whole life – words of empowerment and guidance that resonate on many levels. This collection offers readers a sense of connection to the larger web of life, reminders that we already contain within ourselves, the spark of divinity that makes all things possible.

In language that vibrates with both grace and common sense, One With All of Thee offers a practical pathway to navigating life’s challenges with a light heart.

Learn more about One With All of Thee on Facebook.

No Summer Vacation for the Project Mavens

Summer. Languid, luxurious days, lounging in the sun, lapping up the water, sipping margaritas… Ha. Nice bit of flash fiction, because alas, fiction it is… We are busy here, too busy to think about taking more than a day or two, here and there, for R&R, as we roll out language on a variety of established projects, and work with new clients helping them bring their fresh vision to fruition.

Over the past couple months, we’ve been bringing our unique wordsmith skills to fields as diverse as finance, medicine, community development, tech and with the release of the upcoming book by BlueViolet Press, publishing.

Here are a few links to some of the great people we’ve had the fortune to work with recently:

Graef Financial Group

NeighborWorks America

ThriftyComputer

Janis Enzenbacher, MD

And last, but certainly not least, we are really excited about the upcoming September release of the new book, One With All of Thee: Growing Your Sacred Connection (O WAT), the premier publication of BlueViolet Press, edited by Literary Maven, Lillian Ann Slugocki. Have a look at the book’s introduction, here.

And of course, the divine cover art by Design Maven, Jenny Dopazo: