Back From the River

I'm back from the "Write On the River" event
in Wenatchee, Washington. What a
wonderful trip! Drove into Seattle on
Thursday, rented a car and drove down to
Eugene, Oregon where I visited with friends
and then on Friday visited an Arts high
school in Springfield Oregon. Then the
next day I drove up to Wenatchee, through
 some absolutely beautiful country, where
I stayed at Kay and Tom Kenyon's lovely
 house. The next day I gave two lectures,
 one on the Hero's Journey and the
 other on Writing the Thriller.

Magic happened in that room. Got
comments back like:
"You've changed my life"
"The best talk on writing I've ever heard"
"I finally understand how it all works"
and, most satisfyingly, "where can
 I get a copy of that talk!!!?"

Well, more on that soon.

But meanwhile, the critical thing
to communicate is that I had no
notes, no real preparation other
 than printing up hand-outs. You
 can only get responses like that if
you are teaching what you know and
 live. It can't be theory. There isn't
a day of my life that I don't explore
and express the principles I spoke of.

And this is what I want for you...each
of you. Whether it is increasing your
 own output or teaching principles to
 others, you want to move your most
important skills to the level of "unconscious
competence" by:

1) Identifying a small number of life
 principles that can impact every aspect
of your life. I personally use the Hero's
Journey, the Chakras, and Musashi's
 principles.

2) Study them and apply them in every
 major life arena: body, mind, spirit, and
finances.

3) Journal your application of the principles,
and see which of them are most useful.
How you are using them. How they
 interact, and do they interact smoothly
and powerfully.

There is NO WAY to hurry through this.
The first year is just a beginning. I've
been weaving these principles together for
twenty years, and still just starting to
understand. But one thing is clear: I have
to customize every critical principle and
practice to my individual needs: "off the
shelf" just doesn't cut it any more!


What about you?

Steve
###
P.S.--stay tuned. There will be a special
 announcement about the MP3s from the
Wenatchee lecture, coming early next week!