When I was at a writing retreat last spring, I met Tama Kieves, a Harvard Law school grad turned life coach and self-help author. I’m usually a bit cynical about the inspiration biz, but I was feeling a little stuck in my own career at the time. I had spent two years on a novel that didn’t sell, and it had been ten years since I’d done what I felt was my best work. I found all this starting to pour out of me over lunch with her. Tama, it turned out, had some suggestions.
These ideas can be found in her latest book Thriving Through Uncertainty, which was released in January. A few of the sections I found useful were:
“Sometimes You Have To Feel The Pain.” I was hiding how upset I was about the noveI even from myself. That alone was keeping me stuck.
“Drop Your Demands, Raise Your Possibilities.” I always thought if I just worked hard enough, self-discipline would push me through the next level. But I was banging on the same door over and over. What about trying something different?
“Remember When You Got It Right.” The few times in my life I had been inspired out of the blue were, as Tama puts it, my personal fairy tales. They still contained some magic dust.
Thriving Through Uncertainty is jam-packed with words to live by, with inspiring stories, with exercises and suggestions. According to Tama, it’s meant to be read a little at a time, and it’s okay to jump around. She urges readers to write to her and share their specific problem; she offers workshops and retreat. You don’t have to be a connoisseur of this sort of thing; you may even be a cynic, like me.
The thing is, I think it helped. I have a book coming out this fall which is one of my favorite things I’ve ever written, and Tama’s encouragement came at a point where I just didn’t believe those peaks could still happen.
–Marion Winik
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