Steve Martin and My Metaphysical Writing Group

About two years ago I started a hypnotherapy journey. I am now a hypnotherapist and love using it to help writers and myself really enjoy the writing process and dig into their creative depths. Well, last month after finishing a non-fiction book project that has taken much of my time for my the last 2 1/2 years, I started working on my own memoirs again, (mostly a collection of stories from my childhood -some of the published ones are archived here) and it is bringing me so much joy. I have been using all of my own tools and finding great surprises along the way.

The funnest part about this journey is that I have started a new writing group. Steve Martin, who I adore as a writer, is in my group. Some of you know that I have been wanting to meet Steve for a while. Well, I finally met him in a metaphysical imagery journey in which we were both sitting in two chairs by a cozy fire in a cabin in the woods. If you are wondering, yes there was a stream outside. Ah, the mind.

Warning. This blog is about to enter the realm of the metaphysical and unprovable. Right where I like to be. Most of the best things in life are unprovable. Like poetry. How does it work? How does it break the chains of time and space and shift us when we hear it read aloud next to paintings of flowers and haystacks. No one really knows, and when we try to talk about it, we are using the part of our mind that doesn't really believe in it anyway. That's why analyzing and talking about the metaphysical always feels woo-woo.

But back to my writing group. Steve and I really connected when we met and we decided to start a writing group. He insisted that we invite his friend Julie, because she is a very good workshopper and has been very valuable to him in his writing journey, and I trust him completely. So we invited her. I don't know her well yet, but she seems to be quite lovely. I wanted to invite Annie Dillard, but Steve was not sure at first. He's much shyer than you'd think. I'm not sure what his hesitation was, but once we got her on Skype she was great and we all had great chemistry.

So we meet like that, the 4 of us, weekly around my square dining room table, and sometimes we are serious and sometimes we laugh and sometimes we lie on the floor and listen to a recording of some hypnosis track that I made earlier. And sometimes... well no, I won't share everything.

Suffice it to say, I'm happier than ever and producing great writing. Perhaps I will even update Cartoon Physics, soon. I hope everyone is enjoying the writing life as much as I am.

Who is your metaphysical writing mentor?

Hypno-What?

I have been getting quite a few questions about our upcoming writing class. Here are the answers:

• It is a personal essay class.

• You can expect to do writing assignments, read essays and critique them, and have brilliant discussions over tea.

• Fiction writers and screen writers are welcome. All writing comes from personal experience so it should help your craft, regardless what your favorite genre.

• Yes you can get (most of) your money back after the first class if you don't like it or think it is weird.
• No you will not bark like a dog.
• Hypnosis is a natural state--nothing like a stage hypnosis show. What Ms. Austin will be doing is actually called Therapeutic Imagery. Which means you use your imagination. Imagine that! You should be good at it by now. It's actually quite fun and relaxing and has dramatically changed my life. But that is for another post.

Please direct any other questions to me or Ms. Austin.

Happy Writing!

New Class - Hypnosis and Writing

Blocked? Need motivation to write? Want to get in and out of flow easily and effortlessly? This is what we have been up to. Felice Austin, president of Memoirs Ink and hypnotherapist has put together this unique and totally awesome hypno-writing class. Right now it is only for Los Angeles residents, but we hope to make it available online in the future. Check out this video and if you live in L.A. enroll today! To learn more about the unconscious mind and it's power to transform your life, visit www.treeoflifehypnosis.net.

Tell Me Your Biggest Challenges

What you may not know is that in the past year I have become a hypnotherapist. My interest in hypnotherapy started with childbirth, but now I see how it can benefit literally every field. And so I have decided to put together a hypno-writing class. What that means is that in addition to the regular writing instruction and all that jazz, it would also include hypnosis. I have found hypnotherapy to be one of the most effective modalities for making behavioral changes. For example, increasing motivation, habit control, blocking negativity, and yes, getting into "flow" quickly. Flow is basically as hypnotic state. Hypnotherapy can also be used to deal with emotional issues that come up, especially when writing a memoir and facing the past. Hypnotherapy can heal your inner child, vent out negative beliefs, reduce anxiety, eliminate fears and phobias and much more.

So that's where those muses frolic.

So, what I want to know from you is what are your biggest challenges as writers or would be memoirists? I would like to know what issues are most common so that when I make the hypnosis tracks to go along with the class, I know what will be most useful. Feel free to just freewrite and vent them all in the comments. Or send me a private email. I look forward to hearing from you.