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With a whirlwind month – Florida, St. Louis, MO, and the past weekend at our first writers’ retreat for Buzz Books in Guthrie, OK- I’m pleased to report I’m feeling more inspired than exhausted. Nothing like shaking up your schedule to reinvigorate your spirit.

While I should feel inspired to WRITE more after a writers’ retreat, my first priorities are final edits on two books (my next novel, SOMETHING NEW, and my first YA novel under pen name Lena Brown, GODDESS SISTERS); and working on many Buzz projects and Athena marketing projects. I do need to sneak in a kick ass short story pretty quickly, though. But the retreat did its job to inspire me with new ideas and a jolt of productivity that comes from deep within, versus simply playing catch up from a harried schedule. Here are the 7 verbs that will keep me on top of my game and might help you, too.

1. State your intentions. Daily. Affirmations work.
2. Stay positive. It’s simply tough to stay inspired if you start going down the negative path. (Or letting others kick you there.)
3. Produce. I passed around buttons to our writers, symbolizing “butt on the seat and write.” If you aren’t producing you aren’t getting closer to your goal, and not making traction can make inspiration feel like a flat tire.
4. Relax. If we don’t give ourselves a bit of down time, we may feel burn out before we’ve reached our goal. I like a few minutes in the morning outside, a short walk and then a relaxing bath to help me unwind from my rigorous day.
5. Read words that inspire you. Good on ya if you get inspiration from social media, but studies show it does the opposite – sucks our energy and can make us feel more anxiety and depression. Instead, read something that lifts you up.
6. Reward yourself. I love mini-rewards (things that are healthy for me, or Starbucks, which belongs in a class all its own.) You are your own best cheerleader.
7. Share. One of the best ways I get inspired is to share my stories with others. Whether that’s one-on-one or with a group, a wonderful dynamic happens in the exchange and that energy field seems to grow. Spend time around people and places that recharge you, not drain you.

This week’s slideshow is from the wonderful weekend at The Magnolia Moon. Special thanks to our patron, Gary Good, and for the time and ideas brought by my team, Cyndy Hoenig, Dani Stone and Mari Farthing, as well as Cyndy’s associate Shae; and to all the writers for making the trip from both ends of Oklahoma as well as Kansas. Good luck to them on their writing journeys.

I’d love to hear ways that you stay inspired.