Blisscraft Life With Christina Katz

I am pleased to say that we now have 277 movies about writers & the writing life on the list that I have been curating for the past four years.

This all started with me and my husband sitting around one day bantering about writer movies.

Next thing you know I started creating a list (out of habit, I suppose). Then came the obsessive part, where I had to find them ALL.

Then came frustration because at the time IMDB was not all that helpful back then.

I can tell that the site has become more searchable, which means I may be introducing more titles for past years as my updates go on.

But for this year, I had to cut myself off. I could spend days on this type of research and never tire of it, but I have many other commitments for my time at the moment.

So, here is our newly updated 277 Movies About Writing & The Writing Life! I hope you enjoy it.

If you want to search the list and you don’t know the year, just hit Command + F on your computer and then type in the title and hit return. You should go right to it. Keep hitting return until you finish scanning the whole list and if something is not there, just let me know.

Click here to view the complete list…

And now here’s a challenge. Share your top five writer movies from this list in a blog post and tell us what you love about them.

Then link your post back to the list and I’ll help you spread the word on social media.

Have fun!

I have four articles in the Sept-Oct 2013 issue of Calgary's Child!

I’m excited to share that I have four articles in the most recent issue of Calgary’s Child.

Those of you who have read my latest e-book, Write For Regional Parenting Publications For Fun & Profit know that I am a big fan of Calgary’s Child.

They consistently do a great job of providing quality content in their bi-monthly magazine and they are courteous and kind to all of their writers.

Landing four articles in one issue was a new record for me. I had landed three articles in another pub already for September and that was already going to be a record for me. So imagine my surprise when I heard that I had four articles in this one!

Broke that record before I even saw it in print. 🙂

These were some of the articles I was referring to the other day when I said the 21 Moments Writing Challenge seems to have really improved my writing lately.

Tackle Tough Topics With Your Kids: Alcohol, Sex & Peer Pressure

Give Dance A Chance, 21 Reasons To Try Consistent Classes (also featured in North State Parent this month)

Happiest Kid In The Cafeteria, Better School Lunches All Week Long

13 Not-Too-Scary Halloween Movies The Whole Family Can Enjoy Together

Thanks for celebrating with me by developing your own article ideas and submitting them.

If you need help, my latest e-book is now rolling out in a variety of digital formats.

Please see the list below for what’s available so far:

Now available in PDF!

Now available on Kindle!

Now available in the iBookstore (check your device)!

Now available on Nook!

Now available at the Kobo eBookstore!

Now available at the Sony Reader Store!

Now available on Scribd!

Now available at the Copia eBookstore!

Now available for immediate download at Scribd.com!

Over the next few weeks, my newest e-book, Write For Regional Parenting Publications For Fun & Profit, will be rolling out in multiple digital formats. I’m so excited!

I know I have been promising to expand the formats since not long after the first version came out in March, but I was absolutely not going to move forward until the manuscript was tight and polished.

And now, after many rewrites, and thanks to generous feedback from initial readers and the eagle eye of proofreader extraordinaire, Cindy Hudson, the e-book is ready for mass-distribution!

As of yesterday, it appeared on Scribd.com complete with a nice long preview. Feel free to take a look and see what you think.

I added the subtitle, “A Step-By-Step Guide For Beginners” so there would be absolutely no confusion about what readers are getting in this guide.

What you get is what I do best: step-by-step instructions, so you can set and achieve doable writing career goals.

As the digital versions of this e-book roll out, I will announce them here, in hopes of finding just the right fit for your digital reading preferences.

Once upon a time you could publish a book in hardcover or paperback and pretty much satisfy everyone. These days, it makes sense to publish digitally first and then go to print if you find you have a demand.

Speaking of which, do I have a demand? Please let me know if you would like to see Write For Regional Parenting Publications For Fun & Profit in paperback and I will add that step to my to-do list.

Simply drop me a line at christina at christina katz dot com and let me know.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Each time I begin a 21 Moments Challenge, I have folks who want to join the next couple of days after the launch…and that’s fine.

You may not realize that each day’s prompts go out at 12:05 am each day. So today’s prompts have already gone out. Tomorrow’s will go out just after midnight. And the pattern will repeat all the way through the 21st of the month.

I am also not sure that folks realize that up to three folks from each challenge will get the next round free if they turn in a moment they wrote during the challenge and it is selected as an excellent example for that round.

So you can literally pay for Round One and then write your way through all the rounds if your work is consistently selected.

I do have participants who have accomplished this, and they are feeling pretty pleased with themselves, as they should!

So, if you were on vacation or back-to-school shopping or offline all weekend for any reason and you would like to jump in to the challenge that started today, Sunday, just go ahead and register for the next level in your progression, and I will add you in to the appropriate group.

This offer to jump in late is only available through Monday at midnight.

Starting on Tuesday, September 3rd, we will begin registration for the October round.

Happy writing to all the folks who are participating!

I am writing this round, but I won’t be sharing my results this time. I might again in the future, but not this month. I am going to take a more personal approach this time…and it’s going to feel good after a rather emotional month in August.

Register For Advanced Rounds by clicking on the appropriate badge.

Advanced rounds require completion of the prior round:

Level One

Level Two

Level Three

Level Four

I was recently reflecting on the uptick in article-writing success I’ve been having lately.

Obviously, some of my success comes from the fact that I am a freelance article writing expert. My name is known for consistent quality work, and this certainly gives me an edge.

However, something else was different and I just couldn’t seem to put my finger on it until some of my fall articles started rolling out.

As I was seeing them in print for the first time, it slowly started dawning on me.

My articles are better. They made a little quantum leap from last spring to this fall.

What was different?

My new articles are more compelling than many of my past parenting articles, and they tap into deeper topics than what I had been tackling before.

It sounded like my writing was getting…more brave.

And that’s when it hit me. I took the 21 Moments Challenge in the spring, and as I read my newly minted work, I recognized that little glimmer of shooting-from-the-hip honesty that came through in my 21 Moments drafts.

After taking the challenge myself, I could see that I was going for it more in my writing. I was connecting with topics that mattered to me and writing them in as honest and compelling of a manner as I could muster.

Something has shifted. I am quite certain it was something that was stirred up by taking my own writing challenge.

When I took the 21 Moments Writing Challenge it affected me quite a bit. Even more than I expected. I shared the results with the folks who took the challenge with me that month.

I’m kind of excited about this because it means, that not only does my writing challenge help other writers become better writers, it helps me become a better writer, too, if and when I take it.

And you know what? It can help become a better writer, too.

So if you want to go for it with your best writing topics and write them more deeply, honestly and thoroughly, I’d like to invite you to join us this fall.

We’re starting four levels of rounds on September 1st. And by September 21st, all those writers are going to be better at what they do.

But don’t just look for the immediate results on day 21. Keep looking in the months and even years that follow. And keep taking more levels of challenges if you feel that the challenge is working for you. I know I will!

And, please, let me know if you start to tap into something you can’t quite figure out that makes you feel like a stronger writer. I’d love to hear about it.

If you would like to join us, register here.

Now offering four rounds. Work your way through all four.

I know I will!

Sometimes we hear that the key to writing success is “just write.”

Sure writing is the first step, and unless you can write productively and write well, it’s pretty hard to grow a writing career.

I’m sorry to say that “just write” will only get you so far as a creative person.

Writers with an eye on professional success need to steer clear of anyone who says this job is “easy money” and “anyone can do it.”

If anyone could do it, don’t you think everyone would be doing it?

Of course, they would. But the truth is that it takes specific type of skill sets to succeed as a professional writer. And when you skip steps, guess what? You don’t build skill sets.

My best students are hard-working, always looking to grow their skill sets, willing to take input and critiques, open to new ways of thinking, and eager-yet-patient to expand their earnings. And this poise pays off big time.

As I discuss in thorough detail in The Writer’s Workout, successful writers and authors are like marathon runners. If you show up on the day of the race to watch, you won’t see all that the runners did in order to cross the finish line, you will only see the results. And if you want to go the distance like that, then you have to train that hard, as well. Really, really hard. And consistently.

Nobody is going to hand you writing career success. And anyone who promises to hand you any kind of secrets, short-cuts, or ways to skip steps is someone to steer clear of, not to embrace. Because congratulations, they just taught them how to not work. That’s going to get you pretty far.

Not.

I offer my students fun, engaging, structured ways to grow a career from wherever it is to the next level. My writing and platform challenges are perfect for folks who cannot afford a big time commitment but want to keep their skills growing and improving, while my classes are for writers who are ready to say, “I’m ready to do this. Game on!”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Confidence doesn’t come from wishing you had someone else’s results. Confidence comes from creating your own results, step by step, and skill by skill.

I’d be happy to work with you if you are ready to work. Because you’d be amazed how working steadily over time accumulates impressive results.

And even if you don’t, I’m happy so long as we are all celebrating the truth which is this:

Writing professionally is not easy; it’s challenging.

Pro writing is not for everyone; but for some of us, it’s incredibly satisfying. And goodness knows I sure love it.

I am flourishing. And you can learn to flourish too.

It isn’t about who you are or how much money you have at the outset of the journey. It’s about how determined you are to be taken seriously as a professional.

And when you learn how to behave like a total pro in your career, it improves the quality of your whole life.

You take yourself more seriously. Your self-esteem goes up. You start to dwell, as Emily Dickinson so famously said, in possibility, and this is a pretty awesome place to dwell.

I often encounter moms who admire what I do.

And I don’t blame them. I have the best career ever.

And it’s only taken me fourteen years to get here. 🙂

But what may not be immediately apparent to moms who want to work at home is that I did not get to where I am today by coveting what others had.

Okay, maybe I started that way. Maybe we all start that way.

But we should not act from envy. We should simply acknowledge that if we experience envy, then maybe we are not taking ourselves as seriously as we should.

Envy is not a signal that is telling you to copy or imitate what someone else is doing. It’s an inner voice that is shouting to be heard.

So let your envy help you turn inward and listen more closely as you build your skills that help you take yourself more seriously.

As for me, years ago before I was known, I would read freelance books by successful freelancers such as Linda Formichelli, Diana Burrell, and Kelly James Enger and then I would feel disappointed with myself.

These women seemed so much more driven than I was. They seemed to operate at a pace I would never be capable of achieving, never mind emulating.

Initially I erroneously believed that there was only one way to achieve success and that they all knew what it was and that I would never be able to compete.

And I was right. Because it wasn’t until I stopped trying to compete and imitate and emulate that I began to become more genuinely successful.

Once I stopped imagining that others had everything all figured out and embraced what I could learn and express for myself, then I started to experience my own momentum.

And once I started to experience my own momentum, then I started to become unstoppable and irrepressible…just like them. But also nothing like them and completely like me.

So in the long run, my career trajectory doesn’t look like those of the folks I initially looked up to, and if you look up to me, then maybe this is important for you to hear.

And when I look at my most prolific and profitable students, I can see that I have been successful in teaching them how to be themselves, not to imitate me. The more they are like them and not like me, the more successful they are.

I am here to teach writers to challenge themselves so they can learn new career skills and grow. I am not here to create a bunch of mini-me groupies. And I am most proud of my students when their work is a natural expression of everything they are.

So don’t go become a groupie, because we are all here to be ourselves in the world, not an imitation of someone else. The day you feel like an equal with the people you formerly placed on a pedestal is a day to celebrate.

We are all just people and success is equally available to all. Just make sure you are seeking your success and don’t try to take a ride on someone else’s bandwagon.

If you have not heard about my new-this-year writing challenge, The 21 Moments Writing Challenge, listen up, because the new season is about to start.

I created 21 moments so writers could benefit from working with me and see an improvement in their writing in a short time without having to pay high fees.

The reason 21 Moments works is because I offer a whole new way to look at and learn from excellent quality writing.

I encourage writers not to analyze excellent writing but to let it prompt them to create excellent writing of their own.

Check out how 21 Moments works here. I hope you can join us on September first for one of four rounds of the 21 Moments Writing Challenge. You will be so glad you did. You will learn a ton about creating quality writing by example. And it’s only $21.

Register here or click on the appropriate button at the bottom of the page. Here’s what past participants had to say about the challenge:

The 21 Moments Writing Challenge was the launching point for my daily writing, and as a result I felt more creative and had more ideas to pursue during the rest of the day. ~ Cindy H.

21 Moments taught me that it is quite possible to write every day, regardless of a job, other commitments or distractions. Anything can be turned into a moment to write about. The possibilities are surprising and endless! Thanks, Christina! I am recommending 21 Moments to others! ~ Ruth Ann A.

The challenge was just what I needed to get my writing going again, and to make writing a priority in my life again in a stress-free way. ~ Ellen S.

I’ve been “stalking” Christina (in a non-scary way, of course…) online for years. Watching her classes, watching her celebrate her students and wishing from afar I could participate. When a friend suggested that I really needed to get serious about my writing I decided I’d jump on this challenge as a way to motivate myself and learn a little from Christina. Best decision ever! It was just right for me! And the nudge to write a moment every day has led me to produce some great writing that I would not have otherwise attempted. Thank you! ~ Christy M.

21 Moments was a perfect challenge to boost my writing slump. I felt no pressure to meet deadlines or write to a specific prompt. I loved the flexibility without being monitored. The price is so-o-o reasonable. I plan to increase my personal commitment on Round 2. Let’s get started! ~ Illene S.

I got deep thinking, deep writing, and a sense of accomplishment. The writings I produced were all about me – it felt good to loosen up and just write. ~ Krysty K.

Christina’s’ writing challenge makes limp brain cells come alive to push words across the page. ~ Lila J.

I had ideas for stories I’ve been wanting to write, but I decided to just enjoy the pieces Christina gave us to read each day and see what transpired. Sometimes the pieces gave me moments related to what I wanted to write, sometimes not. What they DID do is give me the motivation to write. Every. Single. Day!  An additional benefit of the challenge, even though we don’t interact with others: I came to feel part of a group. I looked forward to checking my inbox each morning and the commitment I’d made to writing for 21 days. I used to do morning pages, but for me, I didn’t have the discipline to get it done. This works for me! ~ Mandy S.

I love Christina Katz’s versatility as a teacher. She is always looking for new and creative ways to motivate her students to write. She has done it with the 21 Moments Challenge. Short and sweet, easy to keep up with and an excellent value. ~ Kristin W.

Every month I am published in regional parenting publications all over North America. I have been writing for regional parenting magazines for many years, and every year I enjoy it more than the year before.

I have always enjoyed writing for regional parenting publications, since I started writing for them many moons ago, and I am sure I always will.

Here are a few reasons why:

1. Because it’s fun!

2. Because it’s not easy but it’s manageable for busy moms.

3. Because it’s a great way to learn about writing for professional publications.

4. Because you can write about inspiration, challenges, and aha moments from your own life.

5. Because you gain writing and editing skills through practice.

6. Because you learn how to interact with editors and publishers as you succeed.

7. Because you want to expand, deepen, or supplement writing skills you already have.

8. Because it makes a great part-time, stay-at-home business for moms craving intellectual stimulation and connection with intelligent others.

9. Because regional publications continue to thrive even as larger publications flounder.

10. Because it only gets more fun the more you do it and the larger body of work you build up.

Some writers approach writing for regional parenting publications as if it were just another way to make a buck. But this is a big mistake because these are real people producing these publications, and more than anything they care about their communities and their readers.

If you want to be a successful regional parenting writer, you need to proceed in a thoughtful manner and submit like a pro. Accept no shortcuts because nothing less than professionalism will serve you and your career in the long run.

You can see your byline in ink, right next to journalists who have been writing for publication for decades, and feel all the gratification that comes with knowing that your work was selected from a spectrum of submissions.

There are many ways you can learn about writing for regional parenting publications from me, if you do not already know how or if you wish to take your skills to the next level.

I am the author of Write For Regional Parenting Publications For Fun & Profit.

I also teach two popular video courses on short article writing in my online school:

The Art Of Short Article Writing For Nonfiction Writers

Become An Article Idea Factory & Prosper Professionally

The Art Of Selling Articles Like A Seasoned Pro

I offer a monthly goal-setting program called Become Your Own Writing Coach & Multiply Your Productivity x 10 for writers who are finding their writing and submitting grooves.

I hope we will have a chance to work together soon. In the meantime, I wish you the best of luck in your professional writing pursuits!

So much inspiration, so much time! Please subscribe to the Create, Share, Prosper blog and sign up for The Prosperous Creative ezine for exclusive discounts you won’t find elsewhere. Click on the Enter School tab above to put your creativity to prosperous use right now. Join my monthly pep talk video series because all the other prosperous writers are doing it. Like words? Check out my Etsy shop. And you haven’t seen anything, if you haven’t seen all the helpful offerings in my online shop. Thanks for reading and thanks for sharing this post with fellow creatives!

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