I am thrilled to be able to interview Jill Badonsky today. She is the author of Nine Modern Day Muses (and A Bodyguard) which is a fantastic, inspiring and encouraging book. Jill’s website is so fun! Be sure to sign up for her newsletter.
She is doing a blog tour to talk about her new book, The Awe-Manac, A Daily Dose of Wonder. Each day a different blog is posting an interview with Jill about the book. You can track all the interviews at Jill’s blog about the blog tour.
After reading the interview, I know you’ll want to go check out the book here. At the bottom of this post, you get to see a page of the book that Jill has graciously given us.
Zura: I am so happy to have the privilege of interviewing you, Jill. I feel so lucky that I get to peek inside your brain and ask you questions. Almost a month and a half into your tour now, are you sick of answering questions about yourself?
Jill: I feel completely indulgent answering so many questions about myself and it’s really interesting to read what I have to say about myself because it’s never what I thought I was going to say.. so no. The other thing is, people like you are asking GREAT questions, so thanks for making it easy.
Zura: The Awe-Manac just looks fun! Did you have fun writing and illustrating it?
Jill: Once I figured out what it was supposed to be, I had a blast. It was like a good drug but without the side effects. I laughed out loud a lot because I felt like I was channeling someone really funny. At the beginning, figuring out what the book was supposed to be made my brain hurt.
Zura: Jill, I know you to be highly creative, intelligent, playful and spontaneous. Many creative people who share these traits with you often find it hard to focus and stay organized in order to achieve their goals. How have you been able to stay spontaneous and yet run a successful business and write two major books?
Jill: It’s not easy. I just honor that some days are going to be completely unfocused and spontaneous in order to cut down on the resistance to being focused on the days when things need to get done. I also operate very intuitively and just set out to do a number of things that make sense in the moment – this makes it fun. I also use the same device I’ve included in The Awe-manac. I make a “Get-to-Do List” rather than a To-Do list and this makes everything sound like it’s going to be fun. I really feel I am blessed with having a business I am absolutely passionate about and selling two books that were a lot of fun to write – so that helps too.
Zura: Since my greatest passion is journaling, I was pleased to see that you include a “Journal Juju” on each page of the Awe-Manac. What does journaling [I know that's not an official word, but I am using it anyway because it needs to be one and maybe Google has some influence on Daniel Webster] mean to you?
[Edit by Zura: I don't think Daniel is the dictionary guy? Who is Webster?]
Jill: I agree. I changed my spell-check to add “journaling” as a word because I was annoyed when it kept telling me it was misspelled. Oh wait, what was the question?
Journaling means the following to me: practicing, self-talk that nurtures and motivates, play, test driving ideas, doodling, reflecting, centering, grounding, complaining, revising, mind-mapping, listing, thanking, acknowledging, and inventing. It is essential to my sanity and to the progression of ideas to reality.
Zura: So many people I know speak of not having time to create. We seem to think we need blocks with hours of time, but your book is the perfect answer. You give us a page each day of the year with a few very inspiring things to get our creative juices flowing. Did you know you were writing a solution to a problem so many people seem to have?
Jill: Yes, good observation. That’s why I wrote it that way. Taking small, repeated steps is what the Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching model I teach is based upon.. Kaizen is a Japanese word meaning “small, continuous steps.” Little bites of inspiration make it easy to stay creatively fortified in a time when we can become easily overwhelmed. Getting a creative hit just needs to happen for 5 minutes a day to make a huge change and that’s what The Awe-manac can provide.
Zura: Finally, Jill, is there a question you wish people would ask and haven’t? Something burning inside you that you want to share with us?
Jill: Yes, I’d like someone to ask me to be on Ellen or at the very least, The Colbert Report. Other than that, I ask you to ask yourselves, “What brings me alive?” And then, break it down into small and fun steps and go for it.
Thank you, Zura. Your blog is wonderful.
The Awes have it,
Jill
This is today’s page from The Awe-Manac, Daily Dose of Wonder. The book has 365 pages like this, full of fun, inspiration and great ideas!
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Jill Badonsky is a creativity coaching pioneer, inspirational humorist, artist, corporate drop-out and founder of The Muse Is In, a firm offering workshops, training and publication to enhance creativity in any endeavor. She is a nationally recognized workshop leader and author of The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard): 10 Guides to Creative Inspiration for Artists, Poets, Lovers and Other Mortals Wanting to Live a Dazzling Existence and The Awe-manac: A Daily Dose of Wonder. Jill trains individuals to creatively coach others based on an original model called Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching that has helped hundreds overcome creative obstacles, Visit and play at her websites: www.themuseisin.com, and www.kaizenmuse.com
Kristina and I are creating a website that you are going to LOVE, if you are involved in the online art community. It’s really awesome. We’re hoping to launch it in a week or so, so stay tuned for that.
