Mark Matousek – Liberating Your Authentic Writing Voice

It’s time to get writing! In this first module, you’ll learn to recognize the unique qualities of your authentic voice. Is it grounded or ethereal, narrative or abstract, lyrical or worldly wise? Identifying the strengths and weaknesses in your writing voice enables you to conceive your vision organically, as a natural outgrowth of your particular gifts.

In this module, you’ll:

• Apply powerful writing practices that bring forth the energy and qualities of your true voice
• Identify what works (and what doesn’t work) in your writing voice
• Watch your vision emerge organically out of your writing and authentic voice
• Allow your gifts to begin to come to light through your writing voice

Having located your authentic voice, it’s time to envision what you wish to create. Specificity is key to this process; imagining your heart’s desires in as detailed a way as possible will help you clarify the creative process ahead. What is motivating you to do this work? What are your desired outcomes? Who is your audience, and what do you hope they gain from your vision?

In this module, you’ll:

• Envision the “product” of your vision — memoir, novel, legacy project, etc.
• Through a self-inquiry writing practice, clarify your motivation and desires for this process
• Identify the specific steps to bring your vision into the world
• Define your audience and the ways you hope your work will help heal, transform, or inspire them

Having cleared the way for your vision to take root, it’s helpful to cultivate a realistic work plan. Even though this plan is likely to change and evolve, crafting it now grounds the imagination nonetheless. You come to learn that order is freedom, planning is play, and structure is the secret to manifestation.

In this module, you’ll:

• Establish a realistic work plan and writing schedule you feel good about
• Cultivate a balance between planning and spontaneous creation
• Begin to create a structure in which your vision can take root
• Share your challenges, concerns, questions, and insights with Mark — and receive personal coaching and guidance

How do you decide on the shape of your work, the precise form that it’s going to take? It’s here that many creative people throw up their hands and give up. It’s common to resist specificity, especially when you’re feeling inspired, but the more precise the imagined outcome — while knowing full well that whatever structure you build is certain to change — the firmer your grasp on the task at hand.

In this module, you’ll:

• Define the precise form your work will take
• Persist even when you want to resist, modifying your structure as needed
• Apply techniques to release resistance to structure
• Draw on the guidance of your authentic voice to “course-correct” if you lose your way

The creative process often triggers your shadow and the voices of self-sabotage. The closer you get to realizing your vision, the louder and more invasive these internal enemies are likely to become. By understanding their negative messages, you disempower these creative foes and build confidence in your authentic voice.

In this module, you’ll:

• Address the parts of you that seem determined to stall your forward motion
• Understand what these “saboteurs” are attempting to communicate and heal
• Discover shadow aspects triggered by your creative process
• Harness the creative energy of internal conflict — to make your writing original and more meaningful to your intended audience

Next, we explore the importance of stamina, faith, and flexibility in completing both short-term and long-term projects. When we make an ally of discipline, we become our own authority, and cease looking toward others for affirmation. Discipline is the spine that keeps us upright and forward moving on the path to completion. Without the freedom to “fail well,” and learn from our creative mistakes, we cannot do our best work.

In this module, you’ll:

• Make healthy discipline your ally — the key to being a successful author and master of your own life
• Cultivate the willingness to “fail well” so you can apply lessons learned to your creative vision
• Deepen your faith in your own vision and creative process
• Turn inward for validation and to affirm your own worth and skills as a writer

In this final lesson, we explore the question of what to do when our work is finished. How do we know when it’s good enough — and when the vision needs revision? Once the final draft is completed, how do we bring our creative work into the world and make our authentic voice heard? Students will finish the course with practical tools and a game plan for moving forward.

In this module, you’ll:

• Review your writing progress and product so far
• Continue to deepen into your authentic writing voice
• Begin the revision process if it’s time for that
• Create a plan for bringing your work into the world — from revision to outside editing to publication to promotion
• Receive practical tools and a game plan for the next phase of your journey as a writer