Author Archives: vivienne

Yup, it seems as though I am.

Now, this might seem like a big thing to proclaim and it is.

And it is a few years in the making.

Now, this isn’t one of those announcements where I’m telling you I got a book deal.  Nope, no specific publisher is awaiting this book (though I have a few in mind).

This is a proclamation of beginning.

Because I think it will help me commit to the writing process, but also because it took a long time to be ready to write this and I kind of want to celebrate the ups and downs it sometimes takes just to begin something BIG.

This is pretty much the biggest dream I have for my life (other than finding love, having a family and living a life rich in love and happiness…that would rock too).

Like any creative journey it has been full of ups and downs (and I’m just starting the actual writing process…its been a rollercoaster just getting here).  But today over my morning coffee I just felt the words filling up my thoughts, the ones to begin it all and I knew it was finally time to just do it.

So I did.

7000+ words on day one (I’m sure not every day will be remotely as much, but apparently it was indeed time to begin).

Today seemed to be the day that I finally (FINALLY) got out of my own way and started.

Even as I was writing this morning I still had thoughts of ‘I’m not a writer’ and ‘I don’t know how to write a book’.

What I do know is that I feel deeply compelled to let the mission of Be Your Own Beloved go out to the world in the form of a book.  In fact I feel like I have to do it.

And saying ‘I’m writing a book’ didn’t come without a whole lot of fear.

I wrote it down in my Mondo Beyondo list many years ago, scared silly to even speak it aloud.

For I while the rollercoaster was that Be Your Own Beloved was evolving from the original self-portrait E-Course You are Your Own Muse and I was working on making YAYOM the book, yet the beloved mission was just being born and I needed time to let it evolve.  My work was shifting and changing and it wasn’t time for the book to be birthed.

For the last year I’ve been gathering up blog posts both in a paper form (inspired by my awesome mentor Jennifer Lee) and in a document in Scrivener (oh i love scrivener).  I’ve been slowly bit by bit working on an outline for this book.  So there was a lot of work happening before I was even ready to start writing.

Then in the spring I stopped working on it completely.  I felt like I was procrastonating on actually beginning the writing or letting fear get in my way and actually really beat myself up about that.  Then suddenly I felt this strong urge to read read read and thats just what I did.  Now it makes sense, that I needed a break from the planning to just devour books for a while, to notice what drew me in about the books I was loving, do to more research and to find a place where if I trusted I knew what I loved about these books, it would help me figure out ‘how to write a book’.

I just feel as though I need to let this book out and create what I wish I could have found along the path to self-love, to let the be your own beloved message be something you might stumble across in a book store some day and it might help you see yourself with kindness.

I wanted to say this all out loud as I really want to make this happen and as of today, I feel like I’m finally ready.

So of course it might take a while, but I’m grateful that today my inner critic stepped aside, saying nothing and said let another voice emerge that said ‘Its time to write’.  And so it begins.

So, for a while now, the amazing Anna Guest-Jelley of Curvy Yoga and I have been working on a collaboration and today is the day that we are finally going to spill the beans!

I came across Anna’s work last year and LOVED the idea of yoga that invited folks of all body types to participate and feel welcomed.  I knew right away seeing her blog posts and website that our philosophies of body-acceptance overlapped.

So earlier this year when Anna signed up for Be Your Own Beloved, I was beyond honoured.  Then even more honoured that she not just enjoyed the class but found it really transformative.  I adore when folks who are just beginning their self-love journey decided to join in on Be Your Own Beloved and also those who have been on their self-love journey for a long while but never tried the tool of self-portraiture.

So after Anna’s experience with Be Your Own Beloved, we got chatting about the merging of yoga and self-portraiture in the form of an E-Course and the day has finally come for us to share what we have created for you!

Yes, Curvy Yoga + Be Your Own Beloved = Practice: Embodying your Curvy & Beloved Body! 

And you don’t need to be a yogini.

You don’t need to own a fancy camera.

You just need to be inspired to explore the merging of yoga and self-portrait photography as a tool for feeling embodied in your curvy beloved body!

So are you ready?

Anna and I are proud to introduce you to:

Practice: Embodying your Curvy Beloved Body!  

You can find out more about the class over at Anna’s Curvy Yoga Website and registration is now open!

Class runs August 26th-September 20th and the cost is $49!

I’m sending off another magazine article today that will be out this fall and the print copy of Amulet arrived yesterday (and it is SO breathtaking). I’m realizing how much this has been the year of the magazine for me.  Its been really exciting and so many firsts. The first time doing a shoot specifically for a magazine, the first time with a photo on the cover and one coming out in the fall actually has my name and article info on the cover, another first.  Something about holding a print magazine in your hands is really really magical.

Its been beautiful and each time these opportunities have come forward they have been a big YES to me.  But today I suddenly remembered the part of me who when I’d read about people being in magazines like Artful Blogging or Somerset Life would fill me with BIG jealousy. Of course, those emotions being a sign that it was something I deeply wanted in my own life.

I knew that I needed to try for this dream and contacted the folks at Stampington about submitting an article (this was a couple years back now).  Sometimes when we are putting our work out there, folks might come to us to submit but often we need to go out there ourselves and initiate that dream coming true.  A while back I wrote a blog post called ‘Turning Jealousy into Creative Action’ and shared a few of the ways I was struggling with that.

So I wanted to write this today, kind of for that girl who is me who had those feelings and maybe for you in case you’re feeling like ‘Awesome that you’re in another magazine Viv, but is there room for me to do that?  When is it my turn?’  I think those are totally valid feelings and if you happen to be having them, I wanted to share some resources with you that I’ve found recently about submitting to magazines…and yes, there is room for you, yes there is an article in you just waiting to be birthed and I hope that you’ll gift yourself with the chance to make that happen!

Print Magazines-

Stampington:  Stampington produces a whole variety of magazines including Artful Blogging, Somerset Life and other more craft specific magazines and they are so welcoming of inquiries about articles.  They have great calls and challenges to submit to and here are some submission guidelines!

Danielle Magazine: Danielle Laporte is putting out a brand new magazine and she has an amazing call for submissions.  There is so much that she is looking for and I think it is a great way to take even a small step…I know the idea of submitting to Danielle’s Magazine might feel BIG but you can do something as simple as submit one image and she makes it really easy to.  Do it!!!

Amulet Magazine:  Amulet Magazine just rocks and you’ll be in awe of their submission page!  I bet you’ll be inspired and they welcome emails about submitting to their magazine!

Online Magazine or Zines-

Sprout Magazine is an awesome online publication I’ve been honoured to be in a few issues of.  Amanda rocks and has some rockin’ themes coming up (next up…Whimsy). Here’s info about submitting!

Glitter & Grunge is a new zine being put out by Mindy Tsonas of Wishstudio.  Here is a bit of info about submitting!

Are there other print or online magazines you’ve seen or submitted to.  Lets share resources and help one another get that one step closer to manifesting our dreams of being in a magazine!