Announcing the first 24-Hour Short Story Contest and Giving Away a FREE Spot!!!

I am super excited to announce the first ever Creative Bliss Studios 24-Hour Short Story Contest! 

Would you like a kick start to your creative writing? A 24-Hour Short Story Contest is a super fun way to do just that! The time limit helps to kick your inner critic to the curb while having a crazy fun time writing a short story in only 24 hours! 

I have done this several times in the past and it has been so much fun. I Love It! It is a time of high energy, wild creativity, is super fun, and is infused with a high dose of sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat anticipation! 

Imagine . . . at 12:00 p.m. EST on the Saturday this contest begins you receive a writing prompt in your email. You have no idea what the writing prompt will be and your excitement and energy has been pumped up all morning as you wait for the 12:00 to arrive. At 12:00, you open your email, full of excitement to find out what that prompt is. When you read the prompt your creative mind is instantly swirling with possibilities. 

You write out a few ideas on which direction you could go with the prompt and then you are off for 24 hours of a wildly creative ride to the finish line of 12:00 p.m. EST on Sunday when you attach your short story to an email and hit "Send!" 

You are going to feel like you accomplished something BIG! You have just written, edited, and rewritten a whole short story in only 24 hours!!! You should celebrate! You deserve it. :) 

THEN, the following Saturday you will find out if YOU are the talented winner of the 24-Hour Short Story Contest! 

I will be compiling all the entries into a book that will be available to purchase every quarter. Imagine the pure delight and joy and sense of accomplishment and fulfillment in seeing your story in print! 

The book will include spot light interviews with all the winners, as well as space for every participant to include a short bio, with links to your website, blog, social media pages, etc.! 

Of course, you can choose not to have your story published in the compilation. Before the stories will be compiled into book form you can let me know if you want to opt out of publication. But seriously, I would jump on that opportunity!!! You will have all rights to your story and can publish it anywhere else you would like to, as long as you mention that it was first published in this book (I haven't decided on a title yet . . .).  

There is a small entrance fee of $10.00. Shortly after you have paid your entrance fee, you will receive an email from me with all the details and rules of the contest. 

Next week, I will be announcing what the prizes will be. I cannot wait to let you all know. You are going to LOVE it!!!

I am giving away a FREE spot in the first ever Creative Bliss Studios 24-Hour Short Story Contest, which is taking place on August 24, 2013. Comment below for a chance to win your FREE spot. Woohooo!!!! 

You can earn more chances to win by posting on your blog, making sure to include a link back to this post, as well as sharing this post on Twitter and Facebook. 

So, you can earn FOUR chances to win by:

Commenting below
Sharing this post on your blog
Sharing this post on Twitter
Sharing this post on Facebook

This is what I tweeted on my Twitter page at@KimSmithCreates :

24-Hour Short Story Contest! Have a wildly creative fun time and the chance to win awesome prizes. Join the fun at http://ow.ly/nf4Q7 

Make sure to let me know in your comments below if you have shared this post in any or all of the above mentioned extra ways to earn more chances to win!

Wishing you all a celebratory week and weekend! And don't forget to feel your celebrations. ;)

Click on the "Buy Now" button below to enter this crazy fun contest and have the chance to win some really cool prizes!!!  

 

DOY BlogLovin' Tour:: CELEBRATION and a Give-Away!

I am so excited to write about Celebration this week because this week has brought me SO many things to celebrate! I have been loving this Declaration of You BlogLovin' Tour. It has been so much fun to participate. Here is the info on this BlogLovin' Book Tour and below is my thoughts on Celebration and a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! 

"The Declaration of You will be published by North Light Craft Books this summer, with readers getting all the permission they've craved to step passionately into their lives, discover how they and their gifts are unique and uncover what they are meant to do! This post is part of The Declaration of You's BlogLovin' Tour, which I'm thrilled to participate in alongside over 100 other creative bloggers. Learn more -- and join us! -- by clicking here."

I am celebrating several wonderful things in my life right now, and in honor of these accomplishments, I want to pass the celebration onto you! 

I am hosting the first Creative Bliss Studios 24-Hour Short Story Contest! I love a good contest, don't you? This contest is a wildly creative fun time of high-energy, focused writing that could win you some amazing prizes! More about that in a little bit. 

Last week, in my coaching training program, I did my first peer practice coaching session as well as a 10-minute speaking presentation. I was so nervous because I had never done either before, but I did so much better than I thought I would. 

This is a big accomplishment for me and the best way that I celebrated this was to simply acknowledge it and let myself soak in the happiness and joy and pride that I felt. 

It is so easy to dismiss our accomplishments, isn't it? You are excited for a moment, but then it's back to work, tackling your next goal. I encourage you to allow yourself the time to really soak in your accomplishments. I have been celebrating this all week by taking some time each day to remember this accomplishment and feel the joy. 

Another celebration this week is that my daughter is getting married this Saturday, July 27th! We are heading out to New Jersey tonight to help with last minute preparations and share the celebration and joy for this beautiful milestone in my daughter's life. I can't wait to see my baby girl!!! 

This past Saturday, I got engaged!!!!! My love and I have been together for four years and we are so happy to be moving forward to the next step in our life together. I'll post a photo of my gorgeous ring when we get back from New Jersey. :)

We often think of celebrations in big ways - parties, gifts, etc. Since we are saving for the trip to New Jersey, we haven't had the funds to celebrate in those kinds of ways. So, what I have learned this week is that allowing myself to soak in the happiness, joy, pride, and accomplishment I feel is the best celebration that I have ever had! It is a continuous celebration, carrying with it extended feelings of happiness, joy, and excitement. 

And now, here is my offering to you in celebration of all the accomplishments and joyful occasions I have been enjoying this past week:

I am giving away a FREE spot in the first ever Creative Bliss Studios 24-Hour Short Story Contest, which is taking place on August 24, 2013. Comment below for a chance to win your FREE spot. Woohooo!!!! 

You can earn more chances to win by posting on your blog, making sure to include a link back to this post, as well as sharing this post on Twitter and Facebook. 

So, you can earn FOUR chances to win by:

Commenting below
Sharing this post on your blog
Sharing this post on Twitter
Sharing this post on Facebook

This is what I tweeted on my Twitter page at @KimSmithCreates :

24-Hour Short Story Contest! Have a wildly creative fun time and the chance to win awesome prizes. Join the fun at http://ow.ly/nf4Q7 

Make sure to let me know in your comments below if you have shared this post in any or all of the above mentioned extra ways to earn more chances to win!

Wishing you all a celebratory week and weekend! And don't forget to feel your celebrations. ;)

~ xo Kim

Beautiful vision and clarity through journaling today

I just had the most amazing vision of what I want Creative Bliss Studios to be! Here's how it came to be:

I was writing in my journal about how I've been ignoring the many whispers in my heart for such a long time. Recently they are becoming stronger and stronger and getting louder and louder. I am realizing that in order to honor myself, I want to let go of the fear surrounding these heart whispers (mostly having to do with self-doubt) and honor myself by doing the things my heart is yearning for me to do.

Then suddenly, Bam! I figured out what I want to do my 10-minute Speaking Practice Session on in my coaching training!

For weeks now, I have been racking my brain trying to figure out what in the world my speaking presentation should be on. I don't know why I haven't journaled about it before. Journaling helps me figure out so many things.

As I was writing about the whispers of my heart and jotting down some notes about my new found speaking presentation topic, I started getting ideas for my biz here. That led to brainstorming a list of things and then suddenly one of the things in my list just turned something on within me and I got this beautiful vision for Creative Bliss Studios.

As this vision became stronger, I gently closed my eyes and wrote what I saw in vivid detail. I felt in my heart so deeply exactly how I want my readers, clients, and customers to feel when stopping by my creative little corner of the web. I have never experienced such a vivid vision before, complete with such intense feelings. It swept me away in the most delicious of ways.

I am so excited about this beautiful new vision and can't wait to get started on it!

Just thought I'd share that with all you beautiful souls who stop by my blog. :)

I'd love to hear if you've ever experienced such a breakthrough while journaling before. If so, would you share your stories with me in the comments below? Let's share our successes!

xo ~ Kim

DOY BlogLovin' Tour:: Success!

"The Declaration of You will be published by North Light Craft Books this summer, with readers getting all the permission they've craved to step passionately into their lives, discover how they and their gifts are unique and uncover what they are meant to do! This post is part of The Declaration of You's BlogLovin' Tour, which I'm thrilled to participate in alongside over 100 other creative bloggers. Learn more -- and join us! -- by clicking here."

I have to admit that my thoughts about success before reading all the wonderful posts in this week's BlogLovin' Tour were a little quite narrow. 

For so long I've thought I was a failure with so many things. Of course I have had some successes along the way, but I thought my failures outweighed my successes. 

But now I see success in a whole new way. So many of the posts talk about success as how you feel. Seriously? How cool is that! 

Success is how I feel about myself, my life, my choices, the people I am surrounded by, the activities I chose to take part in. With this change of thought, I feel so relieved to find out that I'm not a failure after all. I have had SO many successes!  

Successes can be so small and seem almost insignificant. But don't discount them. They are important! Successes like, drinking that Green Smoothie this morning rather than eating that sugar-laden cereal; choosing to park your car farther away from the store so you can get a few extra steps into your day; choosing not to get caught up in negative gossip; going to bed at a decent time rather than your usual late night, so you can get some solid rest that your body and mind are crying out for. 

This is quite the mind-set change for me and I am going to run with it. :) I'm going to start a "Today's Successes" list and, each day in the evening I'm going to reflect back on my day and list every success I have experienced, big or small. 

Imagine focusing on all the wonderful, positive things in your day, rather than focusing on the negative stuff that happened, and all that you didn't do. Focus on all that you did do! 

ALSO, I will write down other people's successes. If someone holds the door open for me, sent a smile my way, chatted with me at the grocery store. If a family member or friend achieves one of their goals, or shares good news, or is celebrating something - anything - in their lives. Those are all successes for them.

When we share in other people's successes by acknowledging them and congratulating them and holding that moment of pure joy that happens when you have a success, that increases not only their happiness, but yours as well. It sends positive, loving, happy energy their way, which comes back to you too, increasing your own love energy! 

I am really excited about how much happier I will feel about each day and how much better I will feel about myself and other people. 

This is an experiment that I invite you to try with me. Please comment below if you are on board. I would love to hear how it is going for you and what positive changes you experience in your life because of this change in mind-set. I will be sure to post updates here as well. :)

xo ~ Kim