I just watched a video from ted.com
http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_sliced_bre...

It's about how to sell remarkable ideas to the people who actually care, and how creating very good things for the average person doesn't cut it anymore with all of the competition. You need to sell things to people who have what he calls otaku. That's Japanese for obsession. It's the reason no one makes and markets specialty mustard. There are no obsessed mustard fans who get bottles of mustard for Christmas. There are, however, obsessed hot sauce fans who are always looking for a new hot sauce kick. Find a fringe group, a group that really cares about what it's buying, instead of putting out good (art in our case) for the average man. Things marketed to wide audiences don't sell well anymore. Niche markets are the way to go.

Anyways, these insights helped me hone my book ideas.

This chapter rang with many of the insights I read in The War of Art, which I highly recommend to anyone I call friend. The book speaks of resistance, and how we aren’t able to sit down and do hard things, we indulge, are dishonest with ourselves.
(... one quote from the book is as follows:
Procrastination is the most common manifestation of Resistance because it’s the easiest to rationalize. We don’t tell ourselves, “I’m never going to write my symphony.” Instead we say, “I am going to write my symphony; I’m just going to start tomorrow.” 21)

Often for me, I am willing to do hard work, that comes to nothing, DISCIPLINE! I tell myself, when really I need to be quiet, truthful, accepting, prayerful. The Spirit is the one who heals us. I really believe that it is our job to enter into the presence of the lord, and it is the presence of freedom and love that changes our nature, and changes our actions. I love when Julia writes to set small and gentle goals for ourselves.

I connected with Julia’s idea that we fantasize about art instead of doing the work. I believe her insight is true when she speaks of the criticism of sidelined people who don’t take authentic creative risks. It is so hard to put your stuff out there for the first time. It was really hard for me when I let my 8 closest girl friends read a small short snippet of my book for the first time. Only two responded at all. Only Heidi thought it worth her time to comment on.

I loved when this author spoke of our responsibilities to ourselves. Parenting shows the truth of this: I have to be for myself as a woman who I hope Adeleigh could grow into as a woman. If you were to ask me, do you want Adeleigh to have children while she’s young and to lose her dreams in picking up cheerios and cleaning floors of course I would say no! How little love and hope I have toward myself by contrast.
Her insight rang true when she said that self hate often parades as doubts cast over our abilities or identity. Also she wrote that self doubt needs to be turned to self expression and that “creativity flourishes when we have a sense of safety and self-acceptance”.