Power, possibility & purpose: what I’ve been writing elsewhere

January 6, 2008 · by Joanna Paterson · in

Writing for other blogs can be scary to begin with but fun once you get into your stride. I write at a number of other sites and enjoy the creative stretch and challenge of adapting my material to the purpose and format of each blog – without losing my own voice.

Here’s a selection of the material that I’ve been writing recently.

Writing on power

Persuasiveness: Maybe this sounds funny coming from a writing coach but I know I can take my writing further – for greater impact, power and persuasion.

Power: I talk about people realising the power of their own words. I need to realise mine too. To learn how to toot, sweetly – and not to be afraid of where that takes me.

All I want for Christmas starts with ‘p’, written for Joyful Jubilant Learning

Writing on possibility

The more we write – expressing our ideas, our thoughts, values, dreams – the more we come to understand ourselves. We learn from what we write. Come to recognise what’s important to us.

And the more we know ourselves, well the more we open up the door to what might and will be possible.

Opportunity: the start of a new page, written for The Calm Space

Writing on purpose

I’m writing once a month for Pelf at The Giving Hands. It’s the one place where you won’t find me (just) writing about writing, but writing about ways that we can learn to live differently, writing to express some of my ideas, opinions and values. This was my most recent piece, on how to buy gifts without wrecking the planet.

If countries in the developed world are already consuming resources at three times the rate that the planet can renew them, how long can this buying frenzy go on for? Are there alternative ways that we can buy gifts without wrecking the planet?

The commitment to writing at The Giving Hands flows from a piece I wrote there in the build up to Blog Action Day last October. It was on ways that our words can make a difference. The last point was perhaps the most important:

Make a choice. At the most basic level you can choose to speak up, to join the debate – or to remain silent. What’s it to be?

It’s a question I need to keep on asking myself, to know, to believe that my words are making a difference. That I’m realizing the power of my own words as well as helping others tap into theirs.