Give Your Soul A Voice - Episode 50

How can you visualize or articulate what is possible? How about find and express your voice? The real essence of you? We are honored to introduce you to Claudia Boutote who has worked to hand in hand with a variety of leaders, luminaries, and iconic global brands, including Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, The History Network, and Prometheus Entertainment.

Claudia speaks our language! And she wants to help you speak your own language whether it’s just to yourself or to the world. She wants to encourage you to find your authentic voice and insight into who you are and why you are here.

Prior to launching her Red Raven Studio which is a boutique book foundry and literary agency for authors, experts, and brands with purpose, Claudia was SVP, Publisher, at HarperCollins, where her innovative strategies and tactics propelled more than 120 books onto the New York Times Best Sellers.

When she decided to launch a studio to assist authors, experts, brands, and institutions to take conscious action and reach their highest potential, she chose to invoke the essence of the raven, spirit birds of alchemy and transformation. Ravens have been called upon by healers, shamans, and guides since ancient times. They are thought to bring messages from the divine. Red Ravens are the stuff of legends and magic, and that is what she sees her clients: those who inspire, guide, and shine the light forward to something greater.

To find out more about working with Claudia and Raven Raven Studio redravenstudio.com.

Visit theseekingcenter.com for more from Robyn + Karen, plus mega inspo -- and the best wellness + spiritual practitioners, products and experiences on the planet!

You can also follow Seeking Center on Instagram @theseekingcenter.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 0:43 Give Your Soul A Voice

Transcript

Robyn: [00:00:00] I'm Robyn Miller Brecker, 

Karen: and I'm Karen Loenser. Welcome to seeking center. The podcast,

Robyn: join us each week as we have the conversations and weed through the spiritual and holistic clutter for you, we'll boil it down to what you need to know. Now 

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We'll talk to the trailblazers who will introduce you to the practices, products, and experiences. That may be just what you need to hear about to transform your life. 

If you're listening to this, it's no accident. Think of this as your seeking center and your place to seek your center. And for even more mega inspo sign up for seeking center.

The newsletter at seeking center . 

Robyn: How can you visualize or articulate what is possible? How about find and express your voice, the real essence of you? We are honored to introduce you to Claudia, but who has worked with a variety of leaders, luminaries, and iconic global brands, including [00:01:00] Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson Archbishop, Desmond Tutu, 

Paolo Culo is the Alchemist, the History Network, and Prometheus Entertainment. Prior to launching her Red Raven Studio, which is a boutique book foundry and literary agency for authors, experts, and brands with purpose.

Claudia was s v p publisher at Harper Collins, where her innovative strategies and tactics propelled more than 120 books onto the New York Times bestsellers list. When she decided to launch a studio to assist authors, experts, brands, and institutions to take conscious action and reach their highest potential, she chose to invoke the essence of the Raven Spirit, birds of alchemy and transformation.

Ravens have been called upon by healers, shamans, and guides. Since ancient times, they are thought to bring messages from the divine. Red ravens are the stuff of legends and magic And that is what she sees in her clients, those who inspire, guide, and shine the light forward to something greater. Claudia speaks our language and she wants [00:02:00] to help you speak your own language, whether it's just to yourself or to the world.

She wants to encourage you to find your authentic voice and insight into who you are and why you're here. So much to discuss. Let's get going. 

Claudia: Hi, Claudia. Hi Claudia. Hi Karen. Robin, thank you so much for having me as part of your community. I'm so honored to be here today to talk with you and just you both are shining the light forward and bringing together such interesting, wonderful, magical people in your community.

Oh my gosh, that's so 

Karen: kind. we feel the same way about you and how you're elevating people in the literary community, which is a huge journey for people. So we wanna to dig into all of that, and maybe that's a good place to start. You are following your own bliss,

as a human, as a soul in doing this work and helping people find their voices. So tell us about Red Ravens Studio, the inspiration, and how it came 

Claudia: to be.

Yes. I think that [00:03:00] finding one's voice, In in this lifetime is the most important act we can do, whether it manifests on the page or just in relationships in your life or in any other kind of creative endeavor in your life. I think that for me it's been a long journey as life is to come to this spot in which I am crafting my own hand sewn life together working with experts, authors, creatives, who I can really believe in and see their magic and help their light shine.

So how did that happen? , that was a long journey. But I was always that. person with her nose in a book ever since I can remember. And to me the magic of weaving words together spoke to my soul and it transported me to different places. And I had a wonderful, lovely. Privileged childhood.

my mother was a bohemian artist, [00:04:00] hippie. My father was a psychologist. And so they had this incredible yin yang blend of my mother believing in the good and the love and the beauty of the world, and my father delving into the underneath the underpinnings of people. And so I think that blend of which I see both sides of the light and the shadow in others and in myself.

And so my nose was always in a book. I think probably one of my most influential books was Anne of Green Gables, because Anne of Green Gables, if anyone has read that book, she always talked about nature and how there was this scope for imagination and those words, Captured me. And I lived in Amherst, Massachusetts, and our house was down the road from Emily Dickinson's house.

And of course, different eras. I'm not as old as Emily Dickinson , and I'm alive. there's that. But I was influenced by her spirit in the place and her poem. I [00:05:00] dwell on possibility and a possibility and imagination and those words imprinted on me.

After college, I went to New York City. . And to me that was the place where people dreaming of big things dream to go.

And so my journey in terms of the literary world really started there. And my first job there was at a very literary publishing house called Scribner. And it was the publishing house of Hemingway and Fitzgerald and Edith Wharton. And I'm like, I'm where I should be. 

My journey was learning and being inspired and connected to this process of writing and the people who wrote. And so I had a wonderful opportunity to be at different publishing houses and working with very, either literary or you know what I would call them romance or mysteries or sex and shopping.

 I worked on almost every kind of book while I was in the New York publishing environment, [00:06:00] but something was still calling to me, and it was at that deeper level. As much as I liked all the shiny and the bright my soul was looking for that deeper spirit.

And so I was drawn to a publishing division of Harper Collins on the west coast called Harper San Francisco at that time. And it was the Mind, body, spirit publishing house. And I was like, , that book of theirs is on my bookshelf. That book of theirs is on my bookshelf. I could get to work with those amazing people, it meant that I had to move from New York to San Francisco, which I never dreamed of doing before. So , I went to Harper and I had the opportunity to work with the people that you've mentioned, and it truly changed my life.

I had the opportunity to see not only what goes into the work, but what it took to really make that work go out into the world and to go out into the world in a way that could be heard. And to contribute to that. So after all of that [00:07:00] experience, I got to this point where I thought what is it that I wanna do when I grow up?

And I realized that I love working with the writers and I love being of what I might call the wind beneath their wings that I loved, that I could come alongside a writer and help them bring their voice, their message, their legacy, their impact to the world with them. And so that's really what I do at Red Ravens Studio.

And the reason I channeled Ravens was because I wanted to convey that it is an alchemical process to write. . It's a magical process. It's a courageous process. It's an audacious process. It takes everything about your soul to do it. And it's also a transformative process. And Ravens signify that they embody that, that process.

But there is no such thing as a red raven. They're all [00:08:00] black. And the reason I picked red was that you stand out from the crowd as a red raven. And that's what I want people to do. 

Robyn: When you are alongside that writer and you are helping them express their idea or their story, is there something for you intuitively that you are seeing, that you are feeling that helps you guide them? Because I just feel like it is such a gift that you have. 

Claudia: Oh, thank you, . I feel like it is a it is a calling for me.

 And I appreciate you saying it's a gift and I think it it is a gift from the divine to have it. But I think that when I begin with any author or and they're not only authors as they start with me, they can become authors as we work together. But. I do a lot of listening and, I have my process that I've developed and one of my roles is the end is the beginning.

And so what I like to start with is hearing the end. Meaning what does that person want to express? And I don't want you to [00:09:00] see what's on the page. I wanna hear what is it that they're imagining that this is going to do, that this is going to convey. That they want to say that they may wanna be on a certain stage in five years from now.

They may wanna be at a certain point in their life in five years from now. How does this creative endeavor work? Alongside that big dream. . And so I start at the ending and I call it dream setting because that helps me intuit then what is the expression of that. And sometimes I've noticed that it really isn't a question of finding a topic for most authors have many topics that they wanna write on, that they can write on.

They just don't know what should I do when, what should my first book be? What should my second book be? Or even if it should be a book and so I think knowing the goal helps us know where to begin and know how to then put our arms around what is that project then?

And Very often we'll go through a list of 10 ideas and go like this one. [00:10:00] And then I go through a process of really delving into that. 

Robyn: You really are that guide. 

Karen: I was thinking as you were talking about the fact that for somebody who doesn't know better, these thought leaders you think are automatically writers.

In a way, and I'll bet many of them aren't. They're really good at coming up with the big ideas and they're really good at maybe verbally articulating them, but then when it comes to putting it on the written page and then organizing that in a way 

Claudia: that could be a huge 

Karen: lift for someone who is not an authentic writer, and then taking that and 

Claudia: making.

What they 

say 

Karen: feel authentic to them. Can you talk a about that process and maybe some of the challenges that you've come across 

Claudia: Sure. And you said Karen is so true, I think that there's many, left brain, right brain or , how, what we're good at and what we're more challenged at as people.

I think many thought leaders are really expert at their field and they've designed their businesses or they've [00:11:00] designed their outward public facing expression around that expertise. But, then to drill that down and say what is the essence of that? What is the magic in there?

And what are the words that surround that? And then what is that focal point that really is their foundational thought? That is what I work on and drill down to. It's like peeling the layers off the onion. You're just peeling back and peeling back. And it does take a process and it takes a commitment from that person too.

To be open to that process. Most are because they recognize that underneath there is something they really wanna say and sometimes it's because they want a book. To articulate that so that they can bring that further to their company or their institutions. Sometimes it's a reason a need for a legacy, and sometimes it's just a need for wanting it to have general [00:12:00] communication out to the world.

So again, we go down to what is the purpose for each project and what is the purpose that they need that project to be? , 

Robyn: I was gonna say, , even in articulating it that way, it's like anything else. You're birthing something with a, with specific energy attached to it.

Don't you 

Claudia: think? Completely. It's funny that you said that. I wanted to tell you something. So I have a wonderful. Writer friend who channels Krishna . And her name is Courtney Beck. And not in relation to this, but she sent me a channeling from Krishna just yesterday. And I just loved it because it goes through what you just said.

It said, look at yourself as not a being of light, but as a being of energy. And here you will see that you are both the lightning bolt and the sunlight and your power is gained by accepting you are both. And I just thought I love, and I had it set aside here in case it made sense. Oh my 

Robyn: God, that's just so up our alley.

I'm so glad you shared that i'm. Sure. Whomever is listening [00:13:00] right now. Needed to hear that too. and. Speaking of the people that you work with, you've worked with so many remarkable thought leaders that are just, really the most influential thought leaders of our time.

Can you share some of your experiences are there any that stand out to you that you can share in light of what we're talking about of communicating a specific message or point or a legacy? 

Claudia: I would say about each of those bigger luminaries is they somehow were able to understand the zeitgeist and the needs of what the world needed.

And I think that's something that with my authors now like a prayer I always say with my authors is, tell me what the world needs. me to say right now. And I think that the people who find that, channel in that way that comes out authentically. And when that comes out authentically, people are [00:14:00] ready to hear it.

And I think that the interesting thing about writing is it's always this mix of art and commerce. And one of the things that was hard for me to understand when I was starting out in the publishing business, cuz I thought, oh, it's just this world of ideas and I wanna be in the world of ideas. And then I started to learn.

And so it's not only do you have the right idea and can you say it well, but how can you say it in the right way for someone to hear it and buy it? And how do we do that? And so going back to that notion of having that right message the genius of publishers is to figure out what that's going to be two years from now, 

Karen: Wow. I didn't even think about that because what was bubbling up in my mind is that it seems that now in a great way, there are so many books on wellness and all the things that, we loved back even a decade ago and there weren't that many books out there then. How do you do that, Claudia?

Because right now there is so [00:15:00] much messaging out there. There are so many different points of view and voices in the space. from where you sit right now, how do you help an author craft their message in a way can be a little bit different a year or two years down the road?

 The world is just changing so fast. How do you guide them? 

Claudia: And that's where the alchemy is, it's an art and if it were a science, everybody would write bestsellers it would be so easy. I think the way you make product or speaking of books or anything that becomes from art into something that will sell, whether it's a book or a music we do a lot of analysis of the marketplace and what is influencing culture.

And we do research on what people say. Is the wellness industry going to expand? There's a lot of information that's data. That can inform you where the world won't go But of course there could be a pandemic like nobody expected or, nothing is a science [00:16:00] My feeling is that for each individual each author, each person, we're all snowflakes and we're all different. So each person, what they're going to say, is it going to be evergreen?

Meaning will it be interesting two years from now? , and particularly in the spirituality marketplace, there are topics that will be interesting two years from now that will always be interesting because we're in the human condition. and we're always gonna be having challenges and we're always going to be looking for inspiration and we're always gonna be looking for help.

But what are the voices that will give that help? They might come at it a little bit differently. . Exactly. Yeah. 

Karen: And thank goodness there's so many, because we often talk about the fact that people resonate with different types of people with different types of energy, and so you need that really good mix of all different perspectives, to 

Claudia: inspire people. I just found that one of the things that I'm very conscious of as I work with somebody or edit their work particularly in the seeking space, that they [00:17:00] look to it as being more classic, that they don't front load it With this year in the pandemic we had to do X, that.

We take out those contemporary references and make it more classic. 

Robyn: there is something to be said about this work. I look at the array of books I have next to me and some of them go back and they're still relevant today.

And I think , in this category, you can go back hundreds of years of people questioning why are we here ? And you will find those same themes come through, there's something about a book, 

Karen: isn't there? I don't know, maybe it's just me, but there's that tangibility of seeing that written word. And I've got like little highlights in some books and some fold that I go back to and I reread them because they're always fresh.

their meaning is evergreen.. That's gotta be what you look for in the voice of an author is something that does stay. 

Robyn: And speaking of voice, we're talking about, an author's voice. But how does somebody [00:18:00] find their own voice, why is that important? We talked about that earlier in this conversation. Why is it important whether you are a writer or not, to find 

Claudia: your voice?

In my opinion I think it makes you fully fledged human and alive to find your voice. I use a essential oil every day for my throat chakra that's supposed to open it because, cause I believe in this sense that finding voice is both physical And it's a metaphor for being who you are. Very loudly and proudly in the world. And we are very lucky, to be in a time in which, that we get to express our voice and that we get to express our creativity. And so I do think on just a very existential level, it's important to find your voice.

And then I think in terms of writing reason that I think that we get so many messages now. We're inundated with so many voices at us that I think when you get to the [00:19:00] page, it's really imperative to find what is uniquely you and what is coming up from your heart song that's authentically you. and not necessarily what you've been like downloading from the world energy, but what's inside out.

And I do think to become the iconic writer we're talking about where your work can be classic and it could be, it doesn't necessarily have to be on everyone's bookshelves, just that it could be classic in that you share it with your family, that it goes down to your children and your grandchildren in a legacy.

There's so many ways on which you can produce your work these days, but I think that to get that unique vision, voice onto the page is what will separate you and what makes you that iconic writer. And I 

Robyn: bet there are people listening Some may very well know what their voice is.

but I bet a lot of people would think that when we're talking about voice, we're talking about that unique expression, and they may [00:20:00] not think of themselves as having a unique voice. How do you help somebody start to discover that? Are there certain questions that you would have someone answer? Or how can they start to pay attention to how they are communicating and expressing themselves in this world, whether it's, written or even in 

Claudia: conversation?

Yeah, I think there's a couple of questions one is just for your journal. You know Mary I'm forgetting her name for a second. The poet where she says, what do you want to do with your wild life? just writing down for yourself, what is it that I wanna do?

What is it that I wanna do with my life? And what is it that I have to say? And I think we are afraid we're filled with fear and judgment. And I think I say, if you're listening to me, I give you permission, , I give you permission to write it down and scribble it. And yell it and Let it out.

Nobody's gonna judge you. No one's gonna say anything. You can burn it later, but get it out. Who are you? What do you have to say? [00:21:00] If you look around you, I would say I'm alive today. . I'm able to look at the birds. I'm able to pet my dog.

Like simple things. It sounds silly, but it isn't. It's acknowledging the wonder of you being alive today in your room, writing something down and without judgment. And I think that is an essential exercise for anyone who's gonna write and it doesn't have to be shared. And like when you were a little kid and you were always asking why I always start with this write a sentence and go, why

Robyn: That's awesome. 

Claudia: It's like, so I would go like first sentence, why? Second sentence. why? And then you start saying, why would this be interesting to someone else? Why do I need to say this? And then you're starting to get into the next part of writing, which is to write for an audience.

Robyn: Those are such good steps. And by the way, was Mary Oliver. I just wanted to Oh, thank you. . 

Claudia: I was just thinking to myself, 

Karen: what is so beautiful about the writing experience is that for those. Of [00:22:00] us who may not be feeling confident about using our voice to articulate things. It's just such a lovely place to practice, You can safely put things in writing, like you said, and not share them and do that exercise of figuring out those questions without having to speak them out loud.

So it's like this poetic on paper voice that represents you, but it doesn't have to be something that you share with the world. And that's just such a lovely differentiator to remind everybody. to your point, you don't have to share it necessarily, but it's a great exercise in learning who you are by asking the whys.

, I still stand by that everybody has such a cool story and they just don't realize it. , they think it has to be like everybody else, or it has to be. Worthy of press and huge pomp and circumstance. And it's really not. I think more and more people now are looking to find people who are thinking like them, who have the same questions that they have, and just being able to find that in writing somewhere you just made a connection.

[00:23:00] And that's really the objective of writing anything, isn't it? It's connecting with someone, giving them that perspective of sharing who you are with the world. And that could be one person. It doesn't have to be 

Claudia: the massive . And it starts with one person. And it starts with another one person.

But it's like what you're doing here you're offering this safe place and you're sharing its stories and it's such a human need. to share our stories 

Robyn: And I love just that exercise in just thinking of my own life, as Karen and Claudia know, I have written a book that definitely needs some editing, which at some point very soon Claudia is going to help me with my pleasure,

the reason I'm bringing it up is when I started it, I just wanted to write, what had been going on in my life and how I felt it could help someone else. And what were the ways in which I could marry life? Lessons that I have learned so far with actual examples that have happened in my life so far.

and then give people tools to then, use them in their own lives and discover [00:24:00] different ways of looking at the world. , but I didn't really tell anyone. I just was doing it, I just wanted to do it for me. I didn't know when it would get published or any of that. And so I feel just knowing that a good chunk of it is out there in the ether right now.

no one else besides several people in my life have read it. But just that exercise in itself, And Karen's written a book too. And so just knowing that energy is captured, I guess there's something about the energy of it and that birthing, it's like another baby, like you birthed many babies, Claudia, Karen, I dunno if you wanna add to that, but just that exercise of doing it felt so good and fulfilling. 

Karen: It really does. And , I remember talking to my mom who's also published her book, and we all kind of start from the same place.

It's oh, I don't really have anything to say. But then you might have a little morsel of something that you wanna say that all of a sudden the by going through the exercise, you start to kind format it into a conversation that you feel is shareable with other people. And 

Claudia: I think 

Karen: that anyone who would start this exercise would say [00:25:00] that they doubt that they would have anything to 

Claudia: say.

. But the experience of it is, it's so 

Karen: cathartic and you wake up to understanding yourself in ways that you don't expect. the more I wrote, the more I was like, I didn't know, I knew that. And you just don't, until you really take the time to really articulate it. And what's so beautiful about now is that there is opportunity for so many to publish their own book.

And whether they work with someone like you, Claudia, go through other ways. There seems to be more opportunities for them to get the word out. And it can be, one simple digital chapter that can be downloaded to something that, has the hard cover to it. But I think we're all being called to share our story and whether it's in the written word, whether we can articulate it and share it however we decide the format should be.

We all have something to share. And I love that there's people like you who are just such, 

Claudia: you're the birth mother I agree with you that everyone has that story. Everyone has a story. 

Robyn: everyone has a story, 

Claudia: But I also think [00:26:00] what you both said also really rings very true.

That it's the act of writing it and not worrying about the outcome. Enjoying that expression. And then like Robyn, you said you did it in secret. You didn't show it to anyone, because you were enjoying that, Creative expression ofs, putting it onto the page.

And I think that's a wonderful way of going about it because if you worry about the outcome, you self edit. Then you don't allow the fullness of the flow and the process to happen and the joy ing it. Yes. And then I think, Karen, you're right, it's such a wonderful time that there's so many ways in which somebody can bring their work out.

And yes, they're the traditional publishing world, which is the world I came from but there's also many kinds of hybrid publishers now and self-publishing opportunities. So truly there's a place for every story should you want to bring it to the world. And there's the opportunity [00:27:00] that hadn't been there before.

. . 

Karen: Exactly. And I'm finding like more and more people are finding their voice because there 

Claudia: is the outlet, they may not 

Karen: ever have shared the story, but because there is that opportunity to put it on paper and there's not that need to be the number one bestseller necessarily.

it can happen. But not having to feel you're going into it for that reason, it's that you just wanna share something that you learned just like we did. You're right. Just like we do in this podcast. And doing that in a way that even if it helps one person, then, it's a story 

Claudia: worth telling.

And so many different reasons to write and publish, And so that's something that I always try to distill with anyone I work with. What is the purpose of this? Project for you. And I agree that at being a bestseller doesn't necessarily serve the purpose for what somebody really needs their book to do.

And I think, again, going back to outcome, if that's the outcome is a dream of fame as opposed to a dream of creativity. And I think most often the [00:28:00] person who has the most successful outcome is if it comes out through authenticity versus I wanna be famous or I wanna be a number one New York Times bestseller.

Generally it doesn't work that way. , I don't know if it's karma, it doesn't seem to work that way. 

Robyn: And I think amongst the three of us on this podcast right now, we have been with with a lot of in quotes, famous people. And to your point the most famous are the ones who started. with wanting to be of service, wanting to just share. It didn't come.

They didn't come to it saying, I wanna be famous. frankly, some of them didn't wanna be famous. They just wanted to share their work so anyway, I just think it's such an interesting point. 

Claudia: So I think it's those people who are coming at it from service generally.

Going back to authenticity. People know people can sense why you're really doing something. Yeah. Oh my goodness. 

Robyn: Yes. 

Karen: And how wonderful to be able to lean into an experience that you've had and share that. And, putting it in a book format of writing it down and capturing all [00:29:00] the emotion, all the experience, all the learnings in a place where somebody else who's who you may 

Claudia: never meet, 

Karen: And yet might be going through the same thing.

That is just such a gift to be able to give to people. So that in itself can be such a motivator for just putting it down on 

Claudia: paper. And I hope if anyone is listening to that was beautiful, I hope that they do follow that and put those experiences on paper. I think you 

Robyn: giving that exercise of, look at it as your journal.

I would say there are many people who've never kept a journal, and it really allows you to be your most vulnerable self because it really isn't for anyone else but you, unless you decide to treat it differently, start capturing your story. we've just been saying everybody has one and you may have something really important to share that is gonna help another fellow human and soul on this 

Claudia: planet.

. Agree. Yeah. And it doesn't mean you have to write in 

Karen: first person, True. You can do that too. I always love to live through that exercise of going through this really horrific experience and then I just pretend it's a movie [00:30:00] and what would I want the heroin to do?

And , you can write it from that perspective too. There's just so many ways to do it. And you don't have to be a creative genius, an English major to do it. 

Claudia: It's really your voice. It's really just 

Karen: telling 

Claudia: it from your perspective. Another thing someone could do, whether if it's a journal or a journal that you keep in on your computer, I think you can get yourself into that writing process by, where you have a little bit of quiet and 15 minutes of time at least.

It doesn't have to be a huge amount of time every time. And breathe. And then allow your fingers to either touch your pen or I say go to computer with one index finger and just let it type across one line, and then you take the other index finger and type across and then.

breathe again and then see if anything comes. . And it will actually that embodiment starts the flow and then if it doesn't happen, then you stop. You go [00:31:00] about your day and you do it again the next day. 

Robyn: I love that you just used the word embodiment.

we think that is the word for the year 

Claudia: Yes, I agree. Because we were so heady. But it's also, mind, body, spirit, . 

Robyn: Yeah. By the time this comes out, we'll have just hosted a podcast all about embodiment. . And we did it because every person we talk to has used the word.

 Going into 2023. And we're just like, okay, let's talk about what that means. And I think that exercise does very much get you into that embodying the spirit of what hopefully will come 

Claudia: through you. I think that the tactile nature of touching either your computer or your pen and then it becomes a signal like then you in repeating that, it starts the activation of that the next time and the next time and the next time.

So it becomes, it's easier or just setting the intention. Maybe 

Karen: it's every day at the same time. When I wrote my book, it was in the middle of Covid and everybody in my family was home and I couldn't find a place to be by myself. So I went to my car, I really wanted to go to the [00:32:00] library.

I just felt like if I was there I would be trapped in this place with books and it would be the perfect venue. But I couldn't get in the library, so I went to the library parking lot every day at the same time. And it just helped me set the intention that I was gonna be there. I was gonna have my own time.

It was focused, no distractions. And if it came 

Claudia: it did. And if it didn't, 

Karen: after 10 minutes I just drove home and it took all the pressure off. And I think that's a lot of what happens to writers is that they get so caught up in, the experience that they can't let it just flow and.

Just not putting pressure on yourself can really can add to that. And that that daily intention of just getting a little bit on paper can really 

Claudia: help. I think that's so right and the intention and taking the judgment away. And you don't have to write War in Peace today, . It's okay. Are you reading anything 

Karen: Right now that's just super inspiring to you? Is there something that, 

Claudia: you're excited about? It's funny. You'll be surprised. And I'm rereading this book, which you could see I have all my little do ears here.

and [00:33:00] it's Daniel Brinkley's book, the Secrets of the Light. And Daniel had a near-death experience and he went to the other side and he came back with these really beautiful messages that are spiritual truths. And I dip into this on occasion. And I also dip into a book called Creative Visualization by Shakti gwa.

Yes. And that is a very old book. And I love it to pieces. And it's filled with, very small and digestible and gives you daily mantras. And I love that book. So those are two that are around my desk. Thank you. Yeah. She's one 

Karen: that inspired me a long time ago too. She wrote a lot of books 

Claudia: that are really great.

Robyn: those are helpful. 

And it goes back to our point earlier in this conversation of things being evergreen and those two books that you just mentioned, they've been around so they're the kinds of things you can go back to at any time, and they're relevant. And I know I have several of my own go-tos, as does Karen, and, and I love discovering new ones. And it doesn't mean that they have to have [00:34:00] just come out. that's important for people 

Claudia: to hear.

I truly believe in as you pointed out before when you were talking about your bookshelf, this sort of lineage and the lineage of all the thinkers that came before us and that they're relevant women who Run With the Wolves is another one of my go-to books. And I think she inspired a generation and she's inspiring another generation.

Exactly. And that's a classic, that's an iconic book. 

Robyn: I know. It's, and it's funny, like even Eckhart and a New Earth and Power of Now, which. now are, those are 14, 15, and more years old. And and yet there's a whole new generation reading them today. And those messages, they're gonna be relevant for as long as we're in this body. And 

Karen: here's one again, that had the courage to write it. . How many people are really gonna be like, gee, I'm just gonna write down this channeled message that I received.

Like it just puts you out there. And yet he had the courage to do that in order to just share it with other people and who knew how many people it was [00:35:00] gonna resonate with a transform and that's 

Claudia: the 

Karen: beauty of writing it down. You don't have to get up on a pulpit and you don't have to get, out on the internet and even social and talk about it.

You can just put it somewhere to down the road, even share it with someone. So 

Claudia: completely true. 

Robyn: And if anybody is interested in working with you, what's the best way to go about getting in touch with you and what Red Ravens Studio can help a potential upcoming author or 

Claudia: expert? You can reach out to me through my website and write me a little note and it would be really nice to hear if you.

about me through this. And share that with Karen and Robin. And what I, I help with is, again, the development and the strategy of getting your book, getting your voice to the page and working with you on that. And then the next steps after that where should it go from there?

Should it go to a traditional publishing house, should it go elsewhere? And [00:36:00] so we have those conversations and so that, that would be the next step after working with you editorially. . 

Karen: Do you prefer having somebody having their book laid out and written or at least outlined before they work with you, Claudia?

Or does it matter? 

Claudia: That's a wonderful question. I would prefer that there be some sort of initial outline and maybe some writing on the page for sure. Maybe a chapter.

And even if you come to me with four or five concepts, and we decide but at least one of them have fairly, have a little bit developed. So I could see where you are as a writer and what you're doing. And the other thing that I do, which I should mention is I do book marketing. . And many authors have hired me to help them once they're either going to be self-publishing or they're being published by a traditional publisher to help them in the runway up to their publication.

And I bring in [00:37:00] different people to help with that process as needed. So if there needs to be a social media person to come along or any other kind of marketer, but I do the strategy and the management of that as well. That's huge. 

Robyn: Thank you for sharing your journey. Thank you for doing the work that you do and for helping to continue to print, to put these messages and stories, and voices out to the masses. 

Claudia: Oh, thank you.

Thank you for the work you're doing, and I so appreciate you both and just being in this community and, to the point that you were just saying before about Eckert Tole being read by a new generation. That's why I do believe that the industry is of seekers. That seekers and the wellness and the mind, body, spirit world continues to be strong cuz there's always someone new to read it.

Robyn: Yes, absolutely. And to find out more about working with Claudia and Red Raven Studio, visit [00:38:00] red raven studio.com. That's R E D R A V E N S T U D I o.com. Thank you Claudia. 

Claudia: Thank Claudia so much.