– Jane
· · · Jane’s Thread · · ·
What Do Robert Mapplethorpe, Lindy West and Bruce Springsteen Have in Common?
If you guessed that I'm currently enthralled in each of their life stories, you'd be right! I just completed reading Lindy West's memoir Shrill on the subway while I travel. I'm also listening to the audible.com production of Born to Run read by Bruce himself which...
Why I’m Offering a Co-Ed Retreat
Every few weeks I'm asked, "Do you work with men?" To which I reply, "No, I lead remarkable women to uncommon success," my tagline and mantra. Serving just half the population has been enough of a marketplace for me throughout my coaching career. I've had a handful...
Encouragement from Agnes Martin Show at Guggenheim
Forgive the shadow of my iPhone capturing this fabulous list handwritten by Agnes Martin. It's in a vitrine in a side room off the circular ramp where a retrospective of her work is on display at the Guggenheim Museum. Truthfully, I'd never heard of her until my...
Holiday Tipping Surprise
As you know, I moved permanently, I hope, into my own co-op apartment in Washington Heights last February. So this is my first holiday season in the 'new' building. Although I received the "usual suspects" list of staff wishing me a Happy Holiday Season, I wasn't...
Who’s Got Your Back?
I admit it. I'm an approval hound. I mentioned this in my recent post about my Visions Group, how I love to get my homework done so they'll acknowledge me for my accomplishments. Same held true during my relationship with my writing coach, Melissa Petro, which ran...
What’s Your Vision for 2017?
Since late February I've been meeting with two other people bi-weekly as a Visions Team. We follow a tight format with 3 timed segments--reading our Vision Statement out loud first, then the longest round with these questions in mind: What have you done since the...
Bring Back the Old Days!
This post isn't about the election results, although that's an underlying contributor to my angst these days. I wanted to share my frustration--and echo yours, I'm sure--with a virtual conversation I had this afternoon while trying to consolidate my email...
Even Stephen Sondheim and Hal Prince Can Fail…and Rise Again
As I begin sending out query letters to agents to propose my memoir for publication, I take heart hearing tales of others’ artistic projects. The other night, based on a rave review by my sister, I went to see BEST WORST THING THAT EVER COULD HAVE HAPPENED, a film...
My Friend Jen Olbrys – The Goddess of Granola
When Jen Olbrys told me that one of the stores selling her granola called with a complaint, I remembered back to my early days of wholesaling my eggshell jewelry and hearing a criticism from a vendor. “We’ve taken it off the shelf until it’s resolved,” the shop’s...
A New Sink and the Universe
"It's amazing what a sink will do!" I blurted out to my Visions Group on Wednesday when we met. Two weeks before, at our last session, I had described what happened with my purchase of a new vanity and its installation. My contractor had under-estimated the scope...
Demystifying Podcasts
A woman in her late 70's or 80's, from a highly regarded national publication, was seated to my left at the Women's Media Group lunch event this week. The topic of the hour was: The Future of Media is Podcasting. There was an exceptional panel of women qualified to...
Reject Me, I Love It!
A colleague of mine in NSA wrote a book with this title back in the late 90's. I'm reminded of it every time I receive a rejection. What is it I'm supposed to love about this, I wonder. I had the opportunity to raise the question last week when I got rejected by a...
Who Wants to Listen to This?
The first draft of my memoir is complete! Thanks to my accountability partner, my visions group and a third support team (it does take a village), I sent off 275 pages to a local print house so that I can distribute hard copies to a handful of first readers. I'm...
When to Join a Mastermind Group
I just got off the phone with one of my most favorite clients who told me that she wants to lead a mastermind group of her own. "It's been life-altering for me. I want to do that for other people as well." Not that I needed reminding of why I love working with...
Lesson Learned While Sight-Seeing Yesterday
I'm going to keep this post anonymous and simply mention that I visited a good friend yesterday in Beacon, NY, a scenic spot where the fabulous DIA Museum is the main jewel. Our purpose was to spend time together and take in some art. After a nourishing catch-up...