This week as part of our creative bloggers Next Chapter Book Club we are taking a look at courageous risk taking, following our hearts and our intuition.

Challenge #1. Create a Risk Profile For Yourself.

My Risk Taking List - The Biggies:

1. Getting engaged to my husband after only knowing him (face-to-face) for less than a week and moving to Southern California, one of the last places in the world I could ever have imagined living since I was from a long line of Canadian forebears that were U.E.L.s (United Empire Loyalists.) We just celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary by the way!

2. Going from an introvert in high school to a total extrovert for Frosh Week (initiation week) at my University (Queen's U. in Kingston, Ontario) to the point of appearing on stage in our closing ceremonies with a frosh group chorus line dancing to "She's got Legs" by ZZ Top!

3. Becoming a full time professional artist and starting up my business, LuLu Design after a re-birthing session during which time I received all the information I needed to get things rolling!

4. Started to give professional psychic/medium readings in the town where I lived after getting very serious about this profession during an intense time of self-growth and exploration that accompanied my Uranus Opposition or mid-life crisis (it effects all of us around the age of 40.) Instead of fighting the intensity of this transit I worked with it, not against it.

5. Also during this time I overcame my fear of freeway driving with the help of my psychic/medium teacher and the use of EFT (Emotional Freedom Therapy.)

6. I became an online psychic/medium/guide on Etsy using my own oracle cards based on a dream telling me to do so.

Challenge #2 - Identify and celebrate Your Strengths as a Creative Woman and a Positive Risk Taker.

Techniques I learned along the way:

I really learned how to listen and trust my soul and my intuition. I did this partly by consciously shutting out my friends and all their advice so that I could hear my own inner voice. I also stopped reading anything but my own writing for one month - no media either! This was part of a 30 day blogging challenge that I recorded on my other blog.

I also stopped inviting flak from critics, skeptics and people who don't know me or respect what I do.

For me, risk taking is always successful whether I succeed or fail because I manage to learn so much along the way and that's what really matters.

Also, I stand corrected, Gail McMeekin, the author of "The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women" does indeed interview a fellow mystic/reader/astrologer in her book. Yehhhhhhh!

This week our Next Chapter book club features an interview with pet portrait artist, Jessie Marianiello of Diary of a Self-Portrait about following your heart with bravery.

To read more about My Psychic Background please click here.

To read more Book Club entries please click here.