Creativity, Writing & Choosing Which Hills To Climb
Details of my Summer coaching program plus a great article a friend wrote.
I am three weeks away from my manuscript deadline. More than one person has said to me lately it must be exciting to be nearly finished. Yes, definitely. It has been a bit of a mountain to climb and I look forward to emailing my publisher with the final version. Some people have encouraged me to take time off from new writing projects afterwards. That comment always takes me by surprise. Perhaps because it has never occurred to me or perhaps because it is not reflective of my experience of my writing or creativity. They seem to perceive a weight to put down that isn’t there.
It is not a weight I feel. My relationship with myself is fed by my creativity. Writing is the last thing I would ever put down. I wonder how I would understand myself if I didn’t write. Writing is how I make sense of myself and the world and one of the things which gives me most pleasure. You might as well ask me to take a year off breathing as stop writing. If anything, what I am excited about is the thought of waking up the next day to the novelty of a blank page. The luxury of not having a deadline will mean I can write about anything I want that day. I can’t wait to write an essay simply because an idea occurs to me and I want to explore it.
Often the first thing I think of when I wake up in the morning is a new idea because my rested mind has made the connection between something I hadn’t seen before. There is an excitement I feel at the beginning of writing anything new. Of knowing I will have to figure out a way to express it properly. Even giving myself a few hours off from the book to write this piece felt like a way to replenish myself. The novelty, the newness is something I relish. It felt like I was offering my soul fuel so I can return with my cup full to complete another book chapter tomorrow.
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I took a week’s holiday at the beginning of the month to walk the Camino in Spain. I had run out of steam a little before I left. The day before I left I wrote nothing and went for a long run knowing my body and mind were telling me they were done with the screen for the moment. But my creativity never needs long to come back online. New environments and movement nourish it. I travelled on Saturday and spent the first night alone in Bilbao on my way to Pamplona. Sunday morning, I went for a run through the city and down by the river. Already, with less than 48 hours of creative rest, I found myself stopping occasionally to type ideas in my phone. Over a long brunch and coffee, I wrote a passage and emailed it to myself. I checked when I got home, that email contained 2000 words.
That week, I stole moments to type ideas as they came to me. Five minutes before showering, during a break from walking or when a conversation with someone sparked an idea or sentence for me. There were 20 emails from myself waiting when I got home. Out of curiosity, and because I wanted to share it with you all, I did a quick wordcount of what I wrote while away. 14000 words. Not bad for what was technically a week off.
To believe the flow of ideas ever starts or stops is to misunderstand creativity. Yes it is true that writing is hard work. It needs an investment of time and discipline. Taking on a big writing project amplifies that. For months, I have been up earlier than usual and working weekends to get the manuscript over the line. But anything meaningful takes time and effort. If we treat things that bring us purpose or make an impact as a mountain to climb or weight to bear, it will feel that way. Rather, we need to look at the conditions we are creating around them. I, like many, have a propensity to aim for the mountaintop or the end game too soon. Part of my writing practice is to put that pressure down. Every day I ask myself what small hill I want to climb today. I turn up, I write, and over time my small hills have become a mountain.
So no, I won’t be taking any time off writing. But I do look forward to a day soon when the only thing greeting me will be a blank page and the invitation to write something new.
👉Why Coaching Might Be Exactly What You Need This Summer
Most clients come to me because they know something needs to change. What needs to change is often more cloudy. But there is a recognition that something in the way they are managing their business, their life or themselves is not working for them.
In summer, everything feels less dense. Longer days mean time feels more expansive and there is more space to breathe and reflect. Most people don't need the pressure of more goal-setting — they need a container which offers them space to think.
A summer coaching container can help you gain clarity on an area of your business or leadership. I have clients who return to coaching every summer for exactly this reason. It can be easy to put this off until September — but will you do anything then when life is busier again?
Think of this as a period where you could:
🔓 Get clarity on something which has been holding you back or you have been putting off
🪞 Carve out some time for self-reflection around how you are showing up and leading
🔄 Work through a decision you have been circling but have not yet made
🔭 Create some white space in your diary for big vision thinking
It can set you up to enter September with greater clarity rather than still feeling that low lying hum in the background that something needs to change.
My summer coaching program runs for 3 months, 6 sessions of 90 minutes each, all on Zoom — beginning June 1 and aiming to end mid-September, built around the reality that you will likely take 2 weeks vacation during that time.
I have 3 places left. If this is for you, just hit reply to this email and we can arrange to have a chat. I will be doing informal calls during the last 2 weeks of May for a June 1 start.
💡My friend Shannon Beer has just launched a Substack. I read her first post on Body Image twice it resonated with me so much. Check it out 👇
Lastly, thank you to everyone who completed the completed the survey providing feedback on the newsletter. I really appreciated you taking the time. And congratulations to Sophie who won the draw for the coaching session with me.
I will be back to full service in June and will update you all on my plans for the newsletter. Thank you all for your patience.
Love this! The missed point of mistaking joy for work 🪄
Looking forward to reading your book ✨