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I’m not adding new blogs to this website at the moment. My latest writing is on Substack. Check out these recent articles. (You can subscribe and get them straight to your inbox too)
How To Deal With Other People’s Expectations Of Your Writing
Would You Like An Extra Month Of Writing Time?
Are You Tortured Because You’re A Really Slow Writer
Should You Stop Writing Because You’re A Bit Too Weird?
Want An Escape Route From Your Day Job? Your Book Won’t Provide That
Want An Easy And Realistic Way To Achieve What’s Important To You?
The Only Way To Beat Resistance Is To Do The Work
Why It’s Hard To Write, Even If You Really Want To
Writing a Novel Is Like Doing An Archaeological Dig
Do You Want To Smash Your Time Management?
Don’t Shy Away From Tricky Topics
How To Be Content With Your Writing Pace
Do You Need To Lower Your Writing Expectations?
Would You Really Write More If You Didn’t Have A Job?
Is 2022 The Year You Write That Book?
Here are all the older blogs. Happy reading…
Where Do Ideas Come From?
In this week’s episode of Unlocking Big Magic, Lesley and I talk about the Enchantment chapter of the book, Big Magic. This chapter is about ideas: where they might come from, what happens if you act on them and what happens if you don’t. Elizabeth Gilbert talks about...
Unlocking Big Magic – Conversations About Creativity
Welcome to a series of conversations on the fabulous creativity book by Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic. Published in 2015 this book soon became a creativity “bible” for me. Even if you are not a fan of Elizabeth Gilbert’s other books (such as Eat Pray Love) I still...
It’s OK If You Haven’t Achieved Much This Year
It’s my last blog of the year. And what a year it has been! You might have had to home-school your kids. You might have had to fight with your partner to each find a suitable place to work at home. You might have lost work and money and be dealing with the...
Why Are Your Creative Plans Derailed By Fear?
You have an idea for a new project. You’re really excited about it. You can feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Your gut is telling you that this is the thing. You can’t wait to get going with it. And then something happens. You get scared or daunted or...
Screwed Up? Don’t Worry, First Attempts Often Fail
It was the morning after the night before. I came downstairs into the kitchen and I could still smell it – my disastrous attempt at making green tomato chutney. Hours of chopping and stirring become sloppy essence of burnt offerings. The saucepan sat on the stove in...
How To Overcome Fear With A Pretend Assistant
If only a creative life meant you could just be creative. But if anyone is going to see your work then you have to do marketing and publicity too. I don’t know about you, but these are the tasks I find both tedious and daunting. You may need to ring a gallery and ask...