Wherever you are on your book writing adventure, you’ll find what you need here…
What to do if you’re just starting out on your Author Adventure: planning, preparation, and dealing with your Inner Dickhead
“What will 85-year-old me say about what I’m doing now?”
Tamu Thomas’s question to us yesterday, at Laura Brunton’s Ignited Woman event.
So I picture myself: grey hair, still in space buns. More wrinkles that get really deep when I smile, and I smile a lot, I hope. Still wearing bright orange sneakers, leopard-print jeans, and a mustard-yellow jumper.
When all seems lost?
Plant a garden. Make music. Paint a picture. Make people laugh.
Create something beautiful because it’s not frivolous, it’s hopeful and it’s action and it’s inspirational.
This is one of the things I talked about with Janine Coombes on her brilliant podcast The Show (Off).
“I’m not sure I’m comfortable with ex-convicts cutting keys,” said my elderly neighbour after I told him why I love Timpsons.
Timpsons, if you didn’t know, is a cobblers, dry-cleaners, key-cutting business based in the UK. It specialises in finding employment for ex-offenders and other marginalised groups.
“Why?” I asked him.
We all love a good slogan and Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s famous line “well-behaved women seldom make history” is just perfect for a cute pink tee or a morning coffee mug.
It’s become an inspirational quote; a rousing battle cry to disrupt and rebel and be seen.
Can you imagine being there when the first photograph was taken? Like holy shitballs batman, what kind of wizardry can make an exact image of my family appear on a piece of paper or metal or glass? BURN THE WITCH!
I’m a smart person, and I know in theory how photography works, but I still look at it and go what the actual eff it feels like magic.
Everyone talks about the obvious benefits of writing a book (credibility, authority, connection, opportunities, etc.) and they’re all fine and dandy but have you ever considered these FIVE weird things...
The way we’re using AI right now is propaganda on steroids, dressed up as progress. It’s biased by design, as a result of who built it and who was in the room at the time, and because of who it serves.
And we lose the joy of messy creation.
So before you hand over another piece of yourself, ask: what is this really costing me?
This year I started a new tradition with the client edition. No remission.
Every month, I’m celebrating some of my clients.
March is wrapped up in a bow and I wanted to give a huge shout out to my clients.
I have so many books on creativity by so many different people. Books on writing. Books on marketing, on business, on psychology, on physics…
That’s what we do.
We read a book we love, then we look around for more books like that one.
If you want to get pointlessly enraged, scroll social media.
If you want to be challenged and perhaps transformed forever, read a book.
And if you want to discover incredible things about yourself, change your life, and turn your message into a movement, write a book.
Don’t let the possibility of other people thinking you’re anything less than perfect stop you from writing anyway. You’re missing out on something beautiful if you do.
Your voice is magic. Use it.
Silence is the biggest problem of all. The lack of acknowledgement. The lack of visible and audible pushback.
When we stay silent, even though we’re horrified, the perpetrators see acceptance and agreement and encouragement. And the people on the receiving end see a space that is not safe, full of people who tacitly agree with the horrors.
