Tired of Not Writing? Or Not Writing Enough? Samesies.
Here’s how as your coach, I can help you move out of stasis and into productivity.
In the ten years I have been working with creative writers, I have worked with way too many gifted writers who don’t write. Or don’t write as much as they wish. Or who start projects but never finish them, or finish them but don’t pursue publication. I’m including myself here, and I’ll tell you, I’m sick of it. I’m fed up with my stalled projects and half-told stories. I’m tired of my excuses about why I’m not finishing my stories. Does this sound familiar to you? Can you relate?
There are a thousand reasons writers don’t write, and I’m intimate with all of them. My guess is you might be, too. The most popular defense for not writing is lack of time. Other obligations come first. Kids are demanding. Paid jobs are exhausting. There’s laundry to do. When there is time, we find that writing is hard. Writer’s block feels real. Revision is daunting. How can a project that started out so fun and fresh now feel like a boulder you’re perpetually pushing up a hill? Then there’s the question of value. We ask ourselves, “Who wants to hear what I have to say? The rest of the world isn’t going to take my work seriously, so why should I?” We convince ourselves that writing is simply our hobby, that it’s enough to stay in an eternal state of process rather than risk what it would take to fulfill our writing dreams.
Perhaps I’m here just unloading my own personal hang-ups, but I’ve worked with too many writers to believe I’m alone in this psychological cycle of creative stasis. I also believe we’re all capable of overcoming these mental and emotional blocks. How you ask? It’s not by you becoming a different person—not smarter or more talented or however you tell yourself you need to be better. It’s not by you having a different life that grants you more free time. It’s not even by you inviting a muse to appear and magically make any of this easier. Writing takes you believing in your voice and prioritizing your work. I became a Writing Coach because I know you can do this and I’m going to make sure that you do.
Everything I offer you as a Writing Coach, I want for myself. Do you wish someone held you accountable to your writing practice? Who cared as deeply about your story as you do? Who will help you shape it as you need? Tell you what they hear in your story, what themes emerge for them, where they see holes, and how you might fix them? Someone willing to share their deep knowledge of story, structure, and craft? Someone who provides exercises, prompts, and reading recs to keep you inspired and moving forward? Someone fully committed to your journey, to guide you successfully through process and arrive on the other side with a completed project? Well, that’s me! I’ll do all of that for you and with you.
I have clients contact me with an idea and say, “I want to write this screenplay. Where do I start?” Other clients have come to me with full manuscripts or with 75 or 100 pages of partial personal essays they want to transform into a memoir. For each of these clients, we identified their goal and determined the best path to achieving it. That’s what I’ll do with you, too! Together we’ll decide how many words or pages you will write each week; what if anything you will turn in to me; what sort of feedback you’re looking for and if you’d prefer to receive it as written or delivered in a Zoom consultation; how often we’re going to check-in; and what other services and guidance I can provide for you. Your plan is customized to best serve you and your project.
Trust me, I know the song you’ve been singing on repeat. I sing it, too. It goes something like, “There’s a story I want to tell but it’ll just have to wait until tomorrow.” The catch is that tomorrow always comes and the story remains unwritten. Let’s change that record and start singing a different tune—the one that goes, “I’ve got a story to tell and I’m not stopping until I’ve told it.”