Hiya writer friends,
I’ve been in an incredible state of career Zen lately. Freelancing has been good. I have three clients who send me regular assignments (a total of 16-20 each month), a few of which are reported stories, but most of which are ghostwritten content pieces for websites and newsletters that take me 2-3 hours each to finish.
Business is good. Having figured out the content piece for The Wordling over the last year, I’ve turned my attention to monetization, and we’re gearing up for a new product launch in September. It’s going to be the culmination of everything I love about online business, and a letting go of everything that doesn’t suit my personality and lifestyle.
And finally, my author career is good. As I mentioned in last week’s newsletter, I’ll be spending most of my energy on growing this business, then growing my audience, and only then putting out more books. I don’t want to launch anything new until I have a substantial audience, and so, until then, I’m simply focusing on the creation side of things. The goal is to write as many books as I can before I jump into publishing next year so that I have an inventory to play with when I’m ready.
Something strange happened yesterday. I’d been working on a new novel and I was tired, so I decided to have a nap in the middle of the day. When I woke up, my brain was on fire. I rushed to the computer and over the next hour, a detailed outline presented itself for a new book on a subject I’d never thought of before, and well, I guess I’m now also writing a nonfiction book. The creativity gods must have been feeling particularly generous, however, because this morning, I received the idea for a new course.
This wouldn’t have been an exceptional statement at any other point in my career—I’ve launched 22 online courses and published 9 books, after all—but I’ve had a few setbacks over the last few years which all but dried up my creativity. I haven’t been excited about a new book or course idea in a long time. Two years, to be precise.
I guess it shows how Zen I’ve become in that while I felt frustrated that I couldn’t get excited about anything, and I worried about the impact this would have on my creative life, I did trust that the fog would eventually lift. In the meantime, I have dutifully kept my head down and shown up to the page regardless. I have written approximately 185,000 words so far this year, including on new projects that I didn’t feel particularly excited about. I’ve been writing, no matter how I feel about the day, my life, or the project, because that is what I do. I’m a writer. I write. I’ve trained myself, especially in this last year, to show up for the work. It’s always better when I feel aligned, in flow, and incredibly excited about what I’m creating, but I felt it was even more important that I show up when I wasn’t. I knew it was the only way I would get my mojo back.
Yesterday, I did. I felt as though I fell asleep one person, released some block or belief in my dreams, and then woke up massively changed. I still don’t know what shifted exactly, but I felt more creatively certain than I have in years.
Working on a new book and creating a new course feels like just the way to honor that.
Enjoy the issue!
Cheers,
Natasha