More than Writers

I don't know about you, but I so often get caught up in the whole grind of being an author. The writing itself is the fun part - where creativity can be set free, and all your days and nights are entirely caught up in the excitement of your idea (for some reason, my mind likes to write scenes in the middle of the night - anyone else? I always keep my phone by my bed so I can make notes on that midnight inspiration!)  Then comes the editing. There's the self-editing, then the sending out to external editors or your publisher, and all the waiting that entails. The frustration as you work out what words and even entire chapters you need to cut in order to refine and polish your work to the highest possible standard. The pain as you murder your darlings and then realise the book is all the better for it. Then the proofreading - how did you not spot that typo? It seems so obvious now! We've all been there... Then there's getting the book out. If you're being traditionall...

I have a good friend who is training to become a coach; and, because I’m a good friend, I offered to become one of her victims coachees. Every month, she sends me a short list of questions to consider before our Zoom meeting, so we both have an idea of what ground to cover and what progress is being made. (copyright Reality Explorers) Last month, one of the three questions had me stumped. It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand it – I mean, I do know how to read – but I had no idea how to answer. ‘What wins can we celebrate?’ My first thought was, How glorious! A celebration! "We" - that's practically "together"! Some words just do that to the soul, don’t they? But after I’d laid aside thoughts of Pimms and sunshine, I had to dig a bit deeper. Wins. Hmm... I tend to think in terms of writing, naturally, and the coaching is designed to reflect that. The trouble is, as alluded to last month, I’m actually in a season of tent-making. What on earth had I won in t...