How To Get Your Creativity Back When Fear Is Killing Your Vibe
Today on the Business of Writing podcast, we interviewed Finka Jerkovic about her book, Sell From Love, and her idea that everything we do in life is either motivated by love or fear. I’ve been thinking about it this afternoon, because Twitter opened up their verification process again (so you can get that little blue tick next to…
The ‘Nature Model’ Of Creativity
Right on the edge of Lisbon, there is a huge swathe of national park with hiking trails laced throughout. There’s an abandoned watch tower, secret sitting areas, bridges where you don’t expect them, and the occasional biker who nearly runs over your toes while booking it towards the next break in the trees. We spent…
It Won’t Always Be A Home Run
Some days, the writing is just not going to go your way. You might have a dozen ideas about where to start all in quick succession, only to find that not a single one works out. There are so many reasons for this. It might be a lack of sleep, a cheeky hangover, some sort…
Escape From Distraction City
Lisbon has just made its annual transition from puddle to furnace, which knocked my willpower down to about zero, and thus, for the past week or so, distraction has reigned. I’ve been getting so sidetracked on the laptop that no actual writing was getting done until the last possible moment every day. I was feeling…
Are You Paying Attention?
Last week a client told me about screen apnoea — “temporary cessation of breath or shallow breathing while working (or playing) in front of screens.”As soon as he said it, I knew what he was talking about 😭 I’ve noticed myself barely breathing many times when working, and this is BAD NEWS BEARS because restricted breathing can lead…
Control Vs Surrender
Something I’ve noticed working with entrepreneurs is that they are all extremely good at dealing with paradox. They’re good at allowing multiple, sometimes conflicting, things to be true. You do not need me to point out that this is a difficult and unusual skillset. It’s obviously one of the things that makes them successful. For…
Push Yourself
I have a little confession to make. This past weekend, out in the gorgeous Portuguese countryside, I spent several hours on our last night away watching The Amazing Race Australia instead of soaking up the stars. (If you’ve never watched The Amazing Race, it’s basically a multi-week puzzle-meets-obstacle-course in which the winning pair bags $250,000. It’s great.) What…
Tiny Little Bubba Steps
You know what will make you feel ridiculous very quickly? Training your super needy dog to stay home without you. It goes like this. You figure out the baseline for how long the dog can be alone with his little doggy thoughts before he freaks. (Obi got to 20 seconds. He’s not good, existentially speaking.)…
The Power Of Constraints
There’s something absolutely kinetic about constraints. When there’s nothing on the calendar, no looming deadlines, my productivity drops by, oh, 80%. I loll around doing not much of anything, even though there’s plenty of stuff I could be getting on with. But when there are 3 calls, 2 deadlines and a social outing in the…
“There Are No Typos 😃”
My current ghostwriting client and I are getting to the end of his project, and we had a call last week to go over his final edits. One of the first things he said on the call was, “Laura, there are no typos! I’m very impressed.” It kinda cracked me up. It was very endearing…