Fostering practices that will serve your creativity for life. — During the lockdown, I recorded an episode of the podcast Author Not Present, dedicated to discussing and workshopping creative writing. In this particular episode, my co-host Peter asks: How is the writing going? At that stage, we were months into some of the most severe restrictions placed on us in…

What you should know about becoming a freelancer in 2020 — As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases from affiliate links in this article. I decided to go freelance in late 2019. I’d been a freelancer before, but transitioned back to full time work in 2016. For many years, I worked in the arts then big tech, whilst trying…

How to refuel your creative centre. — The phrase ‘Writer’s Block’ looms over all of us who dare to pick up a pen or tap out sentences on our computers. It suggests that we, the writer, have hit an impasse — we’ve strained too hard, or squeezed out every inch of creativity we had, with nothing left…

Not as easy as it sounds. — Accepting the term ‘artist’ feels like a huge step in the life of anyone who aims to be creative. Whatever labels we attach to ourselves, this one feels particularly loaded. Who gets to call themselves an ‘artist’? What does this really mean? These are big questions, and ones it takes…

Cut through and get clear on communication. — There is so much passive aggression out there these days, and most people love to blame social media for it. In my view, that’s just one factor, and the bigger one is just good old fashioned human insecurity. So if you’re coming up against the ‘pass agg’, how do you…

Your guide to negotiating anxiety in the form of panic — Warning: I’m going to discuss in some detail what I experienced during a panic attack. This might be helpful, or it might be triggering. I just wanted to let you know it’s coming. Recently, I had my first panic attack in years. Luckily for me, I haven’t had a lot…

Deciding what’s right for you, regardless of what might happen — Humans are not famously good decision-makers. Particularly when we are faced with too many options. The more choices we have, the more factors we try to consider, the ‘better informed’ we assume we are, to make the ‘right’ choice. Right? Actually, we’re also less likely to make and follow through…

Embrace happier relationships — even with ourselves. — Some time ago now, I wrote an article about recognising the toxic people in our lives. The other side of the coin to this article is the idea that we attract what we put out in the world. That if we act in a toxic way, we draw more toxicity…

Moving beyond shame and trauma. — When we talk about ghosts, we might be referring to a supernatural something, the feature of horror films. We might laugh, consider such things ridiculous. But I’ve been thinking about ghosts a lot lately. I’ve been thinking about how we are all haunted, in a way, by the past. Memories…