Let’s kick off Q4 2025

Hello! It’s been a minute, and now it’s October. I hope you are enjoying cooler temps and pumpkin spice everything, and in Florida, we won’t transition from More Hot to Less Hot for another month or six weeks. 

I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’ve been in “figuring sh*t out” mode for, well, a year. For writing and reshaping my business. But I’m starting to feel like I’m getting somewhere. Seems like a long time to be swimming, but if I put my coach hat on (picture a ridiculously wide brim because Florida sun feels like lasers), I would say that’s the nature of the creative process. I tell the writers I work with this IS the process; creative work is not linear nor does it happen at the speed we want it to. Figuring sh*t out, whether it’s your writing, your business, or your life, is deep work that takes time and exploration and iteration.

Coaches help the creative process. I have been in AJ Harper’s community since the beginning of the year, and I have been working with Jessica Abel on the business side for the past couple of months. Because I can’t do it alone. I need someone with expertise to reflect on what I’ve written and offer feedback and next steps. Deep, creative work is mostly solitary by necessity; we need the time and space to excavate what’s in our heads, get it onto a page, and then have a trained perspective offer insights against our goals and ideals.

That process, by the way, is what I love about being a coach. People, myself included, think we just sit down and complete a task and then move on. It’s true for making dentist appointments; it’s not true for writing a book or developing a business or designing a product or service. Coaches, myself included, support your’ goals by offering a container – a coaching package, for example – in which someone’s idea is tried, tested, and improved so that it can be brought into the world. I love helping people do that. 

But what I really came here to say is that I’m finally confident enough to share what I’m working on: 

I’m writing a book for people with high-functioning anxiety, who want to not feel bad or exhausted by it anymore, but can’t seem to turn it off or make it go away when it drives them — or others — bonkers*.

Here’s the thing I’ve learned from living with high-functioning anxiety: there’s no on/off switch for anxiety, but we can develop an “early warning system” that keeps our high-functioning anxiety superpowers from becoming our kryptonite.

*Is this you, or someone you know? If so, would you be willing to answer a few questions about your experience or would you please share this request? Responses will help me write a book that will be as helpful, illuminating, and life-changing as possible. Responses are completely confidential and just to help me understand my readers’ needs. No one else will see what you wrote but me.

These statements might change – evolve – as I work on the book, but I feel like the “reader statement” and “core message” (see AJ Harper’s Write A Must-Read – now in paperback!) are true, reflects what this book will be, and will help me WRITE the book because I know what I’m working towards. 

By the way, I use AJ Harper’s fundamentals exercises early in my coaching engagements because they bring clarity and laser-focus to what you want to accomplish. 

I also came here to share a few things I thought you might be interested in:

1. A call for submissions from a writer who produces award-winning anthologies. To find out about the next submission opportunity, join her newsletter: awfullyhilarious.com/newsletter

2. Sophy Dale’s Expand Your Ecosystem Roundtables are free, low-key, no-pressure sessions for people interested in exploring what relationship-based marketing might look like for them in an easy, intimate environment. They’re about making aligned connections and sharing ideas and resources. The Roundtables are a bit like a mini pop-up mastermind. They’re introvert-friendly (max 7 attendees, no one is forced to talk and there are no “fun” ice-breakers). The next Roundtables are set for: 

• Wed 1 Oct 4pm UK time  (11am Eastern | 8am Pacific | 5pm Central European)

• Mon 3 Nov 4pm UK time (11am Eastern | 8am Pacific | 5pm Central European)

• Find out more and book your free place here.

3. Want to make a low-cost product to sell on Amazon? RuthXO is having a 50% off sale of her templates and prompts so you can create your own journal! I used her template to create a journal for writers, travelers, and those who think they aren’t good at journaling that I use myself when I travel. There was nothing out there that had the format I wanted, so I made my own! I haven’t marketed it/promoted it until now.

4. Seriously, buy this book: AJ Harper’s Write A Must-Read – now in paperback

What are you incubating/iterating this fall?