Rebecca Done’s debut novel This Secret We’re Keeping will be published by Penguin in March 2016. Here she shares how our coaching sessions provided a sounding board for ideas and something ‘to pull you gently back in the direction of your goals’ 

Coaching and Creativity

As a copywriter and novelist, I know there are times when writing can be tough. Whether you do it for pleasure or professionally, writing does have a frustrating little habit of throwing up obstacles along the way. Perhaps you’re experiencing writer’s block, struggling to protect your writing time, or finding it hard to reach your goals in the face of everything else life has to throw at you. Overcoming these barriers can seem like an impossible task, and that’s where writing coaching comes in.

Writing coaching is all about exploring how to overcome the challenges you’re facing and moving forward as a writer. That can mean different things for different people: finally nailing the plot of that short story, hitting ‘The end’ on your first novel, or finding new ways to develop so your work doesn’t stagnate.

The latter certainly rang true for me last summer. I was working full-time as an in-house copywriter during the day, and spending every spare minute of my own time putting the final touches to my first novel so my agent could begin the nerve-racking process of submitting to publishers. Essentially I was living and breathing writing, and doing little else. With a high volume of creative briefs to tackle at work – for a brand that has a very distinctive voice – the imperative to deliver something original and exciting day-in day-out was as pressing as ever. Finding different ways to keep my writing fresh was something I knew coaching could help with.

Essentially I was living and breathing writing, and doing little else

Heidi asked me to come to our first session with some ideas about what I wanted to discuss. Aside from anything else, it was fantastic to simply have some time in a room with someone sharing the ups and downs of writing life! As a practising professional, Heidi knew exactly what I was talking about. This helped to maximise our time during the session, as she has a first-hand understanding of many of the problems and issues that writers commonly face.

The great thing about coaching is that it’s very pressure-free. It feels like an exploration of ideas and possibilities, and it’s certainly not about being told what to do. Heidi began by asking me a series of open questions designed to be a jumping-off point for us to explore together what I could do practically to move forward. What’s brilliant about conversations like this is that they tend to throw up a lot of ‘Oh – I’d never thought about it like that’ moments, which for a writer is fantastic because it draws your mind along new paths and gets you excited about fresh ideas.

@writerbex