If you’re in the process of starting something new, or looking to embark on a creative endeavor going for a softer heart has really been freeing - I can do and experience more.

Yes, today more than ever we are seeing a lot more flexibility around the acceptance of the imperfect. The iterative approach to building businesses gives you a lot of room to test and learn and fail forward. But say what you want, I still believe that the spirit of perfectionism is alive and well in the world. 

Getting knocked down is never fun. We all know that feeling. It’s basically like getting punched in your gut, losing all of your breath, and then falling down. While we’re laying there on the floor, trying to get our bearings, figuring out what the heck just happened, we have some decisions to make, don’t we? We can stay on the floor, we can feel sorry for ourselves, or we can take a deep breath and determine to get back up on our feet again.

Ok, we’ve all found ourselves in those moments where we have decisions to make and all we can hear is noise. That’s usually us, talking to ourselves, by the way. How many of you are verbal processors like me? Ha! But it’s true when we have to move something forward, like finishing a story, taking those steps toward establishing a new business or getting a new job, it can often be hard to put one foot in front of the other. A part of that is fear of failure, sure. Another reason is too many options.

Over a 18-months ago I started being intentional about offering up 1:1 meetings with women and men who were looking to “start something new.” It could be just about anything - a business, a career, a hobby, a new family. I was looking to start a new business concept myself, developing immersive books for Gen Z. I know just how important encouragement can be for spurring one on.

Have you ever felt like you were moving along just fine and then wham! You hit a wall of resistance. And you’re not exactly sure what is going on? What’s the cause behind this smackdown? Or, maybe you detect a creeping sluggishness. A sort of waa waa moment? There could be many reasons why your forward momentum is slowing, of course. But something I figured out a long time ago is that when I sense the slowdown it’s often because I’ve allowed myself to become offended.

Recently, I was on a business trip to the Boston area. My accommodations were just outside of the city in Hull in the cutest boutique hotel, right across from the water. The view was spectacular, if a bit different from where I now live – Miami. In fact, the water, and the windswept vistas reminded me of my time in the UK, and Cornwall in winter in particular.

Taking a risk is never easy, but it can be even trickier when you’re taking a risk on you.

We have a thing in marketing, or at least in my company, called OPM – other people’s money. We often work with our clients to help them find OPM to do some of the marketing work that will help them lift their brand - in terms of brand awareness, and connecting with their customers. If you can find someone else to pay for it, and it’s mutually beneficial to both parties, then what a great way to go, right?

Oh my. AI. Shame on me, but I only recently learned about ChatGPT and a host of other places a writer can go to have a machine write their story for them. Ha! In my day job as a brand strategist this opens up all kinds of opportunities, I suppose. A colleague said she was using it to help her re-work pitch decks. I think I might try it for SEO. But as someone who writes fiction, it was somewhat alarming to learn that you could have a natural language processing tool write a book for you in three days.

Let’s take a look at Time. This too is a critical building block because it will not only shape your story, it could potentially require a lot of you. If you have decided to set your novel in the past, or future, you’re going to have to hunker down over some research to make sure you’re getting your facts right. Yes, fiction is, well, fiction, but you still should adhere to a level of accuracy when writing about a particular place in time. So, how do you decide when to set your novel? I’ve got three thoughts.

In my last post, I talked about the three things that really matter when you are getting ready to start writing your novel: People, Place and Time. In this post, I want to tackle place. Where does your story take place? Where do your characters live?

When planning to write a novel there are always a million things to consider. And let me assure you, the details matter. Continuity is so critical. Character development makes or breaks a good story. Where you choose to set your story in space and time can make it compelling or a dud. So, when starting out I look at three key building blocks: people, place, and time. I’m going to do a 3-blog series. Here’s the first one – people.

Rejection is never easy, but it’s part of life. Wherever you find yourself rejection will rear its unpleasant head. It’s particularly painful for creatives because so much of what we do feels so personal. I also run a comms business, and I deal with rejection in my agency all the time. But being turned down stings a little less at the office because there are more layers between me and the rejection. Not always, but often.

There are so many ways to get inspired as a writer. One of the top ways is to indulge in great art, and see how others are bringing their inner world into the “real” world. Another is to get outside in nature. There is nothing better than exploring the majesty of the world outside. Then, there is always travel, seeing new things in real-time, and experiencing how other people live. For me personally, great photography is a medium that can get my creative juices going.

Are facing down a rewrite? The first hurdle can be getting started. One of the best ways to start is yes, start. But another great way is to go back to the “why” behind what you’re writing. I was recently asked to revisit the first half of my novel by my literary agent. Not the words you want to hear, but as I’ve said before, writing is rewriting. Getting started was proving to be harder than I thought, so I decided to go low - into the roots of my story, and go high - look at the context of the world my characters are living in. Doing a sketch on both helped me get started.

The power of routine to make a place for creating cannot be underestimated. When you want to start a new creative project, whether you are writing an article or a book, composing a new piece of music, graphically designing a new document, or pulling out a canvas for a new painting, having a routine that puts you in the right frame of mind is critical. The good news - everyone should have their own routine, something they rely on that works exclusively for them.

Most creative endeavors start with some raw material. Take writing a novel, for instance. When I start out, I think about my basic storyline and the characters that will live within the story. Who are they? What motivates them? Do I like them? You don’t always like your characters, true! What do they look like? What’s at the center of their heart? Do they have a heart?

Making money is not a bad thing in and of itself, is it? Of course not, we all need to make a living, unless we are independently wealthy, or have won the lottery (perish the thought!) It’s when money becomes the deciding factor in the work we do that we might lose perspective and even start making bad decisions.

Getting started. My oh my. Isn’t that age-old conundrum. There are a few reasons why I think getting started is so difficult. Here’s my top three:

It’s never the easiest thing to negotiate. Years ago, when I was heading in to see my division boss and I was going to ask for a $170,000 raise, a friend told me that I should ask for what I wanted and stop talking. So, I did, and I didn’t get all that I wanted right then, but I got close. Lesson learned. But is that a helpful strategy for creatives? And, why is negotiating as a creative so tough?