Let's (gently) bosh out the rest of the year together...
New stuff, a new workshop, and a new year plan...
Okay okay okay okay this is gonna be a quick one because you’re busy, I’m busy, and longform is great, but sometimes you just need the pertinent information directly in your face.
Okay.
So, somehow it’s November, but instead of going, “arghhhh, it’s November!” (which is what I usually do) I’ve spent the last few months carefully putting together a plan for the rest of 2024 (and beyond).
A plan that’s centred around actually slowing the fuck down as this year rolls inexorably toward midwinter.
A plan that springboards off my recent creative audit and puts into practice all the things I’ve been learning and exploring the past twelve months (see last week’s post for more on that).
A plan that smooshes those two things together with some approaches to writing that are sustainable and creatively inspiring.
A plan that could also involve YOU, if you so wish.
So, here’s what the rest of 2024 looks like at The Joy of Fixion:
Creative Hibernation — a NEW 6-week workshop series, starting 25 Nov
From the middle-ish of November to the end of the year, I’m going to be posting up a series of weekly exercises around the idea of creative hibernation.
Instead of going full steam into an end-of-year burnout, take a step back and overwinter your work-in-progress; let it rest, let it breathe, and get some objective perspective on how to move forward.
This Substack series is for anyone who’s got a WIP that could do with a bit of a break. Maybe you’re in between drafts, stalled mid-project, utterly stuck in the mud, or have been on hiatus for a while and aren’t sure how to get back on track.
Or maybe you just know, deep down in your writerly soul, that you’re unlikely to do a whole lot of actual writing over the last few months of the year, but still want to stay connected to your creativity.
Creative Hibernation will guide you through this downtime, gathering the resources and objectivity you need to tackle things afresh in the new year.
More info coming soon, and a heads up that this will be for paid subscribers only, so sign up below or upgrade your sub if you want to get your eyeballs on all this good stuff (and much more good stuff to come)…
Write What You Know & Unfuck Your Writing
That’s quite a statement by itself, but it also contains the titles of two other series I’ve been developing and will be posting up more regularly in the new year.
So, what are they all about?
Write What You Know
“WWYK” is an oft-espoused bit of writing advice that is also oft-misunderstood. At its core, it’s simply a case of drawing from your innate humanness to add authenticity to your writing. Steal snippets from your lifetime of unique experiences to create realistic characters, vivid settings, and create deeper meaning in your work.
[For a sneak peek deep dive, get on board my Write What you Know Zoom workshop this Saturday 9 Nov over at Write or Die…]
Unfuck Your Writing
To truly unfuck our writing, we need to unlearn all the bullshit that’s holding us back, creatively — whether that’s on a psychological level, a practical level, or a line-by-line level. And, after working with struggling writers for a decade, I’ve come to see the detrimental patterns that many of us fall into: loss of confidence, perfectionism, overanalysing, and disconnecting with the actual joy of writing. So it’s time for The Great Unfuckening — in which we all find our way back to writing freedom.
I ran a live intro Unfuck Your Writing workshop in October and a bunch of people asked for more specific advice on how to get unfucked, so I’m gonna delve more deeply into all these nuances in this series.
Basically, I freakin’ love writing about these topics, so I’m gonna make them a more central part of my work here in 2025. These will also be paid posts (girl’s gotta eat) but there will still be plenty of other stuff for free, including my monthly Fixion Lessons, writing exercises, prompts, and general updates and posts.
Editing, Coaching & Feedback
I’m pretty fully-booked in terms of manuscript editing for the rest of this year, but if you have a novel, a collection, a short story, a script, or something else you’d like to send my way for feedback, get in touch and we can talk 2025 schedules (eek!).
In the meantime, I do have limited availability for online creative coaching and mentoring, which is basically an in-depth one-to-one to talk about your writing, your progress, your challenges, your literary angst and your fictional aspirations. You talk. I listen. We brainstorm, problem-solve, put the world to rights (writes?). And then we formulate a shit hot plan to make it all gravy.
I have a little menu of coaching packages to choose from HERE, including:
Anchoring & Steerage — where you’re at, where you’re headed, how to get there
Outlining & Planning — create a comprehensive (but flexible) plan for your story
Has it Got Legs? — explore the potential of a brand new idea and get it up on its feet
Tailor Your Writing Practice — beat writer’s block and cultivate a writing practice that works for YOU
Or, if you’re not sure what kinda support you need right now, you can always book an introductory mentoring call and we’ll figure it out together.
P.S. If you wanna buy one of these packages for a beloved writer instead (for Christmas, perhaps?), then lemme know and I’ll whip up a gift voucher…
Alright. That was as quick as I could make it with so much to share.
More soon.
Happy writing!
: )