Dear writers,
In one of my masterclasses, I got a great question from an attendee:
Should I sign up for coaching if I’ve barely made a start on my manuscript, and I don’t yet have a regular writing routine?
To answer that question, I’m going to tell you a slightly tangential story (don’t worry, it comes back around in the end!).
My general mood about my body at the time
Back in the fall, my friend told me she’d found a great deal on a fitness program through UT, and she asked me if I wanted to join her in working with a personal trainer.
At the time, I was feeling pretty out of shape and my hip hurt (hello, mid-forties, and inexplicable aches and pains), so I thought it wasn’t a good time to invest in training.
Maybe when my hip feels better, I told my friend. Or when I’ve gotten into halfway-decent shape. Maybe then I’d feel up to lifting weights.
Fast forward to six months later:
I still wasn’t in any better shape, and in addition to my hip hurting, my knee now hurt too! Not only had I not solved any of my body problems on my own, they’d somehow gotten worse.
Meanwhile, my friend who’d started working with the trainer was looking buff, happy, and spry. She talked a lot about how much she loved her trainer and how much her trainer had helped her feel better in her body.
Well, shoot, I thought. If it worked for my friend, maybe it’ll work for me too.
My friend’s level of enthusiasm about her personal trainer
I didn’t feel in the least bit ready, but I bit the bullet and signed up to work with the trainer in the spring—lifting weights, which was a very unfamiliar form of exercise for me.
Turns out, it was actually a lot of fun. And by the summer, guess what?
I had no more hip pain or knee pain, and I was seeing definition in my muscles for the first time in a long time.
So, what does all this have to do with writing coaching?
Well, a lot of times, I see writers do the same kind of wonky decision-making that I initially did when they think about working with a writing coach.
Writers say: I don’t feel quite ready for coaching yet. Or, I’ll start when I’ve done more work on my own, when I feel more capable.
Like me, they can fall into the trap of thinking that personalized 1:1 help is for after you’ve gotten your shit together.
But actually, coaching is for when you don’t have your shit together at all—so that you can get your shit together in a way you haven’t been able to do on your own.
Interested in learning more about my coaching program? Head to The Writer’s Transformation Project page to learn more.
-Jaime
