Hello friend,
I have a confession to make. I missed a deadline this week. I almost never miss deadlines, so I felt awful. Being organized is one of my superpowers, but sometimes it takes more than organization to get certain projects done. I am working on a bonus meditation album to accompany the audio version of my upcoming new book The Way of the Fearless Writer* and it has taken longer than expected, because it has expanded to become a full set of powerful meditations and visualisations to get you to the page, help you tune in with the seasons and lift your writerly spirits. It’s not the kind of thing you can knock out to a deadline. It takes a lot and although I’m almost finished, I have some more meditating to do…
You know that feeling when you are nearly done, but not quite there? That was me this week, a week when we have been descended upon by many visitors (all very welcome, but quite distracting), a week when lots of things in the house seem to need fixing, which means visits from lots of tradespeople to give quotes (all friendly and just doing their job, but quite distracting), not to mention it’s the school summer holidays, which means having some fun too. All in all, not ideal conditions for this kind of work.
So I sent a note to my dear editor, who was very understanding, and gave me some more time. And then I took down an old journal from the shelf to look something up, and out fell a hope note I received on an art retreat over a decade ago. Hope notes are small handwritten inspiring notes which you leave in random places, and somehow they appear exactly when you need them, with exactly the message you need to hear. I have only ever left them around for other people, but it could be a great thing to do for yourself too. Anyway, the note made me laugh out loud. Here it is:
(This hope note was written by Andrea Scher)
A dozen years on and it’s still the message I need to hear. So funny how that works. Because when a deadline is looming and you are under pressure to deliver, a nap seems like a crazy idea, and yet relaxing my mind is exactly what I need to do for the last stretch of this particular project.
I wonder, what would you like to see appear on a hope note today? I’d love to know! Why not write it on a sticky note and see it somewhere you’ll come across it at some point in the next few days, like in a drawer, inside the fridge, or on your watering can?
And that, my friend, is all I have for you today, because I am off to take a nap, at last.
Have a lovely weekend
Beth
*If you have pre-ordered the hardback or e-book versions of The Way of the Fearless Writer, don’t worry, you’ll be able to access the meditations via a URL included in the book. If you haven’t yet ordered a copy, you can do so here. I promise you it’s worth it for the meditations alone, never mind the book which will change your writing life forever.
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