Trust the process. That’s what my physiotherapist said to me and it occurred to me that we, as writers, also need to trust the process.

Watch the video below to find out why.

Hello my lovely writers, how are you? 

I’m just back from physio and my physiotherapist gave me a timely reminder and a bit of tough love, just gently, by reminding me that the physio exercises I’m doing and what I’m working towards – which is getting rid of these headaches – takes time. 

It’s a marathon, not a sprint. 

I’ve got to start small and steady and just keep building up on it. 

I said to him, ‘But I get scared. I’m scared that if I do this exercise, I’m going to get a headache and it’s going to make things worse and then I pull back from it because I get scared.’ 

The magic words he said to me were, ‘You might bring on a headache but you need to do the work in order to strengthen the muscles.’ He said, ‘You’ve got to trust the process.’ 

It’s a marathon, not a sprint

I laughed because I thought that’s exactly the same for writing. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. You start small and steady and you build yourself up. It’s going to be painful at times.

You have to go through those painful times, those difficult times, when the words aren’t coming, when you feel you’ve got no ideas or you don’t know what’s going to happen next in the story. 

You’ve got to do it anyway. You’ve got to push through it because that’s how your writing muscle gets stronger. 

Writing is a muscle, just like a physical muscle is. Your writing muscle gets stronger by getting your butt in the chair or wandering around dictating, however it is you get your words down. You’ve got to do it even when it feels difficult, when it’s hard work and you don’t really want to do it. If you can push yourself through, you’re going to get stronger and stronger every time you do it. 

Trust the process

Trust the process, just like I’m trusting my physio and the process he’s putting me through. That’s how you get stronger. It’s the same for your physical muscles as it is for your writing muscle. You’ve got to keep going. 

I’ll say it to you as he said it to me, trust the process. Are you trusting? 

Emma xx

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is a Certified Author Accelerator Book Coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer's block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel.

Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!

Life moves in cycles, it’s true. Sometimes things are going well for us, sometimes things are going wrong but we just have to keep on going until things improve and it’s the same for our writing.

Watch the video below to find out why.

Hello my lovely writers. 

I wanted to talk to you today about something somebody said to me, which is, ‘Life moves in cycles.’ It’s a great phrase that my friend’s father used to say to them.

Life moves in cycles. 

You might have noticed in your own life there are cycles when things are going well and cycles where things don’t feel like they’re going our way and everything feels a bit tough. It makes me think of that phrase, things come in threes, when bad luck seems to come in threes and you think, ‘Okay, that’s the third thing that’s gone wrong this week. Surely that’s it done now.’ 

Life moves in cycles and so does your writing

Everything goes around in cycles and it’s the same for our writing life. I will bet that, throughout your writing career, your writing life, since you started wanting to do this, even as a hobby or just for fun, there have been cycles when you have been so prolific and so enthused, when the muse has been with you and there haven’t been enough hours in the day to get all the words down. 

Then we come around to that other side of the cycle where we dry up. There’s that feeling of being stuck, what some of you would probably call writer’s block. That real feeling that nothing is moving, nothing feels right and you’re very critical of your own writing. You’re critical of the story, you’re critical of your characters, of everything. 

Even when you’re published and you’re building a career and you’re maybe writing a series of books, there are still cycles within that. There are going to be cycles where you are loving the series you’re writing and cycles where you’re a bit bored with it and you want to start a new series. 

Within one book, there is a cycle. There is a cycle at the beginning when you’re super-excited about it and, if you’re a planner, you’re excited about putting that plot together, and that feels really exciting.

If you’re a discovery writer, you’re just diving on in there and that feels amazing too. You’re loving what you’re doing and what you’re writing. 

At some point, you will begin to hate everything about your book

In every manuscript, for every writer I know, there comes a point, usually 70/75% of the way through the book, where you hate it. You hate the story you’re writing, you absolutely hate it. You wish it was done or you wish you’d never started it and you’re very tempted to start another book. Shiny Penny Syndrome comes in and you just want to move on to the next thing. 

That is a normal part of the cycle as well. You come out of that eventually but you’ve got to be persistent. This is where tenacity and your resilience comes in. You come through that part of the cycle of hating the book you’re writing and then you start to love it again. 

By the time this book is ready to go to an editor or go out into the world, you’re feeling happy and proud and content and excited about the hard work you’ve put in and about the story you’ve created out of nothing and the characters you’ve developed out of nothing. It’s a really magical part of the cycle. 

Then you’ll start the next book and you’ll have that same excitement again.

Then you’ll have the other part of the cycle where you’re not loving the book you’re writing and on it goes and on it goes. 

Life moves in cycles and your writing moves in cycles, just be aware of that. Even if you’re feeling rubbish about the book you’re writing right now, keep going. Dig in, dig deep, show your resilience, show your tenacity and keep going until you get through that part of the cycle and into the bit where you enjoy the book again. 

I hope that is helpful and will keep you going through the cycle. 

Emma xx

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is a Certified Author Accelerator Book Coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer's block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel.

Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!

Do you get those little voices in your head? That inner critic critising everything you do?

When I found out our inner critic never goes away, it was a huge relief!

Watch the video below to find out why.

Hello my lovely writers. I’ve been thinking about how those little voices in your head are ever-prevalent. I had a few of those inner critic voices in my head this morning, criticising me about something. I shook my head at myself thinking, gosh this never goes away, does it? 

The inner critic never goes away

The inner critic never entirely goes away.  I thought this would be worth sharing with you because we often believe we can master those voices in our head, that we can eradicate those voices and, once we’ve done that, there’ll be no stopping us and we will be ready to go. Everything will be possible. 

But what I’ve realised over the number of years I’ve been working on my own mindset is that the inner critic doesn’t go away. This was a really big learning for me and I remember specifically being in a training where this was made apparent. 

And do you know what? 

I found it to be a huge relief that the inner critic never goes away, and I hope it will be a relief to you, too. If our inner voice is here to stay, it means you can stop striving to get rid of it. You can stop striving to eradicate those voices from your head and putting off your writing before you start doing something. 

Unlock Your Creative Block

When I understood this was part of human nature, I could learn to manage those voices, to console those voices and quieten them. That felt much more doable.

If that makes sense to you and feels good and achievable, I’d love to help you manage your inner critic.

I’ve created a lovely online programme called Unlock Your Creative Block, in which we delve into how to quieten those voices in your head, which will then allow you to do all the things you want to do, including writing a book. 

If you know you need to master what’s going on in your head before you can write your book, join me at Unlock Your Creative Block. 

I’ll see you there. 

Emma xx

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is a Certified Author Accelerator Book Coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer's block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel.

Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!

Writing a book is work, but the word ‘work’ doesn’t have to mean something negative or something we don’t want to do. Watch the video below to find out why.

Hello my lovely writers.

I received an email and needed to share a little of the content with you to emphasise why writing a book is work, but good work. 

The email was from a Canadian lady called Kylie Redhead, and she talked about how, in this day and age, we use the word ‘work’ to mean something negative or something we don’t want to do. 

Kylie said she looked at the origin of the word ‘work’ and it actually means an activity that fulfils an inner desire. That really spoke to me as it encapsulated so much of what I talk about.

Writing a book is work

Yes, writing a book is hard work. There’s a lot going on and there’s so much to juggle, but writing is fun and it can be joyous.

The idea that it fulfils an inner desire really speaks into that. When you embark on a book, or a short story, there’s something you want to say, and saying it in the right way takes work.

But this kind of work is fulfilling. Something is calling you to do that work, something is driving you to write that story. It’s the kind of work that fills you up.

There’s a calling inside you that wants to tell stories and wants to share those stories with the world. 

If you can see that yes, writing a book is work but also it’s an inner passion, an inner drive, an inner calling, then it can make that work feel worthwhile and not a drudgery.

It stops being work you don’t want to do or work you keep putting off, but work as in you’re striving for something great, something beyond you, something that is going to outlive you. 

Reframe the word ‘work’

It’s striving for something that will give you inner peace, inner contentment, an inner sense of fulfilment and, therefore, work that is worth doing. 

That work is worth pursuing if it’s going to be that inner calling and give you what you need to have a more fulfilled, enjoyable and creative life. 

Reframe that word ‘work’ and see what happens. 

Emma xx

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is a Certified Author Accelerator Book Coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer's block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel.

Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!

As I thought about the changes my daughter is going through, it occurred to me that becoming a writer is like being an adolescent. 

Watch the video to find out why. 

Hello, my lovely writers. 

Do you know why becoming a writer is like being an adolescent? 

It dawned on me today. 

I was thinking about my daughter who is almost thirteen and how, when she was eleven, her body started to change as she entered a new phase of life. Her menstruation started, she started developing boobs and her hips started widening. All these little things started happening without her realising it. 

Every day while she went about her business and did what she needed to do, her body underwent all these changes. When I think back on her life, the pace seemed right until she got to this tween stage and suddenly everything shot forward as she stopped being this little girl and became a young woman. 

How becoming a writer is like being an adolescent

I realised this is exactly what it’s like when we’re becoming writers. We’re plodding along, we’re doing our own thing, we’re going through all these teething problems, we’re learning to walk, we’re learning to speak and we’re learning how to navigate the world in our writing space and in the context of our writing. 

Then, suddenly, we reach this adolescent stage where things start to speed up. When we look back, we realise, ‘Gosh, suddenly my writing took on leaps and bounds. Suddenly I moved forward. Suddenly I felt I knew what I was doing a little bit more. Suddenly I had some direction. Suddenly I felt some autonomy with my writing. I felt confident with my writing. I felt I was in control of my writing, rather than my writing being in control of me.’ 

It’s bizarre how our writing life is very much like going through toddlerhood. Going through those primary school years and then coming up to high school and into adolescence. Then that blossoming happens that I saw in my daughter. It is a beautiful thing. Both for her becoming a young woman but also for you becoming a writer. 

It doesn’t happen in a year, or even in six months

So, take heart that this is a big picture thing and it doesn’t all happen in one year. It doesn’t necessarily happen in six years. Sometimes it takes a while for the right thing to come along at the right time, at the right moment, where you find your voice, you find your groove, you find your rhythm and you find your independence as a writer. There’s a lot of trial and error in writing.

So keep writing, keep going and you’ll get there. 

Emma xx 

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is a Certified Author Accelerator Book Coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer's block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel.

Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!