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Kasia Manolas's avatar

Thank you, Chelsea, for your words! I'll be thinking about this part long after reading it: "The despairing sense I get from writers who so desperately want to create but cannot get out of their own way, and I think the stakes may be just as high. Because to not live into your artistic desire in the way you are being called, is a kind of death."

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Josephine's avatar

Hello,

Thank you for this wonderful post which I’ll read multiple times to let it absorb. I needed every word. I have tried the affirmation experiment and recorded my writing affirmations. I even turned them into an EFT practice and been tapping along. I’ll definitely let you know when I have any tangible result. I know it will come. I already knew some of my writing blocks (the usual lack of self worth, fear of success, being seen) but it was really helpful to get them all out. I’ve never needed to go to AA but it’s super helped my sister and she continues to go. I just love Don’t Quit Before the Miracle. I’m on sub at the moment on a quest for my Champion Agent and yes, the rejections are horribly dispiriting. Sometimes I ask myself, what would Jack Canfield(or a similar self help person) say to me if he was here which keeps me going but I’ll also come back to this post. I love your thoughts on writing your story because in this age of glitter social media it’s so healing and reassuring to know others have survived trauma (especially generational family toxic dysfunction) and managed to thrive. I was always torn between wanting to be of Service and being Creative and couldn’t reconcile the two. It seemed so self-indulgent to sit in a room making up stories when I could be nursing or a similar service job. I even travelled to India to ask a Guru this question in my early twenties. (I’m such a nut!) He kindly answered the question for me with, ‘Not to use your creative gifts is an insult to God.’

Thanks you for the body comb recommendation. I do a lot of the self care tips from UK Katie Brindle’s site, Hayo’u Method and have the bamboo tapper and Gua Sha but shall try a body comb . I tried to preorder your Madwoman through Australia Amazon - they’re out of stock there but shall keep trying. Congratulations on your UK and US covers. They’re both fab. I did order the Wayne Dwyer, Abraham book you’re reading.

Thanks again for your posts. I love the combination of writing, self-help and make-up. I could imagine you doing a writing memoir along the lines of Bird by Bird or Dani Shapiro’s Still Writing. Here are a few book recommendations from multiple POV and domestic type settings. Apologies for my lengthy comment. I’ll aim to be more succinct next time.

Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton (set in a school though not a domestic setting)

The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman

The Girls in the Garden, The Family Upstairs, The Night She Disappeared and Then She was Gone by Lisa Jewell. L.J not as intense as Gillian Flynn but very readable. There must be a lot more!

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