Finding our enablers

My creative productivity is inextricably entwined with external enthusiasm

To nourish the roots, this nasturtium leaf in our garden needs to constantly absorb external goodness.

When you’re an emerging author, there’s a lot of chat about finding your readers, connecting with fellow writers, and building a network of supportive industry folk. Over the years, and partly via this newsletter, I’ve made some amazing connections – and friends! – that I hope will provide a solid foundation for whatever follows on this wibbly-wobbly path towards publication.

But, while networking and building a readership is vital in the publishing world, there’s much less emphasis on the importance of connecting with the people who not only enjoy and engage with your work, they make it better: your enablers. These enablers aren’t necessarily people working in the same field as you, or even in any creative field at all. Instead, they’re people who find themselves connecting with your way of thinking, and take delight in sharing their thoughts and ideas with you. These, in turn, spark more thoughts and ideas of your own that feed into your work, enriching it in the process.

For years, I started multiple writing projects with no one’s brain but my own for company. I always felt like writing was a solitary pursuit; that my ultimate goal should be to end up in a little study all by myself, surrounded by shelves upon shelves of books and tip-tapping away on yet another bestseller.

I’m sure many authors have found great success and fulfillment by operating in this manner. However, for me, not only is this set-up impossible to achieve as a result of my never-ending responsibilities, but writing in this way pre-parenthood always used to end with projects being abandoned, as my self-generated enthusiasm for them gradually fizzled away into nothingness.

Earlier this year, I wrote about how discovering online co-writing was the gift I needed to finally stick at a personal project once and for all. Yes, the body-doubling element was helpful in and of itself, but what I love most about writing together in a small group are the opportunities and the start and end of sessions to share what we’re working on. I get a physical buzz from these interactions, and always come away from them with a new narrative thread to explore. And I’ve come to realise that this buzz, generated through enthusiastic creative exchange, is absolutely vital to my writing process. Because it’s not intrinsic motivation I’ve historically lacked as a writer – I love nothing more than sitting down and starting a project – it’s the living and breathing intellectual stimulation I need to fuel it and keep it going. And my enablers are those who provide it.

One such enabler is an American artist called Sarah Shotts. Sarah’s work as a neurodivergent creator has always massively resonated with me. I went to see one of their pieces in an exhibition in NYC last year, and a conversation we had about webbed thinking fed into this piece that Sarah co-created with their son, which filled me with an enormous amount of joy and inspiration.

In return, Sarah’s thinking and our online conversations have massively informed and improved my writing. They’ve read an early draft of one of my novels as a beta reader, the resulting feedback challenging me to think very differently about a core element of the story. In short, and despite having never met in person (we came so close this year, but germs got in the way), we enable each other to keep going, keep creating and keep thinking and working differently. So when Sarah asked if I’d consider contributing a piece of writing to an anthology they were curating to explore the link between motherhood and creativity, I said yes immediately. Here’s Sarah talking about that very anthology, which is called Entwined:

I ended up writing a personal essay about how my dormant creativity unexpectedly burst out of me after becoming a mum, and I’m very excited that my piece will be available to read in print and ebook formats, which you can pre-order here.

An early proof of Entwined, with cover art by @twiggyboyerart

Just look how beautiful this book is! The entire project is Sarah’s brainchild, independently produced and funded, and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy, and the accompanying art journal, Ember (if buying a copy isn’t for you, any support for this project on social media would be hugely appreciated).

I reckon if you’ve made it this far, you’re probably another one of my enablers. Thank you. It’s because of people like you that I feel excited and motivated to keep showing up for my creative projects…and why I have some very exciting book news coming soon (watch this space – you’ll be the first to know!).