Soon, though sadly not yet, I’ll be able to tell you how very much I enjoyed my interview for Kayleigh Dobbs, recent debut author and delightful mastermind behind the Happy Goat Horror website and podcast, who I spoke to yesterday afternoon (No spoilers for today, except that it will be out in three weeks’ time). 

Kayleigh was mainly asking about my writing, but she also shared with her listeners how far-reaching her writing and confidence coaching experience with me had been. She said, among many lovely other things, the ‘advice I gave her’ was helping every day. 

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‘Did I definitely give you any advice?’ I asked.

She realised, of course, that I hadn’t. 

Coaching asks questions, clarifies authentic, individual answers, and strategises for success based on what success means and looks like for the individual client. So, mainly what I had done was clarify: what Kayleigh wanted in writing, what she wanted in life. It’s powerful questions that stay with a client, along with the curiosity (which is what true confidence feels like) to hold and ask themselves about their circumstances, and objectives, every day. 

While I do step into the shoes of writing mentor at Roehampton University, Riverside Studios and in mutually agreed, clearly defined areas with private coaching clients, I am a coach first. Coaching, unlike mentoring, is not telling you how to use the equipment (although its results may well do). It is designed to be what one of my favourite authors on the subject calls a ‘thinking partnership’ (Nancy Kline, Time to Think), one in service of and focused on the client. It discovers, in a space of curiosity, what’s behind your choices, so you can make them based on what you truly want. 

Advice, when it does come in the coaching relationship, comes from the one person who knows the client best (and whose voice emerges in the dedicated, confidential and safe time and space, honestly, curiously, and without judgement): not the coach, but the self.

The best writing advice – like the best life advice – isn’t advice.

Last Christmas I talked (and mimed) about this on Instagram and TikTok with the video series The Best Writing Advice is Never About Writing. The best advice, which we can be there for other writers with, is all about how we treat ourselves. That’s what ticks beneath our writing – and, especially, beneath our lack of writing. It’s so easy to think we can give the car petrol as a reward for the journey. You’d never do that to your real car. Yet we can be so good at treating our own bodies and minds exactly that way. It doesn’t make us bad people. Usually it means we’re trying very hard to be good. 

Above all in coaching, what I hope my LAMDA students (six to eighteen years old) and my writing, speaking, life and confidence clients (eighteen to eighties and nineties) have in common as a result of their time with me is, like Kayleigh, that they’re noticing rather than judging their writing, thoughts, feelings and behaviour; treating today as the first draft it is, reading it back honestly to themselves and creating choices for the next version with deepened understanding of what they fear and strengthened focus on what they want. 

This is my Creative I-Dare-You to myself this week and anyone who wants to join me:

I dare us to spot the permission we are looking for in others to take time to write, or to do whatever other acts of self-investment fuel the car – and give ourselves that permission. And see (as we already know we will) we’re a better partner, parent, friend, colleague, writer and speaker for taking the time to refuel.

Read about coaching here or join me at the Writers’ Gym this week:

Monday 13 May, 11am-1pm: The Writing Room. FREE for everyone on my mailing list. Time and space to think and write with likeminded people. No expectations, no readings, just an open chat box and unmuting for ten minutes’ chat at the end.

Tue 14 May, 12.30-2pm: Writing the Self Find the story at the heart of the experience and the skills to share it with the audience you want. 30% off for members. Free for Writers’ Gym founder members and VIP members: type your discount code where indicated.

Wednesday 15 May, 12-1pm: InkCouragement Webinar Bring your writing and confidence questions for anonymous, supportive and practical tailored personal training. Free for Writers’ Gym members: type your discount code where indicated.

Thursday 16 May, 7pm-9pm: Your Creative Writing Toolkit at Riverside Studios. Join me in person at Riverside Studios. Book with discount code CREATIVE20 so they know you’re a member or friend of the Writers’ Gym!

Friday 17 May, 11am-1pm: Writing Room EXTRA Members only: please check your Voxer messages for the link.

Find out more on the website or request the membership booklet from info@rachelknightley.com

Catch the latest episode of The Writers’ Gym podcast on Apple, Spotify or any of your favourite platforms.

I’m breathing a sigh of enormous relief as I type this. Not because of what I’m writing, but because of where I’m writing it. This week I made the move off Mailchimp to bring my whole audience to Substack. So, I’m no longer repeating myself in your inbox if you got both newsletters (for which, if you did, many thanks!) and can welcome to what I hope you’ll find a much more intriguing neighbourhood. 

For any of you completely new to Subsack, this is where many of my favourite authors – including Tom Cox, Jennifer Steil and Hanif Kureshi – moved here to connect directly with their readership. I came here first as a reader, which is of course how I came to writing, speaking, coaching and directing. I’m not the only person you can enjoy reading for free (or taking the option to support the work of, and I particularly recommend the three above): just sit back and enjoy the thought pieces and newsletters, and/or connect with me however works best for you: through comments, chat or through info@rachelknightley.com. Whether you want to develop your writing muscles, or your delivery to an audience through public speaking, whether you’re a LAMDA Exams or business and personal coaching client, the thought pieces and newsletters are a great way of keeping in touch and getting added value on your writing, speaking and confidence: the world’s most transferable skills.

Obviously and straightforwardly helpful as this move to Substack has been, it still evoked an enormous amount of overthinking. The answer at the heart of my overthinking – as with so much overthinking – was to recognise I knew exactly what I needed and wanted to do. That, rather than doing the actual thing, was the hard bit. It never stops being a surprise how much easier the world looks after taking a step that gives you more time with yourself. Which, in my case, equals writing time. I love that phrase, ‘writing time’. It’s an inbuilt reminder we can create more time, more of the circumstances of our lives – just as we can create more words – than it is often easy to realise, or acknowledge; than we are conditioned to believe are our right.

This is my Creative I-Dare-You to myself this week and anyone who wants to join me: 

I dare us to spot the time we have the right to take.

Join me at the Writers’ Gym this week: 

Friday 3 May, 12-1pm: Writing Workout. Boost your confidence and your word-count with creative exercises, discussions, tips, techniques and community. Free for Writers’ Gym members: type your discount code where indicated.

Monday 6 May, 11am-1pm: The Writing Room. FREE for everyone on my mailing list. Time and space to think and write with likeminded people. No expectations, no readings, just an open chat box and unmuting for ten minutes’ chat at the end.

Monday 6 May, 6.30pm-7.30pm: Writing Workout. Boost your confidence and your word-count with creative exercises, discussions, tips, techniques and community. Free for Writers’ Gym members. Free for Writers’ Gym members: type your discount code where indicated.

Wednesday 8 May, 1pm-2.30pm: Coffee & Creativity. Community time to talk, write, and share work, ambitions and celebrations. Free for Writers’ Gym members. Free for Writers’ Gym members: type your discount code where indicated.

Thursday 9 May, 7pm-9pm: Your Creative Writing Toolkit at Riverside Studios. Join me in person at Riverside Studios. Book with discount code CREATIVE20 so they know you’re a member or friend of the Writers’ Gym!

Friday 10 May, 11am-1pm: Writing Room EXTRA (members only: please check your Voxer messages for the link).

Find out more on the website or request a membership booklet at info@rachelknightley.com

Catch the latest episode of The Writers’ Gym podcast on Apple, Spotify or any of your favourite platforms.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/inspiration-versus-perspiration/id1674424465?i=1000655619334

In this episode of the Writers’ Gym Podcast with Dr Rachel Knightley and Emily Inkpen we’re looking at inspiration and perspiration and whether one or other of them is the predominant force in the lives of our presenters.  As usual we have advice, anecdotes, ideas and a writing challenge that listeners can participate in.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/writing-across-genres-with-gareth-l-powell/id1674424465?i=1000654875604

In this edition of the Writers’ Gym podcast we are joined by the award-winning novelist Gareth L Powell to talk about his work across several genres.  Known primarily as a science-fiction author, Gareth has also written thrillers and fantasy. His guide for writers “About Writing : A Field Guide for Aspiring Authors” (Gollancz 2022) was described as “Brilliant” by The Guardian.  In this conversation with Rachel Knightley and Emily Inkpen we discuss Gareth’s career and hear his advice for writers wishing to focus on a single genre or expand their writing into new genres.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/music-and-writing/id1674424465?i=1000654123393

In this edition of the Writers’ Gym Podcast with Rachel Knightley and Emily Inkpen we’ll look at the relationship between music and writing.  We’ll explore music as inspiration and motivation, music as a creator of moods and as an accompaniment to your work and books inspired by or suggested by music.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/character-building/id1674424465?i=1000653404700

In this episode of the podcast we’ll be looking at the art of generating characters for your fiction.  We’ll look at the secrets of creating believable and authentic characters that can drive your story forward.  Emily and Rachel will talk about their own characters, the inspiration behind them and the ways in which they have shaped events in their fiction.

What’s the main ingredient we bring to the blank page, whether we know we’re bringing it or not?

Saying any piece of writing ‘transcends its genre’ is an efficient way to grit the teeth of any genre writer. However, from the perspective of a genre writer who happens to be learning transcendental meditation (hello), transcending stops being about moving above or beyond. It becomes a journey in (and, simultaneously, out). As a result, I’m giving myself permission to think exactly that about ‘A Crash Course in Black Holes’, Aliya Whiteley’s essay in Writing the Future edited by Writers’ Gym series one guest Dan Coxon. I loved this deeply thoughtful, friendly conversation with and love-letter to the writing process. It speaks not only to the direct subject matter of science fiction writing and being a science fiction writer but of the relationship between research and writing – no matter what our subject, or our idea of what research means for us.

“Am I writing a novel? Or am I, in fact, watching Bargain Hunt?” Novelist Katharine Orton’s (artist formerly known as) Twitter page, c. 2021

As much as we might doubt ourselves as we stare out of the window, at/through the TV or computer screen, research can be everything, even and especially when it’s not relevant to the current project: “Life is research,” Aliya reminds us. “Just being alive is research. This includes… eating, drinking and sleeping, and watching television, and sitting at the bottom of the shower in a bad mood. It’s probably not relevant for the thing you’re writing now… Let’s call it inadvertent, long-distance, secondary research.” It can be just as much of an environment for self-doubt when it’s more obviously research, too. When does period research become procrastination? When does reading what everyone else has said about what you want to talk about become a distorting mirror for our own view of the worthiness or sanity of what we are trying to create ourselves?

Research is part of most of our processes, which is what makes authorial google histories so worrying and apt for hilarity/misconstruction. This week I’ve asked a GP about how best to arrange an accidental death for a character (N.B. I did NOT use an NHS appointment for this: the GP in question is my cousin). More horrifically still, I heard myself commenting on how marvellously convenient her answer was.

Katharine’s tweet and Aliya’s essay both offered me reassurance around the most important thing for a creative writer to know: that self-esteem, or lack of it, is the main ingredient; the key thing we bring to the blank page. Which is absolutely fine, as long as we acknowledge this and its intrinsic dangers, that research (particularly interesting, enjoyable research which all research is fairly likely to become when we’re working on subjects we are drawn to) is fuel and not destination, that it’s only as useful if we keep coming back from it to pour into the next blank page.

“At some point the idea and the information will come together to the moment where writing can start. Recognising that point, and acting upon it, is difficult. But I always feel better once I sop procrastinating and get on with it.” – Aliya Whiteley

Not waiting for our feelings or the doubts to resolve, but providing our feelings with evidence of facts in the world, is the way through this: showing-not-telling ourselves that whatever undermines our confidence does not, in fact, have more reality than what we put into the world does. There is nothing more real than coming back to the blank page and daring to fill it. Hence, as Aliya says, “Finishing that story, whether it’s good or bad, publishable or awful, is its own form of research for the next story.” And, while all research is absolutely fuel, we’re the ones who channel it into a unique journey:

“All research is subjective… If we all read the same sources at the same time… we’d come away with various pieces of information that have resonated, connected, affected us differently. I think maybe that’s where inspiration lives.” – Aliya Whiteley

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/beating-the-blank-page/id1674424465?i=1000652682615

In this episode of the Writers’ Gym Podcast we will be thinking about starting to write.  Writing the opening  page of your story needn’t be a battle against that glaring white first page and all the psychological demons it implies.  Rachel and Emily offer tips, advice and hacks for starting to write and share examples and anecdotes from their own writing lives.

Today in Brainz Magazine I’m conducting a very special interview with a prolific figure in all our writing lives, based on a question from a Writers’ Gym member: ‘How do you talk to the guilty feeling when it feels like you haven’t done enough?’. You can read the full article here.

This is a voice many of us listen to every day. But are we hearing what it’s saying, or something worse?

Let me know if you take up the writing (or life) challenge and book in your own interview with Writers’ Guilt. When you hear what they’re really saying, what surprises you?

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/write-what-you-know-a-discussion/id1674424465?i=1000651971002

In this edition of the Writers’ Gym Podcast with Dr Rachel Knightley and Emily Inkpen we take a look at one of the most common pieces of advice offered to writers: “Write what you know”.  We examine this advice to consider what it means for our writing and consider how it works in the worlds of science fiction and fantasy as well as in general fiction.