My Book Writing Adventure | June 2025 | No. 9
The ninth post in my experimental, self-directed, gentle book coaching programme: therapeutic writing : point of view : journalling prompts.
This email is long and may be cut short by your email provider. Either read it in the Substack app or click, ‘read more’.
In this post, you will find:
A review of my experiments in the past month.
A link to My Book Writing Adventure programme index (this list of what to expect for the next few months is for paid subscribers).
Gentle suggestions and ideas for what you can do on your book project in the next lunar month.
An invitation to the full moon My Book Writing Adventure Support Group on Zoom - Friday 13 June 9.30-10.30am GMT (for paid subscribers).
My Book Writing Adventure is a gentle, experimental, pick ‘n’ mix, self-directed book coaching programme for people with full enough lives who are driven to write a book despite everything.
I am committed to writing a book, creating a series of experiments to help me and inviting people along for the ride. There is a monthly newsletter (free and published each new moon) and a monthly support group on Zoom (for paid subscribers around the full moon).
Click the button below to subscribe or upgrade your subscription. And scroll down for this month’s update.
My book writing experiments
We are in phase three of my 15-month long programme: Write First Draft.
I think this phase is going to take a lot longer than three months for me! And I’m not sure at this stage how to plan for it. All I can do is keep making tiny incremental steps forward. I have been quietly coming at my book with adjacent creative activities such as making very simple mandalas with indigo ink and doing some therapeutic work with Ira Progoff’s book: At a Journal Workshop.
But it was indeed a busy month with the proofreading job and the developmental editing course with the Chartered Institute of Editors and Proofreaders. So there wasn’t much space left for my own writing.
And I have been rather hard on myself as I am not moving forward in the way I had planned nine months ago. So - since this My Book Writing Adventure project was always meant to be fun and to fit into my life, while acting as a container for people working on longer projects (including me), it is due a review for the rest of the year.
I will definitely be keeping the monthly support group on Zoom as I have very much valued the accountability as well as chatting about writing in a way I don’t have space for during workshops.
My Book Writing Adventure Support Group Future Dates
All Friday mornings on Zoom: 9.30-10.30am (UK time), the dates for the rest of the year are: 13 June, 11 July, 8 August, 5 September, 3 October, 7 November, 5 December.
As for this newsletter, while I figure out a plan, I will gather some book-writing related links here of things that have caught my eye this month, as well as past articles I’ve written on topics people have asked me about recently. And maybe that is okay and enough!
Journalling prompts
Oh and I also have some journalling prompts for you:
Most of all, right now, my book needs…
If I didn’t worry about the outcome, I could…
Next, I could let myself…
If it didn’t need to be perfect, I could try…
Pennebaker’s Therapeutic Writing Experiments
I mentioned this in a workshop recently, so here are some ideas if you have something you’d like to write about, but it feels very emotional to do so.
Point of View and Narrative Distance
You might be wondering about how close you need to be inside a character’s head when writing fiction in particular. I found the examples in this article, written by one of my regulars, Lyn King, very helpful.
was the first person to introduce me to the idea of narrative distance and she is still writing Very Useful Posts about writing here on Substack:
With all my background work on developing my editing services as well as proofreading recently, I am feeling the pull back to creativity for its own sake and for the joy in life.
has a lovely list of 100 artist dates.
And
has some helpful notes on that ever-present question: how to get published:
My Book Writing Adventure Online Support Group (Zoom) - next meeting
To join the full moon My Book Writing Adventure support group (Zoom) on Friday 13 June 9.30-10.30am, if you are a paid subscriber, click here for the link. I will also send a reminder nearer the time. If not, upgrade by clicking this button:
What gentle things will you do this month to move your book project forward?
I’d love to hear about it - leave a comment below :)
If you missed earlier posts, click here:
https://awen.substack.com/s/my-book-writing-adventure
Until next time…
thank you for the shoutout!!