Having worked in social media since 2011, I made the call in June this year to set a boundary and say no to social media projects that came my way. This meant turning down income when I was in the throes of re-booting my business. It was hard at first, but today I can say: RIP 10 year social media career. #byee

This week is filled with words in the form of poems and the magic they conjure when placed artfully and thoughtfully together. I'm incredibly honoured to be editing a book of poems for a friend in L.A. This friend and a dear friend of hers, bored of Zoom calls and craving deeper connection, came up with a project during the pandemic.

There are so many contradictions to being an artist or creative, but one self-destructive construct is that you have to work for free to earn credibility, but then you’re a sellout when you put a price to you work. Excuse my poetic French, but fuck that noise. Artistic integrity doesn’t come at the expense of earning a living.

This one's for the artists and the shadow artists. Isn't it crazy how reading these words feels like a soft punch in the knowing? It's hard to step out into the landslide of online content, this shouty world, to show yourself and what you're making, but it absolutely must be done.

It was such fun to get to do my Find Your Archetype Workshop twice this week and spend time in this fertile playground for brand building - I love the conversations that come up when doing archetypal inquiry and I love this work. It’s deep, real, connective, playful and kind of blissful to tap into the inherent energy channeling your business or personal brand. It’s a landing into knowing that unlocks brand potential.

Creative Writing is the art of making things up with words and expressing ideas in an artful way, but it's more than that; it's also conceptual and strategic. Copywriting is the standard in terms of branding and marketing copy, so how does Creative Writing fit in? Well, it doesn't. It's layered and nuanced and more experiential.

I once knew a musician who routinely performed at open mic nights in bars across London. He had this romanticised swagger about him; just a man and his guitar case cruising the grey streets in search of the next stage he could strum and sing his acoustic covers on.⁣

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step: Publish. I've been working on aitch's new offering for the past few months (and also, years) and well, here I am; setting my intentions to co-create a new kind of magic with the push of a button. Hey Creative, it's time. I'm talking to myself, but I'm also talking to you, Creative. You making your art and singing your creative song behind the scenes and not knowing how, or when, or even why! to put yourself and your work out there. So let's do this together.

Oh but I love this. I'm partial to a bit of L.I.S.H myself. L.I.S.H = Length-Implies-Strength Heuristic. I love reading chunky quotes and passages that take the time to get into the momentus swing of language at play. To really go deep and get expressive. That is literally the best part about writing for me.

This year I gave myself permission not to have all the answers; and my god, it felt good to drop all the armouring and scaffolding, to say ‘hey now, bye now’ to relentless perfecting and question-answer questing, to just tuck in the elbows, trust the process, and let life float me in the right direction.

Read that again - in creativity, and indeed, in self-creation, no experience needs to go to waste. It can all be channeled into your invention! Into your self-invention or your re-invention... Invention is a process of iterating on an earlier prototype, harnessing the learnings and lessons and using them to shape something new.

During the first lockdown last year, I created a bunch of digital collages that I never felt moved to share. The wry humour reflected a moment, and a mood, I was able to access during a perpetual season of intense transition - life, the layers, the lessons... Oh yes, and the virus.

I recently had an interaction with someone I worked with on a project a couple of years ago - a project that cost me valuable time, but ultimately, never took off. It was evident in the exchange, an email thread tying up the final loose end, the person was clipped in their responses. It's one of those things that's hard to not feel bristled by - your frontal cortex can't resist but stew in the mental mirk.

I’ve been settling into my new home after moving house, taking an unofficial hiatus to be in the moment, packing up our life and moving it to our new destination and unpacking it again. Seeing how it looked different in its new space. A little more room, a lot more light and more one with nature. Feeling how a new space inspires you to live differently; a whole new sense of potential.

It’s hard being a creative! A creative freelancer, independent, business owner, solo- or entrepreneur. Wherever you are in your journey, there’s no guided path or ladder to this gig; it’s a calling, a desire to create, and a passion for another way to live. It’s a harnessing of the maverick spirit and a commitment to personal freedom that becomes your life’s work. But it’s true what they say; it’s not easy, otherwise everyone would be doing it.

I call this the beautiful woo of brand architecture - building a brand interior from the archetype up! I love this work, because it starts from a wholly holistic and emotionally intelligent place; our innate sense of knowing.

Many brands start talking before they’ve had their first conscious thought! They start socialising their offering before they’ve considered who they are and how they speak. Establishing the foundations of your brand essence and finding your core archetypes gives your brand it’s edge. The place from which all communications should come; a structured and considered frame of reference.

For years the tech scene has dogged my creativity. I speak for myself, but many creative types can probably relate - the world of impressions, engagement and reach, or PPC, SEM, UGC and other 3-syllable jargons a few letters short of a good time, do nothing for the creative mind, nor the creative soul, mind you.

The best #worklife thing that’s happened to me this year - me and the words have melted back together. Like two choc-chips having a reunion inside the folds of a slowly baked chocolate croissant - yes, it’s as hot and cosy as it sounds.

I tend to be a bit wordy when it comes to writing copy; a teacher once said my copy in an essay was ‘too flowery’. I’m always going to be about those word flowers and the heady fragrance they create when you read them. Swoon! But one thing I’m loving about this year’s client work is that the briefs are calling for short, punchy copy. I’m learning about restraint, tightening copy for specific brand tones and going for impact with clear call-to-actions. There’s no time for messing about with long, decorative story in 2020; but that doesn’t mean it can’t be interesting and atmospheric. It just takes a little extra thought to keep it short. 🥊

I’d like to introduce you to my new friend - and my scrappy handwriting - the new friend is the bell. In a blog wormhole a couple of weeks ago, I came across an anecdote about a writer whose husband bought her a desk bell to ping whenever she had achieved her 1500 word-count for the day. A clever reward - notice, no calories in sight? So I made a mental note to find me a bell of my own, while also wondering, where the hell I would find such a thing?