Forget downtime - make room for creative uptime! As creative solopreneurs we need to prioritise creative uptime. It’s how we recharge our batteries and invest in our creative growth journey. It's quality time to spark ours imaginations and feel creative connection that is both progressive and meaningful. If you’ve been feeling empty and uninspired and you’re not sure why - ask yourself if you’re getting enough creative uptime?

Did you know our brain is at a creative peak just before we sleep? You already know this if you turn off the lights and find your mind ricocheting ideas that have you reaching for your phone in the dark — lest you forget them while gallivanting in your dreams, which is likely. But have you considered the creative power of the nap?

(spoiler: you don’t have to be an artist to get these creative kicks!) What is creative expression? It’s an outward expression of inner values, feelings, thoughts and ideas. It’s bringing something that wasn’t there before to life. It’s a combination of body action and mind potential fusing into something else - an imprint of yourself, perhaps? But what if we don’t have to take it all so seriously?

An incredible thing happens when we realise the only thing standing in our way is ourselves. We can decide to stop taking detours, ignoring our calling or waiting for others to approve of our ambitions. We can step into our power, purpose and flow. We can thrive.

It's always a good day to write - even on Friday's, but especially on the 13th day of the month. Here are 13 ways to get out of your own way today. 1. Stop looking at your phone the moment you wake up even through you promised yourself you wouldn't and that this morning would be different

If you didn't know; Andy Warhol was more than the pioneer of Pop Art; he was also the master of the personal brand. Over the course of his career, Andy became his art. He discovered the creative power of his fame and toyed with his persona as if he were a living exhibit.

Following on from my previous post, Less is so much more - reflections for the year ahead, I'm setting some intentions for how I'd like to steer my year creatively to connect with myself more deeply and inspire my inner artistry. This is what I'm bringing to my creative playground in 2023.

Patti Smith is one of my favourites writers. Her writing is a whole mood; both melancholic and atmospheric and just simply, Patti. My journey with her writing began with her autobiographical, Just Kids. I was mesmerised by her life story and the poetic nuance in which she shared 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?

I’ve been collecting words of all kinds for a long time; quotes, passages, articles, stories, introspective thoughts and insightful gems that I just can’t leave behind. They run the spectrum of the writer’s mind, the human condition and the creative process. They explore novel artefacts, indulge dark humour and linger in philosophical thoughts. They brazenly peek under the skirt of contemporary culture. Just words and things that catch my mind’s-eye each day.

We're over halfway through the year that wasn't, or was it? Or is it still the year that could be? So many questions. I'm slowly unfurling after taking an opportunity to rest and recover; while some have pivoted, adapted and changed tack, this has been a great time to take a step back and allow what is, or isn't, to be just what I needed. Here are a few things I've been upto over the past few months:

This is a little mantra I’ve been carrying around for years - it’s actually a summary of one of my favourite quotes. I write it down in notebooks and put it in places where it can surprise me and remind me to have the courage - bravery - or chutzpah, if you like your red on the sweet-side on Fridays, to be bold in this life. And so, it was curious to uncover a storm in a teacup about this exact quote a bunch of years back.

We’ve suddenly got more time on our hands then we ever knew what to unexpectedly do with. What are you doing with yours?

Once you’ve eaten everything in your fridge (twice), and rolled with your dog on the carpet (at least 3 times a day) and taken a selfie of yourselfie in the bath, wearing a face mask while swishing your bright purple mug in a donut of dissipating foam (please god, only once), it’s time to think of some more productive things to do with yourself.

It has been a while in the making but the new decade makes it official. aitch communication has undergone a small evolution; one that solidifies it’s creative copywriting and strategic offering, with a name tweak to bring it home… Hello aitch create!

Five years ago aitch was started with a dream - that partly involved doing a wide step around anything to do with corporate communications - and mostly involved pursuing and creating an independent and sustainable communications business.

One rooted in authenticity. One that encouraged working with a heart-on-sleeve approach and invited voice and imagination without reservation. One that allowed artfulness and thoughtfulness as a guiding principle over mindless mass communication...

Don’t mind me while I celebrate the end of the most admin-filled period of my life: changing my last name. It was a rigorous mission, but I was determined to do it in record time, or at the very least, by the time the clock struck one year of being a wifey. Because the longer you leave it, the more daunting it gets. And it is a rather daunting and uninspiring process to complete…

Welcome to the final leg of the journey; from engagement to marriage and so-called happily ever after; this is the part that nobody talks about, and the final jolt back to reality post wedded bliss: changing your last name in every place you exist.