Ambition without action becomes anxiety
Happy New Year!
News, events, resources and opportunities
WriteMentor Picture Book and Novel Awards 2025 - open NOW (including an adult category for the first time)!
Faber Action! Prize - deadline 30th Jan 2025
Advanced Picture Book course with Clare Helen Welsh. Starts 13th Jan.
Story Jam session with Clare Helen Welsh. Thursday 23rd January 7-830pm.
Hub Calendar (all times GMT/BST)
January
Hub catch up Monday 6th 8pm with Melissa
YA Chat Tuesday 7th 7pm with Melinda Salisbury
MG Chat Thursday 9th 7.30pm with Vashti Hardy
ND Chat Thursday 9th 8pm with Emily
Agent/Editor Q&A Kesia Lupo, Friday 10th at 7pm
Toolkit Melissa on Working with Feedback: Monday 13th 10am
PB Chat Tuesday 14th 8pm with Rachael Davis
Pitch Hero Ma’suma Amiri, Agency Assistant at WME: Tuesday 21st
Industry Q&A Lizzie Huxley Jones on Working as a Disabled Writer, Tuesday 28th 10am
February
Hub catch up Monday 3rd 8pm with Melissa
YA Chat Tuesday 4th 7pm with Melinda Salisbury
Pitch Hero Hellie Ogden, WME Tuesday 11th
Agent/Editor Q&A Hellie Ogden, WME, Tuesday 11th at 10am
Industry Q&A Clare Helen Welsh on Educational Publishing, Tuesday 11th at 10am
PB Chat Tuesday 11th 8pm with Rachael Davis
MG Chat Thursday 13th 7.30pm with Vashti Hardy
Toolkit Emily on Your Story Patchwork - Idea Generation: Thursday 21st 12pm
ND Chat Thursday 21st 8pm with Emily
A full calendar is here: https://write-mentor.com/events/
All sessions are recorded and available to watch back, so don’t fret about being there ‘live’. This is just a few of the many sessions/opportunities that happen every month in the Hub and are all available on catch-up if you join now.
The Final Word
By Stuart White
Ambition without action becomes anxiety
I read this beautiful line the other day and nothing I’ve ever read before made more sense!
And I think it’s so apt to discuss in our first newsletter of the year, as it’s a time when we are all starting out on our annual goals, set usually in accordance with our levels of ambition for this year.
I can be a really, really anxious person at times. Unbearably so, I’m sure.
And I’ve often guessed at where it came from, and through trial and error found ways to reduce it, but nothing hit the mark just like that line above.
There’s a clear correlation between my lack of action (which leads to overthinking) which spirals my anxiety levels through the roof, and conversely, my periods of productive action which do the exact opposite.
Maybe you’re reading this and thinking, well of course, Stu.
But I think highly intelligent people, and most writers ARE very highly intelligent, has tendency to overthink - they have the capacity to simultaneously imagine multiple scenarios and possibilities in any situation and all of those swirling in our minds can lead to immobilising us in a perpetual cycle of those thoughts.
One which is hard to escape and take action from.
So I guess I’ll keep it simple this week to get us started.
Whatever your ambitions and goals are for 2025, just remember that taking action is the only way to silence that anxious brain of yours.
Match ambition with action and I’m sure this will be a wonderful year for you!
Writing can be lonely, but it doesn’t need to be
May the Force be with you!
Stuart, Florianne, Melissa and Emily
A good way to look at things x
This resonates.