TL;DR
As a writing coach and spiritual director, the most important work I do isn’t during the breakthrough— it’s showing up in the storms. If life has stalled your writing, you’re not behind. You’re human, and your book still wants to be written.

I got an email recently from one of my Momentum mastermind members, a woman I’ve walked alongside for over a year as she’s been writing, editing, formatting and now, putting the finishing touches on her book.

Deanne, SO many thanks for being my book doula and guiding me every step of the way with this labor of love project. Wow!  It’s taken the time needed and YOU have brought it to fruition! Here we go!

I sat with that email for a long moment. It captures the part of the work most people don’t see.

What the Writing Brochures Don’t Tell You

It’s not the breakthrough sessions: the moment a client finally finds her title, or writes the chapter she’s been avoiding for six months. Those moments are certainly gifts, but they’re not the whole story.

The whole story is in sickness and in health. In the days and seasons when the writing flows freely and in the seasons where writing stops completely. When a diagnosis or family emergency rewrites everything. When writing moves forward at a snail’s pace because raising a child or grandchild means the quiet mornings disappear every summer.

The most powerful moments are when writers show up anyway. In small snippets of time, despite the discouragement that settles in like weather.

The seasons that make a writer wonder: does any of this matter?

That’s when the commitment to write and serve with all that I am is vital.

What I Actually Signed Up For

As a writing coach and spiritual director, I didn’t come to this role simply to help people write better sentences (although I love that part deeply).

I came to be a steady presence in the storms:

  • To be the one who says STAY CURIOUS and KEEP WRITING when life is hard.
  • To remind writers that a small tiny next step is better than big overwhelming goals.
  • To hold the vision of the book when the writer can’t see it herself.
  • To normalize the storms and weary seasons.
  • To remind every writer: yes, you can be UNSTOPPABLE and YOUR WORDS MATTER.

Where Writing Coaching and Spiritual Direction Meet

They meet the space between what we intend to create and what life interrupts.

A spiritual director holds space for the soul’s movement through confusion, grief, and silence.

A writing coach holds space for the writer and story’s movement through the same.

A few weeks ago, a single song brought me to tears once; it brought me home.

That’s what I want my clients to feel when they hear from me. Not pressure, performance or cookie cutter answers, but home.

A space to come as you are, bringing all the unruly thoughts and half-finished drafts.

The Sacred Work of Showing Up

The support we need most as writers and creatives is rarely when life is working perfectly. It’s in the middle of the hard thing: when we’re still trying to write, show up, and stay faithful to finishing what we started.

That’s the sacred and soul work of writing and creating something from nothing.

If you’re in a storm right now and your writing has stalled, I want you to know: you don’t have to go through it alone.

If you’re longing for support from someone who gets the writing and creative journey, I’d love to connect.

Click here to connect with me on Instagram | Click here to connect with me on LinkedIn.

Deanne Welsh is a writing coach and book doula who walks alongside writers and creatives as they bring their books to life. She is also a spiritual director offering spiritual direction to writers, creatives, and leaders navigating the soul work of storytelling and creative calling. Explore ways to work together here.