A big thank you

and news about some changes I'm making here at Restorative Writing

Dear Writing Friends,

This is a thank you note from me to you to tell you how much I appreciate you being here with me in this community.

I have apparently published 161 posts since I restarted my weekly Friday newsletter on 27 Dec 2022.

And since I began Writing Together on Zoom in June 2023, we’ve met for 15 beautiful writing sessions. Of course, some of you were also part of the WRITE! community before that. And some of you were members of my very first online writing community in 2006 where, as one of you reminded me when we met last week, in the pre-Skype, pre-Zoom era, we met together over the phone. Can you imagine? I’m so grateful to you all for helping to create this ever-evolving space with me.

We’re now going to take a break from our Writing Together sessions over the summer and we’ll be returning in September. I’ll be sending dates out shortly.

In the meantime, you can access Season 1: Core Practices here and you may also enjoy the Creative Rest mini-course, which I made last summer.

And now I wanted to let you know about some changes that I’ve decided to make in the coming months.

Deep breath…

Firstly, after much thought and soul-searching, I’ve decided to move from weekly to monthly posts here on Restorative Writing. Each monthly post will be a deeper exploration of a topic, in the way that I’ve been able to offer every week in our recent Season 1.

Why am I doing this?
There are a few reasons.

1.
If you’re like me, you may be experiencing a growing sense of newsletter overwhelm. Or at least, digital information overwhelm. I have really begun to feel this recently. I subscribe to several newsletters that I often don’t get time to properly read. Maybe we all need, as the wonderful

Sarah Fay

writes, ‘less and less of more and more.’

2.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the industrial complex that so desperately wants to keep us all busy and distracted and how, unintentionally, I could so easily become a part of that. I don’t want to.

Writing – restorative writing – needs time and space and breath. I’m thinking of Cal Newport’s Deep Work and Slow Productivity here. I’d like to have a little more time to write posts to you with deep thought and care (weeks come around so quickly) and I’d like you to be able to read, absorb and put them into practice with more spaciousness. It doesn’t work if we just talk about, read about and discuss these ideas. We have to make the space to actually practice them.

There’s a large archive of Writing Experiments / Invitations now and I’d love to think that you might have the time and space this summer to revisit some of them. It’s good to do them over and over and find out what works best for you.

3.
I feel uncomfortable each time I send out a paid subscribers-only post or, because Substack is set up that way, I send out a post with a paywall in it, which feels a bit like I’m ‘selling.’

I’m not here to sell. I’m here to create community with you all and share whatever I can that might be of use or help.

Therefore, my future monthly posts will go to everyone and there will be no more paywalls, except on previously paywalled posts. Previous paid posts will remain accessible only to paid subscribers (because you paid your subscription on that understanding, and I want to honour that).

Paid subscribers will also, of course, still receive a monthly (and sometimes more frequent) invitation to our wonderful Writing Together Zoom sessions, and permanent access to the mini-courses, Creative Rest and Season 1.

If any of this doesn’t feel OK for you, and you’ve recently bought or renewed your annual subscription, please do email me and I will refund your money. If you’re paying monthly, you can, of course, choose to stop at any time.

If you’re a paid subscriber, please know how grateful I am for your support as it enables me to continue to hold space for us in the Writing Together sessions. It enables me to offer Writing Together free to those who need it. Out of my 698 current subscribers, there are 27 of you paying for your subscription and 25 ‘comps’. This makes my heart glad. 💜

Announcing: One-to-One Coaching!

In response to your requests and suggestions, I’ll shortly be offering a limited number of one-to-one writing coaching sessions over Zoom. Some of the reasons people find it helpful to work with me in this way include:

• You’re feeling stuck or lost with your writing.

• You need help with finishing a writing project.

• You’re experiencing anxiety or resistance around writing.

• You’re struggling with distraction and focus.

• You feel ready to explore how to find form for some of the themes that have been surfacing in your private writing so far.

• You’d simply like some support to use writing as a life-enhancing and restorative practice.

Our work may take many forms. It could be about bringing your writing into alignment with your deepest values and dignity. It could be about identifying your writing dreams and desires. It could be about getting started, moving through tricky middle bits, or following a project through from conception to birth.

I won’t give you a one-size-fits-all set of instructions. These sessions are an invitation to explore, with curiosity and compassion, creative ways of allowing your own inner knowing and resources to emerge. We will work alongside each other to identify your writing commitment and to clarify and implement your plan for bringing your writing into the world.

Sessions include follow-up, through a written email summary and, where I think it might be helpful, further resources such as guided audios or reading suggestions.

Please note that these sessions won’t include feedback on or annotation of a manuscript. (I might invite you to share a short excerpt of your writing-in-progress, if this serves a particular goal that you identify.)

One-off sessions are $195 USD (currently around £155 GBP) for 60 minutes and I will also be offering discounted plans of six or twelve sessions for anyone who’d like to work with me over a longer period of time.

Here are some generous things that people have said about my work in the past:

‘I doubt I would have ever started to write again regularly had it not been for your inspiration and prompts.’

‘I would highly recommend Sophie as a coach. She instills self belief and confidence and she has the gift of encouragement!’

‘Sophie brings a unique blend of knowledge and experience drawn from her 25 years of teaching and practicing across many modalities. I don’t know anyone else who works in quite this way. It’s gentle, supportive but incredibly powerful.’

If you’re interested in working with me one-to-one, I’d love to hear from you. Please drop me an email at sophieATsophienicholls.com

Please note that sessions will be scheduled between 6pm and 9pm (UK time) or on Saturdays and Sundays.

And of course you can still join us each month at Writing Together, our beautiful online space.

Wishing you a week full of writing.

With love,
Sophie x