ALLISON MARTIN

September first is fast approaching and I’ve talked in the past about how I see it as Author New Year. As soon as the first mist settles over the mountains, I get a deep urge to cozy up, pull out my latest manuscript, and lose myself in the creative worlds I’ve imagined. This year I want to do something a little different because to be honest, creativity has been a struggle lately.

A few years back, I started a journey to health and wellness as a way to combat my mental health concerns and my PCOS and ADHD diagnoses. The absolute rollercoaster my body was on due to imbalanced hormones completely derailed my creativity, my fitness, and my ability to be an engaged parent and partner.

I vowed that I was going to overhaul everything and become Fit by Forty! But I’ve never been interested in just changing my body or having other people think certain things about the way I look or how I live. I don’t give a shit about society’s expectations of beauty and don’t believe that worth has a size. My focus has always been on how I felt and how I could show up for myself and the ones I love.

The tipping point happened when I could no longer write. My creativity just dried up and I had no desire or motivation to make art at all. It had been months and months of no creative outlets at all before I completely broke down to my therapist and she (being the magician she is) explained it to me perfectly.

Creativity is your marathon

Why she chose to say that particular phrase is that my husband is an athlete. He is often training for some race, be it biking, hiking, running, or whatever ‘sufferfest’ he’s gearing up for to challenge his body. In our family we are all used to shifting schedules and priorities to accommodate his in depth training plans before race day.

But when he isn’t working toward some physical goal, his mental health takes a hit. He becomes restless, unmotivated, and withdrawn because challenging himself is a deep part of who he is as a human.

This is what was happening to me, but with the challenge that I live for. Creating.

Creativity is my marathon. If I’m not working toward some big challenging creative goal, like finishing a book, pushing myself to be a better writer, and practising my art, I become depressed, withdrawn, and sometimes downright awful to be around.

Notice that I didn’t say anything about publishing, selling, or marketing–that’s just a product of the creative journey. The need to create is my calling.

But in order for me to perform at peak creative energy I needed to start treating it like my husband treats his marathon training plans. I need to take care of my body and brain, challenge myself with hard tasks/projects, and know when to rest, recover, and recharge.

This is what the Whole Author Hundred Day Challenge is. It’s my training plan.

It’s me and my family ready to prioritize my creativity!

It’s so easy to get sucked into the maximum productivity hustle culture that is perpetuated on social media. I honestly hate it.

This challenge isn’t about writing as many words as possible and finishing X number of projects. It’s not even about publishing (yes that is important and will come into play in my plan, but one thing at a time here!)

This challenge is about slowing down, taking care of myself, listening to my body, honouring my cycles, nurturing my creativity, giving myself grace when I fail/stumble, and focusing on building sustainable skills.

When my husband trains he doesn’t push himself to the point of injury, run a race injured, and then collapse and have to spend the next few months doing no exercise so that he can recover. Well, okay, he did that once but he learned a lesson!

And we authors shouldn’t do that either. We have writing, editing, covers, formatting, publishing, marketing, networking, outreach, social media, rejection, hate-filled reviews, and some authors have even more obstacles to overcome due to lack of diversity and inclusivity in the industry. That’s a-fucking-lot of things we have to be and do and overcome! It’s really no surprise we become burnt out, exhausted, and disillusioned to the point our writing suffers.

Are you ready to stop plowing through the exhaustion and burnout and make a plan for your creativity?

If you are an author who has no clue how to nurture your creativity, keep up with marketing, and have a life outside of your writing, join my Whole Author Hundred Day Challenge by signing up below. There will be 15 weeks of insights, inspiration, and invitations to challenge your beliefs and habits when it comes to your writing career.

Warning: This is about going back to the basics. There are no hacks, cheats, shortcuts, or magical remedies to slingshot you to bestselling author in this approach.

Being a Whole Author is about taking care of all aspects of yourself because creativity stems from life experience. It is all interconnected. In my realm there is NO separating life from art. Your health has an affect on your ability to create, but health does not mean what society tells you it means. This is not about body size, diets, or embracing toxic positivity, but it is about facing bad habits, peeking into the shadows, and radical self acceptance.

NOTE: I am not a doctor, and do not believe in step by step guidance. Your life and health will look different than mine, and you must experiment with your own creativity to know what’s best. This is a self led challenge but I will provide suggestions, ideas, and insights into my own health and wellness that will hopefully prompt you and inspire you to craft your own training plan alongside me!

I hope to see you along the path to becoming a Whole Author!