WRITER'S DREAM; My Psychotherapy Books!!!

 

This has been my first week of freedom since leaving the vet practice.  It has also been my first week of full time writing again and I have loved every second of it.  It feels so wonderful to have returned to my old life, working entirely from home, as an author again.  All the studying is complete, the graduations over, the student job finished with, and now I am reaping the literary rewards of the past few years.  

I have spent the week working on one of my new projects and it is one that I am very excited about, because I was recently commissioned to write not one, but two psychotherapy books! This was my goal throughout the university years, first studying psychotherapy and then creative writing.  I have always wanted to bring these two aspects of my life together, by writing self-help books that are based on my training and experience in counselling.  Now I am doing just that!  My dream became a reality, as they always seem to do and I feel very grateful for the opportunity. 

It is a goal that I have held at the back of my mind for years and there have been stepping stones along the way. First of all I wrote a psychotherapy column for a top UK magazine.  I did that for three years, finishing with them last summer. I enjoyed creating that column so much and it gave me the chance to cut my writer's teeth on the new subject matter.  

Now I am moving on to writing books about the topic too, which just feels like a dream come true.  I've been writing away at the new chapters all week and I am really enjoying the process. It feels great to be able to do a deep dive into the topic, in a way that is impossible in something as short as a magazine column.  However, that column was a fantastic prequel to the new books, because it allowed me to find my own style of writing on the topic and to explore this new aspect of my writing career, without too much expectation or pressure.  It was a great dress-rehearsal! 

Moving into a new phase of writing is always an exciting time. It is also fantastic to have found an editor and publisher who are happy to let me experiment with these new topics, allowing me to create my own slant and voice, which will hopefully bring about something that is unique to me and my authorial brand, and unique to the publisher too.  Being free to basically write what you want is essential for a writer, as it helps to facilitate growth and career development.  It feels like having a whole new mine to excavate, with so many gems waiting to be unearthed and written into the books.  I am really enjoying the process and my enthusiasm for going to my study to work has probably never been higher!

Of course, these projects are commissioned under contract, so like all my books they are guaranteed to be published, though not for some time as I have to write them first!  I am also working on new magical projects too, so if you enjoy my MBS work, rest assured that there will be new material coming soon, so watch out for those. 

I feel as if I left the vets just in time, as I have so many projects to be working on and I'm really busy writing again.  As before with my writing career, the whole thing has snowballed very quickly and I couldn't be happier.  Notes and ideas that I jotted down years ago when I was studying the counselling diploma, are now being pulled out and used in future works. Thank goodness I never throw my writing away! You just never know when it will come in useful. 

It's going to a busy few months for me. I'm enjoying spending the summer writing and reading in my garden, working on the books and dreaming up new ideas.  Then in autumn I have quite a few things planned.  I go on holiday to Oban, and I can't wait to be back in the Highlands as the trees become golden, russet and bronze. It will be wonderful to be back there again.  I can almost smell the Highland petrichor now, which smells completely  different to the Yorkshire variety.

I also have a lunch meeting in London with my editor and publishers. That should be great fun. We can discuss new ideas then and make plans for future projects.  Plus I'm going back to London later on in the autumn to see The Phantom of the Opera, which I am really looking forward to. I have never seen a London show and I couldn't imagine a better one to go to for my first time.  And of course I'll still be riding out in the woods and spending time at the yard with the horses. 

So it's a busy time, but so exciting and I feel very fortunate. People used to say that I had the Midas Touch, in that everything I attempted to do was successful.  Well, it certainly feels that way right now and I am grateful that my magical Midas Touch is back in full play and a whole new set of writer's dreams are coming true for me.

I love having my autonomy back too. After four years of working 12 hour shifts, the slower pace of a writer's life feels much more manageable, especially as it doesn't trigger the chronic fatigue week after week, like the vets did. I work at a steady, relaxed pace, in my own home, getting cosy in my study or taking the laptop out into the garden and working at the patio table. I choose my own hours, my days off and my breaks. 

This is how my life always used to be, before I went back into academics and needed a student job to pay the fees. Now I have that lovely, slow-living lifestyle back again and I can feel that it is so good for my health and well-being. It was certainly the best decision I made, leaving the vets to return to my writing life once more. 

I simply could not be happier, because for the second time in my life, I have made all my writer's dreams come true. I did it again. I'm a full time author once more. 

In spite of the saboteurs! Now that's worth celebrating!

BB Marie x