creative maverick

I first met novelist Matt Whyman when he gave a talk at London Writers’ Club on what he calls Sustainable Writing. He very kindly agreed to write this guest blog post on the topic.

Sustainable Writing

When it comes to filling in forms, I never enter ‘novelist’ under my profession. Nor do I say that’s what I do for a living when people ask.  It just sounds a bit poncey, I think. Also, if I’m being honest, I do more than write novels. I have several works of non-fiction to my name, plus I write for magazines, newspapers and blogs such as this. Over the years I’ve even spun copy for the back of cereal packets. Hell, some of my best work has been featured in recruitment literature for the Girl Guides.

I consider myself to be a writer, pure and simple. That’s what I do to put food on the family table, and what it says on my children’s birth certificates. Wi

thout a doubt, my first love is telling stories. I can happily lose myself in a plotline, and there’s no prouder moment than seeing the first copy of a novel I’ve written to the best of my abilities. It’s a creative endeavour, but it isn’t a privilege. A book can become a runaway success or a crashing failure for countless reasons that often have little to do with the words on the page. Whatever the reason, the devil is in the sales figures. Sure enough, there have been times that had I sat around expecting a contract renewal to materialise then frankly I would’ve gone bust.  To avoid living in skips, all but the well-branded, best-selling writers need to watch out for trouble - and be prepared to reinvent.

Sustainable writing means being flexible in how you fill the page. This might mean a change of style, subject or genre, or it could just be a willingness to take on other writing work to keep you afloat. There is money to be made at the typeface. Maybe only a minority make a fortune, but if your aim is to simply enjoy earning a living from crafting words together then it can be a realistic career. The key is to write with your eyes wide open.

More about Matt

Matt Whyman is a distinctive, contemporary voice in children’s writing. After graduating from the University of East Anglia’s MA in Creative Writing, Matt’s career has taken him from advice columns (as the agony uncle for Bliss magazine and AOL) and teen self-help guides, to the cutting edge of both adult (Man or Mouse and Columbia Road) and teen fiction (The Wild, Inside the Cage and Goldstrike).

His acclaimed young adult novel, Boy Kills Man, was short-listed for several awards, including the 2004 Teenage Book Prize and is currently in development as a feature film. In addition he was the author of Eve magazine’s regular Him Indoors column, and is currently a monthly contributor to Marie Claire. Matt is married with four children and lives in West Sussex, England.

Read Matt’s blog here, check out his books on Amazon, or follow his very amusing updates on twitter.

I started this blog exactly one year ago and billed it as a one year experiment in creative living - an experiment to do what I love doing most, worry a little less about where it might lead, and see if I can end up getting “paid to play”.

Did it work?

Well in April of this year, I was contacted by a colleague, Chris Wild, who had been talking to a publisher about writing a book. During his own discussions, the commissioning editor at Pearson mentioned she was interested in writing a book about Scanners (creative people with many interests). Since I run a monthly event for Scanners, Chris suggested I get in contact. (Thank you Chris!)

I met Pearson and as we discussed possible book ideas, it became apparent that the topic was really about play as a way of living (which is a trait many scanners share). I realised that I had already been writing on this blog on the topic of playing all day and getting paid. I went away and wrote a proposal which included some of the ideas here and lots of other good stuff I use with clients. And I’m glad to say, Pearson gave me a book deal. (The book is called Screw Work, Let’s Play: How do to do what you love and get paid for it. It’s now finished and due for publication in June 2010)

I started this blog a year ago not knowing where it would lead or what it would become. I started Scanners Night 2 years ago without knowing where I was going with it. I started coaching clients 4 years ago, knowing that I would need somehow to develop my own style of coaching that bore little resemblance to how I was trained. The combination of all these imperfect, unplanned, experiments led to the book deal.

This seems like a great illustration of what I call playing out your interests and passions. You don’t need to know where it’s going to lead but if you keep your eyes open, and notice what people need from you, you’ll likely end up in a far better place than if you drag yourself through some tedious process of setting ‘SMART’ goals.

Scrap your career plan, give up goals, ditch your New Year resolutions, and start playing.

Have a playful 2010.

John

I’ll be talking about how to do all this in more detail in London on 13 January.

I hope you have a good break coming up over the next few days. If you’re currently assessing what to do with your work next year, here’s a little something to ponder while you’re off…

Try this trick of asking yourself a question and then forgetting about it while you’re off work. Your subconscious will continue to work on it while you’re distracted having fun and celebrating. You might be surprised what pops into your head over the next few days.

Here’s the question:

What part of your work have you most enjoyed in 2009?

What project was most exciting? What activity have you discovered you really enjoying doing? What client did you most enjoy working with? Was there something that is not a central part of your work but which you loved doing (chatting with colleagues, brainstorming, playing a part in design or branding, making people laugh, playing around on twitter)?

Keep a piece of paper in your pocket and whenever something occurs to you, write it down.

That’s it.

Then in the New Year just ask yourself this second simple question, “How can I do more of this work in 2010?”

If this is not currently a central part of your work, ask yourself “What are all the ways I could get paid for doing this thing I enjoy?” You might not have an immediate answer. Just allow the question to percolate and note down any ideas that pop up.

Going on a long trip?

Are you going on a long drive or train journey for Christmas? If you’d like to know some of the tricks to discovering the work you love and getting paid for it, download my free audio class on the subject as an MP3 and take it with you. Put it on your iPod or burn it to CD. Or just listen to it in the kitchen while you’re cooking!

Here’s the link to the free audio download “How to do what you love and make it pay”

Whatever you’re doing I hope you take some time to relax and have some fun.

Merry Christmas,
Happy Holidays,
and have a great 2010

Here’s something Barbara Sher put on her blog a while ago which explains the dilemma of the creative person who hates to do any one thing for very long. If you’re a Scanner, or a Creator (in Wealth Dynamics terms) you’ll understand this very well.

She talks about scientist Clifford Stoll’s TED Talk:

He’s had some exciting adventures; he’s famous for finding KGB spies and stopping them from hacking classified information, but in his talk he explains that these days, things that used to interest him have become boring.

And she quotes Clifford’s wonderful statement from early in his talk:

The first time you do something, it’s science.
The second time it’s engineering.
Third time you’re just a technician.
I’m a scientist. Once I do something I want to do something else.

This is a great thing to quote next time someone asks you why you don’t just keep doing what you’ve done before!

Barbara’s post “On Eclectics, critics and how to grow up and quit fooling around” is here

Tim Smit led the creation of the £130 million Eden Project.

What was once a disused clay pit went on to become one of the most popular visitor attractions in the UK despite its relatively remote location in the hills behind St Austell in Cornwall.

Tim is, in my terms, very much a player. He takes on daring projects without knowing exactly how he’ll make them work, and uses a heap of creativity and bravery to make a success of them.

And he does all this while remaining a very down to earth and unpretentious guy.

I tracked him down to ask him some key questions about his approach to his remarkable projects and he very kindly took the time to answer them here.

You describe the Eden Project as “the world’s first rock ‘n’ roll scientific foundation”. What have you brought from the music industry that’s been helpful to you in entrepreneurship?

An understanding of marketing and showbusiness realising that the tools of the soundbite and so on have never been used on this area before. Also to remember that no one remembers the well behaved person at the party. Also if you are going to break the rules know what the rules are that you are breaking. It is cool to be a rebel if you know your stuff and very naive and damaging if you don’t.

To what extent did Eden follow the planned vision for it and to what extent did it evolve during its creation? [Question from @escapetocreate on twitter]

The vision physically remained the same throughout. Philosophically it evolved from the narrow confines of science, spectacle and plants to embrace livelihoods and community as we realised what the real drivers for change and sustainability were. This was something of a revelation and could only have evolved out of actually doing the work of construction and organisational team building and learning from it.

Do you ever get doubts? A lot of people said Eden wouldn’t work, how did you know it would?

I have known since my music business days that if you love something and you are not a freak there will millions of people like you out there so the only issue is getting to them. This is the basis of great marketing. So, no, I never had doubts.

You’ve achieved an enormous amount for someone who describes themselves as fundamentally lazy, what drives you to take on these projects rather than just taking it easy?

The fear of death and a rash desire to make unlikely promises. Which I then have to fulfil or lose face as a consequence.

You describe yourself as one of the least focussed people you could ever meet. How did you manage to stay focused on projects like Eden and Heligan that lasted several years?

By taking myself by surprise. Focus is overrated and completely misunderstood being able to focus like a grown up means flying like a falcon surveying the landscape below while being able to hone in on the slightest movement. Focus is not the role of a real CEO but the mark of an over promoted foot soldier. You can spot them a mile off!

What’s the single most important piece of advice you would give to someone about to embark on a project the scale of Eden?

Be honest about what you don’t know, persuade people better than you to join you and lose your fear of being disliked.

What can we look forward to next from you and the Eden Project?

Be surprised and don’t let your words hold you hostage!

~

Read more about The Eden Project

I also strongly recommend listening to Tim’s superb speech at the 2009 Institute of Directors Annual Convention where he talks about his earlier career in pop music, creating the Lost Gardens of Heligan and his approach to his work.

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Ever thought about writing a self-help book yourself? If so, you’ll be interested in Suzy Greaves’ interview with me on my experience of writing my book (which I am due to finish for Pearson Education next week). Suzy is one of the UK’s best life coaches and the author or two of her own excellent books.

Have a listen below to find out how I won my book deal, how I approached writing the book and some of the other useful things I learned along the way.

If that’s inspired you to have a crack at writing your own book, grab a place on Suzy’s 4 week course How To Write a Self Help Book next week.

Would you like to know where to focus your work so that you can get paid for doing what you love? The key is to find your “moment of magic”.

Think back to a recent time in your work that stands out as a great moment; one when you did something you know you are great at, you really enjoyed doing it, and it had a positive impact. What were you doing at that moment? What made it so enjoyable for you?

Your moment may come in many different forms - coming up with the new idea that makes a whole project run better, making a great joke in the middle of a presentation, saying something encouraging to a co-worker when they most need it, negotiating a huge discount on a purchase, pointing someone to just the right piece of information, tweaking a process or system to make it better, finding a clever way to automate a task, spotting the error in a plan before it starts. Look for something you got a great deal of pleasure out of - not just for the result (like a pat on the back from your boss or client) - but in the actual doing of it.

This moment may not be something that is in your job description or main business tasks - setting up your PC for maximum productivity or writing a funny email for a colleague’s birthday. If your current work is so off the mark that you can’t think of a single moment of this kind, look at your personal life for moments when you do something brilliantly, enjoy it and it’s valuable to other people. Often this thing took you very little time at all to do - even if a huge amount of experience and preparation led up to it.

This is your moment of magic. Make a note of it. Think of two or three other moments that stand out and write these down too. Can you see any common element that makes them so special to you? Write it down if so but don’t worry if not.

Now here’s a thought. How often are you doing your moment of magic currently in your work? Once a day? Once a week? Once a month? Only in your spare time? Imagine if you just did your moment of magic twice as often in a week. How much more valuable would you be to your employer or your business? You might find you were twice as valuable.

Now imagine expanding this moment so that your whole career revolves around it and much of your working week is filled with this experience. How much fun would that be? How valuable would you be? Can you see that it might be possible to get paid for providing all that value?

I need your help!

I’d like some examples of people’s moments of magic to put in my book for Pearson Education which I am just finishing. Please leave a comment with what you think your moment of magic is and I’ll contact you if I decide to put it in my book. Thanks!

Tom Hodgkinson is editor of bi-annual magazine The Idler and author of several excellent books including How To Be Idle, How To Be Free, and The Idle Parent.

He very kindly agreed to be interviewed for my upcoming book about how to get paid to play.

We did the interview as a video call over Skype and braved multiple connection dropouts and shockingly unflattering webcams to record it. (Tom’s the one on the right)

Watch the video below and discover Tom’s journey from worker to idler, why idling takes dedication, and how to write a book in your sleep.

Find out more about Tom and The Idler

Currently rewriting your own life story? Check out our “Find your story” London workshop in November

Leslie Scott created one the world’s favourite games, Jenga. Recently, she kindly agreed to be interviewed for my forthcoming book “Screw Work, Let’s Play”.

Here, she explains how she turned her baby brother’s playing bricks into the world’s second biggest selling game (topped only by Monopoly). She also explains how she kept going through debt and visits from the repo man - and what ‘Jenga’ actually means!

Have a listen now - just click the play button below:

Leslie’s book “About Jenga: The Remarkable Business of Creating a Game that Became a Household name” has just been published. Pre-order the book now on Amazon in the UK or buy it now in the US. Read more at her website AboutJenga.com

What would have happened if a young Paul McCartney had stayed in his job as a factory coil-winder back in 1961? He almost did:

I started working at a coil-winding factory called Massey and Coggins. My dad had told me to go out and get a job. I’d said, ‘I’ve got a job, I’m in a band.’ But after a couple of weeks of doing nothing with the band it was, ‘No, you have got to get a proper job.’ He virtually chucked me out of the house. So I went to the employment office and said, ‘Can I have a job? Just give me anything.’ And the first job was sweeping the yard at Massey and Coggins. I took it.

I went there and the personnel officer said, ‘We can’t have you sweeping the yard, you’re management material.’ And they started to train me from the shop floor up with that in mind. Of course, I wasn’t very good on the shop floor - I wasn’t a very good coil-winder.

One day John and George showed up in the yard that I should have been sweeping and told me we had a gig at the Cavern. I said, ‘No. I’ve got a steady job here and it pays £7 14s a week. They are training me here. That’s pretty good, I can’t expect more.’ And I was quite serious about this. But then - and with my dad’s warning still in my mind - I thought, ‘Sod it. I can’t stick this lot.’ I bunked over the wall and was never seen again by Massey and Coggins. Pretty shrewd move really, as things turned out.

From The Beatles Anthology

If you’re currently wasting your time in your own coil-winding hell, start making your escape. It might turn out to be a shrewd move for you too.