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You’re ready to create what’s inside you. Finally, you’re at a place where you can devote yourself to your creativity.

At Original Impulse, you’ve found a safe haven to dedicate yourself to projects that matter to you. Through online workshops, creativity retreats, our long-term creativity apprenticeship and customized one:one coaching, we are here to make writing a fun and vibrant part of your life.

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Be part of my online author's notebook to witness the ups and downs of writing a novel at Stumbling Toward Genius.

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Gifts for writers that cost nothing or next to nothing!

You may or may not be in holiday shopping mode. In case you are, today I offer several f*ree or inexpensive gifts for writers. That’s right, the scribbler in your life!

Because, wouldn’t it be great to give abundant, generous gifts to writers whose words have changed us?

It’s possible! I have ideas for free gifts for the writers in your life. It’s easy to do, and they never even need to know you’ve gifted them.

It’s hard to conceive how much authors and writers need you, our readers, to help us spread the word. Most of these gifts require no money and just a few minutes of your time.

Use my ideas below and add your own free gifts for writers.

Reviews make a HUGE difference

We really need readers to help spread the word. Reviews are not something an author can do herself. Make it easy to write reviews.

Make a list of your three favorite books this year.

Write and publish a review of those books. (You can use the same review on independent sites like Fable, The Story Graph, Amazon, and Goodreads.

Hint: reviews can be 1-2 sentences. Pretend you are telling me what you love about it. Feel free to record this and transcribe it.

Get their books on buyers’ radar

Help authors spread the word!

Order their book from your local library.

Order a copy of their book for yourself or as a gift from your local independent bookstore.

Go on Goodreads and add their book to your shelf. Add relevant tags to help people find it. Her Lisbon Colors tags could be: upmarket fiction, travel fiction, Portugal, Lisbon, artist.

A friend pointed out that Her Lisbon Colors is on a list alongside other quite popular novels. This made me so happy! Please add ‘book club fiction’ to Her Lisbon Colors on your Goodreads shelf. Takes just a minute!

Make a stack of your favorite indie authors’ books. Photograph it, post it on the socials and tag the authors. Here’s one I posted on Indie Author Day last month. (Some are mine, some are my clients’ books, others are friends’ books. See bottom of the post for titles and author names. >>>

For newsletter writers

Go into your spam folder and mark all the Substack newsletters as ‘not junk/spam’.

Don’t just follow; subscribe to their newsletter.

Pass their newsletter on to someone who will love it.

Leave a comment letting the writer know how their words have affected you.

Highlight favorite books, newsletters, and writers in your annual review. Comment on how they have impacted your life.

What ideas do you have to support writers during this season and beyond? Share them below. And THANK YOU for all your support of me and my books.

Titles and authors of books in the photo above: 

Override! What If There Was Another Way? Anne Ditmeyer

The Busy Woman’s Guide to Writing a World-Changing Book Cynthia Morris

Permission to Glow Kristoffer Carter

Swing Ashleigh Renard

Some Dark Force Christina Boufis & Victoria Olsen

No Big Deal Torey Ivanic

Missing Tyler Tami Palmer

White Plains David Hicks

Stories I Can’t Show My Mother Ann Tinkham

Her Lisbon Colors Cynthia Morris

Chasing Sylvia Beach Cynthia Morris

Rise of the Reader Nick Hutchison

Part of Me Paul Wyman

I’d Rather Be in the Studio! Alyson Stanfield

Through Frankie’s Eyes Barbara Techel

Holy Wildness Tonja Reichley

Open to Love Dr. Horsley & Dr. Powers

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Do you keep a book book? 

I used to keep a list of the books I read. I don’t recall why I filled this little notebook*, because this was back in the ‘90s. I worked at a bookstore, and I was gobbling books up as fast as I could. Month by month, I chronicled the books I read and the ones I half-read.

Somewhere along the way, this practice ended. Perhaps I was more in love with the notebook than the process. I tried to pick it up again but it didn’t stick. One year, I used Goodreads as a place to chronicle my books, but that digital method didn’t light me up.

Now, I use my library reading history and my book group list as a partial way to keep track. I wonder what would help me get back into this practice? As a coach, I would ask:

  • What’s important about keeping track of the books you read?
  • What values are you honoring when you do this process?
  • If it’s important to do this, what would make it easy to record the books you’ve read?

I haven’t answered these questions yet, but I wanted to share them with you for any habits you may have let fall to the wayside. If I were to resume, I would use this notebook, which I found on my shelves while searching the archives.

*I thought that aforementioned little notebook was right there on the shelf. I spent some time looking for it. Then I realized that I waste a LOT of time trying to find images to go along with these boosts. I decided you and I would both rather me spend my time writing and coaching and making things than search for photos. 😵‍💫

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AI Will Never Be Able to Replace This

I’ve been paying attention to AI and using it to help with my business strategies and planning. While I still have misgivings, I feel I need to understand this technology and the role it plays now and in the future.

For those of us who LOVE ideas, AI is a no-holds-barred spree of possibility. The plans! The ideas! It’s all so…vomitously overwhelming.

For someone who loves ideas and loves executing on them, more ideas are not valuable to me. It gets vomitous when I am hosed with so many possibilities that I am paralyzed. I have pages and pages of ideas for promoting Her Lisbon Colors. So many that they are rendered useless. I’m left not with a great plan but with more confusion than when I started. We don’t need AI to trigger indecision swirl, do we?

If you like floating endlessly in idea land, great. Enjoy that! If you want the deep satisfaction of bringing ideas to life, read on.

Using AI for project vetting and development

I recently used ChatGPT to bounce my idea of a limited series Stumbling Toward Genius podcast based on the themes of my novel. Chat was super helpful for:

  • Discerning whether this was a good idea or not given my goals. (I always tell it to not fluff me up or flatter me but give me real data.)
  • I gave it the topics I had and asked what be interesting to my listeners.
  • I asked what was missing or needed strengthening. This prompt gave me the most helpful input. It offered new perspectives and challenged me.
  • Deciding to go ahead with a limited series of short episodes, I generated a table of contents for my podcast based on my existing topics.
  • Chat also gave me ideas for how to post the podcasts on YouTube as well.

I’ve got scripts that I drafted as social media posts, I have a plan and I have all the ideas for how to implement.

What’s missing? I’ll wait while you guess…

That’s right! Actually taking action on these genius ideas and plans. How’s that going to happen?

I can do what I usually do – set a deadline. These are often based around travel. I leave for Lisbon and Paris on September 25th, so ideally all episodes would be done and published/scheduled.

As a seasoned coach and maker of things and experiences, I know I can do this. But what about other projects that have a higher emotional burn? The stuff that I’m scared to do? For that, I need support. Someone to help make me do what I say I want to do. And I suspect you need that kind of support, too.

Here’s where AI completely fails

I’ve coached hundreds of creatives over 25 years, and almost every single client has cited accountability as the main reason they hire me. Sure, they need a thought partner, a hand-holder, an emotional support person. All of that is valuable. And, super important is someone there on a regular basis to make sure they actually do what they say they will do.

There is nothing wrong with needing this. We all need accountability. We are human, complex, messy, distractible, and emotional. 

There will always be the weeks when the shit hits the fan. Contrary to what we’d like to believe, there is no ‘normal’ week. Always, always, always there will be something planned or unplanned that disrupts our ‘write every day from 8-10’ schedule. What happens then? More ideas from AI will not save your bacon.

This is where my clients thrive with me. I am always helping my writers and artists:

  • adjust expectations
  • process disappointment
  • reset according to current conditions
  • make satisfying progress on their terms.

No AI can do that in any meaningful way.

AI Cannot Replace This

AI will never be able to replicate what happens in a 1:1 or group coaching environment. Group coaching has the power of the collective. I’ve been leading versions of my popular Write ON for a decade now, and I am 100% certain that the magic and connection that happens there is not in AI’s skill set.

Many of us join groups not for the leader, but for the companions who will travel alongside us. We gain so much from others’ experiences.

Working alongside others helps us:

  • normalize the ups and downs of the creative life
  • learn from how others do it – a springboard to reflect on our own processes
  • gather valuable resources we would not have found otherwise
  • and quite simply but quite powerful – have more fun.

In Write ON, we work in weekly sprints. We focus on gathering insights on how we best navigate the ebb and flow of our creative lives. I coach us through it, week by week. And, I paddle alongside with my own project, sharing the challenges and wins in real time.

And guess what happens at the end of our Write ON cycle? A ton of progress, that’s for sure. Here’s something AI will never deliver to you: 

  • confidence in your abilities
  • satisfaction that comes from doing the work
  • personal and creative empowerment that you’ve cultivated by showing up
  • earned experience and wisdom that you can apply to anything you create in the future.

I’m not worried that AI will replace me and my coaching. Sure, you can ask AI for ideas and even a detailed plan. But someone alongside you helping you grow and glow as you make your beautiful things, that’s for us humans.

Enrollment is open for Write ON, which starts later this month. We have a few spots left – I cap enrollment so there’s no chance to hide in a sea of participants.

This is a 16-week adventure for those with a project they need a container for. It’s a small group, so there’s no back row to hide in, no ‘falling behind’ and no wasting your money on another program that gets you nowhere.

It’s fun, effective and just the right amount of demanding. Get all the details here.

P.S. This article was entirely written by me, Cynthia Morris. AI helped slightly with Grammarly, but mostly I ignore those suggestions.

P.P.S. Please do not use AI to outsource your writing! Guess what? It shows! I can tell when someone’s social media posts are written by AI. AI is great for marketing, interpreting legal documents and wasting a lot of your time sucked into screen mode.

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The Author Care Kit I Wish I’d Given Myself

What a month! I almost feel like a different person. After launching the novel, I slid into what authors know is the inevitable letdown. It makes sense – for 2.5 years, I have had quite a force of momentum. Writing, editing, and publishing Her Lisbon Colors consumed the bulk of my creative energy. It also gave me a lot to focus on and quite a bit of meaning.

Cover for Her Lisbon Colors novel Cynthia Morris fiction book I’ve moved out of my funk and have shifted to promoting the book. It would be easy to move on! People ask, “What’s next now that the novel is out?” Making sure it has a life! It truly is like a baby that needs a lot of nourishment to stay alive. I’m committed to a year of putting the word out there.

This requires a lot of bandwidth, courage and focus. For all the hard work of writing and turning a manuscript into a book, the work of promoting is much harder. I am sharing about this through December at Stumbling Toward Genius. Are you subscribed?

My author self-care kit for publishing a novel

Oh I wish I had an ‘author care kit’ of sorts! In retrospect, I know what I needed, and I will share it here. This is for the sake of helping me debrief and sharing with you in case my bloops are of service to your own projects.

1. Take a break with rejuvenating treats. It really felt like I was zoomig on a highway for months and months and then exited. But I still had the feeling of movement, like I needed to keep working toward the launch deadline. I went away with Steve for a hot springs weekend and it was bliss to be offline and soaking in the water.

2. Lower expectations I have informally renamed myself the ‘lower the bar coach’. I know that our high expectations do nothing but turn around and bite us hard.

I don’t know what I thought – that I would get rave reviews right away? All I know is it felt very quiet for the weeks after the launch. A lot of friends said “I’m reading your book and loving it!” and then weeeeeeeeeks passed and I didn’t hear anything.

My inner critic had all kinds of stories about this, mainly that they didn’t like the book and didn’t know what to say. (Tip for friends of authors – say nothing until you’ve finished reading!)

3. Stay connected to the original impulse. Why MUST I put this book into the world? When we put stuff out there, we are now connecting our ideas and values and creative soul with the world. This is the cool thing about art – once it’s out there, it has a life of its own.

Staying connected with my WHY helps me know that the book is important to me, no matter how it is received by the world. I loved writing this book, I loved how it turned out, and my job is to keep loving it.

4. Have therapeutic supports in place. If you know me, you know that the reason I help creative people bring their bright ideas to life isn’t just for the sake of getting stuff done.

I believe in stretching and growing as humans. I love coaching people through the fears and insecurities we all face. I was so focused on all the details of making and launching a book, I didn’t take time to tend my emotional self. Luckily I have therapeutic support in place now and am feeling much more grounded and sane.

5. Forgive yourself for not doing everything, and for not doing everything RIGHT. My goodness, there are a million things involved in getting a book out there! We’re advised to stay focused on a few avenues of promotion, but it’s hard! I have made so many mistakes and I often still feel ‘all over the place’.

6. Make a plan for ongoing promo. I was sitting poolside on a Friday afternoon when clarity around how to stay on track with my novel promo came to me. I felt that recognizable spark of enthusiasm light in me. I made notes and now am on week two of 100 days of Book Promo.

With a million things to do, coupled with the emotional labor of that work, it’s easy to lose steam and do nothing. Having structure is vital for me, and I suspect for you, too. (This is why I love Write ON so much! Structure + camaraderie hosted by a certified coach = much more writing joy.)

What surprised you from this list? What would you add to your own author care kit? Tell us below.