137, Embracing Intuitive Writing: Unlocking Creative Flow through Cyclical Living with Jacq Fisch

Katie Kus 0:00

Hi, Katie Kus here with Oregon girl holistic skincare. And I am part of the Success with Soul incubator. My favorite part about being in the incubator is I know no matter what roadblock I hit, whether it's a mental roadblock, something with tech, or just trying to decide what the next steps need to be in creating my offer, I can always reach out to the team and Kate and they are going to be there with heartfelt thoughtful advice that is catered specifically to my business needs. And where I'm at in my business growth. The Incubator has completely transformed how I've been able to approach my business, and I really do feel like they've just become part of my team. So I'm so thankful for being a part of the incubator.

Kate Kordsmeier 0:46

You're listening to the Success with Soul podcast where we believe empowering women is the key to creating a brighter future for us all. Whether you're an entrepreneur, employee, or stay at home mom, this podcast is for you. I'm your host, Kate Kordsmeier, and ICF life and business coach who has made over 2.2 million while working less than 25 hours a week, raising two toddlers, and quitting social media. I'm here to transparently share my expertise and help you create a life and business you love. Together with my diverse team of passionate women, many of whom you'll hear from on this podcast. We empower 1000s With holistic strategies, personal development resources and mindset tools to find freedom, flexibility and fulfillment and business and beyond. Every week we offer life coaching for Busy Women who want to improve their relationships, self care, and overall well being and business coaching for coaches, course creators and consultants who want to make money sustainably. We believe personal growth and entrepreneurship are powerful tools for creating social change. And the world is a better place When more women find their voice and create their own money, power and freedom. Expect candid conversations and insightful interviews with experts that will inspire and support you on your path to intentional whole living and Success with Soul on your terms. It's time to ditch the hustle and find inner peace. Here we go.

Welcome back. Welcome back to the Success with Soul podcast. I'm your host, Kate Kordsmeier. And today I'm super excited to share something that we were testing a little bit, I'll say, I have been in playground mode is what we're calling it playground mode with my business lately. And I am just having so much fun trying new things, getting into my creative flow. And just seeing what happens in a really light hearted way experimental putting on my scientist hat kind of way. I can't recommend it enough, especially if you ever get to a place in your business where you feel like you are running up against a brick wall. This is a great reframe, and a great place to be just generally in your business. So with that, we actually decided to do something a little bit different and test out doing a live podcast recording inside the Success with Soul incubator, which is our Business Mastermind for female coaches and entrepreneurs. We teach you how to make money sustainably. Without social media, no hustle, no burnout. And so we thought it would be fun to like basically do a live podcast recording for our clients inside that group. They could ask questions in real time with our expert guest. And it was so fun. So today's episode is exactly that. It's our first test of the experiment. So let us know what you think I would love to hear from you if you want to leave a review. Or if you want to send us an email Hi at Kate kordsmeier.com is the best place to get in touch with us. And I would just love to know what you think of this. I know our clients really loved it. And so I'm excited to share it with you.

Our guest today is Jacq Fisch. She is an absolute powerhouse in the world of words. She's an author, a killer copywriter, and the heart and soul behind the intuitive writing school. So I give you a little bit more about Jacq's story and her background or rather Jacq does in the interview, so I won't get into too much of her resume. But what I do want to share is a little sneak peek into what we cover in this episode.

So we're diving into the concept of intuitive writing, which might be something a little bit new to you. And essentially it is really about syncing your writing with the natural rhythms of your body of the universe. of the seasons of the moon. It's cyclical living for writing, it's amazing. So it's really combining two of my favorite things. And we're going to be talking about the biggest mistakes creatives make when writing how to find your flow and writing by aligning with listening nature's rhythms, overcoming resistance and writer's block and the episode this conversation was just so so much fun to have. Jack has so many interesting practical like, take action now you can implement this today tips. One of them that we're going to talk about is something that I actually started doing again this week called Morning pages. So I'm super excited to share the interview with you. So without further ado, let's do it.

Okay, so welcome to our first ever Incubator slash podcast recording all at the same time. I'm super excited to have Jacq Fisch with us here today. Jacq is an author, a copywriter and an intuitive writing coach. And she's the founder of the intuitive writing School, which is a space for creatives who have a writing project on their heart and business owners who want to sound authentic while they make an impact on the world. So Jacq, welcome to the podcast. I always want to say Jacq now because now I'm thinking of you as like Jacq when I'm seeing the queue, but it is Jack. I love it. Yes, just jack. I know Jack sounds fancy and French and Jacqueline is a French name. But I am neither fancy nor French.

Jacq Fisch 6:12

So Jack Jacq is perfect. Okay, perfect.

Kate Kordsmeier 6:16

Well, welcome, Jacq. Thank you so much, Kate. Yeah, do you want to tell us a little bit about just kind of your background and your story and how you got to the place that you are today before we dive into the content?

Jacq Fisch 6:28

Absolutely. So I did not necessarily grow up thinking I wanted to be a writer. I absolutely was a creative kid though. I was into art. Actually, when I was 10. I wanted to grow up and be a rich and famous fashion designer. I was very into like drawing clothes and things like that. convinced myself not to go to fashion school on my own. No one told me not to. Like I just told myself it was going to be too hard. And besides, I didn't know how to sew. So I went to business school and landed in corporate America where I worked for 13 years, I did a lot of project management, program management, crisis communications, corporate communications, for big government projects, big healthcare, places like Blackberry. And through three layoffs in five years, twice from the same company definitely learned quickly or rather slow learner. That job security was a myth. And it was not. It wasn't you wouldn't find it at a company after returning to work after my first maternity leave. So my son was probably six months old at this time. And now they're 14 and 11. So this was many years ago, I returned back from my maternity leave, and I'm sitting in his boardroom at this consulting company was looking around, like, what am I doing here? This can't be it like this is boring. But I didn't know what else there was to do a handful of years later, I changed our family's diet overnight, when I helped my son avoid an unnecessary tonsillectomy for changing up our diet. And that led me to get interested in food. I started a food blog, I was writing about plant based eating and which led to teaching local workshops and teaching other busy working professionals how to eat more plants, without just like nuking a veggie burger and calling that dinner. And that was fun. And I was really enjoying the blogging. Over time, I went away from being plant based. I'm back now. But that led me to not want to do that blog anymore. And what I realized, though, was it was the writing that was the part that led me on to the most. And looking back at my corporate experience, I was good at it. It was one of those effortless natural things I didn't think about. So I wasn't formally trained in writing or creative writer, I wrote proposals selling millions of dollars of work, I helped everyone with their LinkedIn profiles and bios and crisis communications. So in the technical world, like if BlackBerry service would go down,I talked to the technical people figure it out and translate it into English for the rest of the world, like a public statement. That kind of thing. Sounds like Ha, there's something to this writing thing. And I was still in a consulting role at the time in a communications change management role. And I told my boss, I wanted to do more writing more communications. And he said, You need to go learn this software instead. I don't remember what was called, you need to be more well, well rounded.

I was like, I don't know about that. And then he said, Well, if you want to do more writing work for clients, why don't you sell that work for us? So I don't know if anyone has worked in a consulting business, but you don't get paid the rate that the clients pay in a big consulting company. I was like, how about I just go sell this work on my own work half the time and make the same or more money. So that's what I set out to do. I grew my business and the side took me roughly a year and a half to get going. I emailed everyone I knew on my network, to say, I'm starting my own copywriting business, I'm happy to help you for free for a testimonial. And that led to some free work which led to great testimonials, which led to them passing my name along. And within a year and a half, I had more than enough work to keep me busy. So I stepped away from my corporate job in 2017. And never looked back. So I initially started as a done for you copywriter writing for all kinds of businesses, which I still love doing today. Because now I get to take that writing that I do for my clients. And I brought it in a coaching aspect. So because I'm not formally trained in writing, and I think most business owners don't need to be, I see a lot of businesses get stuck in procrastination, perfectionism, overthinking, and it's often because of a crappy English teacher they had in grade school, that let them think that they weren't a great writer, or they came from corporate. And they think that corporate writing needs to be a certain way we need to sound fancy. And like we know what we're talking about. He's jargon, and all these, all these ideas that we have. So with coaching, most people are good writers, all they usually need is usually some ideas to simplify it. And just make sure it's clear and connect. So that's my definition of good writing. It's clear and it connects with your reader. So started as copywriting, which then led to coaching, writing my own books, leading a writing community, creating templates and courses. So doing lots of different things. And I love it because I get to bring all that expertise across across the board. That was a long and winding journey, as is usually the way I love it.

Kate Kordsmeier 11:55

There's so many good nuggets in there. And I feel like this concept of like having teachers who told us that we weren't good at something, and then we just have internalized that for the rest of our lives is something that's been coming up a lot for me lately. And so this is so interesting to hear that, especially with regards to writing, which I think people think you're either like born a brilliant writer, or you're not. And it's not a skill that you can learn, which is absolutely not true.

Jacq Fisch 12:23

Yeah, 100% to ice are so many horror stories of, of teachers who think they're doing a good job or doing a student a service by like marking up their work giving them a low grade, like so my son is he just finished the ninth grade. His English teacher this year, told him actually told the whole class, you guys will be lucky if you get to see. Like, that's the highest grade I'm gonna give.

And there was one case, right course he got to see on an essay, and I read it. I'm like, I think this is great. You got your point across clearly I know what you're talking about. I know your position on this. Yeah, yeah.

Kate Kordsmeier 13:06

Yes. Well, I love all the different examples of writing too, that you shared. And I know now you're really focused on intuitive writing. So what is intuitive writing? And can you kind of explain the concept of finding flow and writing?

Jacq Fisch 13:20

Yes, yes, intuitive writing and flow go hand in hand. So I also like to start defining things with the opposite. So intuitive writing is the opposite of writing with our brains trying to overthink, overanalyze self critic, all that extra noise in our heads to get our words out on the page. Intuitive writing, is letting our body lead the way. And another question that comes up with most business owners and anyone who's writing anything. One of the biggest questions I get is about resistance. Like how do you get past resistance? Does it ever go away? And I think with intuitive writing, when you shut your brain off, resistance is only there when our brains are a little bit too active. Let's say it's telling us we need to write like this other expert or what about this other business owner, or it's all been said before, all those voices, we need to almost the way I see it is like taking our brain out of our head for a minute while we're writing, putting on the side of her desk, so that we can write. And I think the other thing that comes into play, when people say that writing takes too long, or it's hard, nine times out of 10 they are trying to edit while they write and that's hard. So I don't recommend that 1,000% Recommend separating writing from editing. So when you are only writing you're not editing. The goal is to write as fast as you can, or write what Anne Lamott calls the shitty first draft.

Kate Kordsmeier 15:00

more so. Yes.

Jacq Fisch 15:01

So every everything you've ever read has been in SFT 100%. Yeah. So some tips to do that, like getting that intuitive writing out, turn your brain off, right as fast as you can set a timer, 25 minutes, if you'd like a Pomodoro type idea, write as fast as you can, I tend to not look at the screen, just right until you're done. If you want to keep writing after the timer goes off, keep going. And then put it away. Ignore the red squiggly lines telling you about your typos. So in my next book, I included a screenshot of one of my first drafts because I'd like to show people an example. Some people tell me, my clients tell me like, here's an SSD. I'm like, this is not this is not an SSD. This is like almost ready to publish. Here's an SSD. It's a bunch of words that barely make sense, bullets, ramblings, it's like stream of consciousness.

Kate Kordsmeier 15:57

But that's like where all the good ideas come. Right. So once you get flowing with that makes so much sense. I mean, I agree. I feel like as a journalist for a past life and a writer, my whole life, too, I've had the same experience where I can, if you stare at a blank page forever, it's because you still have your brain in your head, and you're trying to think about it that way. But like you said, I love the even just like the visual of taking your brain out and putting it on the desk next to you or like, close it in a drawer and then just start writing. And it literally doesn't matter. The first thing you start writing is I don't know what to write about right now. I'm, I'm blocked and then like, just keep going and something will come.

Jacq Fisch 16:38

Yes, yes. I love that. And you get it. You totally been there. And you know how to get the SFD out of your head?

Kate Kordsmeier 16:45

Yeah, yes, but I mean, only because I heard like, learned that concept. And I just put it into practice. And it was it was so so true, and so liberating. So I think part of your process is also about kind of finding flow and writing and editing by aligning these tasks with the nature's rhythms like the moon and the seasons and your menstrual cycle, and just kind of like bringing that cyclical living approach to writing. Is that right?

Jacq Fisch 17:13

Yeah. So the first time I heard about aligning anything at all with the moon or a menstrual cycle, I was like, what? That is weird. Why would I do that? This was probably a handful of years ago, I was like, this makes no sense. And this idea kept coming up and I kept hearing about it, someone brought a lot these teachings into my writing community. So all I committed to doing at first was just noticing I kept a journal, like what day I was in my cycle, what was going on with it. And at this time, like, Man, I must have been like, late 30s. So here I am late 30s, only understanding what my cycle looks like,

and how it's different. And working with my naturopathic doctor, she showed me a chart of menstrual cycle like the hormones as they fluctuate throughout the menstrual cycle. And it was like, it's like a roller coaster. Like No wonder. I feel different all the time. And when it comes to writing, I think that's where it's so easy to judge our past selves, and in business to where we sit down to write, and maybe the ideas are foggy. They're not coming out the editing, just not coming together, right? And then we start to beat ourselves up. And we're like, but it was so easy. Last week, why did it just flow last week, but not this week? What's wrong with me, I should be better than this. So over time, through tracking my cycle, getting in touch with what was going on with the moon working with astrologers, I started to be able to apply those lessons to writing. So going through the cycle. If we think of the energy of the new moon, which is the energy of winter, and energy of menstruation, there's no light in the sky. It's dark, it's inward. So of course, this isn't a time necessarily when we shouldn't be out there, watching our books and trying to push and do a big writing project. This is when I like to do brainstorming, make decisions, intuitive downloads, have extra time on my calendar, like definitely blocking that space so I can do some more of that exploring. If I want to write then it'll definitely be some stream of consciousness type writing. And then I always mix up waning moon and waxing moon, but I'm thinking about the cyclical nature. waxing moon. So spring, follicular phase is when we have all those ideas. So this is what I like to do some planning. And also in writing my last book, I aimed to do a lot of drafting during this phase like follicular phase is SFD season for sure. So

Getting all those ideas out, like for that roughly two weeks or so between the new moon and the full moon, just drafting stuff and not even looking at it until the second half of the cycle. So like full moon afterward. So full moon energy of ovulation and summer like full visibility we are out there. That's when I might launch my writing, that's when I might publish it or shine some light on it. That's when I might do a bunch of edits and be able to quickly and clearly see what needs to go so that we can get through the rest of the cycle. And then finally, the waning moon phase, or fall or luteal phase. Attention to detail during this time is so strong, I aim to do editing to my blog and making tweaks to my website copy, which I'm in the middle of doing a full rewrite, plus, book edits. All aim to do this during that phase, either my own luteal cycle or waning moon, which is actually kind of cool if my cycle is not lined up with the moon, because I feel like I get two of those phases a month, where it gets to embrace both energies and use it that way. But I really love it to that, to get that focus and complete, like finish line, getting that scroll getting ready for winter idea, getting all those all those things wrapped up and ready to go for the next cycle.

Kate Kordsmeier 21:34

Yes, I love all of this. And you know, our audience, our incubator clients, we're big fans of cyclical living, and it's something that we work through in this program, too. So thank you for the for the primer, and then kind of showing like which parts of the writing process fit best into which phases is super helpful. And I'm curious, we have a question in the chat here that I think is perfect for right now, actually, which is how do you go from drafting or brainstorm writing or the shitty first drafts to something that someone will actually want to read? Like, what's your process from finishing that Sf D? And then coming back?

Jacq Fisch 22:13

Great question. Some of it will depend on what it is you're writing, sometimes I'll get inspiration for something that I need to write about. And I'll do that SFD. And sometimes it'll sit in a folder for months, like I might come back to it when it's time to do some editing on some things, I'll pop it open. And I'm like, I don't really know what to do with this. So I just leave it and trust that you got the ideas out and know that they are there for when you want to come back to them. Almost always, I recommend taking at least an hour away from doing an SFD to taking the rest of the way. And doing that gives gives you some separation. So you get it out on the page. If you can have lunch, go outside, do something else. Or even better, depending on how much SFD writing you did. If you can come back to it the next day. It gives us space to breathe. And the other thing I find it does is we've gotten it out. That could be an idea that's been rolling around in our brains for a while.

We've gotten it on the page. And then if you take a day or even a couple of days, depending on what it is you're writing, you're going to start noticing all these little synchronicities, coincidences, extra things you want to include in there. Because when you did that writing, you're planting these seeds in your unconscious mind about these topics. So you're unconsciously looking for some of these things. So I really like yeah,

Kate Kordsmeier 23:43

I love that concept. Yeah, that's awesome. And then Aaron has a follow up. How do you categorize or organize all the various SFTS? Maybe topically?

Jacq Fisch 23:53

Yeah, I keep a couple of things going for how I'm, first of all, I plan my SFTS for the most part, I'm not, I'm definitely not a planner. Overall, I'm creative and intuitive and like to roll with it. And a too strict of a plan keeps me I think it feels too constrictive. I keep my 12 week plan. So every quarter, I make a plan for the things I think I want to write, which often changes but it's fine. I have that 12 week plan for the quarter. And then week by week, I go into what I'm going to write. So it might be draft blog on this topic, or draft book chapter on this topic. So how I organize those, I use Google Docs for everything. I'll keep all my draft, blog content in a folder that lives under. I think I'm thinking of a hierarchy, content, blogs, drafts. And then once that Google doc draft is taking the rest of the way, and it's published by also make sure that that Google Doc is an exact replica of whatever I put on my blog, because who knows what could happen to

Kate Kordsmeier 25:00

Yeah,

Jacq Fisch 25:01

yeah. So I have those copies there and know that that's also a final final version. So if it's book stuff, the way I write books, I usually have a topic. The topic might end up being the chapter, I keep each topic in a separate Google Doc. And that's my draft. So when organizing from sections or essays into a bigger book, I can easily rearrange based on the order or even if I wasn't sure the order, I know that I have all these essays that I can arrange into something. Yeah, such a good idea.

Kate Kordsmeier 25:35

Okay, so what is the biggest mistake that you think creatives often make when writing? And how can they avoid it?

Jacq Fisch 25:41

Oh, the biggest one, I see a lot I mean, and they come from the overthinking, it's almost never something they've actually done with having seen hundreds of people's writing. I have never seen anyone's writing and thought, This is hopeless. This is terrible. This is bad. I have never ever, ever thought that. So probably the biggest thing, overthinking, which I also think is closely tied to perfectionism. Because we think it needs to be complete ly error free. Commas need to be on the right place, or the sentences too long. Is this too rambley? All those things. And that, that keeps us from publishing our work and be able to share it with our readers who need to read it.

Kate Kordsmeier 26:32

Yeah, right. And the only way to actually improve and to you know, get better is to keep doing it and keep practicing. It's like the most simple concept that we all know somewhere deep down. But we think like, no, if I just keep working on this one, email this one blog post this one sales page and never actually put it out into the world, then it'll be terrible.

Jacq Fisch 26:55

Yeah, you touched on it exactly. It's the practice. When if you want to improve your writing skills, you have to write and keep writing and keep putting it out there. Yes, you will look back on some of your older stuff, your opinion will probably have changed. And we have to keep going. And the reminder I like for that is when you think of perhaps your favorite author. Maybe you like their earlier work, but you don't like their new stuff, or you like their new stuff, but not their old stuff. And I think that's that's our job as creators to get out whatever is being downloaded through us at the moment. Like, that's our only job. We don't have to think about, like who's going to read this? Are they going to like this? This is very different from the last piece of writing. No, yeah, yeah, whatever you're writing will resonate with the right people at the right time.

Kate Kordsmeier 27:51

Right. Now, it reminds me actually, of Taylor Jenkins, read who wrote like Daisy Jones and the six and Malibu rising and some of these like New York Times best selling books that are so good. And some of my personal favorites. I went back to read some of her earlier books, because I've loved every book of hers. It's come out in the last like 10 years. And I hate to say this publicly, because I don't want out obviously, she's not listening to the show, but I wouldn't want her to feel bad. But it was it was not good. And I was like, what if she had stopped writing? Because I mean, it was good enough to be published, obviously. But like, what if she had stopped because it wasn't perfect? Then Then we never would have gotten these like beautiful books that came later.

Jacq Fisch 28:35

Yeah, exactly. And what is perfect writing anyway, right? No, I don't want to read perfect writing. I want your imperfect, honest writing and honest and your speaking truth. 100% put it out there

Kate Kordsmeier 28:50

when writing is so subjective, right? Like, I'm sure there's people that could go back and read her earlier books and think no, these are better. And they prefer those. Like it's such a personal thing.

Jacq Fisch 29:01

Yeah, yeah. Our job is just to get it out.

Kate Kordsmeier 29:03

Yeah. So what are some practical strategies that you have to overcome the resistance when it comes to writing, we just have to get it out. And we've talked about the shitty first drafts and like just getting started, but any other tips for how people can just get unstuck and, you know, get their creative juices flowing?

Jacq Fisch 29:22

Yes, morning pages 100% recommend. It's a term coined by author Julia Cameron from the artists way. Morning pages are three full sized pages of writing first thing in the morning and stream of consciousness, no judging, no writing, no editing, anything like that. And when I wrote my first book, I told myself, or maybe I lied to myself that I didn't have time to do morning pages because I was writing enough already turned out that was a mistake. Because from the second book, I made sure to do morning pages every day. And that got the cobwebs out and cleared the way so that I could come to the page

With more flow and being able to get it out, because I got all the other noise out, you know, I could do that. So that was huge, also expecting resistance to happen. So finding some ways to get around is one of my favorite ways when I was working on my book, or if I have a important blog that I know I need to write, at the end of the work day, the day before I plan on writing this, I shut everything else down, except that one piece I'm writing or working on. So when I turn on my computer in the morning, I'm like, oh, yeah, that's what I said I was going to work on first. So instead of having to navigate there to find it is already there. And it's the first thing I get done. Nothing else replied to that. And even if I only spend 20 minutes on it, you'd be surprised at what you can write in a short amount of time if you do 30 minutes a day, every day.

Kate Kordsmeier 30:53

Yeah.

For sure, any other like writing or even editing rituals you recommend for increasing focus and productivity?

Jacq Fisch 31:03

Yeah, I love a good ritual. See what rituals you already have. So you might not need to necessarily create something new. But some things you might like is you sit down at a certain time, maybe you have a particular drink, like you have your latte, you light a candle, smell a certain scent of essential oil like peppermint or something like that, or put some lip balm on, and then jump into writing. So that's your cue. You can also look at writing specific things in specific places in your home. So I know a lot of people find that sitting at their desk, the ideas don't flow, because that's where they do business. That's where they work. And I found this, this was pretty strong for me with both of my books, a lot of it didn't come out at my desk, it came out sitting on the couch. So you might have a different place for writing. Like just that short, perspective change or small perspective change and changing up your scenery can give you that new like, Okay, I'm on the couch. This is where I write my blogs. And

Kate Kordsmeier 32:08

I love the idea of a writing cue. It just makes me think I used to in college when I would go for a run. I always started my run with this Incubus song. And now if I hear that song, I like I have to go for a run makes me want to run. So if it just like comes off on shuffle, you know, in the car, something I'm like, Oh my gosh, you have to go running. So a, I'm noting to myself, like on the days that I don't feel motivated. I should really just play that song. And then it's like Pavlovian response to just like, Okay, I gotta go through this thing now, but totally for running. That's amazing. I mean, for writing sorry.

Jacq Fisch 32:48

Yeah, no, you went to for the I wrote a mini book before I wrote my first two books, and I played Mumford and Sons believe, uh huh. And that was my cue, start writing. And sometimes I would play it on repeat for, I don't know, half an hour. And when I was done, I stopped writing. So that song makes my body write. So that's also the part about getting out of our heads and into our body. When we hear those cues, our body knows what to do.

Kate Kordsmeier 33:15

Yes, I love this so much. And now you kind of touched on like creating an optimal environment for writing in what you said about you know, maybe writing at your desk is not where you get your most creative ideas. Anything else that you would add to kind of environment piece of improving your writing?

Jacq Fisch 33:33

Great question. So we live in a world of distraction. My two kids did distance learning this year. And they also did distance learning in 2020. So everyone's home all the time.

There is always someone around, probably one of my favorite things, boundaries, for sure. And even today, I aim to get at least one piece of writing done for myself every day. And I don't mean done, like start to finish, it's polished and ready to go. Even if it's 30 minutes of a draft, 30 minutes of editing something, whatever that is putting my work first before meetings before anything else. So that is his priority. And that also shows my brain. Hey, we're putting your work first. Like I come first. Why care my writing practice?

Kate Kordsmeier 34:23

So good. So good.

Well, hey, there, it's Kate Kordsmeier and I wanted to play a quick game with you. Let me know which of these you can raise your hand for? Are you wanting to reconnect with your authentic self, soul and purpose to become the woman you want to be? We want you to create aligned habits for more rest and less stress to live intentionally and take control of your daily life, to connect to other women who are on growth journeys, and rediscover your inherent worthiness and value so you can step into your power

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Any particular tools or apps that you find helpful when it comes to intuitive writing and just maintaining that like consistent writing habit?

Jacq Fisch 35:56

Let's see for tools. If you do like a timer, I might use suggest a Pomodoro timer. Some people like that, if you use like a Chrome extension or something to do that, occasionally is called marinara. Yeah, some people find that ticking helpful. Like, tick, tick, tick. No.

Kate Kordsmeier 36:16

Oh, does it actually tick? It can? Yeah. Oh, okay. I have I have one that's like a tomato. I thought it was marinara, but maybe it's a different one. But I don't think it ticks. That's interesting. That could be like your cue, though. Like you hear that tick? And it's like, okay.

Jacq Fisch 36:32

Yeah, exactly. So you could do that, if you like that. I only use the Pomodoro. For things I'm resisting really hard.

Just so strong. And I'm like, I'm just gonna do one Pomodoro cycle, and call it a day. And you usually probably, almost always, I surprised myself with how much I get done in 25 minutes. But other than that, the best tool is turning all the other tools off.

Turning Wi Fi off, like you don't need anything to write.

Kate Kordsmeier 36:59

Yes, that's such a good point to turn Wi Fi off. Because sometimes when you're writing, and then you think like, oh, let me just look this up. And it may even be something that improves your writing or it's for you know, it's related. But it just kind of breaks that creative flow, like to just stay and like make a note to yourself, Google this after I'm done. You know, after I'm done with my Pomodoro cycle or something,

Jacq Fisch 37:27

yeah, keep a notepad handy for other ideas that come up the things you need to run out and get, because that will happen. And it's a constant reminders like no, we are not doing dopamine today we are focusing on our writing.

Kate Kordsmeier 37:33

So along these lines, like how do you strike a balance between structure and spontaneity in the writing process?

Jacq Fisch 37:48

Great question. I definitely need a little bit of structure. And I think as creatives if we have too much wide open space, it's hard to create. Or it's like, well, I don't know what to write about. So if you say you need to blog, or you decided to blog once a week, or you decided to send a weekly newsletter, you sit down at newsletter writing time, you're like, Okay, what do I want to write about? And there's nothing coming to you. So I'm just gonna go pop on Instagram and see what's new over there, maybe you'll find some inspiration. And we all know that's a bad idea. Don't do that.

Having a loose structure. So my content plan and my 12 week plan. So my 12 week plan also involves life stuff as well. Like write morning pages, read one chapter a day, turn phone off a plan, a date, we date night, something like that, doing those kinds of things. Yeah, content plan, I have the loose plan for what I want to write each week, or probably more accurately, but a year or so ago, I switched to aiming to publish every other week. So I have my topic there. So when it's blog, writing time, having the time blocked on my calendar, I know I'm going to sit down and write, I know what the topic is. And often another idea might come up that I want to write on instead. And I usually check in to make sure it's not me chasing a shiny object, or if it's, it's something timely. And I need to get something out for that right now. Right. And I will do that I get myself to do that and rearrange what I had planned to write about. But having the plan there is helpful to fall back on in the absence of inspiration.

Kate Kordsmeier 39:33

Right. Okay, that makes sense. So, I'm curious, what do you think about the future of writing with all the AI stuff that's going on now?

Jacq Fisch 39:44

I love this question. I was almost done editing my book. And the question of AI came up I was like, I need to write something in here.

Kate Kordsmeier 39:51

And yeah,

Jacq Fisch 39:52

I was like, I have to include it. So I am 100% on Team No AI for writing at all, I see a lot of content creators getting excited. I see a couple couple camps. Some are excited. Look how much I could draft when I use some generative AI to write me a blog post. No, don't do that. And then I see some say, I use AI to write an article, and then I take it and rework it and write the opposite.

I kind of see where you're going there.

Kate Kordsmeier 40:28

Yeah, that's interesting. I heard that one.

Jacq Fisch 40:30

And then some a lot are excited, because they're like, it's free. I'm gonna use it for now. And some are freaking out. So like, oh, no, all the writing jobs are gonna be gone. In my experience. So far. It's helped my business because some people who thought they could use AI to write realize they could not. And they needed, they needed an expert. So that has absolutely helped. The other thing I think is important, is our unique divine connection. Ai doesn't have a soul. And we're training. Some people are voluntarily training AI with their writing, with all their prompts. I think that's doing a disservice to like yourself if you're doing that, just because it's free and convenient. So there's certainly an aspect where AI, currently, I forget what date it's coming stuff. I don't know if coming is the right word.

Kate Kordsmeier 41:25

But yeah, 2021

Jacq Fisch 41:27

I think it's 2021. So anything that I've written, that's public, yeah, it's combed, but I'm not willingly actively training the machine. I'm not separate on keeping my brilliant ideas. From my writing, I think it's only going to bring back a greater need for our stories in person connection. So I see like retreats, in person retreats getting even more popular because people are going to meet people, like the machines, not not a replacement.

Kate Kordsmeier 42:01

Yeah, so I have a little bit of a different stance on it, though I very much appreciate yours. And what I'll share is just that my experience with AI is that it is a great brainstorming tool. And like what's another way I could say this, or like, I need something I need, like an example to include in this, like, what are some examples I could use. And so I use it more for that I have yet to find even a single short prompt that I can, or like a short paragraph or sentence that it writes that I'm just like, copy paste, like, there's still so much human manual involvement in it. But I have really had a lot of fun playing with it as like a brainstorming tool. But I hadn't really thought about it from the perspective of like, I'm training it when I do that.

Jacq Fisch 42:49

Yeah, so that's the thing. Like, do you want to train the machine to sound like Kate so that whoever wants to sound like you can sound like you and ask questions like you.

Kate Kordsmeier 42:59

Yeah, I mean, I guess in their writing, they potentially could. But I still think like there's I mean, you could say right, this like Winston Churchill, right. And like, it'll write it similar to how he like the language and how verbose he was, and the formality and things like that. But I don't know, I think it's still like, well, it's not exactly like Winston Churchill. It's a robot like, right, you know, so every I don't know. But there's so it's, it's really interesting to think about all the different things here. And right now I'm having fun with it. But there is a part of me that is like, what's the bad part of this? Right? Like, what's the scary part of robots taking over the world that I need to be thinking about when I play with this? So yeah,

Jacq Fisch 43:43

yeah, there's a movie isn't Megan? Is that the name of the movie? Yes. Yes. Megan is the worst case scenario.

Kate Kordsmeier 43:51

Okay, I haven't actually seen that. But I have seen like a commercial or preview of whatever it's called trailer for it. Now I have to watch it. It's probably terrified.

Jacq Fisch 44:00

It's freaky. Yeah.

Kate Kordsmeier 44:01

Okay, so we're coming up on the end here. I just want to make sure we have some time for some of the questions that have come up in the chat. I think that this is something that you've created, which is the BS free intuitive writing. Is that right?

Jacq Fisch 44:15

Yes. In BS free intuitive writing advice, because we take so much advice from people. And in the writing world, like you need to write everyday kind of thing. So yes, absolutely.

Kate Kordsmeier 44:27

Yeah. So what are some of your top practical tips for BS free writing?

Jacq Fisch 44:32

Yeah. So let's start with that first one. You need to write every day to be a writer. No, you don't.

I think there's also a difference between people who think about writing a lot, and people who are writing and I think if you're writing enough and getting your ideas out, you don't need to write every day. You're coming to the page and emptying out enough that you don't feel bad on the days you're not writing. So write as often as you like. Yeah, do it as you want. Number two,

Do writing is fun and easy 100% When I first started wading into the writing world, I saw so much and I still see it today, complaining, whining, frustration, torment, thinking, it's hard, it hurts, it has to suck. And absolutely not true. Like anyone who says that I'm like, Nope, you're not for me.

Kate Kordsmeier 45:25

Right?

Jacq Fisch 45:26

]Because we know that everything is energy. When we feel good when we're writing, our reader picks up on that, like, can you imagine writing something and feeling really crappy? And we've all probably done it in our businesses where we're like, I have to get this newsletter out, I have to get the sales emails out. And they better buy it. And you're like forcing it, the easily falls flat. And then the writing that flows that we don't think about, that's the one that we get, like, 10 email replies to. And I was like, Oh, I love this. You're like, really? I wrote that in five minutes and didn't really think

Kate Kordsmeier 46:01

yes, 100%. And I love that too. Because we're all about like managing your mind and thought work over here. And so like, what would happen to your writing process? If you had the thought? Writing is fun and easy. Every time you sat down to write and like, can you borrow that thought? If you don't have it currently? And just see what happens when you approach it with that perspective?

Jacq Fisch 46:28

Yes, 100%?

Kate Kordsmeier 46:29

Yeah, love it. Okay, a couple quick audience questions. Why do you think most people are good writers? We talked about this in the beginning. What do you tell people who think they are not good writers?

Jacq Fisch 46:42

I think most people are good writers, because we're natural storytellers. So there's also I think, something to keep in mind with how you best share information or how you process information. So if you are an internal processor, so you need to contemplate things, meditate, journal about something or write about it, to know what you think about it, then writing is is probably your first go to, for those who are more likely to be external processors, those people who get to an answer to a problem or solution by talking it out, by suggest skipping the page, and going to a talk to text app or something like that. Take a walk, talk for five to 10 minutes, you'll have more than enough words there to create a good length of a blog post, starting with that. And often, especially if you're a natural speaker, you're going to say things that you wouldn't naturally say, when you are writing, and to write like we speak. I think also starting with talk to text gives us a good way to take the way we naturally speak and then turn that into our writing. So it will sound and feel like, like us. Yeah, I was wondering what the second part of that question was. Exactly.

Kate Kordsmeier 48:01

Yeah, what do you tell people who think they're not good writers. But I think that's been the advice that a lot of our copywriting experts have come on and share too. And I think it's so smart. And now this is where I would be like, go write it or go voice to text it right, and then get it transcribed, and then put it into AI and see like, what does it come out with? How does it take that idea and turn it into writing? But I know that's probably not how you would feel?

Jacq Fisch 48:30

Yeah, I would take the text and jump in and just edit it myself. Because yeah, with talking, you often have extra words than you might use in writing.

Kate Kordsmeier 48:38

Yeah, for sure.

Jacq Fisch 48:40

What would I say to people who think they're not great writers? I would explore how you came to decide that that was, that was your story. Like, did you have a teacher? You have a parent? A boss, someone who told you you weren't a great writer?

Kate Kordsmeier 48:56

Yeah, one of my favorite coaching questions is like, when did you decide that?

Like, when did you decide you're not a good writer? Yeah. Yeah. Because at some point in your life, and I love your thoughts there about like going back to, did somebody tell you that? Probably so right

Jacq Fisch 49:14

or someone led you to believe that like someone criticized a story, but it wasn't necessarily your writing was that they didn't like your topic or your your stance on something perhaps.

Kate Kordsmeier 49:25

Right. So last question here is are journaling and drafting different for you?

Jacq Fisch 49:32

journaling? I do pen to paper, because I think it's important to have that pen and paper body connection. And for some people I recommend, and I do this too. Sometimes I might draft a blog post or a book chapter on paper. It's also another way to get through resistance because if the screen is throwing up resistance or making you feel that way, pen to paper and treating it like a journal can help and I mean, some days I might go

into my morning pages session, knowing what I want to write about later, I might naturally start exploring those ideas on that page. So they're similar. And when I'm writing in what I'm doing in SFT, it has a similar energetic quality to it and that it's a full surrender. No editing, no judging, just let it fall out.

Kate Kordsmeier 50:23

Yeah. And I guess this is maybe the second part of that question. She's asking curious about where your inspiration and creation comes from?

Jacq Fisch 50:32

Yes, so many places. So one thing I believe for sure. Is writer's block is bullshit.

I don't believe in it. I think we are either full, or we're empty. So if we're full, that means we have enough life experiences we've traveled and by travel, I don't necessarily mean getting on a plane. I mean, maybe you've gotten to the next town and have talked to people, like you have experiences to write about. When we're out of experience, we're empty, we need to go fill it up again, like Julia Cameron talks about filling the creative. Well, so one of her recommendations for that is artists dates, I'm definitely not great about getting out for artists, especially in the final stages of getting a book, ready to publish. My artists data is like, doing nothing these days is not super creative. But inspiration comes from everywhere. Reading books, I absolutely think writers read a lot. I don't read fiction. I've tried. I think I'm not a good liar. I can't, I can't write fiction, and I just never get into fiction stories I have tried, like, I am all nonfiction, self development, all the way. So you can get ideas from books from all the reading you're doing, talking to people. I mean, if I was a writer that sat holed up in my office all the time, I think I would run out of stuff, where you need to have life and clients and colleagues and peers and mentors, having like, all these people, show us what's going on in the world.

Kate Kordsmeier 52:10

Yes, so true. Yeah, I love this concept. People in the chat are loving it to just have the empty or full and like if you feel stuck, or you feel like you're in quote unquote writer's block, get out and get filled up.

Jacq Fisch 52:23

Yes. Or you maybe you're trying to write about something that's not really exciting to you. Like, yeah, of course, like, I need to have a blog on my website about this. Because all my competitors do like that is that's not exciting,

Kate Kordsmeier 52:36

right? Yeah. And so again, it's kind of coming back to looking at your thoughts to like, what's the thought you're having about what you're writing? And if your thoughts like, well, I don't really want to do this, but I feel like I should, like write something else.

Jacq Fisch 52:50

Yes, yes, write anything, write a grocery list, write an email, write a text message, whatever it is, write something else and come back to it.

Kate Kordsmeier 52:59

Yes, exactly. Well, Jack, this has been so great. We're gonna finish up with our lightning round here. And this is just the five questions that we ask everybody who comes on the podcast. So first thing that comes to your mind? First question is, what's your favorite way to make time for self care while running your own business?

Jacq Fisch 53:17

I plan ahead, I block Mondays and Fridays on my calendar consistently. And also certain times of the month, depending on what's going on with my cycle or the moon blocking the time for me first.

Kate Kordsmeier 53:30

Yes, so good. What is one tool or strategy that you use to help with time management? She kind of just answered also, but I know like,

Jacq Fisch 53:40

back to my cycle. So knowing how much energy I'm going to have, that's how I use 12 week planning. So looking ahead to what's going on with the moon and my cycle. I will plan what writing in business and life activities even like workout activities for each week. So I align that with with what's going on so I'm not burning out keeping consistent.

Kate Kordsmeier 54:05

Great. What is one of the most powerful business or mindset books you've ever read?

Jack Fisch 54:11

Probably the most recent one is zero limits. Oh, that's a new one. I haven't heard of that yet. The looking at it's on my desk the secret Hawaiian system for wealth, health, peace and more. The Creator, not the creator, but someone who researched the whole oponopono technique and joy Vitaly, I forget the co authors name who Len something I can't pronounce the last name, but really great book for looking at everything.

Kate Kordsmeier 54:43

Yes, that's so good. I just wrote an email about hope. I'm not gonna say that right either. But I've bought that technique. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.

Yes, yes, I have it on a sticky note.

Me too Yep. I've been sitting on my desk for like six

Smells now it's so good. Okay, what is your favorite quote or mantra or affirmation for when things get tough and you feel like giving up?

Jacq Fisch 55:09

This too shall pass.

Kate Kordsmeier 55:12

So true. So the podcast is called Success with Soul. What does Success with Soul mean to you?

Jacq Fisch 55:19

Being truly authentic to me? So I think as long as I'm showing up, in all the places in my life on the page, with my clients, with my family with everyone, the same that I think success is there.

Kate Kordsmeier 55:34

Yeah, so good. Thank you, Jack. This was amazing. Where can people find you? Thank you so much.

Jacq Fisch 55:41

You can find me at intuitive writing school.com or soon, Jacquelinefisch.com. I'm splitting up two websites.

Kate Kordsmeier 55:49

Good luck.

And congrats on your book. When does it come out?

Jacq Fisch 55:54

Thank you so much. end of June is current target intuitive writing a remedy for writer's block in the secret to authentic communication.

Kate Kordsmeier 56:04

So good. Okay, so everybody's gonna have to go get that book when it comes out. And thank you again, so much for being here. This was lovely. And I'd be curious to hear to from everyone in the incubator, what you thought of video off for the whole time.

Jacq Fisch 56:19

Thanks, Jack. Thank you so much for having me, Kate.

Kate Kordsmeier 56:22

Yeah.

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