The Writer's Mission Control: Strategies for Writing Flow with Paulette Perhach

Dr. Christine Li [00:00:00]:
Welcome back to the Make Time for Success podcast. This is episode number 223. This episode today is all about the writer's life, the writing process, and how to become a consistent and powerful writer. I have the great honor of interviewing a new colleague. Her name is Paulette Perhatch, and she is a regular contributor to the New York Times, And her work has been featured in Vox, l, the Washington Post, Slate, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Marie Claire, and other literary sources. She's the author of two multimillion reader viral essays, and she's done all of this and made all this happen while also having ADHD. Her book, Welcome to the Writer's Life, was published in 02/2018 and was selected as one of poets and writers' best books for writers. She blogs about the writer's craft and life at welcometothewriterslife.com, and she leads meditation and writing sessions through a very important meeting.

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:07]:
She's really dynamic. She's established a wonderful community of writers, and she's got lots of thoughts about how to live life really big. So let's go listen to her thoughts and her brilliance right now. Hi. I'm doctor Christine Lee, and I'm a psychologist and a procrastination coach. I've helped thousands of people move past procrastination and overwhelm so they could begin working to their potential. In this podcast, you're going to learn powerful strategies for getting your mind, body, and energy to work together so that you can focus on what's really important and accomplish the goals you want to achieve. When you start living within your full power, you're going to see how being productive can be easy and how you can create success on demand.

Dr. Christine Li [00:02:02]:
Welcome to the Make Time for Success podcast. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the show. Today, I have the pleasure of welcoming Paulette Perhach to the show, and I am also excited to get to know her during this interview. We have just met over email and a few minutes before we pressed record. Paulette is a writer, writer's coach, and the founder of Powerhouse Writers. And I just mentioned to her that I've never really had a straight up writer on the show before, so I'm really looking forward to hearing her background, her journey, her experience as a writer and with the writing process. And then towards the end of the episode, she's gonna share with us her personal framework for making time for success, getting things done, and being productive.

Dr. Christine Li [00:02:56]:
So welcome to the show, Paulette.

Paulette Perhach [00:02:58]:
Thanks so much for having me.

Dr. Christine Li [00:03:00]:
So start us off with just letting us know what drives you, what keeps you writing, and your history with writing. And you don't know me very well. I tend to put three questions in one, so there you go. Here's your first one.

Paulette Perhach [00:03:19]:
Yeah. So, you know, I am a writer who also has ADHD. And people with ADHD tend to have big feelings, and I think it was my big feelings that got me writing in the first place. I remember being 10 years old, getting really upset about something, writing about it, and and having this realization that the words that had been circling in my brain were now on this piece of paper, and I felt kind of drained of the emotion that they had brought. So for me, it started as kind of journaling and getting those big emotions out and then just being in love with story and also being in love kind of with people and adventure and life. So did the whole, like, sixth grade yearbook thing, was on yearbook all through middle school, high school, then did a magazine journalism degree, and I'm just a very curious person. I remember one time I was visiting a friend in the hospital and we were, like, walking out and my friend goes, Paulette, you're looking in every room that we're walking by, and I hadn't realized I was doing that. I'm just like, what's going on here? What's going on here? Like, I just I love subcultures.

Paulette Perhach [00:04:18]:
I love how complicated the world is. I love learning. And so that's what has driven me, and I love hearing about something. You know, I just heard recently that the CIA has a venture capital wing. I'm like, what goes on in the CIA's venture capital wing? Like, I need to know. Right? So that's what drives me and just being in love with the work of others and what the work of other writers has done for me, and knowing that I can do that for someone else if I'm committed to the craft. And really just telling my story in a way that kind of lightens my load of being a human and helps me, you know, understand myself, understand being human, and helps other people too.

Dr. Christine Li [00:04:59]:
Terrific. I love that. I love that your journey started early, and that it was very organic and that it really helped you to feel like you could experience the world in a very full way.

Paulette Perhach [00:05:12]:
Yeah. I think that's the work of of art and really being human.

Dr. Christine Li [00:05:16]:
Yes. Okay. Terrific. And was there anyone who said, you know what, maybe you could journal or this was something that you came up with yourself?

Paulette Perhach [00:05:23]:
Well, my mom is a teacher, so I would imagine she had all the materials there. I don't really remember a moment of being invited to journal, but, you know, I was really encouraged to explore and write in general and just have an intellectual life.

Dr. Christine Li [00:05:40]:
Okay. I was thinking that we would hear stories of writing difficulty. Have you

Paulette Perhach [00:05:48]:
Mhmm.

Dr. Christine Li [00:05:48]:
Had those? I don't want to assume, but I I have to admit that I was assuming. So let us know if you had periods of difficulty, blockage when it comes to writing and what those stories are.

Paulette Perhach [00:06:03]:
Yeah. Kind of nonstop. It's just always part of the life. You know, people will see me and they've they've seen my Instagram. And they'll be like, oh my gosh. Congratulations on everything. And I'm like, the crying? Like, what are you congratulating me on? You know? Because they don't see behind the scenes. You know? It's always 85 to 90% rejection on every scale no matter what level you get to because you're always trying to level up.

Paulette Perhach [00:06:25]:
You know? So once you get published here, you're like, okay. Next tier, you know. And once you get to a certain level of being known as a writer, you meet writers who are then on the next tier, and you're like, oh my gosh. That's a real writer. And so it's always difficulty. It's a difficult life. No one and that's kind of that's why I love writers because anyone who's a writer, they're not someone who's just taking the default option in life. They have gone into the advanced options menu, and they're like, let's let's see what goes on here even though it's so difficult.

Paulette Perhach [00:06:56]:
So that's why I just love being in community with other writers because writers are just my kind of people. They are alive. They have chosen the hard level. And so it's absolutely difficult and has never stopped being difficult.

Dr. Christine Li [00:07:10]:
Okay. Terrific. And true. I think. I I from my own be a writer everyone. Well, I I I'm just reflecting on my own relationship with writing, which is a long ago process where it kind of straightened out, evened out. But I know that part of my procrastination history involved having to do many pieces of writing, different topics, feeling unsure of what to say, feeling afraid of if I did know what to say, how it would seem when it finally landed on the page. And then I was thinking this morning before getting together with you that it was sometime mid graduate school that it kind of had to sort itself out because there was a lot of writing requirements, and I just needed to calm my anxiety system down by not making the writing so complicated.

Dr. Christine Li [00:08:06]:
So Yeah. But I think I was lucky that that happened. But is there a strategy or system that you take people through to make sure that they have writing flow?

Paulette Perhach [00:08:18]:
Yes. And it's so funny. I just with my coaching program, we just got done with our weekly writer's refresh, which is a meeting we do in order to set yourself up for flow because I think one of everyone seeking flow. We love flow. Right? It feels so good to be in the flow. And people focus on getting to flow. They don't focus on the things you have to get away from you or, like, nix in order to have flow happen. And so for me, it's really important to have that time set up so that you can fully sink into your work.

Paulette Perhach [00:08:52]:
And in my finished framework, one of the i's stands for immerse because that is the joy of really being able to sink in. But if you're worried about, like, oh, I haven't gone through my emails in a really long time. Is there anything important in there? Or, oh, I really didn't take care of this, or am I sure I can dedicate this time? That's really gonna keep pulling you out of those deeper intellectual levels where you can really sink into your creative work.

Dr. Christine Li [00:09:18]:
Terrific. Okay. Why don't we go into the finished framework since you mentioned I, and it sounds fantastic. And I love how you cover all the different bases in the acronym finish. So why don't you do that now? I think that's a good time.

Paulette Perhach [00:09:34]:
Great. So let's start with the f. So the f is stands for fake stakes, and this was one of the first lessons that I learned as a writer. So when you are a professional writer and you have an editor waiting for your work or, you know, your agent waiting for your work, that's gonna make you feel nervous. You're like, I've gotta write today because this person's waiting. Before that, there are, like, no stakes. There's no answer to the question, what would happen if I didn't write today? And so you have to invent one. So this could include taking a class, having a coach, signing up for an open mic night.

Paulette Perhach [00:10:08]:
So I was in straight journalism, and then I did Peace Corps. And in Peace Corps, I realized I wanted to be a creative writer. And the first thing I did was sign up for our big, like, Peace Corps talent show in front of 200 volunteers at our big Thanksgiving, weekend. Terrified. I had three months. I was terrified. I worked every day on my piece and was really happy with the outcome. It was super fun.

Paulette Perhach [00:10:29]:
So that has been a consistent I always am like, what is scaring me right now? Or just lighting that fire under my butt. So that's why yeah.

Dr. Christine Li [00:10:38]:
Those were real stakes.

Paulette Perhach [00:10:39]:
Those are what?

Dr. Christine Li [00:10:40]:
That that was real stakes.

Paulette Perhach [00:10:42]:
Yeah. Yeah. They are in a way, you know, they're in a way fake in the way that you have created them, but they feel very real. They you make them real. So the the first I stands for increment. So it's about taking, I want to be a writer or I want to write my memoir and saying, what does that look like today? What can I check off the list today? So in my software for writers, I have a habit tracker and you have a daily goal. Right? What is it you wanna do every day or every week for some people can't write every day? And being able to say, yes, I did this. No.

Paulette Perhach [00:11:13]:
I did not do this. It helps you feel like you've done enough. Right? When you've planned out and said, okay. A page a day equals a book in a year. So I know if I got my page done today, I'm safe to know that I will have a book done in a year. If you don't have these increments or these levels, we could always feel like I haven't done enough. I haven't done enough. So it's really helpful to have an increment in a schedule.

Dr. Christine Li [00:11:38]:
Love it.

Paulette Perhach [00:11:39]:
The n stands for nix. So nixing distractions. And so for this, I, you know, give my coaching students the Freedom app, which is a great app for blocking distracting websites. So social media, the news even, anything that distracts you. And, also, you know, I don't have a TV in my home because if I had it like, I walk into some people's TVs in their living rooms. I'm like, I would this is all I would do. This is a great TV. I would just watch this great TV all the time.

Paulette Perhach [00:12:06]:
You know? And nicks can also mean prioritize. So what are the projects you're not doing now so that you can focus on this is the one project I am doing now? And people don't think about distractions or or artwork they might wanna make or creative pieces they might wanna make, but it's just you can't do everything now. So what are you gonna do now, and what are you gonna do later?

Dr. Christine Li [00:12:28]:
Okay. Yeah. These are tough these are tough steps. Right? He needs there needs a lot of self discipline and commitment to moving forward. Right? But it sounds like this framework really helps you to get there. Is there a commitment piece before finish starts? Wondering about that.

Paulette Perhach [00:12:50]:
Interesting. There is it's about a way to, like, reverse engineer discipline. So I use the Freedom app because I don't have the discipline to sit here and not click on Instagram while I'm writing a difficult piece. Right? And so it's, you know, I can like, I watch TV on my laptop sometimes, like, it kinda sucks. You know? And, like, if I I don't have to have the discipline to not watch my big TV, I just don't have a big TV. Yeah. So it's really, I think, helping to systematize discipline.

Dr. Christine Li [00:13:21]:
Okay. Terrific.

Paulette Perhach [00:13:22]:
Yeah. So the second I is for immerse, and so that is really finding time and blocking off time to fully sink into your work. I use meditation in my daily writing group that I have. We meet every day at 10AM eastern, seven AM pacific, and I lead a ten minute meditation, and then we all write together for forty five minutes. So that meditation is a really good tool to sink into your work. And I think also just having a plan and knowing that the rest of your life is organized and right now is your writing time, and you don't have to do anything else. And that's the best gift to give yourself.

Dr. Christine Li [00:13:57]:
Beautiful. And thank you for having that kind of community. I'm sure it's such a gift to your to your followers and students. That's beautiful. Right?

Paulette Perhach [00:14:06]:
Yeah. We started it during COVID, and it's been wonderful. So the s is for share, and this is about creating community around your writing goals, which helps shift your identity toward, yes, I am a writer. I am one of these people. You know, Susan is submitting to, River Teeth magazine. I I should submit there. This person got a piece done. There's no reason I shouldn't have my piece done.

Paulette Perhach [00:14:28]:
And so it's really helping to create that social connection around your work so that, number one, it just helps you get it done faster. You have people to ask questions, people to commiserate and pick you up when you're down, people to celebrate with you. It just makes it more fun. And then I think it also helps with the identity piece. And as it you know, if anyone's read Atomic Habits, you know, like, the identity is such a big part of keeping up with your habits.

Dr. Christine Li [00:14:55]:
Mhmm. Yeah. I I find that before you go on to h, I find that people are somewhat reluctant to do the s part. The the feeling that, well, it's maybe private or I'm not yet feeling the identity. And what would you say to the people who think, really, now I'm interested, but I'm just gonna stay here. I'm gonna stay in my cubicle, and I'm gonna just plug away and feel free by myself. What would you say to that person?

Paulette Perhach [00:15:24]:
It reminds me of when I moved to Seattle, and I found out there was a writing center there. And I was like, oh, for writers. Like, write those writers, those people who are writers. And then I let myself, like, go to one reading and go to one event, and I met people, and I they all sounded just like me. Even people who had books published were, like, totally having all kinds of anxiety about their writing lives. And I was like, oh, I'm not that different from these people. And then they had a community night, and I said, you know what? I'm gonna go. I'm I'm going to decide that I'm gonna be part of this community.

Paulette Perhach [00:15:58]:
So I think, you know, my friend Stephanie O'Connell says ambition is vulnerable. And so sometimes joining a community is vulnerable. It's like, yes, I wanna be a part of what these people are doing, and I wanna be a writer, and that can feel vulnerable. And you don't have to share your work necessarily. I think it's just sharing your writing life and your goals with other people and being in community.

Dr. Christine Li [00:16:23]:
I love it. Okay. Yeah. Please proceed with h.

Paulette Perhach [00:16:26]:
And the h, last but not least, is the h, which is hype. And this is all about your mental and emotional state as you sit down to write. And I've realized that that has got to be in place before any writing happens. Definitely, I can sit down and vent in my journal when I am not feeling it. But, for example, yesterday, woke up just having really bad anxiety and I was it was on my calendar. It was my novel writing time. And I said, you know what? I need to go to the gym first because I I know I'm always just one workout away from feeling better, which is something I heard someone say and I've been repeating it to myself. And I, you know, definitely felt absolutely better afterward.

Paulette Perhach [00:17:06]:
I was like, you know, I've struggled with anxiety, which can come along with with ADHD, especially for women. And so I'm I'm in it's old hat. I know how to handle it. You know? And I was like, here it is again. Okay. And then when I'm in that better mental state, I can sit down and really have access to my creativity. So same thing if you are really stressed out, you we kind of go from our prefrontal cortex, which has language and memory. It's the last part of our brain that we evolved to our limbic system, which is the fight or flight.

Paulette Perhach [00:17:38]:
And that's, like, no creativity. We're just trying to, like, survive right now. And so it's really important to calm yourself and have full access to your entire brain before you go into your writing life. And so that for me includes eating well when I can. I either am eating, like, total trash or, like, organic quinoa, kale salad. So I try to keep it on the organic kale quinoa salad side until I pass, like, a Chick fil A. I'm like, okay. Let's go to the trash side for a second.

Paulette Perhach [00:18:05]:
But in general, mostly, I try to do healthy food, exercise, meditation, and just, like, positive self talk. We're very comfortable berating ourselves. We're like, I never talk to myself unless I'm yelling at myself and telling myself how terrible I am. And you can be nice to yourself. I didn't know this for a few decades. Uh-huh. And I found it out. I was like, wow.

Paulette Perhach [00:18:30]:
That felt better. So, just talking to yourself nicely. I mean, alright, buddy. Wow. We messed that one up. Alright. Let's let's try again. What are we gonna do? Right? So your mental state and the story you're telling yourself about yourself, about your creativity, about your life are so important.

Dr. Christine Li [00:18:48]:
Beautiful. You've done a lot of inner work to help your writing work. I love that. And one question I have at this point is you mentioned the ADD and the emotions. What about the ADD and the, I guess, the pace of thoughts or the the variety of thoughts and how you work with that as you're trying to get some work done. How do you how do you trust yourself? How do you calm yourself? You mentioned a few things. Is but I I'm curious about the the the volume of thoughts right now.

Paulette Perhach [00:19:27]:
Yes. So that is a whole thing. And so I actually designed a software for writers to help them stay organized, which was a pretty extreme reaction to having ADHD. It's called the Writers Mission Control Center. And so I try to put everything in there. When I am just sitting and writing, I like to have what I call my admin notebook with me, which is where anything that pops up in my head, I'm just like, okay. I'm just gonna take a second and write, you know, email, you know, John about whatever. And then it's on my to do list, and then I have that writer's refresh every week where I look in my admin notebook and take out the those to dos.

Paulette Perhach [00:20:04]:
And then that and then really just relying on, like, phone, you know, reminders. One thing I like to do is during my writer's refresh, which I do them on Fridays at noon, I like to set a bunch of reminders to come in, remind me Friday at noon, remind me Friday at noon. And then I'm sitting down, I'm doing my weekly refresh, and all the reminders come in. I'm like, okay. This is everything I have to handle. It's just like a nice little list from the entire week. So I think it's about really learning to triage your thoughts really well and not let them take over so that we can get into this hyperfocus mode, which is like I don't know how to describe it. It's like in the Mario Kart where you hit the hit the rainbow and you're like, like, you're just like and when you're working on something good, it's amazing.

Paulette Perhach [00:20:50]:
You're like, oh, I'm, like, getting things done. When you when it's anxiety that's taken over, rumination, or something you shouldn't be doing, not online shopping, but online shopping, then it can be a problem. So it's about just really learning to control your mind as best as possible. And sometimes I'll be in hyperfocus, and I'll be like, you get five more minutes. Like, I I cannot just stop. I have to be like, okay. Five more minutes, and then I can stop, like, ramping down so slowly. It's wild.

Paulette Perhach [00:21:21]:
It's really wild.

Dr. Christine Li [00:21:23]:
Yeah. I I like I'm not a Mario Kart player, but I love the the imagery of we're really managing and driving, machine, And and there's so much to be coordinated that we're we have the controls for. And sometimes it can get a little wonky and wacky, but it can also be very magical and, I guess, rainbow like when when you're conscious and when you're feeling calm, when you're feeling like you've got things relatively under control. I love that you've developed software and systems for writers to have that level of control.

Paulette Perhach [00:22:02]:
So that's

Dr. Christine Li [00:22:03]:
amazing work.

Paulette Perhach [00:22:04]:
Thank you.

Dr. Christine Li [00:22:05]:
You're welcome. So could we shift to the kind of work and the kind of writing that you do? Because I had the benefit of reviewing a little bit before we got on the call today. And I just think it's it's bright, it's hysterical, it's meaningful. It's a lot of things all at once. And you're welcome. And could you describe the evolution of your voice as a writer?

Paulette Perhach [00:22:35]:
Yeah. So a lot of things all at once is a great way to describe the ADHD writer. You know, I were sometimes I'm like, I just need to, like, pick my one thing and do it. You know? And that's just not ADHD. So I, like I said, started out with journalism. I loved doing feature stories, and then I realized I was kind of, like, trying to do more creative work within the newspaper. I asked to to retell a story in first person, which they let me do, which was really cool and creative. But, you know, then I got exposed to more creative writing, and I was like, oh, I love this.

Paulette Perhach [00:23:10]:
I read Dave Eggers' heartbreaking work of incredible genius, and I was, like, blown away, which is an just fantastic piece of nonfiction. And so I think it's been in learning everything that is out there and seeing all the options, And I'm like, oh, let me try this. Let me try that. So I do love to write satire. Satire is really fun. And one thing I found is that every satire piece could also be a sad essay. So one piece I wrote was called my personal brand is I don't wanna die. And it's about everything that we have to do, everything we have to, like, keep up as as independent workers, the branding and, you know, to make enough money to pay for our health care so we don't die because, you know and I have a line in there that's like, I understand that people with, you know, traditional employment deserve to live more than we do.

Paulette Perhach [00:24:01]:
That makes sense. You know? And that could have easily been as what I I call my sad girl essays, of which there are many. A sad girl essay about, you know, we deserve to get ex you know, just because we have a different form of employment doesn't mean this. And that you know, that could have been a very earnest sad girl essay or the satire. And so you never quite know what form a piece will take. I do love I love writing about really cool people doing cool things, so that's a big part of what I've done. And I've certainly been influenced by the struggles I've had. My famous piece is, a story of an f off fund, which is about how every woman should have enough money to tell someone to f off if an f off is deserved.

Paulette Perhach [00:24:44]:
And that comes out of my own experience of being an impulsive spender and, like, just feeling, like, any money that is in my hands any money that's in my hands just feels like an idea. And, oh, I have an idea. Wow. Wouldn't this you know, let's let's do this, which is, like, such a beautiful part of my personality. I love life. I love travel. I love doing stuff. I want a big life.

Paulette Perhach [00:25:06]:
And we've gotta learn to put the brakes on. You know? But one of my favorite descriptions of ADHD is for it's like a Ferrari engine with with a golf cart brakes. So, you know, so that piece about, like, how and that was before I was diagnosed, so I didn't know, you know, that came out of my own struggles and then seeing how it would have been different if I had saved money, which, like, continues to be a struggle for me. You know? It's not like, oh, that solved me. Mhmm. So I think I'm really inspired by other people. You know, I have very vulnerable pieces, and I teach a class called posing naked on the page, actually, about vulnerability in the personal essay. And I've been inspired by other people I've seen do it.

Paulette Perhach [00:25:51]:
And the stuff, you know, being being I'm people's boss, you know, and they can go Google my breakup if they want to. And so I'm really about kind of, like, living on this really deep out on a limb level of being a human. And that's what it means to be an artist.

Dr. Christine Li [00:26:08]:
I love this. I love your voice. I love your pieces that that line about people with traditional health care and and not really worked, by the way. And I'm reflecting that a lot of my audience, I think, have the Ferrari brakes, that they they actually have a sense that they are made for more, but they're more used to holding back or playing small or feeling overwhelmed in the moment and not being able to really get to the next phase or the next regulated state of themselves. And so I love your energy. I love how you play really big. I love how you've worked it. You you haven't said, well, it was just a ten year old essay, and then everything's been roses since.

Dr. Christine Li [00:26:58]:
You really are very vulnerable in your writing and in your public pieces. And I really encourage everyone to follow Paulette and just follow her journey. And please let us know how people can become writers and study with you, join your community, let us know all the things.

Paulette Perhach [00:27:17]:
Yeah. So I love helping writers be writers. My mom was a first grade teacher, and I definitely have a teacher's heart, but I love adult education more. And I'm also about, you know, in that community that I talked about, having the community be like, let's do it together. Right? Body doubling is a big thing for people with ADHD, so sitting down and now is the time we're writing together. So people can join my daily writing group, a very important meeting, which this they can just join on that level. I also have something called the finishing school for writers, which is a six month program. And at some levels, it includes one on one editing with me.

Paulette Perhach [00:27:53]:
So you meet with me for half an hour or an hour a week to go over your work and edit and workshop your work. And we also have, you know, kind of like a client only open bike day. We meet every Friday for our writer's refresh and do that together. We have submission sessions. So really everything that it takes to be a writer, we're meeting up and we're doing it together. So it's people who are like, I have been wanting to do this for decades. I've never done it before. I'm serious now.

Paulette Perhach [00:28:22]:
Now is the time. Like, let's go. And then if people want to use the Writers Mission Control Center, that's at the writersmissioncontrolcenter.com.

Dr. Christine Li [00:28:31]:
Terrific. And may I ask just to check for our listeners who maybe have never considered themselves writers and are really at the beginning level but are curious, is this are your sessions appropriate for those people?

Paulette Perhach [00:28:46]:
Yeah. For sure. I also have my book, Welcome to the Writer's Life, which I think helps people feel like, okay. I I kinda get it now. But I love I love starting writers. And in a way, I love kind of like sorry, getting my hands on them first. Because they haven't like, I wasted so much time, and it's so nice to work with people. It's like, you haven't wasted any time yet.

Paulette Perhach [00:29:08]:
You didn't, you know, like, I was, like, extending my workout. Like, the first year I wanted to be a creative writer. I'm like, oh god. No. To the to the New Yorker. Don't tell anyone. It's so embarrassing. But, like, because I was like, I'm gonna be discovered.

Paulette Perhach [00:29:21]:
You know, it's like, no. Calm down. So now, if I were in my first three years, I would be like, you're reading a lot, you're writing a lot, you're honing your voice, you're learning. Like, that's what you're doing with your first time. And then also with the writer's mission mission control center, so many people are like, I've been listing all of my submissions in a Word document, you know. And now they have to kind of, like, move their janky system over to the system, and you can just start fresh. And so, yes, send me all the blank slates. I can help you get started really strongly, and not do all the mistakes that I did when I was just starting out.

Dr. Christine Li [00:29:55]:
That sounds like a great promise. I love it. And Paulette has kindly offered a free first session Mhmm. To a very important meeting. And I'm going to create the link for us. It's maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/writingsession. Again, it's maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/writingsession. So could you give a sense to people who are interested what they will find once they go through that link?

Paulette Perhach [00:30:26]:
Yeah. So you'll just pick a date on the Calendly, and then you come in, and we all say hi for, like, the first five minutes. Then the leader, it's myself or one of the associate coaches who will lead a ten minute meditation, and then we all just write together for forty five minutes. And at the end, we kinda hang out and we say, you know, how was your writing? How was your writing? And, you know, it's so fun to see, you know, someone will be blocked. Like, I'm still having trouble. I'm still having trouble. And then, you know, one day they're like, today was the day I finally got it done. And we're all like, yay.

Paulette Perhach [00:30:57]:
You know, we're, like, feeling those celebrations with each other. And, you know, some people are like, today's the day I actually, you know, finished the novel. And it it's really cool. So it is like we're all on this road together, and that community really helped me see. You know, I think there's a lot of pressure on artists to be like, I need to be the best writer ever. Like, for me, I was like, what if I become a writer and I never win the Pulitzer prize? It will be humiliating. Right? And instead, you just see, you know, instead of being this, I need to be the most beautiful singular flower in a vase, you're like, I am just one flower in, like, a field of wild flowers. And, like, this is what we're doing.

Paulette Perhach [00:31:31]:
And I'm just in community of people who love the beauty of this artwork, and that in itself is such a joy and such a payoff.

Dr. Christine Li [00:31:41]:
I love it. I love it. Thank you for establishing this kind of community. I'm honored to interview you today. Grateful for your time and your essence and your motivation to do this, really. I I'm really impressed, and and

Paulette Perhach [00:31:55]:
Well, thank you for having me.

Dr. Christine Li [00:31:56]:
Thank you for being here, and thanks for sharing your light with us on the show today. Maybe leave us with a wish for our burgeoning writers and and Yes. Reward mid process.

Paulette Perhach [00:32:08]:
Yeah. So this is funny because I I sign all my emails may you something something. So I will say, may you free yourself from the illusion that writer is a label rather than writing is a joy you are invited to and no one can take away from you.

Dr. Christine Li [00:32:29]:
Beautiful. I love that. Thank you so much, Paulette. It's been a pleasure. Thank you everyone for listening to me and Paulette get to know each other. It's been amazing. Remember that link is maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/writingsession to connect more with Paulette, and we'll connect again next Thursday when the next episode drops. Thank you so much.

Dr. Christine Li [00:32:50]:
Bye. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Make Time for Success podcast. If you enjoyed what you heard, you can subscribe to make sure you get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also visit our website, maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com, for past episodes, show notes, and all the resources we mentioned on the show. Feel free to connect with me over on Instagram too. You can find me there under the name procrastination coach. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes you've been listening to. And let me know any topics that you might like me to talk about on the show.

Dr. Christine Li [00:33:29]:
I'd love to hear all about how you're making time for success. Talk to you soon.