ONE-TO-ONE creative COACHING and mentoring
For writers and artists who want to keep exploring, learning and growing
Welcome to the Quiet Coach
Travelling at the gentle pace of the written word, I offer a space for deep reflection and supportive feedback on your creative work-in-progress.
If you need some structure, accountability and feedback to help you gain clarity on your creative work-in-progress, get in touch. I’d love to be your creative penpal!
I have 30+ years of experience as a visual artist. I’m a published writer, an educator and an academic. I’ve taught in art schools and universities for more than 20 years at undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level.
Over that time it has been my privilege to work with literally hundreds of artists and writers. Many of them have gone on to build artistic careers that certainly eclipse my own. It gives me great joy to see their creative lives flourish.
Does your creative mind feel like it’s trapped inside a noisy, crowded train carriage?
Do you want to change direction and explore new areas but feel uncertain what line to take?
Are you feeling rushed, under pressure to ‘arrive’ and not enjoying the journey itself any more?
Have you been struggling alone with a big creative project like a memoir and feel like you’ve got lost?
You’re not alone…
IT’S HARD TO HOLD SPACE FOR CREATIVE THOUGHT IN A NOISY, BUSY WORLD
The society we live in often doesn’t seem to value to work we do as artists and writers. It’s ill-paid, not taken seriously, considered a hobby.
You know it’s not a hobby.
It’s VITAL.
But it’s slow work.
To create something new takes deep reflection and careful thought.
It takes persistence, patience and perseverance.
All of this goes against the grain of our extrovert, 24-7, busywork, full-volume culture.
This can mean:
- You rush from one project to the next. It’s become like a hamster wheel. You need time to reflect, evaluate and try new things.
- You struggle to carve out time for your creative project. It can feel self-indulgent to even want to.
- You feel a lack of clarity and focus. You need time to think and a sounding board to test new ideas with.
- You’ve been working on your own for a while now. You need someone to challenge and stretch you creatively.
- You’ve lost momentum somehow and need accountability and structure to keep going.
- But you know that taking time to reflect, create and hone your skills is the key to living a life of inner richness, clarity and calm, and that helps you show up as a positive presence in the world.
If this is you, I’d love to help.
Because creative work needs comradeship, not competition.
It was fantastic to have the full attention of someone who was able to pull together such a detailed, holistic overview and give such good advice.
It’s given me lots to think about and I’ve found it has functioned like a call to action. It’s been transformative, and I don’t say that lightly.
The method of writing to and fro has been amazing. Having someone walking alongside you and encouraging you has been brilliant.
I’ve finally found someone with an acute eye and intense ear. Someone who “talks back” clearly and directly…So this is all to say BIG THANKS.
Building in that precious time on a weekly basis to pause and review my progress, with a 1-1 emailed critique in return, has been the stuff of dreams. It really is the best way to grow and evolve. What has also been incredibly invaluable is hearing how you interpret my work, how it comes across to you. Learning more about my work in this way leads me to make further discoveries, enabling my practice to evolve even more.
With your gentle critique, I have gained valuable insights into my changing practice as the structured weekly reflections reveal an emerging slow and thoughtful way of working.
THE quiet coach 6 month ‘Travel pass’
If you have a creative project that you could use a fresh set of eyes on, if you need some supported time to reflect on your practice, or want someone to challenge and stretch you creatively, I’d love to work with you.
If you’re an artist who wants to write, or you want to explore how to combine words and image in your practice, I’d love to help you with that.
This period of supported reflection can help you through the ‘messy middle’ of a specific creative project or to step back and reflect on your wider goals and motivations.
During our time together, every four weeks you can send up to 25 images or 7000 words (creative, reflective or a mix of these) for detailed review and written feedback.
When you work with me you’ll receive:
- A ‘Setting Off’ reflective questionnaire to help you set clear goals for our time together and to help me understand your aims
- Each month you’ll receive detailed, personalised feedback and supportive critique on your work to help you identify next steps.
- Weekly ‘accountability’ email support to help keep you moving confidently towards achieving your goals
- An ‘Onward Connections’ questionnaire to reflect and plan forwards
- Option to continue with coaching for a further six months at a discounted rate.
Why use THE WRITTen word?
To be honest, I think we are all a bit ‘over’ Zoom now. It’s tiring!
Creative coaching through written correspondence offers a slower, more reflective pace.
It’s like taking your seat in the quiet coach, turning off your phone, setting your notebook on the table in front of you to gather your thoughts while the landscape glides by.
There’s time and peace on this written journey to think, plan and create.
It’s completely flexible and doesn’t need you to be ‘on form’ just at the time when you have a Zoom meeting booked. The act of writing in itself is clarifying. You can work at the times that suit you best – early morning, late at night, in quick bursts whenever you can manage. It also creates a written record of our correspondence that you can keep and refer back to whenever you need to.
My responses are tailor-made, just for you. In my creative coaching can draw on decades of experience in my own practice and my years of teaching. I can offer you links and further reading suggestions that I think will stimulate and inspire you. I will also give you detailed feedback on your own work, offer a structure to keep you going, and keep you accountable so you can achieve your creative goals.
If you’re an introvert like me, if you’re feeling self-conscious and under-confident about some new work, if your health or energy levels are unpredictable, or if you have busy, unpredictable schedule, written correspondence offers the perfect format for coaching.
“I contacted Sam for coaching because I had reached an impasse with a book I’ve been working on for a while. The feedback I received has surpassed anything I’d imagined coaching could offer. Her reading of the work showed a deep perceptiveness, as well as invaluable knowledge and understanding of the written word and its potential. Sam’s insightful comments and suggestions offered me the solutions and inspiration I needed to proceed, and much more. If you are looking for someone who can offer guidance and inspiration, you won’t find anyone better than Sam. I consider myself very fortunate to have found her.”
“If you are a visual artist or writer and need first rate creative coaching look no further than Sam. She has the depth of experience, and the skill to support and stimulate your creativity; she can help you reflect constructively on your work, develop an existing project or consider a fresh start. Sam is a scholar within her areas of expertise, and in parallel her practical on-point advice is valuable and thought-provoking for those she works with.”
“Working with Sam over the last few months has been one of the best investments I have made in my art practice. I’ve enjoyed the slower pace of e-mail correspondence and it’s enabled a rich and detailed conversation between us. The advice, prompts and resources in Sam’s emails are becoming a valuable record for me to refer to.
Sam is perceptive, knowledgeable, supportive and encouraging and I appreciate her gentle sense of humour and her care. I value the safe, non judgemental space that she creates for me to unravel and resolve issues about my art and over the months that we’ve been working together I’ve begun to develop a clearer understanding of my art practice and of myself as an artist.”
“It’s been an absolute joy to work with Sam! Her thoughtful feedback and support has given me so much confidence and actionable ideas to help propel my project forward. I highly recommend.“
Find out more
If you’re stuck in the ‘messy middle’ of a creative project or a creative career, and need space to think I can help you plan your next steps. Write to me. I’ll get back to you with more details and we can discuss how I can best support you.