What’s Coming Next on Wishful Thinking

Having taken a few steps into the New Year and received some great suggestions about what you’d like me to write about in 2008, I’ll pause for a moment to give you an update on some old projects and what to expect over the next few weeks.

New tagline: ‘inspiring creative professionals’

If you look at the header at the top of the page, you’ll see I’ve changed the tagline from ‘coaching creative professionals’ to ‘inspiring creative professionals’. This was partly (ahem) inspired by the beautiful folders in the photo above, which were a present from a friend in Japan. Apart from the fact that my research project revealed that some people in the creative industries are virtually allergic to the word ‘coaching’, these days coaching is only part of what I do – albeit a very important part. As well as coaching, my work now involves blogging, training, presenting and writing e-books – all of which are designed to inspire creative professionals.

And as a poet, I couldn’t resist the double-entendre of ‘inspiring creative professionals’ as ‘creative professionals who are inspiring’. That would be you, by the way.

So I’ve decided ‘inspiring creative professionals’ is much more it.

Blog series and e-book: Introduction to Business Coaching

Oh dear, I let this one slip, didn’t I? Sorry. The great thing about last year was that business was busy and I got back to working with new and exciting clients after the hiatus caused by doing an MA. But I must admit I struggled to keep the blog going at times, as I was writing lots of new course material – and this series was one of the casualties. The good news is that, now that I’ve written the courses that are the core of my training offering, I should have more time for the blog in 2008.

So I’ll be posting the rest of the Introduction to Business Coaching series this week and next, then releasing it as a free e-book under a Creative Commons licence.

A new series for creative professionals

The ‘Intro to Business Coaching’ series is aimed more at managers and leaders of creative teams, so to balance things out I’m going to do a series aimed at creatives and artists.

I’m keeping it under wraps for now, but if you liked the series and e-book on Time Management for Creative People then hopefully you’ll like this one. It’s on a different topic, but one just as relevant to your creative and career development.

Photo by mysza831

Research Project – ‘Coaching in the Creative Industries’

My coaching research project was another casualty of last year’s work rush and a few of you have asked what happened to it. The research was my dissertation for the MA in Creative & Media Enterprises at the University of Warwick. I’m pleased to say the examiners saw fit to award me the MA with distinction, so I’m now entitled to use those letters after my name.

I received some really useful feedback from the examiners on the research paper, which I’m incorporating into an expanded version for publication on this blog. Before I can publish it, I’ve promised to show it to all the interviewees so that they can check I have represented their views accurately, which will add some extra time to the publication schedule.

So look out for the research report on Wishful Thinking later this year. You guessed it – it will be Creative Commons licensed for free distribution. There should also be another interview podcast before that, and a series of blog posts, for those of you who may not have the time to digest a 100-page academic report.

Book Reviews

I’m constantly recommending books to clients, and the Books + Links pages on Creativity and Creative Careers are among the most popular on Wishful Thinking, so I’ll be expanding the Books + Links section. I also want to write some longer book reviews on the main blog. I’ve been reading some great books recently and am looking forward to enthusing about them to you.

Lashings of Creativity…

Apart from all that I’ve got plenty still to say about the creative process, and will be offering more tips and principles for making your creative work easier and more enjoyable.

As I said at the start of January, if there are any creativity-related issues you’d like me to address, drop me an e-mail and I’ll see what I can do.

Well, there it is. I hope you’re looking forward to it as much as I am.

Photo by diongillard