Writer, creative life coach, mentor

I am a writer based in Norfolk, England. The mountains in this picture are the Gran Sasso in Abruzzo, Italy, where I also spend time. I look happy because I have just finished a challenging job, that I only managed thanks to coaching.I am a trained life coach who works with writers, or anyone trying to expand and grow their creative life.Coaching has been transformative for me and helped me find my own way in grown-up life, that I have often found baffling.I write a (free) substack on the writing process that gives me a lot of pleasure called Living Writing. Check it out.

Work with me

Coaching has changed my life. It is future-focussed and is all about how you can move forward when you feel stuck, in life or in a creative project. I love how it has empowered me to find solutions within myself, rather than being offered them. This is what I aspire to do in my sessions with clients.Coaching has transformed my attitude to money, and to writing in an incredibly efficient and rewarding way. This change has had positive repercussions in all areas of my life.I was inspired to train having experienced coaching and mentoring for my writing. I trained with Deb Barnard of the well-respected and ground-breaking Relational Dynamics, and with whom I have ongoing supervision and regular refresher workshops.Coaching
Many of us have creative dreams and desires, but for whatever reason find ourselves unable to realise them.I am here to help you unblock that and find a way towards fulfilling your creative wishes. In our coaching sessions, the emphasis is on supporting you in finding the answers within yourself. I provide a structure in which you can do this. I will listen to you and help you find the courage and motivation to move forward. You will leave our sessions empowered and with a clear plan.You can have a single session or leave it open ended. Session are one hour.To find out if you would like to work with me, I offer a free 30 minute call to answer any questions you may have. This is also a good opportunity to see whether we are a good fit for each other.Mentoring
I work with a writing mentor, thanks to whom I am finishing a book that I have been working on for several years, after two decades of trying and failing to write something.
Working with a writing mentor has helped me structure my writing life with deadlines and feedback.II'm a great believer that we need to share our work as soon as we feel able, with someone who holds us in unconditional positive regard. This allows us to see how it feels in the world; reflections and feedback encourage and galvanise.When mentoring I share my experience and use coaching techniques. I am available to work together over an extended period, moving forward alongside you, cheering you on.Sessions are one hour.Tarot
I've worked with tarot for over 15 years, primarily to help me navigate life rather than to tell the future, which I don't believe it can do even when I want it to. It is especially supportive for my creative practice, for identifying problems and blocks. If you've never tried it I recommend giving it a whirl. Sessions are an hour and 15 minutes.

About

I’ve had an eventful career that has led me from frontline journalism to frontline campaigning, and from deep immersion in another culture (Russia) to passionately defending the UK’s built heritage. I’ve been an advocate for heritage, whether it is buildings, or culture, throughout my career. I believe in the power of good communication, whether it is reporting or talking to unrepresented communities fearful about losing a building, or representing aspects of other cultures to new audiences.I have been Moscow Correspondent for The Times, I was co-founder of The Moscow Architecture Preservation Society in the 2000s, and Director of SAVE Britain's Heritage and Pushkin House. I have always written journalism.Now in my work as a writer I am doing the same thing - interrogating my own inner world about the circumstances in which I haven’t had children, and interviewing other women about it for a book I am writing about Childlessness. I like to challenge taboos and question the status quo. I believe in the healing power of writing our own stories and of the creative act.(photo- Isabel MacCarthy)

Testimonials

Coaching
'I felt free to talk about what I wanted, always free from judgment. I felt very “heard” and understood.' SC yoga teacher and woodworker.'Breaking down tasks into more manageable blocks is helpful – going step by step for blocks of work that otherwise seem impossible to get done.' HB Director of Charity.'I've learnt to trust myself and believe in myself more. It has been good for my self esteem. I’ve become a better listener to friends and family. Inspired no doubt by the coaching.' SB teacher and writer.Tarot Reading
'Clem is very intuitive; she brings wisdom and a lot of care into her work with people amd with the tarot. She is able to draw on her worlds of experience to interpret tarot symbolism, and weave mythic storytelling into a counselling framework. It helps that she is guided to exactly the right words to simply convey complex energies/ situations , this is a rare skill and allows a lot of breakthroughs and clarity to come through a tarot reading.'
MW poet, arts administrator.

Resources

Here are some of the things that I find helpful:Online writingThe London Writers Salon organise regular writing hours (a choice of three per day, starting with a slot at 8am UK time) when writers get together to write online for 50 minutes. The sessions are well structured. It is amazing how much more I get done when I am writing with other people.Another online writing platform, run by Gemma Seltzer (who also has a great newsletter), Write & Shine is a mixture of early online morning workshops on different themes often run by different writers and poets. There is also an online library of creative courses that you can access for a small monthly fee.BooksThe Artist’s Way When stuck I read the Basic Principles and the Affirmations before I start writing.Aimee McNee, otherwise known as Inspired to Write on Instagram, is a champion advocate of journaling and recent author of the galvanising - We Need Your Art.Write It All Down by Cathy Rentzenbrink is a book I often recommend as is Bird by Bird by Anne Lammot.Also helpful:
How to Write by Anthony Anaxagorou, and
I Didn’t Do the Thing Today by Madeleine Dore
Also, Into Being by Lily Dunn, who has an excellent Substack on memoir writing.

publications

PublicationsBetween 2007 and 2019 I co-edited, co-compiled, and contributed to five bilingual books about single cities in Russia and Georgia: Moscow (2007 and 2009), Samara (2009), St Petersburg (2012) and Tbilisi, Georgia (2019). These were ambitious, collaborative and far-sighted publications that led to changes in the law and to thousands of people re-evaluating these cities. I am particularly proud of these books that we self-published with the organisation I co-founded The Moscow Architecture Preservation Society (2004-14) and SAVE Europe's Heritage.The picture shows the euphoria of receiving our first self-published book highlighting threats to the architecture of Moscow (I know, I know, it was a different time) with fellow contributors Kevin O'Flynn and Sergei Ageev in 2007.I am also a contributor to the following publications: Understanding Heritage and Memory (2010), Soviet Signs and Street Relics (Fuel Books 2020, introduction), Re-Centring the City (2020), and The Lockdown Lowdown - Women and Covid, a Gendered Pandemic (2021). Author of the unpublished - A History of Sytin House, Moscow 1802-2002 (publication currently suspended following the whole scale invasion of Ukraine.)Throughout my work running campaign organisations - the Moscow Architecture Preservation Society and then SAVE Britain's Heritage, I kept writing journalism, for publications including: Open Democracy, The Times, The Telegraph, The World of Interiors, Rights in Russia, The TLS, Blueprint, Country Life, and many others.