#MondayMuse How a Writing Tutor Can Help #MondayBlogs

Inspirational people surround us at every turn.  To celebrate some of the incredible women who continue to motivate me on my writing journey I have decided to post a Monday Muse – a weekly look at the women who are my artistic inspiration.

Last time I honoured my favourite NYT best selling author, Sarah J.Maas.  You can read that post HERE.  Today I’m staying closer to home and paying tribute to the UK writing tutor and author who helped shape my writing.

Sue Johnson is a Writing Magazine Creative Writing Tutor and also runs her own brand of writing classes at www.writers-toolkit.co.uk. I was assigned to Sue when I started a course through the Writing Magazine many years ago. As a new writer, I lacked direction and confidence, and it was Sue’s task to aid me in my quest to find my voice.

I never physically met with Sue; all my assignments were emailed back and forth, however, that didn’t stop her from being incredibly supportive and enthusiastic about my writing. She was able to ignite a spark of self-belief that I thought was non-existent.

At the time, I was creating a work of non-fiction and probably tried too hard to be like all the successful self-help authors that make up a large portion of the genre. It was through our emailed discussions that Sue prompted me to write from the heart and consider ‘talking’ to my readers as I would with my holistic health clients. That made perfect sense to me as I ran a holistic health spa for women and spent every day offering advice and support. That single piece of guidance was the boost I needed and before long my ‘voice’ came through. The one piece of feedback I receive the most about my self-help books is this; ‘It’s like chatting with a friend’.

Sue’s writing books have also been a huge influence on me. My favourite is Surfing the Rainbow: Visualisation and Chakra Balancing for Writers. It had everything I needed as both a writer and Reiki master. I worked with energy and the chakras on a daily basis and so her way of connecting the two helped me enormously.

Here’s the blurb:

‘Surfing the Rainbow’ is for anyone who has tried and failed to create the novel of their dreams. If you have been held back by negative messages from the past, or feel your imagination has gone away, then the exercises in this book will help to guide you back to the path of creativity and exploration. Colour code your writing – follow the rainbow until you find the gold.

I’ll always have fond memories of working with Sue, and the motivation she gave me on my writing journey.  If you are looking for a similar boost, then take a look at her books or writing classes, or sign up for one of the Writing Magazine creative courses.

Was there a tutor or mentor who influenced your writing?  Or is there an author who inspires you when you read their books?