What's your alchemy?
Finding and sharing your gold...
On Saturday, I went to a small town near where I live to pick up some cacao. I’d ordered it from a guy called Alejandro who has a new little café in the town and is a coffee specialist who also has a sustainable cacao source. When I arrived, he said he hadn’t yet had a chance to grind the cacao and made me a Chai to enjoy while I waited.
We chatted about the cacao, where it was from and about his passion for coffee. I’d met him before and he’d spoken with so much energy about how much he wanted to really help people connect back to the source with coffee and to really respect and value the process.
His café isn’t one of these fancy laboratories you’d find in Mexico City, London or Berlin (with a list of coffee options you’ve never heard of and brewing equipment placed on shelves at cool, Instagramable angels). However, more alchemy happened in Alejandro’s cafe in the couple of hours I was there than any of those fancy spots.
Because the coffee is the priority, and because he’s just starting out, people simply rock up and pull up a chair. There is one table outside, but inside it’s just chairs and stools to use to pop your cup or plate on. Sitting so close together, meant that we all started chatting. The conversations moved all over the place, from coffee, to our life’s purpose, to writing, to spirituality. Meanwhile coffees were made on a two-hob stove top and freshly made cacao cookies left crumbs for the local dogs to wander by and hoover up. We were all energised by it. At one point one of the customers turned to Alejandro and said, “you’re an alchemist- look what you create”, Alejandro laughed, but shrugged it off like it was nothing.
More and more when I see people really focussed on what they are passionate about, I notice the alchemy that arises around them. When they live in that they offer it out without even trying.
Alejandro was focused on making great coffee, not on fancy décor and matching cups, and the people were drawn in by that passion. You could feel it. And the lack of fancy décor and matching cups and tables to separate us meant we could all interact, as humans should.
I was thinking about this with writing. We all have our own alchemy. It’s so easy to get caught in the fancy cups and décor of writing (what the market wants, how our writing should be published, what classes you as successful writer or not), but when we just tune into our personal alchemy, that is where the magic happens. That’s where people get drawn to your art because they are offered something by it, that is where they are drawn to pull up a chair and be surprised by the alchemy that you create without trying so hard.
What alchemy will you create this week with your words? ✨✨✨
Writing this newsletter is an act of love and joy. I am committed to delving into the beautiful, the messy and the sublime that is this act of creating through words. Ultimately, my goal is to remind you that you are Write As You Are.
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Recommendations
A few things I’ve enjoyed recently…
Interview: This interview with Rachel Cusk was quite fascinating. She spoke a lot about wondering if she had ‘deformed’ her writing process because she’s a mother and had to fit writing in around other people.
Publishing: This piece My First Novel Was A New York Times Bestseller. I’m Self-Publishing my Third Novel Today, was a really interesting look at the industry, both depressing and hopeful, depending on how you look at it and how you are feeling on any given day probably.
Craft: I really enjoy Tommy Dean’s newsletters and I’ve been lucky enough to be in workshops with him and always come out so inspired and excited to write. His latest missive about Observing Main Characters sparked lots of interesting ideas for me.
Podcast: A new conversation between Elizabeth Gilbert and Tim Ferriss dropped last week. It’s rich, nourishing and thoughtful as always.
Mentoring
Would you love some support alchemising your writing? I’d be so delighted to help. I work with novelists, short story writers, memoirists, journalists and the occasional screenwriter. Sometimes it’s about accountability, sometimes increasing confidence, other times it’s about honing the craft. Whatever you feel you need right now, I’d love to support you move towards alchemising your dreams.
Thanks for being here 💜
Oooooh I needed this. I have put off writing my substack this week wondering if the topic is "exciting" enough for readers. But actually, it's just a nice story I really like, that I know I will enjoy the process of writing, and that is why I write my substack. Thank you, friend!
such a potent reminder to ask who do you want to BE, rather than what do you do because when you feel that magical spark in your offerings, the glow radiates and becomes a gift to yourself ~