Nudge your ego out of the way to create
Out of suffering comes hope
If you or a loved one have ever been faced with a serious health issue, mental or physical, you’ll know that it has the most amazing side-effect. It cuts through the cr*p and focuses your mind, heart and soul on what and who matters. Everything else kinda falls away. It becomes noise.
Hopefully this will never happen to you, but I’d like to share my learning from multiple health challenges. After the immediate aftermath, I often experience a sharp lazer beam FOCUS to do the things that matter.
The birth of Collab Writers
Rewind a few years, and I suffered such a setback, a head injury. I fell and bashed my head on a stone floor. When I came round, my first focus was on the need for Anjali and I to set up Collab Writers. I felt like I had been given a second chance.
The idea had first come as a vision the week before the accident so it was fresh in my mind. But I attribute that accident to being the serendipitous bitter sweet near catastrophe out of which something very special was born. Collab Writers had to be created without delay. And so it began.
Projects with meaning
Blue Peter style, Anjali and I already had proof of concept for Collab Writers. We had already connected – collaborated – created on a first draft of our collaborative work of fiction, Consequences.
As we live in a society where perpetrators are often cast as men and victims as female, Consequences’ social message was to challenge that bias. And, as an homage to a future world without any crime, it is very much tongue and cheek in the style of the old crime noirs. Once published, we plan to give a percentage of future sales to charity to help victims of violent crime.
Easing Dis Ease Project
In addition to our fiction collaboration, Collab Writers has launched it’s first non-fiction project, Easing Dis Ease to tell stories of the dis ease of life and how people have reframed and channelled it positively to make a difference in their lives and the lives of others.
These are the sorts of stories that we hope will help people deal with challenges that they or loved ones face. The focus will be on reframing suffering and instilling the message that out of suffering comes hope.
What matters to you?
As you bed further into January, take a moment to question whether that amazing project you are obsessed with is feeding your ego or making our world a better place. We aren’t saying don’t make films or write stories for the fun of it. We need some fun after all!
What we are saying is make at least one of your projects a project that helps others or gives something back. It could be giving a percentage to charity, a screening for charity or a free screening to those who can’t afford the price of a cinema ticket. These are just some ways to give back. There are countless others.
What are you here to create?
Asking yourself what matters, naturally leads onto the next questions to ask yourself. Prepare for some existentialism….
Why am I here?
What am I here to create?
What legacy or body of creation do I want to leave behind?
We are living in a world, a society where what we do matters. It has always mattered but it’s time for each and everyone of us to become conscious of this and to live our lives as a force for good. Do we need more meaningful and hopeful stories to be told?
Focus to start & finish
Focus is key to starting and finishing projects.
I am quick to get distracted by the next best idea, sometimes without finishing the one I am working on. Case in point is Consequences. Whilst Anjali has diligently worked with our editor, I have been working on the script and kicking off new projects like ‘Easing Disease’.
It’s important to make and begin future plans but it’s equally important to finish what you’ve started. That’s why we make a good team. When you collaborate, it is incredible how much more productive you can be. Try it!
Collab Writers 