As Christmas creeps ever closer and I continue making plans for 2025, here is my round-up for November as a coach, writer and human being. 😊
Open Mics and webinars.
I have yet to fully explore and understand what Linktree has to offer, but as this week has been busier than usual, I am sharing mine here to promote two events I am involved with over the next two weeks.
The first is our second Open Mic event at Afrori Books, Brighton, on Sunday, December 8th. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to postpone it, so thank you to those writers who could pivot alongside us and those who couldn’t; we’ll see you in 2025 😊.
The second is a lunchtime webinar, Creating Safe Spaces—Enhancing Psychological Safety with Coaching, chaired by @JennyGarrett. I’ll be part of a panel of six @DECD coaches on Thursday, December 12th, at 12:30 to discuss what Psychological Safety means and the difference coaching can make to leaders who wish to create and maintain it.
These two very different events will engage me in very different ways. However, as cohosts on December 8th, Oliviyah Bain and I will be working hard to create a space where people feel safe enough to share their writing.
It’s funny how these things can overlap.
Your voice is an instrument.
Whether you sing or not, your voice is still an instrument. A friend shared this with me a few years ago, and I probably didn’t fully appreciate what she meant then.
But today, something has shifted regarding how I feel about my voice. This is partly due to reading one of my stories at the Emerging Authors Showcase in June and receiving coaching from Akila Richards, a writer, poet, and creative practitioner. Something about that whole experience has helped me fully embrace my voice.
It’s the only voice I have. So why not use it and learn to appreciate what it can do? Why not listen to it as a musical instrument? Practice and play with it; accept the tics, inconsistencies, and fumbles over certain words and phrases while I finally make headway with recording my podcast. Practising and listening to my recordings with grace has been a significant step forward.
And, in case you are wondering, the photo is from a recent event at Jubilee Library, where I had another opportunity to share my story, Knife on a Bus, as part of Black History Month. Thank you, Amy Zamarripa Solis, from @Writingourlegacy, for putting this fantastic event together and @MbekeWaseme for the picture.
Your voice is an instrument, so why not learn to play, accept, and love it?
Music that calms my brain
Increasingly, I am finding that certain music seems to calm my brain and enable me to concentrate on writing, recording and any other development work that requires intense focus.
It started with Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro but has since expanded to include Sona Joberteh, Eneida Marta and most recently, Handel’s Messiah. It seems my brain likes to mix things up 😉.
Sona Joberteh is a singer and composer who plays multiple instruments. According to her Wikipedia page, she is also the first female professional kora (a stringed instrument used extensively in West Africa) player from a griot (West African oral storytelling tradition). The melodic combination of her voice and the kora does it for me; somehow, it just lifts me. Thank you, @Jayne Saul Paterson, for your original suggestion, as Sona is now a firm favourite.
Eneida Marta is a singer from Guinea-Bissau, a country on the West coast of Africa, who sings in Portuguese and Guinea-Bissau Creole. There is something magical about Eneida’s voice that either calms and soothes or uplifts and energises, depending on the song. If you are inclined to listen to music as you work, I’d encourage you to tune in and see what you think.
I enjoy having the choice of these disparate artists, and it seems to make more of a difference when I listen through my headset. I’m unclear why that should be, but that is what I am noticing.
So, what part does music play in your working life?
Do you need a block of wood?
‘There are a million things one might do with a block of wood. But what do you think might happen if someone, just once, believed in it?’
– Suzanne Weyn, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
Still, one of my favourite films as I reflect on the lives of two women who are no longer with us. Both left far too early, but whose passing I mark during October and November. K was a larger-than-life character and lived her life to the fullest; wherever she is now, she will be having a fabulous time. Then there is L, who created my wedding bouquet over twenty years ago, and now I imagine her arranging flowers in the sky.
Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium might seem over-sentimental to some, but I have always loved it for the simple and elegant way it deals with someone dying, and if you want to read about my other reasons – you can do so here:
Here’s to you, K and L.
What are your thoughts on AI?
I think it is fair to say mine are still mixed.
Don’t get me wrong—I do use ChatGPT on occasion. I have dipped a toe but remain wary of going all in, and I’m not entirely sure why. Today, I am not as fired up about it as I thought I might be.
Even though I completed the CDI’s (Career Development Institute) AI for Career Practitioners a few months ago, I saw this as an opportunity to explore the world of AI and increase my knowledge and practical skills.
Then, still feeling out of sorts, I wrote a blog post titled “Mastering Leadership with AI: The Future of Executive Coaching.” It is a long read, but it helped me clarify my thoughts and concerns about the use of generative AI, and I’d be interested in your views.
I even managed to rreferenced’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen.
So, if and when you have time, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Until next time
