This post comes from a webinar we hosted with Heather Vickery. You can watch the full replay below.
From Resistance to Resonance: How Authors Can Unblock Creativity, Rewrite Fear, and Take Aligned Action
Creative resistance doesn’t mean you’re lazy or undisciplined. According to transformation coach, author, and retreat host Heather Vickery, resistance is information. When writers learn to read that information—physically, emotionally, and energetically—they can move from stuck and second-guessing to resonant, repeatable creative flow.
Why Resistance Shows Up for Writers
Publishing asks you to be seen. That’s inherently vulnerable, which is why your nervous system often throws up subconscious protection: “What if it isn’t good enough?” “It’s all been said.” “I don’t have time.” Vickery reframes resistance as a compass: locate it in your body, listen to the message, then choose one small, intentional next step.
Mindset Isn’t Enough—Pair It with Action
Mindset matters, but if mindset alone worked, you’d already be done with your draft. Pair belief with behavior:
Language hygiene: replace self-shaming (“I procrastinate”) with aligned truth (“I do my best work near deadlines”) and then schedule accordingly.
Micro-moves: big results are built from small, consistent actions.
Work With Your Design, Not Against It
Human Design gives authors a practical way to structure their energy and output:
Generators & Manifesting Generators: respond to what lights you up; protect your “full-body yes.”
Projectors: lead and guide, but rest before you’re depleted; wait for invitations/recognition.
Manifestors: initiate and inform; share your moves so others can align.
Reflectors: take time, mirror the environment, and choose supportive spaces.
Design-aligned workflows help you write, edit, and market sustainably.
The BRAVE Method: The 3 Rs for Creative Momentum
Vickery’s approach centers on:
Reassessment – Awareness first. What’s true now? What did you learn?
Reframing – Give your story new meaning. Failure becomes feedback.
Resilience – Try again differently; iterate with compassion.
Clear the Blocks with Your Body
Subconscious patterns live in the body, so use body-based tools:
EFT Tapping calms anxiety in real time and rewires unhelpful loops (like “I can’t charge for this”).
Somatic practices—breathwork, shaking, gentle movement—downshift an overloaded nervous system so you can create from safety.
Radical Responsibility (Without Self-Blame)
You can’t control markets or algorithms, but you can control your response. Radical responsibility asks: Given this, who do I want to be and what will I do next? Draw a line from intention to action daily.
Give Yourself Permission (And Post It)
Stop waiting for external validation. Write a simple “permission script,” list your resources (mentors, communities, practices), and keep it visible. Celebrate every micro-milestone—outline, messy draft, edits, upload, first reader email. That’s how resonance is built.
Quick Start: A 10-Minute “From Resistance to Resonance” Reset
Name the block in one sentence.
Body check: where do you feel it? Breathe there for 60 seconds.
EFT round: one cycle acknowledging the fear, one cycle affirming safety and capability.
Choose one micro-action you can finish today (150 words, one pitch email, one page of edits).
Celebrate the completion to reinforce the pattern.
From Resistance to Resonance: Unblocking Your Creative Voice at the Root
This workshop is designed for women authors who feel stuck—whether it’s writer’s block, self-doubt, or the fear of being fully seen. Using a blend of Human Design and NLP, we’ll uncover the root of their resistance and shift into creative alignment. Experience includes pulling and interpreting their free Human Design chart (link provided in advance), nervous system regulation techniques like EFT tapping, and NLP anchoring to create empowered writing states they can return to again and again.
Understand Your Human Design Chart: Discover how your energy type influences your creative process (Get your FREE Human Design Chart here and bring it with you for the session)
Identify Root Resistance: Recognize the subconscious stories and blocks keeping your creative voice stuck.
Calm Your Nervous System: Learn and practice EFT tapping to dissolve fear and self-doubt.
Shift Into Creative Flow: Shift with the BRAVE Method, Heather’s unique coaching method to problem solve, dream, design, and build a life you love.
See the Bigger Path: Explore how immersive, soul-centered experiences create lasting resonance and clarity.
Of all the things we have to accomplish as writers, it’s not a fun thing to add “overcome burnout” to your to-do list. Authors who pursue writing a long-running series sometimes forget how difficult it can be to overcome challenges from book to book for years on end. Some parts of writing are joyful, wonderful, and personally fulfilling. Unfortunately, other parts are not so much fun. For example, many writers dislike self-promotion and struggle to keep a central running theme over numerous titles.
Some of the reasons for series burnout include:
Not having enough time to promote the series.
Having other ideas you’d rather work on.
Running out of story tropes for the next book in the series.
Feeling bored with the project.
Most creatives have more ideas than they could ever complete. Sticking with one project for the long haul is a push and pull between the business side of the author and the artist that lives within. Fortunately, there are numerous solutions if you’re feeling blocked.
Tips to Help Authors Overcome Burnout
Entire books have been written on writer’s block, creative discouragement, and procrastination. However, each writer has unique life experiences and personality traits. Finding the technique that works to cure your block may require trying several methods before you find the one that suits you and helps you best overcome burnout.
1. Read Excellent Tips
New books hit the market all the time, and you can try some of those for new techniques. However, there are a few steadfast favorites:
“The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron discusses ways to refill your creative well if you’re feeling blocked.
“Do It! Let’s Get Off Our Butts” by Peter McWilliams helps readers develop excellent ongoing habits.
Pay attention to the person offering advice. If the author sold a book one year ago, they may not have the best handle on what’s required for a lengthy and successful career. Never limit yourself to only writing advice, as you can gain much from business leaders, too.
2. Remember Why You Started
What captivated you in the first place? Some authors want to explore a certain theme. Others imagine a character whose story must be told. You may find new inspiration to help you overcome burnout when you remember your “why.”
Meera Sodha was a recipe writer, cranking out new recipes as fast as she could until she no longer could. She hit a period of heavy burnout. For her, returning to basics, remembering her love of food, and sharing it with others brought her back to the thing she loved.
When you remember why you fell in love with your series in the first place, you may find new ideas start to flow.
3. Change Daily Writing Routines
It’s easy to get into a rut, especially when writing about the same characters and world. Artists require changes in routine. If you get up at 6 a.m. every day, have a cup of coffee and work until 3 p.m., your brain may revolt after a while.
You have a few options. If you only have specific hours to write, you can change your routine. Drive to the local library or a coffee spot for a change of environment, or take a break to visit a local museum to fill the creative well. If you can change your writing hours, try writing in the evening a few days a week.
4. Talk It Out With a Friend
If you don’t have a writing friend you can trust, you can find one online through a writer’s group. You need someone to bounce ideas off or talk to about your frustrations. A good friend will offer advice and ideas for what helped them or at least commiserate over the aggravations of a long-running series.
A skilled fellow writer will brainstorm ideas to get your creative juices flowing and will let you bounce new ones off them. It is even better if the person has been with you throughout your series and knows your vision. They can redirect you when you stray away from the purpose of your long-running project.
5. Automate Grunt Work
As an artist, you’re likely well aware of how artificial intelligence (AI) has infiltrated nearly all aspects of business and many aspects of art. While there are certainly valid criticisms to be made regarding AI use in creative work, one notable benefit of AI programs is the amount of routine tasks that they can make more efficient in your day-to-day. Professionals in some industries see up to 50% efficiency increases when implementing AI tools, which could mean less time spent on monotonous work and more time doing the things you actually enjoy.
While most authors — and readers — have strong moral objections to using AI in the actual process of writing creative work, you can still utilize the technology without straying from your principles. For example:
Automate your social media posts.
Use AI analytics to research trends in your niche and track what your readers enjoy the most for story tropes.
Let an AI-based database track income and expenses and predict future revenue.
Perform initial grammar and clarity edits with an AI-powered writing tool.
Get instant information using AI search engines when writing on especially niche subjects.
If there is any work on the business side you loathe, AI may be the solution. Using it will free up your time to be more creative and tap into the power behind your series.
6. Work on Other Stuff
Sometimes, you need a break from writing. Repeatedly living inside a world for months can become monotonous — even if you love it there. As one of the 151,200 authors and writers in the United States, your brand image is crucial. What if you took a week to improve your website, develop a better tagline or recreate your logo?
You might also work on a side project. You could tell the backstory of one of your minor characters and send it to your mailing list as an insider bonus. Or, write something completely different from your series, such as a poem or short story in a different genre.
7. Shake Up Your Series Roadmap
Some find taking the time to plot can clear up burnout quickly. Do you have an idea of how your series might end? What if you completely shook things up and made it different? Remember how upset some fans were over the ending of the long-running television series “Lost?” Others were saying, “I knew it all along.”
Whether the writers planned to end it that way all along or it was a shift, it was brilliant because people still talk about it even though the series ended in May of 2010.
When you find yourself stuck on where to head next, you may want to go back to basics and use one of the plotting devices available. Save the Cat is a beat sheet that helps you cover major conflicts and points in a story. You can also follow Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey.” Your genre may determine which device is best for you.
Replot your roadmap, starting wherever you left off. You don’t have to use it if you dislike the change, but you might just come up with something that drives you to passionately pursue the next few books.
Find Your Burn
When you feel burnt out, you must try various techniques until your ideas are on fire again and you feel a new enthusiasm for your project. Once you do, write like crazy.
Whenever possible, end your writing day in the middle of an exciting scene. You’ll be anxious to get back and push your characters through the situation. You should start a new tense or gripping moment and end the writing session before you finish the scene. The push and flow of storytelling isn’t always a straight path. Keep trying, and you’ll overcome any blocks throughout your long-running series.
Eleanor Hecks is a writer with a particular interest in helping other writers publish and market their work. You can find her serving as Editor-in-Chief of Designerly Magazine or keep up with her work on LinkedIn.
Join Alexa Bigwarfe as she celebrates the 10-year anniversary of Write Publish Sell with guests Raewyn Sangari and Cayce LaCorte, as they unveil their exciting plans for the future of the Women in Publishing Summit, diving into the challenges and triumphs of Alexa’s journey, and the power of helping authors and publishers succeed.
One of the core values of the Women in Publishing Summit is the importance of inclusivity and representation in the publishing industry. We need to incorporate diverse voices and marginalized narratives, showcasing a wide array of experiences and perspectives. It is so important to us that we are facilitating such inclusion and advocating for underrepresented voices in the publishing domain.
Memorable Moments:
00:08:43 – Evolution of Kat Biggie Press Alexa discusses the evolution of Kat Biggie Press from operating as a vanity press to a hybrid press, where they kept authors under their umbrella but allowed them to retain their royalties. She also highlights the need for ongoing support for authors after their books are published, leading to the expansion of services offered by Kat Biggie Press.
00:15:25 – Favorite Projects All three reflect on their favorite projects, including memoirs, children’s books, and novels. They mention books that have had a profound impact, such as “Navigating the Unknown” and “Surviving the Unimaginable.”
00:18:05 – Working on Different Genres Alexa and her team talk about their experiences working on different genres, including entrepreneurship books, YA books, thrillers, and paranormal romance. They discuss the challenges of marketing novels and the joy of bringing different stories to life.
00:21:07 – The Healing Power of Writing Writing can impact mental health and help individuals process their emotions. Alexa announces the upcoming release of a grief journal for grieving mothers and expresses her excitement about its potential impact.
00:29:19 – The Birth of the Women in Publishing Summit Alexa shares her journey of starting the Women in Publishing Summit after attending a conference with no women speakers. The support from male colleagues and the timing of the MeToo movement fueled the creation of the summit, focusing on creating a supportive environment for women in the publishing industry.
00:31:30 – The Importance of Mindset and Networking The summit goes beyond just writing and publishing, emphasizing the importance of mindset and networking for women in the industry. Discussions focus on the unique challenges faced by women in writing, publishing, and selling books, creating a supportive and empowering community.
00:46:24 – Future Plans and Training Programs Alexa shares her vision for the future, including more conferences, events, and webinars. They plan to create training programs for assistants working with authors to ensure a baseline understanding of the publishing industry.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed and stuck in your book writing and publishing journey, despite your countless hours of research and effort, then you are not alone! Many aspiring authors find themselves spinning their wheels, unsure of the next step to take or making little progress towards their goal.
Transformational nonfiction writers and entrepreneurs who want to write a book to grow their business, leave an impact on the world, or help people get through a situation in their life may often struggle to make the time to get the book done. Lanette Pottle & Alexa Bigwarfe discuss the importance of accountability and community to get the book done!
Writing a book is a roller coaster ride, but with the right guidance and mentorship, you can shorten your timeline and overcome overwhelm. – Lanette Pottle
In this episode, we discuss:
The importance of expert guidance through mentorship and coaching in your book writing and publishing process.
The significance of community solidarity, offering you the support necessary in your writing journey.
The role your mindset plays in surmounting challenges and staying committed to your book-writing objective.
Writer Friends, Mentorship and Coaching
Mentorship and coaching play a significant role in the journey of writing and publishing a book. A knowledgeable mentor could offer just-in-time information and support, tailoring guidance to individual goals and motivations. Avoiding costly mistakes and saving time and money are some of the many benefits that come with coaching that ensures authors adapt a successful methodology that best suits them.
Memorable Moments:
00:04:24 – Creating a Supportive Community, Lanette explains her approach to helping women navigate the writing and publishing process. She emphasizes the importance of personalized guidance and finding what works best for each individual. Her core values include uplifting and empowering women and providing accountability to help women achieve their goals.
00:08:07 – The Role of Accountability, Lanette and Alexa discuss the role of accountability in writing a book, especially for busy women. They highlight the emotional challenges that come with writing and the need for someone to guide and hold authors accountable to their goals. Accountability programs can help authors stay focused and motivated throughout the writing process.
00:09:29 – Mindset and Awareness, The conversation delves into the importance of mindset and self-awareness when writing a book. Lanette emphasizes the need to be aware of the stories we tell ourselves and overcome self-doubt and imposter syndrome. Writing a book is a personal growth journey
Eleanor Hecks is a writer with a particular interest in helping other writers publish and market their work. You can find her serving as Editor-in-Chief of 
