Welcome my friends,
It’s hot and we’re going away, come with me! I’m prepping for my first two-day writers’ retreat in Hay-on-Wye and to inspire you even more, this newsletter celebrates a former client, Layla Robinson, having her beautiful book published. For several years I’ve been running Write The Book as a membership, offering accountability and expert guest Q & As. Now – in addition to the online programme – I’m turning it into a magical two-day in-person experience too! We’ll have amazing author meet-and-greets in fabulous bookshops, plus (optional) dance and yoga and delicious food. A book town in the countryside, ice-cream, markets, and after-hours bookshop drinks… there’s so much to enjoy over the two days in early August, feels like such a win.
So let’s say more about Layla. Her new coffee table book, Everlasting Blooms, is as stunning as her famous floral installations. And you can read more about her journey as a creative founder and author, in the case study below.
Meanwhile, I’ve been making progress with my new podcast and one of my latest guests is also going to be working in-person with us for an afternoon. I’m so excited. Jo Wood (aka jdwoof, one half of Art Babies) is joining me in Brighton this Friday, and you can be there too. We’ve created a workshop called Meet Your Inner Saboteur and we’ll be using art and coaching techniques to bring you a spacious, exploratory session, which is neurodivergent-friendly and LGBTQ+ inclusive. There’ll be snacks too, of course.
And because I can’t sit still at my desk in this lovely weather, I’m off to a poetry workshop at Brighton Book Festival when I’ve finished writing this. Perhaps followed up by ice-cream with a flake.
Big love as always,
Helen
helen@coachingbyhelen.com
www.forcreativepeople.com
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This month I’ve been:
Dancing in the sea and the forest with Ecstatic Dance Brighton
Recording my latest podcast episodes For Creative People
Listening to Elizabeth Day’s How To Fail podcast. Loved the Cynthia Nixon episode
Events diary, For Creative People: Summer 2025
Why not join me at one or more of the in-person and online workshops I’m hosting in Brighton, Hay-on-Wye and online of course too. (Please note, pre-booking is essential).
Write The Book Taster Session
Thurs 26 June; 6:30 PM-7:45 PM, online
Enjoy this introductory workshop for authors-to-be: it’s a taster of our year-long programme. Our expert guest is Jodie Lancet-Grant, author & Associate Publisher at Bluebird (Pan Macmillan).
A Writing Retreat For Creative People
Thurs & Fri 7 & 8 August, Hay-on-Wye
Immerse yourself in the famous book town of Hay. Meet authors and booksellers, write, browse the magical bookshops, and enjoy exclusive after-hours events.
‘Meet Your Inner Saboteur’
Fri 27 June, 2PM-5PM, Brighton
I’m incredibly excited to be working with an artist who I really love, jdwoof (aka Jo Wood) to bring you a Brighton-based workshop on Friday 27 June. That’s her artwork there (above). This will be something a bit different and very special. I’d really love for you to join us. We’re going to use art and other approaches to explore our inner saboteurs, working slowly over a 3-hour session. No art experience or skills are necessary, we’ll work intuitively and gently together. If you know that you have a tendency to self-sabotage, or feel a sense of ‘imposter syndrome’, here’s a great opportunity to explore that for yourself, with gentle guidance.
I’ve chosen a venue in Brighton that’s designed for neurodivergent folks and very welcoming. It’s a café called Puzzle Bored and they’ll be closing for us that afternoon so we have their wonderful space to ourselves. It’s a place I often go myself to unwind and do jigsaws over a chai.
Fancy a 15-min FREE Discovery Call?
You can book that for yourself HERE
Finding the right coach is just as important as the coaching itself, so if you’re curious about my work, do go ahead and book yourself a free 15-min consultation. You can ask anything you like and get a feel for my coaching vibe.
Case Study: Layla Robinson
“I come from a family of creators and artists, so have creativity running in my veins”
What’s the story of your business, tell us briefly:
I create floral sculpture from everlasting flowers. This may sound straightforward, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what I do. It’s the very end part of a long and wonderful process that takes place throughout the seasons. I grow my all own flowers and dry them, as well as forage from the surrounding verges, and in winter, cut leafless willow and birch branches to use for the sculpture structures. This process is a year round occupation, sowing seeds on windowsills in February, sowing more in March and April in the polytunnel, planting out in April and May, and then harvesting and drying from May-November. All of this happens at the same time as creating the pieces, and all other work involved in running the business.
Why do you do what you do?
I've loved flowers since I was little, I’ve always been obsessed with them. I come from a family of creators and artists, so have creativity running in my veins in spades. My Dad taught me woodworking skills and using materials found in nature to make things, which has lead to my love of the mechanics behind a structure. These things combined are a massive influence in doing what I do. I also love being grounded in nature, I feel we are nothing without the natural world, it is full of treasures, healing, and wisdom, that is the foundation of my work.
Has there been a big turning point for you in your career so far? Could you tell us a bit about that?
There’s been a couple. One was when I got pregnant with my first daughter and decided to stop working as a specialist gardener, leaving behind many clients that I'd built up relationships with over the years as their surrogate plant mummy who cared for every detail of their beloved gardens and plant collections. This and buying the smallholding where we now live, opened up the way to start growing flowers the following year, which ultimately lead to where I am now. Just like many first time mothers, somehow I ended up buying a property that needed lots of attention, and decided to start a new business all at once which was utter madness when I look back on it.
The second was during covid 19. I’d been a florist and growing my own cut flowers for several years by then and had spent spent a year previously working with a client to provide blue and white (fresh) flowers for their wedding. I had to grow the flowers specifically to ensure I had enough of the right colours, and had an ongoing dialog discussing the details and changes that happen over that year as is normal for wedding planning. Two weeks before the wedding date, it got cancelled due to fears of a lockdown. Something snapped inside me in that moment. They asked if I’d do it the following summer... I just couldn't face it. I said no. It was the catalyst for me to make the move from fresh to dried flowers that I needed. At the time it felt terrifying, like I was leaving a part of myself, a bit of my identity behind.
Once I’d made that decision (and got used to the idea) it was like a weight had been lifted, everything felt simpler and clearer, and that’s when the idea of building a specially designed studio space wormed its way into my head one day as I gardened. By the time I’d suggested the idea to Rob, my husband, I'd already mentally plotted out where it would go so as not to lose too much growing space, and had an idea of size. He wasn't keen at first but after I’d pegged it out and started digging out plants to make way for it, he started to see the vision and was on board. We built it as the lockdowns came and went, it was the perfect moment to get such a home-based job done.
Having a specific workspace was a total game-changer, suddenly my creativity just kind of exploded! I felt inspired and motivated, and like anything was possible. My space was warm, light, and had storage for all my flowers, and best of all... it was mine. I literally walked on air for two years afterwards. It was a very freeing moment, and things just naturally rolled after that. I made lots of new designs, ran workshops, had space to dry and store new and beautiful flower varieties, and could create all year round in comfort. My Instagram took off around the same sort of time, and this lead to many wonderful opportunities, including commissions, magazine articles, being asked to events, tv appearances, exhibiting at Chelsea Flower Show, and being asked to write my book Everlasting Blooms.
How has Helen's coaching helped you?
Helen’s coaching came at a very tough time when my children were little, and I was trying to make sleep-deprived sense of my business. I felt frustrated, powerless, and full of self doubt. I’d been muddling through growing fresh flowers, but felt bored and unsatisfied, and knew I wanted more for the time and energy I was pouring into it, but just couldn't see how. Helen’s approach was to question some of my self doubt reasoning that was holding me back:
Why can’t you do it?
Why do you assume you're not good enough, clever enough, grown up enough, or entitled to go for or create the opportunities you want?
She asked.
I’m like, well um, er, I just feel like that’s what proper people do.
Well you are a proper person, and you can do what the hell you want
She said, Lets do it. So we did.
Being someone who sees things very visually, one method we used was laying out lots of bits of paper with goals written on them and then rearranging them into groups that made more sense and covered all the important topics. Before this I'd felt I might have been a bit stupid to take this visual approach compared to a spreadsheet, but it worked well for me to see it all laid out like that so that I could see what was what. This was the beginning of my new approach of 'Why Not?' and 'Do It Your Way' that has helped me ever since. Being part of her wonderful online book writing group was also incredibly valuable to prepare me for writing my book so that I felt familiar with much of the process of writing and publishing, and once again, to have belief in my own voice.
What really motivates you in your work?
The excitement of making something completely new and never seen before, and creating floral art that makes people happy and feel good. The joy of collaboration, Working sustainably, and bringing the beauty of nature into peoples lives. Messages saying how much my work has inspired, and in some cases changed lives for the better and brought joy and hope in dark times. Knowing there is unlimited potential.
Tell us more about your new book, Everlasting Blooms, which contains step-by-step instructions to help readers create their own floral art:
It's bright, fun, playful, contemporary, exciting, and promotes sustainability and love of nature and our planet. This floral art stands out and has the power to evoke emotion and make people feel good when they see it. The act of creating these designs can open up whole new worlds to the art of drying and noticing the beautiful details of nature, not to mention using your hands to make something honest and with true meaning in this disposable world we live in. One of these floral sculptures can last for years. Compare an everlasting bouquet of flowers lasting 1-5 years, compared to 5-10 days of fresh flowers. The sustainability contrast is off the scale.
Anything else you'd like us to know about you?
As someone who isn't great with repetition or being bored, I'm constantly dreaming up new ideas. This level of creativity can sometimes be tricky to channel and can be exhausting at times, but it does mean that new things definitely happen. I'd love to to work with other people, experiment with new concepts and broaden my horizons in the future. Watch this space!
Layla Robinson’s book, Everlasting Blooms is out now, published by Greenfinch
Still reading?
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www.coachingbyhelen.com