Latest / The Daily Writer / Writing Habit #7: Take a Walk | DWC Member Spotlight: Kay Helm

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Writing Habit #7: Take a Walk | DWC Member Spotlight: Kay Helm · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for writing success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: For more resources, including your free Daily Rider Starter Kit, visit DailyRiderLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Over the last few days, we've been talking about writing habits here in the podcast.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so far we've covered six writing practices that you can use to build a great habit.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: And today we're looking at habit number seven, which is take a walk to get your blood flowing.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of research that shows the correlation between exercise and creativity.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: It makes us feel better, it puts us in a better mood, and it helps the blood to flow to our brain.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: There's also a lot of research showing how bad sitting for extended periods of time is for us.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: So no matter which way you slice it, taking a walk is a great way to get your blood pumping, to contribute to your overall health, and also to clear your head.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: So if you struggle with depression or you just feel cooped up a lot of the time, taking a walk is one of the best things you can do to boost your productivity and become a healthier version of yourself.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Soren Kierkegaard, the great philosopher, once said, I walked myself into my best thoughts.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: And the same is probably true for all of us if we take the time to go for a short walk every day.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: I can't begin to tell you how many times I have felt stuck or just felt like I was in a funk, and taking a walk around the block really did the trick.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: I felt better and it got the blood really flowing again.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: And for some bonus points, I encourage you to take your phone and dictate some writing while you're walking so you're getting extra value out of that time.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Or you can do what I do a lot of time, which is listen to some 80s music while you're moving.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, let's face it, there's no debate that the 80s was the best decade for music, so why not listen to audio gold while you're walking and put on some 80s tunes?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Am I right or am I right?
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, here's today's challenge.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Do you integrate walking or exercise as part of your regular routine?
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: And how does it help your writing and creativity?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to think about that.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: And hey, by the way, if you're sitting down while you're listening to this episode, shut this off, get up and take a walk around the block and come back and finish it later on.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Your body and your brain will thank you.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Today's episode is an excerpt from our free ebook, How to Build a Writing Habit.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: You can get this for free along with six other ebooks on writing as part of our free Daily Writer Starter Kit.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Just go to dailywriterlife.com slash free.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Also, a big thanks to today's sponsor, the new book Monetize Your Book with a Course, your guide to quickly creating a profitable and impactful course from your book, written by my good friend Lucas Marino.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, most authors stop when they have written, published, and marketed their book, but there's one final step, which is creating a course to build an additional stream of income and help your readers engage at a deeper level.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: In Monetize Your Book with a course, Lucas teaches you how to determine your ideal student, develop your curriculum, implement a learning management system, market the course, find your students, and much more, even if you've never taught a course before.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're ready to take your book to the next level and learn how to launch your course, visit dailyriderlife.com/slash monetize to grab this incredible resource.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Before I wrap up this episode, I want to share this interview with the amazing Kay Helm.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Kay is a member of our Daily Writer Club, and I've been periodically sharing these many interviews with these amazing members of our writing group.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Kay Helm is a writer and editor with experience in ministry, missions, and the business world.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: She founded Mission Writers to help missionaries and nonprofits with their storytelling and fundraising efforts.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And she's also the host of the Life and Mission Podcast.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: You can find her online at khelm.com.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: So here's my conversation with Kay.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Hope you enjoy it.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Kay, I'm so glad to be able to feature you on today's episode.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, let's start here.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Tell listeners a little bit about yourself and your writing and uh some of the things that you have going on.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much, Kent, for for having me on.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm a big fan of the Daily Writer of the Club and the podcast.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: So Well, thank you.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's very kind.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um I, you know, I've been writing since ever since I can remember.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: I started in in school at some point, and I've just always enjoyed it.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: I wrote a lot for myself.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: And over the years and kind of a hodgepodge of different types of jobs that I've had, writing was always a part of it.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: I wrote manuals, I wrote marketing materials, I just wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Never really considered myself a writer, although I would have loved to have done that as a job, but didn't really know how to do it.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: And um in 2020, I um learned about ghostwriting, and um I learned it uh same same way you did.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think I took the same course.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's the only one out there, it's the only good one out there right now.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so um started ghostwriting in 2020, and um I love love it.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: I've helped uh three authors now write their books.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: There are three books almost published, so they're not quite out yet.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be really excited once they finally get out.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: We've got one really, really close to publication.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I'm really excited about helping authors get their story out there.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: And um, the other thing that I do is I work with missionaries and small nonprofits.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: I've been in the ministry world for 20 years and in missions.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I started a nonprofit in 2006, and so I've been in that road.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: I've raised support as a missionary, I've gone out and raised support for the organization, and I had the writing skills to do that.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: And now I've created a course to help missionaries and ministry leaders, especially small organizations, get that writing done, you know, they know what to write and how to put it together.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: So and that's a really critical thing, isn't it?
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because particularly people who are doing missions work, church work, nonprofit work.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's not that people who have a for-profit business are are not doing some of the same things as well, but when you're engaged in those kinds of fields, like the people that you work with all the time, there's so much coming at you.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's a different kind of pressure than you have in a more traditional kind of business, wouldn't you say?
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like writing sometimes is the last thing on somebody's agenda because they're talk, they're meeting with donors and they've got you know all these other things that are involved in those kinds of organizations.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I I love the the fact that you're helping those people with writing because man, the marketing, the the copywriting element, the communication, that's such a critical compart, uh such a critical component of what they do.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, copywriting is a specialized form of writing anyway.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then when you get into nonprofit, um, you know, when you're writing for a business, you're writing directly to the consumer.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: When you're writing for nonprofit, it's more like a triangle.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: So you have your beneficiaries that you're representing over on one side, you have your donors over here on another side, and you're kind of the bridge between the two of them.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: And you've got you've got to almost translate, you know, this different world that you live in into a language that your donors can understand.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so there's a lot of components there, and it just can get overwhelming really fast, on top of, you know, just the act of writing can be overwhelming, on top of the overwhelming work that people are doing and just the physical exhaustion a lot of times, even.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: Not to mention the mental, you know, work that they're having to do.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's hard.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so I get to be the guide that says, I've I've been there, I understand it.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: I've got a way to make this simple for you.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have any advice for writers who are in the beginning stages of their journey?
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they're thinking about doing client work, like ghostwriting or copywriting, or they may be thinking about getting their own books out there.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: What would you what would you share with people kind of in those beginning stages about how to get started and how to maybe get some quick wins?
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'll you know what?
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'll I would say follow the advice of uh one of my clients.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: I learn from my clients all the time.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, me too.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: And and um the biggest problems that I've had in projects were like going beyond those the original scope, you know, you get the scope creep happening, which really cuts into your, you know, into your profits and into your life.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: And and that for me has been the biggest issue.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I ask, I I just want to do the right, the very best for my clients.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we all want to do that.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so I tend to ask a lot of questions and I'll I'll do a lot of back and forth.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I had a uh in working with writers, there's a lot of hand holding and making them feel good about what they're doing.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: When you write for business, they just want this thing done.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so the advice from my client was I I sent her a list of like four questions about this piece I was editing for her.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: And she wrote me back, I hired you because you're the expert.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was it.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: That was the only thing in the email.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, be the expert, like just own it.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Keep getting better, always work, improve yourself.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's part of why I'm in your daily writer group.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but be the expert, own that.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard sometimes.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what your experience has been, but it's really been a shift for me coming out of so I was a pastor in my 20s, and then I taught at a Christian college for a long time, which was, you know, like a Bible slash Christian college in a ministry training setting, it's kind of like an amalgamation between okay, you've got the academic side, then you've got like a churchy kind of element to it with chapel services and other kinds of things.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that I have found really refreshing about doing a lot of stuff that's like just straight up business is that it's it feels like it's way more straightforward a lot of times.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, hey, write this newsletter, write this blog post, and it's kind of like bada boom, bada bing, and you're done.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: And there's not all there's not all the other stuff that sometimes can be attached to things in like um uh a church or Christian college setting.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I'm horribly explaining myself, but maybe somebody out there has an inkling of what I'm saying, because I'm not sure I do.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: I get it.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: But you know what I mean.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and my missionaries that I work with, they they live in that world where there's a lot of expectations, and they might have five or six churches or you know, a number of different groups that are supporting them, and they all are coming at things from a different angle.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: And what now what do I say?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'm a little handcuffed by everybody.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: You've got like five different groups you're really trying to to kind of wrangle and manage and they all different things.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so own your expertise, be the be the expert.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: You got a chance to teach a lot of people there.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is good stuff.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: So this is really good stuff.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how can people find out more about your writing and and your and your podcast?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: We haven't even talked about your podcast and the other cool things that you're doing.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, I'll start with the podcast.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: The podcast is called Life and Mission, and it is a combination of some interviews.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: You've I've interviewed you, uh, but I teach essential skills for writing your stories and getting them done and uh little just tips and tricks, you know, short episodes doing that.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that's called Life and Mission.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's available in all the places.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: And then anything else that you need from me, you can find it at khelm.com.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: This has been a pleasure, Kay.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: I so much appreciate your expertise that you are that you generously share with us in the Daily Writer Club.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: You're such an awesome person.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's been a pleasure getting to chat with you for a few minutes.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks again.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Kat.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, wasn't that a fun interview?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Kay is really, really inspiring.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: She's so kind and thoughtful and generous, and I really encourage you to connect with her.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: You can do so by visiting khelm.com and also make sure to check out our podcast, which is called Life and Mission.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, my friend, as always, thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.