Change isn't supposed to be neat
embracing the mess is key
👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼 Hi! I’m so happy to see you. I’m Laura Jane Williams, a UK-based romance author. How to Build a Life launched in August 2024, and now has thousands of readers in over 75 countries (!). You can expect personal stories about life’s mess and mayhem, and the search for a way of living that feels right. I’m almost 40, a solo parent by choice, and for 2025 am committed to stealing back time from my to-do list. I’m just sick of being busy with stuff that doesn’t really matter, you know?
I just revealed all the details about my summer 2025 book, and if you email me on me@laurajanewilliams.com with proof of your pre-order, I’ll comp you a free month to How to Build a Life, OR send you a hand-written love note no matter where in the world you live! Just let me know which you prefer.
Change isn’t supposed to be neat.
That’s what I’ve been thinking about lately.
That embracing the mess should be an expected part of change.
As I’ve been recalibrating my work life - which is ultimately recalibrating my whole life-life, such is the impact of work on our days - I’m proud of myself for figuring out a “third way”.
When I was in the weeds with feeling very “I love writing books but the publishing industry doesn’t make me feel good” it felt super binary: keep writing books and suck it up, or quit writing books and find something else to do. Like I said though, I am largely unqualified for an actual job on account of never having done anything other than write. Plus, what job will pay what my books do? I stayed stuck for ages because it was one or the other to me. Black and white. This, or that.
I am entrepreneurial - always have been - and am not afraid to do things under my own steam: events, newsletters, classes, business-facing client work, etc. But by last year I was in no position to be going all in on setting up a business, launching a product, finding a gap in the market to plug with something very specific to me and my skills, all of that. I looked into it! Had a bunch of ideas, could see how “novelist launches the Uber of the dog world” (or similar… of course I am not prepared to give away my actual ideas, lol) would play out for press, get me in the right rooms, help my raise capital, all that stuff.
However. Even with an abundance of ideas and inspiration in theory, in practice I was also burnt out, worried about cash flow, and really, really sad.
Empty.
Spent.
Exhausted.
And I had to admit I wasn’t ready for any Big Moves. Now wasn’t the time.
Sometimes you have to trust yourself that in this moment you should not trust yourself.
Recognising that felt like personal growth.