September 13, 2023 • 50 mins
Have you ever gazed at a blank page, pen in hand, only to be crippled by self-doubt? Today, we unravel this creative conundrum in our heart-to-heart with the bestselling author and creative entrepreneur, Allegra Huston. From her initial struggles with self-judgment to her eventual breakthrough, Allegra's journey to finding her authentic writing voice is nothing short of inspiring. She shares how she navigated her way out of the realm of perfection and embraced a free-flowing, raw creativity to pen down her bestselling memoir, Love Child.
In this episode, we're not just talking about writing, but about writing with confidence, and Allegra shares some incredible techniques to do just that. Discover, along with us, the power of reading your work aloud, using writing prompts, and the unique concept of 'Green Light' activities. We explore how these can trigger your imagination, tap into your creative energy, and help you create original, authentic content. Playfulness with words, it turns out, is just as important as simplicity in tools, and you might be surprised how handy a spiral notebook can be!
As we move deeper into our discussion, we dive into Allegra’s portfolio of creative projects and their immense impact not just on her, but those around her. We highlight how accessible and affordable writing can be as a form of self-expression, capable of reducing judgment and infusing joy. Allegra even gives us a sneak peek into her upcoming ventures including potential writing retreats, collaborations, and her dream of connecting talented writers with a global audience. So buckle up and get ready to unleash the creative genius within you through the power of writing!
Mentioned in this Episode:
- Imaginative Storm Writing Workshops
- Write What You Don't Know: 10 Steps to Writing with Confidence, Energy, and Flow Book
- Write What You Don't Know: 10 Steps to Writing with Confidence, Energy, and Flow Course
- Bestselling memoir Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found
- Novel A Stolen Summer
- How to Edit and Be Edited book
- How to Read for an Audience
Connect with Amber Annette:
Connect with Amber Annette:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amber Annette (00:02):
Welcome to the Business Psychic Podcast, the
show that helps you ignite yoursoul's purpose, turn up your
creativity and activate salesand marketing magic.
I'm your host, Amber Annette,and I'm thrilled to be here with
you today to explore the depthof what it means to be a woman
in business.
I believe that business is morethan just making money.
It's about making a differenceand making your mark.
(00:24):
So sit back, get present andlet's dive in and uncover the
secrets to building a businesswith soul, purpose and magic.
Welcome back to another episodeof the Business Psychic.
I'm Amber Annette and I'm yourhost Today.
I am beyond thrilled tointroduce to you the fabulous
(00:47):
Allegra Huston.
Listen to this bio.
She is the co-founder ofimaginative storm writing
workshops.
The co-author of the book andcourse Write what you Don't Know
10 Steps to Writing withConfidence, energy and Flow.
The author of the bestsellingmemoir Love Child A Memoir of
Family Lost and Found.
Author of the novel A StolenSummer.
(01:08):
Author of how to Edit and BeEdited.
And co-author of how to Readfor an Audience.
I am beyond thrilled, allegra,to have you on today's episode
where we are going to jam on allthings being a creative
entrepreneur and being anintuitive writer.
Welcome.
Allegra Huston (01:29):
Thank you.
I'm beyond thrilled to be onyour podcast and so.
Amber Annette (01:34):
I've done a couple of episodes on writing
before, but never with an author.
It's been with people that.
Do you know more of thatcreative writing for business,
where I mean you just have avariety of different ways that
you see people being able to usewriting?
But I want to kind of startwith your journey and have you
tell me and tell our audienceabout when you first fell in
(01:57):
love with writing.
Allegra Huston (01:59):
Okay, this is the answer that I think maybe is
going to surprise you, becauseI always hated writing.
I hated writing, I hated havingto write thank you letters and
I never kept a journal.
I loved reading.
I read books, books, you know,novels got me through a rather
difficult childhood and then Iwent to university and studied
(02:22):
English and then became apublisher and was editorial
director and working withwriters and I would, you know,
at that point, be writing kindof, you know, flap copy for
hardback books, right, or theback cover copy.
But I always found writingreally difficult, I think,
because you know, I wasincredibly judgmental of myself.
(02:43):
You know, the inner critic wasnot just a critic.
The inner critic was this youknow, ogre with a machete,
basically destroying myconfidence at every turn.
So I could always help otherpeople make their writing better
, but when I tried to writemyself and I wrote a couple of
magazine articles and thingslike that, I was completely just
(03:06):
seized up with.
You know, not even consciously,you know, I thought I can do
this, I know how to do this, butI would try and write well, and
everything I wrote was stiffand stilted and pompous oh my
God, so pompous, just horrible.
So it was my dirty secretbecause I was an editor and then
(03:30):
I was working in the filmbusiness and working as a script
development person and writingscreenplays myself, which were
also stiff and stilted andpompous.
And then, even up to that point, I met my creative collaborator
, james Navian, and startedteaching writing workshops.
And I still was carrying thisdirty secret around that I
(03:52):
didn't enjoy writing myselfbecause I was so critical of
myself.
And then some of them I managedto write a 1500, I woke up one
morning and realized howincredibly grateful I was, and
continue to be the one I am, forhaving had the two amazing
(04:15):
fathers that I had.
And that's a whole other story.
That's the story of my mom,more love child, one of.
And I wrote, I decided Iactually did want to write about
that.
So that was the first time Ireally had a piece of sort of
you know writing that would goout into the world as itself.
You know, not a screenplay,right that somebody else is
gonna.
Amber Annette (04:34):
Yeah.
Allegra Huston (04:35):
Piece of writing that would go out into the
world, that I actually genuinelywanted to write.
And so I wrote 1500 words, forit was for Harper's Bazaar, uk,
because I happened to know Iactually happened to know the
travel editor.
But she hooked me up with thefeatures editor and after that
came out, three people said tome you should write a book.
(04:55):
And I thought I had saideverything I wanted to say in
1500 words, but it turned outthat I hadn't.
And so I thought okay, right, Iwill write a book, let me have.
I should have a go at this.
But I was still stuck in thisrational mind I have to do this
right line of thinking.
(05:17):
I understand.
I made an outline.
You're supposed to make anoutline, and when I was a you
know editor in a publishingcompany, people would present an
outline and a couple of samplechapters.
So I knew that was how you doit.
So I made an outline and Iwrote a couple of sample
chapters, but they I didn't knowwhere to start.
Oh it like what are my samplechapters?
(05:40):
I don't know where to start.
That's not working.
Okay, I'll start somewhere.
That's definitely not thebeginning.
So I wrote the chapters.
In my God, when I read them backover again, oh, it made me
cringe and almost everypublisher every publisher in
London and almost everypublisher in New York turned it
down.
And later I could completelysee why.
But I did get a contract and Istarted writing it.
(06:03):
And that was when I finallyrealized and I've already been
teaching writing workshops withNave for a couple of years at
this point I finally realizedwhy don't I just take my own
advice?
Why don't I stop trying to doit right, stop trying to write
well and just simply write for10 minutes at a time about
(06:27):
anything?
Okay, I'll write about thatThanksgiving.
I'll write about my crazyItalian grandpa standing on his
head, completely out of order.
I'll write about that house.
I'll write about the day mysister saw the suitcase that's
had AH on it and said oh, howgreat, you've got my suitcase.
And the bottom fell out of myworld because it was the one
(06:47):
thing I had left of mom.
I thought she had put myinitials on the suitcase.
But, they were my sister'sinitials first she was like
everything I had had been mysisters before me.
But anyway, point being, Istarted following this method,
this strategy it wasn't really amethod yet, but it was a
strategy that Navi had broughtto me when he asked me to start
(07:10):
teaching writing workshops withhim of setting a timer for 10
minutes using a writing promptand just see what comes out.
And that worked, because that'show I got my own voice onto the
page.
My writing stopped soundinglike I was trying to write well
and started sounding like me.
And okay, it was a mess andokay, it was disconnected and
(07:34):
okay, it was just bits andpieces, but at least it sounded
like me.
And that's when I learned that,to begin with, what you need
are the authenticity and thesurprise.
You can always add thestructure and the polish and the
grammar and whatever else.
The coherence later, what youcan't have later, are the spark
(07:55):
and the surprise, and that iswhat our whole write.
What you don't know, book andcourse.
Amber Annette (08:02):
That's what our actual method now is based on,
and so that's where I wannastart digging, like right away.
The first question that I haveso I'm sure our listeners have
is how, how, how do you findyour own authentic voice when
writing so that you don't gothrough that imposter syndrome?
(08:24):
When you were talking about thebeginning of your journey,
writing, I mean it's such avulnerable process.
I mean writing is about as rawand as real as it can possibly
get for me and I take a lot oflike time and I wait for the
(08:45):
right level of inspirationbefore I do any of my writing.
And some of my writing is morelike email marketing to my
audience, but it's always weavedwith inspiration.
But, man, it takes a lot to getto the point to hit, post or
send or publish.
And when I was listening tothat word, vulnerable, just
(09:08):
vulnerable writing.
So what would be some ways thatyou could tell our audience,
like, how do you get to thatpoint of having an authentic and
vulnerable voice?
Allegra Huston (09:19):
Well, I think the first thing and I'm speaking
completely from personalexperience here it's like I've
made every mistake in the book.
I have suffered every writer'sblock, every doubt, every fear
of vulnerability in the book, sothat kind of.
I think that in the end, ofcourse, that's been incredibly
(09:41):
useful because I can understandhow other people feel and when
one is at that sort of point.
So this is what I do.
I don't write, I generatematerial.
Oh sure, if I'm not writing,then I don't need to write.
Well, but I can just generatematerial, and generate good
(10:04):
material.
And what is generating goodmaterial?
Feel like you feel that littlespark.
You feel that spark of energyin your body when you're
generating good material thatfeels like you and you don't
worry about it being writing yet.
Yeah, so to me that is how youstart, because the first thing
(10:26):
is to actually start to get yourwriting to feel like you.
One of the other greattechniques that the imaginative
storm method.
As we've developed it, we'verealized the value We've always
done this but didn't quiterealize why but the value of
reading what you write out loud,either right after you've
(10:47):
written it or generated it or,as a last thing, before you send
it out into the world, Becausewhen you read something on the
page, you're critical.
you're back in school, you're inhigh school right.
You know there's gonna be redmarks on that page, or you're
reading a novel and you have tocritique it, or whatever.
(11:08):
You know, but you're in thatcritical, judging, rational,
inner critic mind.
That's what's leading thecaravan here.
But when you read something outloud, you can't change anything
.
If you're reading, you can'tstop to change it because now
you're not reading.
So it keeps you in the flow ofwhat you wrote, whether it's
(11:29):
totally raw material orsomething that's fairly finished
.
But what happens is that whenthose words that you put on the
page page or screen, you knowwhatever those words are now
being made being brought alive,they've got breath and warmth
from your voice and, as you know, as you speak them aloud and it
(11:52):
doesn't need to be anybody elsein the room, it doesn't matter
they're making patterns on theair.
You're actually affecting theworld.
The physics of the room you'rein are not the same as they were
before you started speaking.
Now, this is a kind of I feelthat.
(12:12):
I feel that it seems like asmall thing but it's actually a
really, really big thing becauseit gives it starts to give you
the confidence that your voice,written and now read aloud, can
make a difference in the worldand a difference to you.
Because what happens is whenyou come to some combination of
(12:35):
words, some image, some ideathat you like, you think, oh,
that's kind of cool, you knowwhere did that come from?
You get a little dopamine rushin your body.
Your body goes mm-hmm, yes, Ido like that, and of course it
wants more, yeah.
So this is one of the ways inwhich you become familiar and
(13:00):
kind of tender with your ownvoice.
You know it's sort of in afunny way, like a parent with a
child.
You know it's not like youthink your kid is perfect, but
you love it for what it can beI'm saying it, but he or she,
whatever, for what your childcan be, and you love your child
(13:23):
for their faults, not evendespite their faults.
You know those faults might bestrengths in some other fashion
if we can just develop that.
And so that's the relationshipyou start to get with your own
voice when you read your workaloud.
But it doesn't happen if youleave it lying, kind of, you
know, unanimated and comatose onthe page.
(13:43):
Yeah, so that's the absolutesecret.
Amber Annette (13:48):
Are you familiar?
As you're talking, I'm remindedof the quote right high edit
sober.
Have you ever heard that before?
No, I don't know who said that.
It actually.
I think the quote was rightdrunk edit sober.
I changed it to right high editsober because that's what it
(14:09):
feels like when I write.
I get almost this high, itbecomes like something just
becomes, it just starts coming.
It comes out with the ethers,the universe, like whatever just
comes to me.
Allegra Huston (14:23):
It comes out of your imagination, which has
Absolutely, and isn't itinteresting?
I mean there is Well.
Amber Annette (14:29):
is it coming from my imagination or from my
intuition?
That's a great question.
Allegra Huston (14:34):
Well, I think that there are a lot of words
for something that is roughlythe same thing, and there's no
need for us to rationally labelwhat aspect of this.
We could call it the universe,we could call it the collective
unconscious, we could call ityour intuition, we could call it
(14:56):
imagination or all of it.
Yeah, exactly, I mean, I thinkyour imagination is your
intuition.
It is hooked into something.
Whether that is whatever wewanna call it, it doesn't really
matter.
For me, the point is that it'snot your rational mind, it's not
your critical, judging,egocentric, frightened, anxious,
(15:18):
ambitious mind.
So, when you are drunk, likethe author of your quote or high
or whatever that's like, whypeople wanna get drunk and high
right Is because they wanna shutthat mind up.
And there are ways to do itsubstance free as well, which is
what we're about.
(15:39):
I mean, hey, you could do thison mushrooms if you want.
But what we have found?
Amber Annette (15:45):
is-?
Well, that would be aninteresting writing retreat,
Exactly right, maybe we canorganize it.
Allegra Huston (15:50):
You can come to Taos.
Amber Annette (15:52):
I'm in.
I'm in on that one.
I'm curious.
Allegra Huston (15:55):
But anyway, point being, you can, when you
use writing prompts, even ifyou're working on something very
specific, you can use totallyrandom writing prompts and your
rational mind, that part thatalways wants to be driving the
bus is basically well, I don'tknow, what am I supposed to do
(16:15):
with that?
That doesn't have anything todo with the story I wanna tell.
Great, because now yourimagination can go.
Well, let me see what I coulddo with it.
Yeah, so it's a sort of there'sa similar, it's a similar
action and I'm sure you I meanfrom what I know of your
business coaching you'rebasically doing a similar
(16:38):
process.
Yeah, definitely, getting outof like all those anxieties and
judgments and what ifs andsaying just- so I call those
green lights activities right.
Amber Annette (16:50):
So I don't know if where you lived when you were
a kid, did you ever play likered light, green light I think
so.
Allegra Huston (16:56):
I lived all over .
It's a long story.
Amber Annette (16:59):
The concept of the game right is in class.
We would always play it at agym class and all of the class
would stand at one end of theroom and whoever was the
instructor, the red light, greenlight person would stand at the
other and the goal of the gamewas to get to that person as
(17:20):
quickly and as swiftly aspossible.
So the person would stand thereand they would say green light
and you would run as fast as youcould to that person and then
when they said red light, youhad to freeze and it was who
just ever got to the other sideas one, whoever got there first.
And I love that concept formanifesting, and not just for
(17:44):
manifesting, but from a mindsetperspective, of when we actually
give ourselves the space to dogreen light activities, like for
me.
It could be coloring, it couldbe walking, it could be creative
visualizations or meditations,whatever.
It is right Like I have my ownlist when I do that.
I find it really fascinatingthat that's when those ideas
(18:05):
come in for me to write.
That's when those activitiescome in.
It's in that green light spacewhere the universe can, your
imagination, it can get through.
There's nothing in your way,there's nothing standing in
between you and that newcreative divine download, and
that's what we're talking abouthere.
We're using different languageto explain.
(18:27):
Yes, in order to receive atyour highest level, you have to
be in an energy that matchesthat type of frequency.
And when you do that, man, it'samazing what can start to come
in.
Allegra Huston (18:39):
It's true, and the wonderful thing about it is
that or traditionally writerscall that the muse I'm waiting
for the muse to speak to me, buta lot of them would wait and
wait, and wait and wait and themuse wouldn't come.
And I'm sure you know we don'tcall it the muse now, but that's
what's called writer's block,right?
So wonderful thing that we'verealized is actually you can
(19:02):
call that energy up.
You can put yourself in thatgreen light frame of mind for
whatever activity.
It doesn't have to be writingat will easily.
It's actually not hard.
You just need the technique todo it.
And you can do it in 10 minutes, which is what's so lovely.
(19:24):
I mean, all of our writingexercises are.
The longest one we do is 10minutes.
So why?
Because if it's only 10 minutes, you're not trying to write
well.
You only wrote it in 10 minutes.
How could it possibly be good?
It's completely ridiculous.
And you don't have.
Amber Annette (19:40):
of course, you end up writing much better in 10
minutes than you've done in anhour, as lots of people and I
bet they write much more thanjust 10 minutes, because I know
for myself if I just sit downwith like a prompt and sometimes
it's just the act of gettingstarted can create the magic and
the momentum that we're lookingfor.
It's just like going for megoing to the gym.
(20:01):
The biggest battle in going tothe gym is getting my gym shoes
on.
Allegra Huston (20:06):
That's it Once, I'm there.
Amber Annette (20:07):
I love it.
I'm like this is the best dayof my life.
I feel amazing, I look amazing.
I leave there happy, motivatedto come again.
The hardest part is putting thegym shoes and I think, as a
writer, the hardest part is justhaving the sacred space to
actually sit down and startwriting.
Allegra Huston (20:24):
It just you don't need to need the sacred
space because that's anotherthing that people think.
That stops you.
It's like oh, I don't have.
Stephen King tells me I have tohave my own space If I'm gonna
write.
Julia Cameron, who wrote theArtist's Way, and my creative
collaborator, james Navey,worked a lot with Julia Cameron,
so there's quite a lot ofArtist's Way DNA in what we do.
(20:45):
Julia wrote lots of her booksat red lights, sitting in the
car waiting for the light toturn on.
Amber Annette (20:51):
I write in the shower.
Allegra Huston (20:52):
Yeah, exactly, you can write it while you're
waiting in the grocery storeline, because you don't have to
be quote unquote writing.
Well, you're just generatingmaterial and as you play with,
you're standing in the checkoutline at the grocery store and
there's all kinds of words allaround you on all kinds of
(21:13):
packaging.
Start putting them together andthat generative material.
You know it's like a muscle.
You stretch and strengthen yourimagination the more that you
do that.
And then when you come to writewhatever you kind of really
wanna write quote unquote, youhave that ability to just drop
into silliness.
(21:33):
And when you can be playfulwith words, that relieves all of
that oh my God, I gotta get itright, I've gotta get it right
School kind of thing, and whenyou are playful, that's where
the surprises come from.
That's where the originalitycomes from, because nobody plays
the same, so that's where yourauthenticity on the page comes
(21:56):
from, when you can be playfulwith words.
Amber Annette (22:00):
Yeah, it's also fun you know, you do it again.
I'm obsessed with writing.
I write every day.
I mean, if you could see myoffice right now, I mean, and
I'm very still much a paper andpen girl like I still hand write
everything and that's just myprocess.
Allegra Huston (22:19):
I try, that's really important.
Amber Annette (22:21):
It's really important for you, for our
audience can't our listeners, ofcourse, can't see this but I'm
folding up a notebook and thisis my book.
I mean, this is where it's likebroke.
Allegra Huston (22:35):
And can I?
say that is the perfectimaginative storm write what you
don't know notebook.
I wrote my entire.
I generated the material.
I will rephrase the materialfor my memoir, love Child in 10
minute chunks in notebooks thatlooked exactly like that.
So I'm gonna describe what thatnotebook looks like, because I
(22:58):
think this is you have, justbecause you are, you know, in
tune.
You came up with, you know theeasy ways to do this thing right
by hand and write in a cheapspiral notebook.
That's really cheerful looking,ambers is.
It has pink stripes and shinypink polka dots on the pink
(23:20):
stripes.
Okay, perfect, I want notebookslike that.
You don't have to write well ina notebook like that.
It's a fun notebook, it'slively.
You wanna pick it up?
It's not intimidating, I meanif you're-.
Amber Annette (23:35):
I cannot write at my MacBook.
I have not wrote anything.
The only time I ever writeanything on my MacBook is
typically if it's an emailresponse.
Everything I write ishandwritten.
It's just.
It's just my process.
Allegra Huston (23:49):
There's a reason why you've come to that.
And also you've got this lovely, quite large page, but you know
not college rules.
It has to be wider spaces, ascollege rule makes you have to
squeeze in between the lines.
They're too tight.
But if you're a writer, okay.
People are like, hmm, what am Igonna give you for Christmas?
I'll give you a.
Amber Annette (24:08):
Really beautiful notebook.
Oh yeah, that's what my kidsget me every year.
15 of those Can you write inGel pen oh yeah, Gel pens
notebooks you can't.
Allegra Huston (24:17):
I can't write in beautiful notebooks because I
feel like I'm gonna mess them up.
I don't wanna write badly in abeautiful notebook, so it puts
me back in that.
Oh, I have to write well.
Frame of mind.
So I have all Are you still?
Amber Annette (24:30):
that way.
Allegra Huston (24:31):
Oh yeah, absolutely, let me try to use
some of my Let me use a little Ialso wanna talk about why not
to write on a computer becauseyou brought that up too Because,
again, you see it, it lookslike writing, it's writing.
You can easily edit, you canchange it, you can go back,
which seems like a wonderfulthing.
But now, okay, immediatelyyou're back in your critical
(24:53):
judging mind and you're out ofthe flow.
Yeah, there is a reason towrite by hand, and it doesn't
matter.
If you can't read your writing,type it up after.
Immediately after you wrote it,you can type it up, and if you
don't read that word you imagineproperly, your imagination will
stick some other word in there.
It doesn't matter, you don'thave to.
It's not the Cuban missilecrisis.
(25:13):
You don't have to be totallyfaithful.
Yes, the point is anything thatwill stop you judging or
editing or criticizing orthinking how do I do this right?
What should I do next?
Amber Annette (25:28):
Yeah.
Will it stop you.
So I wanna give.
This is the invitation for you.
Allegra Huston (25:33):
You have pressure points.
Do you know this?
You have pressure points on theoutside of your hand.
Oh, they move across the paperand the edge of your hand
touches the paper very slightly.
Those pressure points also giveyou a dopamine release.
Amber Annette (25:50):
Hmm, that's interesting, and that goes very
well Bibi.
Allegra Huston (25:54):
Reminds us of being a kid and being creative
and drawing with crayon on paper.
So again we're in a.
You know it puts you in a happyplace.
Very interesting.
It's way better in a happyplace than in a judging place.
Amber Annette (26:09):
Well, and I will say, if I'm in not a good mood
typically which isn't very oftenI'm very, very grateful for
that.
But if I'm in a funk, writingwill typically be my go-to
practice to get me out of myfunk, and sometimes it's just
the practice of I call mypractice coffee with the
(26:29):
universe and that's where I domy morning.
Whatever you wanna call it, yourmorning pages, my journaling,
my diary it's kind of acombination of all of those
things together and I've beendoing that for and since I, I
mean my life has just changeddramatically and I go to that
practice every single time I'min a funk and it's what I mean
(26:50):
it's got me through some darkdays.
Writing is, in so many ways Ifeel like, kind of saved my life
.
I mean, you know, we haven'ttalked about your past.
I've talked a little bit aboutmy past on this podcast, but I
didn't have a great childhoodeither.
But I would write fantasystories.
I would write, you know, Iwould make up stories.
(27:10):
I would make up, create.
You know, fantasy andcreativity has always just been
part of who I am, and so thosestories got me through some
really dark times as a child andwriting.
I'm still grateful for thepractice of it because it gets
me, even when I'm having a badday, man coffee with the
universe, I'm out of it in ashort amount of time.
Allegra Huston (27:32):
So we have a prompt it's in the second
session of write what you don'tknow the book and there's a
self-paced online course that'son Teachable and we have a
prompt in there.
That's I effing hate.
We call it.
It's ranting.
That whole session is aboutranting.
But when you really let go andrant about something that you
(27:57):
effing hate like you know I'vedone you know roses with the
thorns cut off, or manicuresalons, or the lines in the
Walmart parking lot I did areally good one about that you
start laughing at your bad mood,and laughing, of course, is the
antidote to anything.
Amber Annette (28:18):
Everything right.
Yeah, it really.
I agree with you that thelaughter frequency can bring to
you anything you want.
It really can, including newideas, including creativity, so
for sure.
So, in all of this, in all ofyour success, tell me, all of
(28:41):
these projects that you havebeen able to bring to the world,
what are you most proud ofcreating?
Allegra Huston (28:47):
This book and the course actually maybe the
course, more than the book ofwrite what you don't know.
Well, I'm proud of it because Ireally think that we've created
Nave and I have created amethod that nobody has quite
done this before.
We didn't set out to takewisdom from various different
(29:08):
writing teachers.
We set out to formulate thewisdom that we've accumulated
over decades and working apartand together.
But there is no other book orcourse that combines both a
method and inspiration and thepracticality of 60, or however
many it is writing prompts.
(29:29):
So I'm proud that we'veactually brought something new
into the world and, moreimportantly, that that thing is,
I believe, has the potential tobe incredibly useful to kind of
basically millions of people.
We've been doing we've had ourwriters group every Saturday now
(29:51):
for over two and a half yearsand people who arrive and say,
well, I'm not a writer, I'm justhere because my girlfriend
asked me to come, or my mother,my kid or whatever they say that
doing this has enriched theirlives, it nourishes your spirit,
because when you write fromthis very open, exploratory,
(30:14):
surprise me, mindset, you noticethings, your awareness becomes
expanded, you start tounderstand yourself better, you
understand the people in yourlife better, so everything that
reduces judgment in your lifebasically makes you a happier
person.
So this is a practice that doesthat, so it's very useful, I
(30:39):
believe.
I mean, I know this myself.
I'm the poster child for thismethod as a writer, so I know
how useful it is for writers.
But what I have seen, which Ididn't really know until a
couple of years ago, is theincredible benefits that it has
brought to people who have noambitions to be writers, who you
(31:02):
know, maybe people who write asa practice, not aiming for
publication, which is a veryvaluable thing or but people who
simply this is the only youknow they write for an hour or a
week in our writing group andthey won't miss it for the world
.
So to be able to bring this easy, enjoyable, joyful approach to
(31:27):
creativity and writing is one ofthe cheapest forms of
creativity there is.
You don't need to buy paints orcanvas, or you know basketry
equipment or yarn or you knowanything like that.
You don't need to have a garden, you know it's a very
accessible, easy, quick,affordable form of creativity,
(31:47):
and I think human beings arecreative creatures.
We need to feel that, even ifyou know, even if that's not our
day job.
You know, our day job may bewith numbers and business and
whatever, and that may bevitally important also in
(32:08):
supporting whatever the creativeside of it is.
But the creative side is alsovitally important in supporting
the numbers and business side,because that's what makes us
feel, that's what gives us joy,rather than achievement,
satisfaction, ambition kind of.
That's a different kind ofhappiness, but that heart
(32:31):
happiness, that sense ofself-realization I've just said
that as if I'd somehow coinedthe term, but it is you are, you
know of yourself actually beingthere, not anybody else's idea
of you, not what you're supposedto be, but just you.
(32:53):
That puts you in a verypowerful position to do whatever
it is you want to do, whetherit's right.
Amber Annette (33:01):
So much more than writing.
Allegra Huston (33:02):
Yeah, bring a product out into the world or a
service out into the world or,you know, create some other kind
of difference in the world.
Maybe you're an activist ofsome kind, but you need that
basis within yourself and, as Isay, until a few years ago I
didn't realize that what we hadactually had that value to it,
(33:25):
as well as simply the writingvalue.
Amber Annette (33:29):
Well, I can promise you I'm assuming it's on
Amazon.
I'm hoping it's on Amazon, itis reader 65, razor I have a
beautiful collection of booksabout writing that I cannot wait
to grab yours and add it tomine.
I mean that, and I'm superexcited for our audience to grab
it too.
It's right what you don't know.
And it's a book, it's a methodand a course, and I cannot wait
(33:54):
to dive more into that and it'sall of the things that you're
creating the course isn't.
Allegra Huston (34:01):
Obviously the course isn't on Amazon, it's on
Teachable.
But if you go toimaginativesstormcom that's our
method, it's called theimaginatives storm method You'll
find links to the course, tothe book and to the workshops
that we teach in person, bothlive on Zoom and live in person.
Amber Annette (34:17):
Perfect, and we're also gonna leave a bunch
of notes inside, or a bunch oflinks to your books and your
website inside of the notessection of the podcast.
So I just this was a fantasticconversation.
I love having creativeentrepreneurs on here, and I
just hope that our audiencetakes something away from this
(34:40):
that can inspire and spark themto have their own, their own
writing practice, because, Idon't know, sometimes I really
believe like writing has savedmy life in so many ways.
So, and I just appreciate youtaking the time to be here with
us so now we're recording thisepisode in July, the end of July
(35:02):
, and Allegra has still not seenor has not listened to any of
the podcasts yet, so she doesn'tknow what's about to be
unfolded in front of her here.
So, in true the businesspsychic fashion, here's how we
wrap up our show.
I am going to give you, I'mgonna tap in here and give you
some insight, some psychicinsight, of what I see and sense
(35:23):
for your business for, I don'tknow, maybe the next six to 12
months, and then I'm gonna askyou a super important question
and we are gonna wrap up.
So are you ready?
I'm ready, all right, so I justneed kind of a second here.
Okay, so, okay.
So the first thing that I'mhearing is the word improv, and
(35:45):
I'm not sure if this issomething you already do or have
done before, but maybe it'ssomething you've done before,
because I feel like the universeis kind of showing me like dust
this, like kind of dust, it offthe shelf kind of thing, and
it's improv writing, an improvwriting class, versus like an
improv acting class.
But this is an improv writingclass that I see you hosting and
I see you doing it in twodifferent ways.
(36:07):
Number one, I see you doing itlike an online masterclass or
something along those lines.
But number two is I see peoplestarting to hire you to come to
their own retreats, to theirretreats or other high level
workshops with other writers,where it is like one of the
go-to, like in-personexperiences for the improv
(36:29):
writing.
So I'm not sure if that'ssomething you've ever done
before or have thought aboutdoing, but I love it and the
energy behind it is really goodand I feel like it kind of
pushes you out of your comfortzone a little bit.
So there's something about that.
The second thing that I reallyam feeling for you is like a
soul writing retreat where it'smaybe taking, and this feels
(36:54):
like it's something just youhosting.
I love your business partner.
For you he feels amazing.
But this feels like somethingintimate for you, something
deeper, something more expansive, that you can really spend some
time with I don't know betweensix and 10 women in this.
It just feels like a super coolvibe.
I would say like I'm gonna goItaly.
(37:14):
I'm gonna say Italy becausethat's just what I heard.
So I feel like there'ssomething in that space for you
that can just set your heart andsoul on fire.
I mean, it definitely feelsprofitable, but it's more what
it does talk about like a greenlight activity.
I need you to like, I reallyneed you to sit with that vision
(37:35):
, because it is a way I amseeing you shine that I feel
like you've never had theopportunity to shine before.
And then the third thing is I dosee some new collaborations
coming Now.
Whether that be tied to theimprov writing, I don't think so
.
I think there's a newcollaboration coming for you.
It feels like around Novemberthis collaboration is going to
(37:58):
lead to a collaborative bookeffort.
That is like the power ofwriting something in that genre
of and it's you've got somegreat energy of what's about to
come and what's kind ofunfolding here over the next six
to 12 months, but a bigger onethat me, a bigger one that I'm
(38:21):
not.
This is a bigger one.
I feel like you are also beinginvited to revisit publishing,
or co-investing in a newpublishing maybe a publisher
(38:43):
that's wanting to sell there'ssomething like that that's gonna
be coming, I would say Februaryof 2024.
And you need to say yes to theopportunity when it comes.
It is a yes, even though onpaper it might look like a no.
Analytically it might look likea no, profit and loss, it might
(39:05):
look like a no, but I amtelling you it is a yes.
You are going to buy it at alow and you are gonna like turn
it into a high or at least be apart of somebody who does at
least be an investor in it,something along those lines.
Because I think there'ssomething that's missing right
(39:26):
now from your business, which isyou have such an innate eye for
talent, talented and giftedwriters, and I just feel like
you have the right connectionsand the right amount of
mentoring in you and the rightamount of magic to bring all of
that together to really bringsome gifted and talented writers
(39:49):
to this world.
That might have went unseen.
Allegra Huston (39:52):
Okay, well, thank you.
Some of those I alreadyrecognize, like the
collaboration in November aboutthe power of writing.
I know what that is.
That's amazing, that Idefinitely know.
And, of course, improv writingthat's one of the words that
we've used to do.
I mean that is what we're doing.
It's absolutely improv.
(40:13):
You don't know what you'regonna write.
You set a timer for 10 minutes,you give yourself a writing
prompt and let's see what comesout.
So it is improv.
We didn't use that word becauseI think we found that there
were other people using it orsomething, and so we wanted to
keep to the words that wereauthentic to the 20 years that
we've spent doing this.
(40:33):
But it is absolutely what we do.
Very cool.
So yeah, and going to otherpeople, sort of parachuting into
other people's retreats thiswould be really fun.
I mean, I do my own.
I teach a memoir five dayworkshop in.
Amber Annette (40:52):
Nova.
Allegra Huston (40:52):
Scotia.
I just did one in May and thenext one is gonna be October
2024.
October next year, but I thinkwe're gonna be doing one.
Navi and I, together are gonnabe doing one in Taos, here in
Taos, new Mexico, where I live,next April.
So we haven't set the dates forthat, but we're working with
this beautiful old bed andbreakfast which you know all a
(41:15):
number of writers have livedthere DH Lawrence.
Oh cool and it's this beautifulnine room bed and breakfast.
So, and also, when you said sixto what, did you say six to 10
women?
Absolutely All of our workshopsmax out at 10, sometimes at
eight, yeah.
Amber Annette (41:32):
And.
Allegra Huston (41:32):
I do work writing workshops.
Amber Annette (41:33):
There's an intimacy, for sure.
I could feel that.
Allegra Huston (41:37):
And it's important to you know to feel
when you're generating rawmaterial.
It's important to feel safewith the people that you're in
the room with and it's notpossible to feel that, however
wonderful 20 people are, there'sjust too many people.
Amber Annette (41:52):
Yes, yes, I agree , I love to keep.
I host retreats also and I loveto keep them as intimate as
possible to make the biggestimpact as possible.
We should hang you and I shoulddo one together.
Sounds never, I agree, we'llhave an offline conversation for
sure.
Okay, are you ready?
Allegra Huston (42:10):
for the question .
I'm ready for the question.
Hit me.
Amber Annette (42:15):
If you could connect to anybody in spirit, a
past loved one, a celebrity,anybody at all that has crossed
over and receive a message fromthem, who would it be?
My mother, okay.
So I'm gonna tap in here andI'm gonna connect with her, and
(42:43):
so the first thing that shepresents to me and I get this
image often from our past lovedones that are women, whether it
be our mothers, our grandmothers, great grandmothers, ancestors
but she presents this beautifulrose to you, allegra.
So I don't know if that'ssomething that you've ever
connected with her or sensed orseen from her, but from here for
(43:04):
sure and going forward, I wantyou to really feel the energy
and her spirit around you.
Whenever you encounter, anytimeyou encounter, roses.
It's just a beautiful,beautiful feminine energy that
she sends.
And there is she, just.
She shows me the image of liketaking your face and kind of
(43:27):
cupping it in her hands, exceptit's the face of you when you
were a child, and she is justshowing me how just precious you
, just how that's her word thatshe uses just how precious you
were to her and there was somuch that she didn't get to say
(43:48):
and that you didn't get to do.
But she has been.
She has been your guardianangel.
She's showing me like she'sbeen your wings in times that
you didn't know that she wasyour wings and you've never been
in the shadow to her ever, shesays.
You've never been in the shadow, so I don't know what that
(44:09):
means or if that means somethingspecial to you but, she yes, I
just got that.
Just a beautiful energy aroundher.
So I don't know if she passedwhen you were quite young I was
four, you were four Okay, andshe shows me when you like, she
(44:37):
shows me you coloring.
Do you remember?
On the floor it feels like ablank piece of paper and did you
?
I mean, most little girls do.
That's not an uncommon image,but and it just feels to me.
She's showing me like all thesedifferent acts.
It's almost like this quicktimeline of your life, from this
(44:57):
point where you were a littlegirl coloring on the ground all
the way till now, like she'salways, always been there,
always.
Allegra Huston (45:08):
Can I share, and if you don't have time,
obviously you'll cut it out, butcan I share with you this
extraordinary writing promptthat I was given as a gift came
totally out of the blue.
A woman named Erica Heller,who's the daughter of Joseph
Heller, who wrote Catchment 22,emailed me literally out of
(45:28):
nowhere never met her in my lifeand asked me to contribute to a
book, an anthology, that sheedited and it's published now.
It's called One Last Lunch, afinal meal with those who meant
so much to us, and the principleof this book is that she asked
49 people to imagine a lunchwith someone they loved who is
(45:52):
now dead.
And she asked me in that veryfirst email to write a lunch
with my mother and I said yes,because there were other really
interesting people contributingto the anthology.
And then I immediately got soterrified because I thought it
would just be emotionallygrueling and I was like a wimp.
(46:12):
And six months went by and Ididn't write it.
And she hounded me.
She really wanted me in thisbook, which was amazing to me
that you know.
She bothered to spend this timechasing somebody she didn't
know, who wasn't doing what she,what they had said they were
gonna do, and so eventually Isat down and started generating
(46:33):
material for it, because Ididn't wanna not write it,
because I was scared that was areally bad reason to not do
something, did not do anythingand, massively to my surprise,
not only was it not emotionallygrueling, it was one of the most
rewarding, healing, joyfulexperiences that I've ever had,
(46:54):
because I got my mom back andthey had this incredible
reversal in it because, ofcourse, my whole life I lost her
.
when I was four.
I wanted a mother to comfort meand then, as I'm sitting there
across this, imaginary lunchtable in a restaurant that was
her favorite restaurant that Iknew in London.
She was 39 when she died, so shewas in love with this one and
(47:21):
with problems with that one andworried about her kids, and she
was in the middle of all theturbulence that you're in when
you're 39.
And I was in my early fiftiesand so, having wished for her
comfort, I could comfort her andtell her it would all turn out
okay and that was the mostincredible experience.
(47:42):
So I just wanted to share that.
I think maybe if you have timeto talk about it and share that,
I think maybe if you have timeto include this in the podcast,
your readers might enjoy thebook.
That book also is available on.
Amazon or that prompt Last lunch.
Well, the prompt.
If you go toimaginativesstormcom, we are
also on a platform called Circleand there's a link that read
(48:05):
what other people have written.
It will take you to the Circleand I've made a place on the
Circle, with Erica's permission,for people to post their last
lunches.
Very cool.
I've told other people about itand in fact I taught a course
at the Taos Writers Conferenceabout two weeks ago and one of
the women there wrote a lastlunch and she's just posted it.
(48:29):
So I have to go read that.
I was off on a river trip, so Iwasn't.
I had no electronics of anykind for the last few days, but
yeah, it's everyone who's doneit.
I mean, and it is frightening,not that many people are willing
to step up to this, but thepeople who have done it have all
had the same experience thatI've had, that they were so
(48:51):
surprised by the integrationthat came to them as a result.
Amber Annette (48:59):
By writing.
Allegra Huston (49:00):
Yeah Well, thank you so you don't have to put.
Amber Annette (49:03):
I'm, of course, gonna include that.
That's a.
I mean, not only was it abeautiful reading, but that's a
beautiful way for our listenersto be able to connect with their
past loved ones too.
And that's so much of what Ilove doing with this podcast and
with my gift and is connectingto those that have crossed over,
connecting to creativity, andthis podcast has just been
(49:26):
amazing to kind of pull all ofthose components all into one.
So I thank you so much forbeing here and for being a part
of this.
Can't wait for our audience tohear it and we will have all
kinds of different links and herwebsite, allegra's website, to
go check out.
I know I'm gonna be buying theright what you don't know book
(49:48):
as well, as, I think, definitelyplaying with that thought of
the last lunch.
So, allegra, thank you so muchfor being here.
This was amazing.
I can't wait to have you backand hear about your business
reading and hear how thosethings are going that I kind of
had a psychic forecast for.
And until next time, go be inyour magic and I will catch you
(50:11):
on our next episode.
Thanks for listening to thisepisode.
I hope it inspired and ignitedyour entrepreneurial spirit, in
turn of your intuition and trustin the universe.
Make sure to check out the shownotes section for access to my
transformation suite All of freeresources, tools and content to
(50:34):
help you grow your businesswhile staying true to your
soul's purpose.
Until next week, go make somebusiness magic full sister.
Welcome to the Business Psychic Podcast, the
show that helps you ignite yoursoul's purpose, turn up your
creativity and activate salesand marketing magic.
I'm your host, Amber Annette,and I'm thrilled to be here with
you today to explore the depthof what it means to be a woman
in business.
I believe that business is morethan just making money.
It's about making a differenceand making your mark.
(00:24):
So sit back, get present andlet's dive in and uncover the
secrets to building a businesswith soul, purpose and magic.
Welcome back to another episodeof the Business Psychic.
I'm Amber Annette and I'm yourhost Today.
I am beyond thrilled tointroduce to you the fabulous
(00:47):
Allegra Huston.
Listen to this bio.
She is the co-founder ofimaginative storm writing
workshops.
The co-author of the book andcourse Write what you Don't Know
10 Steps to Writing withConfidence, energy and Flow.
The author of the bestsellingmemoir Love Child A Memoir of
Family Lost and Found.
Author of the novel A StolenSummer.
(01:08):
Author of how to Edit and BeEdited.
And co-author of how to Readfor an Audience.
I am beyond thrilled, allegra,to have you on today's episode
where we are going to jam on allthings being a creative
entrepreneur and being anintuitive writer.
Welcome.
Allegra Huston (01:29):
Thank you.
I'm beyond thrilled to be onyour podcast and so.
Amber Annette (01:34):
I've done a couple of episodes on writing
before, but never with an author.
It's been with people that.
Do you know more of thatcreative writing for business,
where I mean you just have avariety of different ways that
you see people being able to usewriting?
But I want to kind of startwith your journey and have you
tell me and tell our audienceabout when you first fell in
(01:57):
love with writing.
Allegra Huston (01:59):
Okay, this is the answer that I think maybe is
going to surprise you, becauseI always hated writing.
I hated writing, I hated havingto write thank you letters and
I never kept a journal.
I loved reading.
I read books, books, you know,novels got me through a rather
difficult childhood and then Iwent to university and studied
(02:22):
English and then became apublisher and was editorial
director and working withwriters and I would, you know,
at that point, be writing kindof, you know, flap copy for
hardback books, right, or theback cover copy.
But I always found writingreally difficult, I think,
because you know, I wasincredibly judgmental of myself.
(02:43):
You know, the inner critic wasnot just a critic.
The inner critic was this youknow, ogre with a machete,
basically destroying myconfidence at every turn.
So I could always help otherpeople make their writing better
, but when I tried to writemyself and I wrote a couple of
magazine articles and thingslike that, I was completely just
(03:06):
seized up with.
You know, not even consciously,you know, I thought I can do
this, I know how to do this, butI would try and write well, and
everything I wrote was stiffand stilted and pompous oh my
God, so pompous, just horrible.
So it was my dirty secretbecause I was an editor and then
(03:30):
I was working in the filmbusiness and working as a script
development person and writingscreenplays myself, which were
also stiff and stilted andpompous.
And then, even up to that point, I met my creative collaborator
, james Navian, and startedteaching writing workshops.
And I still was carrying thisdirty secret around that I
(03:52):
didn't enjoy writing myselfbecause I was so critical of
myself.
And then some of them I managedto write a 1500, I woke up one
morning and realized howincredibly grateful I was, and
continue to be the one I am, forhaving had the two amazing
(04:15):
fathers that I had.
And that's a whole other story.
That's the story of my mom,more love child, one of.
And I wrote, I decided Iactually did want to write about
that.
So that was the first time Ireally had a piece of sort of
you know writing that would goout into the world as itself.
You know, not a screenplay,right that somebody else is
gonna.
Amber Annette (04:34):
Yeah.
Allegra Huston (04:35):
Piece of writing that would go out into the
world, that I actually genuinelywanted to write.
And so I wrote 1500 words, forit was for Harper's Bazaar, uk,
because I happened to know Iactually happened to know the
travel editor.
But she hooked me up with thefeatures editor and after that
came out, three people said tome you should write a book.
(04:55):
And I thought I had saideverything I wanted to say in
1500 words, but it turned outthat I hadn't.
And so I thought okay, right, Iwill write a book, let me have.
I should have a go at this.
But I was still stuck in thisrational mind I have to do this
right line of thinking.
(05:17):
I understand.
I made an outline.
You're supposed to make anoutline, and when I was a you
know editor in a publishingcompany, people would present an
outline and a couple of samplechapters.
So I knew that was how you doit.
So I made an outline and Iwrote a couple of sample
chapters, but they I didn't knowwhere to start.
Oh it like what are my samplechapters?
(05:40):
I don't know where to start.
That's not working.
Okay, I'll start somewhere.
That's definitely not thebeginning.
So I wrote the chapters.
In my God, when I read them backover again, oh, it made me
cringe and almost everypublisher every publisher in
London and almost everypublisher in New York turned it
down.
And later I could completelysee why.
But I did get a contract and Istarted writing it.
(06:03):
And that was when I finallyrealized and I've already been
teaching writing workshops withNave for a couple of years at
this point I finally realizedwhy don't I just take my own
advice?
Why don't I stop trying to doit right, stop trying to write
well and just simply write for10 minutes at a time about
(06:27):
anything?
Okay, I'll write about thatThanksgiving.
I'll write about my crazyItalian grandpa standing on his
head, completely out of order.
I'll write about that house.
I'll write about the day mysister saw the suitcase that's
had AH on it and said oh, howgreat, you've got my suitcase.
And the bottom fell out of myworld because it was the one
(06:47):
thing I had left of mom.
I thought she had put myinitials on the suitcase.
But, they were my sister'sinitials first she was like
everything I had had been mysisters before me.
But anyway, point being, Istarted following this method,
this strategy it wasn't really amethod yet, but it was a
strategy that Navi had broughtto me when he asked me to start
(07:10):
teaching writing workshops withhim of setting a timer for 10
minutes using a writing promptand just see what comes out.
And that worked, because that'show I got my own voice onto the
page.
My writing stopped soundinglike I was trying to write well
and started sounding like me.
And okay, it was a mess andokay, it was disconnected and
(07:34):
okay, it was just bits andpieces, but at least it sounded
like me.
And that's when I learned that,to begin with, what you need
are the authenticity and thesurprise.
You can always add thestructure and the polish and the
grammar and whatever else.
The coherence later, what youcan't have later, are the spark
(07:55):
and the surprise, and that iswhat our whole write.
What you don't know, book andcourse.
Amber Annette (08:02):
That's what our actual method now is based on,
and so that's where I wannastart digging, like right away.
The first question that I haveso I'm sure our listeners have
is how, how, how do you findyour own authentic voice when
writing so that you don't gothrough that imposter syndrome?
(08:24):
When you were talking about thebeginning of your journey,
writing, I mean it's such avulnerable process.
I mean writing is about as rawand as real as it can possibly
get for me and I take a lot oflike time and I wait for the
(08:45):
right level of inspirationbefore I do any of my writing.
And some of my writing is morelike email marketing to my
audience, but it's always weavedwith inspiration.
But, man, it takes a lot to getto the point to hit, post or
send or publish.
And when I was listening tothat word, vulnerable, just
(09:08):
vulnerable writing.
So what would be some ways thatyou could tell our audience,
like, how do you get to thatpoint of having an authentic and
vulnerable voice?
Allegra Huston (09:19):
Well, I think the first thing and I'm speaking
completely from personalexperience here it's like I've
made every mistake in the book.
I have suffered every writer'sblock, every doubt, every fear
of vulnerability in the book, sothat kind of.
I think that in the end, ofcourse, that's been incredibly
(09:41):
useful because I can understandhow other people feel and when
one is at that sort of point.
So this is what I do.
I don't write, I generatematerial.
Oh sure, if I'm not writing,then I don't need to write.
Well, but I can just generatematerial, and generate good
(10:04):
material.
And what is generating goodmaterial?
Feel like you feel that littlespark.
You feel that spark of energyin your body when you're
generating good material thatfeels like you and you don't
worry about it being writing yet.
Yeah, so to me that is how youstart, because the first thing
(10:26):
is to actually start to get yourwriting to feel like you.
One of the other greattechniques that the imaginative
storm method.
As we've developed it, we'verealized the value We've always
done this but didn't quiterealize why but the value of
reading what you write out loud,either right after you've
(10:47):
written it or generated it or,as a last thing, before you send
it out into the world, Becausewhen you read something on the
page, you're critical.
you're back in school, you're inhigh school right.
You know there's gonna be redmarks on that page, or you're
reading a novel and you have tocritique it, or whatever.
(11:08):
You know, but you're in thatcritical, judging, rational,
inner critic mind.
That's what's leading thecaravan here.
But when you read something outloud, you can't change anything
.
If you're reading, you can'tstop to change it because now
you're not reading.
So it keeps you in the flow ofwhat you wrote, whether it's
(11:29):
totally raw material orsomething that's fairly finished
.
But what happens is that whenthose words that you put on the
page page or screen, you knowwhatever those words are now
being made being brought alive,they've got breath and warmth
from your voice and, as you know, as you speak them aloud and it
(11:52):
doesn't need to be anybody elsein the room, it doesn't matter
they're making patterns on theair.
You're actually affecting theworld.
The physics of the room you'rein are not the same as they were
before you started speaking.
Now, this is a kind of I feelthat.
(12:12):
I feel that it seems like asmall thing but it's actually a
really, really big thing becauseit gives it starts to give you
the confidence that your voice,written and now read aloud, can
make a difference in the worldand a difference to you.
Because what happens is whenyou come to some combination of
(12:35):
words, some image, some ideathat you like, you think, oh,
that's kind of cool, you knowwhere did that come from?
You get a little dopamine rushin your body.
Your body goes mm-hmm, yes, Ido like that, and of course it
wants more, yeah.
So this is one of the ways inwhich you become familiar and
(13:00):
kind of tender with your ownvoice.
You know it's sort of in afunny way, like a parent with a
child.
You know it's not like youthink your kid is perfect, but
you love it for what it can beI'm saying it, but he or she,
whatever, for what your childcan be, and you love your child
(13:23):
for their faults, not evendespite their faults.
You know those faults might bestrengths in some other fashion
if we can just develop that.
And so that's the relationshipyou start to get with your own
voice when you read your workaloud.
But it doesn't happen if youleave it lying, kind of, you
know, unanimated and comatose onthe page.
(13:43):
Yeah, so that's the absolutesecret.
Amber Annette (13:48):
Are you familiar?
As you're talking, I'm remindedof the quote right high edit
sober.
Have you ever heard that before?
No, I don't know who said that.
It actually.
I think the quote was rightdrunk edit sober.
I changed it to right high editsober because that's what it
(14:09):
feels like when I write.
I get almost this high, itbecomes like something just
becomes, it just starts coming.
It comes out with the ethers,the universe, like whatever just
comes to me.
Allegra Huston (14:23):
It comes out of your imagination, which has
Absolutely, and isn't itinteresting?
I mean there is Well.
Amber Annette (14:29):
is it coming from my imagination or from my
intuition?
That's a great question.
Allegra Huston (14:34):
Well, I think that there are a lot of words
for something that is roughlythe same thing, and there's no
need for us to rationally labelwhat aspect of this.
We could call it the universe,we could call it the collective
unconscious, we could call ityour intuition, we could call it
(14:56):
imagination or all of it.
Yeah, exactly, I mean, I thinkyour imagination is your
intuition.
It is hooked into something.
Whether that is whatever wewanna call it, it doesn't really
matter.
For me, the point is that it'snot your rational mind, it's not
your critical, judging,egocentric, frightened, anxious,
(15:18):
ambitious mind.
So, when you are drunk, likethe author of your quote or high
or whatever that's like, whypeople wanna get drunk and high
right Is because they wanna shutthat mind up.
And there are ways to do itsubstance free as well, which is
what we're about.
(15:39):
I mean, hey, you could do thison mushrooms if you want.
But what we have found?
Amber Annette (15:45):
is-?
Well, that would be aninteresting writing retreat,
Exactly right, maybe we canorganize it.
Allegra Huston (15:50):
You can come to Taos.
Amber Annette (15:52):
I'm in.
I'm in on that one.
I'm curious.
Allegra Huston (15:55):
But anyway, point being, you can, when you
use writing prompts, even ifyou're working on something very
specific, you can use totallyrandom writing prompts and your
rational mind, that part thatalways wants to be driving the
bus is basically well, I don'tknow, what am I supposed to do
(16:15):
with that?
That doesn't have anything todo with the story I wanna tell.
Great, because now yourimagination can go.
Well, let me see what I coulddo with it.
Yeah, so it's a sort of there'sa similar, it's a similar
action and I'm sure you I meanfrom what I know of your
business coaching you'rebasically doing a similar
(16:38):
process.
Yeah, definitely, getting outof like all those anxieties and
judgments and what ifs andsaying just- so I call those
green lights activities right.
Amber Annette (16:50):
So I don't know if where you lived when you were
a kid, did you ever play likered light, green light I think
so.
Allegra Huston (16:56):
I lived all over .
It's a long story.
Amber Annette (16:59):
The concept of the game right is in class.
We would always play it at agym class and all of the class
would stand at one end of theroom and whoever was the
instructor, the red light, greenlight person would stand at the
other and the goal of the gamewas to get to that person as
(17:20):
quickly and as swiftly aspossible.
So the person would stand thereand they would say green light
and you would run as fast as youcould to that person and then
when they said red light, youhad to freeze and it was who
just ever got to the other sideas one, whoever got there first.
And I love that concept formanifesting, and not just for
(17:44):
manifesting, but from a mindsetperspective, of when we actually
give ourselves the space to dogreen light activities, like for
me.
It could be coloring, it couldbe walking, it could be creative
visualizations or meditations,whatever.
It is right Like I have my ownlist when I do that.
I find it really fascinatingthat that's when those ideas
(18:05):
come in for me to write.
That's when those activitiescome in.
It's in that green light spacewhere the universe can, your
imagination, it can get through.
There's nothing in your way,there's nothing standing in
between you and that newcreative divine download, and
that's what we're talking abouthere.
We're using different languageto explain.
(18:27):
Yes, in order to receive atyour highest level, you have to
be in an energy that matchesthat type of frequency.
And when you do that, man, it'samazing what can start to come
in.
Allegra Huston (18:39):
It's true, and the wonderful thing about it is
that or traditionally writerscall that the muse I'm waiting
for the muse to speak to me, buta lot of them would wait and
wait, and wait and wait and themuse wouldn't come.
And I'm sure you know we don'tcall it the muse now, but that's
what's called writer's block,right?
So wonderful thing that we'verealized is actually you can
(19:02):
call that energy up.
You can put yourself in thatgreen light frame of mind for
whatever activity.
It doesn't have to be writingat will easily.
It's actually not hard.
You just need the technique todo it.
And you can do it in 10 minutes, which is what's so lovely.
(19:24):
I mean, all of our writingexercises are.
The longest one we do is 10minutes.
So why?
Because if it's only 10 minutes, you're not trying to write
well.
You only wrote it in 10 minutes.
How could it possibly be good?
It's completely ridiculous.
And you don't have.
Amber Annette (19:40):
of course, you end up writing much better in 10
minutes than you've done in anhour, as lots of people and I
bet they write much more thanjust 10 minutes, because I know
for myself if I just sit downwith like a prompt and sometimes
it's just the act of gettingstarted can create the magic and
the momentum that we're lookingfor.
It's just like going for megoing to the gym.
(20:01):
The biggest battle in going tothe gym is getting my gym shoes
on.
Allegra Huston (20:06):
That's it Once, I'm there.
Amber Annette (20:07):
I love it.
I'm like this is the best dayof my life.
I feel amazing, I look amazing.
I leave there happy, motivatedto come again.
The hardest part is putting thegym shoes and I think, as a
writer, the hardest part is justhaving the sacred space to
actually sit down and startwriting.
Allegra Huston (20:24):
It just you don't need to need the sacred
space because that's anotherthing that people think.
That stops you.
It's like oh, I don't have.
Stephen King tells me I have tohave my own space If I'm gonna
write.
Julia Cameron, who wrote theArtist's Way, and my creative
collaborator, james Navey,worked a lot with Julia Cameron,
so there's quite a lot ofArtist's Way DNA in what we do.
(20:45):
Julia wrote lots of her booksat red lights, sitting in the
car waiting for the light toturn on.
Amber Annette (20:51):
I write in the shower.
Allegra Huston (20:52):
Yeah, exactly, you can write it while you're
waiting in the grocery storeline, because you don't have to
be quote unquote writing.
Well, you're just generatingmaterial and as you play with,
you're standing in the checkoutline at the grocery store and
there's all kinds of words allaround you on all kinds of
(21:13):
packaging.
Start putting them together andthat generative material.
You know it's like a muscle.
You stretch and strengthen yourimagination the more that you
do that.
And then when you come to writewhatever you kind of really
wanna write quote unquote, youhave that ability to just drop
into silliness.
(21:33):
And when you can be playfulwith words, that relieves all of
that oh my God, I gotta get itright, I've gotta get it right
School kind of thing, and whenyou are playful, that's where
the surprises come from.
That's where the originalitycomes from, because nobody plays
the same, so that's where yourauthenticity on the page comes
(21:56):
from, when you can be playfulwith words.
Amber Annette (22:00):
Yeah, it's also fun you know, you do it again.
I'm obsessed with writing.
I write every day.
I mean, if you could see myoffice right now, I mean, and
I'm very still much a paper andpen girl like I still hand write
everything and that's just myprocess.
Allegra Huston (22:19):
I try, that's really important.
Amber Annette (22:21):
It's really important for you, for our
audience can't our listeners, ofcourse, can't see this but I'm
folding up a notebook and thisis my book.
I mean, this is where it's likebroke.
Allegra Huston (22:35):
And can I?
say that is the perfectimaginative storm write what you
don't know notebook.
I wrote my entire.
I generated the material.
I will rephrase the materialfor my memoir, love Child in 10
minute chunks in notebooks thatlooked exactly like that.
So I'm gonna describe what thatnotebook looks like, because I
(22:58):
think this is you have, justbecause you are, you know, in
tune.
You came up with, you know theeasy ways to do this thing right
by hand and write in a cheapspiral notebook.
That's really cheerful looking,ambers is.
It has pink stripes and shinypink polka dots on the pink
(23:20):
stripes.
Okay, perfect, I want notebookslike that.
You don't have to write well ina notebook like that.
It's a fun notebook, it'slively.
You wanna pick it up?
It's not intimidating, I meanif you're-.
Amber Annette (23:35):
I cannot write at my MacBook.
I have not wrote anything.
The only time I ever writeanything on my MacBook is
typically if it's an emailresponse.
Everything I write ishandwritten.
It's just.
It's just my process.
Allegra Huston (23:49):
There's a reason why you've come to that.
And also you've got this lovely, quite large page, but you know
not college rules.
It has to be wider spaces, ascollege rule makes you have to
squeeze in between the lines.
They're too tight.
But if you're a writer, okay.
People are like, hmm, what am Igonna give you for Christmas?
I'll give you a.
Amber Annette (24:08):
Really beautiful notebook.
Oh yeah, that's what my kidsget me every year.
15 of those Can you write inGel pen oh yeah, Gel pens
notebooks you can't.
Allegra Huston (24:17):
I can't write in beautiful notebooks because I
feel like I'm gonna mess them up.
I don't wanna write badly in abeautiful notebook, so it puts
me back in that.
Oh, I have to write well.
Frame of mind.
So I have all Are you still?
Amber Annette (24:30):
that way.
Allegra Huston (24:31):
Oh yeah, absolutely, let me try to use
some of my Let me use a little Ialso wanna talk about why not
to write on a computer becauseyou brought that up too Because,
again, you see it, it lookslike writing, it's writing.
You can easily edit, you canchange it, you can go back,
which seems like a wonderfulthing.
But now, okay, immediatelyyou're back in your critical
(24:53):
judging mind and you're out ofthe flow.
Yeah, there is a reason towrite by hand, and it doesn't
matter.
If you can't read your writing,type it up after.
Immediately after you wrote it,you can type it up, and if you
don't read that word you imagineproperly, your imagination will
stick some other word in there.
It doesn't matter, you don'thave to.
It's not the Cuban missilecrisis.
(25:13):
You don't have to be totallyfaithful.
Yes, the point is anything thatwill stop you judging or
editing or criticizing orthinking how do I do this right?
What should I do next?
Amber Annette (25:28):
Yeah.
Will it stop you.
So I wanna give.
This is the invitation for you.
Allegra Huston (25:33):
You have pressure points.
Do you know this?
You have pressure points on theoutside of your hand.
Oh, they move across the paperand the edge of your hand
touches the paper very slightly.
Those pressure points also giveyou a dopamine release.
Amber Annette (25:50):
Hmm, that's interesting, and that goes very
well Bibi.
Allegra Huston (25:54):
Reminds us of being a kid and being creative
and drawing with crayon on paper.
So again we're in a.
You know it puts you in a happyplace.
Very interesting.
It's way better in a happyplace than in a judging place.
Amber Annette (26:09):
Well, and I will say, if I'm in not a good mood
typically which isn't very oftenI'm very, very grateful for
that.
But if I'm in a funk, writingwill typically be my go-to
practice to get me out of myfunk, and sometimes it's just
the practice of I call mypractice coffee with the
(26:29):
universe and that's where I domy morning.
Whatever you wanna call it, yourmorning pages, my journaling,
my diary it's kind of acombination of all of those
things together and I've beendoing that for and since I, I
mean my life has just changeddramatically and I go to that
practice every single time I'min a funk and it's what I mean
(26:50):
it's got me through some darkdays.
Writing is, in so many ways Ifeel like, kind of saved my life
.
I mean, you know, we haven'ttalked about your past.
I've talked a little bit aboutmy past on this podcast, but I
didn't have a great childhoodeither.
But I would write fantasystories.
I would write, you know, Iwould make up stories.
(27:10):
I would make up, create.
You know, fantasy andcreativity has always just been
part of who I am, and so thosestories got me through some
really dark times as a child andwriting.
I'm still grateful for thepractice of it because it gets
me, even when I'm having a badday, man coffee with the
universe, I'm out of it in ashort amount of time.
Allegra Huston (27:32):
So we have a prompt it's in the second
session of write what you don'tknow the book and there's a
self-paced online course that'son Teachable and we have a
prompt in there.
That's I effing hate.
We call it.
It's ranting.
That whole session is aboutranting.
But when you really let go andrant about something that you
(27:57):
effing hate like you know I'vedone you know roses with the
thorns cut off, or manicuresalons, or the lines in the
Walmart parking lot I did areally good one about that you
start laughing at your bad mood,and laughing, of course, is the
antidote to anything.
Amber Annette (28:18):
Everything right.
Yeah, it really.
I agree with you that thelaughter frequency can bring to
you anything you want.
It really can, including newideas, including creativity, so
for sure.
So, in all of this, in all ofyour success, tell me, all of
(28:41):
these projects that you havebeen able to bring to the world,
what are you most proud ofcreating?
Allegra Huston (28:47):
This book and the course actually maybe the
course, more than the book ofwrite what you don't know.
Well, I'm proud of it because Ireally think that we've created
Nave and I have created amethod that nobody has quite
done this before.
We didn't set out to takewisdom from various different
(29:08):
writing teachers.
We set out to formulate thewisdom that we've accumulated
over decades and working apartand together.
But there is no other book orcourse that combines both a
method and inspiration and thepracticality of 60, or however
many it is writing prompts.
(29:29):
So I'm proud that we'veactually brought something new
into the world and, moreimportantly, that that thing is,
I believe, has the potential tobe incredibly useful to kind of
basically millions of people.
We've been doing we've had ourwriters group every Saturday now
(29:51):
for over two and a half yearsand people who arrive and say,
well, I'm not a writer, I'm justhere because my girlfriend
asked me to come, or my mother,my kid or whatever they say that
doing this has enriched theirlives, it nourishes your spirit,
because when you write fromthis very open, exploratory,
(30:14):
surprise me, mindset, you noticethings, your awareness becomes
expanded, you start tounderstand yourself better, you
understand the people in yourlife better, so everything that
reduces judgment in your lifebasically makes you a happier
person.
So this is a practice that doesthat, so it's very useful, I
(30:39):
believe.
I mean, I know this myself.
I'm the poster child for thismethod as a writer, so I know
how useful it is for writers.
But what I have seen, which Ididn't really know until a
couple of years ago, is theincredible benefits that it has
brought to people who have noambitions to be writers, who you
(31:02):
know, maybe people who write asa practice, not aiming for
publication, which is a veryvaluable thing or but people who
simply this is the only youknow they write for an hour or a
week in our writing group andthey won't miss it for the world
.
So to be able to bring this easy, enjoyable, joyful approach to
(31:27):
creativity and writing is one ofthe cheapest forms of
creativity there is.
You don't need to buy paints orcanvas, or you know basketry
equipment or yarn or you knowanything like that.
You don't need to have a garden, you know it's a very
accessible, easy, quick,affordable form of creativity,
(31:47):
and I think human beings arecreative creatures.
We need to feel that, even ifyou know, even if that's not our
day job.
You know, our day job may bewith numbers and business and
whatever, and that may bevitally important also in
(32:08):
supporting whatever the creativeside of it is.
But the creative side is alsovitally important in supporting
the numbers and business side,because that's what makes us
feel, that's what gives us joy,rather than achievement,
satisfaction, ambition kind of.
That's a different kind ofhappiness, but that heart
(32:31):
happiness, that sense ofself-realization I've just said
that as if I'd somehow coinedthe term, but it is you are, you
know of yourself actually beingthere, not anybody else's idea
of you, not what you're supposedto be, but just you.
(32:53):
That puts you in a verypowerful position to do whatever
it is you want to do, whetherit's right.
Amber Annette (33:01):
So much more than writing.
Allegra Huston (33:02):
Yeah, bring a product out into the world or a
service out into the world or,you know, create some other kind
of difference in the world.
Maybe you're an activist ofsome kind, but you need that
basis within yourself and, as Isay, until a few years ago I
didn't realize that what we hadactually had that value to it,
(33:25):
as well as simply the writingvalue.
Amber Annette (33:29):
Well, I can promise you I'm assuming it's on
Amazon.
I'm hoping it's on Amazon, itis reader 65, razor I have a
beautiful collection of booksabout writing that I cannot wait
to grab yours and add it tomine.
I mean that, and I'm superexcited for our audience to grab
it too.
It's right what you don't know.
And it's a book, it's a methodand a course, and I cannot wait
(33:54):
to dive more into that and it'sall of the things that you're
creating the course isn't.
Allegra Huston (34:01):
Obviously the course isn't on Amazon, it's on
Teachable.
But if you go toimaginativesstormcom that's our
method, it's called theimaginatives storm method You'll
find links to the course, tothe book and to the workshops
that we teach in person, bothlive on Zoom and live in person.
Amber Annette (34:17):
Perfect, and we're also gonna leave a bunch
of notes inside, or a bunch oflinks to your books and your
website inside of the notessection of the podcast.
So I just this was a fantasticconversation.
I love having creativeentrepreneurs on here, and I
just hope that our audiencetakes something away from this
(34:40):
that can inspire and spark themto have their own, their own
writing practice, because, Idon't know, sometimes I really
believe like writing has savedmy life in so many ways.
So, and I just appreciate youtaking the time to be here with
us so now we're recording thisepisode in July, the end of July
(35:02):
, and Allegra has still not seenor has not listened to any of
the podcasts yet, so she doesn'tknow what's about to be
unfolded in front of her here.
So, in true the businesspsychic fashion, here's how we
wrap up our show.
I am going to give you, I'mgonna tap in here and give you
some insight, some psychicinsight, of what I see and sense
(35:23):
for your business for, I don'tknow, maybe the next six to 12
months, and then I'm gonna askyou a super important question
and we are gonna wrap up.
So are you ready?
I'm ready, all right, so I justneed kind of a second here.
Okay, so, okay.
So the first thing that I'mhearing is the word improv, and
(35:45):
I'm not sure if this issomething you already do or have
done before, but maybe it'ssomething you've done before,
because I feel like the universeis kind of showing me like dust
this, like kind of dust, it offthe shelf kind of thing, and
it's improv writing, an improvwriting class, versus like an
improv acting class.
But this is an improv writingclass that I see you hosting and
I see you doing it in twodifferent ways.
(36:07):
Number one, I see you doing itlike an online masterclass or
something along those lines.
But number two is I see peoplestarting to hire you to come to
their own retreats, to theirretreats or other high level
workshops with other writers,where it is like one of the
go-to, like in-personexperiences for the improv
(36:29):
writing.
So I'm not sure if that'ssomething you've ever done
before or have thought aboutdoing, but I love it and the
energy behind it is really goodand I feel like it kind of
pushes you out of your comfortzone a little bit.
So there's something about that.
The second thing that I reallyam feeling for you is like a
soul writing retreat where it'smaybe taking, and this feels
(36:54):
like it's something just youhosting.
I love your business partner.
For you he feels amazing.
But this feels like somethingintimate for you, something
deeper, something more expansive, that you can really spend some
time with I don't know betweensix and 10 women in this.
It just feels like a super coolvibe.
I would say like I'm gonna goItaly.
(37:14):
I'm gonna say Italy becausethat's just what I heard.
So I feel like there'ssomething in that space for you
that can just set your heart andsoul on fire.
I mean, it definitely feelsprofitable, but it's more what
it does talk about like a greenlight activity.
I need you to like, I reallyneed you to sit with that vision
(37:35):
, because it is a way I amseeing you shine that I feel
like you've never had theopportunity to shine before.
And then the third thing is I dosee some new collaborations
coming Now.
Whether that be tied to theimprov writing, I don't think so
.
I think there's a newcollaboration coming for you.
It feels like around Novemberthis collaboration is going to
(37:58):
lead to a collaborative bookeffort.
That is like the power ofwriting something in that genre
of and it's you've got somegreat energy of what's about to
come and what's kind ofunfolding here over the next six
to 12 months, but a bigger onethat me, a bigger one that I'm
(38:21):
not.
This is a bigger one.
I feel like you are also beinginvited to revisit publishing,
or co-investing in a newpublishing maybe a publisher
(38:43):
that's wanting to sell there'ssomething like that that's gonna
be coming, I would say Februaryof 2024.
And you need to say yes to theopportunity when it comes.
It is a yes, even though onpaper it might look like a no.
Analytically it might look likea no, profit and loss, it might
(39:05):
look like a no, but I amtelling you it is a yes.
You are going to buy it at alow and you are gonna like turn
it into a high or at least be apart of somebody who does at
least be an investor in it,something along those lines.
Because I think there'ssomething that's missing right
(39:26):
now from your business, which isyou have such an innate eye for
talent, talented and giftedwriters, and I just feel like
you have the right connectionsand the right amount of
mentoring in you and the rightamount of magic to bring all of
that together to really bringsome gifted and talented writers
(39:49):
to this world.
That might have went unseen.
Allegra Huston (39:52):
Okay, well, thank you.
Some of those I alreadyrecognize, like the
collaboration in November aboutthe power of writing.
I know what that is.
That's amazing, that Idefinitely know.
And, of course, improv writingthat's one of the words that
we've used to do.
I mean that is what we're doing.
It's absolutely improv.
(40:13):
You don't know what you'regonna write.
You set a timer for 10 minutes,you give yourself a writing
prompt and let's see what comesout.
So it is improv.
We didn't use that word becauseI think we found that there
were other people using it orsomething, and so we wanted to
keep to the words that wereauthentic to the 20 years that
we've spent doing this.
(40:33):
But it is absolutely what we do.
Very cool.
So yeah, and going to otherpeople, sort of parachuting into
other people's retreats thiswould be really fun.
I mean, I do my own.
I teach a memoir five dayworkshop in.
Amber Annette (40:52):
Nova.
Allegra Huston (40:52):
Scotia.
I just did one in May and thenext one is gonna be October
2024.
October next year, but I thinkwe're gonna be doing one.
Navi and I, together are gonnabe doing one in Taos, here in
Taos, new Mexico, where I live,next April.
So we haven't set the dates forthat, but we're working with
this beautiful old bed andbreakfast which you know all a
(41:15):
number of writers have livedthere DH Lawrence.
Oh cool and it's this beautifulnine room bed and breakfast.
So, and also, when you said sixto what, did you say six to 10
women?
Absolutely All of our workshopsmax out at 10, sometimes at
eight, yeah.
Amber Annette (41:32):
And.
Allegra Huston (41:32):
I do work writing workshops.
Amber Annette (41:33):
There's an intimacy, for sure.
I could feel that.
Allegra Huston (41:37):
And it's important to you know to feel
when you're generating rawmaterial.
It's important to feel safewith the people that you're in
the room with and it's notpossible to feel that, however
wonderful 20 people are, there'sjust too many people.
Amber Annette (41:52):
Yes, yes, I agree , I love to keep.
I host retreats also and I loveto keep them as intimate as
possible to make the biggestimpact as possible.
We should hang you and I shoulddo one together.
Sounds never, I agree, we'llhave an offline conversation for
sure.
Okay, are you ready?
Allegra Huston (42:10):
for the question .
I'm ready for the question.
Hit me.
Amber Annette (42:15):
If you could connect to anybody in spirit, a
past loved one, a celebrity,anybody at all that has crossed
over and receive a message fromthem, who would it be?
My mother, okay.
So I'm gonna tap in here andI'm gonna connect with her, and
(42:43):
so the first thing that shepresents to me and I get this
image often from our past lovedones that are women, whether it
be our mothers, our grandmothers, great grandmothers, ancestors
but she presents this beautifulrose to you, allegra.
So I don't know if that'ssomething that you've ever
connected with her or sensed orseen from her, but from here for
(43:04):
sure and going forward, I wantyou to really feel the energy
and her spirit around you.
Whenever you encounter, anytimeyou encounter, roses.
It's just a beautiful,beautiful feminine energy that
she sends.
And there is she, just.
She shows me the image of liketaking your face and kind of
(43:27):
cupping it in her hands, exceptit's the face of you when you
were a child, and she is justshowing me how just precious you
, just how that's her word thatshe uses just how precious you
were to her and there was somuch that she didn't get to say
(43:48):
and that you didn't get to do.
But she has been.
She has been your guardianangel.
She's showing me like she'sbeen your wings in times that
you didn't know that she wasyour wings and you've never been
in the shadow to her ever, shesays.
You've never been in the shadow, so I don't know what that
(44:09):
means or if that means somethingspecial to you but, she yes, I
just got that.
Just a beautiful energy aroundher.
So I don't know if she passedwhen you were quite young I was
four, you were four Okay, andshe shows me when you like, she
(44:37):
shows me you coloring.
Do you remember?
On the floor it feels like ablank piece of paper and did you
?
I mean, most little girls do.
That's not an uncommon image,but and it just feels to me.
She's showing me like all thesedifferent acts.
It's almost like this quicktimeline of your life, from this
(44:57):
point where you were a littlegirl coloring on the ground all
the way till now, like she'salways, always been there,
always.
Allegra Huston (45:08):
Can I share, and if you don't have time,
obviously you'll cut it out, butcan I share with you this
extraordinary writing promptthat I was given as a gift came
totally out of the blue.
A woman named Erica Heller,who's the daughter of Joseph
Heller, who wrote Catchment 22,emailed me literally out of
(45:28):
nowhere never met her in my lifeand asked me to contribute to a
book, an anthology, that sheedited and it's published now.
It's called One Last Lunch, afinal meal with those who meant
so much to us, and the principleof this book is that she asked
49 people to imagine a lunchwith someone they loved who is
(45:52):
now dead.
And she asked me in that veryfirst email to write a lunch
with my mother and I said yes,because there were other really
interesting people contributingto the anthology.
And then I immediately got soterrified because I thought it
would just be emotionallygrueling and I was like a wimp.
(46:12):
And six months went by and Ididn't write it.
And she hounded me.
She really wanted me in thisbook, which was amazing to me
that you know.
She bothered to spend this timechasing somebody she didn't
know, who wasn't doing what she,what they had said they were
gonna do, and so eventually Isat down and started generating
(46:33):
material for it, because Ididn't wanna not write it,
because I was scared that was areally bad reason to not do
something, did not do anythingand, massively to my surprise,
not only was it not emotionallygrueling, it was one of the most
rewarding, healing, joyfulexperiences that I've ever had,
(46:54):
because I got my mom back andthey had this incredible
reversal in it because, ofcourse, my whole life I lost her
.
when I was four.
I wanted a mother to comfort meand then, as I'm sitting there
across this, imaginary lunchtable in a restaurant that was
her favorite restaurant that Iknew in London.
She was 39 when she died, so shewas in love with this one and
(47:21):
with problems with that one andworried about her kids, and she
was in the middle of all theturbulence that you're in when
you're 39.
And I was in my early fiftiesand so, having wished for her
comfort, I could comfort her andtell her it would all turn out
okay and that was the mostincredible experience.
(47:42):
So I just wanted to share that.
I think maybe if you have timeto talk about it and share that,
I think maybe if you have timeto include this in the podcast,
your readers might enjoy thebook.
That book also is available on.
Amazon or that prompt Last lunch.
Well, the prompt.
If you go toimaginativesstormcom, we are
also on a platform called Circleand there's a link that read
(48:05):
what other people have written.
It will take you to the Circleand I've made a place on the
Circle, with Erica's permission,for people to post their last
lunches.
Very cool.
I've told other people about itand in fact I taught a course
at the Taos Writers Conferenceabout two weeks ago and one of
the women there wrote a lastlunch and she's just posted it.
(48:29):
So I have to go read that.
I was off on a river trip, so Iwasn't.
I had no electronics of anykind for the last few days, but
yeah, it's everyone who's doneit.
I mean, and it is frightening,not that many people are willing
to step up to this, but thepeople who have done it have all
had the same experience thatI've had, that they were so
(48:51):
surprised by the integrationthat came to them as a result.
Amber Annette (48:59):
By writing.
Allegra Huston (49:00):
Yeah Well, thank you so you don't have to put.
Amber Annette (49:03):
I'm, of course, gonna include that.
That's a.
I mean, not only was it abeautiful reading, but that's a
beautiful way for our listenersto be able to connect with their
past loved ones too.
And that's so much of what Ilove doing with this podcast and
with my gift and is connectingto those that have crossed over,
connecting to creativity, andthis podcast has just been
(49:26):
amazing to kind of pull all ofthose components all into one.
So I thank you so much forbeing here and for being a part
of this.
Can't wait for our audience tohear it and we will have all
kinds of different links and herwebsite, allegra's website, to
go check out.
I know I'm gonna be buying theright what you don't know book
(49:48):
as well, as, I think, definitelyplaying with that thought of
the last lunch.
So, allegra, thank you so muchfor being here.
This was amazing.
I can't wait to have you backand hear about your business
reading and hear how thosethings are going that I kind of
had a psychic forecast for.
And until next time, go be inyour magic and I will catch you
(50:11):
on our next episode.
Thanks for listening to thisepisode.
I hope it inspired and ignitedyour entrepreneurial spirit, in
turn of your intuition and trustin the universe.
Make sure to check out the shownotes section for access to my
transformation suite All of freeresources, tools and content to
(50:34):
help you grow your businesswhile staying true to your
soul's purpose.
Until next week, go make somebusiness magic full sister.
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