September 2025, I participated in a program that changed me. Not in the, I now have a hand growing out of my back way or anything like that (not that there’s anything wrong with that; everyone’s welcome here!). 

It was a sneaky little shift.

What has shifted isn’t what I do, but how I approach the work of book coaching and what it truly means to be a creative mentor.

WHAT I’M ABSOLUTELY NOT ABOUT:

• Tactics that shame writers into writing every single day (I don’t even write every single day)
• Forcing writers to choose a structure or a plan or some process that doesn’t fit them
• Telling writers what to write or what they should write or how they should treat their story
• Goals that focus solely on production and output

WHAT I AM ABOUT:

I strive to create a safe place that gives writers permission to keep going at the pace that works for them with a process that actually fits them.

The moments that breathe magic into my soul are when writers confide in me about how they feel about their writing, the connections they make with their stories and within their stories, the way creativity starts to show up for them the more they show up for it.

The joy they’ve found. 

The liberation and release of not having to do it a certain way.

My approach has always been about: 

• Listening and reflecting. 
• Guiding through curiosity.
• Giving room for change and expansion and ideas to incubate/marinate/gestate/fester (chose your favorite, mine’s fester).
• Trusting the intelligence of the creative process 
• and honoring the individuality of every writer’s process.

Or non-process… like mine. 🙃

This clarity deepened for me through the aforementioned certification program I completed in December 2026. A 12-week intensive program with a final project and practicum that rivaled a college course.

A program that focuses on creativity as something we listen to and partner with, not something we control. 

The Book That Broke Me (and the Program That Brought Me Back)

I was in the middle of writing what I called, “the next Liane Moriarty.” 

A domestic thriller, no supernatural elements, nothing weird, nothing too me. I was writing for readers who didn’t know me. Writing to impress. Writing to please. Writing to earn validation.

And I was stuck.

Lost, really.

I didn’t know who I was as a writer anymore. I’d forced myself to keep writing every morning whether I wanted to or not, convinced that discipline meant showing up even when it felt lifeless. I had more bad writing days than good (even though I believe there are no wasted words). 

I was going through the motions. 

I was trying to be someone I wasn’t.

And then I saw it. 

Nina Hart opened up her “Writing from the Top of Your Head®” facilitator training officially. 

I’d been on her list for a while, quietly soaking up her words, loving her approach to creativity. When she announced the training again, it was like a creative calling. The timing was finally right, everything felt right, and I jumped in.

What I didn’t realize was that this wasn’t just a certification program.

It was a homecoming.

The Shove I Didn’t Know I Needed

Nina didn’t just teach the training. She walked us through it as students first. 

That experience of being inside her program, not just observing it from the outside, showed me how truly transformational it is. And not just the whole thing.

Even just the first module transformed my writing life.

Honestly? It didn’t just give me a shift.

It gave me a shove. Both hands planted on my back SHOVE. Maybe even a wildly flung kick for good measure!

It was a push right back into the writer I’m meant to be.

The one who writes with joy.

The one who doesn’t water down her weird.

The one who embraces the supernatural and the oddities of the unknown.

Absurdities and surrealism!

Every module after that gave me even more permission to show up as Claire L. Fishback, not some shadow version of what I thought a “marketable author” should be. 

It reminded me what it means to feel lit up by my writing. It reconnected me to the thrill of experimenting, of exploring, of writing something I can’t quite explain but need to say.

Trusting the Process and Myself

Since completing the program, my entire approach to writing has changed.

I’ve learned to trust the process. To trust the images and visions and voices that come to me. I’ve learned to stop trying to control the outcome or chase the outline. To stop strangling the story with expectations. 

Now, I’m letting the work become what it’s meant to be, and that begins with trusting myself and my creative instincts.

I’m working on a collection of pieces I wrote during the training, plus a longer project called The Alaska Incident—a found footage–style piece that’s raw, disjointed, and bursting with emotion. 

It’s weird. It’s intense. And it’s exactly what I want to be writing.

That’s the real gift this program gave me: it reawakened the emotional core of my writing. 

I already help other writers do this in my coaching, but having that connection rekindled in myself? That is gold. That is magic.

And it’s only the beginning. I can feel the next novel calling—and this time, I’m meeting it as my full, wild, creative self.

From Student to Guide: Sharing the Magic

As I step into this added layer as a Writing from the Top of Your Head® certified facilitator, I couldn’t be more excited to share this magic with my 1:1 clients in our coaching sessions (I learned so many new tools), but also as a group program. 

This isn’t just a writing class.

It’s a reclamation. 

A remembering. 

A return to the version of you who loves to write.

So if you’re…

• feeling lost in your creativity
• struggling to show up or burned out by structure and/or expectation
• overwhelmed by all the writing rules you’ve absorbed
• unsure of who you are as a writer anymore
• or trying to squeeze yourself into a box that doesn’t fit

Writing From the Top of Your Head® will change you. I can almost guarantee that.

This program is for the writer in you who wants to come home. The one who remembers what it felt like to create freely, before the pressure, before the rules, before the fear.

This is your invitation to reawaken your inner baby writer (or creative beast, if you don’t like babies 👹).

I would love invite you onto the waitlist for the next live round of this transformational program! It changed everything for me, and I believe it can do the same for you.

👉Join the Writing From the Top of Your Head® waitlist here!

Joining the waitlist does not obligate you to register. It just tells me you’re interested, and you’ll be the first one invited inside when I open it up again!