We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sandra Postma a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sandra, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

At the end of 2021 I started my training to become a book coach with Author Accelerator. I received my certification six months later. Even though I raced through the programme because I loved the work so much, it had been a long road to get there.

For the past decade I had sought to spend the little energy that I still had – due to several debilitating chronic illnesses – in a way that fulfilled me. During this period I wrote for myself. Short stories, blogs, novels and even scripts; I wrote a lot.

Then I found book coaching through a lucky online search and my whole world opened up.

Though my degrees in English and Journalism helped me in my journey to become a writer myself, the book coaching training I received – to help writers write their books, from initial idea to final draft – was of a whole other level.

During the training I learned how to run a business, but more importantly, I learned how to coach a writer both on a craft and on an emotional level. It of course makes sense that I would learn how to coach writing skills, but despite my extensive background in literature and writing, I learned a whole new way of looking at storytelling. It has proven to be invaluable as a coach, and as a writer myself.

The training also involved helping a writer on an emotional level. Creatives are often sensitive beings and writing involves expressing yourself as honestly as you can. That is no easy feat and often comes with a lot of self-doubt. As their coach, I help writers and writers-to-be with that lack of belief in themselves, but also in their writing skills and in their voice. I help them see their worth, how to keep themselves motivated and help them through the inevitable dark days of writing. As writers we often don’t even realise how much our mind impacts our writing, but in my work I spend as much time working with the human behind the story as I do on the story itself.

I wish I had known before this training how important commitment and perseverance are as a writer. Writing a novel is a lengthy process, one that requires full commitment to tell that story before another. Writers are notorious for suffering from Shiny Object Syndrome. I am no different. We are creatives and we love coming up with new ideas and new storylines and new worlds. It is what gets us out of bed. This is why we can get bored of the stories we are telling. There’s a new exciting one to discover right over there! But when you want to be a writer who finishes stories, you have to commit to it and you have to persevere. And these are not easy things to do when writing one story can take years. That’s a serious commitment. This is why for a long time I was content with writing short stories. I had so many ideas that I loved, it made more sense to write one a month than start one novel a month and abandon it the next for the next shiny story idea. This year though, this changed. I suddenly felt compelled to finish a novel to the full final draft. For this I knew I had to dig deep into my perseverance. I am still working on that story and I know it might take me years to write it. But I’m committed and I will persevere.

It is a skill that I admire in many of my clients: the deep will to finish their novel. To show themselves that they can, to make sure their story is heard and to make their lifelong dream come true of writing a book. To help writers get there is a magical feeling that I never get tired of. In turn it also inspires me to work on my own skillset as a writer, and as a business owner who is also quite familiar with Shiny Object Syndrome.

My illnesses however are all chronic, which means I live with physical and mental illness every day. This has a big effect on my work as a book coach and a writer. It does mean I know what challenges the writers I coach deal with intimately. While it’s super hard not to be able to do this work fulltime, my own experience with the same issues makes me a better coach, and a better writer.

Sandra, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

As a book coach, I help writers who deal with health challenges on a daily basis – physical and mental – write their books. From experience as a woman with over two decades of living with multiple chronic illnesses, I know our situation brings specific challenges to the writing life. I help writers with these challenges while also making sure they write the best book they possibly can.

I work one-on-one with writers and give webinars and workshops to larger groups. It’s deeply fulfilling to work in-depth with a writer over a longer period of time as they write their book. To be so close with someone in that sensitive creative process of bringing a story to life creates a deep bond that is unlike anything else. At the same I love giving my webinars because I get to show a larger audience how much their voice matters and how they can truly be a great writer alongside their illness.

It’s my favourite feeling when I hear back from a person with chronic illness and they tell me that after hearing me talk about the strengths they bring to the writing table that they finally feel like a writer and believe that their voice matters.

I firmly believe that believing in your own voice is key to being a writer. Only when we believe in ourselves can we fully commit to being a writer and to our stories.

For a long time I never believed in my own voice either. Being ill and unemployed, you are told every day that you are not contributing to society and in fact are a burden to it. The effect this message has on your self-esteem can’t be underestimated. With me it went so far that I loathed myself deeply and felt I deserved to be seen as everything negative under the sun. There is only one reason why I no longer believe this to be true and it is power of the online community of other people with chronic illness sharing their stories and beliefs. They made me see that I am not weak, but strong for dealing with all these symptoms and with the emotional pain of them. They made me see that my voice is unique and deserves to be used and heard. The community made me feel seen. It still does. I love now giving back to that same community, to the people only coming into that community now, and help them the way others helped me.

I am currently working on launching my own community platform for people dealing with illness. Because from experience I know that support is vital for anyone living that ill life, that sharing your own stories makes you more confident and that it leads to being able to thrive in life, even when you are ill.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Humans are storytellers. It’s a skill that helps us survive on a daily basis. From connecting to loved ones, to making strangers feel empathy to making sure our kids know that tigers should be avoided, storytelling plays a vital part in society.

It also plays a vital part in expressing ourselves. How often do we say to someone: Let it out! Getting our experiences out helps us process, heal and rejoice. Writing is one way of doing this. Creating stories around this isn’t just ‘escape’’ or ‘a fun hobby’. It’s actual survival.

Being able to help people express their stories in the best way they possibly can while coaching them through the emotions that come with that is fulfilling in a way I can’t describe, especially because in my work it comes with the heavy challenges of being chronically ill. To help people who have felt invisible all their lives, or a large portion of it, come out of their shell and start to use their voice and be seen is a personal mission I will never tire of.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

It wasn’t easy for me to start believing that my own voice was worthy of being heard. After two decades of deteriorating health and that daily message about society and how chronically ill people are mere burdens to it, I felt utterly worthless as a human being only a couple of years ago. And it is so insidious that to this day this belief can creep back into my mind and do a lot of damage. But I have worked hard the last ten years to unlearn it. I use this experience actively in my coaching. To empower writers, but also to have our stories heard. Because stories create a more empathetic world. So the more our voices are heard, the more the world will truly understand our lives and see how much we truly matter.

I now believe that I should no longer stay hidden, but I should be heard by ill people as well as healthy ones. Because what I have to say impacts everyone. Each of us can become sick or disabled overnight and never get better. We deserve as much respect and dignity as anybody else. We deserve not to be seen as burdens but as contributors through our unique experience of life, love, friendship and emotions like grief.

And I love that it is my job to help others like me tell their incredible stories to the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://yourstorymentor.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/yourstorymentor
• Other: Bluesky: yourstorymentor.bsky.social

Image Credits

The photos with the black sweater/longer hair are by Linda Postma from Pure Fotografie: https://www.instagram.com/purefotografiebylinda/