“I’m a Writer!”
Those were the immortal words of my Mother, whenever I questioned her actions or behaviours, as a child.
I remember, from the early age of 3-years old, those words were etched into my mind, reflecting how I saw my Mother as I grew up, and how I would ultimately remember her.
Those words were her tagline.
Her personal brand statement.
Her reason for being!
Her excuse!
She was a playwright. But she chose the wrong market to realise her dreams.
She focused on writing plays for Christian audiences and managed productions in local church halls and similar venues.
She loved what she did. Her audiences loved it too. Each of her plays delivered a strong message that helped them in some way.
It was her Ikigai…almost.
The Dream
But there was something very important missing from her Ikigai.
She didn’t get paid for it.
Well, creativity is not all about money, you might say.
But when her dream was to earn enough money from her plays to give her family better choices in life, that’s a problem.
Because it was a dream she never realised. She was out of pocket with every production. She went without food just to buy typing paper.
The dream she had of becoming a published author and buying a house next door to Cliff Richard, was one that I grew up believing would come true.
A dream, if fulfilled, that would compensate for having to listen to her Olivetti typewriter clacking away for days on end, with a growing mountain of screwed up pages of scripts all around her.
As I grew older, I vowed NEVER to become a Writer.
It represented everything that distanced my Mother from me and my sister.
Being a Writer meant neglecting her children, family, friends and pets, whilst living in her imaginary world, alone with her characters.
Being a Writer was something I came to despise.
Punishment
I had always been top of the class in English, at school. I guess I had a natural aptitude for it, having proof-read so many of my Mother’s scripts from an early age. Even treading the boards, as a leading character in one of her plays, when she failed to attract semi-professional actors.
I gained lots of practice at essay-writing outside of school hours, when I was given detention most days, as a punishment for not being able to afford the correct school uniform and the even worse offence of not having a sports kit.
The teacher on detention duty would set the topic and the detainees would have to write an essay on it for the next 90 minutes.
Most kids couldn’t write half a page. I generally wrote around 7-10 pages.
Why? I decided not to treat each detention as a punishment. Instead I saw it as an opportunity to test and improve my writing abilities. How good could I make it in those 90 minutes? How inspired was my creativity? How could I communicate the topic most effectively?
Often, I would run out of time as I heard the teacher calling:
“Adamson, it’s time to go home!”
“Just a few more minutes”, I would often reply.
All the time knowing that when I handed in my freshly-written tome, it would be ritually torn up, page-by-page, in front of me, without the teacher even reading it.
Punishment? No! With each detention I honed my writing skills. It was MY personal challenge, not THEIR punishment.
But I would NEVER admit I was a Writer!
In Denial
When I started writing on LinkedIn, it was for my own pleasure. Just like those school detentions, I didn’t ever expect anyone to read what I wrote.
As I wrote about my love for and experiences of coaching, to my surprise, people did read it. They even engaged with my posts, sent me connection invites and DM follow ups with business opportunities.
When I launched this LinkedIn newsletter, people subscribed.
Currently, 6K+ of you, which I am truly humble by and yet so grateful for.
But I would NEVER admit I was a Writer!
I’m A Writer!
In June 2025, I was very kindly asked by Andrew Priestley, to be a contributing author of his latest book, Retire Inspire 2.
It was a generous offer but I had no intention of retiring, so I thought I had little to contribute.
Besides, I checked my calendar and my contributing chapter would have to be Delivered within 2 weeks.
I couldn’t possibly write a whole chapter, good enough for publication, in just 2 weeks, I thought.
So, I didn’t give it another thought. I dismissed the idea.
Then Andrew contacted me again, several weeks later and said, “People need to hear what you have to say. Could you write it by Monday?”
It was Friday evening!
I now only had 2 days, not 2 weeks, to write and complete it to publication standard.
His timing was apt, because I had just drafted an edition of my Delivery With Agility Newsletter about Parkinson’s Law. It’s how humans expand their work to fit the given timebox, any timebox.
That edition of my newsletter was founded on the tremendous success I’ve had over the years, reducing Scrum Team Sprint times from a lengthy 2 or 4 weeks to just 1 week and seeing them Deliver, often for the first time.
Should I eat my own dog food?
“I don’t want to let you down, so I’ll make no promises. But I’ll give it my best shot”,
I said to Andrew.
That Saturday morning I started writing my contributing chapter.
Parkinson’s Law worked like a treat with my much-shortened, now 2-day, timebox.
My chapter, “Retirement Is Not A Bed of Roses For A Serial Entrepreneur“, in Andrew’s new book, “Retire Inspire 2”, together with the chapters of 21 other expert contributing authors, is published TODAY!
So, thanks to Andrew, and Parkinson’s Law, I’m now a published author. 🙏
I never thought I’d say this, but with 2 self-authored books now in the pipeline, I can no longer deny…
I’m a Writer!
I Need YOUR Help
If you are in your 40s, 50s, 60s, please listen up…
Following on from the tremendous success of the internationally best-selling book, Retire Inspire 1, this powerful sequel, Retire Inspire 2, garners the insights of 22 expert contributors from around the world. Leaders in: finance, health, psychology, entrepreneurship, and lifestyle design. Each one shares practical strategies, candid advice, and personal stories to help you transition into retirement with clarity and confidence.
How YOU can help!
Retire Inspire 2 is out today, 14th July 2025, at the special launch price of £0.99 for the Kindle Version. This limited offer will only be for a couple of days!
I would really appreciate it if you would invest just £0.99, read a chapter from one of the amazing contributing authors, then WAIT a couple days before posting a review on Amazon.
Why wait 2 days to leave a review?
It’s important to wait a couple of days AFTER purchasing because the Amazon algorithm will disregard any buy-and-review-immediately submissions. It assumes you have not had time to read enough of the book to leave a review.
Your review will help the book to be shown to others who could also benefit from the valuable insights it Delivers.
