Stop being the person who is meant to write, used to write, or is *planning* to write

You’re frankly so bored of this pattern of thinking about writing more than actually writing.

You desire a practice of writing that’s real and consistent; you’re just waiting for your big juicy idea before you start.

Guess what: you already have a bunch of juicy ideas right in front of you.
You’ve been circling them, you just don’t have a handle on them yet.

There’s material in your 861 phone notes, your memories, your diary entries, your weird half-finished drafts, your experiences and random screenshots – and the ideas you've been skirting for years. You only need to know what to actually do with it all.

The spot you find yourself in

You have every desire to write but find yourself back in your avoidance cave every time you try to begin…

You’ve blocked out writing time but weirdly struggled to open your laptop when it came to it.

You’ve been so seized with inspiration on the pavement that you're typing into your notes app with urgent hot focus, but that energy fizzles before you can do anything with it.

You've told yourself you'll start when you have more headspace, more time, more clarity, more of a plan.

And all the while you’re still having so many ideas, and your phone notes are multiplying. Spo why does the thing you want to write stay stubbornly unwritten?

For whatever reason, having a structure to show up for is what actually gets you started. And getting started is the main thing.

That's what Living Material is here for. <3

Be first to hear when Living Material re-opens for the last time in 2026

What is Living Material?

Living Material is a writing workshop series built around something I had to learn the hard & humbling way: you can't think your way into clarity. Sorry! You literally have to write your way into it.

Your scattered notes, fragments and half-formed ideas aren't evidence of laziness or lack of passion: they're your material!

Here’s the fun bit. They're already breaking down and fermenting into something richer than they look right now. Six workshops gives you the structure, prompts that actually work, and tools to surface them, shape them, and turn them into writing that does your creative brilliance justice.

You'll also start your Big Chaotic Doc. If you don't know what that is yet, you will soon :)

By the time you've moved through Living Material, you won't just have pages of cringe prompt-guided writing that mean nothing to you or your actual ideas. You'll have a big document that’s like a sourdough starter: full of ideas that will naturally inform your future projects.

You’ll have a writing practice, and methods to sustain it long after Living Material wraps.

You'll have a bunch of material to turn into short essays, email newsletters, poems, stories or samples for funding applications.

Choose your adventure

Living Material comes in two versions.

Living Material 1:1

the six full workshops, plus six weeks of hands-on coaching from me – for the writer who knows for whatever reason, in this season of life – that you need a creative companion genuinely in your corner. 12 spots only.

Open to waitlisters first on August 18th.

Living Material

the self-paced experience: the creative foothold of six structured workshops you move through in your own time, at your own pace.

Why Living Material?

I created Living Material because it’s exactly what I needed – and I couldn’t find it when I needed it most.

In 2021, I invested £500 for a writing course which made me feel useless for arriving without a Big Idea. I felt weirdly isolated and overwhelmed, often closing my laptop early feeling like I'd utterly squandered my time & money.

I spent five years trying to think my way to a narrative hook for my own book.
I thought: once it’s clicked, I can begin!

It took a long time (and much heartache & feeling hopeless) to realise that’s exactly the opposite of what my creative self and confidence needed. But I did get there.

I'm Stevie. I’m a writer, artist and accredited coach (ILM Level 7 equivalent). Right now I’m writing a book about the nature of work. It’s a personal interrogation of jobs, leisure, her childhood in a caravan in Somerset and artists performing capitalist refusal.

Everything in my book came from actually seeing what was in front of me, and playfully approaching writing like compost. Which is now a whole creative framework inside Living Material.

I’ve been funded by Arts Council England, Society of Authors and Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust.

Living Material starts from literally wherever you are, with whatever you already have <3

What you get when you join the Living Material waitlist

🥪 Free access to Lunch Writing Summer School (August 11th) Four days of live co-writing to break your not-writing streak before Living Material opens. Think of it as your warm-up — four days of showing up, writing from prompts that actually work, and proving to yourself that you can do this before we even begin.

🗑️ First access to Living Material and Living Material 1:1 Waitlisters get in the door on August 18th, before anyone else. With only 12 spots for Living Material 1:1 — being first matters.

🪱 Early bird pricing – save £300 on Living Material 1:1 £999 instead of £1,299, with first pick of 1:1 start dates in October and November. Early bird pricing closes August 25th.

🕵️‍♀️ The 8-Minute Correspondent Method A bonus email sequence of daily prompts for writing in scrappy 8-minute blocks. The perfect way to start building your practice in whatever small pockets of time you have – before Living Material even begins :)

Come on in <3

About your host

Hi, hello, that’s me, Stevie Mackenzie-Smith. As a writer, artist and accredited coach, I know that the right environment (warm, unpretentious and creatively alive) leads to brilliant – and sometimes surprising! – creative progress.

I’ve designed Living Material to give fellow writers what so many of us need: gently structured writing time, delicious source material to fuel us, welcoming accountability and genuine connection & support.

I’m a skilled facilitator, and draw on my experience as a coach to support creative progress feels both stretchy and actually possible.