Back in June 2025, I did a Live interview with
, the creator of the Courage To Create newsletter. As I listened to the replay, I realised I had told about eighteen stories in that half-hour conversation.The first one came in response to a prompt from the host. After introducing me with a smile, mentioning my four quiet years on Substack followed by a sudden takeoff after one viral Note, she asked, “How did you do it?”
I replied, “Let me tell you a story.” And I got into telling her story after story.
My first story was about where I got the inspiration to write—from a photo of Barbara Cartland dictating novels in a pink canopy bed, in her nineties. It planted the seed that writing could be a lifelong pursuit.
My second story was about overcoming a major obstacle: a belief I wasn’t good enough to write, planted by a performance review in my corporate career. And how, rather than concentrating on improving business writing, I decided to learn storytelling by enrolling in a life storytelling group.
My third story was about losing my father—and the sharp realisation that time is fleeting, and if I didn’t start writing now, I might never do it.
My fourth story was about accidentally finding my readers when a forgotten Medium post started getting unexpected attention and engagement.
My fifth story was about building my writing muscles through self-created 30-day and 100-day writing challenges, showing up every single day to write and publish an article on Medium.com to learn consistency and to gain confidence.
My sixth story was deciding to write my first book, after I heard a tiny voice in my head one morning telling me, “Write that damn book and write it fast.”And me deciding not to ignore that voice and acting on it straightaway.
My seventh story was about finding the topic for that book by asking myself, What do I need right now? And realising I needed a guide to write and publish a book fast.
My eighth story was about choosing the book title through a LinkedIn poll. A woman’s comment, “You make things easy,” helped me recognise and embrace my true strength.
My ninth story was about the process of writing my first book: setting a 5,000-words-a-day target and committing to hitting publish within seven days.
My tenth story was about involving my daughter and son-in-law in the book project while they visited during the pandemic, they edited while I cooked.
My eleventh story was about writing and launching my first book in just one week, and how that book remains my bestseller to this day.
My twelfth story was about the coffee chat with a stranger on Medium that introduced me to Substack, and ultimately changed the course of my writing life.
My thirteenth story was about becoming an overnight success—after four and a half years of steady writing. And how a single viral Note brought in 283 new subscribers in a week.
My fourteenth story was about starting my first cohort-based program on Substack, Write, Grow, Monetize, and guiding other writers through what I’d learned.
My fifteenth story was about learning to live with my inner critic, recognising it as fear disguised as protection, and eventually learning to work with it, not against it.
My sixteenth story was about navigating the challenge of frequent travel while staying consistent with my writing—batching, scheduling, and adapting the rhythm.
My seventeenth story was about launching a free 30-Dayy Notes Challenge, and how it helped both me and my community grow, connect, and even gain paid subscribers.
My eighteenth story was about the legacy I want to leave behind: words that help others grow, just as I have grown from the words others left behind for me.
You can listen to all these stories in the Live interview, but my real reason for listing them here is this: we all have a plethora of stories to tell. The key is learning to spot them.
I may not have fleshed out each story fully in that conversation, but they’re there. I’ve lived them, I’ve mentioned them, and I can draw on them again and again in different contexts. In fact, I already have.
The very first story, how I found my inspiration to write, became the opening of my first book.
The story about my boss pulling me aside and telling me my written English wasn’t good enough? I’ve shared that many times. It’s a story that still resonates.
The point is: the stories are already inside you.
You just need to start paying attention.
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Start seeing your life in stories.
Looking back, I didn’t sit down intending to tell 18 stories in a half-hour interview.
But that’s exactly what happened.
Why?
Because I’ve trained myself to see life through the lens of storytelling.
When you start viewing your conversations, experiences, and even your day-to-day decisions as potential stories, something shifts. You become a better storyteller, not because you’ve studied technique, but because you’ve sharpened your awareness.
Stories are everywhere. You just need to notice them.
One of the best ways to uncover them?
Through interviews, conversations, and question-and-answer sessions.
When someone asks you how you did something, why you did it that way, what motivated you, or what might have happened if you hadn’t—those questions are gold.
They unlock tiny, powerful narratives tucked inside your memory.
So start collecting your own micro-stories.
The moments you chose a path.
The things that didn’t go as planned.
The detours that made all the difference.
Because those are the stories that connect.
Those are the stories that teach.
And often, those are the stories that change lives, starting with your own.
That’s all from me today.
As always, thanks for reading.
