Lis McDermott - Summer Q&A 2021

Let's continue to celebrate the variety of business owners we have in our region and beyond. Today we're talking to Lis McDermott – Author, Poet and Writing Mentor. Lis supports people to write their books, helping them to find their writing voice; organise their ideas; make sense of their writing for readers, and when ready help them to find a publisher. She also writes blogs for business, and run a monthly poetry group. Lis is based in Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire.

JUNE is the first month of Summer – what will you be doing this summer in your business?

During the summer, one of my mentees first book is being published. I’m looking forward to the launch and sharing the occasion with her. This is the first person I have mentored, (starting last year) whose book is publisher ready. 

Another mentee's book is also being prepared for publishing too which will also be out this year.

What are your personal plans for summer activities if you feel happy to share? 

We will be catching up with friends who we haven’t been able to see so much of during the last months. We don’t always take a vacation during the summer, but usually go away in September or October – we prefer it quieter, and less not!

June is National Smile Month. With that in mind, what things in your business make you smile? 

1. Seeing my mentees, or members of my poetry group, when they have finished a large section of their writing; the satisfaction and recognition of what they have achieved.

2. When I get great feedback about a poem I’ve written, particularly ones I’ve been commissioned to write, it makes me not only smile, but feel proud to have met that persons’ brief. On occasion, I have been known to elicit happy tears from a client too!

Are there any things in business generally which make you ‘less smiley’?

People who have been less patient with others during this last year because in their eyes, they haven’t coped as well as they have. 

We have all been affected in many different ways and what may seem straightforward and easy for one person may be a huge step forward for another. Especially in terms of our mental resilience. 

Therefore, those who make negative comments about businesses who perhaps haven’t managed to keep going with the same confidence, need to remember, we don’t know exactly what is going on in each other’s lives.  

June is often associated in nature with growth and abundance – what are your plans for growth in your business this year? 

I’m not necessarily looking to grow in terms of business, as I have plenty of clients at the moment. However, I’m always looking at ways I can develop my own writing and mentoring skills.

As we hit this mid-point in 2021 and we’re still coming out of the pandemic – which one business has really supported or helped you over the last quarter? 

A fellow author and publisher, - Ann Brady of Pen and Ink Designs, who published my poetry book ‘A Multitude of Stars’, in May. She was able to get the book published in a relatively short time, which was what I wanted. 

Have you got any events planned for the coming months which you’d like to mention – where you and/or your business will take a leading role?

I hold an online poetry group, Lis’ Poetry Place, the last Saturday of the month. It’s for anyone who wants to write poetry, wanting to meet other poets and have fun with words.  The group has been running for a year, and we are about to publish the first anthology of the group, over the next few months. Visit my website for more information if you are interested.

And finally:

I haven’t always been a writer. I’ve now published several books. If you have always wanted to write, but don’t think you can or haven’t as yet… make a start.  You will never know how good you are until you begin to get your words on paper. 

As author Jodi Picoult says, ‘You might not write every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.’

For more information visit www.LisMcDermottAuthor.co.uk