Showing up Messy with Kimberly Kessler
Sue interviews editor, writer, and book coach Kimberly Kessler about overcoming perfectionism by showing up “messy,” trusting that storytelling is a human birthright, and separating perceiving/creating from judging/editing. Kessler uses metaphors like open-mic comedy to normalize practice, mistakes, and iteration, arguing that trying to be efficient can block creativity and that messiness is often more efficient in the long run. They discuss mindset as the main obstacle, building an internal relationship with the “inner eight-year-old” writer to rely less on external validation, and returning to the original “seed” of an idea to unfreeze progress. Kessler shares her P.E.P. Talk tool—Premise, Ending, Point—usable for novels or individual scenes, available as a free, “pretty” download with accompanying audio at kimberleykessler.com.
00:00 Welcome and Intro
01:40 Marker
01:40 Feeling Too Messy
02:12 Story Is Your Birthright
04:26 Lower the Bar
05:18 Open Mic Mindset
07:15 Craft vs Mindset
08:12 Perceive Before You Judge
11:00 Write Naked and Brave
12:34 Reparent Your Inner Writer
15:29 Where Ideas Begin
17:49 Write From Feeling
18:41 Iterate Into The Heart
20:03 Embodiment Over Perfection
20:15 Zero Draft Permission
21:03 Stop Self Criticism
23:14 Messy Beats Efficient
24:57 Story As Relationship
25:51 PEP Talk Framework
27:24 Premise Ending Point
30:54 PEP Talk Download
32:03 Closing Thanks Goodbye