The Interview with Damien Senn of Senn-Sational Coaching.
Damien: What inspired you to become a writer?
H: Hey, Damien. It is such a pleasure to spend this time with you and your readers. Thank you so very much for connecting with me in this way. Asking about my inspiration for becoming a writer is a great question. I always read… a lot. As a girl, I generally read a book a day. Being a reader was probably a great indicator of my love of language. Loquacious language. I genuinely love words and conversation. I love communicating, really. As a teen, I wrote for my local newspaper and my high school paper. In my family of six children, we were always putting on plays and musicals and playing in ways that involved writing. For a while, as an adult, I wasn’t writing. I painted and was a mixed-media artist, another form of expression. I love creating splashy, vivid, and colorful art (and my artwork was previously displayed in a gallery). Then I noticed I was “writing” actual words on my paintings. I realized I had something to say and consciously chose to return to writing as a means of self-expression. The most straightforward answer to your question is that a writer is an aspect of my being. Being a writer is what I am and do. I always knew I would be a writer when I grew up, although I am still growing up ☺.
I understand that it took you 8+ years to write your first feature film script. Tell me what the process was like and what you learned from it?
H: The eight years it took to write that first movie script were torturous in some ways. It was horribly painful to have a dream, a goal, and a vision coming from within and be blocked in achieving that dream. Essentially, writer’s block is a lot like having something stuck in your throat. I was creatively gagging on this block, well, really a series of multiple blocks, and it was painful to experience. Being stuck for me was really frustrating, emotionally and energetically tiring. In some ways, I felt like a failure, incompetent, and, well, like I was weak or a bad person. My word was so important to me. Many people knew I had been working on a screenplay. A few years earlier, I’d had a column in a La Jolla, California, monthly newspaper, and the fact that I was working on a screenplay was in my byline. It became personally embarrassing to me that I hadn’t finished my movie script. I felt like a liar, a fraud, and a cheat. It became spiritually vital, a matter of ethics, that I complete that screenplay. Yet, I had no clue how to do so (not because I didn’t understand the mechanics, the format, or the requirements of the medium, but because my creative blocks seemed insurmountable; I couldn’t write).
I also had and have a love of self-development and transformation work. What happened was that I would go a certain way down the writing path, whether in writing plays, part of a memoir, or that first script, would run into a block, and then would “decide” that my inability to write meant I wasn’t a writer. I would run into a block, not recognize it as a block, and stop writing. Then I would switch my focus to psychology and transformation work. I actually took several different trainings and certifications, which were useful. I coached others, but noticed that the desire to write, the passion, the draw, the raw, fantastic, orgasmic, energetic drive to create a body of work, never left. It couldn’t leave because it was emanating from my heart and soul. I would eventually notice the drive and return to writing.
To complete that first script, I had to become aware of my writing process and apply tools, techniques, and strategies from self-development, including coaching, to achieve my goal. The year I finished my first script was the year I got trained and certified as a Covey Coach. In that training, we peer-coached around a long-held dream or goal. My goal was to complete my first script. Using the Covey Model, we examined and reframed my limiting beliefs about my ability to complete a feature film script. Together, we established what I would do and my deadline for accomplishing my goal. I also applied the NLP concept of modeling, which I had learned through various transformation experiences with Anthony Robbins, to analyze and break down a previous experience where I had an ambitious writing goal and achieved it. I knew that I needed to model, or copy, the steps involved in my previous experience of setting and achieving a goal in order to duplicate that same success. I realized that to complete this script, I needed to create a dedicated physical space to write, block off sufficient time on my calendar, gather all the necessary resources, and then focus solely on this project until it was finished. When I analyzed my previous experiences in accomplishing writing and other goals, I realized that I was most successful when I really narrowed my focus and concentrated on the goal at hand.
The resources I needed were my laptop, typed/scribbled script notes and ideas, a partial rough draft, pens, paper, printed copies of several produced screenplays, a TV/VCR combination and videos of the films produced from those printed scripts, and a few screenwriting how-to books. At that time, I hadn’t yet finished my undergraduate degree in screenwriting, so I needed reference books on screenwriting to understand how to write a properly formatted movie script (even if I was just double-checking the format of a scene heading or slug line). I put all of those resources, including the e-mail from my sister asking if I’d finished my script, on my California king-size bed. The bed became my office.
I cleared my calendar (I had been coaching others and teaching workshops or giving talks) to make the energetic (time or physical energy resources) space I needed to accomplish my goal. Creating an energetic space is vital for me, even if I have all the other resources for creating and writing in place. It is just not possible for me to write or create if I don’t make the energetic space to do so.
My Covery-certified coach, Sue, was an essential support for me. I had a deadline and accountability. Sue was expecting me to let her know that I had accomplished my goal by the agreed-upon date. Accountability is one of the most essential parts of coaching others and being coached. Being held accountable for an action by another human being is often a vital part of getting things done. Many people don’t accomplish as much as they might because there is no outside accountability.
I then devoted myself to writing until I had completed the script. In retrospect, I recall it took several weeks. I really didn’t do anything else except write or watch videos, or read produced scripts that inspired me. Every action I took was related to achieving my goal. I recall having limited contact with other people, including friends, and opting to stay home and write instead of attending parties. I’m not sure my friends understood why I wouldn’t come out of my house or get together with them. I really dropped out of sight because that was what it took for me to accomplish my goal. I had learned about the concept of WEIT, again from Tony Robbins… one of my most excellent teachers, which is the idea of doing “What Ever it Takes” to accomplish something. For me, WEIT meant that I needed to forgo everything that was not part of accomplishing this screenwriting goal. At this point in my life, I sometimes make those tough choices, accepting a short-term loss of something, whether it’s a bit of fun or something else, in order to achieve an essential long-term goal.
After several weeks, I finished that script. It was a monumental moment for me. I had an abundance of energy, excitement, passion, and enthusiasm. I felt so good about this. Because it was a heart and soul’s desire, I felt a tremendous sense of gratitude, peace, and joy in completing the script. It was like coming home to the self I knew I truly was. I was now actually being a screenwriter, not just planning to be one or talking about it. In completing that first script, I learned that I could do this; I could complete a 120-page map for a movie (although, ideally, those are often shorter). That accomplishment served as a point of reference, leading me to believe that I could do it again and again.
Damien: You are now quite prolific creativity wise, tell me about some of the writing projects you have worked on over the past year?
H: The last year brought me a number of fantastic projects, which were mainly inspirational and spiritual. I wrote five feature film scripts for other people. Four of those movie screenplays were spiritual and/or metaphysical in nature. It was amazing; I did not seek out these projects. They came to me through word of mouth or synchronistically. One project, Amazing Grace, is based on the true story of the slave ship captain John Newton, who traded in human flesh and had a spiritual epiphany, later becoming a minister and penning the hymn “Amazing Grace.” Another spiritual script I collaborated on allowed me to learn about the history and spirituality of the Paiute Indian mystic and prophet Wovoka, the creator of Ghost Dancing. One script, Even in Death I Worry About You, is a mystical and metaphysical Catholic story about a father who suffers and has a series of mystifying experiences after his 21-year-old daughter dies and communicates with him from the afterlife. I also wrote a corporate video script, a new play for myself called Café Latte, and Cha-Ching!, an amusing, somewhat bitterly humorous romantic comedy film script. It was really fun to write and rewrite that script. I wrote a spiritual script titled ‘A Legacy.’ I also ghostwrote and collaborated on the writing of a book with a workshop facilitator and transformation guru. The book accompanies an Alpha Theta frequency CD and features exercises designed to elicit higher awareness states, attune the listener to present-moment awareness, and facilitate transcendence of the emotional pain and challenges of daily life. In Spring 2005, I was a writer and producer for the pilot episode of Xtreme Entrepreneurs, a win-win entrepreneurial reality show shot in Houston in May. I was on CNN Business Radio Houston with Executive Producer Stuart Weinstein, and we were interviewed by both H-Texas and Houston’s KHOU Channel 11 News, along with other crew, for a print article and television broadcast. That was all great fun. I love promoting the work I am involved with, although the project is currently in turnaround while we await investor involvement. I have often undertaken other minor projects, including editing children’s fiction and similar tasks, but my favorite projects are writing feature film scripts.
Damien: What does it mean to be ‘in the flow’ as a writer?
H: When a person is “in the flow” as a writer, what I call Writing FLOW, they are in a highly enjoyable State of Awareness in which writing flows, with little or no effort, until a time when they decide to stop writing. Flow is a highly desirable state for any writer to experience regularly. It is the opposite of blocked. In a writing flow state, a writer typically experiences unusual productivity in terms of the number of pages generated daily while enjoying a distinctive quality, ease, and enjoyment of the writing experience. It is an exquisite and magical experience to be in a state of flow. The concept is described in my undergraduate research on creativity, which was inspired by the concept of “flow” developed and written about by Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Robert Csikszentmihalyi. In a writing flow state, the writer is highly focused and organized, and time seems to drop away. It is a lot like being in love. You forget about the rest of the world and just won’t want to stop doing what you are doing until you either have to eat, sleep, or take a bathroom break. When you are done with any of those activities, you just want to go back to your love, your writing work. It is a delicious experience.
Damien: You write under the pen name H Raven Rose. What are the major benefits of having done so?
H: I write under a pen name for a few reasons. One, H Raven Rose is a stronger name. It resonates differently than H Rose or even H Raven Rose. Words are like music; they have a timbre and vibration, and I wanted to have a signature that stood out and was as powerful and memorable as possible. Lastly, frankly, the entertainment industry is still male-dominated, and it is not necessarily an advantage for a reader to know that I am female. Readers are the gatekeepers that a script must make it past to get into a studio or production company. When I wrote the series project proposal and pilot episode of Xtreme Entrepreneurs, the Canadian executive producer sent the material to someone he knew in the industry here in Los Angeles. The feedback was great, but it made me laugh because the guy immediately assumed I was a man. This is what he wrote. “Wow! Now this is impressive. Don’t know where you found this guy, but he’s got it spelled out just like it needs to be spelled out. I think this is sellable now. Good job!”
Damien: What exactly is Writer’s Block, and how do you help your clients overcome it?
H: Writer’s Block is an inability to write or continue writing when the writer has a desire to write. Essentially, a person, a writer, will have the desire or mental intention to write, but won’t do it. They will procrastinate or avoid it, or try to write and find it a slow, emotionally traumatic, and frustrating experience. Blocked writers are often stressed out and embarrassed, particularly if they have threatening deadlines. They can experience self-anger, and their Writer’s Block can leave them feeling tired or low on energy. I use a variety of different tools to help clients overcome Writer’s Block. I’ve received extensive training, including Covey Coaching training and certification, CTI coaching, and instruction in Gestalt, Psychosynthesis, Rogerian (Person-Centered), and Reality therapeutic facilitation techniques. One of my certifications is as a CJEA (Creative Journal Expressive Arts) facilitator. In that training, I learned to do Voice Dialogue with clients, a form of communication with a person’s secret selves, what Hal and Sidra Stone—a married couple who are both PhDs in psychology, the creators of Voice Dialogue—call our sub-personalities. Gestalt facilitation and Voice Dialogue are particularly effective in helping writers break through Writer’s Block. Through Voice Dialogue, either in person or over the phone coaching session, a Writing FLOW coaching client and I dialogue with the part of their unconscious, the sub-personality, that is blocked. Often, dialoguing with this part of the self is enough to break through the block. Sometimes, a part of the self has specific fears about writing or fears about the results of writing. People may fear or feel unworthy of success. Much of this is occurring at the subconscious level or the threshold of consciousness and is only revealed during Voice Dialogue. Most people are unaware of what is happening in their minds or psyches; they may be unaware of negative self-talk, which is often internalized and not deeply felt in the body, and therefore don’t experience the complexity of their nature.
Damien: What sort of results have you been able to get with your clients?
H: People break through their writing blocks and achieve their writing goals. It is phenomenal. I feel so much gratitude for the opportunity to facilitate people and watch as they break through their creative or writing blocks. Writing FLOW coaching helps people to access, process, and release their blocks to writing. People have found that, with the courage and willingness to explore their blocks, and with me as a guide, using the various techniques I am trained in, they can delve into the dark places of their consciousness. Because I have been in those places myself, I am able to accompany others there. There in the dark, unknown clients are able to access, process, and release the subconscious fears or material that prevents them from achieving the writing goals they desire and deserve. Writers can become more productive, overcome self-sabotaging behavior, and truly enjoy the writing process. My clients gain deeper self-knowledge and access greater energy. It gives me great joy to assist a writer in breaking through a block and watch them accomplish their writing heart and soul’s desires or goals.
Damien: You’re also in the process of writing a non-fiction book entitled ‘The Writer’s Guide to Writing FLOW: 30 Days to Break Through Writer’s Block. When will budding young writers be able to get their hands on a copy, and how will it help them?
H: I am revising the draft of my book, and it should be available through my website by fall 2026. The book is intended to help any writing explore, access, and process their writing block(s). It is intended as a supplement or replacement for Writing FLOW coaching. Hundreds of thousands of blocked writers are needlessly suffering and procrastinating, not enjoying the writing process, or not writing as quickly as they could. My book will help any writer, whether novice or experienced, break through the blocks that prevent them from writing and experiencing writing flow.
Damien: Do you have any simple and practical advice for people looking to build the courage to start to write?
H: Lack of courage to write implies a fear of criticism. It is a healthy desire to wish or want to avoid emotional pain and hurt. It isn’t pleasant when our writing is criticized. We may fear negative feedback from an outer critic, someone in our daily life, an editor, peer, or teacher, or from an Inner Critic sub-personality. We naturally want to avoid the pain we feel when a person or some part of our own subconscious mind, such as an Inner Critic sub-personality, tells us, “You can’t write a movie script,” or “Your writing is no good,” or “You’re too old,” and the like. A writer can respond to actual negative comments from others and their own Inner Critic in a journal entry. Then they should get on with their writing project. The writing muscle, like any other muscle or skill, will become stronger with daily use. If a person really lacks the courage to start writing and is unable to write, they likely have uncleared unconscious material that is blocking them. They may want to explore that material in order to access, process, and break through the writing block.
Damien: Do you think anyone can live an inspired life?
H: Damien, I do think anyone can live an inspired life. I believe that living an inspired life is generally a two-part process. A person must be clear about the Inspired Life Vision that moves, energizes, and delights them. Living an inspired life, saying “yes” to the reality of our Inspired Life Vision takes intention and conscious choice and is immensely rewarding and energizing. We receive our Inspired Life Vision by saying, “yes” to whatever, or whomever, is a part of that Inspired Life Vision and saying, “no” to whatever, or whomever, is not a part of that inspired Life Vision. The second part of leading an inspired life is to access, process, and release anything within us that blocks an inspired life. Having material to let go of is a natural part of life. Most of us have conscious or unconscious material (thoughts/fears/beliefs, emotions, energy, and physical or kinesthetic experiences) from the past or present that we can release. Releasing this material creates space for increased delight in our lives, greater joy, peace, and love, as well as more profound unity with other beings and our planet, and a sense of the magic and potential of each delicate, powerful human life.
Thank you so much for your time and opportunity to connect and share, Damien. You are one of the most heart-centered, authentic, joyful people I know. I greatly value you as a human being and as the unique, Senn-Sational coach you are. I wish you and your readers Writing FLOW and the fulfillment of your Inspired Life Visions!
About the Interviewer
Damien Senn helps people create compelling futures. He is one of the UK’s top Life and Business Coaches as well as a fully qualified Chartered Accountant. Damien is the author of the ‘Senn-Sational Success Journal’ and has developed his own coaching model called the ‘Senn-Sational Success System’.
H’s interview with Damien Senn (originally published on Senn-Sational Coaching) where she discusses about the 8 years it took to write her first feature film script, and getting Writing Flow, London, England, February 18, 2006.
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