Show up for your writing with curiosity and openness (instead of fear and dread)

…and get way more written in the process

Sign me up for THE EXPERIMENT ✍️

There’s something that wants to be written through you: 

A novel • A literary memoir • A book of reportage • A collection of essays • A movie script • A PhD • A newsletter series • A poetry chapbook

You’ve tried forcing yourself to write – you time-block your calendar, sit down to a blank page, tell yourself: “JUST WRITE, DAMNIT” – but still, the words don’t flow.

When the words do come, writing feels like struggle and force.

Something in your body feels tight and constricted, the mental chatter won’t stop, and you can’t seem to turn down the noise.

You’re already a writer, you love having written… but the writing process? Not so much.

Friend!

There’s a reason writing feels hard.

First off, there are a LOT of cultural narratives telling you how difficult it’s supposed to be.

“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” –Thomas Mann*

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” –Ernest Hemingway*

(*Notice how these narratives often come from people at the top of the dominant power structure?)

And because you love – even venerate – the written word, you’re probably weighed down by a sense of pressure and self-comparison.

Writing doesn’t have to be an exhausting, energy-depleting, anxiety-inducing slog.

While writing isn’t always a stroll in the proverbial park – unlocking the power of language requires skill, practice, patience, and craft – it CAN feel different.

It starts with what happens before and between writing, as much as what happens during your writing process.

What if writing felt expansive, energising, liberating… even fun?

What if you were able to turn down the noise in your head, and:

  • Turn towards your writing with curiosity and openness

  • Bring more of yourself to the page

  • Finally make the progress you want to make on your project

  • AND write in a way that’s actually compelling for your ideal readers, because you’re finally giving yourself permission to write as you?

Join THE EXPERIMENT 💫

Hi, I’m Lara.

I’m an integrative coach, seasoned editor of books, magazines, and international news media, and as of May 2026, a signed author with a traditional publishing house.

I know all about pushing hard and hustling to meet tight deadlines (just ask me about my years as a Wall Street Journal digital culture editor for Asia).

And I also know that you don’t need to grind yourself to exhaustion to write what you want to write.

In November 2024, after multiple attempts at drafting a book, I conducted a creative writing experiment and wrote 30,000 words in a month – words that became the foundation of my forthcoming essay collection, Abakada, due to be published in March 2027.

Before I started, I put in place specific conditions so that my writing process would feel energising, freeing, and fun, even when I was writing through challenging material.

This 30-day experiment enabled me to make huge progress in reaching a lifelong goal – to author and publish a book that felt truly like me – and I did this while running a fully booked coaching practice, caring for young children, and going on a family holiday to Fiji with my in-laws.

Now I’ve created the exact programme to share with you the framework and core skills that allowed me to do this with a sense of expansiveness, liberation, and playfulness, without worrying about word counts.

Introducing…

THE EXPERIMENT

Aug. 5 to Sept. 16, 2026

Put into practice a simple, repeatable process for setting up generative, expansive writing experiments that will take you all the way to the completion of your manuscript

Sign me up! 🙌

In 6 weeks, you’ll radically transform your writing practice so you can:

  • Follow desire and energy in your writing, with radical permission to show up on the page exactly as you are

  • Practice writing as devotion – you’ll show up steadily over time, completing short pieces almost daily, while listening for what wants to be written through you

  • Build momentum in a held space, and tap into the incomparable feeling of being in flow

  • Develop a sixth sense for that next creative idea waiting in the wings of your subconscious – and then the next one, and then the next one

  • Create new neural pathways in your brain, so you’ll not only notice when inspiration taps on your shoulder, but you’ll take action to transform it into words

By the end of September 2026 – if you’re writing a book – you’ll have the core of a manuscript you’ll be able to grow into a finished project ready to be shared with agents, editors, and publishers.

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

“Working with Lara has radically transformed my relationship with my creative practice”

—Divya Victor, winner of the PEN Open Book Award and Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award

Here are the core skills – the 4 D’s – you’ll put into practice in our 6 weeks together:

  1. DESIRE

    Learn to follow and trust your desires as a writer. Release the impulse to hustle or force. Allow your desires to give your work clarity, focus, power, and energy.

  2. DECISIONS

    Stop second-guessing your intuition. Decide in advance on a framework for your writing – including when you’ll write and what “enough” looks like. Become your own green light when it comes to your creative ideas.

  3. DEVOTION

    Take the pressure off any single writing session. Practice following your ideas where they lead. Release attachment to the outcome. No need to wait for the “perfect conditions” to write.

  4. DATA

    Get curious about what works. Transform your relationship to “failure.” Build powerful momentum in your project by learning from your own unique process.

Once you put into practice the 4 D’s, that’s when you’ll finally get to experience what it’s like to consistently feel playful, curious and purposeful when you sit down to write.

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

“Joining THE EXPERIMENT is going to change your relationship to writing and creating in ways you can’t even imagine for yourself”

—Miish Grixti, writer and founder

“Before joining THE EXPERIMENT I knew I had desire and intent to write more and explore my ideas... but it never seemed to translate to action. It would always move down my priority list. And then the few times that I did make time for it, I spent so much of it thinking ‘ugh, what's the point?!?!’ that I didn’t actually get much forward momentum.

THE EXPERIMENT helped me uncover all the ways I was holding myself to these strange, oppressive expectations when it came to writing fiction. That it had to sound a certain way or follow a certain structure or process to be worthwhile. It also helped me learn practical ways to make tasks like writing a scene more FUN and INTERESTING for me, the writer, to write.

Now, writing feels fun and light. I don’t have these unconscious blocks or expectations of myself that make it feel heavy and daunting. It feels like exploring with a sense of curiosity and delight instead of ‘working at it’.

Lara’s coaching is LIBERATING. Joining THE EXPERIMENT is going to change your relationship to writing and creating in ways you can’t even imagine for yourself. The ripple effects will be felt every time you sit down to your writing project.”

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

“Your framework helped me tap into a well of ideas, inspiration, and wonder I often find difficult to access in my busy life and busy mind”

—Jonathan Koe, musician and podcaster

Here’s how you’ll build an almost-daily writing practice over the course of a month, and create the conditions for your brilliant ideas to come through, onto the page. 

In THE EXPERIMENT, you will: 

  • Show up for your writing at least 5 days a week for four weeks (i.e. almost every day with room for breaks / days off), with one week to prepare and a closing week to celebrate and integrate (or keep going, if that feels fun to you)

  • Carve out ONE HOUR each writing day (that’s 5 hours in a 168-hour week) for four entire weeks: around 20-30 minutes for drafting, and 20-30 minutes for editing / refining – this can be more or less, depending on your unique capacity

  • Practice the skill of “finishing,” i.e. letting whatever you’ve written in a single day be enough 

To support you in building momentum – while practicing that excellent feeling of completion – you’ll have the option of sharing your almost-daily writing in a private Google docs space and / or teaming up with others in the group for accountability and solidarity.

And here’s how our 6 weeks together break down:

Week 1 - Desire (LIVE CALL), Aug. 5

  • Gather your ideas and nurture the conditions for your upcoming writing experiment (this is your warmup week!)

Week 2 - Decisions (LIVE CALL), Aug. 12

  • Write 5 days a week in two sessions: 20-30 minutes for drafting, 20-30 minutes for editing (exact durations will be based on you, your desire, and your capacity)

  • Give yourself the gift of FINISHING, i.e. letting each day’s work be enough

Week 3 - Data (LIVE CALL), Aug 19

  • Write 5 days a week in two sessions: 20-30 minutes for drafting, 20-30 minutes for editing (exact durations will be based on you, your desire, and your capacity)

  • Where (if anywhere) can you create more fun and safety? Where (if anywhere) can you create more ease?

Week 4 - Devotion (LIVE CALL), Aug. 26

  • Write 5 days a week in two sessions: 20-30 minutes for drafting, 20-30 minutes for editing (exact durations will be based on you, your desire, and your capacity)

  • What motivates you? How can you care for yourself when you run into obstacles?

Week 5 - Discovery (LIVE CALL), Sept. 2

  • Write 5 days a week in two sessions: 20-30 minutes for drafting, 20-30 minutes for editing (exact durations will be based on you, your desire, and your capacity)

  • What are you learning? How are you growing?

Week 5 - Integration / Practice (NO LIVE CALL), Sept. 9

  • Choose your own adventure: 

    1. You’re done! Rest, reflect & integrate, OR:

    2. Want to keep going? Do it!

Week 6 - Celebration (LIVE CALL), Sept. 16

  • Celebrate what you’ve written / how far you’ve come! 

  • Group sharing

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

“I’m feeling the huge shift since our coaching. I feel truly changed”

—Sarah Hurrle, philanthropic fundraiser and holistic coach

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

“Lara creates a space and energy that allow the words to flow. It’s like the cogs have fallen into place, and the wheels are finally turning”

—Private client, winemaker and entrepreneur

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

“I now show up to writing with a sense of expectant play rather than fearful dread!”

—Jane Haggis, writer and academic

Before starting THE EXPERIMENT, writing felt heavy and difficult – the very idea of it exhausted me. I avoided sitting down to write, and when I did, I often didn’t know what to write about next.

To be frank, I didn’t think change was possible. But Lara’s way of talking about the creative process – as play, as experiment, as possibility precisely because of its unknown qualities – proved persuasive. The ‘Ds’ helped me get beyond the reluctance to show up, and the weekly sessions freed me up about writing.

Now, thinking about writing triggers feelings of lightness and possibility. It feels energising rather than exhausting. I treat the whole process as an exploration rather than something I need to have mapped out first. I just let it come until it stops coming, and I’m far less likely to feel dissatisfied with what I write.

Lara’s great strength as a coach is her capacity to bring each of us into the narrative. She is brilliant at drawing out from one person what is useful gold to another. I came away from every session with pearls of wisdom, from Lara and from the group, through her magical surfacing of our collective creative energies.

The one thing I wish I’d known before starting: How much FUN the programme would be. The impact on my creative practice since it ended is amazing. I show up more often, and in a much better frame of mind – with a sense of expectant play rather than fearful dread!”

Join THE EXPERIMENT

  • Programme runs from Aug. 5 to Sept. 16, 2026

  • We’ll meet for weekly Zoom calls on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. Adelaide time
    (convert to your time zone)

  • Live call dates: Aug. 5, 12 & 19, Sept. 2, Sept. 16

    (No call during integration week, Sept. 9)

  • Investment: AU$1,200

    Payment plan available

  • Waitlist-only pricing: AU$1,000

    Enrolment closes Monday, Aug. 3

Sign me up! ❤️

CLIENTTESTIMONIAL

“You helped me come back to my power as an artist”

—Wawi Navarozza, visual artist

It IS possible for writing to feel expansive and liberating EVEN IF it’s only ever always felt hard and heavy.

THE EXPERIMENT is here to help you:

  • Design creative experiments that balance challenge with gentleness, accelerating your project’s growth while respecting your nervous system

  • Choose goals based on both extrinsic and intrinsic measures (extrinsic goals = the external outcomes you want to create; intrinsic goals = how you feel while you’re creating those outcomes)

  • Transform “failure” into learning and opportunity, so that failure always moves you forward instead of setting you back

  • Put in place supportive structures that help you show up for yourself and your writing steadily over time – this does NOT require getting up before dawn or writing every day from 9 to 5

  • Write from self-trust and your highest creativity, instead of anxiety, overwhelm, and self-doubt

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

“I used to undervalue my thoughts and my ideas. Now, I choose to express them in whatever form they take”

—Michelle Anne Kenney, community arts leader

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

“The result for me personally was a quantum leap into trusting my own inner compass”

—Melanie Gritzka Del Villar, artist

Want to take a quantum leap into trusting your own inner compass too?

Join THE EXPERIMENT

Aug. 5 to Sept. 16, 2026

Enrol now 🙌

If you’re still reading this page, and you’re not yet sure if joining THE EXPERIMENT is the right move for you, there’s a good chance that you might unconsciously be thinking that taking a chance on your writing is a “risk.”

Let me validate your brain:

Creativity IS risk.

There’s no creativity without uncertainty.

If you never risk venturing into the unknown, in your writing or in your life, nothing changes in the Universe.

The world keeps running on the same old, worn paradigms, which means you (and we) never go anywhere new.

Befriending uncertainty and taking risks is woven into the creative path – and it’s also part of what makes it feel uncomfortable.

AND you can take a risk in a way that feels like white-knuckling your way through fear and self-doubt…

OR you can take a risk in a way that feels like openness, curiosity, and heart-led courage – with community and support, every step of the way.

Which would you rather choose?

If it’s the latter, I’d love for you to join me in THE EXPERIMENT.

Join THE EXPERIMENT

  • Programme runs from Aug. 5 to Sept. 16, 2026

  • We’ll meet for weekly Zoom calls on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. Adelaide time (convert to your time zone)

  • Live call dates: Aug. 5, 12 & 19, Sept. 2, Sept. 16

    (No call during integration week Sept. 9)

  • Investment: AU$1,200

    Payment plan available

    Waitlist-only pricing: AU$1,000

Enrolment closes Monday, Aug. 3

Enrol now 🪄

Frequently Asked Questions

*

Frequently Asked Questions *

  • Of course you’re welcome to join! However, you’ll get the most out of the experience if you can set aside at least two sets of 20-30 minutes each day, five days a week, for your writing.

  • Two things: 

    1. If you keep telling yourself you don’t have enough time to write, you won’t have enough time to write.

    AND 

    2. Sometimes there are seasons in life that demand a lot from you.

    If you’re in a season where your non-writing demands are your first priority, allow them to be your first priority. Remember: You’re a human! You can’t do everything at once! <3 

    Your writing will be waiting for you when you have the time and internal space for it.

    On the other hand, if you sense you’re in a season in life where you have the desire and capacity to prioritise your writing – even if it’s not necessarily a comfortable thing to do – then THE WRITING EXPERIMENT will give you the space, structure, and accountability to practice putting your writing first.  

  • THE EXPERIMENT assumes you’re already familiar with the skills and craft of writing. While the programme gives you a supportive framework to practice and hone your craft, it will not be teaching you the rudiments of writing in any particular genre.

    If you’re looking for a writing container that includes tailored editorial support, you can contact me directly to inquire about a 1:1 coaching partnership.

  • Nope! Writers in all genres are welcome. Every writing project requires words on a page. 

    THE EXPERIMENT creates the conditions for you to put words on a page with more satisfaction and joy, without hustle or burnout. 

  • The process is completely different. 

    NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which no longer exists, was all about word counts. Participants were asked to write 1,667 words every day for 30 days, with a goal of drafting a novel of 50,000 words in a month. It makes sense you felt burned out!

    THE EXPERIMENT isn’t about productivity, hustling, or hitting a particular word count goal. It’s about transforming your relationship to your own creativity. 

    You’ll show up for your writing steadily and responsively, five days a week – based on your own capacity, not an arbitrary word count.

    You’ll also track your progress in a tangible way, and receive the satisfaction of birthing your ideas that might otherwise be ignored or left dormant.  

    In my case, following THE EXPERIMENT’s methodology for one month led to a happy surprise: 30,000 words! Which turned into a book! And a book deal! 

    All without worrying about “productivity” or word counts.

  • THE EXPERIMENT is specifically designed to support people who want to write forward. 

    That means the programme is best suited to writers in drafting mode, not revision mode. The two are completely different processes. 

    In my case, I’d already completed two book drafts before I began THE EXPERIMENT. I decided to leave them behind and give myself permission to draft what I wanted to write from scratch. 

    If you join, I’d strongly encourage you to set aside what you’ve already written for the duration of the programme, and give your permission to meet yourself in the present for a month of almost-daily writing with us… and see what happens. 

    If you don’t like the results of what you’ve written, remember: you’re only committing to doing this for a month – and you can always go back to the way you’ve been doing things previously!

    And if you want to use things you’ve already written before embarking on THE EXPERIMENT… they’ll still be waiting for you after your month of writing from scratch.

  • No, I don’t offer refunds for my coaching programmes. Please sign up thoughtfully.

  • I totally get it! If something major happens during THE EXPERIMENT that stops you from being able to participate, please get in touch with me directly and you’ll be given the option to join a future round or receive a 1:1 session in lieu of the programme. 

  • Friend: SAME. I designed THE EXPERIMENT methodologies for my own sparkly, multi-passionate, highly creative brain and I’m delighted to be sharing it with yours. 

  • If you truly don’t have any writing ideas or a sense that something wants to be written through you, then THE EXPERIMENT is probably not for you. 

    However, our first week together will specifically be for idea-gathering so you’re never at a loss for what to write on your chosen writing days. 

    If that sounds supportive, sign up.

  • If you have a million ideas swirling around, and don’t know how, when, or where to start writing, THE EXPERIMENT will support you, week by week, in making powerful decisions to channel your creative energy and create a book or a body of work that’s uniquely yours.

  • 1:1 coaching journeys typically run for a minimum of 3-6 months and are entirely bespoke. Editorial support can be folded in as an option. Email me to tell me about your project and we can go from there.

  • Amazing! I’m so excited to welcome you to THE EXPERIMENT. Sign up and I’ll see you soon!

  • Perfect! Drop me an email and I’ll do my best to respond.