Fully Awake Dreamer – Tahlia Meredith

I have a treat for you. This month’s Fully Awake Dreamer is a lovely lady I met this year through Bright Eyed and Blog-hearted blog course and I’m excited for you guys to meet this lovely lady. She is witty and I’m secretly (not so much now) envious of her kittens, share them! Here is the pretty lady Tahlia Meredith, make sure you click through to her great blog too!

Tell us a little about yourself and what you write.

I’m Tahlia, and I live in Melbourne with my Manfriend, two cats and a turtle. I have a full time job and in my spare time I love to read, learn, and write. Mostly I write in my journal and I’ve been writing out some pieces that I will turn into blog posts. I’m also trying my hand at reviews as an exercise to help me express myself better than just ‘yeah it’s good, I liked it.’

What is your burning writing desire about?

Writing that will help people. I’m really interested in psychology and personal development, plus I love good organisation and time management. I also watch too much TV, can never read enough books, and don’t mind a little shop every now and then. Ideally I’d love to channel my varied interests and desire to help people into a lifestyle blog where readers can be entertained, maybe have a laugh, and also take something useful away from it.

I also want to write fiction one day soon. I’d like to think I could have a go at chick-lit with soul, like Marian Keyes for example.

Are you working on anything right now? Can you give us a little bit of a sneak peak?

Not really (sorry!) I (sporadically) blog at www.tahliameredith.com, but I’m still finding my voice and direction over there.

Offline I’m reading and journaling quite a bit, plus doing a Cert IV in Small Business Management, so that’s kind of taking up all my time at the moment. I’m very aware of the importance of regular writing practice though so definitely want to get more of that in my day!

What nourishes your dreams besides writing?

Seeing other people doing amazing things in the space I love (personal development, coaching, blogging) and having great conversations with like-minded (or at least interested and open-minded) people. Those kinds of things, while sometimes intimidating, give me a little zing and make me want to keep on going. And Manfriend, he’s always so enthusiastic about my dreams that I’m inspired to make it happen!

What inspires you?

So many people in so many little ways. It might sound odd, but women that are succeeding in the kinds of things I want to do are inspiring (mostly!) I look at them and, rather than be put off, I usually think ‘hey, if they can do it I can too!’ Plus ideas that seem to pop out of nowhere and small daily moments.

What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned from writing?

Just try. While I’ve written a whole lot of crap, I’ve also sat down and produced some ok stuff when I just gave it a go. And it’s like that with anything really – you won’t know where you’re at until you try. And you’ll probably surprise yourself with what you can actually do.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve had to overcome when it comes to your writing?

Resistance. Self-consciousness. Fear. It’s weird how it manifests too – some days I can’t even bring myself to journal because I’m so worried I’ll have shit-all to say – and it’s just journaling, who cares if it’s crap?!

What advice can you give to budding writers?

See 6 J Just try. Sit down with a pen and some paper and see what you get. I write non-fiction, blog post-style pieces mostly so I’ll begin with a topic and see what I have to say about it. Sometimes I don’t get beyond a paragraph, but sometimes I’ll get 1500 words – win!

I try this with fiction too (although I’m not great with that yet) – I might see someone on the street that intrigues me, so I’ll sketch out a little scene or description or conversation.

Are you dreaming fully awake and how did you get there?

Yeah, I think I am. It started when a few conversations that reminded me of forgotten dreams and I opened up a bit about what I’m really into and what I want to do long term. I still only share that side with trusted close friends, but just talking about it more has brought things into my full awareness and I’m slowly sharing with more people. And the more I talk about it, the more things appear on my horizon that are inching my ‘one day’ closer and closer. The personal development side of me thinks that kind of thing is always a work in progress, but I feel like I’m sprinting in the right direction right now. It’s pretty exciting!

About the Dreamer

Tahlia Meredith is a book loving, coffee slurping, giggler and chat extraordinaire. She loves to learn, seek out new challenges and geeks out over stationery and organisation. She blogs away at tahliameredith.com where she blogs about motivation giving great tips on things that are worrying you without knowing, watch her space, she’s seriously awesome.