How do you deal with fear and uncertainty during these difficult times? How can you craft a new creative routine when life is so disrupted? How can you make the most of an online business now and build for the future? I discuss all this and more with Mark McGuinness on today's show. In the introduction, I talk about how my writing is going after Mark helped me with a breakthrough — it's time to create a new routine now this lockdown life is the new normal. Plus, the growing adoption of ebooks and digital audio in Europe and what that might mean for the future of publishing [The New Publishing Standard]. Today's podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world's largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com. Mark McGuinness is an award-winning poet, a nonfiction author, a creative coach, podcaster, and international professional speaker. His books for authors include Resilience, Motivation for Creative People, and 21 Insights for the 21st-Century Creative. Mark spent many years as a practicing psychotherapist and now coaches creative professionals. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and full transcript below. Show Notes * How to acknowledge our fears and also deal with them in a healthy way * The importance of spending time in practices that are restorative * Dealing with uncertainty * What to do if you’re struggling to be creative * Making new creativity rituals to replace those that have been broken * Thinking about what assets you have in place and what ones you can create * What the future might look like for creatives * How this current crisis might actually work to empower authors and other creatives You can find Mark McGuinness at LateralAction.com and on Twitter @markmcguinness Transcript of Interview with Mark McGuinness Joanna Penn: Mark McGuinness is an award-winning poet, a nonfiction author, a creative coach, podcaster, and international professional speaker. His books for authors include Resilience, Motivation for Creative People, and 21 Insights for the 21st-Century Creative. Mark spent many years as a practicing psychotherapist and now coaches creative professionals. Today, we're talking about how we can deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Welcome back to the show, Mark. Mark McGuinness: Thank you for inviting me back, Jo. It's always nice to be here. Joanna Penn: Oh, indeed. And when I was thinking, who can I talk to about this, I thought, ‘I know, I'm going to ask Mark.' So I'm really grateful that you're here. Just to set the scene, we're recording this on Friday, the 3rd of April, 2020 and we're both in lockdown in the Southwest of England. So I wonder, what does your household look like right now?