Find what sticks
How to make creative ideas actually happen
Over the years, I’ve had so many ideas that have come to nothing.
I wanted to help people write their CVs.
I wanted to start a seasonal supper club (despite having no formal chef experience).
I wanted to write a book (I still might!).
I wanted to sell illustrations.
There are so many other ventures I probably pondered before they turned into exactly… nothing. But I don’t really see that as a bad thing now? Previously, I would look at these lapsed domain names and empty social pages and think, “I should have done that; what a failure!” but now I realise it’s just part of being a creative person.
You have loads of ideas. Throw them all at the wall. Only a few of them will stick.
This newsletter, for example, is about to mark its 5th birthday. When I wrote my first issue back in 2020, it never occurred to me that I would still be writing this in 2025 with a decent audience (for me!) and regular readers.
The same goes for starting my business Content By The Sea, a freelance venture I embarked on in 2019 to support myself while taking my mam to and from hospital appointments and eventually sitting by her bedside in palliative care.
What’s the difference between these ideas and the ones that didn’t stick?
I wonder if knowing the answer to that would help both myself and other people execute their ideas, while also removing the guilt of leaving a graveyard of creative pursuits in their wake.
I guess my gut instinct says that the ‘successful’ endeavours (I use that term here, but what I mean is that they actually stood the test of time, not necessarily yielded ‘success’ in the capitalist sense of the word’) are ones that are truly aligned with my passions— as opposed to being things I want to be “seen” as doing.
For example, I would still write this newsletter even if no one read it. But there’s no way I would have run a supper club with zero patrons.
In the same breath, I think it’s also about knowing that nothing you put out into the world will ever be perfect. And, on speaking to fellow creatives, insisting on perfectionism is one of the biggest blockers for those who want so desperately to turn their ideas into reality.
With that in mind, this week I turned one of my biggest pipe dreams into a reality. Last year, alongside running two half marathons together in the space of month,
and I decided we’d like to run our very own conference.We’re both content professionals, and passionate about making digital spaces accessible for everyone. So why not run a digital accessibility event in my very own Newcastle Upon Tyne?
We got to work. Reaching out to our dream speakers (who said YES!) and finding an amazing city centre venue. We hired an incredible designer who created something both visually appealing and accessible to all.
This week, we told the wider world about our event— Access:Given.
The response has been… insane?
Multiple times a day, Michelle and I exchanged bewildered messages like: “we’re really doing this!” and “I can’t believe it!” as we see the numbers of incredible people registering their interest on our website ticking up.
The outside world sees this and probably thinks: “Wow, Ellen is such a do-er!” but, in reality, no one else sees those other ideas that didn’t stick.
You just have to find what sticks for you.
About the event
Access:Given is a one-day digital accessibility conference in Newcastle Upon Tyne on Wednesday 10th September 2025.
Sign up on our website to be the first to hear about tickets, speakers and more.
Listen on Spotify
The audio version of this newsletter, plus all past issues, is available on Spotify. Here’s last week’s:
Other places you’ll find me…
This week, I was featured in
, one of my favourite newsletters about working parents. You can read my interview below.
On Saturday, I ran a 10k lifetime personal best at the Newcastle 10K event. I am still in shock, to be honest. It’s taken me over two years to return to my pre-pregnancy level of fitness, and I am only now starting to smash PBs from before I had my daughter.
I also enjoyed:
📚Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein - Eerily relevant after this week’s “roman salute” lol
📚Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin - Fun book with an autistic protagonist.
📽️ A Complete Unknown - Enjoyed the Dylan biopic. Chalamet rarely disappoints.
See you next week,
Ellen x
💌 About this email
I’m Ellen, and I write about mental health for the chronically online. I am a freelance copywriter, strategist and web designer, and I work from home with my husband, Craig, at Content By The Sea. We have two rescue greyhounds, Potter and Harmony, and a toddler.
I started this newsletter in March 2020 and have sent over 200(!) emails; currently, I have over 1,200 subscribers. I write about a wide variety of topics, including diet culture, my love of running, jealousy, my life falling apart, mam guilt, and this dystopian world we all live in.
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