Have you ever been told to “show, don’t tell” and immediately felt yourself overthinking every sentence?

In this Writing Wednesday episode, we’re looking at one of the most common pieces of writing craft advice through a completely different lens: your creative wiring.

Because showing versus telling isn’t only about adding more description. It’s about helping your reader experience the moment. And the way you naturally process the world often shapes the way you write the world.

In this episode, Maddison explores how the four NLP Writer’s Mind modalities — Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, and Auditory Digital — can influence what lands on the page. You’ll discover why visual writers may naturally lean into imagery, auditory writers may hear dialogue and rhythm first, kinesthetic writers may write from feeling and body sensation, and auditory digital writers may move quickly into meaning, thought, and explanation.

None of these are wrong. They are clues.

You’ll learn how to recognise when one modality may be taking over your scenes, how to revise with more intention, and how to use the Four-Modality Showing Pass to make your writing feel fuller, more embodied, and more alive.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why “show, don’t tell” is really about reader experience
• How your dominant NLP modality can shape your natural writing strengths
• Why visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and auditory digital writers may all “show” differently
• Common signs that a scene is leaning too heavily on one modality
• How to revise your scenes using the Four-Modality Showing Pass
• Why your creative wiring is not a flaw, but a powerful clue to your writing voice

This episode is especially helpful if you’ve ever received feedback that your writing feels flat, over-explained, under-described, too internal, too emotionally heavy, or hard to picture — and you weren’t quite sure what to do with that feedback.

Your natural modality is part of your gift. The more you understand it, the more intentionally you can use it.

Want to understand how you’re uniquely wired to write?

If today’s episode made you realise that the way you naturally process story might be shaping what lands on the page, then my Writing Personality Blueprint Session is the perfect next step.

This is a personalised 1:1 session where we look at your unique writing wiring, including your Bird Writing Personality and creative patterns, so you can better understand what supports your writing, what creates resistance, and what kind of process will actually help you move forward.

You’ll walk away with practical, personalised strategies designed around how you write best, so you can stop fighting your natural process and start building a writing rhythm that truly works for you.

You can book your Writing Personality Blueprint Session at maddisonmichaels.com/blueprint

Resources mentioned:

Discover your writing personality: maddisonmichaels.com/quiz Book a Writing Personality Blueprint Session: maddisonmichaels.com/blueprint

⭐️ If this episode resonated with you, I’d be so grateful if you took a moment to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your review helps Write the Darn Book reach more writers who are ready to honour their stories, trust their creative process, and keep showing up for the book they’re meant to write.

In Part 1 of this Walt Disney Strategy series, we explored the three creative modes every writer needs: the Dreamer, the Realist, and the Critic.

In this bonus episode, we move from understanding the framework into actually experiencing it.

Maddison guides you through three gentle visualisations designed to help you deliberately step into each creative mode. You’ll connect with the Dreamer, who imagines without restriction. The Realist, who builds the bridge between idea and page. And the Critic, who refines the work once something has been created.

These visualisations can be used together as a creative preparation ritual before a writing session, or individually whenever you need to access a specific mode in your writing process.

Inside this episode, you’ll experience:

1. A guided Dreamer visualisation to reconnect with possibility, imagination, and creative freedom
2. A guided Realist visualisation to access grounded momentum, structure, and the next practical step
3. A guided Critic visualisation to invite constructive refinement without letting self-doubt take over
4. A gentle reminder of why the order matters: Dreamer first, Realist second, Critic third
5. A practical way to use this NLP-based strategy before planning, drafting, or revising your book

If you’re driving, walking somewhere busy, or need to stay alert, save the visualisation section for a time when you can settle in and give it your full attention.

👉 WANT TO UNDERSTAND HOW YOU ARE WIRED TO WRITE?

And if you’re ready to stop fighting the way you write and finally understand how your creative mind actually works, my Writing Personality Blueprint Session is the perfect next step. Together, we’ll uncover your natural writing personality, the patterns that may be creating resistance, and the personalised tools that can help you write with more clarity, confidence, and flow. You can learn more at maddisonmichaels.com/blueprint.

⭐️ If this episode resonated with you, I’d be so grateful if you took a moment to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your review helps Write the Darn Book reach more writers who are ready to honour their stories, trust their creative process, and keep showing up for the book they’re meant to write. 💗

Are you a writer who needs a detailed outline before you begin, or do you prefer to discover the story as you write?

In this episode of Write the Darn Book, we’re diving into the pantser versus plotter debate, but through a much deeper lens. Because your writing style is rarely just a preference. It is often connected to how your brain is wired, how you process story, and what makes your creative system feel safe enough to write.

Maddison explores how the four Bird Writing Personalities, Dove, Owl, Peacock and Eagle, often approach structure, freedom, planning and discovery. You’ll learn why some writers thrive with detailed outlines, why others feel blocked by too much structure, and why many writers sit somewhere in the middle.

Most importantly, this episode gives you permission to stop fighting yourself and start building a writing process that actually works for the way you create.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What the pantser versus plotter debate really means • Why writing advice can fail when it was built for a different type of writer • How each Bird Writing Personality tends to approach planning and drafting • Why your writing process may change from book to book • How to find the middle path between structure and discovery • Why the goal is not to become a perfect plotter or pantser, but to understand how you write best

If you’ve been forcing yourself to write in a way that feels heavy, flat, or completely wrong for you, this episode will help you see that the problem may never have been you. It may simply be the method.

Maddison’s Writing Personality Blueprint Session is a dedicated one-on-one Zoom session where you’ll explore your Bird Writing Personality profile and receive a personalised Blueprint Report with your creative strengths, resistance patterns, and practical strategies for building a writing process that works for you.

Book your session at: maddisonmichaels.com/blueprint

⭐️ If this episode resonated with you, I’d be so grateful if you took a moment to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Your review helps Write the Darn Book reach more writers who are ready to honour their stories, trust their creative process, and keep showing up for the book they’re meant to write. 💗