Meet Mary McDonald

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mary McDonald a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mary, thank you so much for making time for us today. Let’s jump right into a question so many in our community are looking for answers to – how to overcome creativity blocks, writer’s block, etc. We’d love to hear your thoughts or any advice you might have.

I think a lot of time creative blocks are a state of mind. For me, I do a few things to break them and get back into the groove. First, I change my physical state meaning, I might take my dogs on a walk, sit on my back porch for awhile, turn on Aretha Franklin and have a dance party in my living room, something to get my mind off “I need to finish this creative project.” When I do any of the above I set a 10-15 minute timer so that I can relax and only focus on what I’m doing in the moment. It takes the pressure off my thoughts of “Am I just procrastinating again?” and “You should really be working right now” and allows me the freedom to dissociate from the creative block I’m having.

Once I’ve had my little dance party, I’ll sit back down at my laptop and set another timer to write. This could be as short as 5 minutes if I’m really feeling blocked. I also let all expectations of how good the writing needs to be fall to the wayside. As a writer, you are always going to edit your work later so why allow the pressure of perfectionism block you? Then, I just write. I tell myself that the ideas are going to flow from somewhere, your only job is to type right now. You have to trust that ideas will come. By the time you get going your timer goes off and you realize all you needed was to sit back down and just start.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

At the moment, I have a few projects I’m working on that I’m excited about.

I’ve been working on a script for the past several years that has truly been my passion. It all started with a conversation I had with my acting coach, Michelle Tomlinson. We were working on a rom-com scene and she said something along the lines of “Why aren’t you in every rom-com ever?” I laughed and said “Because they aren’t making them anymore but I love them and I wish they would.” So, what started out as me writing scenes for my acting reel turned into “I think I’ll just write a full length feature I’d like to be in.” So, here I am four years later with a full length romantic comedy.

I am thrilled to continue to move the project forward and am hoping I can share more soon. It has been a beautiful learning experience and a joy to write a character that I know will resonate with so many women. It’s wild to me that the industry is bringing the rom-com back and I’m just so grateful they are. It may sound cheesy, but I believe that we all deserve to escape the world for a moment and enjoy a story that reminds of what it’s like to fall in love again, whether that’s with someone or simply ourselves. We are craving more feel good films and that’s what I know this story will deliver.

I’m also working to launch my blog this fall. I am deeply passionate about personal development and helping others find their authentic voice. This will be a space where I share personal stories of how I’ve overcome self-limiting beliefs and have been able to step into the person I’m meant to be with confidence. Through my stories and learnings, I hope to inspire others to fully step into all they are meant to be.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Personal development, having a vision, and always being open to the fact that your dreams and goals may come to you in ways you never imagined.

I recommend always keeping a personal development book on hand or on audible. Whenever you have the opportunity to expand your mind and perspective, it’s always a good thing. Some of my favorites are “Becoming Supernatural” by Joe Dispenza, “The Gap and the Gain” by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy, and “Ask and It is Given” by Abraham Hicks. I’d also recommend podcasts if that’s more your speed. For entrepreneurs check out Danielle McCleery’s “Danielle on the Daily” she teaches about the important of Human Design and aligning with who you are to create a successful brand and business that feels good. For mindset, Mel Robbins who always has great tips and tools on shifting mindset and uses science to back up her tips. And because it’s important to also have something light-hearted on hand, I enjoy “Fly on the Wall” with David Spade and Dana Carvey.

Having a vision is so important because you are going to have days when you want to give up. You are going to have days when you just don’t want to do the next step that you need to do. However, if you keep your vision at the forefront of your mind, you won’t let yourself down. You have to realize that every step you take towards your goal is an important one even if it feels small. We don’t get to our goals by taking huge leaps, we get there by taking small steps every day towards the thing we want.

Being open to the fact that your dreams might show up in a different way than you imagined is extremely important. You don’t want to close your energy off to the magic that can show up along the way. If you are so rigid in the “how everything is going to happen” you are going to miss out on all the little bits of magic that are going to propel you along your way. You have to be flexible on the road to your goals and clear on your vision. I like the analogy of a long car drive for this. If you know you are going to drive 300 miles and believe you are going to get to your destination, you can either grip the steering wheel as tightly as possible or your can loosen your grip and trust that the GPS knows what it’s doing and will get you to your destination. Loosen your grip, the ride will be so much more enjoyable.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

Feeling confident in my voice and ideas.

A lot of my life I’ve been really shy when I’m sharing my thoughts or ideas with people I don’t know well. So, finding my voice and feeling confident in what I have to say has been a really empowering part of my journey. I heard somewhere that we don’t need to dim our light when we walk into a room of people, we need to show up as the shiniest versions of ourselves so that we can actually be a light in the room.

So now, I am in a space where I recognize that my ideas and my voice are important and worthy of taking up space. Feeling more confident in my voice truly feels like coming home to myself.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @marycatemcdonald