Leesa Dean's Creative Journey
Rediscovering Creative Balance through Thrive
As a creative writing instructor, writer, and editor, Leesa Dean has a full life. She balances a demanding full-time job at a community college, parenting, and her own creative projects. Though she has published two books, she could see how over time, other life responsibilities began to encroach on her writing practice. “I tried to carve out writing time amongst other responsibilities but wasn't always successful,” Leesa shared. This led her to explore Chelene Knight’s Thrive Coaching Program as a potential solution to reclaim her creative energy and find balance in her life.
Leesa’s Challenges
Leesa identified herself as a bit of a workaholic, always seeking out new opportunities without considering the impact on her time and energy. “I was trying to do too much,” she reflected. Her days were often packed with 12-hour commitments, leaving no space for personal writing or self-care. She also struggled to say no, leading her to take on more than she could handle. “I didn’t write anything for two years when I first started teaching,” she admitted. The lack of time for creativity left her feeling ungrounded and disconnected from her creative purpose.
The Solution
Leesa's journey toward The Thrive Coaching Program was initially driven by her connection with the Forever Writers Club, but the program’s message of integrating creativity with life resonated deeply with her. During her time in Thrive, she learned how to create time for writing, explore different pathways for her projects, and track what activities gave or drained her energy. One of the transformative practices for her was time-blocking, which helped her align her schedule holistically. “Before, my calendars were not connected. I was not looking at my life holistically and that got me into tough situations,” she said.
She also discovered the power of saying no and being selective about the opportunities she took on. “I passed on opportunities to other people, and that felt really good,” Leesa shared. These insights allowed her to reclaim energy and prioritize what mattered most to her—writing and self-care.
Leesa’s Results
Taking part in the Thrive Coaching Program led to profound transformations in Leesa’s life. She successfully integrated time for writing into her schedule and established a regular creative practice. “I have specific times blocked off that I respect every week. I don’t let life get in the way,” she noted. Not only did she make time for her writing, but she also began exercising regularly, something she hadn’t done before. Leesa realized the importance of building strength to prevent long-term physical issues related to long hours at the keyboard and found joy in shorter, dance-inspired exercise routines.
In terms of her creative work, Leesa shifted from a rigid, linear approach to writing to a more exploratory one and switched up her writing schedule. “Now, I’m trying to write where the energy is and then create a cohesive whole from that rather than writing so linearly,” she said. “I also realized writing exclusively at night is not sustainable for me.” This flexibility allowed her to enjoy her creative process again, finding balance between night-time inspiration and daytime energy.
Leesa’s journey through Thrive helped her achieve a sustainable balance between work, creativity, and self-care. “I feel like I have a better sense of how to live in a way that inspires me and protects what is precious to me—my energy, my values, my creative spirit,” she shared.
Leesa Dean was born in Northern British Columbia and raised in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. She spent a decade in Montreal where she studied Creative Writing at Concordia University before moving to Toronto. She also lived on random farms and beaches and befriended a circus bear trainer in the deep south before eventually settling in Krestova, BC, where she still lives on an acreage with her artist husband Matty Kakes and daughter Scarlett Heart. She is a graduate of the University of Guelph’s Creative Writing MFA program and teaches English and Creative Writing at Selkirk College.
Her writing has been nominated for literary awards such as the Trillium and ReLit Awards, the Irving Layton Award, and the Litpop Award. In 2022, she was a finalist in the Diagram Chapbook Contest, shortlisted for the Nick Blatchord Occasional Verse Contest, and in 2023 she was runner-up for the Pacific Spirit Poetry Prize. She is co-founder of the Black Bear Review, a Kootenay-based literary journal, and is a former Interviews Editor for The Humber Literary Review.
Her critically acclaimed short story collection, Waiting for the Cyclone, was published by Brindle & Glass in October 2016. Her poetry chapbook The Desert of Itabira was published by above/ground press in January 2020, and her novella in verse, The Filling Station, was published by Gaspereau Press in 2022. Her chapbook, Apogee/Perigee, was published in 2023 and has become the foundational text for a popular two hour poetry workshop based on Vedic astrology. She is currently working on a novel that takes place in her home region of the West Kootenay.
The author is represented by Samantha Haywood of Transatlantic Agency.