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New Makeover. New Mission. And a Party Invitation!
YOUR NEXT DRAFT
Brought to you Becca Baisch
Your Life.
Deeply Felt.
Beautifully Told.
september 2026
The NEW Season Edition
Welcome to Your Next Draft! A newsletter for women who believe life is not something you arrive at, but something you reinvent and keep writing. Here you'll find ideas to ponder, conversations with others, questions worth wrestling with, challenges to consider, and resources to help you with each draft of your one wild, beautiful life.
IN THIS ISSUE
Love Notes The theme of this month's issue
Her Next Draft Conversations with smart, interesting women (coming soon!)
Worth Your Time Something to read, watch, or listen to
Thoughts for Your Next Draft The deeper dive
Ask Yourself This A challenge, if you choose to accept it
Do This
A to-do list you'll love
Before You Go Two things from me: a party invitation and details on obtaining a free copy of The Dala Horse Daughters!
Love Notes
I'm so happy you're here.
Before I dive into the newsletter, it's important for me to honor September as National Suicide Prevention Month.
I wrote a love letter for you that you can read: "How are you? Really."
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Dear September,
I’ll miss the slower mornings of summer. The ones with coffee and a book on the deck, dodging acorns and remembering that last year a tree limb took out the deck but somehow spared the furniture and the house.
Soon enough, I’ll look out at that same furniture buried under heaps of snow and wish for the acorns. (But no falling trees, please.)
I love that about Minnesota: the seasons keep moving, whether we’re ready for them or not. An outward reminder that this too shall pass.
This was always hard for me—the idea that something should be Always and Forever or Never Ever. It feels much gentler to remind myself that everything is a season, whether it lasts an hour, a month, or years.
Good seasons. Challenging seasons. I’m all for it.
Which brings me to the new look of this newsletter and my website. You may have noticed things looking a little different. It signals something exciting—or, more accurately, exciting and terrifying.
For years, my husband has listened to me wonder aloud: Am I truly helping people? Should I have become a sports psychologist like I originally planned? Maybe a life coach?
I love being a psychiatrist, but I don't always love the limitations and frustrations of the field. And while I still love sports, I’m not sure I want to spend my days talking about optimal performance.
Again and again, I came back to writing.
As my husband likes to say, “I like you so much better when you’re writing.” 😉
But what I love even more is helping people make sense of their life stories, finding meaning in what they've lived through and imagining what might come next.
So I thought: Why not build something around that?
Blend all three of my loves: medicine, writing, and helping people make sense of their lives—and see what happens.
Here's to my next draft!
And I hope you—or someone you love—will come along for the ride as we draft, redraft, and bring our dreams, passions, and visions a little closer to reality.
Love,
Becca
Her Next Draft Interview
Be on the lookout, starting with the October newsletter, where every month I'll feature an interview with a woman who will inspire you to dare, think outside the box, challenge limiting beliefs, and draft a life all your own. I'm super excited about my first interview with Dr. Blair! She was on the top of my list of people I admire who made a bold change in her life when she called me up one day about a year ago and said, "I wanted you to hear this directly from me . . . "
Worth Your Time
What I'm Reading
What if we truly did map our dreams along with the seasons?
The 12 Week Year (Moran & Lennington 2013) attempts to challenge your mindset on timelines of accomplishing your goals.
Best quote from the book: "When you start to envision a future that stretches your comfort zone and it is significantly bigger and bolder than what you are currently living, the amygdala tries to shut down the process." ie: our brain's primary job is to protect us, even against our wildest happiest dreams.
My Five Takeaways:
5 Intention: I hate time blocking as this book instructs you to do. But it resonated with me that "you are not living a life by design but by chance." The day controls you. Confession: I probably still won't take them up on time blocking, lol. ;-P
4 Time: What a relief to read "that it takes time to plan a vision." My spinning and daydreaming and writing and deleting and crossing out, ripping up isn't for naught.
3 Greatness: What makes you great is not the achievement nor the result, but the choices you made along the way. The ones that no one sees but you.
2 Vision + Plan + Process + Measurement + Time: (see pic) the only paragraph any go-getter needs to read in this book
1 Big Feelings: The emotional cycle of change: SO ME. How validating to read that if you want to change something about your life it is SUCH an emotional rollercoaster.
What I'm Listening To
I'm a huge fan of Danielle Robay, probably because she’s such a natural interviewer: pleasant, down-to-earth, and genuinely curious. I’m modeling a bit of my own vision for interviewing “pretty smart” women after her. This interview is a couple of years old, but it’s worth a listen. It still sticks with me today. One of the best. You might even tear up a little.
Thoughts for Your Next Draft
The One Question Every Burned-Out Woman Should Ask Herself
Ask Yourself This
I'll be happy when: ___________
I borrowed this from Sunny Smith, MD, who reminded me in her latest newsletter of the "arrival fallacy."
Do This
Who in your life is in a challenging season? Call, text, buy them a doordash gift card, visit, get them a coffee. Ask them how they're really doing.
Before You Go
Come to My Party!
Can't tell you how terrifying it was to get this book out there. I hope it's good. Actually, what I hope most is that there are no typos!! And even more so I hope that I can relax and have fun celebrating this thing I did with all the cool, popular kids in town (that's you, your best friends, and your moms!), so spread the word, it's happening November 1st from 430-7:00.
The event is totally free and totally bougie at The Eleven (dress up, seriously), but I'd really appreciate an RSVP so I know how many books, cookies, and party favors to bring! Trust me when I say you do not want to miss the cookies. I hired Cookies on the Fly after meeting Kristi at a literary event.
P.S. Submit a question for me to answer at the party when you register, and you'll score a swag bag of goodies.
P.P.S. And if you want a free copy ahead of time (in exchange for an honest review), sign up to be an advanced reader.
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