What I Do
Thoughtful words. Practical wisdom. Positive impact.
Hello. My name is Cheryl Rickman.
I’m a Sunday Times Bestselling author, ghostwriter and Positive Psychology practitioner, specialising in helping people flourish in life and at work.
As a ghostwriter, I help bring out the book in wellbeing experts, TV/sports personalities and business leaders who don't have the time to write their own manuscript, yet have important messages and life lessons to share.
Over the past 20 years, I've worked on 29 empowering non-fiction books that aim to help people make the most of their lives.
As a wellbeing content specialist, I work with wellness brands, influencers, businesses, therapists, coaches, and charities to turn valuable expertise, research and ideas into engaging, practical and actionable content.
Drawing on more than two decades of professional writing experience and a decade working in positive
psychology, I've developed and facilitated flourishing and forest bathing workshops across the UK. My own areas of expertise span from resilience, personal development and the science of living well to nature connection, business success and workplace wellbeing.Creative Collaboration.
How I can help:
- Book ghostwriting, book proposals, manuscript structure and development, chapter flow.
- Wellbeing blogs, articles, newsletters, substack posts.
- Practical guides and workbooks, educational exercises and resources, expert-led content.
- Resilience, nature-connection, forest-bathing, flourishing workshop content.
- Online or in-person workshop facilitation.
Writing BooksI knew when I was eight years old that I wanted to a) help people and b) write books. So I sometimes pinch myself as I now get to write helpful how-to books. That is my specialist area of expertise. So if you want to make a difference to others with your own book and bring your dream to fruition, please do get in touch.
I've written 14 of my own books, including, You Can Flourish, Tree Glee, You Are Enough, Navigating Loneliness, which has a Foreword by Terry Waite, The Happiness Bible, and a best-selling business start-up guide with a Foreword by Dame Anita Roddick.
I've also written a how-to book on digital business, a colouring-book for grown-ups, The Flourish Colouring Book, and an empowering gender-stereotype busting children's book, called YES YOU CAN!
Other recent books include: Be More Wonder Woman, The Little Book of Serenity and The Little Book of Resilience.
Tree Glee - How and why trees make us feel better, was published in October 2022. and kindly endorsed by Dr Jane Goodall and Dame Joanna Lumley. You can find out more over at TreeGlee.co.uk.
And, a decade after my first self-help book was self-published, I've written a brand-new version called YOU CAN FLOURISH, a workbook to help you thrive. Published by Vie (Summersdale) in February 2023.
Recently I had the pleasure of working with three inspirational England Lionesses - ELLA TOONE, GEORGIA STANWAY and NIKITA PARRIS on a book called THREE LIONESSES: Find your team, build self-belief and embrace your inner Lioness (out now).
After 20 years as an author and ghostwriter of business and self-help books, I now focus on teaming up with inspirational individuals to write empowering books which equip people with the tools they need to make the most of their lives and thrive in life, in business and at work.
I’ve ghostwritten a total of 16 books over the past decade, taking my total tally to 28 books. I've ghostwritten for TV personalities, elite athletes, business leaders, psychotherapists and more.
I’ve been a professional writer for 18 years and self-employed for 21. Before writing books I edited an online music magazine that I co-founded with my other half, James. I love interviewing people, digging deep by doing extra research and writing practical guidance that makes an impact to people's lives.
Across two decades, I've worked alongside leaders in their field, interviewed hundreds of popstars and business personalities and had work published in The Huffington Post, Better Business and Psychologies Magazine, among many others. I'm also an Ambassador for The Network of Wellbeing and had a Lifestyle column in The Daily Echo when I began my writing career.
They wrote about my recent #43ActsofKindness to honour my mum (which was jolly nice of them).
FlourishingAs well as writing, I run an annual weekend workshop on how to flourish in life, find the good, and build resilience and authenticity. Some might say I’m a kind of "Optimism and Resilience Teacher".
I qualified with a Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP) in January 2016, adding a "Positive Psychology Practitioner" string to my bow.
Shop My Books
For books I've ghostwritten please visit www.writer.uk.com
You can buy the books I've written under my own name on Amazon worldwide - click the book covers below to buy or, if you'd prefer to buy via your favourite independent bookshop online -
visit my Bookshop.org bookshop here.
Intro
Intro
Absolutely all that I do is about helping others to FLOURISH and make the most of life , to equip people with the tools they need to thrive.
To blossom from seedling to spruce.
To nourish the roots of positivity and sow seeds of hope.
To adapt to change in a resilient way like trees to seasons.
To attract abundance and wellness like sweet blossom attracting bees.
To fertilise and ripen fruitful dreams.
Because this really is our one and only ACTUAL LIFE.
If I can help just one person feel less “hmpf” and more “yay”; less pessimistic and more appreciative; less hard on themselves and more proud of themselves… then I will feel like I’ve served my purpose, fulfilled my 'dharma' and done what I am here to do; to enable flourishing. That's why the books I've written and ghostwritten so far empower and offer guidance to help people do what they love, love what they do, and better connect with others, themselves and the natural world, to live their best possible life.
Because life is short and precious and wonderful.
So that is what I aim to do through the words on the pages of my books and the guidance at my wellbeing workshops.
If you’re looking for an experienced ghostwriter, wellbeing content writer or workshop facilitator, please drop me a line here.
A bit more about me...I was born in Southampton 52 years ago, spent 12 years living in a tiny village and currently live in a cottage in the Hampshire countryside, surrounded by fields and trees. I LOVE trees, connecting with nature and people, and the smell of fresh coffee (and possibility) in the morning. I love stretching out on the sofa with a good book and stretching my legs on daily gratitude walks. I once fell off the stage into the band. I love to read, to regularly record my NOTES (notesofdelight) as I savour the good. I love being a mum to my awesome daughter and writing books for a living.
It's certainly been a rollercoaster ride of journey so far.
Thank you for popping along to my little web home.
Mum once said, 'I may not be able to walk, but I can watch you fly.'
I realised then that how you chose to SEE life and REACT to what is thrown your way really matters in how you get through life and what you get out of it.
Simultaneously I knew from the first time I read Charlie and The Chocolate Factory under our Indian Bean Tree that I wanted to write and that I wanted to work from my home and garden.
Writing from home became my ambition and, today, it is my complete and utter passion (along with reading).
The Journey To FlourishingI decided to study positive psychology – the study of optimal human flourishing.
I wanted to write a book that carved the core pillars of well-being into an easy to read practical guide that could equip people with strategies and habits, whilst taking them on a journey to flourishing step-by-step, month-by-month.
I was drawn to this topic because I had witnessed first hand how different approaches to life can have a huge impact on how we live it and what we get out of it. Life that is.
DadDespite his love for music and his awe-inspiring gardening, dad found living a strain. He had always found life tough, from childhood until about 8 years ago when he finally found the job of his dreams, dancing on cruise ships. That was when he started to really LIVE his life, finally.
Unlike my disabled yet smiley-faced mum, my able-bodied yet depressed dad struggled with life and with her disability. Mum and dad were polar opposites – my mum was confident and positive, my dad shy and depressed.
That said, dad was one of the nicest and funniest men you'd ever meet.
But also, behind closed doors, one of the saddest.
...To help people to make the most of their one precious life.Not to participate actively in the role of victim and waste the life they had, but to "celebrate everything until further notice" and, if dealt a particularly rough hand, to somehow find the strength and support to navigate through, bounce back, find the learning within it; to seek out the silver lining somehow and get on with living, against the odds. I knew that was possible.
The business of livingFlourish was born and I decided to evolve my ghostwriting business from writing about how to make a business flourish to writing about how to flourish in actual proper LIFE.
Now, as well as penning business books that enable businesses (and thus the economy) to flourish, I also write about resilience and positivity, about gratitude and grace, about purpose and connection.
I collaborated on a colouring book too :-)
Writing books which help people to cope with and cherish life is my passion.
This is what I completely LOVE to do.I also take a bunch of 40 women on a Flourish Seaside Weekender every year.
It's empowering to get away from it all - and it's rewarding to see like-minded-ladies being themselves, enjoying themselves, giving themselves a break.
A healthy dose of refreshing self-careMostly mums, this group of women have something in common; they often put everyone else first. Self-care takes a back seat while they care for others. This weekender gives them a chance to grab a well-earned high-dosage of self-care before they return to their lives; ones which are dominated by wanting the best for their children.
