Overcoming Fear to Embrace Creativity
A blurry photo of my and some of my close people singing to the trees in my yard on Imbolc, sort of an informal wassailing time
One of the things I’m proudest of is how many writers workshops I’ve led. I started right out of grad school, and for three years I led workshops on Fiction 101, spooky fiction, sex in fiction, novel writing, and joyful creation.
This last class was my most playful: participants and I gathered once a week to do generative writing exercises, read fairytales, draw, and connect with inspiration for stories. Most of my students were adults in their forties through sixties who either had “never been creative, but wanted to be,” or “used to do creative things and haven’t in 10+ years.” We talked about why being creative is so intimidating, and how to play our way into it.
On the other end of the spectrum, I taught a year-long novel writing intensive where students had been working on a single project for a year or more, and wanted to finish their first draft with support. Throughout the year, various struggles came up: shame that time spent on writing was time spent away from family; fear that no one would ever read the story; fear that someone would, and would hate it. Here, my students had found the spark of inspiration, and struggled to stay with it as their internal narratives tended toward doubt.
Creative commitment can mean anything from committing to finishing a novel to committing to express oneself artistically every week. Here are the ingredients I’ve found important to committing, regardless of shape or size:
A regular time when I can trust myself to arrive to the creative space (once a day, once a week)
The ability to cyclically address my own resistance to showing up, using parts work and journaling
Occasional forays into a different type of art (often still connected to my central project - if I’m doing a long term writing project, for instance, I’ll make a playlist for it, or draw out how I want a scene to feel)
A purpose for the art, intellectual or felt, that acts as my guide and touchstone
Most of us seem to hold the belief that if we can’t be copnsistently creative without outside support, we’ve failed, and the shame of that is ours to shoulder and hide. I cycle back to this feeling from time to time.
In the U.S., we live in a world where individualism and self sufficiency have been lauded to the point of harm. We cannot do it all on our own, and the idea that we could is, frankly, absurd. But it doesn’t feel absurd when you’ve breathed it in the air your whole life.
I could not have written a novel without a creative writing program where I received support and community - community that rippled out into longer term relationships. Even if I had enough ideas all on my own (which I did not, and I’m no longer ashamed of this- it’s normal to get ideas from friends, readers, other books), the self doubt would have ground me to a halt.
I’d like to be a source of support for you, in this and the next few newsletters, in navigating your own creative journey. Not only do you not have to do it alone - it’s much more fun, joyful, and relaxing to do it with a friend or two.
Current Events & Offerings
A group Tarot reading and personal growth spell to beckon spring
February 6 at Drive-By Projects, Watertown MA
FULL
Fiction Cauldron
A holistic writer’s workshop
Alternate Fridays 3:30pm ET
SPACES OPEN
Renewal
2-session mini life coaching package
Orient in calmness & direction and jump-start a creative or personal goal
Alchemy
4-month life coaching cycle
A committed investment in seeking the tools and support necessary to transform your doubts into self-love, power, and possibility
Rituals and Readings
Customized readings and rituals to transmute energy during crossroads moments
Snow falling mysteriously off my front porch
Village Witch’s Corner
Win of the Week:
I just started with a new client, and they had the most foundational win: we clearly decided on 3 focuses for our 4 months. They left our session with assurance, support, and the start of a plan for how to make the tangible life changes they yearn for.
Spell of the Week :
Travel to MA to visit my parents, host a magical event on Friday, and spend time with my aunt and cousin (who is really more of a sibling).
Question(s) I'm asking this week:
Where can my heart open? How can I go there inside myself right now?
What I’m reading:
I just started adrienne maree brown’s Pleasure Activism. It’s been on my shelf for a while, and I’m looking forward to diving in. Also, the Bridgerton series, reread, at bedtime. It’s currently the only thing that helps me fall asleep - please send me, in a reply, your (dumb) romantasy recs! I think that could work for me too.
Wheel of the year:
They days are longer, spring is around the corner, and yet this time calls for “marathon-not-sprint” energy, for really digging deep into how we care for ourselves, rather than glossing over what’s truly needed. This is the important period when all subtle preparation happens for the upcoming growth of the year, before we hit the momentum of spring. Imbolc just happened! To learn more about living in alignment with the seasons, sign up for my Patreon (free and paid options available) 𓇢𓆸
