How to build a life of creativity.
...without sabotaging yourself. Mostly.
(Friends, at the moment I post this, the Kickstarter Campaign for Book 4 of my Aveline Series is 31% funded. We have 12 days left, and we only get funded if we hit 100%
If you are new to the series, you can find all the books available in the rewards. I think you’re going to like these characters and their lives. Find out all about it here!)
If you were to hold a magnifying glass up to my soul and find my longings clustered there, the biggest and most persistent dream would be to live a creative life. It’s like a glow, a bubble, a solid yearning that fills me.
I long to write and make art and make music.
Perhaps it seems as though I already live a creative life. And I do. But I always want more. I always want different kinds of making. I want to learn everything. I want to paint every day. I want to write more and better. I want to sing, to finally master an instrument.
But… this big longing, the bigness itself, is my sharp-toothed enemy. My desire becomes a monster because I am skilled at sabotaging what I want most and heading for something a little easier.
I fold laundry during times I planned to paint. I look at my calendar for the week. I scroll through other people’s ideas and paintings, not giving room for my own.
You too?
I have to remind myself of one of the Key Concepts from my Writing from the Heart course. (Open soon for registration for this year’s session, by the way!)
It is the one that has been with me faithfully throughout my life. It is how I get everything worth doing done. It is the one I sabotage when my dreams reach long arms out toward me and I am afraid that I will never do anything well. It is the one I forget when I say I don’t have enough time for a daily sketching habit. Or painting. Or music practice.
This concept is Little Bits. Little Bits, darling. Sark calls it a micro movement. Anne Lamott says to take it bird by bird.
And in this video, the narrator puts it so beautifully, speaking of Ikigai and of a teacher of his. The teacher told him, “Do not rush. Let’s make efforts like adding thin sheets of paper, one by one, every day.”
How to build a creative life?
With Little Bits. For many years, my Little Bits consisted of one poem a day, purposefully loose and flawed so that I could grow a collection of feelings, of moments, of beautiful things. I did this during a time when I was so anxious that writing books seemed lost to me. I wrote poems instead.
Find a space. Do one thing. Light a candle. Clean a countertop. Sew one cushion cover instead of telling yourself you need to sew six. Make a layer of watercolor, rather than a drawing. Cook something. Whatever you do, let it be slow, kind, and rich with love.
Walk. And sing. And dance. And ask yourself what could be a creative option rather than a practical, transactional option. Ask yourself what could make you feel like you are living on another plane, rather than stuck in the cold place of cash and calendars. Live a different way. Take a different path (literally, go down a road you haven’t gone down before). Look at the world with fresh eyes. Add a splash of color. Take the loving option, the hopeful option. Transform your sorrow into beauty. Bring your grief to the canvas.
Remind yourself of all the possibilities. Remind yourself that creativity brings joy, truly, buckets of joy. Let yourself linger in colors and textures. Watch the sky.
Little bits. Little bits of creativity make a creative life. You make a creative life one thin sheet of paper at a time.
🔗 Links For You
🌻 There are 12 days left in the Kickstarter campaign for The Hope of Becoming- Aveline Book 4, and we’re 31% funded! Read all about the campaign, the books, and why I think they’re important.
🎉 Registration for the November-January session of Writing From the Heart opens soon! Seats are limited, as small classes are best. Sign up here to find out as soon as it opens.
✨ New! I’m publishing my first audiobook soon and releasing it chapter by chapter on my new audiobook YouTube channel. You can also find the full audio for God of All Flying Things on the channel! Subscribe to follow along or to support the project. I appreciate it!
📚 My books are here. If you would like to know where to start, try the first book in the World Whisperer Series or the first book in the Aveline Series. Or if you like poetry, you can try Everything Bright, Clear, and Beautiful, a Year of Poetry or God of All Flying Things.
🌟 Check out my book bundles (the best deal) here.
🧵 My writing mini-course is here— Following the Thread: Thirty Days of Guided Writing. It’s a month-long self-directed course about finding clarity and connection with the things in your life.