Clare, I loved as always your take on Jane Cameron and The artist's way. You made me smile with your remark "Cameron was unusually encouraging" in this chapter. I also agree that enthusiasm alone won't cut it when you are at the point in a project that you so aptly described. As for discipline, I think it has a role, too, that is as long as I don't crack it like a whip but rather discipline allows me to build a fence that I have full permission to kick down, with no self blame.
I find the word "Devotion" can often work better for me than "Discipline."
Devotion to what I love to do, to my purpose, my dharma, as a writer is the gentler and more forgiving pull to the page. I once had to sum up in an exercise "my why" as a writer. I wrote" "Because I am a writer in my soul. I always have been. This is at the heart of my searching--not to run from the truth, whether it's my own truth or the truth of the characters on the page--but to seek it out, no matter how painful. I keep going because I have stories to tell that I want to share, that I need to share, in order to feel like I am living the life I was always meant to live. And I also keep going because my voice longs to be heard. Because I have something important and valuable to say."
Why I need to cultivate my sense of compassion this week, more than usual, is that I bravely handed over the first 5 pages of a novel I had been pitching to agents, without much success, and had spent three years and 11 drafts revising. I thought it was "ready." But I trusted this former MFA professor and published author and generous and compassionate guide to writers (she is all of these things) and purchased a service to have my first 5 pages critiqued. Because clearly they were not getting agents (67+) to say either, "I want to read this manuscript" or "I've read it and I want to represent you." (Two of them did read it and passed on representation). I got back her detailed, meticulous, incredibly helpful analysis, both some big-picture ideas of how to address the trajectory of the novel, and then line-by-line edits of what worked and what didn't and how to capitalize on what did work. All of it, such good good stuff. I am not stranger to having my work critiqued. I've been a founder and facilitator of writing groups for over 30 years. I've hired developmental editors. And yet when I received this particular critique I felt very deflated. Was it a coincidence that I suffered an inexplicable stomach illness and headache the very day I received thse notes? That I just wanted to sleep and forget about being a writer, or at least the writer of this particular novel.
I do know myself, though. I will lick my wounds awhile--because some of what she points out about making my protagonist come alive on the page are things I thought I had learned, goddamit! :-)--but then I know on a better day, I will tackle her suggestions with vigor. Because I do not want to give up on this novel or my middle-aged female character who I dreamt up in 2021 and whose story I want out in the world. I need to re-read my own devotional "why" again above: I write because I have something important and valuable to say.
This is why I'm going to jump on Cameron's suggestion on p. 159 of a series of questions to ask yourself when work grows difficult or bogs down, to list any resentments you have in connection with it, any fears about it, what I would gain by not doing this piece of work and YES, Clare, brilliant, I will add the category of what I will gain by carrying through with the piece of work. Because I agree that is so much more motivating.
As for Creative U-turns, I've had a lot of those in my writing career. I won an award for an unpublished middle grade novel, first prize, and I finally got an agent for it, but he couldn't sell it to a publisher. I gave up on the novel completely rather than take his advice to try small presses directly. I wrote a YA novel and never carried it through to the subsequent revisions despite spending a year in workshopping it with my then writer's group. And now this third novel, contemporary adult's fiction, women's fiction, the one that isn't winning over agents and got that recent critical analysis, I thought was evidence that I could write a good-enough novel. I've started a fourth novel and that one is stymied too at the moment.
As I write this long comment, I realize I need self compassion to remind myself that for the first time in my life I am suffering from a debilitating degenerative spine disease, chronic pain, for the past almost 3 months, where I can only stand to write--and so it is okay that I am not, at this moment, the disciplined, prodigious workhorse of a writer I know I can be.
Still, I can remain devoted. To words. To language. To my creative artistic child. Let her doodle. Let her daydream.
I love the nuance you add around the word "discipline".
For me, discipline isn't a punitive, rigid thing but a helpful structure. As is often the case, I find the etymology of the word very useful. The words "disciple" and "discipline" come from the same Latin root, discipulus which means "student" or "pupil". I'm not at all a religious person, but I grew up learning about Jesus and his disciples and there's something instructive about how Jesus's followers learned by living alongside him and seeing his faith in action.
It feels a little weird to be talking about Jesus as a decidedly non-religious person, but it has shaped how I think about the concept of discipline. 🙃
I loved reading your "why" as a writer too. I love the idea of asking that of myself, and letting it guide my work. Perhaps that's another task to add to my list for this week?
I love to hear how you're getting on with your novel, though I can imagine how deflating those notes were. And no, it's probably not a coincidence that you immediately got ill and just want to sleep. My body often communicates my pain before I really ready to verbalise it. It sounds like you have a good plan to rest and heal a little, and then return to this work when you feel able to do it well. It sounds like your protagonist feels incredibly alive to you, and I think you can trust yourself to know which of these expert's suggestions feel true to you and which don't feel right.
But ugh, Amy, I'm sorry. It's really hard to get tough feedback, even when we also want it. It's hard to be brave and submit something you're proud of, and to deal with the wounding that comes with realising there actually are things you wish you'd done differently. Please take some time to mourn the pain of it. It's not a small thing, though hopefully you'll look back and see it as a blip on your road to publication.
(Also when the time is right, I'm really curious if this expert is someone you'd recommend for this kind of review. I plan to do the same thing for my novel and am always looking for recommendations if you're open to sharing!)
I'm glad to hear that you're showing yourself some self-compassion around your physical limitations right now too. Chronic illness is deeply debilitating, and folks don't always understand how much it can destroy our ability to keep muddling through. I don't have any solution to share, except the hope that you'll take care of your body and know that the tough moments will pass 💕
I love etymology too and ‘disciple’ fits very well with devotion 💗thanks for all your kind and encouraging words Clare and the reminder to sit with the pain of an artistic loss rather than just brush it aside and move on. As for chronic pain, I am sitting with that too, as patiently as I can 💗
I have finally arrived at my week 9, and found this post particularly thought provoking (as well as the actual chapter).
I find it interesting to hear how others view enthusiasm and discipline. I have spent my life beating myself up under the guise of discipline. Enthusiasm has been the salve that drives me to fun. In fact, Cameron’s point about the roots of the word being “filled with a deity” (the Wikipedia def) is fascinating because it speaks to the fire that burns inside me that fuels my creativity. To your point, when I’m deep in the middle of a project, nurturing the fading fire of enthusiasm does me more good than beating myself up with rigidity and discipline.
Play is a huge thing for me this week. Thanks for sharing your journey and holding space for this community!
Thanks for this, Pinky. I really connected with this chapter too, and am eager to carry her enthusiasm for play with me into the future.
I love the idea of a fire that burns deep inside us to fuel our creativity. Sometimes it's a raging furnace. Other times it's a humble, flickering flame. But it's always there for us, ready to be nurtured into something more beautiful.
Thanks for being here - I'm so happy you're part of our Artist's Way adventure 💕
I had comments written in this box and they've disappeared, I don't know where they've gone to - I'll give this another go - perhaps half the detail, the clock is looking at me from the bottom right hand corner.
Clare, such thanks for your diligence and efforts, you've made all this possible, and I'm grateful.
A bit of riptide and I feel I've been caught under, a difficult couple of weeks & -apologies for delay.
I feel shattered, but there's momentum and where there's momentum - maybe because of the couple of weeks that have been in it, I have had the daydream a few times what it's like to immerse yourself with Cameron's book away on an island with no distraction at all - perhaps its because my first time doing it, there's been a particular intensity and surprise and horror and joy and sadness ... I'm glad that I've undertaken doing it, but it's been much when coupled with another more intense situation.
A shift in relegating the harsh to the blackthorn making the hedge, and bringing a more compassionate sense to my being has been a bit of both challenge & treat and I'm still wondering how it happened, but it has and I find myself going for a more curious and less interrogative approach. I still have that little postcard with treating yourself like a precious object will make you strong beside the kettle - it still makes me smile, a small bit. I know the word precious get a seriously bad rap, I sometimes wonder is that what is making me smile?!! but I take it to simply mean, by minding and looking after myself, I'll make myself stronger. This alone has aided in being more compassionate with myself and the work, more forgiving, and even more humourous (humour has been scant lately, but it's there, even if an undercurrent) - the compassion has given space where the harsh led to a tight corner and the space compassion affords feels almost a luxury, as in is it real? Again, I've a certain circumstance that's foul - so I'm vigilant all the time - and is always asking is this feeling too much?
Anyway.
I was a little aghast at the task regarding re-reading the morning pages. Holyjesus, not a chance.
Again, it could be my circumstances, and I used the handy pin - I said I'd put a pin in that task and maybe return to it later.
I have, with earnestness, been identifying and clearing the way, my true north. And a smile.
And that's felt unbelievably good- and with hope on the incline, I will let all know in time, but it's lovely and welcome especially in light of all the dark that been around in the form of the _______ & maybe even on the 8th of June there'll be the space to share some of it - that is, hands down, a gift for me from endeavouring the reading & tasks with Cameron - so gratitude and glad tidings on that front.
And perhaps that links with the creative u-turns, and I did have to read through some of that a few times so as I could respond with some integrity about it - it didn't fully seem clear at first. That 'lovely' sentence: 'the trick is to survive them' - hmm, survival is no trick. It's heady, and full of grit and it's hard work - but having said that, I hadn't realised that I think I sometimes make myself work 5 times harder and metaphorically drive myself down into field upon field when I only really need to have walked the one - the creative u turns highlighted that I sometimes make more work for myself than is necessary, and then obliterate myself when not gone strictly to plan and it was hard to grasp the how and why and what in that, until I did & in that way I think I was and am able to arrest what might be 'the skittishness' - I think skittishness has begun to eat away at me like rust and because I was both aware of it yet not knowing how to address it, it felt like a riddle.
It doesn't feel like a riddle at all anymore, I prefer not to be skittish, at all, anymore. I think I felt a bit driven daft by it, but not realising what 'it' was - not sure if that makes sense.
I kept underscoring the recover/recovering in chapter 9 so as not get bogged down or lost to the weeds, and to be honest, it's aided in helping the volatilities from next door and beyond.
While I have zero compulsion to re-read the morning/night pages, that would be torture department material, the diligence persists in the execution - it clears a way forward for me and because I'm holding myself accountable, a synthesising effect - I've produced a beat or rhythm with it & would be hesitant to let them go. I did miss a couple of nights and one morning last week, due to tiredness and outside matters, and the rubbish feeling that stayed me was note enough.
There is another project that I've got on the go and I found the sub-headed 'blasting through blocks' a tool that I've been using not to power through anything, but chisel away at with care. And a sometimes contentment has come with that followed by lingering harsher talk and wanting to strike the proverbial match - so a bit of toggling away on that front.
Because of broken trust etc, I would find it hard to share what I'm working on and have been working hard to try to change that - to not secret my work - even calling it by its name in the notes here, that if I embrace that one thing -trust broken and tyring to repair that - like the stets in Thornton, maybe I'm cobbling a road out of the latter.
I found it odd, and laughable, the one thing that would appeal was the one thing I completely forgot out (and yes, it could be the fire-intesity to these last couple of weeks) but the totem - the artist totem - I must reference a totem week in and week out and that that completely washed over me! A strange one.
Hi Michelle, lovely to hear from you. I'm sorry about whatever happened with your original comment - I wonder if it could have been a Substack issue? Thanks for taking the time to share it again 💕
I love that you've got a "treating yourself like a precious object will make you strong" postcard beside your kettle. I've no idea where mine went but you've reminded me to dig it out again.
I also sometimes make myself work harder than I really need to. It's such a deeply engrained habit that it's kind of hard to know how to get out from under it, but perhaps awareness is the first step? I hope so.
I love the nuance you add around the the difference between powering through and "chiselling away at with care". It's a distinction I want to try to keep in mind too, so thank you for the inspiration!
I am often shy about sharing my work too, though perhaps that might surprise you given how much I've written about my creative life over the last 10+ weeks. 🙃 But I do think privacy is an important ingredient in many of my creative life, and I've made peace with the fact that I often don't like to share the things the things that are currently taking shape.
Will be lovely to catch up more on June 8th. Thanks so much for being here 💕
So, Clare, I just want to offer you encouragement regarding the gremlins you mentioned you've been dealing with lately (feeling depleted/overworked/envious, etc.).
I'm here for you, friend. I mean that. Being an artist is HARD. It's not the glamorous life many think it is--many who have not actually delved into the creative process longer than fleetingly. You mentioned enthusiasm isn't enough to keep us invested in our work, and you're right. I think we need a combo of enthusiasm and persistence. And maybe that equals perseverance. I don't know. What I do know is that I sit down every day at my laptop, or maybe my notebook, or both, and I don't always "feel" like writing. But I still do it, and I allow it to be "bad" writing. Writing no one else will see. Unpublishable writing. It's all okay.
Really, I just wanted to tell you that if you ever consider having a sort of virtual gathering for creatives, I would love to be part of it. I'd love for us to be able to just talk about our work, where we are in it, how we feel about our life in general, and support each other.
Jeannie what a lovely and generous comment and wise words about sitting down every day to write something even when it’s ’bad,’ and let ourselves be okay with the outcome whatever it may be. Also I’d be up for this virtual gathering of creatives you suggest.
Oh wow! This is so kind Jeannie, and I really appreciate your encouragement.
Here's the thing: I've also been thinking about ways to extend the magic of The Artist's Way after we finish the book. I really enjoy hosting the monthly gatherings, and the folks who come along seem to enjoy them too. I would love to find a way continue what this community has built over the last few months.
That said, I also know I need to take a minute. This has been such a rich creative season in my life, but I also want it to also be a sustainable one. I'm getting married in late June and am planning to take a brief break from publishing but I'd love to come back with something new to offer this community.
Thank you so much for your encouragement and interest Jeannie and Amy. It's really heartening to know that you'd be interested in taking part in something ilke that and I would love to bring it to life. Watch this space...😉
So maybe we can circle back in the fall, Clare? There is absolutely no rush at all for me. In fact, my kids get out of school next Tuesday, and then the shit hits the fan for summer break—I’ll be home every day with five kids, trying to keep them occupied and out of trouble. :) So I get it. We can always revisit the idea later in the year, when it feels more sustainable to us all.
Clare, I loved as always your take on Jane Cameron and The artist's way. You made me smile with your remark "Cameron was unusually encouraging" in this chapter. I also agree that enthusiasm alone won't cut it when you are at the point in a project that you so aptly described. As for discipline, I think it has a role, too, that is as long as I don't crack it like a whip but rather discipline allows me to build a fence that I have full permission to kick down, with no self blame.
I find the word "Devotion" can often work better for me than "Discipline."
Devotion to what I love to do, to my purpose, my dharma, as a writer is the gentler and more forgiving pull to the page. I once had to sum up in an exercise "my why" as a writer. I wrote" "Because I am a writer in my soul. I always have been. This is at the heart of my searching--not to run from the truth, whether it's my own truth or the truth of the characters on the page--but to seek it out, no matter how painful. I keep going because I have stories to tell that I want to share, that I need to share, in order to feel like I am living the life I was always meant to live. And I also keep going because my voice longs to be heard. Because I have something important and valuable to say."
Why I need to cultivate my sense of compassion this week, more than usual, is that I bravely handed over the first 5 pages of a novel I had been pitching to agents, without much success, and had spent three years and 11 drafts revising. I thought it was "ready." But I trusted this former MFA professor and published author and generous and compassionate guide to writers (she is all of these things) and purchased a service to have my first 5 pages critiqued. Because clearly they were not getting agents (67+) to say either, "I want to read this manuscript" or "I've read it and I want to represent you." (Two of them did read it and passed on representation). I got back her detailed, meticulous, incredibly helpful analysis, both some big-picture ideas of how to address the trajectory of the novel, and then line-by-line edits of what worked and what didn't and how to capitalize on what did work. All of it, such good good stuff. I am not stranger to having my work critiqued. I've been a founder and facilitator of writing groups for over 30 years. I've hired developmental editors. And yet when I received this particular critique I felt very deflated. Was it a coincidence that I suffered an inexplicable stomach illness and headache the very day I received thse notes? That I just wanted to sleep and forget about being a writer, or at least the writer of this particular novel.
I do know myself, though. I will lick my wounds awhile--because some of what she points out about making my protagonist come alive on the page are things I thought I had learned, goddamit! :-)--but then I know on a better day, I will tackle her suggestions with vigor. Because I do not want to give up on this novel or my middle-aged female character who I dreamt up in 2021 and whose story I want out in the world. I need to re-read my own devotional "why" again above: I write because I have something important and valuable to say.
This is why I'm going to jump on Cameron's suggestion on p. 159 of a series of questions to ask yourself when work grows difficult or bogs down, to list any resentments you have in connection with it, any fears about it, what I would gain by not doing this piece of work and YES, Clare, brilliant, I will add the category of what I will gain by carrying through with the piece of work. Because I agree that is so much more motivating.
As for Creative U-turns, I've had a lot of those in my writing career. I won an award for an unpublished middle grade novel, first prize, and I finally got an agent for it, but he couldn't sell it to a publisher. I gave up on the novel completely rather than take his advice to try small presses directly. I wrote a YA novel and never carried it through to the subsequent revisions despite spending a year in workshopping it with my then writer's group. And now this third novel, contemporary adult's fiction, women's fiction, the one that isn't winning over agents and got that recent critical analysis, I thought was evidence that I could write a good-enough novel. I've started a fourth novel and that one is stymied too at the moment.
As I write this long comment, I realize I need self compassion to remind myself that for the first time in my life I am suffering from a debilitating degenerative spine disease, chronic pain, for the past almost 3 months, where I can only stand to write--and so it is okay that I am not, at this moment, the disciplined, prodigious workhorse of a writer I know I can be.
Still, I can remain devoted. To words. To language. To my creative artistic child. Let her doodle. Let her daydream.
Hugs to all! May you have a compassionate week.
Thanks for this, Amy 💕
I love the nuance you add around the word "discipline".
For me, discipline isn't a punitive, rigid thing but a helpful structure. As is often the case, I find the etymology of the word very useful. The words "disciple" and "discipline" come from the same Latin root, discipulus which means "student" or "pupil". I'm not at all a religious person, but I grew up learning about Jesus and his disciples and there's something instructive about how Jesus's followers learned by living alongside him and seeing his faith in action.
It feels a little weird to be talking about Jesus as a decidedly non-religious person, but it has shaped how I think about the concept of discipline. 🙃
I loved reading your "why" as a writer too. I love the idea of asking that of myself, and letting it guide my work. Perhaps that's another task to add to my list for this week?
I love to hear how you're getting on with your novel, though I can imagine how deflating those notes were. And no, it's probably not a coincidence that you immediately got ill and just want to sleep. My body often communicates my pain before I really ready to verbalise it. It sounds like you have a good plan to rest and heal a little, and then return to this work when you feel able to do it well. It sounds like your protagonist feels incredibly alive to you, and I think you can trust yourself to know which of these expert's suggestions feel true to you and which don't feel right.
But ugh, Amy, I'm sorry. It's really hard to get tough feedback, even when we also want it. It's hard to be brave and submit something you're proud of, and to deal with the wounding that comes with realising there actually are things you wish you'd done differently. Please take some time to mourn the pain of it. It's not a small thing, though hopefully you'll look back and see it as a blip on your road to publication.
(Also when the time is right, I'm really curious if this expert is someone you'd recommend for this kind of review. I plan to do the same thing for my novel and am always looking for recommendations if you're open to sharing!)
I'm glad to hear that you're showing yourself some self-compassion around your physical limitations right now too. Chronic illness is deeply debilitating, and folks don't always understand how much it can destroy our ability to keep muddling through. I don't have any solution to share, except the hope that you'll take care of your body and know that the tough moments will pass 💕
I love etymology too and ‘disciple’ fits very well with devotion 💗thanks for all your kind and encouraging words Clare and the reminder to sit with the pain of an artistic loss rather than just brush it aside and move on. As for chronic pain, I am sitting with that too, as patiently as I can 💗
Sending solidarity your way, my friend 💕
I have finally arrived at my week 9, and found this post particularly thought provoking (as well as the actual chapter).
I find it interesting to hear how others view enthusiasm and discipline. I have spent my life beating myself up under the guise of discipline. Enthusiasm has been the salve that drives me to fun. In fact, Cameron’s point about the roots of the word being “filled with a deity” (the Wikipedia def) is fascinating because it speaks to the fire that burns inside me that fuels my creativity. To your point, when I’m deep in the middle of a project, nurturing the fading fire of enthusiasm does me more good than beating myself up with rigidity and discipline.
Play is a huge thing for me this week. Thanks for sharing your journey and holding space for this community!
Thanks for this, Pinky. I really connected with this chapter too, and am eager to carry her enthusiasm for play with me into the future.
I love the idea of a fire that burns deep inside us to fuel our creativity. Sometimes it's a raging furnace. Other times it's a humble, flickering flame. But it's always there for us, ready to be nurtured into something more beautiful.
Thanks for being here - I'm so happy you're part of our Artist's Way adventure 💕
I had comments written in this box and they've disappeared, I don't know where they've gone to - I'll give this another go - perhaps half the detail, the clock is looking at me from the bottom right hand corner.
Clare, such thanks for your diligence and efforts, you've made all this possible, and I'm grateful.
A bit of riptide and I feel I've been caught under, a difficult couple of weeks & -apologies for delay.
I feel shattered, but there's momentum and where there's momentum - maybe because of the couple of weeks that have been in it, I have had the daydream a few times what it's like to immerse yourself with Cameron's book away on an island with no distraction at all - perhaps its because my first time doing it, there's been a particular intensity and surprise and horror and joy and sadness ... I'm glad that I've undertaken doing it, but it's been much when coupled with another more intense situation.
A shift in relegating the harsh to the blackthorn making the hedge, and bringing a more compassionate sense to my being has been a bit of both challenge & treat and I'm still wondering how it happened, but it has and I find myself going for a more curious and less interrogative approach. I still have that little postcard with treating yourself like a precious object will make you strong beside the kettle - it still makes me smile, a small bit. I know the word precious get a seriously bad rap, I sometimes wonder is that what is making me smile?!! but I take it to simply mean, by minding and looking after myself, I'll make myself stronger. This alone has aided in being more compassionate with myself and the work, more forgiving, and even more humourous (humour has been scant lately, but it's there, even if an undercurrent) - the compassion has given space where the harsh led to a tight corner and the space compassion affords feels almost a luxury, as in is it real? Again, I've a certain circumstance that's foul - so I'm vigilant all the time - and is always asking is this feeling too much?
Anyway.
I was a little aghast at the task regarding re-reading the morning pages. Holyjesus, not a chance.
Again, it could be my circumstances, and I used the handy pin - I said I'd put a pin in that task and maybe return to it later.
I have, with earnestness, been identifying and clearing the way, my true north. And a smile.
And that's felt unbelievably good- and with hope on the incline, I will let all know in time, but it's lovely and welcome especially in light of all the dark that been around in the form of the _______ & maybe even on the 8th of June there'll be the space to share some of it - that is, hands down, a gift for me from endeavouring the reading & tasks with Cameron - so gratitude and glad tidings on that front.
And perhaps that links with the creative u-turns, and I did have to read through some of that a few times so as I could respond with some integrity about it - it didn't fully seem clear at first. That 'lovely' sentence: 'the trick is to survive them' - hmm, survival is no trick. It's heady, and full of grit and it's hard work - but having said that, I hadn't realised that I think I sometimes make myself work 5 times harder and metaphorically drive myself down into field upon field when I only really need to have walked the one - the creative u turns highlighted that I sometimes make more work for myself than is necessary, and then obliterate myself when not gone strictly to plan and it was hard to grasp the how and why and what in that, until I did & in that way I think I was and am able to arrest what might be 'the skittishness' - I think skittishness has begun to eat away at me like rust and because I was both aware of it yet not knowing how to address it, it felt like a riddle.
It doesn't feel like a riddle at all anymore, I prefer not to be skittish, at all, anymore. I think I felt a bit driven daft by it, but not realising what 'it' was - not sure if that makes sense.
I kept underscoring the recover/recovering in chapter 9 so as not get bogged down or lost to the weeds, and to be honest, it's aided in helping the volatilities from next door and beyond.
While I have zero compulsion to re-read the morning/night pages, that would be torture department material, the diligence persists in the execution - it clears a way forward for me and because I'm holding myself accountable, a synthesising effect - I've produced a beat or rhythm with it & would be hesitant to let them go. I did miss a couple of nights and one morning last week, due to tiredness and outside matters, and the rubbish feeling that stayed me was note enough.
There is another project that I've got on the go and I found the sub-headed 'blasting through blocks' a tool that I've been using not to power through anything, but chisel away at with care. And a sometimes contentment has come with that followed by lingering harsher talk and wanting to strike the proverbial match - so a bit of toggling away on that front.
Because of broken trust etc, I would find it hard to share what I'm working on and have been working hard to try to change that - to not secret my work - even calling it by its name in the notes here, that if I embrace that one thing -trust broken and tyring to repair that - like the stets in Thornton, maybe I'm cobbling a road out of the latter.
I found it odd, and laughable, the one thing that would appeal was the one thing I completely forgot out (and yes, it could be the fire-intesity to these last couple of weeks) but the totem - the artist totem - I must reference a totem week in and week out and that that completely washed over me! A strange one.
Hoping all are well & that life is being kind.
Looking forward everyone in June.
Goodness in the meantime.
Michelle
Hi Michelle, lovely to hear from you. I'm sorry about whatever happened with your original comment - I wonder if it could have been a Substack issue? Thanks for taking the time to share it again 💕
I love that you've got a "treating yourself like a precious object will make you strong" postcard beside your kettle. I've no idea where mine went but you've reminded me to dig it out again.
I also sometimes make myself work harder than I really need to. It's such a deeply engrained habit that it's kind of hard to know how to get out from under it, but perhaps awareness is the first step? I hope so.
I love the nuance you add around the the difference between powering through and "chiselling away at with care". It's a distinction I want to try to keep in mind too, so thank you for the inspiration!
I am often shy about sharing my work too, though perhaps that might surprise you given how much I've written about my creative life over the last 10+ weeks. 🙃 But I do think privacy is an important ingredient in many of my creative life, and I've made peace with the fact that I often don't like to share the things the things that are currently taking shape.
Will be lovely to catch up more on June 8th. Thanks so much for being here 💕
Very much recc the massage and M and M approach 🙏🏻 I hope it works for you 🙏🏻
I hope so too, thanks Jessica.
P.S. Can't wait to read CYK! I'm so happy to see your success! 🎉
I’d love to attend on June 8😀
Amazing! I'll share the meeting details closer to the time 💕
So, Clare, I just want to offer you encouragement regarding the gremlins you mentioned you've been dealing with lately (feeling depleted/overworked/envious, etc.).
I'm here for you, friend. I mean that. Being an artist is HARD. It's not the glamorous life many think it is--many who have not actually delved into the creative process longer than fleetingly. You mentioned enthusiasm isn't enough to keep us invested in our work, and you're right. I think we need a combo of enthusiasm and persistence. And maybe that equals perseverance. I don't know. What I do know is that I sit down every day at my laptop, or maybe my notebook, or both, and I don't always "feel" like writing. But I still do it, and I allow it to be "bad" writing. Writing no one else will see. Unpublishable writing. It's all okay.
Really, I just wanted to tell you that if you ever consider having a sort of virtual gathering for creatives, I would love to be part of it. I'd love for us to be able to just talk about our work, where we are in it, how we feel about our life in general, and support each other.
Jeannie what a lovely and generous comment and wise words about sitting down every day to write something even when it’s ’bad,’ and let ourselves be okay with the outcome whatever it may be. Also I’d be up for this virtual gathering of creatives you suggest.
That’s awesome, Amy! Let’s see what Clare has to say…
Oh wow! This is so kind Jeannie, and I really appreciate your encouragement.
Here's the thing: I've also been thinking about ways to extend the magic of The Artist's Way after we finish the book. I really enjoy hosting the monthly gatherings, and the folks who come along seem to enjoy them too. I would love to find a way continue what this community has built over the last few months.
That said, I also know I need to take a minute. This has been such a rich creative season in my life, but I also want it to also be a sustainable one. I'm getting married in late June and am planning to take a brief break from publishing but I'd love to come back with something new to offer this community.
Thank you so much for your encouragement and interest Jeannie and Amy. It's really heartening to know that you'd be interested in taking part in something ilke that and I would love to bring it to life. Watch this space...😉
So maybe we can circle back in the fall, Clare? There is absolutely no rush at all for me. In fact, my kids get out of school next Tuesday, and then the shit hits the fan for summer break—I’ll be home every day with five kids, trying to keep them occupied and out of trouble. :) So I get it. We can always revisit the idea later in the year, when it feels more sustainable to us all.
Sounds like a plan 💕
I just DMed you my poems.
First time. I liked to listen to your interesting conversation
Thank you!
Welcome Renate. So glad you're here 💕
Yes, it was a nice conversation for me too.