Creative Jumpstart: Take What You Need
Creativity Prompts, Insights, and Nuggets You Can Use Right Now
In the spirit of Tuesday’s post, this is the perfect time to echo Toni Morrison’s call:
This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.
Because healing and humanity is always central to my values, I’m excited to offer new benefits for paid subscribers. Each Thursday, I’ll offer a mini-essay with an insight about writing and creativity and a prompt for paid subscribers to take and run with. You can use that prompt to journal, create an essay, draw or paint a masterpiece, or whatever you want.
As always, take what you need and leave the rest. This is a space to play, to share our stories, and to heal.
Another paid subscriber benefit is to be involved in the Creative Play Studio on Tuesdays each week. We have a solid group starting, and I’m looking to add more people to the mix.
The premise is simple: hold a dedicated space for yourself to creatively play, in whatever way that looks like for you. Each week, I’ll see you all on Zoom to connect, share about our current projects, or be inspired by a prompt that I’ll provide for you. Think of this as your accountability to sit and play for 20-60 minutes, whatever you can spare in the day. If you’re interested in this, let me know in the paid subscriber chat.
For our first Creative Jumpstart, I’m opening it up to all subscribers to give you a taste of what these things will include.
Here’s the question to start us off:
What does your creativity need right now: permission, routine, or community?
Maybe you’ve been dying to tell a specific story, but don’t know where to start. Maybe you’ve just needed to carve out time to dedicate to fueling yourself up instead of pouring into others (hi, moms…I see you). Maybe you feel like the phrase “I’m not a writer” is your mantra. Perhaps you need to structure some parallel play moments, such as sitting on a Zoom call during your workday, to hold yourself accountable and get things done.
Here are a few ways I’ve explored this question in the past.
The 10-year Plan: Writer, designer, brand consultant, and podcaster Debbie Millman drove the importance of this exercise home for me, and I’m very grateful to
for discussing this creative jumpstart with Debbie on Hello Monday. Take a listen to the episode and then block out 20 minutes to start working on where you want to be 10 years from now.Time Audit: My dear friend Shoshanna Hecht made me do this (and when I say “made,” I mean “gently encouraged” as I dragged my feet until she directly assigned it). If you have
Draw your Route: On a blank journal page or large sheet of poster paper (you determine how big you get), put your pen in the middle. Then, start drawing a swirl around and around until you fill up the page, leaving some room between the lines to take small notes. As you’re drawing, think about where you are now and how you feel. How do your days feel? What is the pace of your life? Do you like those things? As you near the edges, write down how you feel when your body is grounded, or when you feel like your truest self. In the middle spaces, write down what activities or actions you take to get from the middle to the outside.
Be silent and see what emerges. This is the hardest. Sometimes when I’m immersed in asking the deep questions, I need to sit without any distractions and see what comes up. It often surprises me. This is exactly why I started doing quarterly solo writing retreats - I’ll fill you in more on that in a future Creative Jumpstart.
Our Next Step:
Take 20 minutes this week to use one, any, or none of these exercises to see if you can find an answer to what your creativity needs right now. Leave a note in the comments about what you find, or tag me on Instagram.
Creative Play Studio
My answer to this week’s prompt is accountability. I’m currently pitching literary agents and need to do one more round of tightening up sample pages before it flies into inboxes. I’m also craving progress on a new essay collection, and want to safeguard the time to build this Substack in a way that serves you all.
And that’s where Creative Play Studio comes in. Once a week, I hold a 1-hour Zoom to gather those of us who want to flex our creative muscles. You can bring a project you’re working on, or you can use the prompt I provide to get you going. We’ll dedicate 30 minutes to creating and then connecting about our work.
Want to join? I’m opening it up this summer for free!