Sorry I’m a few days late with this one! (Read on to find out why lol.) If you enjoy getting Honing Her Craft in your inbox, maybe your friend will like it too. Consider forwarding this newsletter to your creative buddies. And as always, comments are welcome.
Hi friends.
I have not felt very creative lately. What I mean is that it has taken an immense effort to create lately. When I write for myself, the words don’t make sense. When I write for work, the words don’t flow easily. A creative task that usually takes one hour takes three. I haven’t wanted to sew or bake or draw or design. Sometimes it feels so hard to get started that I don’t even try. Sometimes I don’t have the energy to work hard until it comes easy. But the thing is, I wake up and busy myself with getting ready and making breakfast so I don’t have time to squeeze in 10 minutes of writing. Oh well, there goes the time. I don’t even let myself struggle. I don’t give myself a chance to work through it. What I constantly forget is that this tension is part of the process. These lulls are natural, necessary. My brain is resetting, absorbing, learning, organizing, rearranging. The mostly-blank pages are just as important as the ones filled with scribbles. It’s supposed to be hard.
During a workshop and some subsequent self-reflection exercises last week, I solved the mystery of this creative dry spell. Needing rest is part of it, but distractions are at the root. My attention is constantly pulled in different directions. By my chaotic downstairs neighbors. By the sounds of sawing and people walking by outside. By my growling stomach. By new social obligations and old friends checking in. By my dog wanting to play tug. By Steve wanting to debrief about our days and the latest weird thing from the downstairs neighbors. By the mailman. By emails and Instagram and Twitter alerts. The interruptions are constant. Being easily accessible is just a fact of a life that revolves around the internet. But there’s also a caveat to this: I haven’t done very much to block some of these distractions. I’m aware of the various time-management tools. (If you have any suggestions, I’m intrigued.) I know it’s in my power to set boundaries.
Other questions I must ask myself: Is there a little part of me that wants to be distracted? Do I actually enjoy doomscrolling and agonizing over the chaos downstairs? Or are the disruptions just a convenient excuse to avoid the hard work? To commit to patience? To dig deep into my memories to continue writing the narrative that’s barely on the pages? Distractions make the day go by. Distractions are seductive. Distractions even give me purpose. But are they worth the neglect of my personal creative practices? Are they worth my energy? Wouldn’t I rather be putting my energy into getting into a rhythm and flow?
I’ll be spending the next few weeks exploring these questions for myself, detaching myself from distractions, and recommitting myself to the hard work.
With love,
Amelia
Monthly Favorites
Reading: This delightful historical look at a drink called the Corpse Reviver, the novel Stray City by Chelsea Johnson, one of Steve’s MFA professors, In Praise of Pointless Goals by Gloria Liu for The Atlantic
Subscribing: Mindset Mastery by Jenni Gritters, a treasure trove of coaching information for freelancers
Listening:
Writing: A feature on a humanitarian upcycling gear brand for Outside, a roundup of campgrounds in the West for Via Magazine, and a list of the best yoga mats for Men’s Journal
Watching: The Bear was my latest streaming binge. For fans of Bear and The Sopranos, how uncanny is this tweet?
Wearing: Find me in this William Ellery Starchart Shirt, which glows in the dark, was printed upside down for use while wearing, and is so soft
Learning: How to ask myself big questions with these Coherence cards by Didier Sylvain, an alignment coach and leadership consultant
Also learning: About the inner turmoil of app addiction from Marlee Grace