Mini-Salon on “Feeding The Creative Well: Resetting & Re-energizing Your Writing”
Yesterday’s mini-salon with Ines Bellina focused on how to re-energize our writing as we leave summer and begin the cozy, introspective, warm apple-cider days of fall. We answered readers’ questions on how to avoid feeling overwhelmed in the middle of book-length projects and how to cope with anxiety when you enter a creative period that focuses on input rather than output.
Feeding the creative well often means allowing ourselves to enter the weird and dreamy underworld that lives under the surface of our thoughts. Something is always bubbling and alive there—we just don’t always perceive it. Fall is perfect time to attune to what’s going on below ground, and generally, a change in seasons gives us the opportunity to start new habits and fine-tune old ones.
When we feel dried up and out of ideas, or bored with our work, we first need to stop kicking ourselves for experiencing the natural ebb and flow of the creative process, and instead, nurture our imaginations.
Here are some of the strategies and resources we shared in yesterday’s mini-salon:
Take a class in your genre or in another artistic discipline to feel refreshed and supported by community.
Read a lot. Reading is necessary to writing! Find books that make you feel like you’re in third-grade and you want to stay up way past your bedtime.
You are not a creativity machine and this is not an assembly line. it really is okay to not actively produce work all of the time. Trust the process.
Go to a writing group or talk with someone about your work—and ask your peers and teacher specifically for help on whatever it is you’re stuck on. Don’t know how to end your story? Ask! Spitballing can be helpful! All writing is highly collaborative. Also, paid subscribers to the newsletter: y’all can email me a creativity or writing question, and I'll send an email or voice note back with personalized advice, suggestions, and resources.
Look at what you’re ingesting in terms of culture. Are you a fan of trashy TV and find that you’re overdoing it? What about going to literary readings, art galleries, concerts, and museums to find inspiration? You are made from what you consume.
Do you need more rest? Like the cycles of the natural world, it’s normal for us to have creative periods that involve hibernation and stillness. If you are feeling overwhelmed or dried up, or if your work has lost its spark—those might be signs that you need to enter a restorative period of creativity. Read more on How Rest Feeds Our Creative Subconscious.
