Creative Intentions

What this might be

As some of you may know, I’ve thought of myself as a writer for about as long as I can remember. However, as much as a scribbled notes in journals, ideas on backs of envelopes, receipts, scraps found in my purse, I’ve never really shared much of my writing with anyone. Why is that? It’s a common mix of terrible ego and terrible insecurities, all mashed up together and varying in proportion, depending on the day, my confidence level, and quite possibly what I ate the day before.

Why this, why now

So this new blog is an idea challenge discussed with my dear friend Sarah, who is as we speak reading the 2nd draft, 1st one given out to anyone, of a book I started almost two years ago. Gifted with another trip around the sun, I decided to do something astonishing (for me, anyways) that year I turned a new number ending with a 0: I decided to share my writing with others to see what they thought.

So that I could avoid any kind of humiliation if my writing was as awful as I feared it might be, I traveled to the gorgeous town of Lamu, Kenya for a writing retreat. That way, if my writing was really terrible, I could pretend the whole endeavor never happened since the odds of me seeing any of the attendees again were nearly 0.

Much to my stunned surprise, my writing was warmly received. And then the really terrifying part came: I had to not only pursue the book but finish it. Which I did, finally, this winter.

Back to the challenge part. In talking with Sarah, who is a seasoned writing coach, agent, angel from on high, we discovered we were both uncomfortable with the thought of entering the world of social media to discuss our works, our books, and to really put ourselves out there. Hence the challenge, which begins right now in March 2024. So this is my foray not only into a more public platform, but to hopefully cultivate a community around writing, changing one’s life, and so on.

What kind of community I’m looking to build here

It is my hope that this is a place where we can talk about creative processes, how you make time for that, why you do so, and what happens when you don’t. My natural place is creativity through words, although lately I’ve been playing and experimenting with all sorts of art mediums: pastels, colored pencils, charcoal, watercolor, you name it, I’m ready to try it out. I’m finding how much life has come back to me after a long season of corporate burnout, just from playing.

So the community I’m hoping to build here is one that is supportive, growth oriented, interested in the ideas of creativity, expression, emotional and spiritual healing, recovery, and anything related to dogs and cats is always welcome!

What you can expect

I’ll be posting weekly through the month of March and settle into a regular publishing routine. Most likely I’ll publish posts on Sundays. While this lovely platform provides options for free and paid subscriptions, I’m starting off with a free subscription option. If this catches on, there may be a time when it makes sense to expand into a paid subscription offering.

Sunset dhow sail, Lamu, Kenya

Thanks for reading

Let’s see what happens here!