My husband Steve and I have been listening to Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer. I highly recommend the book, but the chapter we’re on now, “The Sacred and the Superfund,” triggered today’s article about nurturing the writer within.
Kimmerer wrote, “We are deluged by information regarding our destruction of the world and hear almost nothing about how to nurture it.” Not that writing is similar to environmental destruction, but I think we all too often focus on getting the writing done and forget to refill and renew our creativity. In our haste to get that book or blog done along with the other 1000 things on our task list, we forget to nurture the writer within.
Now, there are a lot of books, workshops, groups out there that do talk about nurturing your inner writer. I’m going to add my two cents and encourage you to make plans and take steps to nurture your creativity this week. I’m also going to encourage you to start a running list of things that make your writer within go, “YUM!”
Make yumminess a part of your writing mindset
Add some color to your day.
Add some 🆃🅴🆇🆃🆄🆁🅴.
Move>>>>>>>>>>>>>!
Play🤓👾!!
Get out in nature 🌳.
Take a nap 😴.
Go dancing with friends 💃🏾.
Reach back to what excited you about your writing project in the first place.
In other words, what can you do today, tomorrow, later this week, or next month to nurture the writer within and make them smile? Create a menu of delicious activities. Make sure there are small ones, large ones, and ones in between so you can feed your creativity no matter how much time you have.
How will you nurture the writer within?
Here are some things I’ve suggested to clients to nurture their writer within:
Go dancing. Move!
Add your favorite throw blanket to your writing chair and pet it.
Outline your book idea with bright sticky notes and colored markers.
Forget chronology. Create your book as you would one of your crazy quilts. Tell the next story that feels right.
Order fresh fruits and veggies for pickup or delivery. Don’t wait to feed your body and mind until you have time to shop.
Get your crayons out and start coloring.
Take that nap you’ve been promising yourself.
Go have coffee with friends and tell them what’s exciting you about your book.
Delegate where you can: online shopping for groceries, groceries delivered, hire someone to clean your house, car pool, get a virtual assistant for admin work, ask family to take on more chores, or friends to help you out sometimes. You don’t have to do it all yourself!!
Here’s how I nurture my inner writer:
Buy a new set of colored pens for journaling.
Visit a fabric store to feel new textures. Sometimes I’ve bought samples, sometimes I haven’t.
Pull a few cooking spices from my cabinets and write about what each spice smelled like and what thoughts they triggered. Same thing with essential oils.
Take a walk looking for a specific color. In spring, I count the number of different greens I see around me.
Get a massage.
Make an artist date with myself (from Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way).
So… what do you need to nurture your inner creative?
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Nuture Synonyms: advance, cultivate, encourage, forward, foster, further, incubate, nourish, nurse, promote Related Words: advocate, back, champion, endorse (indorse), support, uphold, endow, finance, fund, patronize, stake, subsidize, underwrite, abet, aid, assist, advertise, boost, plug, publicize, tout, agitate for, campaign for, work for