a long-term perspective on our creative work

on patience, success, and figuring out what works for you

Photo by Victor Lu on Unsplash

Hi friends,

Below I’m sharing thoughts on the patience and perspective needed for creative work, and opportunities for coaching and community support.

A Soul-Centered Plan for Long-Term Success

When I first dreamt of making a living as a writer, I wanted to publish essays and books that gave me a sense of belonging in the literary world. I wanted bylines and high numbers of followers to quantify this belonging. I wanted success to come quickly and easily and I didn’t want to be left behind by my peers. This was my limited vision, driven by ego, and it wasn’t sustainable. I thought that being a successful creative entrepreneur would transform me, make me whole, and give me a lifestyle that felt good to my soul.

But you can’t feed your soul the same way you feed your ego.

Years and dozens of projects later, I’ve learned that my definition of success isn’t quantifiable. I’ve learned that my lifestyle choices and habits facilitate the feeling of wholeness that I seek. My most transformative creative breakthroughs have not come from results but from facing my fears and choosing projects that are a bit beyond my comfort level each time. No matter the results, showing up for each project breaks down another imagined barrier to my growth, purpose, and vision.

This has become my long-term success plan: align with your values, trust your intuition, commit to the process. The tangible rewards are an inevitable by-product of the process.

When we give our callings the attention they deserve, we teach ourselves how to tolerate risk and vulnerability to build trust in our inner guidance. One personal challenge leads to another, some are private and some are public, and each one brings renewed creative energy into our lives, fueling a long-term perspective on our creative work.

I want to do this work forever. Whether it’s full-time, part-time, hobby, or otherwise, the creative life is the one for me. It’s a lifestyle choice that brings fulfillment and abundance on so many levels. So I won’t approach it with the same ego-driven approach that I brought to my academic and corporate work because that only led to burnout and disillusionment.

Figuring Out What Works for You

When I work with heart-centered, purpose-driven writers, we focus on courage before craft, devotion without attachment. We work through the nitty gritty details of building a lifestyle that fulfills our soul’s authentic needs. Most of us have been conditioned to believe that feeding our egos will lead to success, so to unravel this belief can be an uncomfortable shift. But it’s a healthier way to create, and a more inspired way to live.

I encourage the writers I work with to take on projects that inspire them to stretch beyond their comfort zones. Whether it’s a private journaling project, a public newsletter series like here on Substack, or perhaps a personal blog or publishing a book. Projects offer a hands-on way to learn that you can’t rush the process, and you can’t copy someone else’s process. But you can develop habits that support your unique rhythms and needs.

Whatever creative work is calling to you, inviting you, keeping you up at night, offering you cryptic clues left and right—remember that it’s a gift. And sometimes we don’t believe we are worthy of that gift, or that we can handle it, so we come up with reasons to not let ourselves receive it. To not challenge ourselves to go after it.

Sometimes the gift sits on top of a mountain that you have to climb. The challenge is finding your own way to climb the mountain. What methods and tools will work for you? What will keep you committed when you’re tired, when you face unexpected obstacles, when you lose your way? Who do you want around to support you?

Creative Coaching and Support

The Inner Story Writing Circle is a guided writing community to support your personal story work & creative development. A monthly subscription for people seeking guidance and strategies for the heart-centered work of writing about their lives. Each month members have access to a variety of virtual sessions to study, share, and celebrate personal storytelling.

There are now two levels available: Core and Mastermind.

If you're seeking personalized support for a creative project or goal, the Inner Story Mastermind Group is a three-month container that includes all the features of the Core offering, and also includes 1:1 guidance and accountability, and small group coaching sessions to support you in navigating strategic and emotional challenges.

Mastermind participants will work closely with me to build a strong emotional foundation for your efforts, a growth mindset for the learning curves, and renewed faith in the creative process. Participants come into the program with different needs: feedback on their writing and process, coaching on the creative mindset, guidance on building a writer platform, help with researching and finding resources, exercises for creative development, accountability that ends procrastination, and more. Together, we demystify processes, make plans, and build momentum.

A creative project can be as general or as specific as you like. Taking your writing more seriously can be a project. Learning how to express your creativity in public can be a project. You might want to build a journaling practice or to use writing to figure out a calling that isn’t clear to you just yet. The only requirement is that you are seeking up close and personalized guidance on your creative development.

You can learn more about the Inner Story Core and Mastermind offerings here. (Mastermind spots are limited.)

Take this with you: Creative work requires patience and self-compassion. In one of my favorite craft books, Writing Alone and with Others, Pat Schneider teaches:

“The roots of a useful creative discipline lie in understanding ourselves, and that is a gentle matter.”

write with us this month:

Free subscribers, you can drop in for a workshop or consider becoming a paid subscriber:

March 23. The Practice Session #13: Group Journaling w/ guest Delanea Davis // 12 pm - 1:30 pm et (free for paid subscribers or $15 drop-in fee)

March 30. Writing to Heal: An Expressive Writing Workshop // 3 pm - 5 pm et (free for paid subscribers or $40 drop-in fee)