commitment that sticks
week eight: life as a creative process
If you’re new here, paid subscribers receive Story Work exercises every Sunday night at 8 pm et. Story Work: Field Notes on Self-Discovery and Reclaiming Your Narrative is the name of my new book which is forthcoming from Broadleaf in November 2025. The term describes my signature process of reflecting, reclaiming, and reimagining the stories of our lives. It involves looking at your life experiences as creative material that you have the power to shape. For the last eight weeks, our theme has been life as a creative process.
belief, faith, and commitment:
This is our last post in the life as a creative process series, but I am far from done with this topic! It really is the lifeblood of what I do as a coach, helping writers understand the deeper layers of their creative work and empowering them to develop a creative process that is so intertwined with healing, self-care, and personal growth that it becomes a sustainable and integrated part of their lifestyle.
On Sunday, March 23, from 2 - 3:30 pm et, I will be facilitating a Zoom session to go over the eight concepts and exercises from the series, answer questions, and do some live coaching to wrap things up. The session will be open to paid Substack subscribers and Inner Story members. If you have been following along but are missing the guidance and community that could help you take your creative journey to the next level, I invite you to join us for the session. You can RSVP here.
Here in Maryland, the winter season is grudgingly coming to an end, and I am preparing for the growth and renewal of spring. I spent December recovering and processing. I spent January resting and visualizing. I spent February planning and expanding. Now, here we are in March. I know what seeds I want to plant, and I am preparing the soil. Are you preparing for the change in seasons?
If you are seeking a deeper commitment to your creative callings this spring, from March 2 through March 9, I am offering 20% discounts on annual Substack subscriptions and annual Inner Story memberships. If you have questions about these offerings, feel free to reach out by responding to this email or contacting me here.
Let’s recap what we’ve been working on, okay?
If you are just joining us, our current story work theme is life as a creative process. A self-study in connecting with your inner artist and staying connected through the different seasons and experiences that shape your life. Here is what we’ve done in the series so far:
Introduction - A reintroduction and review of my creative journey.
Week One: Soulful Intentions - Instead of fixating on specific outcomes, soulful intentions focus on how we want to feel and the values we want to embody. Soulful intentions are about progress, not perfection. They allow you to adjust your expectations through life’s changes and evolutions. They allow us to incorporate habits that don’t just check off boxes but truly enrich our lives.
Week Two: The Deeper Why - If we want to align our actions with our soulful intentions, we need to integrate all parts of ourselves and consider their motivations. Getting clear on your why - and the different factors that affect it - will give you the courage and conviction to make choices and develop habits that align your parts to cooperate with your values.
Week Three: Creative Embodiment - Soulful intentions are not to be rushed. They are not to be determined by an intellectual strategy and then executed. They are seeds that need daily attention and nurturing in order to bloom. They need slow, devoted love. Soulful intentions need to inhabit our whole essence, not just our minds, but also our bodies.
Week Four: The Power of Vulnerability - We are all creative beings and our willingness to be vulnerable and honest about who we are fuels are creative callings. The action steps you choose to align with your intentions create ripple effects across all areas of your life. Are you ready for that? Are you ready for the soul-baring steps you will take as you follow your heart? By avoiding vulnerability, we suppress our creative power.
Week Five: The Power of Habit - Now that we have nurtured the energy of our intentions on the inside, it’s time to take action and give it shape on the outside. This is how we show Life that we are ready for what we are calling in. This involves establishing sustainable creative practices that nurture us mind, body, and soul. Having a trusted creative process — that is built on life-affirming habits — will give you the courage to act in alignment with your intentions and build a creatively fulfilling life.
Week Six: The Art of Self-Observation - It’s time to observe yourself and take stock of what’s working and what’s not. Self-observation might just be the most important step as we are changing our relationship with failure. Instead of an all-or-nothing approach that doesn’t leave room for error, we take the creative approach of setting intentions and observing our efforts to craft a life that is not defined by limitations, but by our capacity to learn and grow. With this mindset, progress is inevitable.
Week Seven: The Magic of Community - Humans are wired for connection. While writing may be a solitary act, we don’t have to do it alone. One of the best ways you can nurture your creative practice is to involve yourself in communities where you connect with people who have similar values and goals. Creative communities are magical when they hold us accountable to a process—not a specific goal. In community, you build courage, exchange ideas, feel safe to take risks, receive feedback, and more. All to the benefit of your creative well-being and development.
This week, we are talking about commitment. When we devote time, energy, and resources to a creative calling, we do it with no guaranteed outcome. This is the risk that comes with any leap of faith.
We know what it’s like to get excited about an idea or a project and then lose that motivation when obstacles present themselves. And sometimes, after enough of those obstacles, we lose trust in ourselves and we stop hoping and trying. We decide that it’s safer to just stick with what we know.
So how do we commit to something that we can’t yet see or touch? Something abstract that lives in our minds like a need, desire, vision, or calling? Especially when we are facing past experiences and opposing forces that have convinced us that what we envision isn’t possible. It is easier to commit to what is right in front of you. It is easier to believe that only what you’ve had or done before is possible.
But to commit to something unknown and unseen? That requires faith. Faith is the powerful force that leads us to act in spite of uncertainty, to be driven by a deeper knowing. Faith requires belief. Commitment that sticks comes from faith.
What is creative faith?
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