life as a creative process

a new year commitment

If you’re new here, Story Work is the name of my current book-in-progress. It describes a 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.

The weekly story work topics cover universal life themes with references from literature, philosophy, science, and spirituality; offering perspectives that spark ideas for personal growth and creative expression.

Paid subscribers receive Story Work exercises every Sunday night at 8 pm et.

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Note: This was supposed to be the story work post for Sunday, January 5, but life happens. So, let’s consider this post an introduction to the new story work theme which we will kick off on Sunday, January 12.

October 2024 bout to go party with my girls

I think it's a good time to reintroduce myself.

My name is GG and last November I turned 47 years old. I live in Maryland with my partner, two daughters, 19 and 14, and my feline fur baby, Willow, almost two. My son, my oldest, is 22 and lives in Baltimore.

I didn't always know I wanted to be a writer. I started writing online in 2009 when I was working in financial services and in desperate need of a creative outlet. I was a young mom of two, soon-to-be three, with a full-time job, and a relationship that I was unsure about but committed to. I didn't know myself very well beyond the identity I’d created to survive.

I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA in a house that vibrated with love and secrets. When I was 9 or 10, I became aware that my mother saw and heard things that me, my father, and the rest of our family could not. She started accusing me of depraved things—trying to seduce my father, using black magic to torture her, and plotting with government organizations to destroy her. Eventually, I began to question my own reality and wonder if the things she said about me were true. Maybe I was unaware of a hidden rot inside of me. Maybe whatever was broken in my mom was broken in me, too, and no matter how good I tried to be, my rot would always push people away.

Over the years, her illness gradually capsized her personality. When she was still mostly herself, my mother was my favorite person. She was homemade chicken soup when I was sick and trips to the library when I was bored. She was car ride concerts, thrift store treasure hunts, and slumber parties. But her illness made her flip back and forth between being my biggest fan and my worst critic. I spent my teens navigating her ever-shifting reality and keeping the peace at home while trying to appear normal and unaffected to the outside world.

My dad and my family didn’t talk about my mother's behavior or explain anything to me so I grew up thinking that this is what we do: we hide anything shameful, abnormal, or unwanted.

I got my degree from Morgan State University, an HBCU in Baltimore, Maryland. While I was there my mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia which answered a lot of questions but didn’t open the doors it could have because she refused treatment. We tried to maintain our relationship but I started distancing myself in my late twenties so I could reckon with my own wobbly state of mind. By the time my third child was born in 2010, we were estranged. I talk about all of this at length in my new book, Story Work, which is coming out later this year.

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my first in-person workshop at Impact Hub in DC, 2016

I started blogging in 2009 because I desperately needed a creative outlet. A dormant part of me came to life and I used every spare moment to write, falling in love with this version of myself that was brave enough to say hard things and ask uncomfortable questions. Bravery I had not yet found in my daily life but wanted to activate.

Blogging gave me a creative vision of how I could reclaim my story. How my life could change if I led from my true center, embracing all my layers, integrating my silences and secrets to do work that supports personal and collective healing and liberation.

I didn’t have those words for it at the time, but the longing was loud and persistent. No matter how much I tried to argue for my limitations, the ache sat in my heart, the calling whispered in my ear.

Blogging turned into freelancing, and freelancing turned into income, which made me realize that I could make a living this way. In 2013, I decided to leave my job and take the creative journey of figuring out how to make a difference and make a living from writing—and the goal was to not have to sacrifice one for the other.

Every step since then has been about reclamation and reimagining what life could be if I dare to believe in this calling wholeheartedly. Each step has been about aligning my actions with my values, my voice with my vision, my work with my gifts and passions. I’m a spiritually-driven person whose motivation is always steered by meaning. I believe in the connection between healing and vision and manifestation. And I know that I am soulfully and professionally qualified to guide heart-centered humans through the murky layers of writing about their lives and reclaiming their stories.

my two guided journals, available here

So here I am. I’ve been writing, publishing, coaching, facilitating, and consulting for the past 11 years. I’m currently in the copyediting process for my new book, Story Work: Field Notes on Self-Discovery and Reclaiming Your Narrative, which is forthcoming from Broadleaf in November 2025. In which I weave the raw material of my life with insights on how to change the defeated meanings that we often assign to our life experiences.

This is a book that started as a memoir journaling project in 2016. This is a book that I don’t think I could have completed without my ADHD diagnosis and therapy. This is a book that in 2023 I successfully pitched to an agent who worked on one of my favorite books, This Here Flesh by Cole Arthur Riley, and who has been a huge support and advocate through the publishing process. This is a book whose proposal was praised but turned down by over a dozen editors mostly due to my small platform size…

Thank you again for sharing GG’s beautiful proposal, I love the ethos and writing here. I was also very impressed by her sales at Rockridge Press. That said, I find myself cautious because it is hard for us to replicate the Callisto model, which is so data-driven and our model is more of a combination of author-platform/marketing and PR driven, and so while I quite like GG and her voice I am going to reluctantly step aside. I wish you the best of luck, she is a talent.

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We discussed this today, and the consensus was that 1) it’s too memoir-heavy for our imprint as it is and 2) we think a journal/workbook type book would be more in line with her work and what people are going to her for.

I’d be happy to get on a call with you to chat about it more if you and GG are open to changing the proposal, but as it is, we won’t be able to move forward with it.

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GG has a powerful personal story and she tells it with impressive emotional clarity and insight. That said, her platform is still very modest despite her nice sales with her Self Care Check-In Journal, and since that was published with Callisto, I worry that its success will be hard to replicate. . . All in all, I think it’s going to be tough for us to get the word out about this one.

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I had a chance to read and was so moved by her honesty, open-heartedness, and compassion. And the phrase “Story Work” so excites me—it feels like a refreshing up on terms like “self-work” and “inner child work.” That being said, this is unfortunately a pass for me. I worry that her platform and background is a little too nascent for my team and I to effectively position and break out in such a crowded category.

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She’s terrific—what an inspiring person—I just worry that projects in this space tend to be so platform-driven and I’m not sure hers is quite strong enough for us to be able to break out in a big way.

…and still wholeheartedly embraced by ONE editor (all it takes is one!) who did not require me to alter my creative vision, and a publisher whose ethos (Expanding the mind, Nourishing the soul, Cultivating the common good) aligns with mine.

All of my work centers writing as a pathway to fuller expression. My Substack Writing the Layers includes reflections on writing, vulnerability, and creative courage. My website All the Many Layers showcases the books, resources, and programs I offer as an author, creative coach, and facilitator.

I created the Reclaim Group Coaching program, which includes the Inner Story Writing Circle, for heart-centered creatives who want to grow within a supportive, interactive community designed to bring their inner visions out of hiding. By helping my clients and participants understand their creative process from the inside out, and develop positive life habits that nourish their creative potential, I empower them to reimagine the stories they tell themselves and the world.

Writing is how I found my voice and the courage to be seen. Little did I know when I was struggling to find my way that I would one day use what I was going through to become a mentor for creatives with stories + testimonies that the world needs.

Thank you for being on this ride with me! This is a personal and collective journey. In the spirit of community, I want to start 2025 with some momentum that we can tap into and share. For the next eight weeks, our Sunday story work theme will be life as a creative process.

This series for paid subscribers will lay the foundation for you to stay committed to your creative well-being throughout the year, no matter what form that takes.

Below is the weekly breakdown. Each week will include a brief written overview + action item, as well as an audio element.

Week 1: Intention
Week 2: Deeper Why
Week 3: Vulnerability
Week 4: Embodiment
Week 5: The Process
Week 6: Self-Observation
Week 7: Community
Week 8: Commitment

If you have been interested in the Creative Courage Writing Intensive but haven’t taken it, this series is like a lite version of it. I will also be opening up my Substack chat feature (for the first time, so please be patient as I figure it out!) This way we have a place to connect and share with each other.

If you are not already a paid subscriber, consider joining us for this new year commitment. ( You see I’m using the word commitment instead of challenge, right? Personally, it feels better to me, but you can call it what you want!)

If you are:

• called to take on a new creative project or open paths to more expression in your life…

• seeking mindset shifts and practical tools to overcome the creative fears that keep you from acting on your ideas…

• a purpose-driven writer who wants to work through the fear of vulnerability and uncertainty…

• seeking a creative process that works for your temperament and lifestyle…

• ready to stop daydreaming about your creative callings and start taking action…

• seeking a community that helps you see and believe that a creative life is precious and possible…

I hope you will join us!

With love,
GG

Note: Registration for the winter cohort of the Creative Courage Writing Intensive is closed, but we still have two spots available. If you missed the window and would like to join us, you can contact me here. We start on Thursday, January 9.

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All sessions are virtual unless otherwise indicated.

upcoming sessions open to all subscribers:

January 29. Author Visit w/ Lindsey Van Wagner // 6 - 7 pm et

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upcoming sessions open to paid subscribers:

January 25. Connective Threads: A Core Values Workshop // 12 pm - 2 pm et

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join me for a workshop at the writer’s center:

February 2. Turning Memories Into Transformational Stories @ The Writers Center // 3 - 6 pm et

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The Life as a Creative Process series starts on Sunday, January 12. Drop a comment below if you will be joining us and what you intend to get out of it!

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