real people grow
weekly story work exercise (and a few thoughts on community)
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.
These are a few of the beautiful humans I’ve been writing with over the past couple of years. Each month we gather online for a variety of sessions to study, share, and celebrate personal storytelling, and this was the first time we gathered to meet in person.
Creative community is a huge motivator for me. No matter where life takes me, creating and engaging in community will be part of my authentic code, a term that manifestation expert Lacy Phillips describes as one’s core essence. My authentic code is a compass for how I design my life, and it’s made up of my values and the habits, practices, and callings that light me up. Since I’ve been living this way—in alignment with my values instead of external expectations—I’ve been experiencing fulfillment that I once dreamed of but didn’t think was possible.
One of the things I work on with my creative coaching clients is recognizing what their authentic needs are. Because when you align your actions to meet these needs, your creative mindset will be nourished and it will thrive. Awareness of your authentic needs is a fertile foundation for any creative life. So it is important to know where creative expression fits into your authentic code, so you can prioritize it strategically. When we neglect our need for creative practice, we neglect our mental health and emotional well-being.
What does your creativity need in order to thrive?
Sometimes the missing ingredient is creative community which can take many shapes and forms. And you can have several communities that fulfill different needs and allow you to engage and co-create with people who get you on different levels.
If you are missing community and mentorship in your creative life, and you value writing as a tool for self-care, personal growth, and creative expression, consider subscribing and dropping in to join us for some of our monthly workshops.
If you want consistent accountability and inspiration for your writing practice, considering joining the Inner Story Writing Circle, a month-to-month membership to support your healing, personal story work, and creative development.
If you are looking for more individual guidance, registration for the Inner Story Writing Circle Mastermind cohort is open. This August through October, I am facilitating this small group coaching cohort for writers and creatives who are seeking personalized support for a creative project or goal. If that sounds like you, you can learn more and sign up here. In addition to the small group coaching and individual coaching sessions, you also get access to all the core Inner Story Writing Circle sessions during the three months you’re in the program. There are three spots left.
Okay, now for this week’s story work exercise.
real people grow
Remember our current story work theme is Ordinary People and we are writing about the people and relationships in our life stories. We are looking at ourselves and the people in our lives as characters, examining our relationships as entry points to self-discovery. So far we have created character profiles and looked at character roles to reflect on the people in our lives that we tend to write about. This week we are looking at the role of character development in storytelling because when we are writing to heal, this is where the wisdom and growth lives.
Last week in our Vulnerability in Personal Storytelling Workshop (paid subscribers can access the writing guide and video here), one of the topics we covered was how incorporating an arc into our personal writing can create a healing narrative.