same theme, different world

weekly story work exercise

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 next few weeks, our story work theme is worldbuilding for self-discovery.

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Before we get into today’s exercise, I want to remind you that on Sunday, March 23, from 2 - 3:30 pm et, I will be facilitating a Zoom session to go over the eight concepts we covered in the life as a creative process series. I will answer questions and do some live coaching to wrap things up. The objective is for you to come away with empowered action steps that support you in building a creative process that is so intertwined with healing, self-care, and growth that it becomes a sustainable and prioritized part of your lifestyle, helping you stay committed to your intentions throughout the year.

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. (If you are not able to become a paid subscriber but feel that you would benefit from this work, message me, and I will send you the link to register. No questions asked.)

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Photo by Slim Emcee on Unsplash

Writing is a path to self-discovery, and through that discovery, we get to build worlds where we feel at home, where we can see and hear ourselves, and where we get to make our visions real. For many of us who have felt that we don’t fit in anywhere, writing allows us to build worlds where we belong.

In this worldbuilding for self-discovery series, we are talking about the power we have to build worlds for and with our writing.

the world you build for your writing

The world you build for your writing is your writing practice, the way you treat writing as a way of life. It is the writing platform where you share your words. It is your writing space at home, in the library, in the park, by the ocean. It is where you engage in the work. It is the community that you co-create with. It is the decisions you make to carve out time, space, and energy for nurturing your practice.

The world you build for your writing includes your process, how you find inspiration, and what you write about. These details differentiate us, and when we value that, we can see how limiting it is to compare ourselves to each other and say one way is right or wrong or better or worse. It’s all very personal—the world we build for our writing reflects the environments and ecosystems that nourish us.

the world you build with your writing

When I talk about the worlds we build with our writing. I am talking about the outputs. The years of journals that you have accumulated, each one a slice of life. The blogs you have started, cultivated, and outgrew. Letters exchanged with loved ones. Poem drafts in your phone. Essays, stories, speeches, and books you have written. Each one representing visions brought to life, plans turned into businesses, musings turned into missions. Each writing project is a world that you’ve had the privilege to create.

The more we recognize the many creative choices we have to build worlds for and with our writing, the more we can see how misguided it is to listen to that critical inner voice that says ‘your story doesn’t matter. it’s all been said and done before’.

Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash

Think about it. How could your story have already been told? You are the only one with your voice who has lived your life. You are the only one with your unique lens and soul signature, with the background and experiences that have shaped your perspective combined with your aesthetic, approach, style choices, and structure.