writing as mirror
be open to what reflects back to you
The All the Many Layers newsletter has a new home! The newsletter will continue to be a space for resources and reflections that center writing as a tool for healing, growth, and creative courage. You will also receive notices about my creative offerings including workshops, membership groups, and coaching programs. I expect that moving the newsletter to Substack will foster more community interaction, so let’s take this adventure together, okay? You can still find the free resources here using the password AML2022THRIVE.
A few weeks ago, I decided that I was starting this Substack to write about my book journey. But that is only a part of my ecosystem, and I found myself holding back because I was intentionally trying not to write about other aspects of my creative life.
It’s time I stop doing that, and let my voice and my art be what it is. I write (and live) to heal, to confess, to wonder, to expand, to be a voice that stirs the truths in others. This is how my soul speaks. Why would I suppress any of that?
I think it’s because I wanted to be a student here, not a teacher. A writer, not a coach. But I’m starting to understand that my creative work embodies both energies. Whether I am facilitating, sharing, or quietly absorbing, I’m a student of life and creativity, and I write and coach about the things that I want to reinforce in myself.
Writing Down the Bones author Natalie Goldberg says, “We have to accept ourselves in order to write. Now none of us does that fully: few of us do it even halfway. Don’t wait for one hundred percent acceptance of yourself before you write, or even eight percent acceptance. Just write. The process of writing is an activity that teaches us about acceptance.”
Writing is a mirror, and it never fails to help me see my soul more clearly.
I’m going to let this space tell me what it wants to be and let it blossom into what it wants to become.
I’m in a similar place of surrender with my book journey. We are in the process of finding a publishing home for it, and this involves patience and conviction and faith. It involves trusting my voice and my vision, while still being flexible. Already there have been curveballs and tests that have challenged me to remember what’s important.
If you have a calling to write, you need to discover your WHY. A writer’s WHY is her foundation, the source of her motivation, and if it comes from a genuine place, it won’t lead her astray.
If you’re not clear on your WHY, you can start asking yourself questions about what you want to get out of writing, and see what truths speak back to you.
If you’re not clear on your WHY, but you have a persistent call to write, you can trust that following that urge will enrich your life and your WHY will reveal itself to you along the way. One truth at a time.
Write to display your joy, your pain, your patterns, your resistance. Write to notice what you say, and what you don’t say, so you can ask yourself why. Let it show you who you are and who you are becoming.
Writing as mirror.
Writing as reflection.
Just like you look in the mirror to see a reflection of your physical form; when you write, it’s an opportunity to study—and affirm— your inner image in all of its hidden glory.
Thank you for reading Writing the Layers. As a subscriber, you will receive a list of daily writing prompts on the first of each month, and access to a free monthly writing workshop that takes place on Zoom every first Friday. I’ll send meditations on healing, creativity, and writing life, plus occasional craft essays and exercises from my paid writing groups. You will also receive updates about my creative offerings including workshops and coaching programs. If you’re a writing, soul searching, purpose-driven human and you’re on your own creative journey, you will love it here. Feel free to share this post with a friend.