your next creative chapter
mid-year reflections + a summer sale
We’ll return to our regular story work exercises next week. In the meantime, read on for some mid-year reflections, details about my summer coaching sale, and a few prompts to guide your own creative check-in as we reach the midpoint of the year.
I’m holding two proofs of my book in my hands. We’re still five months out from the official publication date, and I am thinking about how I want to experience this season. How I want to feel as it makes its way into hands all over the world.
I have checklists, pages and pages of notes and plans, even a mood board to help me visualize the experience I want to have.
And still I know that things won’t go exactly to plan. There are always surprises and unexpected challenges. You don’t know what you don’t know until you're in it.
Yeah, I’ve published before, but every time has been a bit different. Self-publishing, then traditionally publishing guided journals, now my first book of essays. My most vulnerable work yet, and at a very uncertain time in the world.
I’ve been reflecting on how I used to place this moment on a pedestal. For so long, I thought this—getting a book deal, sharing my work with a wider audience—would be the moment I’d finally feel like I’d made it. Like I would cross some invisible threshold and finally feel like I’ve earned my spot and proved to the world and myself that I deserve to be here.
When I envisioned this moment and how I would feel, there was no anxiety, only a confident and grounded version of myself. I must have thought that the accomplishment would wash away all my doubts and insecurities.
But in reality, the anxieties are still lurking there. Isn’t that something we often learn the hard way? That the doubts, the insecurities, the old stories we’ve been telling ourselves—they don’t just vanish with external achievements.
When a dream comes true, your wounds don’t disappear.
In fact, they show up in new ways. That’s why the inner work is never finished. That’s why the journey matters more than the destination. Because healing isn’t something you complete before you arrive, it’s a way of life you recommit to at every new level.
This experience affirms what I’ve been learning again and again:
Living creatively is about more than just results or milestones—it's about how we show up to the process.
Yes, the wins are plot points, but so are the losses, the quiet seasons, the detours. The real joy comes from being present for every part of it. And from relishing the habits, breakthroughs, and small moments of resilience and clarity that carry us forward.
life as a creative process
After finishing my manuscript in November, I gave myself the winter to hibernate, to integrate what I had just moved through. Spring became a season for planting—doing the daily, sometimes invisible work to cultivate what I want to grow.
When we were working on the life as a creative process series at the beginning of the year, I set intentions and shared three of them here with the community:
to feel grounded, centered, rested, and prepared for my book launch at the end of the year
to pour into myself and my crafts (writing and coaching) through training and learning experiences
to feel free, playful, organic, consistent, and shameless about how I show up online
Now that we’re midway through the year, I am reflecting on how I have honored these intentions and how I haven’t. This moment of honest observation matters. It’s not about perfect execution, but about pausing to notice, learn, and realign as needed.
I find myself asking:
What matters most in this next stretch? What am I tending to, within and around me? What am I saying yes to and what am I saying no to as I prepare to share this book with the world?
In this season:
I’m saying yes to opportunities to have vulnerable conversations about creative courage, the power of writing to heal, and reclaiming our stories. Yes to showing up for this season of sharing with generosity, without shame, rooted in love and the deeper why that brought me here. Saying yes to the learning experience that this will be for me.
I’m saying no to putting achievements on a pedestal higher than the daily, devoted work. Saying no to illusions of perfection and the chase for popularity. Saying no to anything that would pull me away from presence, authenticity, or joy.
mid-year check-in on july 2
What matters most to you going into the second half of this year?
On July 2, I am hosting a mid-year check-in for my coaching clients, Inner Story members, and paid Substack subscribers. (Free subscribers, I got y’all, too. I have some reflection questions for you at the end of this post.)
In this session, we’ll revisit the intentions you set at the beginning of the year and reflect on how you've navigated the challenges and the wins that have occurred so far. We’ll work on reflection prompts together to support your creative momentum moving forward.
You can register for the Life as a Creative Process Mid-Year Check-In here.
mid-year sale — creative support to help you grow
In celebration of us reaching the mid-year milestone and the beginning of my book launch journey, I am offering discounts on my coaching services.
I support people who are deeply committed to their creative growth—those who are ready to go deeper. If you're ready to step into your next level and would value targeted, thoughtful support along the way, this is for you.
If you are:
feeling called to go further with your creative work but aren’t sure how to get there
seeking mindset shifts and practical tools to overcome the creative fears that keep you from acting on your ideas
seeking support that honors both your inner process and your outward goals
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 mentor and community that helps you see and believe that a creative life is precious and possible
Whether you're just getting started or deep in the work, I have coaching options to support your journey.
Substack Summer Sale — 20% off new monthly and annual memberships through June 21. No code needed.
This is for you if you’re interested in creative self-discovery and want to receive inspiration for your practice on a consistent basis. As a paid subscriber, you receive weekly reflection exercises to support your writing practice and creative development, as well as a rotation of group journaling sessions and creative self-discovery workshops.
Inner Story Writing Circle - Core Membership Sale — 20% off new Inner Story - Core through June 21 using code STORYSUMMER25.
This is for you if you’re looking for group coaching that will support you in staying committed to your creative practice and self-discovery work. You value community, accountability, feedback, and inspiring content that fuels your momentum and nurtures your development. The Inner Story membership supports heart-centered writers who value all the layers of the creative process and the healing power of storytelling.
1x1 Creative Coaching Mentorship — 20% off Boost, Power, and Momentum packages through June 21 using code MENTORSHIP2025.
This is for you if you’re seeking personalized support with writing to heal, breaking through limiting beliefs, exploring personal narratives, and acting on your ideas. You are being called to take on a new creative project or open new paths to healing and expression in your life. You want to develop a plan that works for your temperament and lifestyle. I offer custom 1:1 creative coaching packages tailored to your life, energy, resources, and goals.
Feel free to respond to this email with any questions about working with me. Or, you can contact me here.
Exercise:
This check-in is a chance to observe where you are, how far you’ve come, what’s no longer serving you, and what’s calling you. Use these prompts to reconnect to the deeper why behind your creative intentions for the year and to either recommit or reshape them to reflect who you are now.
What intentions did you set at the start of the year, and how are they unfolding?
Which intentions still feel meaningful and worth carrying forward? Which do you want to recommit to, refine, or release? Why?
What has shifted for you creatively in the first half of the year? How have these shifts affected your intentions?
What themes or patterns have emerged in your life and your creative work recently?
What part of your creative self is asking to be more fully expressed?
In what ways do you feel stuck or resistant? When you peel back the layers, what do you think is at the root of this resistance?
What role is fear playing in your creative life right now? What role is joy playing?
How do your creative rhythms match (or resist) the season you're in—mentally, emotionally, physically, professionally, or otherwise?
What matters most to you in the second half of this year?
also coming soon:
June 12. Creative Courage Writing Intensive Early Bird Enrollment Opens
June 20. Writing About Mental Illness (via The HerStories Project) // 11 am - 12 pm et
June 21. Author visit with Rowana Abbensetts- Dobson // 11 am - 12 pm et
— free for all subscribersJune 22 + 29. Vulnerability in Personal Storytelling (via The Writer’s Center) // 11 am - 1:30 pm et
July 2. Life as a Creative Process - Mid-Year Check-In // 6 - 7:30 pm et
This was inspirational to me, and I’m sure felt across the platform in many ways. I wish you all the success you can possibly dream up :)