December 2024
2024: what worked
short reflections on what helped my creative life this year
what worked
- I joined Flow Club, a virtual co-working platform, which provided and still provides me gentle structure to make time for my writing. More evenings than not, after I finish the dinner dishes, I go upstairs to my desk, join a Flow Club session, and write for 60 or 90 minutes.
- After reading about digital world building and other forms of sharing work off social media, I created this website. How I want to use the website and the ways I show up to it are still evolving as I work out what feels right, sustainable, etc. But overall, I think it gave me a container to think of my writing as a practice: a series of interrelated projects, idea exploration, reading, and thinking that I do—that I can enter and approach in a variety of ways.
- Lastly I dipped my toes into the world of artist publishing. I attended two zine fests, took classes on risograph and bookbinding, and got to know other artists and writers interested in publishing. All of this has brought me much needed inspiration and energy, and helped me see how my creative practice can stretch and encompass new kinds of projects.
what didn’t work
- Every so often I go through a phase of wanting to be a person who meticulously logs all her reading in a Notion database or some other personal knowledge management system. I prefer to take notes and work through ideas with a specific aim or end project in mind, even if it is just a reading reflection on my own website.
- I tried to write a poem a week, inspired by tarot readings, which lasted about 5 or 6 weeks—too difficult to keep up with.
- I also go through a phase every year where I want to develop a visual art practice. (It usually involves me buying new art supplies.) I enjoy taking time to draw or make little sketches of things I see on my walks. But with the time and energy I have available to me at the moment, I can progress my writing projects or I can practice drawing, and I usually choose writing.
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