How to Create Without Fear
‘You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.’
- Jack London
Hello! I’m so sorry I’ve been a bit quiet on here over the last few weeks. As you know (because I haven’t stopped going on about it) I had a big deadline and it just took over everything, which meant I neglected things like this. But I’m back on form now and excited to return to normal! I’m also revamping this side of things in order to make it more useful and valuable for you, dear subscriber. From now on, this weekly post - the Margin - will be packed full of more stuff to help you on your own creative journey, as well as the usual updates and behind-the-scenes bits from my own projects. I’ve learnt a lot about the creative journey over the last few years and I want to share it all with you in the hope it might inspire you and get your creative juices flowing, in whatever form that might take.
This week on the Margin:
Thoughts On: Dissecting the Dish
What am I working on this week?
Sneak peek at the Papaver autumn collection
A prompt to help you create without fear
Reading Deep Work by Cal Newport
Do you have a question for me?
Thoughts On: Dissecting the Dish
Last week we watched both Robocop and Robocop 2 at my husband’s request. I assumed they would be mega schlocky, and in some ways they were. Plenty of Verhoeven-esque special effects, skin melting off, etc. But they were also incredibly sharp and funny, especially in their commentary on capitalism and consumerism. Woven through the action scenes were threads on philosophy and the right to exist, the value placed on human life and the corruption of power. It was the sort of film I’d have enjoyed writing an essay about for my undergrad degree. And as a writer, I enjoyed picking apart the film’s storytelling techniques and working out why they were so effective. It’s something I’ve been doing a lot recently in the preparation for writing my first novel. Whenever I finish a good book, I put it on a special pile ready to dissect and unpick what made it so damn good. But I’ve also been searching for great writing in non-fictional places - the script of Robocop, a marketing book about storytelling for brands, the Blue Album by Weezer. I’m enjoying the dissection of these art forms - working backwards from the final dish and picking out the sweetest and saltiest ingredients of each one. Kind of like when Monica tries to work out the ingredients of Phoebe’s grandma’s nestley-toolouse cookies.
What am I working on this week?
Yes, I’ve pretty much hit my deadline so you’d think I’d be free to wander the moors and enjoy some free time, but lol of course not. The reality is that I pushed everything back to finish the book, so now I’m faced with a summer’s worth of *things to do* that I can’t ignore any longer. They’re all nice things, though so I mustn’t complain. My current tasks and projects this week:
Write up a book proposal for one of my publishers. They emailed me with a cool idea that needed brainstorming and tweaking, so I now have to write up a draft synopsis so they can take it to the Frankfurt Book Fair (a big date in the publishing calendar, I believe) and see if anyone wants to co-publish it.
Finish the last few illustrations for Ebb and Flow. I asked for a little extension to get the last few finished, so I actually have to do that now goddamnit.
Upload all the new designs for the autumn collection on Papaver. I’m so excited for this one! I was only originally planning to create three designs for each season but turns out designing t-shirts is really addictive so I have ended up with six. My plan is to launch them next Thursday 14 September, but here is a sneak peek at one of the new designs I’ve called ‘Midnight Orchard’:
How to Write Without Fear
Have you ever used creative prompts before? I really enjoy using them when my brain feels clogged with too much stuff. As autumn is my favourite and most creative season, I’ve been thinking about what I want to write about. I’ve spent the last few years focusing on a particular type of writing, a particular state of mind regarding my own work. And the problem with doing that for too long is that you can box yourself in if you’re not careful. Just because I have been writing about this or writing in this style, doesn’t mean I have to (or want to) continue on that path. They say to ‘write without fear, edit without mercy’ (or ‘write with fire, edit with ice’), but sometimes it’s difficult to overcome that fear. So one afternoon I created a prompt for myself that allowed me to think more clearly about what I want to write, without fearing the consequences. As a freelance writer, there are two things that stop me writing freely: the need to earn money and the response of my audience. So my question this week is:
What would you write about if you could guarantee positive feedback and a comfortable income?
(If you don’t plan to make money from your creative work, just ignore the second part of the question.)
Read this book: Deep Work by Cal Newport
I thought I’d start sharing some of my favourite books and other resources for nurturing creativity and/or turning your creativity into a career. The first is Deep Work by Cal Newport, an American computer science professor who writes about focus, distraction and creativity. I first found him through his TEDx talk ‘Quit Social Media’, which has continued to inspire my personal struggle with online/offline existence to this day. His book is clearly written and very engaging if you’re interested in finding focus in a ‘noisy’ world, retreating to a pre-digital state of mind, and managing your own social media use.
What would you like to ask me?
Next week, I’ll be posting a Q&A on the Margin and I’d love to answer your questions! I’m happy to chat about anything you like - my creative career, balancing work and motherhood, my daily routine, how I got here, future plans, the realities of freelancing, fave chocolate bar, etc. Feel free to leave a comment here, email me or answer in my latest Instagram post. And keep an eye out for the next edition of the Margin for all the juicy answers!
