This is so timely and helpful, Katherine. Thank you. Yesterday, before sunrise, I was attempting to write a page about why I wanted to write something. After my initial stab at it, I wrote “Other thoughts” and the first thought I listed was “It is scary.” It’s helpful to know I’m not alone in thinking like this.
I have a history of starting projects (much enthusiasm, I love this idea!) and then quitting them pretty quickly (too impractical, not smart enough, already been done, fill in the negative). My - Least I Can Do, is just do it for me. Knock out all grand future goals (create a substack, self publish a book, sell my drawings on etsy) and just do something (write or draw) every day no matter how long or short the time spent. I even tell myself, you don’t have to finish this project, although mostly I do.
Thanks for this, Katherine. I have the working memory of an amnesiac goldfish due to being AuDHD and perimenopausal. When I set goals, I promptly forget about them! However, I’ve been meaning to start writing memoir regarding my near four decades of undiagnosed neurodivergence. I’ve heard you mention triangulation of memoir writing here and in your podcast, and would really appreciate a post on how to go about this please. Or have you done so before and I have yet to come across it? I homeschool my AuDHD sons too so I don’t have much capacity regarding my time, energy or motivation, so knowing how to pick out prominent life experiences to streamline my writing would be useful please. I’m still trying to figure out how to stick to goals I set myself, but as I have a PDA expression of autism, it ignites anxiety and subsequent demand avoidance. Sorry, total mind dump there! Interested to hear your thoughts and advice around this please and thank you :)
Thanks Sam. I don’t really answer questions on here because of my own need to manage demand 😆, but do take a look back through past Creative Questions episodes, where we often talk about this stuff.
Katherine, thank you. I'm attributing my presence here today to having just this last week started an open-water cold plunge group in the Sado River (here in Portugal). You, through your books, inspired me to do this. At 70, I'm finding a renewed energy I felt I had lost. With this prompt, I'm back to projects I abandoned, now looking at them with new brighter eyes. Thank you for this.
Once again, your insights are uncannily relevant and helpful. Daunted is always the word I use to describe that terrible hunched stasis before launching into things. I always do fine once I am in the water, swimming, but without deadlines it is ever so hard to just dive in. Starting tiny is great advice. Thank you
I love how universal this process is! A brilliant idea I have while out on a walk seems absurd when I start writing it. And then doing the dishes becomes super appealing. My tiny goal for this weekend is to organize some thoughts on post its. They are little, easy to move around or crumple up to throw away, so not very intimidating.
I appreciate this prompt and the timeliness of your newsletter Katherine.
After recently stepping away from a career in social services due to extreme burnout I’ve decided that rather than return to the “working world” I am listening to my husband’s years of encouragement and prompting to write my memoir. I am scared to death about so many pieces of this decision. I am also deeply grateful about my decision to subscribe to this community and am looking forward to the relationships that will be built.
I have created my Substack but have not yet begun posting just yet. I’m still processing the direction I want to go with it before launching.
My tiny thing for this week is committing to this week’s prompt and beginning my writing journey.
This is so timely and helpful, Katherine. Thank you. Yesterday, before sunrise, I was attempting to write a page about why I wanted to write something. After my initial stab at it, I wrote “Other thoughts” and the first thought I listed was “It is scary.” It’s helpful to know I’m not alone in thinking like this.
I have a history of starting projects (much enthusiasm, I love this idea!) and then quitting them pretty quickly (too impractical, not smart enough, already been done, fill in the negative). My - Least I Can Do, is just do it for me. Knock out all grand future goals (create a substack, self publish a book, sell my drawings on etsy) and just do something (write or draw) every day no matter how long or short the time spent. I even tell myself, you don’t have to finish this project, although mostly I do.
Thanks for this, Katherine. I have the working memory of an amnesiac goldfish due to being AuDHD and perimenopausal. When I set goals, I promptly forget about them! However, I’ve been meaning to start writing memoir regarding my near four decades of undiagnosed neurodivergence. I’ve heard you mention triangulation of memoir writing here and in your podcast, and would really appreciate a post on how to go about this please. Or have you done so before and I have yet to come across it? I homeschool my AuDHD sons too so I don’t have much capacity regarding my time, energy or motivation, so knowing how to pick out prominent life experiences to streamline my writing would be useful please. I’m still trying to figure out how to stick to goals I set myself, but as I have a PDA expression of autism, it ignites anxiety and subsequent demand avoidance. Sorry, total mind dump there! Interested to hear your thoughts and advice around this please and thank you :)
Thanks Sam. I don’t really answer questions on here because of my own need to manage demand 😆, but do take a look back through past Creative Questions episodes, where we often talk about this stuff.
Thank you, I’ll do that :)
Katherine, thank you. I'm attributing my presence here today to having just this last week started an open-water cold plunge group in the Sado River (here in Portugal). You, through your books, inspired me to do this. At 70, I'm finding a renewed energy I felt I had lost. With this prompt, I'm back to projects I abandoned, now looking at them with new brighter eyes. Thank you for this.
I've been putting off researching self publishing for months. Tomorrow I am going to at least register for KDP. Thanks for the nudge.
Once again, your insights are uncannily relevant and helpful. Daunted is always the word I use to describe that terrible hunched stasis before launching into things. I always do fine once I am in the water, swimming, but without deadlines it is ever so hard to just dive in. Starting tiny is great advice. Thank you
I love how universal this process is! A brilliant idea I have while out on a walk seems absurd when I start writing it. And then doing the dishes becomes super appealing. My tiny goal for this weekend is to organize some thoughts on post its. They are little, easy to move around or crumple up to throw away, so not very intimidating.
I appreciate this prompt and the timeliness of your newsletter Katherine.
After recently stepping away from a career in social services due to extreme burnout I’ve decided that rather than return to the “working world” I am listening to my husband’s years of encouragement and prompting to write my memoir. I am scared to death about so many pieces of this decision. I am also deeply grateful about my decision to subscribe to this community and am looking forward to the relationships that will be built.
I have created my Substack but have not yet begun posting just yet. I’m still processing the direction I want to go with it before launching.
My tiny thing for this week is committing to this week’s prompt and beginning my writing journey.