“I think about the internal compasses that birds have to help them get where they need to be, and I think there’s a compass inside that’s been guiding me in the same way.” – J. Drew Lanham
fox photo credit: Jean Beaufort
Hello Lovelies—
This week I wrote about following instinct in The Compass that Guides Us and as promised here is the prompt that goes with it.
But first, a PSA: This Living Wild Prompt is sent bi-weekly and access is limited to subscribers. Inspired by writer Stephanie Land who speaks who writes compellingly about getting paid for the words we put out into the world and for the work we do, particularly as women, I am asking you if you can afford it to become a monthly subscriber for as little as $6/mo. Your financial support of the writing I am doing here helps me keep the lights on. I appreciate it.
Making Friends with Instinct
This week, I thought about the “internal compass” that helps get the ospreys “where they need to be,” but, like J. Drew Lanham, also about the the same compass that guides me.
This is no more true than in my creative life.
I have often likened writing to following crumbs into the dark wood. It has always been this way for me: the sound of one word suggests the next, a paragraph takes me on a side journey that becomes the story, the unpeeling of an image becomes a poem or as is true for me right now, a novel.
If you are not a subscriber you can get access to this week’s writing prompt, for as little as $6/mo (which gives you access to bi-weekly writing prompts plus access to my full archive of writing and inspiration, which includes nearly two dozen Living Wild Creativity Prompts.)
This week a student of mine burst into tears as we discussed their work. They were tears of frustration—the feeling that the writing was not “good” despite all their effort.
I know this place well. The truth is we all do.
Most often I find myself in this place when my brain is too much in charge. It wants the story to go like this or that, it thinks I should be writing better and faster—always faster. It thinks things should be easier than they are.
“Art gets to the brain through the body.” —Heather Sellers
Whenever I find myself in this place, I take a deep breath. And then I go for a walk or do something that engages my body. When the my brain—my the dark side of my ego, what RuPaul calls “the inner saboteur”—starts telling me I suck, I do something to shut it up. And when I return to the writing, I do something to shake it up
Here are some suggestions and exercises to help you Make Friends with Instinct.
Stay tuned for my Zoom Workshops for Lighthouse Lit Fest this summer. And for those of you who live locally, I will be hosting at least two Writing Wild Workshops outside of Rollinsville, CO
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