Wild Ideas, Limited Hours: A Meditation

5 things I want to share with you.

Photo by Annika Treial on Unsplash

These days I feel very creatively energized.

AND I feel very limited by time.

I have ideas (so many ideas!) for stories, ideas for teaching, ideas for my home, my family, my life. The ideas are like wild horses trapped in a corral, pawing at the ground, nostrils huffing. I let one out for the thirty minutes I can spend with it, then have to shove it back in the pen so that I don’t lose it.

But today I’m wondering: what would happen if I just let them all out to run free? Hold out a carrot for the one I want to focus on, then let it go again when time is up? Does that change the energy?

I know I’m not the only one here who has creative work they want to do but feel limited by time and circumstances.

Let’s sit together with this imagery and see what happens.

On April 19, I’ll be teaching the last of the First Draft Craft webinar series for paid subscribers. A replay will be available, and those who attend live have the opportunity to participate in a Q&A! This final topic is “Showing and Telling”.

The replays of First Draft Craft webinars will be available for six months, so now’s the time to become a paid subscriber!

(And if you’re a paid subscriber, don’t despair…more webinars on a variety of topics are coming, along with pop-up coaching and mini-intensives. Woot!)

Without further ado…

Here are five things I want to share with you this week!

📖 What I'm reading:

Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - my ALL-TIME FAVORITE writer. (And that is saying something.)

📺 What I'm watching:

The Pitt (Max)
Dark Winds Season 2 (AMC)
The Residence (Netflix)
Dying for Sex (Hulu)

🎧 What I'm listening to:

I just discovered Wild Card, an NPR podcast with Rachel Martin. She invites her guests to pull cards with intriguing questions to answer, often with profound and touching results. My favorite is the recent episode with writer John Green.

Related: did you know that the actor Michael Shannon is in a band that performs R.E.M. covers? I learned this when I listened to the Wild Card interview with him this week, and I’m now obsessed with their YouTube videos.

✍️ Great resources for writers:

NEW! A complete list of other newsletters I’ve recommended as well as a regularly updated list of books and other resources for writers. Click here to check it out!

🐶🐱 Pet pic of the month:

This scene made me laugh out loud.

Finally, from me to you: 💗

You deserve to write your story and to have it be received. This is a human right. There is no “not good enough.” It is good enough because it’s yours.

Have a beautiful week!

Warmly,
Stephanie

P.S. I’ll be here when you’re ready. 🌻

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