Omg yes! And exactly how I’m feeling too. Unable to declench and move on while querying. I do find research or ideas which are being piqued and could become research are good ways to unclench. And travel (if you can!) even around the block...
And I LOVE that Ina May Gaskin is in here. I knew reading that hefty beautiful tome would prove useful for something one day (tho sadly not my birth experience!). Great post!!!!!
thank you Hannah! Yeah... the querying process is a real clencher 😣. Research is a good idea. And travel! I just spent a week in Paris alone, and I thought I would write, and I did not at all, and yet it was perfect. Refilling the ol’ creative coffers...
Love this and soooo agree. Go for a walk, have sex, eat an ice cream and hit the Netflix. Try again later (the important part: quit for a sec, wholly. Then come BACK. Every second is a different universe). Wishing good things for Monster (and the lonely monsters in us waiting to be healed?)
yes to sleep. And also, I think it's interesting how we forget that writing is related to our physical selves. Like how writing something hard or emotional can be deeply physically exhausting, even though it looked like we were just sitting perfectly still...
Such a good point. When I up my self-empathy / care for my body, the writing almost always reflects that care. This is almost the opposite of what is taught, however, or what we understand culturally about making art. Which is, of course (frequently, but not always) no suffering, no art. I have a lot of ideas around this misunderstanding, too many to unpack in this sweet comment space, but it’s so fun to think about all these layers with you. Thanks for the discussion!
We should talk haha. I’ve been thinking about this for years and yes, so very male. No mother who writes would ever say “you must write every day.” Forever, this advice worked because the tradition espousing it was so male. So Many Thoughts about this lolol. Don’t know if it’s an unborn essay inside or just the cultural tides needing to shift and I am living in this time. And/but I am living on that edge of trying to figure it out: how do you write, and live a full life, and take yourself seriously but also be generous/ easy with yourself ❤️🔥 how do you mother the projects wanting to be born inside? because beating them into submission is…unwise / unproductive / does not work for most of us (or any of us, really?)
Omg yes! And exactly how I’m feeling too. Unable to declench and move on while querying. I do find research or ideas which are being piqued and could become research are good ways to unclench. And travel (if you can!) even around the block...
And I LOVE that Ina May Gaskin is in here. I knew reading that hefty beautiful tome would prove useful for something one day (tho sadly not my birth experience!). Great post!!!!!
thank you Hannah! Yeah... the querying process is a real clencher 😣. Research is a good idea. And travel! I just spent a week in Paris alone, and I thought I would write, and I did not at all, and yet it was perfect. Refilling the ol’ creative coffers...
Ah yes the unclenching. I’m learning about this in my hypnosis for my stomach. Great subby!
Thank you bb! And yes good for stomachs too!
Love this and soooo agree. Go for a walk, have sex, eat an ice cream and hit the Netflix. Try again later (the important part: quit for a sec, wholly. Then come BACK. Every second is a different universe). Wishing good things for Monster (and the lonely monsters in us waiting to be healed?)
Try again later is a really important one!! I love this: every second is a different universe. 🤯
Yup! Funny what our nervous systems don’t want to acknowledge lol. With you in the efforting! Try, fail, try again. Sleep 💓👯♀️
yes to sleep. And also, I think it's interesting how we forget that writing is related to our physical selves. Like how writing something hard or emotional can be deeply physically exhausting, even though it looked like we were just sitting perfectly still...
Such a good point. When I up my self-empathy / care for my body, the writing almost always reflects that care. This is almost the opposite of what is taught, however, or what we understand culturally about making art. Which is, of course (frequently, but not always) no suffering, no art. I have a lot of ideas around this misunderstanding, too many to unpack in this sweet comment space, but it’s so fun to think about all these layers with you. Thanks for the discussion!
YES. Also I think the idea that suffering begets art is maybe very male? Just a theory I can't fully articulate yet...
We should talk haha. I’ve been thinking about this for years and yes, so very male. No mother who writes would ever say “you must write every day.” Forever, this advice worked because the tradition espousing it was so male. So Many Thoughts about this lolol. Don’t know if it’s an unborn essay inside or just the cultural tides needing to shift and I am living in this time. And/but I am living on that edge of trying to figure it out: how do you write, and live a full life, and take yourself seriously but also be generous/ easy with yourself ❤️🔥 how do you mother the projects wanting to be born inside? because beating them into submission is…unwise / unproductive / does not work for most of us (or any of us, really?)