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| Are you okay with your messy creative process? 🌀
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July 10, 2022 Oakland, California
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| | | I want to share about the creative process.
One of the things I notice really gets creative people stuck is the way they censor themselves. I’m firmly in the camp of messy first drafts.
Sometimes I completely redo a draft I wrote, one that no longer makes sense.
I've heard from many creatives that the really bad first draft helped them get to what they really wanted to say.
Sometimes we have to barf up crappy material to get to the gems. (Sorry not sorry for the graphic nature of my language. It’s gross, I know.)
And being a creative isn’t always pretty.
People try to get to professional levels of polish and what looks like perfection without passing through the smeared spaghetti all over your face phase.
Maybe because they don’t know that phase exists.
After all that’s not what we see on bookshelves or museum walls or perfoming stages.
But you can bet that all artists no matter the domain and no matter their years of experience go through a messy first draft stage.
But if you never let yourself get messy, it is A LOT harder if not impossible to get to the sparkly harmonic polished stage.
Case in point: I just released my first podcast episode (Kermit arm flair here!!!) and oh boy — it’s not perfect. But it was the best I could do at that moment.
Today I know even more :) And episode 2 will be a little bit better.
Before I created the podcast, I’d been scribbling ideas on it for weeks, learning about podcasting at the fringes, and dabbling for years, at least a decade.
That's a trend for me: Big projects brew deep inside me for years, sometimes decades.
Case in point, it took me 11 years to go from yearning to write fiction to starting in earnest.
I have lots of interests and projects brewing because of the long runway before takeoff -- before I launch something.
I'm okay with that. I need to be okay with that. Accepting how things are for me is the only way I'm able to create all I do.
- Do you judge yourself about how long things take?
- Do you judge your early efforts against other people’s final products?
Well, Stop it! As Bob Newhart says here:
Instead, what if you have compassion for yourself for not knowing, for feeling uncomfortable in the messy, creative process?
Even though our entire society values the finished product above the process to get there, how can you honor both the messy now and strive toward that polished finished product?
I would say: You can…
Try this as an experiment:
Expand your sense of self to both the messy process -- wherever you are in it and the vision for the finished product -- like holding polar opposites and saying Yes to both.
Because when you accept all of you -- the messy beginnings and muddled middles, and the ideal ending -- then you can sit down and get to work.
If you’d like help doing this, then explore the possibility of coaching with me.
I offer complimentary discovery calls to see if working together is right for you.
Go here to schedule a call. Or email me directly.
Or book a Creativity Coaching session today.
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| | | Welcome or welcome back to the Creativity Sparks newsletter subscribers!
♥
Beth Barany here, your guide and creativity coach for writers. An award-winning published novelist with three fiction series (young adult adventure fantasy; sweet paranormal romance; science fiction mystery) and five books for writers. Over the last 15+ years, I've helped hundreds of writers like you find success, peace, and satisfaction.
♥
Here we help you build your successful and sustainable fiction author career on your terms. We also focus on actionable resources to help you create the change you desire.
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Offered by teacher and developmental editor for romance authors and authors of character-driven fiction, Sue Brown-Moore.
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In support of you writing your book!
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Have a happy and creative week! Happy Writing!
All my best,
Beth
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| | Ready to talk to a writing coach who understands genre fiction?
I am here to help you experience clarity, have a clear road map of your next steps, and be that much closer to delighting your readers.
As a book coach, creativity consultant, and teacher, I help you find the place of stillness within and unlock powerful yet subtle transformations that lie in the pauses between the noise of your mind and of the world.
I can help you discover that you already have the means to express your unique and empowering stories with your novels, that you already have a creative process, and that you can harness your passion, persistence, and courage to transform the world one reader at a time.
Let’s work together to make that a reality.
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| | | | You have been reading the Creativity Sparks Newsletter!
Now in its 16th year, this newsletter is a service of my coaching and consulting business, helping genre fiction writers write, market, and publish their novels to the delight of their readers.
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| ABOUT BETH BARANY
Beth Barany is creativity coach for writers, a teacher, workshop facilitator, and speaker, who helps fiction writers experience clarity, so that they can write and polish their novels, and proudly publish them to the delight of their readers.
Beth speaks to groups locally, online, and internationally. For more details and how to book, go here.
Owner of the Barany School of Fiction, an online training hub, Beth takes great interest in how humans learn, create, and grow, and includes all her students’ life experiences, including the ancestors, into the moment.
Want a course to help you prepare to write your novel? Discover the comprehensive Plan Your Novel course here to help you vision, brainstorm, and plan your next novel. Planning for panthers, who want some structure but no too much. A road map to guide you on your way to writing your novel. By the time you're done with this course, you'll be ready to write because you know where you want to go and are excited by it.
Beth Barany is also an award-winning novelist and writes magical tales of romance, adventure, and mystery to empower women and girls to be the heroes in their own lives.
Uncover her Henrietta The Dragon Slayer series here (YA Fantasy), her Touchstone series here (Fantasy/Paranormal Romance).
beth@bethbarany.com
Barany School of Fiction
Writer's Fun Zone blog
Photo Credit: by c. 2018 Ezra Barany
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