Drafting & Dialoguing Digest: Creative Courage
Here’s your recap of what we learned about beginning, taking creative risks, and sharing what we create in July, a thank you note for our growing community, and what’s in the pipeline for August!
A Month Focused on Creative Courage
When I decided to take the leap and start monthly themes on Daily Drafts & Dialogues, I knew I would need all the courage I’d be able to muster. I also realized that if I was feeling this way now, when starting a new creative venture, other writers and creators likely feel this way sometimes too, and on a rolling basis. Because when you’re a creator, beginnings never end but only lead to the next beginning.
Whether it’s a new book, a new proposal, a new query, a new email, a new social media post, a new article, or an entirely new online publication, creative beginnings are inevitable when doing work like ours. And those creative beginnings can be as exciting as they are nerve-wracking and humbling, because they are full of as much promise as they are uncertainty.
I’ve been writing professionally for decades now, but still repeatedly find myself needing to begin again. And I had a feeling there would be others out there who would be able to relate to this very real facet of the creative lifestyle, and wanted, maybe even needed, to discuss it too.
So, I guess you could say that I selected this month’s theme, Creative Courage, based on personal priorities and a vested interest in other writers and creators out there who are also constantly needing to begin again. And it proved to be a productive choice.
Over the course of the month, we were able to cover a lot about creative courage, including when and how to use it, and why, as well as all the different ways our creative courage can connect us.
We unpacked everything from how we need to begin before we ‘feel ready’ to actually feel ready, and why we need to take risks without ever knowing their outcomes beforehand, to the ins and outs of how and why sharing stories connects us. And none of those drafts and dialogues could have happened without you. So, thank you so much for being here and being a part of this growing community!
What follows is a high-level recap of our month of Creative Courage on Daily Drafts & Dialogues.
Don’t forget to save this post as a personal and practical resource for whenever you might need to conjure creative courage in the future.
What We Discussed RE: Creative Courage
In July, we first discussed: Do writers need to feel ready before they begin a new project?
And the answers that came in were roughly split in half. About half of you agreed with some version of “Yes, preparation creates better work” while half of you agreed with some version of “No, starting is how we become ready.” Which likely means that around half of you who responded are ‘plotters’ while the other half are likely ‘pantsers.’ Not too surprising.
What was surprising over the course of our interactions, however, was the realization that many of us are waiting for some sort of permission to begin, albeit via various mediums, even if we aren’t sure whose permission we’re waiting for exactly, or from where we expect that permission to come.
So, after some reflection and discussion, we realized that beginning new projects without official permission and a certain level of uncertainty is unavoidable but also part of the creative process— a process that is in many ways a rewarding process precisely because of its uncertainty and because no one can officially grant us permission to begin but ourselves. Especially once we unpacked some of the responses and words of advice that some of our favorite authors and creators have to some of our most common and deep-seated fears regarding how to come by permission and begin new projects in Why Beginning Feels So Difficult, But Doesn’t Have to Be.
Next, we discussed: Should writers prioritize creative risks or readers’ expectations?
This question didn’t get as much traction as the previous question, but it did prompt a few of us to discuss and better understand the value of balancing artistic vision and creative risks with readers’ expectations, and naturally continued our overarching conversation about creative courage for the month. It allowed us to go a little deeper with what we are risking if and when we decide to prioritize creative risks over readers’ expectations and vice versa.
And while a majority of the few of you who joined this discussion claimed prioritizing creative risks over readers’ expectations was the way to go, you also agreed that remembering readers’ expectations is still essential when it comes to the basics and fundamentals of writing and reading. Otherwise, writers might lose sight of ensuring their readers understand and connect with what they’ve written, and readers might remain unsure whether they’ll be able to connect with what’s written.
Basically, after some reflection and discussion, we realized that artistic integrity and considering readers aren’t necessarily opposing goals but can be complementary ones, and that it’s important to respect both your creative vision and your readers enough to ensure that your vision is communicated in a way they can fully experience. In other words, when taking creative risks, the goal isn’t to choose between artistic vision and readers’ expectations, but to let each strengthen the other.
Books Added to Our Creative Courage TBR
In July, some of us were able to add nearly 150 books to our To-Be-Read piles while discussing creative courage.
We unpacked twenty novels about reinvention, creative courage, and choosing a new path in The Art of Beginning Again. Then we discussed books that made us want to write and take creative risks before exploring books that prove creative risks are worth taking and stories that made us see something differently. And topped off the month by poring over Your Essential Nonfiction Library for Creative Courage.
There are too many books that were mentioned to name individually here, so feel free to save and explore those posts full of books anytime you want.
Many of you contributed some amazing titles to be considered and added to these library lists and posts, so thank you! I can’t wait to see what other reading recommendations you have in the future, and where those books end up steering our upcoming discussions and drafts.
My Reflection on Our Month of Creative Courage
I learned a lot about what creative courage means to me through not only our dialogues and discussions, but through the drafts I created over the course of the month, which were responses to the creative and reflective writing prompts that went out each Saturday.
In my drafts this month, I was able to reflect on the ways beginnings and endings are linked and a poetic risk that forever changed how I view, experience, and want to write poetry. And I determined that I would create everything and anything beautiful and inventive and hopeful and exciting, and most of all, true if I were creating a story I knew someone needed.
I was also able to take creative risks, revisit favorite childhood stories and some difficult memories, and explore uncertainty with a bit of joy and curiosity when I drafted the following flash fiction pieces: Between Two Worlds, Beneath the Armor, and The mostly true hidden story… Then unpacked how creative courage showed up in my own WIP in this month’s Drafting Diaries: Creative Courage installment.
All in all, I would say that one word or feeling I am left with after engaging in our discussions about creative courage, and writing drafts that prompted me to exhibit creative courage, is: pleased.
So, I want to sincerely encourage you to complete some of the prompts in July’s Creative Courage series if you haven’t already, because you might just end up surprising yourself in some unexpected and reaffirming ways you’ll never forget.
Truly, completing some of these prompts expanded my creative courage in positive ways I never saw coming.
Growing the Community and Looking Ahead
We’re only three weeks into following curated monthly themes with weekly focuses on Daily Drafts & Dialogues, but so far, the response to what we are building here has been overwhelmingly positive and encouraging, and I couldn’t be more thrilled!
We’ve received dozens of thoughtful responses and engagement over the past several weeks and have already gained over fifty new subscribers!
🫶THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE! 🫶
I can’t tell you how much this initial positive response to what we are doing here means to me, and how such engagement is making me more determined than ever to continue building and growing an online reading and writing space that you and I both deserve— a space where writing and reading meet through daily practice, thoughtful discussion, and shared curiosity.
🗣️👥💬SHINE AND THRIVE IN THE CHATS💬👥🗣️
For next month, I want to focus on increasing our engagement in the Drafters Workshop and Dialoguers chat threads. Those are the spaces where we can really dig in and workshop what we’re currently writing (which may or may not be prompted by Saturday’s writing prompts posts), and where we can expand our dialogues and discussions each week. It’s where this growing community will really shine and thrive, so please don’t hesitate to join or share your thoughts and work there. We want to hear from you!
I know that sharing our work and ideas in a new place can sometimes feel intimidating or like we’re shouting into a void, but I am really looking forward to seeing what you contribute there. Whether you join a chat thread to share your responses to Saturday’s prompts or snippets of your other writing, ask questions to spur further dialogue, or want to use it as a space to connect with other writers and support their work, I can’t wait to see what you contribute!
Until our next chat thread goes live (every Saturday and Monday), feel free to check out our Community Chat Guidelines to see how these chats are intended to support you and supplement your writing and reading goals.
📚NEW BOOK CLUB📚
In August, we are introducing the NEW Daily Drafts & Dialogues Book Club!
Tomorrow’s post will include more details about how you can join and what to expect. But for now, know that moving forward some Books posts will be centered around our book club picks, to enhance our discussions centered around monthly themes and the books we’re reading.
So far, the Books posts have been pretty popular, so I want to continue that trend. And I hope having designated books to read together will enrich our monthly and weekly dialogues, as well as really allow us to experience and examine practical applications of what we are discussing in a way that is insightful to our own writing and creative lifestyles.
Again, you’ll learn the ins and outs of the club in tomorrow’s post. But for now, be sure to reserve your copies of the following titles through Libby and the local library or order them so you receive them in time if you want to read with us in August as we explore next month’s theme.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez
Possession by A.S. Byatt
✨AUGUST THEME: The Creative Life ✨
Next month, we will be discussing The Creative Life and asking ourselves the big question: How do we build a writing life that works for us?
This Saturday we’ll kick off August’s posts with five creative writing prompts and five reflective prompts that will get us started thinking about and exploring how we can and should make space for our creative lives, especially when it seems difficult to do sometimes.
The Creative Life Writing Collection will also be available Saturday!
Inside this month’s collection:
✨30 guided writing prompts ✨craft explorations and tips ✨reflection exercises ✨curated reading recommendations ✨3 month-long creative writing challenges
I can’t wait to see what our drafts and dialogues uncover next month when we unpack what it means to build a writing life that works for us over the weeks, months, and years ahead. And I’m truly looking forward to your next comment or chat reply! Until then, happy writing and reading.
It’s not too late to go more in depth with July’s Creative Courage theme with the Creative Courage Writing Collection.
This writing collection is designed to help you explore creative courage from different angles: discovering your voice, strengthening your craft, experimenting with new approaches, and reflecting on the writer you are becoming. It invites you to go much deeper into the internal work of creativity with 30 guided writing prompts and craft exercises, reflections, as well as three options for guided monthly writing challenges for those who want to go even further than that.