I know the feeling of thinking I ought to have these things figured out -- OOF. Also I love the picture of "little shadows." That could make for a good title to a poem.
Thank you for the recommendations. Can't wait to check them out!
Various flavors emerge from the bolus as it is processed:
Some people misuse structured religion as a tool to subject others to their own will instead of the freedom that Creator endowed.
This can kill trust in everything, and destroy connections with other people and with Creator.
When we can apply the golden rule to all of human species, we can start applying it effectively it to the rest of creation.
Sometimes self trust is expressed by leaning on the nerd power, and hoping for people to place the mission of the writing above the form.
The cud is getting spicier.
Whoa!!!
Wild garlic and hot peppers.
It is mission critical to be locked in the "season of craft" 50 out of 52 weeks per year.
Habanero!!
You vill get outside, lost in the weeds, eat your greens, und you vill like it!! YA!!!
Whew!
Might have been some jimson weed in that cud. 🥴
As for writers, Teagan MacLean can deliver very personal slices of life without seeming egotistical or self absorbed. I admire his natural social skill.
🤔 Elizabeth Gilbert, Julia Cameron and Martha Beck all taught me something about trust and showing up. I can’t love the idea of self-trust enough, and its a work in progress for me too. In my recent podcast chat with Michael Averill I used a metaphor from cooking: a basic skill is working out when the food is done - maybe not great, maybe not insta worthy, but done. When its done, we serve it. Then you adjust your recipe or technique based on how edible or flavourful it was. Until we trust that we know that, cooking - and writing - is a very anxiety producing practice.
You just combined my two favorites: writing and cooking. I love the picture of writing being done: whether that it's ready to share/publish OR that it has said what it needs to FOR NOW. And then I decide how to serve it, bring it into the world.
💻 AND 📝 I love this Amanda! Staying true to yourself as an artist is one of the hardest parts I think. Especially now we live in the world of the algorithm. I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. Because it (the algorithm) shows you things you already know and are already looking at, it suffocates any chance to grow. It holds you back. As a visual artist, I find this really hard, not just the algorithm, but social media. So being here on Substack is partly a way of trying to escape that over on Instagram. Which is why I am in a tending AND crafting place. Because part of me is tending the part of me that wants to be authentic, and it feels like this is a place I can do that. So I am tending my Substack garden, figuring out all the settings, working out my rhythm for posting free/paid etc. at the same time, I am working on my craft, and trying to trust myself that my writing is ok, even if I don’t know all the grammar rules. I feel like I am emerging out of a cocoon I was hiding in, and exploring writing in a way I never have before, it’s pretty exciting and enjoyable! Can’t wait for all the new seasons. They sound brill!
Thank you for sharing, Ella! I relate to the sense that I need to be in Craft and Tending, and I know for myself, both at once is a delicate dance to stay nourished. Also, I loved this:
"...trying to trust myself that my writing is ok, even if I don’t know all the grammar rules."
and
"I feel like I am emerging out of a cocoon I was hiding in, and exploring writing in a way I never have before, it’s pretty exciting and enjoyable!"
What a gift to me and other readers. I sometimes struggle with imposter syndrome because a lot of the grammar "labels" get criss-crossed in my head. But I know sentence structure backward and forward and the rhythm of sentence construction. And I think we just have to give ourselves and our writing to come out exactly as it does! And then maybe get some help along the way. :)
Hope to see you in Ask an Editor in a little while ... it's First Paragraphs from now until the end of the year.
Building self trust has been, and continues to be, a life-long project. I'm getting better at it as I get older (today is my 72nd birthday). A major breakthrough for me came from a recognition, not yet two years ago, of my neurodivergence, and a decision to show up through writing rather then being on endless boards and committees, a transformation that's almost complete.
I can't pick one writer! I read somewhere to keep a compliments file, to keep positive things people say about my writing for those times when I'm wavering. So, I started. There are a dozen names in there, and I'm grateful to all of them.
📝 I'm moving from musing to craft, working on a weighty post that needs a lot of research, and trying not to fret about the post vacuum while I get it done!
Keeping a compliments file is such a neat idea. I'm going to simmer on that idea and see if I could keep such a thing without it unfurling into a dozen random places across my devices and spiral notebooks. :)
I don't think you're alone in the "post vacuum" dilemma while working on an essay that's taking a little while. I run into this sometimes, and try to think of the easiest, most fun thing I could write just to touch base with readers. Even if it's 350 words and just a reflection on a water-related theme, poem, piece of work. I wonder what that thing could be for your readers?
Yes to self-trust. I have read quite a few guru, mentor, coach things, and I cherrypick from the advice. What works this week for me, doesn't work for every week. But I think there is value in having a lot of variety in my self help toolbox, because there is no one way that works all the time.
Amanda, first congratulations on the Jane Ratcliffe interview! Very cool.
📝 Much of what you say here resonates. The messages from my patriarchal religious upbringing, about body, about abandoning self. How much self-criticism and doubt that leads to.
And then what for me has recently become a rich and joyful return to self. I've told this story a few times of late. And it applies here. I told my daughter about an essay I was thinking of sharing. "Yes," she said. "It makes you feel more real." Get out of my head, I thought, and asked her if that was true of her art too. She was perplexed for a moment. We laughed. She meant real to readers. I meant to me.
I love this new way of thinking of it as a cave of the heart where I have dominion over myself. Thank you. Yes, I can feel when it's being fed.
A writer here on Substack who comes to mind when I think of embodying self-trust is Laurie Stone. She writes for herself, with this terrific mix of unapologetic and generous.
I’m reading Bel Canto at the moment too! Good luck with your season of craft, I’m there too.
I know the feeling of thinking I ought to have these things figured out -- OOF. Also I love the picture of "little shadows." That could make for a good title to a poem.
Thank you for the recommendations. Can't wait to check them out!
Going into bovine mode, chewing the cud.
Various flavors emerge from the bolus as it is processed:
Some people misuse structured religion as a tool to subject others to their own will instead of the freedom that Creator endowed.
This can kill trust in everything, and destroy connections with other people and with Creator.
When we can apply the golden rule to all of human species, we can start applying it effectively it to the rest of creation.
Sometimes self trust is expressed by leaning on the nerd power, and hoping for people to place the mission of the writing above the form.
The cud is getting spicier.
Whoa!!!
Wild garlic and hot peppers.
It is mission critical to be locked in the "season of craft" 50 out of 52 weeks per year.
Habanero!!
You vill get outside, lost in the weeds, eat your greens, und you vill like it!! YA!!!
Whew!
Might have been some jimson weed in that cud. 🥴
As for writers, Teagan MacLean can deliver very personal slices of life without seeming egotistical or self absorbed. I admire his natural social skill.
This was fun to read! It feels like you might have had some fun writing it too. :)
Thank you for the recommendation, too!
Happy to recommend! There are reasons that I could tune in on your SubStack.
And there IS a lot of fun in Nerdville!
🤔 Elizabeth Gilbert, Julia Cameron and Martha Beck all taught me something about trust and showing up. I can’t love the idea of self-trust enough, and its a work in progress for me too. In my recent podcast chat with Michael Averill I used a metaphor from cooking: a basic skill is working out when the food is done - maybe not great, maybe not insta worthy, but done. When its done, we serve it. Then you adjust your recipe or technique based on how edible or flavourful it was. Until we trust that we know that, cooking - and writing - is a very anxiety producing practice.
You just combined my two favorites: writing and cooking. I love the picture of writing being done: whether that it's ready to share/publish OR that it has said what it needs to FOR NOW. And then I decide how to serve it, bring it into the world.
Also, thank you for the suggestions. ☀️
💻 AND 📝 I love this Amanda! Staying true to yourself as an artist is one of the hardest parts I think. Especially now we live in the world of the algorithm. I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. Because it (the algorithm) shows you things you already know and are already looking at, it suffocates any chance to grow. It holds you back. As a visual artist, I find this really hard, not just the algorithm, but social media. So being here on Substack is partly a way of trying to escape that over on Instagram. Which is why I am in a tending AND crafting place. Because part of me is tending the part of me that wants to be authentic, and it feels like this is a place I can do that. So I am tending my Substack garden, figuring out all the settings, working out my rhythm for posting free/paid etc. at the same time, I am working on my craft, and trying to trust myself that my writing is ok, even if I don’t know all the grammar rules. I feel like I am emerging out of a cocoon I was hiding in, and exploring writing in a way I never have before, it’s pretty exciting and enjoyable! Can’t wait for all the new seasons. They sound brill!
Thank you for sharing, Ella! I relate to the sense that I need to be in Craft and Tending, and I know for myself, both at once is a delicate dance to stay nourished. Also, I loved this:
"...trying to trust myself that my writing is ok, even if I don’t know all the grammar rules."
and
"I feel like I am emerging out of a cocoon I was hiding in, and exploring writing in a way I never have before, it’s pretty exciting and enjoyable!"
What a gift to me and other readers. I sometimes struggle with imposter syndrome because a lot of the grammar "labels" get criss-crossed in my head. But I know sentence structure backward and forward and the rhythm of sentence construction. And I think we just have to give ourselves and our writing to come out exactly as it does! And then maybe get some help along the way. :)
Hope to see you in Ask an Editor in a little while ... it's First Paragraphs from now until the end of the year.
Thanks so much Amanda! I have already found my first “First Paragraphs” post super helpful!
Building self trust has been, and continues to be, a life-long project. I'm getting better at it as I get older (today is my 72nd birthday). A major breakthrough for me came from a recognition, not yet two years ago, of my neurodivergence, and a decision to show up through writing rather then being on endless boards and committees, a transformation that's almost complete.
I can't pick one writer! I read somewhere to keep a compliments file, to keep positive things people say about my writing for those times when I'm wavering. So, I started. There are a dozen names in there, and I'm grateful to all of them.
📝 I'm moving from musing to craft, working on a weighty post that needs a lot of research, and trying not to fret about the post vacuum while I get it done!
Keeping a compliments file is such a neat idea. I'm going to simmer on that idea and see if I could keep such a thing without it unfurling into a dozen random places across my devices and spiral notebooks. :)
I don't think you're alone in the "post vacuum" dilemma while working on an essay that's taking a little while. I run into this sometimes, and try to think of the easiest, most fun thing I could write just to touch base with readers. Even if it's 350 words and just a reflection on a water-related theme, poem, piece of work. I wonder what that thing could be for your readers?
Just put one up! About seasons!
Also, Happy of Happiest Birthdays! I completely forgot to mention that in my first reply. :)
Thank you Amanda!
I keep mine in Evernote, which is where my journal, post ideas, drafts, research, to do lists, everything else lives.
Yes to self-trust. I have read quite a few guru, mentor, coach things, and I cherrypick from the advice. What works this week for me, doesn't work for every week. But I think there is value in having a lot of variety in my self help toolbox, because there is no one way that works all the time.
Amanda, first congratulations on the Jane Ratcliffe interview! Very cool.
📝 Much of what you say here resonates. The messages from my patriarchal religious upbringing, about body, about abandoning self. How much self-criticism and doubt that leads to.
And then what for me has recently become a rich and joyful return to self. I've told this story a few times of late. And it applies here. I told my daughter about an essay I was thinking of sharing. "Yes," she said. "It makes you feel more real." Get out of my head, I thought, and asked her if that was true of her art too. She was perplexed for a moment. We laughed. She meant real to readers. I meant to me.
I love this new way of thinking of it as a cave of the heart where I have dominion over myself. Thank you. Yes, I can feel when it's being fed.
A writer here on Substack who comes to mind when I think of embodying self-trust is Laurie Stone. She writes for herself, with this terrific mix of unapologetic and generous.