Keep Going

and put the work in

I had the pleasure of being a guest on the Exhale podcast this month, where I talked with the lovely Molly Flinkman and Adrienne Garrison about the work of writing and how to keep going when an abundance of you name it stands in our way.

If you’re a member of Exhale, you can listen here. If you’re not, how about joining? Enrollment is open through January 15. I am continually impressed and inspired by what a hard-working and friendly group of women populate Exhale.

In the meantime, here are some things we talked about as well as tools and resources that have helped me along as I continue to write:

Weekly Reviews and Planning Sessions: For three year now, I’ve been doing a weekly review and planning session on Sunday mornings. I googled “weekly review questions” and as you can imagine, a plethora of them popped up. I chose ten I liked and wrote them down in my bullet journal. (The bullet journal is the planner I’ve been using for a few years now, and it fits me and my high maintenance personality quite well.) Writing the review is a gratifying practice for me because I have to reflect - on just about everything - in order to move on.

After that, I open to a new two-page spread, and I make a two columns on one page. On the left-hand side is “brainstorm,” and on the right is “to-do.” I write everything that comes to mind and then color code it. Then, I categorize them according to my colors, and this becomes my to-do list.

From there, I make my weekly spread.

This is not for everyone. I am sharing what works for me, and also what makes me happy. Getting a hold on our dreams and goals means learning how we work, what works for us, and being willing to set our lives up in a way that works for us - not for someone else.

Little Literary Luxuries: My sister-in-law, Kellee, gave me four small bottles of perfume last Christmas, and using them is my favorite part of getting ready in the morning. I told her this several months ago, and she said that everyone should have little luxuries throughout their day. That gave me an idea- why not have little literary luxuries? I know I can’t write all day (financially, and also I don’t want to write all day), but what can I do to allow myself a little spark of creativity throughout the day? Every day after lunch, I copy a poem down in my reading journal and interact with it. Sometimes I’ll highlight words, sometimes I’ll make observations or journal memories and experiences that come to mind. A couple hours after that, I’ll complete a one page prompt from this book. After I’m done with work, I will read and journal a bit, and then I practice some art journaling about my day using this book. None of this takes all that much time. All of it helps me continue to face my day.

Unravel Your Year + Find Your Word: Adrienne recommended these e-books (that are free!) to me, and they have been wonderful additions to my January, as well as throughout the year. These were created by Susannah Conway, whose website I adore.

Your Writing Year: Caroline Donahue, from “Book Alchemy”, put together a reflective writing planner to those who subscribe to her website. Writers, subscribe. Every time I read a post of hers, I am energized, and I loved going through “Your Writing Year” a few days ago.

31 Days of Creative Resilience: Carolyn Yoo of “See You” is offering “31 Days of Creative Resilience” to paid subscribers (but there is also a free component as well). I love what she puts out into the world, and this project looks fantastic.

Year of Content: If you’re overwhelmed by where to begin, or what to write about, may I suggest “The Year of Content”? I put this together a few years back as a resource to dream, plan, and generate ideas for a year of writing. You get a 75-minute recorded Zoom workshop, and a 27-page PDF planner.

Heart To Page: If you are looking for a small cohort (10 max) to read, write, and learn with, my next Heart to Page Writing course begins in September. This is modeled slightly after what an MFA graduate school program would look like (or, at least how I experienced and wanted to experience it). Learn more here.

Happy 2025 to all of you. Thank you for subscribing. Thank you to those of you who are paid subscribers. Thank you most of all, for reading my writing.