You’re Not Lost — a note from Mari.
A wide path curving into the woods, with dappled light.
Hello Dear Ones! It’s Mari here.
Back in January, I did something scary – I represented Firefly in a webinar for the Festival of Literary Diversity about our Life Cycle of Creative Projects.
This was new for me, because what we mostly do at Firefly is work with small groups – no more than 8 in a workshop. I’m used to seeing nods and smiles and being able to answer questions as they come up.
But this was a live and recorded session of 100 invisible viewers. It felt like speaking out into outer space. I was terrified.
But then something unexpected happened.
As I kept talking, I settled into the rhythm of presenting, and I felt held by the invisible audience. I could feel the power of this writing tool reaching them. And, I felt the power of the tool — the Life Cycle — able to carry us all.
The Life Cycle of Creative Projects is a tool that’s been part of Firefly since before I even started here. I have gone over it time and time again, watched light bulbs going on over writers’ heads as I walk them through it. And even in the outer space of the webinar, I could feel those light bulbs popping.
The idea is that all creative work goes through predictable phases. When we’re making something, we often feel like we’re lost in the woods, but actually, we’re on a map, we’re in a stage, and when we know that, and can put a name on it, we can more easily find our way forward.
This gives language for why all of a sudden, in the middle of a writing flow, we're suddenly resistant. Or why we feel so full of creative possibilities after a weekend away or a long winter of doing as little as possible. This is also why sharing work is so hard for some people, and so exciting for others.
When writing is hard, it’s easy to feel there’s something wrong with us.
But when we find ourselves on the life cycle, suddenly we can see all the ways our inner writer has been nudging us along.
I realized later that webinar itself was in its own life cycle.
I had moved from the “idea stage” when I was asked to do it, to the “chaos stage” when I had no idea how to pull it together, through “production” (planning it with Chris) and “revision” (making the slides with Syd) and was entering the final stage which we call “birth.”
So, of course I was scared! But once I was in it — I could feel the flow. It was natural and instinctual. Whenever we are moving forward with a creative project, it feels right, even when it’s hard.
One of my points was that community has a role in each stage of a creative project.
We need people to talk to about what we want to make, people to read our work to, people to keep us accountable.
Are you looking for support for your creative map? We have space in some of our upcoming spring workshops.
We would love to welcome you to our table.
We still have spaces in some of our small-group spring workshops.
If you’re looking for a high energy workshop, we have Keep Your Pen Moving. If you want to use writing to cultivate a flow state, you might like Focus and Flow. If you’re interested in writing romance, check out Hearts on Paper. And if you have a project on the go, Deeper Waters might be for you.
We have a rare “author evening” in a couple of weeks
On March 31st, the wonderful Rachel Phan will be joining us for an evening of conversation about the journey of publishing her memoir, Restaurant Kid, and what it means to take small steps towards big dreams.
Tickets and details are here. The event is online, pay-what-you-can, and all proceeds go towards creativity grants for Indigenous youths.
Members of the Fireside Community for Writers get in free.
I want to share a poem with you.
It’s called, “the world within the world within you” by Manahil Bandukwala.
Okay friends, I have an invitation for you.
Take a little time to sit with the Life Cycle of Creative Projects.
What stage are you in right now?
What’s the next tiny step forward?
How can you ask for help from the people around you in order to keep going?
Oh, and if you want, you can watch the FOLD webinar here. There are a whole bunch more free webinars for you to watch there too, check them out! We’re so grateful to The Fold for including us in this series.
In it with you,
