Create Me Free in 2023: Building an Online Library About the Complex Relationship Between Art and Mental Health
A look back at the amazing creations and collaborations collected here in less than a year thanks in large part to this terrific community of creatives
I launched this Substack in May 2023 where I aim to create a comprehensive online library about the complex relationship between art and mental health. I explore and celebrate art as therapy but also want us all to talk about the shadow side - how mental health symptoms impact creative process, content, medium, productivity, self-perception/identity and how art and mental health both get complicated by stigma, money/business, and more. I believe that this is an important conversation that we aren’t having enough and that by devoting my time to developing a library here, we can all better understand it. And I believe that increased understanding leads to a world where writers, artists, and creatives of all kinds can achieve holistic wellness - financial, creative, physical, mental, social … Art does heal individuals and communities. Shining a light on the shadow side helps us find solutions so that we can further magnify the beautiful parts of creating art.
If you believe in this mission, I need your help. I can only continue this work into 2024 with paid support for the full-time effort that I put into it. Your subscriptions make a difference.
On a really tight budget? Learn about my Pay What You Can option here. No shame in this!
I have put full-time work into this and wanted to share with you today a look back at all of the amazing things that have been accomplished here, in large part thanks to the contributions, comments, collaborations and camaraderie of the Substack community.
Quick Look By The Numbers:
Create Me Free published 28 original interviews with writers, artists and mental health professionals all about the complex relationship between art and mental health. 4 of these were visual interviews, a new feature I’m particularly excited about.
Want to share your own responses to questions about the relationship between art and mental health? You can answer a visual interview here or answer in words here.
That number doesn’t include my 18 Dressember interviews, a special December feature raising awareness about an initiative to fight human trafficking and relating it all back to the intersection of art and mental health.
Additionally, it doesn’t include the 8 interviews of me that others on Substack did.
If you’re keeping track: 54 interviews!
Some of those interviews of me were part of The Artist’s Mind Virtual Book Tour, which also included 5 posts here, 4 reviews, 6 guest posts and 2 book excerpts for a total of 23 posts. The guide to doing your own Substack tour was very popular.
In 2023 Create Me Free also published
2 guest posts
4 articles about mental health in art history
3 about Sylvia Plath
3 others related to books
4 on crochet/craft as therapy
9 posts about miscellaneous other thoughts, mostly my personal experience
3 core posts about what you’ll find here
3 additional housekeeping posts
22 art and mental health link digests
4 additional writing link digests
13 roundups elaborating on conversations had in Notes
17 “what’s true for me today” Sunday “get to know me personally” posts
I’m probably missing something or other from the archives but that adds up to at least 162 detailed posts since May 2023 to build out this library of art and mental health resources.
I worked hard to collaborate, boost others up, connect inspiring creatives with one another and add critical information to this topic. If you believe in this work, it’s going to need your paid support in 2024.
5 Most Popular 2023 Posts
Some of my most popular posts were the digests but outside of that, the top five 2023 posts were:
How to Do a Virtual Book Tour on Substack (or anywhere online)
Imagine that you’re stopping at a different bookstore in your city every day for a week to promote your book. Each event will have similarities but also hopefully differences that are inspired by and aligned with the vibe of that particular bookstore. You might read an excerpt at one, do a panel discussion at the next, and do a Q&A at the following one. You might wear your best dress for the fanciest bookstore where wine is served and you might dress in casual jeans for the homey place where you already know everyone. That’s how I picture my virtual book tour, except that it takes place on people’s unique Substack sites rather than in brick and mortar stores.
Semi;Colon: A Grief Tattoo Story
Sharing something a little different this week. It’s a piece that I wrote earlier this year shortly after my father passed away. I submitted it to a competition and it was recently rejected from that with a short note that was really supportive. I realized, re-reading it, that it was too soon to write this piece. Even ten months in, I'm still figuring out how to process the loss, and I need continued time before I edit this piece. But I don’t know when the editing will happen so I wanted to just share it with you here today in its current raw form.
Answer In Images: Art and Mental Health Interview with Sue Clancy
Sue Clancy of A.M. Sketching has been one of my favorite artists to collaborate with here on Substack. She is an illustrator who shares terrific sketchbook images that also have brief text on them; we both share a love for the combo of words and images.
The interview in words that I did with Sue was also in the top!
Art and Mental Health Interview with Street Photographer Neil Milton
Neil Milton of Photos, mostly was a musician with a band who founded a record label but who has now set down the guitars in favor of a camera. He is a street photographer, learning and teaching the art form, and building a community around it here on Substack. He joins us today for an interview about changing creative genres, going to therapy, dealing with imposter syndrome and so much more.
Mental Health Reasons I May Not Read Your Writing ... and Please Write It Anyway
I have seen a lot of conversations from writers, on Substack and elsewhere, about negative feelings they experience when they don’t get the validation of likes, comments, reads, opens, etc. And how this impacts their ability/desire/motivation to write. Believe me, I get it, but having been a full-time writer for two decades, I’ve learned a few things about how best to cope with this for the sake of my own mental health. And being an online reader for even longer, as well as someone with chronic recurring major (sometimes double) depression, I’m here to say that more often than not, if I’m not reading your stuff, it really is me not you.
Deeper Dive: I Dare You!
Here’s a look back at the entire archive from 2023. Of course you’re not going to read it all. But I dare you to do a quick scroll and see what jumps out at you. Find 1-3 pieces that look compelling and read, comment, share, celebrate. I hope you’ll find something that is inspiring, that connects you to other writers and creatives, that gives you a little bit of light in the darkness. Note: You can also find these all archived in my Table of Contents, where you’ll also see descriptions of each, rather than just links.
Interviews with Artists, Writers, and Others
I am so humbled and honored each time that other people are open to sharing their own stories with us here through interviews. After all, I can try to research in depth and share my own lived experience but I’ll naturally always have a limited lens. The more people sharing their perspectives, the better comprehensive understanding we can all have.
Interviews with writers
Eleven of the people I interviewed in 2023 identify primarily as writers, although most also dabble in other forms of creativity. Here are those interviews featuring
, , , , , , , , , and Nessa Nachelle.
Interviews with artists
Here are the interviews that I did with other artists and creatives, many of whom also identify as writers but celebrate their work in drawing, painting, illustrating, crochet/textiles, photography and more. These includes interviews with
, , , , , and .
Visual interviews
One of my most exciting 2023 achievements was launching visual interviews, in which people respond in images instead of words, because sometimes we can’t quite explain the complicated relationship between art and mental health in words. Here are those interviews, featuring absolutely astounding art and thoughts from
, , and .
And more interviews!
Here are a few other 2023 interviews on art and mental health:
Plus Dressember interviews! I interviewed 18 people participating in Dressember, an annual fashion activism campaign to fight human trafficking, about how the initiative relates to art and mental health.
People interviewed me, too!
Humbled and honored to be featured in interviews done by
, , , , , , and . And collaborated with on a piece.
The Artist’s Mind Virtual Book Tour!
As you can see, some of those interviews of me were part of my Substack virtual book tour for my book that came out this year, The Artist's Mind: The Creative Lives and Mental Health of Famous Artists, which was the first big collaborative project that I did here. It was such a successful project that I created a comprehensive guide to doing one:
My first post about it, describing what it was and introducing you to all stops on the tour, went up on July 24, 2023:
Then on August 31, 2023, I shared a recap of it all:
Most of the posts were on other people’s Substacks, but a couple were here on my page:
In addition to those posts, and the interviews already shared above, this tour included 4 book/chapter reviews by
, , and + 2 book excerpts and + 6 guest posts from me published by , , , , and .
Also Published Here:
Interviews and the book tour made up many of my 2023 posts, but that certainly wasn’t all that was here. I have 3 core posts that are good guides to what to expect here, we had 2 guest posts (1 was part of Dressember) from
and , and my own writing: 4 articles about mental health in art history, 3 posts about Sylvia Plath, 3 other posts related to books, 4 post related to crochet as therapy, and 9 other posts related to various thoughts I have about the complex relationship between art and mental health.
Housekeeping and Regular Weekly Features
Finally, we have a few important housekeeping posts:
And then we have our regular weekly features:
Art and Mental Health Links. In these Friday digests, I share the things that have most inspired my from other writers and relate them back to my niche as a way of drawing connections, engaging deeper with the work, building community, and growing this library of important information. We have 22 of these posts.
I also had four posts of link roundups related specifically to writing. However, I had them behind a paywall, there was some controversy, and I decided to stop doing these. 3 of my 4 top posts for the year were actually these posts, so that’s something to gnaw on a bit.
Notes 2.0. Earlier in the year, I did weekly posts where I reviewed the conversations I’d been having in Notes and added some thoughts, again drawing connections and building community. There were 13 of those. I paused that when the controversy arose but stay tuned in 2024 …
What’s True for Me Right Now. These are the personal truths, big and small, that I share daily-ish in chat and invite you to come do the same. I round them up in posts on Sundays. We had 17 of those in 2023.
I am probably missing something or other from the archives but I think that gives you an idea of the amazing library we’ve been able to begin building here about the complex relationship between art and mental health. If you believe in this work, please support in 2024:
Wow, you've done so much powerful work, and been on such an incredible journey! I can't wait to see what's next in 2024!