Thoughts on Writing: A Substack Digest

Roundup of all of the amazing writing on writing happening here on Substack this week

Welcome to Create Me Free where I share all of my deep research into and musings about the complex relationship between art and mental health. While I touch on art as therapy and the benefits of creativity, I really dig into the ways that our mental health symptoms can impact our creative process, content, productivity, medium choice, identity and business.

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In addition to my own writing, I love to use this space to celebrate, encourage, and amplify other writers who are doing amazing work in related niches. This is my Thoughts on Writing weekly digest, where I curate the best writing about writing on Substack, highlight connections between some of the pieces, elaborate on topics related to my niche or my own experience, and hopefully help you find new writing that educates, inspires and empowers you in your own work.

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From the past week or so then …

A Creative Frame

Jami Attenberg

of

CRAFT TALK

wrote a really beautiful letter this week called For The Strikers 

and really it’s worth reading the whole thing because it really evokes the love of writing for the sake of writing with tips and inspiration for getting back to that. It’s written for the TV writers striking (and specifically for one of Jami’s friends) but it applies much more broadly.

“But still, you must write. Not for them, but for yourself. You have things you need and desire to work on. In order to carry on, you must find a way to extricate your true passion for writing from the work you have been doing for the last decade or so. Because now is the time to reclaim it.”

For me, this resonated around how lost I had gotten in recent years writing “content” for the web and to pay the bills and how I’d forgotten how much I loved writing for the sake of writing and how my writing and my self-esteem and my whole brain suffered for it. And I had to come back and write for myself and hope that doing so would connect with others but if not just be here for the writing because that’s the part that matters. 

Jami describes writing her novel years ago with this kind of feeling and it’s a great reminder to find those times in our own storylines and regain some of their energy. So that’s why I wanted to start with this as our creative frame this week … because below you’ll find tips and tricks but mostly what I hope you’ll find is inspiration from other writers who love writing and want you to love writing too.

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A Second Frame

I also wanted to add this comment that I wrote in a conversation with

Andrew Smith

of

Goatfury Writes

because whenever I do these roundups someone inevitably says something along the lines of how much they like being mentioned alongside big name writers. And I feel the same way whenever someone mentions me in a comment or post alongside famous authors. Like I sneaked my way into a celebrity party. So what I said that I think is also a good frame for us here is this:

One of the things I truly love about Substack is that huge published names can co-exist alongside “unpublished” folks and everything in between. That doesn’t mean that we’ll all suddenly become

Chuck Palahniuk

or

Margaret Atwood

or

Elizabeth Gilbert

but for me what it means is that oh yeah, those people are humans just like us, writers just like us. Maybe someone who reads them might stumble upon a piece we wrote and love it. Maybe we can just exist in this space with those writers we admire and know that we’re both part of that community and in our own lane. 

The Writing Life

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Below the paywall you’ll find thoughts on the writing life, defining creative success, writer’s notebooks, author interviews, book release news, and so much more …