Bloom
Treating writing as a pleasure practice is a revolutionary act (plus some real-life practices you can start using today)
If you’re looking for tips to start building more joy into your writing time, starting today, read/scroll to the bottom of this post.
If you want to work with me more closely, please join me for Bloom (and see the end of this post for a discount)!
When was the last time you viewed your writing as a pleasure? Especially if you write often, how do you calibrate to this work emotionally?
I talk a lot about pleasure practices.
What does that mean, exactly?
In essence, it means any regular practice you do that weaves some joy, pleasure, and good feelings in your life. ‘Pleasure’ here refers to anything that feels expansive, joyful, generally yummy and nice and good. It’s a highly individual term, and its expressions are highly individual too.
Maybe you have a favorite tea while you write, or you light a candle, or you stretch, or meditate, or maybe you just weave breaks for leisurely walks and daydreaming throughout your day.
So why is this revolutionary, exactly?
We’re taught that “work” has to look a certain way: Capitalism and even our public education system have taught us to be good little workers, tuning our lives to the rhythms of production and consumption.
There are ways to produce and consume that are in closer alignment to our individual natural cycles and the ways we work best, but the one-size-fits-all approach we have now is (for nearly everyone) not it. We leave feeling burnt out, exhausted, like we have no energy for ourselves or our loved ones, or anything else we care about (which is, some would argue, an intentional feature of our current system).
That’s why creating even one corner of your life that actually functions within your rhythms and your way of working is revolutionary.
Are you going to tear down the walls of our current system by restructuring your writing practice?
I mean, not alone you won’t. But the more of us who create what we want to create, in the ways we want to create (and, I’d argue, the ways we’re meant to create), the more a new way of working seems possible.
When you actually structure your creative practice to fit you, rather than imposing the structures from the rest of society on it, suddenly you’re showing other folks that such a thing is possible, because you’re doing it! To me, that’s revolutionary, leader-y behavior, because our work should always consider process and product.
The way we’re meant to do creative work is for it to be, well, creative. And generative. And most of all, fun. Because we do our best, most powerful work when we enjoy ourselves. And that joy helps us tap into the energy we’re trying to channel through our work.
Even when I talk about really difficult topics, finding a way to weave something pleasurable or comforting into the actual physical practice of writing itself keeps me grounded, and makes the work flow that much easier.
When we weave pleasure into our work, every time we sit down to write, we’re undoing the narratives we’ve been taught and rewriting our own.
Here’s how that might look for different types of writing lives:
I have five minutes a day to write: Do something short, sweet, and simple (like lighting a nice smelling candle). Some time during your week, think about setting discrete, reachable writing goals so you can quickly orient yourself in your work, then let yourself revel in the sense of accomplishment each time you take that five minutes.
I have 30 minutes or so to write: You may want to do something simple and fun before and after your writing time (like lighting a candle or reading a short inspiring piece of writing).
But I also want to encourage you to think of how you can weave pleasure into the act of writing itself. Comfortable, pleasurable ‘stuff’ in your space can help you tap into good feelings more easily because you are more physically comfortable while you write (e.g. a cozy blanket or hoodie? Nice slippers? Good smelling essential oils? Your own writing scents? etc.)
My mentor, K. Anne Amienne, also recommends making a nice, comfortable pot or cup of tea to sip throughout your writing time (you can find my own cozy herbal tea recipe here).
I write for extended stretches (hours or full days at a time): Start your day with your most generative, imaginative work: The stuff that’s closest to your heart or the most exciting. Do something pleasurable, fun, or grounding (whatever you need emotionally) before you start, maybe meditating or having a nourishing snack. Like our 30 minute writers, think of how you can weave pleasure into the act of writing itself.
I also create distinct blocks in my routine for different types of writing (really juicy, fun, generative, playful stuff first, then things like editing, writing articles to spec, etc. comes later). And I keep email and social media in their own little basket in my routine, so I can focus on writing knowing that I can catch up on emails towards the end of the day.
This is just one sliver of what you get in Bloom: Starting July 22 and running through September 20, this super special virtual writing group is the one I wish I’d had earlier in my career.
We cover nuts and bolts practical things (like goal setting) as well as mindset shifting and magical things, all with the end goal of helping you build a very pleasurable, sustainable, and fun (and, as a result, more productive) writing practice.
And we do that work in a few ways, so you’re actually learning the way you learn best: through recordings and readings in our resource library, or our Slack channel, or live meetings: including a live Q&A with my literary agent, Sally Ekus, and a second to-be-announced live session with a very special guest!)
If that sounds like just what you need, I hope you’ll join us.
Bloom is available with early pricing until June 10th (so 5 more days!) AND please also take an additional 60% off (yes, really) with the code BIGIDEAS
If you’re a math person, that’s a $1200 class, currently on sale for $560, which you’re getting for $224.
What revolutionary, amazing things do you do to build pleasure into your writing? What is one revolutionary, amazing thing you’d like to add to your writing practice to build in more pleasure?