Happy New Year, Brave Creatives! (more on trust)

It is my greatest joy to witness my Brave Space regulars learning to really trust themselves and their processes. I want to brag a little bit about it! Like watching the tight buds of flowers open; even their faces lift a bit, and their eyes reflect more light. 

I am taking this moment, the evening of the New Year (Rosh Hashanah) to think back on my vision for Brave Space when I first began in 2019, an online offering before the pandemic when I had to teach people individually how to use zoom. 

I had an inkling of what I wanted to do, but no real plan, and no idea if it would work or not. And I don't mean just getting some people to write or make art online. I mean I truly wondered if people who were struggling to write or make art would come. I wondered if those who came would (through a very gentle, non-teachy process) learn to trust themselves to allow their work to move through them. And they did! And they do! And I've been able to expand my own writing practice and my own ability to trust myself more too! 

I want to thank you all for showing up! Some of you participate in Brave Space with me, just the two of us. I'm always surprised that more people don't come. But sometimes that's what happens. It's me and 1 other Brave soul. Other days it's many more, a crowd full of creative faces on the screen. 

Many of us imagine that everyone else is making great work while we plod along, and the truth is we are all making great work. Work-in-progress is hard to live with in a culture that only values finished products. Long term projects need vision and many layers of revision. Brave Space has kept me going through my 65K word Middle Grade novel that is each day closer to being a finished first draft and much more. 

The truth is, before Brave Space, I was a binge writer. I'd write on long weekends (before I had a family). I didn't write in the early years of family life -- I couldn't figure out how! I made myself sick with the ache to write and no idea how to begin. I ended up w/4 autoimmune diseases culminating in a 3 week hospital stay refusing chemo. 

After living through that, I promised myself I'd write again. And I did, but I'd still do it fast and furious, afraid of what might come out! I had to put up post-its that said things like, no one ever has to read it! I had to invent the courage to write the truths I was afraid to put on the page. And I healed. And I created Brave Space so we all don't have to write alone. 

The more we open ourselves up to the process of Brave Space, the better we get at trusting ourselves. I hope you will join me at least once this new year. Try it! You might enjoy the process. 

This week we meet Monday 12pm ET; Tuesday 11am ET; Wednesday 12pm ET; Thursday 10am ET; Friday 12pm ET . Email me HERE with when you want to show up for yourself!