Melanie Bell

Author, Writer, Editor


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Book Review: Kind of Coping by Maureen “Marzi” Wilson

We all get anxious sometimes. But for some of us, anxiety can be intense or pervasive. I’ve been coming to terms lately with the role that anxiety plays in my life. It sounds great to be a relaxed person who doesn’t worry about much of anything…and these people exist, but I’m not one of them.  

Nor is cartoonist Maureen “Marzi” Wilson. Wilson uses the handle of “Introvert Doodles” online and has published a number of graphic books about introversion. Her “introvert dream house” drawing made the rounds on social media a while ago, and I was ready to move in. Too bad it wasn’t real and affordable, right?

I picked up Kind of Coping: An Illustrated Look at Life with Anxiety in a local shop. The cover shows a cartoon Marzi’s head and arm poking out of a sleeping bag as she gives a sweaty thumbs-up and says, “Totally fine!”

She begins her book with a disclaimer: “FYI: This book will not ‘cure’ you.” Instead, it offers solace to the anxious by reassuring us that we’re not alone. 

It’s full of simple, colorful cartoons as adorable as they are relatable. It’s an autobiographical book, with the little blonde, pink-cheeked Marzi doodle featuring throughout. 

The book is broken thematically into parts, touching on themes such as social anxiety, responsibilities, and recognizing the need for support.

Marzi’s cartoons are often hilarious. One page features a series of 9 faces illustrating: “How anxious are you today?”, from a smiling “doing good” to 8’s “complete meltdown” to 9’s x-eyed, tongue-lolling-out “I’m literally dead.” Another shows Marzi deciding to make a to-do list and then getting buried in a pile of yellow paper.

Some sections are heavier on the text, like a page of panels labeled “What anxiety feels like.” I loved this descriptive bit: “Being inside of a kaleidoscope. The world is too bright, and everything keeps changing. As soon as I figure out the pattern, it shifts.”

I enjoyed the “Anxiety Bingo” card:

Some of these symptoms are familiar, such as “Awkward st-st-stuttering” and “Cannot adult today”. And I love how she marked the “Free” space, instead, as “Never feeling free”!

There were many times throughout this reading experience when I felt seen. Only being ready to speak up when the conversation has moved on? Travel anxiety? Comparing my weaknesses to other people’s strengths? Check! And there were some great pages that were less relatable to me but will ring a bell with others, such as worst-case-scenario thoughts about hiking up a mountain, only to run into a volcanic eruption at the top!

The book covers a lot of ground with humor and empathy, insisting on the need to be gentle with ourselves when things are tough inside our brains. I enjoyed the self-care ideas sprinkled throughout, such as the concept of making different to-do lists for good days, when we have the energy to work on our goals, and hard days, when we’re doing great if we make it out of bed. 

Sometimes the world is too much. Sometimes our brains are too much. Kind of Coping is a soothing read for those times.


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Looking Back on 2021 (and a Pre-Order Link for My Book)

You can pre-order my short story collection, Dream Signs, here.

These past two years have not been easy, have they? Thank you, COVID-19. Despite all that, I’ve been lucky to get through it all and try some new, interesting things.

PRE-ORDER TIME! (And Other Publication News)

My short story collection, Dream Signs, has faced publication delays but is now in its final stages before being launched. I’ll post an update as soon as I have a final date. AND you can pre-order it here now! 🙂 Isn’t the cover gorgeous?! I also have a YA novel, Chasing Harmony, coming out in Summer 2022. Again, I’ll update as more info is released by the publisher. It’s about classical music, messy families, and high expectations, and I love the cover for that one too. 

My dark fantasy novella “The Cliffman” came out this year as part of the horror collection Hard for Hope to Flourish. (It’s really a novelette, but the publisher’s calling it a novella; I, on the other hand, had thought it was a really long short story.) My short story “A Limit to Growth” was published in The Fiddlehead after 10 or so years of rejections. I have author interviews online for Hard for Hope to Flourish and The Fiddlehead, along with a write-up for The Fiddlehead where I recommend a book. It’s interesting to note that both of these pieces were initially part of the same story, featuring a fun-loving younger sister and an older sister who loved math (thanks to Meg Murry for the character inspiration), before diverging wildly (and I mean wildly – modern fairytale vs. realistic take on cybersex chat rooms).   

Personal Milestones

With lockdowns easing, I’ve gotten out and tried new things when I’ve been able to. I learned to paddle a kayak with a weekly meetup group. (I also learned I’ll probably never be a champion kayaker!) I continued, to a lesser extent, the running habits I’d established during lockdowns when we were all allowed to leave our house once daily for exercise. This autumn, I tried my first Parkrun, a weekend 5K event, and found it surprisingly fun. I also started taking horseback riding lessons.

In October, I spent a week in the Scottish Highlands on a working holiday at a horse farm. I loved the Highland Ponies, and it was great to spend time in Scotland again. With travel restrictions in place, I’ve definitely seen more of the UK during this pandemic than before. I spent two weeks this summer on a workaway at an estate in rural Wales, something I probably would never have done otherwise and am glad I did.    

This was a year I kept a certain balance, maintaining schedules and habits without necessarily planning to do so, and it surprised me. Who is this person who exercises regularly, gets plenty of sleep, and cooks and eats healthy meals? Recent actions and living through a pandemic have shown me the value in routine.

On the artistic front, I started volunteering at a local theatre and took a songwriting class, both of which were lots of fun and have opened up new ways of thinking creatively. I’ve been writing and experimenting with different formats for stage, song, and storytelling.      

I’m wrapping up just-over-2-years as Development Editor for ICE Publishing and starting a new job in 2022, one where writing is part of the professional focus. I’m particularly proud of the monthly author blog I created, with advice for prospective authors on the nuts and bolts as well as the psychological journey of writing a book, which will soon be published as a manual. I look forward to seeing what my next career step brings.  

Here are a few things that brought me joy in 2021: baby peacocks, amiable chubby horses, making up and recording bits of songs on my phone, finally getting my COVID ‘jabs’, many good books, and a free cactus. What brought you happiness during this generally rough year? What milestones are you proud of?


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Good Idea or Bad Idea? It’s All in the Execution

“Where do you get your ideas?” It’s a dreaded question for many writers. Sometimes, people outside of the writing world focus on ideas as the holy grail of literature. If you have a good idea, they may suggest, you might as well have a book already. And woe betide if someone steals your idea!

The relationship between writing and inspiration isn’t that straightforward. By the time I finish a story, I seldom remember where the initial idea came from, as it has often gone on to integrate a blend of things I’ve been thinking about.  

And the idea that any writer has a monopoly on “an idea” is an odd one. It’s all in the execution. Joseph Campbell found commonalities behind many stories from around the world and created the Hero’s Journey framework from this common ground. A hero goes on a quest… how many stories have been created around this basic idea? 

I could also argue that genres are ideas. Two people fall in love… that’s the premise behind most of the romance genre, and you can write a wide range of diverse stories from that premise depending on the personalities and life situations of the characters. 

More specifically, tropes are ideas. Want to write about a magic school? Surely no one’s done that one before. Very little is original in writing, but ideas can be combined in innovative and interesting ways.  

What makes an idea stick for a writer? That’s hard to say, as I suspect the reasons are highly personal. In my case, a story concept has to acquire a clear plot and be personally compelling. If I start writing but don’t know what happens after, say, chapter 5, then that’s the end of it for me. If I’m bored after writing an outline, that’s also the end of a promising-sounding idea. An idea needs to lead somewhere intriguing in order for me to follow it through.

If you have a cool idea and want to write from it, by all means, go for it! But don’t worry aout whether someone else has written or might write the “same thing.” Two people can write with the same premise and end up with very different books, given the differences in authors’ voices, focuses, experiences and interests. And both those books can be good, too. 

And don’t worry about whether it’s a weird idea or a bad idea. Is it an interesting concept to you? Can you develop a story from it that will maintain your attention until it’s finished? “Weird” and “bad” ideas can make good books if the storytelling is good, just like “good” ideas can make lackluster books if the storytelling is bad. (You can probably think of examples for both sides.)

The hard part, and the rewarding part, of an idea is the execution. Write that story. Put in the time, craft, and effort. The finished project will be so much more than an “idea.”


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September is for Songwriting Class

The pandemic has led a lot of people to take up new creative hobbies. Last November I tried NaNoWriMo for the first time in lockdown. Last month, I took a songwriting class.

Making up songs is something I’ve done off and on, casually throughout my life, but never pursued in earnest. As a kid, I invented theme songs for the stories I acted out with toys. I sent my grandparents a cassette tape of songs about cats that I improvised. (Did my long-suffering relatives appreciate my off-key, feline-chase-scene version of the William Tell Overture? Probably not!) 

In first grade, I wanted to be a composer who wrote musicals when I grew up, before the writing dreams took hold. As a teenager, I had a folder of terrible lyrics stuffed in a drawer. I wasn’t a serious musician and I don’t have a gift for singing, but music has always compelled me. I wrote my first full-length novel about a musical prodigy, and am working with a publisher on it now.   

In lockdown, I had some song ideas again. Then I revisited the music theme in fiction by starting a fantasy novel about a composer, and realized that part of me wanted to turn those songs in my head into real music as badly as my character did. As music re-emerged as a force in my life, I downloaded some composition software called MuseScore, tried to put notes to some past songs, and found a songwriting class. 

The class was run by Murray Webster of London Songwriters, an experienced singer-songwriter and teacher. It lasted a month and sessions met online one evening per week. Murray teaches courses on both lyric and melody. I enrolled in “Write Great Melodies.”  

I’m glad I took that class. It was a small group, and much new (to me) material was presented. The sessions focused on rhythm, melodic notes, chords, and pitch/prosody, with intensive teaching and lots of examples from popular music. So much skill goes into creating something like Katy Perry’s song “Firework,” and it was insightful to learn how the pieces came together and why each one worked the way it did. Each week had listening and composing homework. I learned a lot in a short time and am still unpacking it. 

I appreciated that Murray believed in his students. He encourages everyone to express themselves and comes from the standpoint that everyone can learn and create. I left the class reflecting on the concept of unique voice. Because everyone is different (all the participants had different experience levels and backgrounds when it came to music and lyrics), no one else can write your songs. And maybe someone else will like them. 

We all have might-have-beens and dreams that never came to pass. Some of these aren’t possible in our world. (I’ll likely never fly on a broomstick.) Others might be worth giving a go.   

Since lockdown has eased, I’ve tried a lot of new things this year: horseback riding, kayaking, doing a Workaway, and now the songwriting class. The world seems full of wonder when I think about how much there is to learn and how many possibilities there are for the years ahead. 

What’s something you’ve always wanted to try?


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Where to Find New Book Discoveries and Deals

During London’s third lockdown (with restrictions just beginning to ease recently), I read more than ever. Books provided solace and escape into other worlds. I took full advantage of library loans and collected e-books, keeping my eyes peeled for deals and new discoveries.

If you devour books more quickly than popcorn, or simply aspire to read more, here are some of the ways I’ve found new books to read this year that you can use too. I hope you enjoy discovering new authors and filling your shelves!

Libraries: Let’s start with the obvious place. Public libraries are full of wonderful free reading material, and in many cases, digital collections have expanded during the pandemic. The user-friendly Libby app will let you download ebooks and audiobooks on your phone, computer or ereader, and some libraries offer click and collect services for physical books even while closed.

Little free libraries: You may have one or more of these in your area. They’re tiny structures where people put a selection of books and neighbors can take or leave a book. They often look like cute little sheds or birdhouses. (Naomi Kritzker wrote a fun story on Tor.com about a little free library that connects to another world – I’ve yet to encounter one of those, though!) Similar places to find books are book exchanges (some buildings and workplaces have shelves of these) or free book bins (some bookstores have these where they leave old stock that hasn’t been sold for passers-by to discover).

Social media: Following authors, publishers and other book industry insiders on social media will keep you informed about upcoming releases you might enjoy, book sales, and giveaways. I’ve found Twitter to be especially informative, with authors sometimes posting links to free ebooks for a limited time, and lots of buzz about titles I’ve discovered and enjoyed. Author newsletters can also be interesting, with some of them giving access to free stories you can’t find elsewhere.   

Book festivals and events: With many of these now taking place online, people from all over the world have access to a wide range of book events (and if you can’t make it due to time zone differences, the event might be posted on YouTube for you to listen on your own time). You can hear authors talk about their books, learn what’s going on in the industry, and discover new reads. Sometimes there are sales or deals on offer as well. 

Book bundles: Places like Humble Bundle and StoryBundle offer pay-what-you-want packages of ebooks grouped by theme. You might find cookbooks one month and mysteries another. Humble Bundle also offers bundles of games, software, and other digital content, and you can allocate some of your payment to charity; StoryBundle’s content is completely DRM-free. If there’s a themed bundle that appeals to you, it’s a wonderful way to find new books and authors that have been vetted for quality.

Giveaways: Above, I mentioned that there are sometimes giveaways on social media (“retweet this giveaway and I’ll pick one person to win these books”). A lot of indie authors also have series first books available as giveaways. You can also check sites like BookBub or Freebooksy for daily deals.  

Note that I haven’t mentioned bookstores, including used book stores, as they’ve been closed here, but they’re good places to find new books as well, often have sales, and many booksellers give wonderful recommendations. I also haven’t mentioned websites that post “books” online for free, as many of them are involved in piracy and undermine authors’ ability to make a living off their work (whereas libraries, for instance, pay authors when their books are borrowed). A lovely exception is Project Gutenberg, which offers classics in the public domain for free download online and also has a self-publishing press

Where do you like to find new books and deals on books?   


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Books I Read During 2020 That I Wouldn’t Have Otherwise

Books listed below. Fruit not included.

In 2019, I read a lot, partly thanks to gift cards that let me buy harder-to-access books I’d been wanting to read for years. I’d thought that in 2020 I’d spend less time reading and more time doing things. Then March happened.

The gist of it is, lockdown left me with a lot of reading time, and several authors generously offered their works for free. My TBR pile has only gotten longer. It’s been fascinating to get acquainted with authors I wasn’t familiar with and to read things I wouldn’t otherwise have accessed. Here are a few unexpected book finds of 2020. I hope you find them as comforting and fun as I did.

The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia (trans. Simon Bruni): As COVID-19 made its presence known in Italy, I began a novel that turned out to chronicle the Spanish flu. A Mexican family takes in a disabled child who has a close relationship with a swarm of bees, and a compelling magical realist tale unfolds from there. The parallels between the pandemic I was reading about and the one whose impact I began to experience simultaneously were both unnerving and comforting. 

Mr. Hotshot CEO by Jackie Lau: I’d heard good things about Jackie Lau’s Chinese-Canadian rom coms set in Toronto, and jumped at the chance to read one offered for free at the time. A young, workaholic CEO’s nosy family enforces a vacation, and he hires a woman he sees at a coffee shop to teach him how to enjoy himself. This is foodie fluff at its most enjoyable. I swear, you will want to eat (or bake) every meal and treat in the book. It also has excellent “own voices” depression representation.

The Perilous Life of Jade Yeo by Zen Cho: Zen Cho is an elegant writer, and her historical novella is still free, so read it if you can! In the 1920s, a Malaysian writer in London writes a scathing book review – and attracts the author’s attention. This slim read is packed with curiosity, romance, scandal, and a delightful epistolary voice.  

Noodle Trails by Eileen Kay: A travel memoir about Thailand by a Scottish writer. Following a divorce, Eileen Kay retreats to Thailand, home of the suppliers of her now-faltering fair trade import business. This true story of a woman getting back on her feet in rough times is witty, joyful, and a lot of fun.

Three’s a Crowd and Other Family Stories by Kate Blackadder: Sweet and entertaining, these are traditional family stories with a twist. In this Scottish writer’s short fiction collection, you’ll meet funky grandparents, refurbished bikes, and Ceilidh bands. This was great for those days when I had a short attention span, as I could read one story at a time. 

Winnie and Wilbur Stay at Home by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul: A timely (at the time) free picture book, and part of a popular series about a witch and her cat. At first, neither are thrilled about having to self-isolate, but with a little magical help, they find things to do. At the end, there are links to resources, including yoga and recipes.   

Shady Hollow by Juneau Black: Given the popularity of Animal Crossing, maybe you, like me, would be interested in reading a murder mystery set in a charming town of talking animals? Intrepid reporter Vera Vixen takes it upon herself to track down the murderer of the resident swamp toad. This cozy mystery is well executed and extremely fun. 

What have you been reading for fun in 2020? Have your tastes changed? Have you read anything unexpected?


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The Joy of Playing with Tropes

A friendly dragon

This month, I had a very short dragon story published in Contrary, one of my biggest literary bylines. I love dragon stories. I used to think they weren’t “serious literature,” and when I submitted for awards, I’d send pieces about death set in the “real world.” Meanwhile, I’d write secret stories about magical creatures and realms. I’ve since learned that this separation between “serious” writing and “fun” writing is artificial and counterproductive. Life is short! Write the things you love!

Just like we crave certain foods, readers can get cravings for specific types of books (and writers might crave writing them). Sometimes you just want to read about fake dating, an intrepid sleuth, or a magic sword. Cliches? Not necessarily! Storytelling thrives on tropes, and we all have favorites. Christopher contends that there are only seven basic story plots, with others citing three or six. Within variations of these stories, motifs repeat themselves. Popular motifs can become tropes.   

Bad storytelling and stereotypical use of tropes can give them a bad name. Think of how many Disney villains have been given queer coding, with certain mannerisms being shorthand for characterizing them as as evil. And books in the same genre can sometimes draw on tropes to the point of predictability. But while some uses of tropes are actively harmful or simply tedious, tropes themselves are valuable storytelling tools. 

It’s all in the execution. As a writer, you’re telling your story. You get to make the decisions about what tropes you use, how, and why. You can use favorite tropes as inspiration, the way Yoon Ha Lee did when writing Ninefox Gambit (“I’d been nosing about the TV Tropes website, specifically my favorite pages, Moral Event Horizon, Chessmaster, and Magnificent Bastard”). If you’ve run into writer’s block, you might try using tropes as prompts and mixing them up in unexpected ways, the way Jim Butcher did in the Codex Alera series, accepting a challenge to combine Pokemon and a lost Roman legion! If you really, really want to read a story about, say, found family and flying saucers, that might be a good reason to write one.   

Here’s another important context where authors engage with tropes: when there’s a type of story that they love, but they don’t see people like themselves in stories like that. Recently publishers have been making strides towards diversifying their catalogues, with increasing attention being paid to “own voices” stories. To give two recent YA examples, you can now read a Black Cinderella story (Cinderella is Dead by Kaylynn Bayron) or a retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in a contemporary Latinx context (Never Look Back by Lilliam Rivera). Are there any tropes you feel compelled by but excluded from? Try writing yourself (or someone like you) in.

Tropes can comment on contemporary situations. I recently read Nevermoor, a popular middle-grade fantasy by Jessica Townsend, and found it rich in both tropes (the Gothic manor, the eccentric mentor) and uniqueness (the giant cat housekeeper, the umbrella-based public transit system). Most powerfully, the young main character, Morrigan, is brought from an unsafe country to a safe one, and pursued by police who call her “an illegal.” This pointed comment on immigration speaks to the fictional context while reflecting on real-life issues.   

Who gets to fall in love? What makes a person exceptional? What skills solve a mystery? What does horror look like? Who gets to travel to another world, and why?

That’s my challenge to you this month, writers: Play with some tropes that intrigue you! Don’t be afraid to get weird and hyper specific. And if you like, let me know what emerges.


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What to Do When Your Brain Just Won’t Write

According to coach and author Alexis Rockley, the lack of focus and creative blocks that many of us are experiencing during the coronavirus pandemic stem from the uncertainty arising from this situation. We don’t know what’s going to happen next, and our brains are overwhelmed. In this and other stressful situations, it can be hard for those of us who want to write to get any writing done.

Every writer has struggled with this at points – writer’s block, stress, and other manifestations of a mind that isn’t in any shape to create. It’s one thing if writing is our day job, and we have the external motivation of a deadline with a paycheck waiting at the end (and even then, getting the words out can sometimes be a challenge). It’s quite another when the only person counting on us to get something written is ourselves.

When your brain just won’t write, what can you do? Sometimes it’s best to recognize and care for our needs and come back to work another time rather than tiring ourselves out in the here and now. There are lots of things that can help recharge your batteries, get inspiration flowing, and move your writing career forward when your brain is stalling and the words just won’t come. Here are a few of them.

Self-Care

Rest: If you’re overwhelmed or tired, maybe you need more sleep or downtime. Listen to your body and offer yourself the rest you need.

Exercise: Like rest, we need movement in order to function. Again, listening to your body is helpful here. If you’re feeling twitchy in that office chair, maybe you need to get up and go for a jog.

Check your physical comfort: Are you hungry? Thirsty? Cold or hot? Is your furniture hurting your back? Sometimes a comfortable environment makes all the difference.

Do your to-do’s: Some writers procrastinate by doing busywork, but the opposite can also happen. If you have pressing items on your to-do list that you’re putting off, they may be hogging brain real estate that could otherwise be devoted to creativity. Look at those worrisome tasks you’re putting off and get them done. 

Idea Generation

Read (or engage with other arts): Reading keeps writers engaged with words and stories, and can be a wellspring of ideas. So can taking in other forms of art, whether that’s looking at paintings or binging Netflix shows. Feel free to re-engage with old favorites too. 

Research: Like your to-do list, this is some writers’ favored procrastination tool, but it’s also productive. Read and learn about topics that interest you or that are related to your writing project, or try something new and out of your comfort zone. You never know what will spark an idea.

World build: Act like a kid and make things up! Draw an imaginary map. Invent a lollipop land. Dream up a new animal. If you already have a created world as part of your writing, play around with adding things onto it.

Learn your craft: Take a writing class, attend an event, or listen to a podcast. Try something that will teach you new elements or angles on writing and expand your horizons. 

The Business of Writing

Pitch or submit: When the words aren’t coming, that can be a good time to submit and query the pieces you’ve already finished. You can try pitching ideas for new pieces as well, or pitching rejected ideas to other publications. 

Edit: Try rereading your drafts with an editorial eye. See what would benefit from being rewritten. Reading your work aloud can be helpful here, as can exchanging critiques with writer friends.

Build your social media or web presence: It helps to have a presence and network online. Reach out, make connections, and put yourself (and your work) out there. Find people who will want to read your work once you get back to writing it.

Build relationships: As with the above, it’s useful to connect with others in the writing world. Try attending events (virtual ones count, of course), joining a writers’ group, or going to a conference. Keep in touch with the people you meet and like. 

If you just can’t write right now, truly, it’s OK. A writer is someone who writes – but you don’t have to write all the time in order to qualify for the title. There are lots of things you can do that will contribute to your writing when the words won’t come. I promise that blank page will still be there, ready for you to get started.


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Creative Coping

My local park in the spring during lockdown

I write this from home, where I now do my full-time job, giving new meaning to the term “in-house”! A spider plant from work sits on my kitchen table. I grabbed it in a panic when the UK government announced that all non-essential workers would henceforth be working from home. I didn’t want it to die. A month ago, my aunt was in the hospital, unconscious and on a ventilator. I’m grateful that she is now coronavirus-free; not everyone has been so fortunate.  

A lot is going on. Many of us are confined to our quarters, dodging our neighbors whenever we leave the house lest someone be carrying an infection. Some countries are starting to reopen spheres of public life, with mixed results. Socioeconomic divisions are more visible than ever. Some people have been laid off, some are balancing childcare and professions in the same living space, and some continue to work in hazardous conditions. People’s access to resources and private space varies widely. Even for the most privileged, though, living through COVID-19 isn’t easy. We are all dealing with increased stress, anxiety, and uncertainty.

While it’s harder for our brains to focus when they are under this kind of pressure, creativity has come through for many of us as a way of coping with a changed and stressful environment. People are telling funny stories about their pets as coworkers, taking up baking and crafts, and creating virtual events and communities that didn’t exist before. 

Why is creativity useful now? For one thing, it’s a way of expressing ourselves, channeling our anxieties and experiences of this strange new world by creating something new. For another, it can be calming, with the process of making art or crafts grounding us when we have limited opportunities to engage with the physical world. Creativity is also born of resourcefulness – limited ingredients in the pantry, for instance, can spark new meal ideas, and museums’ challenge to recreate famous works of art with objects at home have yielded impressive results

I’ve found that my attention span has dwindled, and I’m not as focused on longer projects as I have been at other points. Briefer ideas and bursts of expression are more my speed in these isolation days. I’ve been taking photos during daily government-permitted exercise outings and writing a lot of poetry about the virus. I’ve made kimchi for the first time, with this recipe yielding good results. I’ve enjoyed an online poetry writing retreat and read free e-books that authors have shared. Making stuff and enjoying things that others make reminds me that hope persists. We are experiencing collective challenges, but we can still bring new and beautiful things into the world in the midst of them.   

What creative activities are helping you get through the pandemic?


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Following The Artist’s Way Again, Over 10 Years Later

Five pelicans groom themselves in St. James’ Park, London, during one of my Artist Dates.

During the first year of my undergraduate studies, I encountered a book called The Artist’s Way. A classmate who’d completed a visual arts program told me about the volume and how his class had used it at art school. Julia Cameron’s book has sold over 3 million copies and inspired countless artists, but this was my first encounter with it. I was intrigued by my friend’s stories of how the book inspired an outpouring of productivity and gave him the courage to use masses of high-quality paint rather than being stingy. I wanted to check this book out myself.

I found a copy of The Artist’s Way in a used bookstore. One of my classes at the time involved a project in which we all found something we’d always wanted to do and did it. I’d always wanted to paint, and I used this book as inspiration. I started writing Morning Pages, following Cameron’s practice of writing three pages longhand every morning in which you vent, brainstorm, and babble. I went on Artist Dates, inspiring solo outings, though I no longer remember where I went. 

I did Cameron’s exercises, listing activities I’d always wanted to do and “secret selves” who reflected aspects of my personality that I didn’t typically express. To be candid, I only made my way partway through the book, but by the end of the year, I had in fact learned to paint. I hung some of my pieces in my dorm room, and painting entered the repertoire of arts I practiced and believed myself capable of doing. I also tried out other art forms, writing a good song and a not-as-good-but-still-finished musical. The Artist’s Way, even imperfectly followed, was a wellspring of inspiration. Once the year ended, inspired and enlivened, I moved on.

Near the end of 2019, over a decade later, an intriguing call for submissions got me writing a fantasy short story on the commute to and from my editing job. I got started but alternated between chipping away at the story and sitting there with a muddled, unproductive brain. I wanted to keep up my momentum, to keep writing, so I found myself picking up a tool I hadn’t used in years: the Morning Pages. 

On mornings when my brain wasn’t up to the task, I used my time on the London tube to ramble in my notebook about what was happening in my life. From there, spurred on by seeing a friend posting about The Artist’s Way on social media, I began to follow the book in earnest. My story coaxed me into taking a second walk down the Artist’s Way. 

A lot has changed since my first half-finished use of Cameron’s tools. I’ve moved from the creatively nurturing nest that my university provided for me to the daily routine of a full-time job, moving in a circuitous path that’s included freelancing, multiple careers, and entrepreneurship. I’ve lived in three different countries. I’ve published a successful book and dozens of short pieces. Having come from a place of early success, I’ve also become very familiar with failure. I’ve been prolific at times, blocked at times, and overly reticent with submissions. The drive of creative inspiration has at many points given way to the need to get things done. 

This need has given me a new perspective on The Artist’s Way. I’m discovering that it is, in fact, an ingenious organizational tool. The Morning Pages remind me of forgotten items to check off my to-do list and help me organize my creative projects. Sometimes bits of writing emerge from the pages, but more often than not they resemble vacuuming – getting the mind clean and ready for work. The Artist Dates have taken me on walks around the neighborhood where I work, enjoying the splendors of Buckingham Palace and St. James’ Park, becoming familiar with the birds and flowers there. For some, Artist Dates bring a welcome sense of adventure. For me, they’ve brought a deeper connection and grounding in my surroundings.  

The first time I tried The Artist’s Way, I was much closer to being that “artist child” that Cameron wants her readers to reconnect with inside themselves. I was less familiar with the challenges of the marketplace and had largely received encouragement in my writing and creative pursuits. I’d experienced the sting of some failures, but not on the scale that adulthood would bring. With this context, the encouragement offered by The Artist’s Way has been much more powerful the second time around. 

Engaging with the book’s exercises has not been easy. They’ve opened old wounds and questions about my future. However, the changes have been profound. I’d expected to discover an exotic array of new interests or begin engaging with new art forms the way I did last time. Instead, my inner voice piped up loud and clear that I want to write and need to fight for that desire. 

I was reminded of being eight years old and imagining that I would someday write all the things I read – mystery novels, advertisements, nature magazines, newspapers, everything! I remembered submissions that got lost and wondered why I hadn’t followed up. I became determined to follow that voice urging me to write all kinds of things, write what’s fun, and not put limits on myself. It’s okay that I want to be focused right now, that I don’t want to crochet or make a podcast. It’s okay that I’m scared to fail over and over. I’m determined to listen to my inner voice and honor that eight-year-old’s dreams. 

So, what’s changed in my life since beginning my second journey with The Artist’s Way? I’ve written a short story and several poems, begun a novella in a new genre, finished revising a manuscript and submitting it to my first round of agents, and embarked upon a “100 submissions a year” challenge. (I’m going for submissions rather than rejections because it’s a concrete goal within my control. One of these has already turned into an acceptance, and I’m certainly not sulking about it!) 

I’ve taken the initiative to create a blog for authors at my job. I’ve come up with several ideas for potential writing projects. I’ve started learning about linguistics and spent a morning picking up a few phrases in Swahili. I’ve gotten back in touch with some old friends, reached out to my great-aunt about family recipes, and grown very familiar with the pelicans of St. James’ Park. Fear, realism, and cynicism tango with hope and the excitement of infinite possibilities. Here I stand, in the middle of the Artist’s Way, and this time I’m determined to make it to the end.

Have you tried The Artist’s Way? What was your experience like?