Idle Writers Club

Connect with Kate & Shaili - ⁠@idlewritersclub⁠

Shaili:

Kate

Episode 6: Going with the Flow + What Nourishes Our Creative Practice

In the first part of this conversation, we talk about our experiences catching moments of inspiration in our daily life and allowing ourselves to go with the flow more. What happens when, as Kate put it, we think of our process as one of “hacking” or as collage/bricolage, just combining interesting bits as they come to us? What happens when we allow ourselves to be derailed by a shiny new idea in the middle of a longer project, and is it always a bad thing? (spoilers: Shaili had a great experience with doing just that 😂) We also unpack the moments when judgments creep into our creating sessions and how to reorient and soothe ourselves in those moments when fear of the worst case scenario overtakes us. And we talk about the magic of making the work feel new in the moment every time we come back to work on a project + muddling our way through the “messy middle”!

In the second part, we explore what we consume and absorb in our lives that either helps or hinders our creative flow: social media and internet culture (like bookstagram vs TikTok), our routines and usual environments, time to space out, and blocking out certain noise/vibes in our environment. Plus some of our favorite creative solutions to protecting our headspace and our creative time!

References:

Connect with Kate & Shaili - ⁠@idlewritersclub⁠

Shaili:

Kate

---------------------

Episode 5: Learning Your Craft

In this episode we explore the link between ‘good’ art, ‘good’ craft and the push to ‘do things properly’, we talk about curating a list of ‘greats’ to learn from, the power of imitating to learn, consuming things to fill our cup, as well as ask some personal questions:

References:

Journaling prompts:

What does craft mean to you?

What wise word have stuck with you about the craft of writing?

Who’s approach to craft do you find really inspiring?

This conversation covers some really massive topics that we just cover briefly, but there are some important reminders about what it means to follow your energy and style and not anyone else’s way along with some strategies and exercises to try to tap into your unique expression of creative energy.

We mentioned a lot of different influences and people, so here’s a list if there’s any particular one that resonated with or intrigued you:

---------------------

Connect with Kate & Shaili - ⁠@idlewritersclub⁠

Shaili:

Kate

In this episode we talk about the impact productivity and grind culture have on our creativity by making us striving for consistency. We talk about the opposite of this being freedom, playfulness, fun.

Are effort and ‘hard work’ the only ways to create something of value?

Is it useful to bring playfulness into our practice if it feels performative?

How can we bring back lightness to our process when we get bogged down in making it ‘hard work’?

---------------------

Connect with Kate & Shaili - @idlewritersclub

Shaili:

Kate

This episode is about how creatives need time for idleness and how to create pockets of idleness in your day. We also talk about the difference between a more generative idleness and one that feels not very useful, and how to do our creative work in a way that takes the “trying,” or sense of effort, out of it.

You can find journal prompts for this episode on our instagram @idlewritersclub as well as a space for comment and discussion, we'd love to hear your thoughts!

---------------------------------------------------

Connect with Kate & Shaili - @idlewritersclub

Shaili:

Kate

Connect with Kate & Shaili - @idlewritersclub

Shaili:

Kate

-----------

Welcome to the club! In this episode we explore the need to do things properly, how much it gets in our way and what we’re exploring to free ourselves up from trying to create ‘the right’ way. We talk about  MFAs, writing everyday, ‘showing up’ online, sharing your work in progress, being a recovering snob, taking your process seriously whilst having a good time creating, resisting the first step or the first draft. It's great to have you here!

Join in the conversation on instagram @idlewritersclub or leave us a voice message at anchor.fm/idlewritersclub

Journaling prompts