Welcome back!
It’s no small thing that you’re still here, still working towards creating a powerful tool to support your writing practice…and I salute you!
Over the past few days you have
- Identified your Fairy Art Parents, the people in creative lives who inspire you. You have noted down what it is about their art and the way they live, their artistic lives that really inspires and moves you.
- You’ve noted the commonalities that crop up among all the people and works that you really admire.
- And you have taken the step of writing your manifesto
This manifesto may scare you a little bit, because it’s deeply connected to your values and the things that make you most uniquely you.
You don’t have to live up to this every minute of every day. It’s a guide. It’s guardrails, for when things start to go wrong. A reminder of where you want to be going.
Today’s Task
When your version of the doucment
- Is a little bit frightening, or a little bit exciting,
- Makes you a little bit surprised at yourself,
- Feels a little ambitious.
Then go ahead and sign it.
And date it.
Keep a copy of it (printed or digitally) somewhere you can see it, every day.
A Living Document
This version will serve you for a while.
I’m encouraging you to date it because you may want to come back to this exercise in the future and see how things have changed.
(Probably your values wno’t have changed but you might have more fairy art parents, and a deeper understand of yourself as a writer).
Every time you sit down to write a new work, every time you pitch a new idea, every time you continue a piece that you’ve been writing before, take a quick look at your manifesto. And remained yourself of what you are trying to achieve.
- Not what someone else thinks you should be doing.
- Not how someone else thinks you should be doing it.
- What you are trying to achieve.
Not just today. But in your writing life as a whole.
Use the manifesto. Every time you sit down to work.
What’s Next?
So now you have your writer’s manifesto. I want you to come back tomorrow so that we can talk more about exactly how you can use this document. To help you. write more, write better, never work on ideas that don’t matter to you or in a way that doesn’t resonate with you.
So come back tomorrow and we’ll talk about that and we’ll really start to put this into practice in your creative life.
How do you feel about the document you have created? What surprised you about this process? Leave a comment:
What I wrote last year still applies.
However, this year I have to first take care of my husband of 61 years, who is declining.
I’ve been slow to jump in there with comments, but I think this has been a great exercise to hone in on knowing who I am as a writer. Thank you, Julie, for providing this challenge and all the ways you support writers!
For my personal Writing Manifesto, I noted how important my values are to putting my work out there for others. Some of the items I wrote:
I won’t allow others to tell me who to be or what to write but will lean into learning who I am meant to be as a writer;
I’ll persist, finish what I start, and put my work out there, knowing that is the path to production, growth, and success.
I’ll lean into my natural silliness to produce family-friendly content with the hope of helping others to find a little relief and joy from life’s difficulties.
Thanks, again, Julie–this helped me clarify why I need to write and put my work out there.
I find it interesting that the manifesto I created this week sounds less pretentious (to me) than the one I wrote three years ago. Here it is:
I will write the stories I want to READ, with characters who are pragmatic, funny, loyal, and full of doubt. A lot like me.
I will NOT try to write to trend.
I will continue to find what works best for me, as a writer.
I will NOT give the comparison game any air. My voice is my own, my stories are my own, and I am the only one who can tell them in this particular way.
I will SHOW up for other writers, INTERACT with other writers, and do my best to be a POSITIVE INFLUENCE in my writing communities.
In my creative life I will . . .
Be open and honest with myself and my readers.
Not be afraid to put my ideas on paper and share them with others.
Be keeping things simple but impactful choosing my words mindfully and purposefully.
Be committed to putting time into my work on a regular basis.
Be fearful at times but push through that and not give up.
Joyfully create with an open and honest heart that shines through in all I do.
Learn from my failures and move on as many times as needed to be successful.
Wow!
There’s real courage and commitment in here.
Congrats!
In my writing life, I will write something every day.
I will continue to send out my writing.
I will continue to write comedy and satire and occasionally something sad. However, I will not set out to write in a particular category. I will see where my spark/kernel/idea takes me.
I want to entertain readers, but I also want my stories to have a point, to convey some insights into human behavior.
Great insights, Anita. Love that you’re not going to force what you produce.
Here’s the signed and dated manifesto–
In my writing and my life, I will strive–
–to be generous to myself and others;
–to be honest about myself and my work;
–to be forgiving, yet reasonable and mindful of my own work as well as that of others;
–to have balance in my life; I don’t live by the mind alone; the body and the soul must be fed, too;
–to be brave in my life and work, not hesitating to change directions (or genres) if that will be more fun, interesting, and/or liberating for me and/or my work;
–to read and note more, observing how others do things; everybody has something to learn and something to teach.
Super-solid, KG!
I love that you included the body, not just the mind.
Signed it.
High five!
Come back tomorrow for the plan for putting it into practice.
I found my manifesto from August, 2021. It is amazing how much it is the same, yet with subtle differences.
Yup, it’s based in your values, so it’s not surprising it didn’t change too much.
Makes sense that there are subtle differences to, as you continue to experience more and read more, and write more…