✍️ 3 Subtle Things That Are Hurting Your Writing and Creativity

I hate to be a downer, but these 3 things are probably keeping you from writing.

Quick question for you!

💡 I’ll be starting a monthly live class series over Zoom that will be included with your subscription if you’re a paid subscriber. I’m super excited for this — I’ll be teaching the first few sessions and if there’s interest, I’ll also start inviting guest lecturers on as well.

I’m thinking of starting with some of the essential topics when it comes to how to build and grow your freelance writing business. Which of the following would you want to attend a live class about?

Thanks for your feedback!

In today’s newsletter, you’ll read about:

✨ The 3 things keeping you stuck in your writing

✍️ Writing jobs you may have missed last week

📚 Writing Community Wins: cool community victories this week!

✍️ Missed This Past Week’s Writing Jobs?

Did you miss it? Here are the writing jobs on this past week’s job board:

• A creative writing job at a video game company

• A freelance newsletter curator/editor job that pays $800/month

• A freelance medical writing job that pays $90/hour-$140/hour

If you missed the last issue of my writing job board, check it out at the link below:

🙌 Writing Community Wins!

Y’all have my jaw dropping every time I go to curate your community wins. What exciting things you’ve been up to this week!

• Mattha
  just got a huge feature published in Vice about a Florida Ayahuasca Church

• Frani Chung
  got this super cute piece published in Business Insider: My 3-year-old is best friends with a 70-year-old hot dog vendor. Their friendship taught me the power of unexpected connections.

• Ashley
  launched her Substack Throughlines

• Vivarium just launched their travel Substack

Congrats, everyone!

❓ Want to see your community wins featured in an upcoming newsletter? Every week in my subscriber chat I post prompts asking for what amazing feats you’ve achieved that week, and I pick a handful to highlight.

Access the subscriber chat below:

📖 Bookish News & Links

…to give you more conversation starters with your writer friends!

🍴 I love this Leigh Stein article on her Substack Attention Economy about cover reveals

📚 Narratively is doing a huge contest around true love stories. I love the vibe of this, and you can submit here.

🙌 Evelyn Skye has a new podcast out about breaking through writer’s block

🫖 Sunday Tea: 3 Subtle Things That Are Hurting Your Writing and Creativity

As writers, we are part craftsman, part artist. We have to balance the delicate nature of producing work on demand while also honoring our creative needs.

During that process, we can sometimes run into roadblocks — but don’t understand the root cause of what is keeping us “stuck.”

Here are 3 subtle things that may be affecting your ability to stay creative and productive:

1. Not going on walks outside every day. Listen, I hate to be that person, but walking 10,000-20,000 steps every day and getting sunshine really does help to move the needle on the page. It’s the same reason why people go to Europe and lose a bunch of weight and feel happier. They’re not just on vacation: they’re in walkable cities that encourage them to get in more steps. Feeling stuck in your mind? Get un-stuck by moving your body and getting that energy flowing.

2. Not reading a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction. I’ve written on here before about the 3 unexpected benefits of reading fiction. But just like your diet, what you read = what you write. If you’re unhappy with your writing output, you may need to fix your reading inputs.

3. Negative self-talk. Self-talk impacts so much of our abilities and output. You may have heard the adage: If you think you can — you can. If you think you can’t — you can’t. Keep your mind on your side by repeating positive affirmations, journaling, and meditating.

It’s courageous to defeat the little demons on your shoulder trying to keep you from the page. Keep fighting the good fight, writers: I’m rooting for you.

💫 Amy’s Favorites

modern-day torture devices. 10/10 recommend

Not sponsored. Just my faves.

Despite wanting to defy stereotypes, I’ve recently fallen in love with megaformer pilates. Specifically, Core40, the pilates studio I often go to these days.

For the uninitiated, these are 40-minute classes that help you build muscle through “time under tension” — aka, muscle-shaking intensity even though the resistance is a bit on the lower side. I prefer megaformer/reformer pilates to mat pilates because I find it’s more helpful for building better form, challenging stabilizer muscles, and I think you get bonus mobility training in the workout as well.

I’ve been a “heavy weights at the gym” devotee for the past few years (and I credit strength training as big part of how I put my autoimmune condition into remission!) but these days I’ve been feeling drained by long strength training sessions.

Switching from 4x week at the gym to 4x a week at pilates has given me way more energy, so I’m afraid that it absolutely might be worth the hype. (Will keep you posted!)

Enjoyed today’s post? Please give it a “heart” ❤️ and share or restack it.

Sending creativity and good writing vibes your way,

-Amy