Prompt #1:
how willing are you to make space for your art?
process/product is a newsletter dedicated to sharing the the nitty-gritty of the creative process. As a subscriber, you will get bi-weekly creative prompts. The first few months, the prompts will be offered to all subscribers. But for the sake of facilitating an energetic exchange between me and you, bi-weekly prompts will become a paid subscriber perk by April.
All subscribers will get 1-2 monthly craft essays, but paid subscribers will be the sole recipients of the bi-weekly prompts starting April.
Part of leading a creative life is finding your creative mentors.
Beth Pickens is one of mine.
I am a part of Beth Pickens’s Homework Club, which is an incredible resource available at a nominal monthly fee (I can’t recommend it enough). I have had the good fortune of working with Beth one-on-one for a few months spring of 2024, and I think she is a brilliant resource to all artists— she can easily become one of your creative mentors, too. Whether it’s simply by reading her book Make Your Art No Matter What or getting her new Artist’s Deck, a 52-card deck— Practical Cards for Everyday Creative Challenges— she is consistently validating the identity of what it means to be an artist, and what it means to be an artist in contemporary society.
In short: it is hard to be an artist these days, but we have to make time for it anyhow.
In December, I was finally able to tune into Homework Club live. And what struck me most was her opening question:
What are you going to do less of in 2025? So that you have more room to make your art.
It feels like a question she has asked us, over and over again. But I’m glad that she asked it again because it is a question that must be re-assessed constantly.
And so, I borrow her question so that we can use it as our first prompt:
Prompt #1 : What will you do less of in 2025 to make more time to for your art ?
For me, it’s my phone. I am so fucking tired of my god damn phone. And by my phone, I mean social media. In promoting the Artist’s Way, which I absolutely love to lead, I have grown so tired of the story I tell myself about promoting it on social media. It’s for work, it’s my job!!!! When really I am a rat addicted to the lever that releases the dopamine in my skull. I get nothing from looking at my phone but the feeling that I am entering a vortex that I can’t pull out of.
Coming out of a phone sesh feels like the G-force at the bottom of Goliath at Six Flags— I feel like I just blacked out.
*cue: micro violin* It’s hard to run a small business AND be an artist. I RESENT that I have to be my on PR person and my own finance expert AND the artîste.
I deeply resent that we are all forced to be multi-hyphenates— when really all we want to do is write. (we being me, and maybe you, reader. Or paint, or crochet, or whatever your craft may be).
And so, when addressing dead time, I fill it with my phone. I trick myself into thinking it’s work when really I use it to self-regulate and avoid feelings. But I do it all— the content creation, the self-promotion, the social media— because it feels like I have to. I can’t afford to have anyone else do it, even though I feel as though all of that “work” is in vein. Shouting into an empty void, praying that Daddy Algorithm takes pity on me and likes the way I posted a pic of my stupid head.
And so, I am going to delete all of the social media apps off of my phone. I deleted Threads. I went semi-viral because I wroet about my burning hometown, but it’s at the point where people are getting feral and attacking. It felt easy to delete. Pray, pray that I delete IG and TikTok. Help you help me.
I am well trained at looking at my phone. But I am going to approach myself with curiosity. Why am I turning to my phone? Is it out of habit or a desire to not feel? Am I using it to self-regulate or escape the discomfort of the moment?
Gonna try to spend more time with this lil gal, who I’m trying to write about in my book proposal:
Again, I ask you: Prompt: What will you do less of in 2025?
You can address this prompt in whatever way feels best.
For some people, the answer will be simple.
But for those who are having trouble (you are not alone).
Extra guidance: If you have no idea how to address this question, I want you to pull out a blank sheet of paper. Then, I want you to turn it horizontal.
On the top of the page, write down every day of the week:
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY
Write out your daily schedule under the appropriate day. Life is insane, it is not always predictable. But write down what usually happens.
As you go through your week, do your best to be present for each and every one of the tasks.
Ask yourself: How does my body feel when I do each and every single one of these tasks? Is my mind focused on the task or is it elsewhere? How does it feel to do this task? Am I in my body or floating above it? Am I on my phone the entire time, wishing to be elsewhere? Where can I give 75% where I’m blasting at 120%?
Where can I conserve my energy so I have more time for my art? For myself?
Then, I want you to ask yourself: How necessary is it for ME to do this task?
By moving through your week consciously, you will assess which of the tasks are things you think you need to do versus tasks you really need to be doing.
Do I need to be at that basketball practice? Do I need to take on that extra responsibility at work? Is this improv team even one I want to be on anymore?
Ultimately: What have I outgrown?
Extra guidance part 2: How are you spending the time you can’t account for?
The in-between time is just as valuable as large swaths of open free time— in fact, even more valuable.
Imagine me asking you this: When you commute from task to task, are you present? Does your commute allow you a swath of open time or are you focused on the road? Can you sit and write or can you listen to a podcast that is on the topic of your project? Or are you just staring at your phone?
The ultimate question is: what is stealing my attention away from what I really want to be doing?
It’s not just the big tasks. Every second counts. A short subway commute is enough to write a poem. Sitting at your kid’s karate practice is enough to sketch a draft of a painting. The moments spent with your phone could be time listening to a podcast about the topic of your historical fiction smut project. Or sketching the people around you. Or, simply, being alone with yourself.
SOUND OFF IN THE COMMENTS! Please share with me what you will be doing less of!
love you, always.
xoxo,
Paulina
I guess I’ll finally write more on paper and less in my head. —peer pressure. Thanks Paulina
Thanks for this. Yes, less goddamn phone!