Creativity has fueled me this month.
Bringing me out of my tiredness.
Filling me with excitement at new possibilities + projects I’d never thought I’d try.
And connecting me with some amazing women along the way.
Personally, I can’t pick just one creative project that’s brought me joy so I thought I’d list them all and hope you will too! (either in the comments below or LIVE at our Intentional Moms Meetup Sunday, February 9, 2025 at 11am EST)
The creative projects that’ve brought me the most joy this season:
Book Writing with AI
First on my list is: writing a short story with AI.
It’s been so much fun turning my new joy of fiction into a short story of my own. And while I’m still battling with AI as my tool- using it to bring my thoughts to life vs. understanding where it’s pulling those ideas from because I DO NOT want to mess with other’s creative in that process. I think it’s a great way to practice and learn how to write in the way I want to write.
Just like when I came here to Substack and exclusively recorded all of my content first. Then after using my own spoken words to create my writing, I’ve found I’ve become a better writer and sometimes write my pieces first and then speak them outloud second. So I'm curious if eventually the training wheels will come off and I won't need to use AI to write immersive dialogue for me anymore. (Finished story to come soon in the paid community.)
Research gathering for my thesis
I've been doing a lot of creative things all at once, kind of like a wheel. Working on one and then getting to a stopping point with it and letting it rest for a little while picking up another one.
And one of those projects is research gathering for my thesis. For the past 3+ years, I've been working on this concept of: What is the true lever for success?
We're told that to reach success, we need to be consistent. We need to be constantly reminding people of what we're doing. And if you do that, you'll eventually reach success. And a lot of us try and try and try and do that and we don't see success.
So I’m curious if that's not actually the lever that moves things.
These YouTubers I follow are putting out way less content than we’re told we “should.”
There’s more precision, and art and depth and authenticity to it.
It's so creative and so different and it makes me wonder if, while there are people who have reached their version of success by consistently sharing their message…
… maybe that’s not THE reason they succeeded- even though that’s what we’ve been sold.
So I've been interviewing a handful of amazing mom creatives to see if I can find a through line between how they reached their version of success and where their mindset is at.
This one has been an act of patience for me. I started this project around November when I did a call out and committed myself to this journalistic approach. But because of the holidays we all couldn’t get together until now. And I think that was really good for me.
Typically I go full force and finish a project right away- my brain can’t rest until it’s complete. But in this case I feel like I’m savoring it and also giving it more space to breath and be whatever it’s meant to be- no rush. I'm really happy with how it's coming together.
Self-Led Retreat
This was such a beautiful, quiet time where I got to reflect.
And I feel like it's a good marker for me to look back on when I'm not in that same glowy, beautiful headspace.
When I'm questioning things or I'm just feeling a bit off.
It's a great document to go back to and see what I said when I was dropped into that energy.
And I enjoyed compiling it all together so that you can do it too.
Not to mention, from the way I filmed this to creating a one-off product in addition to offering it here in the paid community. These creative acts have since simplified my filming process and spurred me to offer all of my courses as one-off offers in addition to a bundled discount here on Substack.
Designing our tiny-ish house
Another beyond fun creative project has been designing our new tiny-ish house. I've talked about this a bit, but in an effort to really live our creative lives, release as much pressure as possible and be able to use our money how we actually want to use it:
We’re planning on selling our house
Buying a piece of land
And building a tiny-ish home on it.
It may be a shed-to-home situation or just a tiny build, but getting to design a luxury space that I’ll actually get to live in and saves us a ton of money is a dream come true.
(We’ve renovated 3 houses thus far but never got to live in them post renovation so this feels like a treat… in addition to my fashion stylist and studio designer ways getting to come out and play again.)
I just love seeing these pieces of the puzzle come together.
Curating my new “Gimme Gilmore Rewatch Show”
Last but not least, the last new fun thing I've been working on is my new Gilmore Girls Rewatch show: Gimme Gilmore.
Gilmore Girls is my comfort show and I’m on my 17th time around watching it from start to finish. Over that time I’ve come to notice some tiny little details and I think it’s just fun to share them.
Like:
Characters who were used more than once (I can thank mostly listening to the show now for this one- I’ll hear a character’s voice and am like wait a minute! And then realize they play a different person with a bigger role later.)
Or little nuances in the script that carry through from Season 1 to Season 7.
Plus I find it fascinating to know what was going on in the real world at that time- from the actor’s actual ages vs. the characters they were portraying to the gobs and gobs of pop culture references.
This is really a space for me to document what I notice while cozying up after the kids go to bed… simply FUN and so much different than anything I’ve created before.
What about you? What creative project has brought you the most joy this season?
It’s so fun to share in community this way- you never know what your share might spark in someone else and vice versa↓
Grateful for you!!💕
Share this post