Dear ,

“You don't love someone because they're perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they're not.”

― Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper

The quote above is a reminder that people don’t have to be perfect to be loved and neither does our creativity. There may be days (weeks, months, sometimes years) when the words don’t flow, or what comes certainly doesn’t look as good on the page as it seemed in our imagination. But we’re reminding you to love it anyway. You made a thing! A perfectly imperfect thing. What you create is magical and has value regardless if you publish it or exists only in a notebook you keep under the bed. The sad truth is that there is plenty of rejection and negativity in any creative pursuit. It doesn’t matter what other people think. What matters is that you believe in yourself and respect your work. It doesn’t mean you don’t try and get better, but you love what it is because you made it. 

If you need some help falling in love with your creativity, we’ve got you covered. 

Workshop Wednesdays

February 4: Theme with Eileen. We've been tackling some of the big elements of fiction lately, Plot versus Character, Character Arc and this Wednesday we're adding in theme. How does theme fit in with the other elements of your story? How can you enhance it? What the heck does theme even mean? And what do you do if you don't know your theme?

February 11: Blue Pencil with Bonnie: Here’s your chance to have up to 750 words of your manuscript, query letter or synopsis reviewed by your peers. 

February 18: Deep Dive with Jenny. Let’s talk about this month’s topic- theme. If you want to discuss how theme might be relevant to  your book, or discuss how it was done in a book (or show) that you enjoyed, here’s your chance.  

February 25: Mind Mapping with Jacqui. Brainstorming is always a good way to gather new ideas, but doing it with the hive mind gives you even more. Here’s  your chance to mind-map anything from plot, to characters, to new marketing ideas! And have we mentioned, you could chat about theme too? 

Events:

FORUMS/GENRE MEET-UPS/ ACCOUNTABILITY GROUPS: There are lots of events in the calendar to keep you busy. Be sure to check the events schedule for the regular genre meet-ups and weekly accountability groups. You can join those communities (they’re all listed down the left side of the main page) so that  you’re notified when events are happening. 

Here’s to falling in love with words and imagination all over again. Give that imaginary friend of yours a kiss. 

xo

Eileen and Stephanie