Monday's Mug 24
I am sitting down with my mug of hot chocolate tonight to just share with you a few of my thoughts. First, I would like to say Happy New Year! I am so happy that 2020 is over and we didn’t start 13/1/2020. I felt great on the 1st day of the new year and had a lot of hope for what the future could hold. It was also snowed that day, which was terrific.
But maybe you are not feeling great about 2021 right now, and I know what that is like. For the last 3 years previous years, I have struggled with hope. It was a big reason I took some time off. I knew that if I didn’t work on myself and get through some of this crap, I was never going to be the creative I was meant to be.
Community
I started to heal myself was by reaching out to friends who were real friends, and it took me a while to find them. I knew I needed people in my life that would allow me to talk because when I need to process things, I need to talk.
Many people don’t know how chatty I can be once I start to open up. I had been hiding who I was for so long I needed to be authentically me, not the one with a cloak or done up face. There was no need to perfect, and with that came the ability to cry or laugh or just be random.
Are any of these people living within a 100-mile radius of me? Nope. I think you can find friends all over the world, but I would stress to be cautious. I am not advising you to be friends with everyone you met online.
YouTube, TikTok, and Books
The second way was working through The Artist Way. I had an accountability partner for the duration of it this time, so I would be sure to finish. I told them what chapter I was on and the parts that were speaking to me.
I attribute a lot of my success to the morning pages that have transformed themselves and me over time. I continued to read books in the areas I struggled with, like self-discipline.
YouTube is a great place to find motivational speakers like Tony Robbins, Tom Bilyeu, or searching for inspirational videos. TikTok has a lot of great videos as well. Just search for inspired, positive, or affirmations. What these videos can do is give you positivity when you might be surrounded or talking to yourself in a not so lovely way.
Where do I find community?
So as we come into this new year, there are many places to look for the community, especially for writers. Not only are there podcasts, YouTube videos, social media accounts, and tons of positive people on TikTok, there are groups out there forming.
NaNoWriMo has writing groups all year long.
StoryADay has a community on its website and has a membership that opens at the end of April.
Stop Writing Alone has Facebook groups and usually hosts a Happy Campers group during Camp NaNo in April.
The Accident Inspirationalist has a Patreon for the community as well as workshops.
Let me know if there are any another writing communities you would like me include on my site.
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Monday's Mug 023
Hello, Writers of the World.
Welcome back to Monday’s Mug! I always love to be drinking from my mugs daily, but Monday is the day I like to catch you up on what has been happening since we last talked. Tonight I am drinking hot raspberry tea. I have enjoyed the cold chill in the air lately. Things have been pretty peaceful this last week, but I will share about my quiet week.
While we sip from our mugs, I would tell you I had been experimenting with soups lately. I love soup and made taco soup for the first time ever. I can’t handle many spicy foods, so it was the perfect opportunity to make it to my family’s taste. A wonderful mom that became a friend over soccer practices this year shared the recipe with me. While on this subject of food, I made pumpkin bread and cupcakes this last weekend for our treats. I watch The Great British Baking Show and enjoy baking as well as learning about it.
While we sip from our mugs, I would share with you my Artist Way progress. Morning pages are becoming more of a priority for my life. While I have been handwriting them for the last two months, I will be typing them in November. I have been pushing to make my writing more of a priority. Writing is essential to me than I realized, and being a writer is far more important to me as well. Through my morning pages, I have worked through some religious beliefs and political frustrations. These pages allow me to vent and get everything off my mind to start my days fresh. Due to our recent time change, I am waking up earlier to do writing in the morning. I never thought this would be possible for me because usually, I am a late-night writer. While my creativity does still peak in the evening, I find the morning time great to relax and get my writing groove on.
Would you like to refill your mug?
While we sip from our mugs, I would tell you I have been thinking a lot more about my writing, in general, this week. I was able to be part of a sprint this last week. It was only 30 minutes of writing, but I can accomplish my goals last week by getting that 30 minutes in. I have also decided to do NaNoWriMo this year. While this has been a more challenging year for my writing, I finally feel like I understand what I am doing. I think I am seeking out the creative life I have been looking for and encouraging friends to thank for it. This is a way a writing community can change your life. This is how your life changes because you let people in and allow them to speak life into your problems.
Just keep writing.
Monday's Mug 022
Hello, Writers of the World.
Welcome back to Monday’s Mug! I always love to be drinking from my mugs daily, but Monday is the day I like to catch you up on what has been happening since we last talked. Tonight I am loading up on my pumpkin spice coffee. Yes, I am a lover of fall and almost all things pumpkin. The weather here has been all over the place. It is hot, and it is cold. The only thing consistent is the lack of rain. The family is picking up black walnuts and hoping to get them turned in by this weekend.
While we sip from our mugs, I would tell you I had to take an extended break again. It has always been difficult for my mental health when I take time away from writing. I picked up a couple of websites and social media accounts I am running. These have been an excellent experience for me outside of my comfort zone. These different accounts also took away some of my writing time until I got the hang of posting regularly on the sites. The busy times for these businesses are winding down, so I am also excited about the slow season.
While we sip from our mugs, I would share with you, I started doing The Artist Way. For those who do not know what it is, you know how exciting it can be to complete this book. For those of you who may not know what this book is all, it helps you heal yourself as a creative. There are ways the author gives you to work through creative blocking emotions. It took me a lot of time to finally do The Artist Way. I read many blogs about morning pages because when anyone talked about the Artist Way, they mentioned them. Morning pages seemed to be the only thing people focused on. This book is deep and makes you do some serious reflection. My process, though, hasn’t always been easy, but I‘m excited about writing again. I am doing the morning pages as well. These pages have helped me implement the work personal work I needed to do. Morning pages become like a friend and are a great place to experiment with your creativity as well.
Would you like to refill your mug?
While we sip from our mugs, I would tell you I have been thinking a lot more this week about my novel. I have decided after this partial book has been sitting for almost two years, I am ready to start writing on it again. I am starting work in November. Currently, I am reading through my draft. Soon I will create a reverse outline thanks to the help of a friend’s advice. I have been going over different novel structures and finding a plan I would like to follow. I don’t like the idea of a super structured outline; however, this will help me stay focused.
Just Write Today.