Welcome to Week 7. 
I am enjoying a week at the cottage with my family but I didn't want to miss our weekly check in. I will keep this short and sweet, but I did want to highlight a few ways in the creative process that this weeks themes has been playing into my work even before I read this chapter.
Recently I started working with someone to help me shape my next book. I was struggling because the writing felt very formulaic. I had somehow convinced myself that I had to write each chapter start to finish before I could move on to a new section or follow a moment of inspiration.
When I started talking through the areas I felt a blockage or a disconnect with the work, I keep finding over and over again that the story is there, I just wasn't listening to it. In many ways this is like a meditation and while I don't sit down and write beautiful words in every session, I am enjoying the process more because it feels like a conversation rather than just me rattling away at my computer.
In regards to perfectionism and jealousy, the more listening there is, the less concerned I become about those things too interestingly. When I first started blogging for instance, it would take me a week to feel like the post was good enough to share until a friend said "done is better than perfect". I realized that if your intention is help others or share something you find beautiful or personally beneficial, then a flawed piece shared is better than something on the verge of "perfect" sitting in your pocket.
Looking forward to hearing everyone's insights this week!
Week 6 Conversation Starters
1. How are those Morning Pages and Artist Dates coming?
2. Do you suffer from perfectionism? How are you working on sharing the "imperfect"?
3. What is your relationship to risk? Where do you feel stuck? Where are you moving forward?
4. Any insights to share about the jealousy map?
