Sundays beginning in September @ 11:00 a.m. Eastern
Feel creatively “stuck” sometimes? Yeah, me too.
It’s not “cool” to talk about this, but sometimes, it’s hard to show up for the creative work you care about. Sometimes the more you care, the harder it is, in fact. Whether you’re dealing with chronic illness, mental health struggles, neurodivergence, chronic overwhelm, a literal shortage of free time, or any combination of the above—there are many reasons why it can feel like your creative drive is scarce. All of them are valid. There are folks who will tell you things like “writer’s block doesn’t exist” or “you’re only an artist if you make art every day” or “just do it” or whatever. I don’t think that’s particularly constructive, nor is it kind. All it does is completely undermines the very real difficulties that you might be facing.
For me, receiving a life-altering diagnosis for a serious chronic illness last year derailed pretty much everything in my world, including my creative process. I’ve been slowly digging myself out of the hole using the idea of body-doubling, which is a well-known productivity technique within the ADHD community where the presence of another person (the "body double”) helps enhance your focus. It’s the same principle behind coworking spaces, “writing sprints,” and even the idea of talking on the phone to someone while you put away laundry.
But productivity isn’t everything.
Especially when it comes to creative work.
If you just want to be more productive, there are lots of tools at your disposal.*
*in theory, anyway. I know it’s easier said than done.
Start-ups like Cave Day and Flow Club harness the power of body-doubling in a convenient remote interface. That helps a ton with getting stuff done, like when you have a lot of work tasks and you just need to bust through them. But if you’re feeling in a creative rut, you might just sit there feeling even more like a failure because you don’t have any ideas, or you don’t know how to action your ideas, or you have this powerful drive to make something and no idea what or how or when.
So what are we gonna do about it?
Let’s have a big old party. A creative block party.
Creative Block Party is my take on body-doubling, with a dose of inspo-attracting magic. Is it a block party for creatives? A party for blocked creatives? A party where creative blocks are the guest of honor? Sure, yeah. And you’re invited!
More specifically, it’s a weekly co-creating session on Zoom where we’ll get together for 1 hour total to work on our writing, art, crafting, literally anything that you need to carve out some time to do.
We’ll have a curated playlist of the best tunes for getting in the creative zone (optional—if you don’t like background music, you can turn off your speakers) and we will utilize the Pomodoro Techniques in 2 creativity sprints with a 5 minute break in between. Not sure what to work on? I’ll share some prompts and fire-starters at the beginning if you need inspo. Then, we’ll get back together briefly at the end to hype what we worked on.
Camera on, camera off—it’s up to you. This is about intentionally carving space for your creative work, even when (especially when) it feels hard. Let’s commit to being present at the party together and see what happens.
Features:
Creativity prompts/firestarters
Curated playlist
Pomodoro Technique
Me
Agenda:
5 minutes: hello and goal-setting
25-minute creative sprint
5 minute break
20-minute creative sprint
5 minutes for recap/sharing
FAQs
When and where will this take place?
Beginning Sunday, September 3, Creative Block Party will take place on Sundays at 11:00 a.m. Eastern. We’ll get together on Zoom. There might be a few Sundays here and there where I have a conflict, so those dates won’t show up on the calendar. If you are interested in attending but Sundays at 11 Eastern don’t work for you, please drop me a line and let me know that you are looking for alternate times!
How many people will be in each session?
At least one (me) and up to 5.
Sounds interesting but what if no one else registers and it ends up being an awkward 1:1 Zoom?
It might end up being 1:1, but it doesn’t have to be awkward. We’d just be two people showing up for our respective creative selves, and I think that’s awesome.
What kind of creative work to bring?
Literally anything. I’ll most likely be writing, but I might also be embroidering, working on an art project, etc. This session is for something creative, not merely something that you “need to get done”—it’s something that you want to get done. If you don’t have anything in the hopper and you need ideas, I’ll have some ideas to get you started.
Ready to do this?
I’m glad you’re interested in going on this adventure with me. Please book a spot in the form shown here, and you’ll receive the Zoom link via email. Then—you just show up.
I can’t wait to see you at the party!
