Embrace the Unknown

Creative Hibernation: Week 5

New to Creative Hibernation? Catch up on previous posts and view the whole series here »

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Hey there, sleepy bear.

As the end of the year descends into festive chaos and/or winds down into a quiet period of restfulness (your mileage may vary), I hope you have somewhere warm and peaceful to settle, something nice to eat and drink, and whatever else you need to recharge your creative self.

We’re on Week 5 of our Creative Hibernation journey, which has so far led us through some introspective explorations and quietly curious observations of our writing — with absolutely zero pressure to do anything except to notice what happens to our creativity when we take a step back from the hustle.

And we’re still on paused time for a couple more weeks, so — if you can — try to stay in that mode until January…

I’m leaving you with a slightly existential task this week, as we explore all the unknowns within our creativity, our writing process, our stories — and search for a deeper meaning within them.

Because ‘the great unknown’ is often the source of all sorts of writerly frustrations: sticking points, writer’s block, rage-quitting, dry spells, self doubt and a whole bunch of other creative meltdowns.

I think perhaps this is because the unknown is sometimes confused with uncertainty, or seen as something scary and dangerous — something that needs to be controlled or micromanaged or eradicated.

But I love the unknown.

The unknown is an exciting place. Yes, it can be daunting, but isn’t it where the real magic happens? That mystical place we step into whenever we fully and truly get into the flow — into the zone — and reality falls away? The place where we discover solutions to hitherto ‘impossible’ problems and explore ideas we never could have possibly planned?

The unknown is where we transform a seed of a story into something beyond our imagining.

So, I hope you’ll venture into the void with me and see how a little unknowing can help create a treasure map of exploration and discovery…

But first! A quick recap of how we got here — and some handy links if you need a refresher of the Creative Hibernation series so far.

• In Week 1 (FREE for all readers!), we looked at the importance of writing downtime, and how it can give us new perspective on our WIPs.

• In Week 2, we looked at all the different facets of our writing, research and inspiration, to fill our brains with everything that makes us wanna write.

• In Week 3, we looked at taking a positive view of our writing, our WIPs, and our attitude toward creativity.

• In Week 4, we looked at how to cultivate a simmering, growing excitement for our work with the help of a little delayed-gratification…

And now, if you’re brave enough, we’re going to take a deep breath, hold hands, and venture into the unknown together.

We’re going to learn how to sit with that sometimes uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty.

We’re going to learn how to unlearn the unhelpful lessons that might be holding us back.

We’re going to ruminate on all the things we don’t know.

And maybe discover some things we didn’t even know we knew…