Be Vulnerable

Lesson Learned & Shared

This year I am taking on the #100dayproject by sharing one lesson a day from my Stop Writing Alone journey. I am looking specifically for the lessons I not only learned myself, but the ones I find myself repeating to writers and creatives in my community over and over again.

Find Connection Through Vulnerability

It took me a long time to learn exactly what the glue was. What made some of my online connections stick more than others. I've got this international, internet sister-tribe that came together in a course by Cathy Heller. We call ourselves "the Voxer Vixens" just to be funny about how we chat on a near-daily basis using the app Voxer. When we started to share our journey on a short-lived audio get together on the app Clubhouse, telling people to "Stop Dreaming Alone" I had to find the words to convey how tight-knit supportive community is built.

I looked at how we got together, I looked at how the members of Stop Writing Alone first started to feel connection, and then I thought about how any relationships really get sticky: it is through vulnerability. When we share raw bits of ourselves with one another -- whether that's being really honest about all you don't know when learning something new, sharing super sh!tty first drafts of your writing or speaking about your greatest current writing fears, or, as we do in all our close relationships, sharing feelings, asking for help, or being present and honest with those around us -- THESE are the building blocks of deep human connections.

I repeat this every time I introduce a writer to my Writing Prompt Parties, or invite them to my Writing Practice meetings, both where writers are asked to write and IMMEDIATELY share what they have written. I do this because it isn't just great for building our individual writer muscles, I do this because when we do it TOGETHER it builds community.

When was the last time you were vulnerable with another creative? How has that solidified the connection you have with them?

My #100DayProject for 2024

Introducing my #100dayproject for 2024:

To know me is to know I have a teacher soul. At the end of the day, my passion is learning and sharing that learning with anyone willing to listen. So, when it came time to think of a project that I could realistically take on for 100 days straight, it had to come back to that passion.

For the next 100 days, I will share one lesson learned each day that I find myself continually sharing with writers and creatives in my community. There are plenty of things that come up again and again (in fact, I'm kind of betting that there are at least 100 of them!) and it's about time I wrote them all down somewhere. Let's see how far we get with these mini lessons, let's see how many you remember me chanting before, and how many you needed to be reminded of!