One of the interesting parts of my work, and the work of anyone who works for themself, is sharing it with the world, marketing it. You can create a beautiful offering, but if you don’t let people know about it you’ll be the only one at the party.
This is what I was thinking about a few mornings ago as I debated whether to share a new Wild Writing program I’d just created. The day before we’d all witnessed the spectacle of madness outside of the Capital building, and if you were like me, that was all you were thinking about.
Still, for weeks I’d been preparing to launch this offering I was excited to share with people, and now I wasn’t sure if it were the right thing to do, whether it was tone deaf when all sorts of dark craziness had been unleashed into the world. There were more important things to focus on than creating a writing practice.
I remember at the beginning of the pandemic, days after being told to shelter in place, I was getting the same emails I got all the time from clothing companies trying to sell me jeans, or furniture companies trying to sell me living room sectionals. There were discounts on skin cream and hair products, and I was like, what the hell, people, really? There’s an invisible virus out there and you want me to think about my skin?
One thing that matters to me very much is paying attention to the world around me … I want my work to be a life raft in the midst of the storm. I want my work to help people process their lives on the page with depth, honesty and integrity. I don’t want to sell you a new t-shirt.
At the same time, in a world that is rife with trouble, how do we share our work without being tone deaf to more pressing matters like the virus, or the reaction of Washington police on a crowd of mostly white people who stormed the Capital, not to mention a dangerous president holed up in his office for two more weeks.
I struggled around it, consulted friends. “What would you do?” I asked them.
Then yesterday I got an email from my friend, the photographer and coach, Danielle Cohen, with the subject line:
What do we post when the world is a mess?
Her email is addressed to all of us who have things to share, whether that means our art work or our music, our writing or our teaching.
Danielle wrote,
“Do we shut it all down knowing that relative to what’s happening at the moment, our offerings are not the thing to center?” “Do we show up as planned knowing that our offerings add beauty, healing, hope, and strength to a hurting world?”
I loved her courage to move right into the question. And it’s personal, of course. There’s no right answer here.
“Our work is to stay awake,” Danielle writes. “To thoughtfully, bravely, and sometimes clumsily continue to find our place in things.”
I loved this. I loved everything she wrote. As a maker of things, it always takes courage keep moving forward – no matter what’s going on in the world, but even better if what you’re creating might be helpful to people.
I like t-shirts, but I don’t make them. I make life rafts that are meant to help us process our lives with depth, honesty and curiosity. I mean to build life rafts that are strong enough to ferry us across the deep waters, so that when we are on the other side of this thing, we’ll be together, deeply connected to ourselves and to one another.
I send you peace, and I welcome you into my little boat.
I’m giving away a week-long sample of my Wild Writing video series to anyone who would benefit from a writing practice. Even if you aren’t a writer – and many of you aren’t – I want to offer you a very beautiful, deeply healing writing practice called Wild Writing, that enables you to get a lot of ink on the page and tell your stories with ease and grace. We specialize in getting past the critical mind – something we have lost our taste for this year because it’s tiresome and it doesn’t serve us. Please join us!
* thank you to my friend Jen Lee, who offered me the image of the life raft.
I was so glad that you have generously reached out to myself and the world to help us get through this time. You have brought me peace in your words of the power of staying in life and continuing to write . I am relieved that you are in this place and well.
For it’s so timely and appreciated — your offering of this life raft, this gift you’re sharing.
Laurie, I loved waking up to your post. As your teaching colleague, I’ve wrestled with these same questions myself, and you so eloquently made a case for why we should keep teaching and why gathering people together in community to tell the truth is more important than ever. Thank you for this post. It set my day on the right course.
You have been my life raft since you started Wild Writing years and years ago. Was it March, April??? I jumped on when you first made the offer and it has been my passport into myself and
deepened my connection with friends who write. Thank you.
This is a beautiful message. Thank you for sharing your talent and a place to focus our thoughts.
I’ve always loved rafts especially ones tethered with love from friends… laying here dipping my hands in the water when I need refreshment, falling into the sky! Is that even possible? The sky is up we are down. Who knows. I don’t know, What do we know? I thought we knew allot!
Wonderful insightful and deep. I appreciate your words into my peace-ness…..thank you
Laurie… You are a gift to everyone who has gotten to know you and work and explore with you. Thank you for captaining this ship…it is indeed a life raft for so many. As are simply your words.
Warmly, Donna
Thank you for being my life raft this past year and into the new year. Danielle Cohen’s comment encourages me to continue to find my place in things, to make sense of the craziness.
Splish-splash… thank you for the rafts. They matter.
Laurie, to read of your questioning if you should continue with your work in the face of the current crises (yes, plural), because it might seem tone deaf caused a shiver of fear through me. Yes, oh my god, yes you should continue your work, and the marketing of your work. And coffee shop workers should continue to pour hot coffee to their patrons, and the shoe repairman should continue to put out his sign that he can re-heel your shoes. And I should continue going for my walk through the retirement community and in doing all of this we continue to look one another in the eye and thereby uphold one another. We should all continue to do what we do best and what we do with integrity. To withhold our best offering to the world because others gave their worst angry offering to the world hurts us all.
Yes! We are not to hold back our own offerings because angrier voices arose. Thank you for your clarity.To stop or shrink from sharing our gifts and input with the world would create a void of much felt loss.
I really needed your email/message today .
Thank you for the calm clarity in the midst of our storm.
Yes, Laurie, I want to show up as my best and strongest self.
Rafts keep us afloat and safe….and we can still steer the course to clearer, calmer waters while keeping our balance.
You are right on course.
what a gift this life raft is. And how necessary, especially now.
Great post Laurie, I really enjoy your writing.
The world needs writers like you right now more than ever. As I sit here on the other side of the world it’s hard to imagine that what we are seeing is reality. I feel for all of you.
Your gift of crafting words that touch the soul is the life raft that many need right now.
Thank you for your beautiful offering, for the life raft and for who you are and continue to be…a bright light in dark times. There could not be a better time than now.
The thing is we all need rafts, or at least those floaty things, all the time, for some small or large ,crazy or hard thing. That’s called love, pushing your raft out to others, helping us stay above water.
I love this so much, Laurie! I wrestle with these exact same questions. Thank you for articulating it so beautifully and with such heart. Grateful for you.