club keepsake #006
creative prompts, the writing process, and 10 books that will supercharge your summer
Isn’t there something deliciously romantic about the blank google doc? It’s almost better than a filled one. A blank google doc sees your highest potential. It’s when you add your ideas that the google doc can betray you.
I had an idea for a book last summer. Having the idea is my favorite part of any process. I’d be happy to hold the idea forever and never let it grow up, like a new mom who wants their child to stay a baby forever. Can’t it just be mine forever? Existing mostly as a daydream I return to rather than a gnarled project on a page? Art isn’t meant to be just yours, though. You’re meant to take the extremely personal thing, give it new form, and release it into the world.
Writing is not linear. Actually I’d go so far as to say almost nothing is, but for some reason we are expected to plan our lives in neat little timelines. I’ve experienced so many ups and downs in the process of bringing this idea to light. Characters were made more important and then less important. The plot got too complicated, and then too simple. It took attending my own writers retreat for me to map the idea out on paper, but it’s current status is entirely different than the even that iteration. There’s only so much planning you can do. You never know how things will go unless you take the leap.
As terrifying as it is to behold my once blank google doc has now become a quintuple tabbed monstrosity. There’s no telling if it will match up to the idea I had in my head last summer. It’s definitely less perfect. It’s turned from something I can wonder about to something I’m wrestling with. The thing that surprises me is how much I like making mistakes here. I’m learning new things about this entity, once part of me, now separate on the page.
I find discomfort such an important part of the creative act, as ugly as it is. Inspiration is beautiful, action rarely is. I hope this June has lots of lovely things that pique your interest, and I hope you make a mess of them.
previously on club keepsake
Our last edition focused on May’s theme of Persistence. I set forth prompts in our last edition of club keepsake and received this beautiful response from Lenora:
make: The next time you’re invited somewhere, or maybe even just the next time you see someone you love, consider making them a little card. I don’t mean writing some long thing that requires flowery language and deep sentiment, I mean a little keepsake for them to remember your meeting by. This can be doodling on a napkin when you get drinks with a friend and giving it to them after, making a faux business card for someone’s dog, or just taking a post-it and leaving it on your roommate’s door with an inside joke printed on it. I think it’s so fun to make and receive these little ‘just thinking of you’ calling cards.
“So I'm visiting Europe for my friend's wedding and wanting to gift my friend + another friend I'm visiting a box of little gifts. I couldn't think of anything that we get in the US that they don't get in Europe (let's be honest they mostly have higher quality things anyways) so figured going with some smaller American brands + useful things like spices + vibrantly printed kitchen towels would be nice. Along with the spices + a kitchen towel, I got a little Orabella perfume since everyone would want to try out smelling like Bella Hadid and added in little paper flowers that I make.”
“One of the things I started throughout this trip has been painting watercolor postcards to be able to sit and soak in the moment, be it looking at the architecture or the landscape. I shared this with my friend and we worked on this postcard together at the Rhinefalls in Switzerland, so wrote a note on the back and added it to the box for her.”
May Prompts
I wish I could tell you that it’s easy to make big changes with little effort, but that’s just not the case. June is all about exploration, so while you’re out there exploring why don’t you see what the world has to offer?
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