Dear friends,
There is a strange sense of deja vu in preparing and sending out this email. We’ve been here before, but somehow this time feels different.
The opposite of starting with a bang
I am writing these words at 11pm - barely sneaking this email out before the end of today. But it was important to me to launch this on the new moon - it felt like a form of keeping a promise to both my past and future selves.
Things got a bit derailed this week by extra days of having my daughter at home and coming down with a vomiting bug (ugh). And of course, there were miniature disasters that preceded those, meaning that my attempts to have everything done nice and early to prevent 11th hour (literally) scrambling were all in vain.
And yet…
Here it is. The first video. It is happening this year - I can feel it in my bones.
Because sometimes the way to make things happen is not to obsess over a masterpiece, it’s to forge ahead in whatever capacity we can manage when life puts obstacles in our path.
Embracing duality
This month we’ll be exploring writing through two lenses: Prose (embodying clarity) and Poetry (embodying mystery).
The whole premise of The Total Artist is to identify a duality within each of the disciplines we will explore, and lean into those opposites - stretching ourselves as far as possible.
The goal is to appreciate the expansiveness of the possibilities within that discipline - and within ourselves - by consciously stretching outside of habits and comfort zones.
Saying what we mean, meaning what we say
The next fortnight is an invitation to immerse yourself in prose and consider the quality of clarity.
This is a moment to see how deeply we can make our words mean what they say - and to look for these qualities in the world around us.
To ask:
Can I make it truer?
Can I make it braver?
Can I make it simpler?
Creative Prompt 1: Prose and Clarity
This creative prompt is designed to carry you through the next two weeks of art and life. I’ll also be sending out some followup inspiration to keep you going, and sharing my own creative work and discoveries!
Your creative task:
Choose a project of writing in prose, and challenge yourself to embody clarity as effectively as possible.
Your life prompt:
How does it feel to move through your life with clarity as your guiding intention?
Not sure what project to choose?
Here’s a few ideas for the creative project if you’re struggling to decide what you want to do:
Short story
Letter to someone important to you
Life mission statement
Personal essay that retells a memory
Project summary for a grant proposal
In this video…
Writing as a tool for containing complexity
The importance of capturing our experience and creating a reflective space
Focusing on form of language (prose/poetry) over content (fiction/nonfiction)
The dance of duality
The challenge of truth-telling - even to ourselves
Sidestepping subtext
Balancing kindness and honesty
Looking for extra inspiration?
If you’d like some bits of extra inspiration during this fortnight, I’ll be posting things on my instagram (@alligatrrr) and on Substack in their notes section.
So feel free to dip in if you’re looking for some additional thoughts on this creative discipline in the next couple of weeks.
For now,
Alli
Access Support: If you have access needs that I’m not currently meeting, please do drop me a line! (The best email is contact@ac-smith.com.) I’d really like to make this project available to anyone who wants to participate.
