Hello, new subscribers. Welcome and thank you for your support.
Are you aware of this 28 × 20 workout we’re doing in February? Writing is a muscle, y’all, and we about to get physical.
Here’s a thing I say all the time. I don’t always feel better when I write, but I feel worse when I don’t.
Even when depression wins out (or dysregulation, envy, self-doubt, anxiety, stress, rage; take your pick), or I still haven’t figured out a problem I’m having with a particular project, or I can’t find the best words to convey exactly what I mean and I’m just staring at the page — even then, I’ve moved a few steps ahead of where I was. That’s not nothing. Especially right now. I have to “good girl” myself just for getting out of bed every day. Maybe you know what I mean.
Horrific things are happening. We’re living under a fascist regime and sitting with our art might feel self-indulgent or meaningless. But for many of us, art is the air we breathe. Even if no one ever sees what we’ve produced (publishing does not make you a writer, by the way; a writer is a writer), making art is an energy that ripples out into the universe with offerings of endless possibility. It sounds romantic, it’s true. Creativity calls for observance, curiosity, investigation, memory, reflection. There’s more than one way to engage with the work. It’s all healthy brain food. We need that now.
If you’re considering joining 28 × 20, and it’s feasible for you, DO IT. This is zero stakes business, my friends. All good things in the end. Of course, you don’t need to give a flying f*** about daily prompts to become a free or paid subscriber to HOW I LEARNED.
Come as you are — that’s the moral of the whole story. I love that you’re here.
xo Blaise
