What is #CreateIt22?
Think catch-22, but instead of a dilemma, #CreateIt22 is the solution to one – breaking out of creative block. Share on XWe’ve all been blocked.
Writers, artists, musicians – it doesn’t matter what creative outlet you have. Some time, somewhere, you’ve found yourself blocked.
Chronic illness, financial challenges, life stress – these things nearly took my storytelling from me.
I decided I was done letting anything get in my creative way. In #CreateIt22, I found a reliable, effective way to create something new every single day, and I’m sharing it with you in daily public pep-talks, a free course, and more.
#CreateIt22 is a reliable, effective way to create something new EVERY SINGLE DAY. Share on XWho is #CreateIt22 For?
Artists, writers, graphic novelists, musicians – anyone who struggles to do creative work.
Because it’s designed to take pressure off and not add it on, #CreateIt22 exists all over the place, requires no membership, and will never include any kind of fee. You can join the Discord for direct community, or you can use the hashtag on any platform to find others like you. Wherever you are, whatever you’re into, you can create with #CreateIt22.
It wasn't over for me, and it's not over for you. Weary creative, it's time to leave block behind. #CreateIt22 Share on XHow do you do #CreateIt22?
We manage daily creation two ways:
- Choose to create one new thing every day. This means one sentence, one new line, one new note. You’re welcome (encouraged) to do more, but anybody can do one sentence a day, especially with tools available (link). We make that one new thing no matter how we’re feeling.
- Choose to create it wrong. How many times have you stopped creating because you didn’t know the right way to go? The right scene? The right notes? The right colors? A key to daily creation is learning not to fear doing it wrong. Writing/drawing/creating garbage doesn’t mean failure. It only brings you closer to doing it right.
Obviously, I’m breaking down two immensely complicated points by saying this. It has to do with brain function, the science of habit-forming, and more. The thing that matters is that these methods work.
Here are some of the principles we apply.
- Fallow ground. Soil that has been over-planted needs time to recover. The only way to do that is to let it lie fallow—planting nothing, and allowing it to regain nutrients in quiet. Sometimes, creative, we need this, too. It’s natural, and nothing to fear. This is a choice to be still.
- Seasons. Similarly, many plants go through seasons. There are times to bloom and produce fruit, and times not to; when we accept that we will have times of bare branches, it’s easier to know spring will come again. This stillness is natural, and nothing to fear.
- Low bar. This never means limiting yourself. This is about ensuring you have a daily goal that you can step over, no matter how your day’s been. For me, with illness, with stresses and struggles, this meant “write one thing.” It could be wrong. It could be terrible. It could be a single word—but it still counted. Because of this, I can create every single day, training my body and brain to accept creation as a habit. There’s power to habits, creative. They keep you moving forward even when you think you can’t.
The #CreateIt22 Support System
- We’re active in Discord where we brainstorm, share one another’s triumphs and struggles, and encourage each other to break out of creative block.
- We often share what we’re doing daily on Social Media, usually Twitter and Instagram, with the hashtag, #CreateIt22.
- I make pep-talk videos every day, and yes, I reply to anyone who reaches out.
- It’s easy to feel alone when stuck in creative block. You’re not.
#CreateIt22 is for goals you can conquer in your situation
Physical limitations are real. Chronic illness. Tiredness. Pain. I have Fibromyalgia. Sometimes my hands don’t work – so I taught myself to use voice-to-text, and I can still do at least one sentence a day.
Mental and emotional limitations are real. Life often leaves us with very little left for our art. Brain fog is especially common in these pandemic days – which is why it’s crucial we allow ourselves to make things that are kind of terrible.
There is help. When I’m not sure what to write next or where the scene goes, I mix it up. There are prompts. There are ways around our own minds giving us nothing to work with.
Even the wrong words move you in the direction I want to go. This is the biggest, most crucial step. Creation is inertia – and if I’m creating garbage, I am not stuck. I can create today – I just have to be willing to accept that it might be garbage.
Movement forward is still movement, no matter how small. Don't let fear keep you from breaking free of creative block. Creation. Is. Inertia. #CreateIt22 Share on XNow for the personal stuff.
I started #CreateIt22 because I had two minor strokes, and found myself horrifically blocked.
I lost all my words. I’m a published author, but I feared I’d never be able to write again. I questioned my identity. My worth. I grieved the loss of my stories, absolutely sure that I’d never be able to get them out.
Finally, I realized that the standard I had for creating things was what was holding me back.
Who says it only counts if it’s 3 pages, 500 words, a completed sketch?
Who says it has to be a good first draft, as if napkin-sketches weren’t absolutely valid creation?
The fact is that our brains respond to being given a problem to solve. When you create it “wrong,” you’re ensuring problem-solving behind the scenes. If you create nothing… there is no problem, and you remain blocked.
I realized that if I set the bar to ONE new thing each day, and chose to permit myself to do it wrong or ugly or just plain unreadable, I could write.
I can write a bad sentence. Anyone can. I write a wrong sentence. Anyone can. Doing so is what saved my creative life.
Creation is inertia. Once I began moving, I could find my way to the right words again.
My fear that I COULDN’T be productive, or that whatever I did produce was bad, had frozen me. It was a block I feared I'd never break – until I did. Creation. Is. Inertia. #CreateIt22 Share on XWhere do I find #CreateIt22?
We’re currently on all the social media platforms below using the hashtag, #CreateIt22. Jump in wherever you’re comfortable.
You don’t need a membership.
You don’t need money.
All you need to do is choose to make something new, and allow it to be newborn and messy.
See you there.
Join me: #CreateIt22. Let’s go make something new.