What's The Essential Essence of Gentle Creative?

This week I’ve had the great honour to be the guest writer for the Fforest publication, here on Substack. The brief was to write four posts, with a maximum of 250 words each, about being creative alongside having a day job.

Having the restriction of a strict word count makes you work hard to refine your message and keep it concise. As I look back at these posts, I realise that they really sum up the essence of what Gentle Creative is all about and I’d like to share them with you.

I’ve listed them below with a teaser and a link to each one.

You can make art AND have a job

This post includes a link to an interview with an accountant who writes song lyrics in stolen moments of his day and keeps an old guitar in his car to work out some chords in between client meetings.

Read it here: You can make art AND have a job

Making time to be creative

As well as my usual nagging about putting your phone down, this post also has some insight on how to get to bed earlier, so you can maximise creative time in the morning.

Read it here: Making time to be creative

The inner gremlin

Even though I say it myself, this is my best and most succinct explanation ever about fear and its relationship to creativity.

Read it here: The inner gremlin

Is it worth it?

I think it is. Do you?

Read it here: Is it worth it?

While you’re there, please check out the Fforest publication, by clicking where it says Fforest at the top of my articles or on this link:

Fforest, inspired by trees, is about slow, steady, wise growth.

It arrives in your inbox Monday - Thursday at 5am, so if you’re in the habit of picking up your phone early in the day, you’ll have something inspiring to read rather than the usual stuff which hijacks your mind!

Each article is beautifully illustrated and there’s a music track too. On Friday there is an interview about a person and what they do and why what they do is interesting. You can also read this post about the Fforest ethos: Consider a tree

Plodding gently

Cali x

P.S. At 6pm UK time today (noon Central, 1pm Eastern), I’m hosting my first Ask Me Anything zoom call. If you’ve misplaced the details, you can find them here.