How to kick off a creative new year

Lessons from Julia Cameron's book launch

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New year, same project. I am going into 2023 with my second novel still sprawling, still messy, still unfinished. I am getting there, but yikes, it’s been a beast. I have been working on it for the past two years (this is normal, I know — and the last two years haven’t exactly been a breeze.) But I am determined to try and make really good progress with it this year (and contractually, I sort of.. need to).

Recently, I attended Julia Cameron’s virtual book launch for her new book Write For Life, and I had so many lightbulb moments on how to steadily keep going with your goal instead of throwing yourself towards it and hitting a wall, and I wanted to share these with you, below.

We can be gentle with ourselves and be ambitious too. Showing up in small ways daily, rather than trying to smash various targets overnight. A big check-list of big intense ‘goals’ makes my stomach queasy these days. Too much to chew. I plan to move slowly this year, following last year’s burnout. And this is the funny irony: by moving more slowly, you can often accomplish things much more easily. Martha Beck calls the art of small baby steps towards your goals ‘turtle steps’. To remind myself of this, I have a ceramic turtle ornament on my desk. I stroke its shiny little head as though it’s a good luck charm.