2023: The Year of the Womble
Embracing the pieces of creativity I often leave behind and giving them purpose again.
I have developed a terrible habit in that I hoard creative projects and ideas. I stack them up against each other in journal after journal, folder after folder. I grab the snaps and scraps of wafting pieces that haven’t fully formed. And I set them in amongst the side hustles and marketing campaigns that promise a glittery beginning but no backbone.
And then I carry them in folder, book and eventually box until they weigh me down, down, down. So down, they have sunk beneath the daylight they need.
That informative Facebook thread is saved safely in a long and amorphous land called Somewhere. The screen cap that inspired thought and discussion is there, too. All these small pieces, lying in wait for their moment. Some of them I return to and I see the passion, vim and vigour, yet I know nothing of what they are referring to. Others shout a one word declaration I no longer understand. Cross-tabbed with post-it notes, lined with highlighter, the same paragraph keeps coming along for the ride as the new folder or journal cracks open.
Intentions, largely, of a far less applied and far more optimistic self come back to haunt me each January as I claw my way through the piles and piles of good intentions I have gathered. And every time, I feel the shine, the promise, the roughness in the creative salve. I hear their siren song to creation and their desire for a solid, “pick me, pick me!”
I decluttered the office. I pulled down the scraps and scrips, the lists and line items, and I stopped for a minute. That familiar tightness of business took the creative in me, put them in a suit and replaced the roughness of an upside down art book (A5 for ease of handbag carrying) and pointed to a keyboard and monitor. That adult version of me demanded I sit, find some timetable or plan for my idea, and test its worthiness.
In comes the giant shoehorn of responsibility, planning and adult sensibility, and it feels a lot less fun and engaging.
Of course, I let it all go and ran to the TV for comfort. This is holidays, things are not supposed to be hard! The beautiful, shiny and welcoming inner curiosity of the art book, abandoned. It wasn’t adult enough. Not for a grownup in business. Instead, it is better to hide so that nothing ever gets done.
The next morning, I woke up, and I said, “fuck that,” so loudly as I made coffee, my partner raised an inquisitive eyebrow.
“Not you, writing me,” I explained. A holiday musician caught in the uniform of a technical officer during his adult hours, he nodded he understood.
But not this year, not 2023.
For this year I am declaring the Year of the Womble.
Image: Wombles are furry creatures with pointy noses who stand together in a group watching one Womble ride a skateboard.
Wombling into my creative life
This year is going to be tough economically for everyone. I think we’re all aware of the story; inflation, rate rises, housing supply, flat wage growth, potato crops failing, scared clients in a changing economy, aftershocks from borrowing and making it through pandemics – all of it is a recipe for pain.
Tightening the belt is what we freelancers often do. We go without between invoices. We’re a feast and famine lot.
But are we making the use of the things that we have?
The things that we find?
The things that we every day folk leave behind?
That’s where living like a Womble comes in for me.
I plan to reuse, recycle and update what I can instead of consuming more or acquiring more stuff. And I am reviewing all my content so that those half alive ideas can stop languishing.
What do I mean in real terms?
I have bucket loads of ideas, software, social media spaces and more that I have been under-utilising.
Instead of simply buying my way out of things (with plugins, courses and other solutions) or placing pressure on myself to develop more things, I am taking what I have and am updating it to suit my purposes.
My shelves are heaving with books, my iPod is full of podcasts and audio books waiting to be learned from, and I have a course I have bought and paid for I am not doing.
All because I have some kind of weird “parked that safely, now watch me forget about it” self-sabotage going on.
Enough already!
Here’s the simple truth of the matter- I drag around a bucket load of great content and ideas that never get finished. When the doubt hits me (and it often hits me), I run away from it. I don’t return because I don’t like the problematic feelings. But a year of putting my mental health first and writing a consistent newsletter for the Freelance Jungle in narrative style has given me the courage to do what I want to do.
So, here’s to the Year of the Womble (for me). How about you?
1. If you could give your year one focus (like putting mental health first or a year of reusing better like a Womble), what would it be?
2. Forget this time next year. What would that look like in daily and weekly terms?
3. What positive habits would this approach instil in you personally, professionally and creatively?
If you’re tempted to drown in planning, examine your relationship with planning with these questions:
1. How is your relationship with planning? Describe it. Out loud and proud!
2. Instead of looking at the list of things you’d like to complete, how can you create a year where your moves are more intentional and in line with your overall career purpose?
3. How much time are you spending in the planning stages? Is it non-existent or does the time spent planning overtake the time spent in execution? Whatever the case, what would help you make well thought out action the mainstay of the experience?
And if you need more help, check out the Freelance Jungle Planner for 2023.
If you are looking for inspiration, here’s where you can find it:
Join the Patreon and check out the blogs I am producing under the heading of Another 30 days of self-care, a challenge I am giving to myself to write thirty usable blogs from the content I am reusing. Articles on social media marketing, advice on how to find and pick the right freelance allies, the case against pre-release marketing, how fawning might be ruining your freelance relationships, how to coax out motivation, pursue your original ideas, and get over the holiday blues.
Read The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin. It’s an anti-business book for creatives who have been thwacked around by visibility and marketing and just want permission to do their shit.
Grab that alongside the Little Book of Sloth Philosophy by Jennifer McCartney and you’ll probably understand why I am leaning in on the slow business movement. Both books sat on my bookshelf, staring at me for years while I bought more and more books to read. Another reminder to use what you have in the Womble philosophy.
Embrace that slow and steady vibe and join me and the Patreon Pinkies for virtual coworking. We meet every second Friday of the month for some solid, supportive work time online. (details on Patreon)
If you’re in the Illawarra on 11 February, join me for a writers networking afternoon and the presentation of new written works, with live readings, an anthology launch, and writers in conversation (I am one of the said writers conversing- wish me luck!).
The (FREE!) stress downs are back and you can join me on 10 February for that at 12:30pm Sydney time. Details via this Facebook link.
And be yourself on your creative terms. The more you do it, the easier it will become.
Love and other things that inspire us to give cherished concepts new lives,
Rebekah