RACHAEL WROTE THIS | 01.31.25
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TODAY'S CREATIVE PROMPT:
What project inspo has been sitting in your saved folder the longest without you using it?
Can you take one action in the next couple of weeks to utilize that inspo? I often feel that saving project inspiration on pinterest or IG scratches the creative itch, but doesn't actually help me get things made. Let's try to take action in February. Start the project. Learn the skill. Get the material. Make the plan. We're makers, not just researchers.
In today's newsletter, I started off with the new creative prompt--as promised for 2025, and I'll be sharing some announcements, talking about a couple of creative challenges I'm noodling on for us, and the latest in my reading pile, per usual! But first, announcements!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
First, a reminder that the CREATIVE VISIONING WORKBOOK is available! We're now one month into the new year (or two days if we're talking Lunar New Year!), so it's still a great time to get clear on your creative goals for the year ahead.
Next, Lauren, Kristle, and I are getting ready to record Season 3 of Chaotic Creatives, our podcast about embracing the chaos that comes from living a creative life! We’d love to know what you’d like to hear us gab about in Season 3 — leave a comment or shoot us an email!
CREATIVE PLAY
I'm gonna host a mini style challenge for the week of February 9th-15th!!
I love LOVE and I love an excuse to wear fun clothes, so I want to host a Valentine's Week Style Challenge! Here are the details:
Sun Feb 9th: MONOCHROME RED
Mon Feb 10th: RED + PINK
Tues Feb 11th: FLORAL
Wed Feb 12th: MONOCHROME PINK
Thurs Feb 13th: CUTESY
Fri Feb 14th: SASSY
Sat Feb 15th: COMFY
My next idea is to use these 40-ish prompts that I asked my friend to make me YEARS ago. She wrote down over 40 nouns and adjectives or verbs for me when I wanted to work on drawing. The ‘what do i draw’ question is often the barrier once you sit down and stare at a blank notebook page.
I think what I'll do is do a live pull of one of each each day for a month and we can interpret those prompts in whatever form makes us happy.
So for example, I could pull: SNAKE + EXERCISING. Maybe I draw a snake exercising. Maybe I practice hand-lettering and write those words. Maybe I write a poem about those topics. Maybe it's something even more abstract.
The prompts are meant to spark a bit of silly inspiration. I'll share more once I finalize logistics!
ENTERTAINMENT
And finally, sharing just a couple of books. I had a tough reading week. I started a bunch of books, but haven't been able to focus on them. I think there are too many things floating in my brain and I need to get somethings out before I can calm it down enough to process books.
But here's what I read, started, and watched.
Lightlark by Alex Aster
This was fine. I wasn't really invested in the characters or the love story, but I did the audiobook from the library, and I listened in the car and as I was falling asleep. I would give this a solid, meh.
Woodworm by Layla Martinez
I'm just a couple of chapters into this one, but I can tell it's gonna be a little unsettling and good. A haunted house, a matriarchal line, some unsolved deaths. It sucked me in right away, and I'm excited to keep going.
The Creative Act by Rick Rubin
I started this a couple of years ago now and kept not finishing it. A lot of the first couple chapters feels reminiscent of The Artist's Way, but I've already highlighted a bunch of stuff!
Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
I'm hoping this third installation won't annoy me, but again with my mindset lately, it's hard to dive into these worlds. I got about 3 pages in before I decided I wasn't in the right mood.
Now for movies, I'm still working on Kadee's weekly movie prompt challenge. Last week was musician turned actor and this week is somewhere warm.
In writing this entertainment section, I'm realizing that perhaps I have a bit more on my mental plate than I've realized because I've been a bit harsh on all my movie ratings, too. We love processing feelings in real time!
Here's what I watched in the last 2 weeks.
Your Monster
This one wasn't for the prompts, but I love a Beauty + The Beast -ish love story. This one turned out to be commentary on our inner selves, and it was a fun take!
The Good Half
I counted Nick Jonas as musician turned actor for last week's prompt. I was going to watch J. Lo in Anaconda but it wasn't available on any streaming. I've been trying for older movies for these challenges. Anyway, this one was just okay.
Find Me Falling
A story of a rock star seeking out his muse on a Greek island – my pick for the somewhere warm category. Predictable! Didn't care! I think I'm going to cancel my Netflix subscription and just watch movies on the library streaming service.
Sometimes I love disassociating from the world's problems into a fictional movie or book, and sometimes, it feels better to be present and create or connect IRL. I think I'm craving a bit more of that lately.
Thankfully, I'm heading out for a snowboard weekend today with one of my bffs. We're gonna snowboard, play cards, sit by a fire, soak in a hot tub. It's going to be magical!
AND I'm excited to cross that off my winter PLAY list! If you haven't made one, it's not too late to prioritize your PLAY!
Have a great weekend!
-R