Doing It My Way: An Unguided Path to Creative Play

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I am working on my book. Did I mention that here? I am currently editing my first cozy mystery called “Houseplant Homicides” * that I should be releasing later this year.

The dream of making a living as a writer has been with me since I was about 10 years old. That’s quite a few decades and yet, it hasn’t happened for me yet. Of course it’s all to do with my own lack right? All the ways I haven’t been doing things correctly:

  • I wasn’t consistent enough
  • I wasn’t disciplined enough
  • I didn’t do an outline
  • I didn’t wake up early enough each day

    This is just the tip of all the things I have been saying to myself. Of course there is the constant comparison, the fact that I’m probably not a good writer anyway because I write just like a talk in full run-on sentences like my teacher in grade school used to always correct me about. Then of course there is just the realities of life and things happening and not wanting to.

So what’s new?

Well, there has been a lot of energy happening lately-maybe you’ve felt it? The spiritual part of me has been studying and learning and growing and, if I’m being completely honest totally freaking out. Anxiety? Check. Fear? Check. Moments of complete union and peace. Check.

I mean what is even happening?

So I’ve ridden the waves of uncertainty, panic, fear and self-doubt (screaming if I am being completely honest) and somewhere in the midst of all that I realized something.

At the root of it all, was me, trying to not be me.

I was in fear because I feared what would happen if I was truly me and “they” didn’t like it.

I was in doubt because being me couldn’t be enough could it?

I was panicking because I really wanted this thing but I have to do it in a way that isn’t me-don’t I?

So I started to let some of that go. Not perfect of course, I’m sure the waves will come back for me soon enough to deepen and expand what I think I’ve learned and expose the places where I haven’t learned enough.

But, I started.

I started to let go of anything that started with “should.”

“I should be writing now not working in the garden.”

“I should finish this thing before I start that thing.”

“I should write like this.”

Instead, I started to follow the things I found exciting. Like printed materials!

I am really excited about making books, printed, hold in your hands paper books. The ideas are coming forward and it feels so fun!

Work shouldn’t be fun right? It’s serious business.

Only, I’m not serious about business. I don’t even like the word business. I want to write, I want to share what I write. Maybe that’s success enough for me.

I mean, I am the one who gets to define what success looks like for me right? Like going from 12 to 19 subscribers since the start of the year-that’s success!

Writing a book-that’s a success!

Writing this substack post-success!

Having a publishing plan that looks nothing like something you would find in a “10 Steps to a Successful Book Launch” e-book-success!

It’s taken me longer than seems sensible to realize that I get to define this little life all for myself. Silly right?

Letting my creativity lead the way instead of studies or statistics feels like the best path for me. Allowing myself to create something in the way I want without getting caught up in the shoulds and have-to’s feels like the most authentic way to create and at the end of the day, it’s the act of creating that I love.

So here’s to doing it our way-whatever that is. Even if we are still figuring it out along the creative path. I’ll be sure to wave to you while I walk mine should ours intersect and the kettle will probably be on as well.

Much love!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

If you would like to read the subscriber supported additions you can subscribe to my Substack here.

Look What I Made!

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Being Creative with a Childlike Enthusiasm

It’s been a few weeks since my last Letter. I have been really tired and if I am honest my ideas were running a bit low. It’s so easy to get caught up in what I should be writing or sharing while simultaneously comparing myself to others. I was spiritually guided to lessen my input of what other people are creating and instead dig in to making stuff myself. When I practice this I notice how suddenly the energy returns to my body.

Simply sitting and thinking about what I would like to make starts the influx of energy into my body. What seems to stop it is when I try to think how to turn that into a Substack post or a blog post or YT video. There was this reel I saw on Instagram by Rick Rubin and he’s talking about just that. Making the most amazing thing you can as a form of worship.

My quiet time with God (or Spirit or whatever word feels truest for you-we are the ones who made up language anyway so feel free to translate my word to something you love and feel inspired by) has been “just make it, stop trying to monetize it.”

Where did I get this idea that my time is only well spent if it makes me money? Why do I think I need to be legitimized as an artist in the form of currency?

You know the best paying job I ever had-not just dollars and cents but in overall well-being-was pet sitting. I started the business about 19 years ago and it was the easiest business for me to grow and make a really wonderful living at. It required very little effort on my part as far as growing the business itself (finding customers) and all the joy went into caring for these furry kids and being outside and going for walks. I used to record my podcasts while I walked the dogs and it was just beautiful and easy.

So, why do I think I need to force money from my creativity? Why would it be any different? I love animals and my love and sincerity was evident to the pet parents when I met them. They knew their pets were safe with me and that I would love and spoil them. I didn’t have to force it. I didn’t have to change how I approached the visit I was just me, Michele, loving animals and doing my thing.

So maybe that’s the shift that needs to happen. The exhaustion I have been feeling is from the striving to prove myself in the dollars and cents world. It’s ironic because between you and me I really dislike that world. I don’t want to live there. I want to live where the creatives are-the fun ones not the ones who like to dissect art and music into this mysterious thing that takes a lifetime to master and has to look a certain way. No I am talking about the ones who are playing who are locked into that amazing creative feeling that we get when we are just doing what we love because we love it and we were made to do it.

So here’s to playing, to making something fun and exciting and sharing it just like my 7 and 11 year-olds share their work with me. They sit down and draw in their sketchbooks with whatever tools they have on hand then hold it up and go, “look what I made!” And I love that so much. I love the pride in their faces and the joy in their hearts. I want to be that again.

So here are the things I have been making. I invite you to imagine me holding them up to you going, “look what I made” with each one. Then, if you would like, please comment below and share what you are making. You can even take a “look what I made” photo of you holding it up if you want. You can link to your Substack post too so we can all come over and ooh and ahhh over it. Let’s be kids and share our work with fun and enthusiasm.

I finished the journal for my Stroudsburg trip! It was so much fun and I am planning on sharing more about the trip and some process videos so let me know if that’s something you would like to see. The journal is overflowing with chunkiness and I made it part memory part junk journal. I loved the challenge of taking a small little trip and filling an entire journal with goodies and it’s definitely something I am going to replicate. It was so much fun to be on my trip and looking for things to add to my notebook. I think an everyday journal would be fun too…..

I didn’t technically make this cover this past week but I wanted to share. I am taking part in my own version of the 100 Days of Slow Stitch by Ann Wood Handmade and this is the cover to hold my pages. I really love how it came out and each night while I am watching TV with my teen daughter I stitch a few pages. I stumbled upon making pages as a sort of vision board for things I am working to realize this year. Below are the pages I am working on

The top right is the first page I slow stitched. I made my studio shed that I want to build in our backyard. The door actually opens to show a little kitty inside sleeping on a pile of books.

 

The middle one is my dream of owning a horse someday. I finished the page but now I am going back to add some fabric and stitches around him.

The top left one is our dream homestead. Land, a cozy house and animals. sigh.

Lastly I am attending my first Zine fest next week. I am taking my 7 year-old with me as she loves making zines and I thought it would be fun. I have an advertisement running for the event and so it seemed only fitting to give away a free zine to anyone who subscribes to my Substack at any level. For those of you lovely subscribers I will send it out to you once it’s all done but for now I have the cover to share as a sneak peak.

 

Below are some things I have been loving and finding inspiring since our last letter. Enjoy!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Subscribe here to find out what’s been inspiring me, when my creativity session will be available along with this week’s reads.

Creativity and Stillness: Thoughts on my artist weekend

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It’s been a beautiful weekend.

I am currently writing this in a hotel room on an impromptu artist retreat. The idea was sparked and realized only a few days ago and I must say it’s been an amazing time.

I want to be able to share some photos of what I have been up to but that will all come in next week’s post. This isn’t me teasing you to subscribe or come back next week just that I don’t feel I can write it all up as I would like right now. It would feel rushed and to be honest I am getting loads of creative ideas that I want to have time to sit with so hopefully it will be worth the wait!

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Today I wanted to write a bit about what I have experienced on this solo retreat and to do that properly I think a little back story is in order.

I am a stay-at-home, homeschooling Momma to 3 awesome kids. Truly, they are awesome. They are creative, smart, funny and best of all they know their own minds and I just love that.

My life is my family and has been for the past 15 years and while it’s challenging and hard and has grown me in ways I don’t think I could begin to summarize I know I am doing what I was meant to be doing during this season in my life.

Creativity, however, is my recharge. It’s where I can go and just rest, make a mess, write the words and show up exactly how I am and let it all go.

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When I was 8 I decided I was going to be a writer. 8 year-old me knew this, never doubted it and to be honest writing is the one creative pursuit I never doubted about myself. Even when people told me something wasn’t good or that I couldn’t write I just knew they were wrong and went about my day. I’m not sure I realized that about myself until just now.

Man I love writing.

The one part I did question was my legitimacy as a writer. You see somewhere between 8 year-old me and the 40 years since I came under the misguided belief that to be a writer I had to prove it. It wasn’t enough to write I had to be published. It wasn’t enough to be published I had to earn money. It wasn’t enough to earn money I had to earn a lot of money.

Crazy right? I mean who makes up these cockamamie rules?

The answer? Me! I did!

Somewhere I decided that I had to prove myself. I had to prove I was a “real” writer. I had to show them that I had done it.

I don’t know who “they” were but apparently they were important enough to have me beating myself up for not being where I believed I was supposed to be.

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Over the past maybe 2 weeks I have been on this deepening path. Deconstructing things, questioning old beliefs.

This creative weekend has really been a beautiful little balm for my creative soul. She so needed to be treated to a weekend of possibility with zero expectation. She needed to be rewarded for her strength, for showing up even though I was, to be honest, quite mean to her a lot.

In all of this, there has been a bit of a returning to myself. Reconnecting with the parts of me that had been patiently waiting for their time again. Parts that knew I needed my attention to be elsewhere but that one day I would come back and be so grateful they were still there.

If you are feeling stuck creatively. If you are questioning your legitimacy as a writer or an artist or just whether you are actually creative at all I would like to send you a virtual hug. I don’t know about you but I am so grateful I have creative outlets. Whether I am stitching something, writing something, playing something or whether I’m just thinking about those things.

Creativity is what connects me to me.

The bigger me.

Being creative connects me to The Creator and the energy and alignment that comes from that is, well, it’s truth.

I have been blessed to be able to get away for the weekend and I know that.

If you are a momma with little ones you may be reading this with one in your arms, through bleary eyes at 2 am on your phone.

I see you. Hang in there. You are doing amazing and you got a collective mamahood cheering you on as you go through the hard moments, the beautiful moments and everything in between.

If you are someone who just feels stuck, uninspired or maybe not even sure how to begin to get back your creative spark-I see you. Stuck is part of the journey. Sometimes the only thing I could do was watch other people be creative or read the writings of others. You aren’t alone. You aren’t behind. You aren’t wasting time. If this extremely long north eastern winter has reminded me of anything it’s that all things need a pause. We aren’t any different.

Maybe you are someone in the feasting stage of creativity. You are full of ideas as they flood in fast and furious and you are just trying to keep up. I am cheering you on and hope you know that the making is enough. If no one reads it, listens to it or sees it, it’s enough. You are a beautiful creative-making machine!

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If I could wish one thing for all of us, it would be to spend a bit of time today recognizing our amazing gifts. Seeing all we have been given. Resting in the things we have already done, made or dreamed. To relish in the creative expression of another and send them a little cheer for not only making something but sharing it. Our energy goes so far and even if we can’t reach out to someone and say “way to go you” offering up an energetic cheer really does make a difference.

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So that is all for me. I have some creative plans before I leave but they may not happen until I get home and that is alright with me. Thank you for being here with me on my journey and I wish you a beautiful week!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Little and Often: Moving slowly, creating intentionally

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I’ve been moving slowly and yet time has been whirling around me.

It’s been intentional, slowing down, being more deliberate, trying to stick to the creative focuses I have been given.

I always find it interesting how slowing down, not being hurried or busy seems to be revolutionary. In this journey I am learning just how necessary it is for me. There has been this uncovering the past few years where I am realizing so many of the aspects of who I truly am were never in need of correcting.

That doing things little and often provide me with true and sustainable momentum while also providing the most joy in my chosen task. For me, rushing and forcing never works. It’s not sustainable. Pushing and hustling doesn’t work for me either. In most ways it is completely counterintuitive to my own creative process.

Over the course of my creative life I have moved in rhythms that looks something like hustling and pushing followed by avoidance and then beating myself up for said avoidance.

The balance for me lately when those “you should be…” come to mind is responding with, “this is my life.” That little phrase reminds me that I get to do these things, there are no shoulds here.

I also recognize that my creativity needs space. If I don’t make regular time to be creative, then I can’t expect to make much.

Schedules and routines are lovely things I like to think about but I work much with a general list of priorities. I have been playing with a habit tracker and it has been working well. In the past I would focus far too much on what I missed, the boxes not checked, but I have been working on that and having a simplified list of my 3 creative focuses has been helping.

Last night I was lying in bed and thinking about my plans for my Substack. I don’t know about you, my fellow creative, but sometimes the ideas come fast and furious and then before I know it I am facing complete overwhelm at the realization that there are just not enough hours or enough energy. The idea of the three focuses has truly helped me clear out the clutter and find my little and often.

So, I took a breath, focused within and asked, “ok what’s my purpose? What’s my focus?”

Writing is one of my focuses so here I am, working on this week’s Letters for Creatives. While trying to keep focused with a million ideas whirling in my head.

So this weekend, while the snow falls here in the Northeast I am going to be finishing the most recent round of edits for my cozy mystery and recording a creativity session for paid subscriptions. Those are my plans. My ideas are, well, more.

I really want to do some collage. I have been thinking about it for maybe two weeks and I just need to sit down and get collaging. There is just something so therapeautic about tearing up bits of paper and brushing on some glue before sticking them down.

I want to finish my current junk journal. I have only 2 pages left and a few that need some last little bits added to them.

Slow stitching. I am really excited to finish the first page in my slow stitch journal so with any luck I can share the finished page here.

I would love to hear your thoughts about creativity. Are you best when you challenge yourself to make things happen or do you also need to do things gently? Are there any projects you are slowly chipping away at? Please let me know!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

 

Stitching, Music and Meditation

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Simplifying and Returning

It’s been a bit of time since I sent out one of these letters. All is well in my dilettante world so it hasn’t been anything in particular that has kept me away. If truth be told I have been in a bit of a slump. Not creatively. I am happy to say that I have been making lots of things and I’ll share some in a bit. No, my slump has been about sharing and how to even do that.

I’m going to go on a bit about that so you may like a cozy beverage and a cozy spot before continuing. You can go ahead and get yourself cozy I’ll wait.

Alright then, I too am cozy at the moment. Curled up on my bed crossed legged writing with my laptop in my lap. I have always loved writing this way. Back in high school (well before laptops) I would sit with my electric typewriter on my lap writing an essay that was due the next day. It was a lot heavier than my current set up but I still would love to find that old electric typewriter. I’m convinced it’s still in my attic somewhere.

Gen X Memes for Anyone Delighting in the Boomer-Millennial Feud

So coziness and laptops aside I have been trying to figure out what I want to share and how. I love watching other creatives’ videos (I’ll share some of my favorites later) and it always makes me want to start sharing my own again.

Only, how?

And what?

This musing usually takes me a good few weeks until I finally decide to dust off the camera that lives above my desk and film my current project.

Only, the battery is dead. So I plug it in. Memory card full. How is it full? I haven’t recorded anything? Put in a new memory card, film, feel so good about myself.

The entire video was blurry.

That was about 2 months ago.

I love technology.

I love creativity.

The two together however always seem to trip me up. We will not discuss my Cricut. Or my Silouhette. Or my longing desire to turn my art into kiss-cut sticker sheets only to be foiled each time by a cutting machine.

Other times I have managed to actually film and get to the editing process only to spend the whole time thinking, “What is going on with my hair?”

hermione granger - Imgflip

And then I start to wonder about what I should share. I do so many different things you know? How can I compartmentalize everything so that people who like to journal aren’t put off by posts about sewing teddy bears (more on that later). Or what about my journey to publish my cozy mystery in 2026? Just because someone likes watching me make over my dollhouse doesn’t mean they want to hear about my cozy mystery.

So I thought and I mused and I pondered and I created and I have now decided to get over myself and just start sharing. I mean, lets face it, we are creatives all of us. I know for a fact that most of us have lots of hobbies and interests so I am going to just start sharing again and see where the yellow brick road takes me.

Now there is a chance that you are reading this and thinking, “I have no idea who this is or how I got on her newsletter.” If that’s you-well thank you so much for reading a newsletter from a complete stranger. Welcome! My name is Michele and I have been writing under The Dreaming Dilettante for now about 20 years maybe? I am a writer, an artist and an inspirer (I had to look that last one up-turns out it is totally a word so I am going to roll with it despite the red squiggles under it).

I am also a homeschooling mom to 3 pretty awesome kids and pet mom to two senior beagles, one senior cat who is the biggest love in the world and a house rabbit named Frank who is in love with my beagles. We haven’t had the heart to tell him they are hunting dogs and thankfully they are too busy napping and snatching treats to pay him any mind.

I have a ton of hobbies and I love to learn new things. I am always taking classes. Currently I am working on my PhD in Theocentric Psychology from The University of Metaphysics and I am also working on becoming a certified Yoga Teacher. I am studying French, I play the flute and am currently learning guitar. For Valentine’s Day my husband bought me an electric guitar I had my eye on and I am pretty excited about.

I love to sew things. Things like bags, baskets, and especially plushies. In the last two weeks or so I have made this cute bear my 7 year-old named “Honey” and this frog named “Flo” (find out where Flo’s name came from down below) That same daughter fell in love with Flo who now belongs to her.

(I totally kept Honey for myself).

I am also taking part in the 100 days of stitching challenge and working on my first ever stitch book and absolutely loving how it’s coming out. I’ll share more in another post about my plans for this little book.

I am also in the process of editing my first ever cozy mystery which I am planning to self-publish later this year.

When I sat down to do my planning this year I really spent time praying, meditating and asking God to show me what I should be focusing on. I really tried to get clear and not seek what I should be focusing on for money, or career but in general what my creative focus should be. The answer was really clear and specific (I am so grateful for that!).

Writing, my PhD and my Yoga Teacher Training Certification.

It felt so clear and concise and I have been really doing my best to make those my focus. Before I invest time or money I am asking if it falls into those categories. It’s made my career focus much clearer and most beautifully it returned my creativity back to me. Instead of my trying to figure out how to market my creativity or turn it into a product, it’s now something I can use to restore me, challenge me and simply enjoy.

It’s also feeling like this level of grounding is inspiring me to just share what I am doing. Who cares if the lighting isn’t great or I say “um” a few times too many. I don’t care about that when I am watching my favorite creatives. When I sit down to watch them I am resting, having some creative time (or tea time) with a like-minded person and delighting in watching them make something.

Sounds like something the world can use more of right?

So, here I am, writing, (yay focus #1) and sharing some light (which feels perfectly in alignment with my Yoga Teacher Training and my PhD work so #2 and #3 check!)

I hope my letters inspire you but also I want them to feel like a safe little space for you to rest in. I’ll stick to sharing things that brighten your day, delight or maybe offer you some reassurance that it’s ok to just watch people be creative when maybe you just can’t.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be expanding things here, showing up more and I hope you will stick around. I cannot wait to see what you make.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

I share more to my subscribers on Substack about Flo, what’s been inspiring me, what I’m reading along with links to all the patterns I used. You can check that out here.

Art Journaling: Quick Creativity for Busy Days

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Creativity does not have to wait for hours of free time.

In fact, you can get your creative juices flowing in as little as 10 minutes!

I have been on an impromptu content creating hiatus. For many reasons but if I were to pick just one it was me trying to be perfect.

Trying to create perfect journal pages. Trying to create perfect content. Trying to find perfect words.

Did I say perfect too much? Well I was definitely trying to create in a way that, if I am honest, I have never created before.

I like quick, I like to enjoy the act of creativity.

I love getting messy and for my space to be in total chaos around me as I pick up this thing then that thing and glue this and scribble that.

 

It makes me so, so happy!

Mess Can Be Part of the Creative Process

When you have a mess of supplies on your desk you can be called into the general sense of creativity.

  • Seeing your favorite pens might inspire a scribble or a doodle
  • A picture torn from a magazine might become the focal point of your page
  • The general sense of chaos also can allow a letting go of the need to be perfect and to just have a play

Having supplies already out on your work space makes it so easy to dip in and out of your journal pages when you only have a few minutes to play!

Here are some tips for quick art journaling sessions:

  1. Keep a small tin or bag filled with some yumminess to add layers and dimension to your pages
  2. Keep some markers, paint pens, gel pens or colored pencils in your favorite colors. Choose 3 that are in the same color family-cools like blues and greens or warms like red, yellow and orange.
  3. When in doubt-washi! Washi tape or even masking tape can add interest and be used to hold down some of your decorative elements.
  4. Keep the trash! Got some junk mail or cool tags off that new maxi skirt? Keep them and add them to your ephemera tin or bag. Use them to make tags or just add a level of interest.
  5. Leave perfectionism at the cover! You are here to be creative, to play and to enjoy the process. If at the end of it all you aren’t happy with the results, cover it over with a coat of paint or gesso and have a go another time! The added layers will make for even more creative magic!

Today I started out by glue down some ephemera only to quickly remove it. I decided to use some tempera paint sticks to add color and then a quote jumped out at me and I decided to make it my focal point. Highlighting it with color.

Some background papers and a few layers et voila! I had an art journal page complete!

If you want some company during your creative play time I have a video of me playing in my current junk journal.  Grab your goodies and let’s create a page together! I cannot wait to see what you make! Be sure to tag me on Instagram @dreamingdilettante

 

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante