WEEK 7 — PAYING ATTENTION

Focus: Listening, noticing, trusting what you already know

This week is about slowing down enough to notice what’s already there. Most creative blocks aren’t about lack of ideas — they’re about too much noise. When you give things a little space, patterns start to show up on their own. 

For me, when I drive long open highways as you can in the Southwest of the States, my imagination has room to play and create and there’s no pressure on me as it’s all in my head. In a good way. It’s true there’s a big note pad and a pen next to me for a few highlights or words to remind me later but mostly I let myself daydream. There’s the space to imagine. To roam. To follow a mental detour and loop back and forth between different projects or ideas. If you know me, you’ll nod your head as I have multiple focuses at any one time. In part I do this to see what sticks, with me or with you, and also to explore, to experiment. Life is short. There are no guarantees so the idea of paying attentions gives each day a weight, a sense of thanks and ‘oh wow, look at that!’

Inspiration:

“I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” — Flannery O’Connor

• Zen writers often point out that clarity comes from attention, not effort.
• Rilke wrote about staying with uncertainty instead of forcing answers.
• Clarice Lispector believed real creation starts where certainty ends.
• Tara Brach talks about awareness as something practical — noticing what’s happening without trying to fix it.

In my early novels, the characters were in their thirties (as I was) and each fought to find a place in the mainstream culture that didn’t quite accept them, as artists, queer, rural, foreign, any or all of the above. I realise now that I was exploring what it meant to find community, to belong rather than fit in. 

“Fitting in is about assessing a situation and becoming who you need to be to be accepted. Belonging, on the other hand, doesn’t require us to change who we are; it requires us to be who we are.” ― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

Prompts

• What do you notice when you stop trying to be fit in? Be productive?
• Write about a decision you already know the answer to.
• Finish this sentence a few times: “Lately, I keep noticing…”
• Where do you think most clearly — walking, driving, early morning, late at night?
• What question are you sitting with right now?

Activities

• Movement: Walk without music or podcasts at least once this week.
• Food: Eat one meal without multitasking. Just eat.
• Pause: Before you write or make anything, sit still for one minute. No goal.

Explore More

Go somewhere quiet or overlooked — a library corner, a back trail, a nearly empty café. Bring a notebook. Don’t force anything. See what shows up. Note down the sounds you notice, the critters or trash, the clouds or traffic, it doesn’t matter what. There’s no judgement here. 

Optional To Do list

• A short piece of writing that says less than usual. A paragraph, a line, a word?
• A simple sketch using one tool or one color only. 
• A small set of photos focused on space, shadows, or what’s left out.

Final Thought for the Week:

Yohji Yamamoto (Japan) — “Start copying what you love. Copy, copy, copy, copy. At the end of the copy you will find yourself.”

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WEEK 8 — MAKING CONTACT

Focus: Connection, influence, and being part of a wider conversation

Even solitary work exists in relationship — to readers, viewers, teachers, friends, places, animals. This week looks at creativity as something shaped through contact, not isolation.

Inspiration:

Albert Wendt (Samoa / New Zealand)
“We create our lives with the stories we tell.”

• Many cultures talk about identity as something formed through relationship, not alone.
• Frida Kahlo’s work shows how personal experience becomes shared when it’s made visible.
• Thich Nhat Hanh spoke plainly about connection starting with awareness.

When I was twenty, I had a bit of a bad time (English understatement) and ended up living in a tent on the Welsh coast near St. David’s. A tiny city with a bookshop, cathedral, bars and restaurants, shops and the most wild and lovely rocky paths along the beaches. I hid in my tent and worked a few hours a day at the bookshop, I think I got the job because I spoke French, German and Spanish, enough for chatting to the tourists from mainland Europe. And I read, read, read…one of those books was the Bone People by Keri Hulme. My understanding of what was possible expanded and suddenly the idea of being a creative solo woman became a reality even if I didn’t act on it for a long time. The style of writing was unique, Hulmes shifted perspectives, sentences broke apart, new words crept in, rhythms and images lingered. Yes. And the main character spoke to me. I’ll not talk more about that specific book here as I have in other places but I mention it as a reflection for you. 
 

What book, photo, song, street scene or piece of art spoke to you in your teens or twenties? Can you see its influence on you now?

From the Bone People I learned about creativity, found permission to follow my own pace and ways, and understood the importance of community over the mainstream notion of nuclear family as the be all and end all. 

If you look at where you are now, in life and at home, can you imagine looking back at this time and how it is influencing your choices? Play with that idea. 

Prompts

• Who has influenced the way you create, directly or indirectly?
• Write about someone who helped you take your work seriously.
• Finish: “When someone really sees my work, I feel…”
• What kind of attention do you hope your work receives?
• Describe a moment of connection that stayed with you longer than expected.

Activities

• Movement: Walk with someone or something — a friend, a dog, a familiar route.
• Food: Share a meal or prepare food with another person in mind.
• Pause: Take one breath with your hand on your chest before starting creative work.

Exploration

Spend time in a shared space — a café, market, class, open studio, or community space. Observe interactions. Jot down what feels human and real. Then engage with a community event in some way, even if it’s only to help set up and tear down after a public reading or show. What shifted between the two options? 

Optional To Do list

• A written or drawn portrait of someone who matters to you.
• A letter you don’t send.
• A piece made with another person’s input — a word, a color, a suggestion.
• A small photo series about hands, paths, or shared places.

Last Thought for the Week:
Pablo Neruda (Chile)
“You must write, and read, as if your life depended on it.”

Don’t forget – Creative ruts are part of the cycle. If you need a companion through then ups and downs, I’m here, doing my best too. You’re not alone.

Creativity Coaching https://sarahleamy.com/creativity-coaching/

More Links:

Previous course Part One: https://sarahleamy.com/2025/11/15/dirt-roads-and-dog-eared-pages-mapping-your-creative-path/

Part Two: https://sarahleamy.com/2025/11/30/part-two-dog-eared-pages-mapping-your-creative-path/

• Creative Archetype Quiz — “It’ll explain why the doubt hits and what to do with it.” Creative Archetype Quiz https://sarahleamy.com/creative-archetype-quiz/

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Thank you all. It’s been one hell of a year but here we are, still going. Most of us that is. And much love to you if you’ve lost a friend or family member, that’s the hardest heart-breaking experience I’ve ever gone through. Let me know if I can help, take care.