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On Sharing The Process


I‘ve been re-reading Show Your Work by Austin Kleon.

His advice: Make the thing you wish existed. It’s perfect advice. But what does it mean for those of us who have a hard time taking up space? 

  • For those of us who are queer
  • For those of us who are living outside of the binary
  • For those of us who are autistic
  • For those of us who have a hard time finding our authentic voice

I live at the intersection of all of those things, and I’m trying to get better at trusting myself and my unique creative process. It’s okay if the outcome isn’t *worth* keeping or sharing, I keep it as a way to reflect and improve.  

After years of telling myself that I’m not writer, I’ve been working on a Queer YA Novel. It’s based on my experiences as a queer and trans person, chosen family, my dad’s death by suicide, and the friendships that save us. I have to continually convince myself that the process of creating is more important than the end result. For now, I am enjoying the process of world-building, and exploring myself through the characters I am creating. The process of storytelling has helped me get out of my own head, and it’s been comforting to find a home for my thoughts and emotions in a fictional story.  A week ago, I had only written about 500 words, and I’m approaching 3,000 now. As I continue to write, the more I understand the characters, myself, and my intentions for the story.  


Tools I’m using: 

  • Field Notes: For manually jotting down ideas.
  • Evernote: So much of writing is just being a good observer and listener. I use Evernote on my phone to quickly write things I’m thinking, seeing, and feeling.
  • IA Writer: I’ve been using this for all of my rough drafts. I’ve found that this is a great tool for stream of consciousness writing.
  • Reedsy Editor: Easily my favorite to use. It has formatting built in and I actually feel like I’m working on a real project when I write. It helps me keep the end goal in mind and helps my ideas feel more fully realized. 

Query: How can we use the process of creation as a way to find a home for ourselves?