How committed are you to your creative process? by Beth Barany

How committed are you to your creative process? A question I ask in this post for creative writers.

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I thought today I’d share about why I write to you every week.

I started this business to help creative writers. The thing I help with and the thing I care about the most is finishing the book, polishing the book, publishing the book, and doing that again and again.

I love the art and craft of coming up with stories, taking an idea that is nebulous and exciting and turning that into a cohesive story that grabs the reader and swallows them whole for a time — so that they can come out the other side transformed, fulfilled, satiated.

The Ups and the Downs of the Creative Process

I care about the whole process, the ups, the downs, and the doldrums.

Creativity isn’t all smelling like a fresh spring rose. Sometimes creativity is smelly compost, or the invisible scary that’s happening under the surface. If you only knew what all those tiny little bugs are doing to turn our kitchen scraps into beautiful rich earth, you’d appreciate that the churning under-surface of creativity is fecund and necessary for all things to grow.

Creativity is not a straight line from A to B, but squiggly, curly, swirly, doubling back on itself, falling straight down off a cliff, rocketing high to the moon and to the stars beyond. Then sometimes floating gently back to Earth to meander.

Honor the Unknown in the Creative Process

In all my courses and programs, I honor the unknown, the magical, the delightful, and the wacky. I also honor the ancestors, all your life experience, and hold space for your questions, your not knowing, your excitement, your passion. All of you.

As a reader, I love stories that take me to another place, invite me into a new adventure, and I help my writers create the same, in their own way, with their own secret sauce.

Through all our programs, courses, webinars, books, I invite you to get to know yourself as a writer and define your stance toward your work.

I started this business with a desire to help writers, and 14 years later I am still doing that. I am more committed than ever to helping novelists write rip roaring reads in a way that is right for them.

Most of my energy goes into supporting our writers in our premium program: the Group Coaching Program for Genre Fiction Writers.

In this 12 month program we support you to polish your novel, and if you’re ready, to publish it. In this program I’ve been running for seven years, I have students who have been participating for years. When people join I ask them to commit to one year because it takes time to edit a novel.

To join the program you need to have completed at least one novel, one rough draft.

The name of this game of being a novelist is:

• Stick-to-itiveness
• persistence
• commitment
• trust
• play, playfulness
• experimenting
• honoring what is
• enjoying the story, but not being the story.

Being a writer, being a novelist, being an artist of any kind, invites us to be able to step in and out the roles, not just the roles of our characters but also the roles involved in the creative process:

• the idea bringer
• the writer
• the editor
• the producer
• the publisher
• the marketer
• the salesperson
• the one who does not know

There are many hats to wear in the creative process and they are all delicious.

Why I Write to You Weekly

To share with you my style, my beliefs, my mindset, what we’re all about here, and of course to make offers and invite you in closer to work with me, to work with us.

Central to my work with writers is my partnership with Ezra Barany, my husband, a writer, and a high school physics teacher, and a co-teacher in many of our courses and in the group coaching program.

He is funny, wacky, an idea generator, and always willing to play/teach, share, and is a great embodiment of the creative process.

I know I would not be the writer I am today nor the entrepreneur I am today without his love, support, and example. He cheers me on and celebrates all my efforts. (BTW, it’s his birthday Sunday and here’s what he’d like for his birthday: for you to check out his books.)

We are here to celebrate all your efforts and encourage you to learn, grow, stretch into the writer you desire to be.

My Offer and Invitation to You

Are you looking for a community of support with like-minded writers who want to turn their passion for writing into a career, and who want to put writing as the center of the creative life?

Are you looking for knowledgeable guides who can help you illuminate the path and avoid the pitfalls?

Are you ready to commit now to the next step in your writing career?

If so, then check out our group coaching program and see if it’s right for you.

We have openings in the program, and if it is a good fit for you, you’re welcome to join us.

If you have questions about the program and would like to talk to me personally, go here to sign up for a one-on-one call: https://coaching.bethbarany.com/contact-us/.

I look forward to talking with you soon!

Question for you

How committed are you to your creative process? I’m curious. Reply in the comments to share your answer.

PS. Live Your Magical Life summit starts soon. Marie interviewed me about the creative writing process and we compared it to the five elements system. It was a fun conversation that I hope is helpful to you. You can sign up for the free 6-day summit here:

http://bethb.net/magicallife

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ABOUT BETH BARANY

A Master NLP Practitioner and certified creativity coach for writers, Beth runs Barany School of Fiction, a full suite of courses designed to help genre fiction writers experience clarity and get writing, so they can revise and proudly publish their novels to the delight of their readers.

Based in Oakland, California, Beth Barany has presented at Ithra Center (King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture) in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, at the Women’s Fiction Festival in Matera, Italy, at Romance Writers of America National Conference, at Emerald City Conference in Seattle, Washington, at the San Francisco Writers Conference, and at San Francisco Bay Area chapters of SCBWI, CWC, and RWA.

Award-winning novelist, Beth Barany writes magical tales of romance, mystery, and adventure that empower women and girls to be the heroes of their own lives.

She is the award-winning author of Henrietta The Dragon Slayer, the acclaimed paranormal romance author of the Touchstone series, and is proud to release her newest novels, science fiction mysteries about Janey McCallister space station investigator.

The first book in the series, Into The Black, is a Page Turner Awards ebook Finalist. She has also written books for writers, including Plan Your Novel Like A Pro, co-written with her husband, thriller writer Ezra Barany.

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