After working with 80 writers in my online writers’ group, The Literati Writers, from 2012 to 2014, I discovered a trend around the kind of creative person that my community was attracting — a type of writer whom I now affectionately call a “Conscientious Creative.”
(The Literati Writers is now open to new members on a Pay What You Can membership model! Click here for details)
Conscientious Creatives aren’t defined by skill level, experience, expertise, follower counts or number of books sold.
This class of writer, aspiring author or budding artist is highly influenced by a particular set of guiding values and (usually unbeknownst to the creative) the purpose of her art is to align her life’s journey to those underlying beliefs.
Conscientious Creatives are internally-motivated far more than they are driven to achieve worldly ends and material things.
Conscientious Creatives are highly self-aware individuals whose motivations reside within the heart realms. They care. They really, really care. About how they show up in the world, how they move in the world, how they influence others’ lives around them — and especially how they embody the deepest beliefs and values that guide them.
When we talk about starving artists and the typical “woe is me” routine that’s stereotypical of artists, there’s a reason for it — it’s not just about money or because self-oppressed personalities are attracted to be artists.
It’s because, for so many artists, there’s a distance between their ideal perceived core values — what they want, and their core feeling states — from what they’re actually experiencing in everyday life.
Art is the vessel by which artists aspire to embody their values. But the distance between ideal and reality stems from art being a skill-based practice that requires discipline, patience, time, and all the other stuff that comes from trying to be “better” at something. Like getting humbled when you realize you’re not the best. Dealing with self-comparison syndrome. And just becoming tired of all the “fight” that’s needed to keep yourself going when the odds against you seem huge.
Which brings us back to this idea of Conscientious Creatives.
There’s a reason why I teach my Literati Writers how and why to focus on “making their creative journeys more rewarding.” It’s because a soul-aligned journey is the only means by which Conscientious Creatives will ever find fulfillment.
In the process.
The experience.
Daily. Weekly. Monthly. Often.
Not “someday.”
Conscientious Creatives are not highly motivated by outcomes and end-goals — those are niceties, and certainly privileges (I mean, God forbid we should have more readers! And make more money!), but they ultimately won’t guarantee that a Conscientious Creative feels fully embodied and soulfully rewarded in everyday life.
If you are a Conscientious Creative, there are ways to avoid emotional burn out, getting disheartened, or falling into the woe-is-me routine.
It’s by making the everyday journey more enjoyable.
And, by understanding the core values that are motivating you to create your art in the first place.
The first time I really came to understand my core values was such a gift: like pulling fog back from the map, I began to suddenly understand all the reasons why I was moving towards artistry, self-expression, connection, community and service in my life — to spite what cynics or doubters had finger-wagged or warned against for years.
When you begin to reveal the motivating values that have been quietly moving you all along, all of the “illogical” decisions and “inexplicable” choices to invest yourself in your writing, or hide away in your apartment to paint, or lose yourself in a good book, start to make perfect sense.
All along, it’s been because it’s how your soul is hardwired.
You are highly self-aware and ever cognizant of how you show up and move in the world.
You are dedicated to living a life of nuance and meaning. You know what art is, and feels like, and aspire to not only create great art for yourself… but to share it with others.
Your art exists to deepen your experience of life.
If you’re nodding your head right now… you’re a Conscientious Creative.
And, I have an invitation for you….
Calling all Conscientious Creatives. This writers’ group exists for you.
I mentioned my writers’ group at the top of this piece, and how we served over 80 writers in a private, supportive online writing community from 2012 to 2014. I closed the group temporarily in 2014 (read the story of why here), but I’m really excited to say that The Literati Writers quietly reopened this summer!
Actually, I kept the beta relaunch very private because I had no idea if my online writers’ group would still carry any allure after such a long break…
However, in just the last 4 months, The Literati Writers has welcomed nearly 60 writers from 5 countries — almost doubling the total number of that we members served from 2012 to 2014!
This creative community is built to serve, uplift and empower a very specific type of writer: the kind of creative who is not obsessed with raw skill level, or resume credentials, or the number of readers or books sold…
A Conscientious Creative.
Like you.
Rather than obsessing about the outcomes or basing the entire journey of life (or art) on countable things like dollars, fame or followers, members of The Literati Writers are a breed who understand that the journey of life — how we move in it, show up every day, and embody our deepest beliefs — is what makes life the absolutely most rewarding that it possibly can be.
“As in life, it is in art.”
Literati Writers make their creative journeys their greatest rewards.
So if you consider yourself a conscientious creative, the chances are really good that my online writers’ group is something that will help you.
By using your writing well, and writing just a little bit more, I’ll help you uncover the core series of underlying values that have been moving you all along — the soul-deep and highly motivating personal beliefs, axioms and desires that have been driving your desire to write more, to create art, and feel more artful throughout your everyday life.
If you’re ready to uncover the secret code of personal values that’s moving through you already, The Literati Writers can help.
Click here to learn more, and to take advantage of our new Pay What You Can membership model.
For the first time ever, you get to set your own membership rate.
Because you deserve to love your writing, regardless of what you can afford.
Here’s to you and your artful journey,
