“Life meanders like a path through the woods. We have seasons when we flourish, and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again.” ”
This past August, I led the third quarterly Well Writers Gathering, where we get together and focus on a single topic that will support our writing practice and process in the weeks and months to come.
With the change of the seasons - and obsessive research on my part into the concept of seasonality this summer - I decided to talk about what it looks like to be a seasonal writer.
As Zora Neale Hurston once said, “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”
But the deeper I began to explore the seasons I was experiencing internally just within a single month, I realized that there is a whole untapped well of information for us to use on our writing practice and process. A little mindfulness for writers goes a loooooong way.
In this post, I’ll give you a rundown of what we discussed, but I recommend accessing my free Well Archive to snag the recording and the lecture notes on my Lotus & Pen Perks Portal. The portal acts as a mindfulness for writers home base, and I update it regularly.
If you’re not a newsletter subscriber, then you can join here and have instant access (plus lots of yummy workbooks, meditations, and worksheets to support your writing).
Becoming A Seasonal Writer
As writers, we often talk about seasons that are filled with flow or those dry seasons that * some * people (not me!) call “writer’s block.” I’ve always had a seasonal mindset when it comes to writing, but this summer I’ve begun to look closely at how other seasons of our lives play out in the writer’s seat.
The big a-ha! moment was about hormones. I work with female-identifying folks of all ages, so this isn’t just about your period. I’ve come to see the HUGE impact our hormones have on our writing practice and how understanding them can help us manage the the ups and downs of our creativity with more skill, tenderness, and grace.
We're digging into:
How your hormones have seasons and how we can understand those seasons better so that we write when our body wants us to, and we fill the well when it wants us to, and we rest when it wants us to.
I'll be drawing on the incredible work of the book Period Power and the FANTASTIC limited BBC podcast "28-ish Days Later." Important! We'll be looking at moon cycles as well, or other forms of cycles, for those of you who are not menstruating, and having a look at the concept of “wintering.”
We'll be looking at different seasons of your life, especially the one you're in right now: health, relationships, times of day, etc.
We'll come up with concrete ways to chart our seasons for more data and to get more in tune with our bodies in order to have a somatic approach to our writing practice.
I’ll be offering some options for exploratory writing, too.
This is going to be a nourishing deep dive into looking at your writing practice - and those weird days of exhaustion, energy, pain, resistance, or blah - in a whole new way.
Harnessing Your Hormones in the Writer’s Seat
Here's an example of using hormonal seasons to inform your writing practice:
When I began to chart my hormones throughout the month, looking at each part of the month as a season - Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall - I finally understood (for the first time!) all the swings in energy and flow that has affected my writing and personal life all these years. This seasonal way of looking at your cycle is what the above, Period Power, is all about.
(Again, if you aren't menstruating, we'll look at other cycles in your life and can also use moon cycles to structure your writing practice seasons).
I'm in my "Summer" of the month right now, and both my husband and I have been shocked to discover that - no, Heather is not manic, she's actually just got a juicy slew of hormones that are giving her lots of energy! If you are partnered, it is incredibly helpful to clue them in on your seasons.
Being in Summer means that this isn't a big week for writing. It's a week for crossing things off the To Do list, getting shit done in all areas of my life, and having FUN. It's a week for planning and acting on what needs doing. This is deeply supportive to my writing because it means that when my season shifts, I won't feel like I don't have time to write because of all the things I have to do. It gives me more permission and ease to focus on my work.
Next week, I'll be moving into Autumn. Instead of being confused by the slow-down of energy, and maybe even some blues, I'll understand that this is just how my body works. Autumn is a great time to return to my work on the page, a time when I'm more tender and can use those emotions on the surface to my advantage as a novelist. I'll be meditating with more intention and will feel the affects of my sitting practice on my writing more. This is because my mind isn't racing Summer mind, which has NO desire to meditate, except when I've overworked my energy boundaries and need a recharge.
When Winter comes (hellooo Aunt Flow), that is a week where my body is making many requests of me to slow down. I'm not going to go out much, I'm going to say no a lot, and I'll engage in lots of self care. I'll be writing, but less, and might focus more on reading and filling the well, as well as research and brainstorming for my book. This might be a good time to write more emotional or slow scenes, because I'm especially tender.
In Spring, my energy will be picking up - time to tackle my revision, get my writing house in order, and put all that time I spent in Winter researching, journaling, and resting to good use. Clarity is returning, as well as energy. As Spring goes on, I'm ready to get super focused and dive deep into my work.
When Summer rolls back around, I might keep the writing party going if I'm in major flow and use that Summer energy to get a lot of pages done, or I might put the writing aside if I'm struggling to focus because all my body wants to do is move and clean and organize and run errands and go out - and that's okay! Rather than fighting this energy or feeling guilty about it, I get to see how this time is important to my writing practice because it frees up more space when my creativity can use my time and energy best.
Maiden, Mother, Crone: Which Writing Season Are You In?
I’ve always loved the structure of maiden, mother, crone to look at a woman’s life. What’s interesting is that we can be in one season as women, and an entirely different season as writers! Perhaps you’re a crone right now (we’re taking back this word to honor the elders within ourselves) - but perhaps you’re a maiden as a writer. Brand new, with lots to learn!
Which season are you in and how does that affect your approach to managing your energy and expectations?
Maiden: Think debut and emerging authors. Emerging / new writing, learning a lot, receiving lots of mentorship, early pub days. Debut authors and early books. Much to learn about publishing and writing, even if you’re already a professional.
Mother: Think JoJo Moyes, Zadie Smith, etc. Professional paying it forward – teaching, coaching, blogging, etc. Nurturing your own work and growing in craft and story skills, as well as professional skills. Might be very busy and tired, juggling a lot of balls (writing / side hustles / biz etc.)
Crone: Think Margaret Atwood or that incredible professor you took a class with who has been in the business for years. This is a time of offering wisdom, but also going deep into your own work. May be a time of rest, too. Longer periods between output – or possibly a very generative time, as the focus is not on establishing yourself. My husband calls this the “peak don’t give a fuck” phase.
Other Writing Seasons To Consider
Process Seasons: In my signature on-demand course, You Have A Process, we look at the individual parts of your process, the mini seasons within a project, or even within a single writing day or week. This course also includes looking at your revision process. You can check it out here.
Story Stage: Planning / Dreaming, Early Drafting, Dedicated Drafting, Revising, Polishing, Finish / Submit
Career Stage: Emerging, Active (submitting), Professional (published)
Taking Stock of Your Seasons
Seasons can be literal - the four seasons, for example - but there are so many other kinds of seasons we go through in life.
As a seasonal writer, you’ll want to look at seasons of your body as well as any other seasons with work / life / family that you experience. How you flow and work in the writer’s seat can be deeply impacted by what’s happening in your individual seasons. Below are a few to think about, but include any that are specific to you or your community.
The 4 Seasons
Parts of the day / week
Life Season: maiden / mother / crone
Hormone Cycles (menstruation / perimenopause / menopause / post-menopause)
Work / School Seasons
Caretaking / Parenting Seasons
Health Cycles (especially important for those dealing with chronic pain, mental health / health diagnoses, pregnancy, injury, etc.)
Moon Cycles
Spiritual Seasons (Ramadan, Lent, Zen Practice Periods, etc.)
Druid Calendar of the Year
Emotional Cycles: Grief, Seasonal Depression, Bi-polar seasons etc.
Financial Cycles: Ebb or Flow?
Learning Seasons
Your Period Seasons In The Writer’s Seat
*See Period Power (Maisie Hill)
Winter: A tender-time. It’s a good time to rest and fill the well. You might be writing in bed, but it could be good for very emotional or quiet work on your book. Also a good time for journaling, exploring, side-writing, dipping into a course or craft book, etc. A time say NO more often.
Spring: This is a time for taking risks on the page, getting curious and playful. Trying things out and not worrying if they don’t work. Great for drafting, revising, as well as big visionary work for your career and writing practice. It’s a time to say YES.
Summer: Lots of energy – possibly for drafting, or for getting lots marked off your to-do list outside the writer’s seat so you can enjoy deep dives when you’re in other seasons. A time to say YES!
Fall: Good for editing and getting really focused. You’re slowing down, which means you have more time for your writing. A time to say NO more often.
“Change will not stop happening. The only thing we can control is our response. ”
Working with Changing Seasons
In my example above where I used my menstrual cycle, you can see how skillful it is to plan your creative life around your seasons - especially when those seasons are related to your physical or mental health.
Here’s another example: If I’m working with a writer who is Bipolar, then we immediately begin to look at how the swings they experience affect their writing. I’m not a mental health professional, so I make sure all my writers have the support they need from someone else on that end, but a huge part of the work I do is to look at the things in our lives that either support or hurt our creativity.
So, if you’re a writer who is Bipolar and in a manic stage, it could be a great time to write or outline. But if you dip into a low state, then, rather than work against what your body or mind needs, we might look at ways you can still support your creativity - perhaps seeing this as a time to fill the well, or to get much-needed rest (which always supports creativity!). Of course, every writer is different and this is a case where a writer needs a team to really nurture the seasons they’re going through.
A few other examples:
You might have a day job that has a busy season. Well, how can you stay connected to your writing during this time without putting unfair expectations about productivity on yourself?
If you’re a parent with young children, then summer can be a tough season to write. So instead of resenting this, we look at ways to work with the season you’re in.
Notice how we never take a break from being connected to our writing practice (though there will be times when you might need to do that).
Rather, we see what our lives and bodies are offering us to work with, and we discern how best to respond to the given season we’re in, working with not against that season.
Lunar Writing
While the moon is from New to Full, the focus is on growing, building, and protecting. While the moon changes from Full to Dark, our work centers on releasing and letting go.
- Sarah Gottesdiener's Many Moons
No matter what season you’re in, there’s always the moon.
I’ve taken to doing a bit of journaling, some tarot cards, a bit of a check-in every new and full moon.
I have a little app that reminds me when the moon is full or new - handy! And there are lots of lovely ways you can keep track of lunar cycles.
On the new moons, I think about what I want to bring in for this new cycle. For full moons, I focus on what needs to be released. You can make this check-in as simple or involved as you want.
Journal Reflections
What season are you in right now?
What requests is your body making of you right now?
Are you in a season that asks questions, or gives answers?
Seasonal Diagnostic Resources
You Have A Process (my on-demand course is designed to help you understand the individual parts (or “seasons”!) of your process
Period Power (Book and/or Cards) by Maisie Hill
Wintering (Katherine May)
Somatic practices
Meditation
Tarot or Oracle Cards
Journaling
“I am fine-tuning my soul to the universal wavelength. ”
Whatever season this post finds you in, I hope some of the above resources will support you as you move through it!
