For me (a non-traditional artist type; although also a musician), I achieve "The Artist's Date" by going into nature. Most recently, an arduous backpacking trip through the Yosemite back country.
There is something deeply creative about the process. Finding camp in a nook amongst the rugged landscape, collecting wood and building fire, finding water and filtering it for use, carrying everything I need upon my back, waking with the sun.
Sure, I could go out to a music venue or take a pottery class. I think that would be meaningful. But nothing seems to strike me to the core, awe me with its beauty, and tap me into the creative flow as immersion in the wild does.
I love the description of camping as a creative process. I completely agree. I used to be an avid backpacker and I remember the scenes you describe fondly. For various reasons I haven't done it in years, but I very much hope to get back to it someday soon. It's definitely an experience that "strikes to the core," as you say!
Oh yay! I was hoping someone would do this. Unfortunately (/fortunately?) I am due with a baby on November 27th! So it seems like that date will be tough to make...but I do hope to come to a future one!
oh c'mon, one-week old, no problem! Love your question mark there... That's such sweet news! Fortunately for sure! I'm sure we'll do another one in the new year, perhaps ~quarterly... you're on the list. Cheers Rae.
same here, precisely. Four weeks vanning and hiking, and then two weeks deep in the high Sierra backcountry this summer did me a world of good. Reflections on that here:
Thanks Rae for this helpful information and intriguing possibility.
And thanks for sharing your essays, which I look forward to reading.
My reading often sparks my own essays.
Ted Gioia's essay on the Death of Information made me think of trust and that made me think of self-trust and now I'm working on a pst about a time I lost trust in myself.
Questions: Am I correct in assuming that magazines will only accept work that has NOT been posted to Substack? And a variant of that question: what if you posted an essay on Substack but wanted to take it much further in terms of depth and length?
Hey David! Your project on self-trust sounds really interesting.
Each magazine has their own guidelines about previously published work, but, yes, for the most part they don't accept work that has been published before, even on a newsletter. I do think that if you have a post on Substack and you rework it/deepen it that seems totally acceptable as original work, though I'm not expert here :)
Yeah, I think that Substack feels a little less like we're all competing and more like we're collaborating (though of course the competitive thing can creep in but I try to keep it at bay as much as possible).
Very much into this undercurrent of collaboration and cross-pollination. I can often feel myself weaving and threading here, I don’t think we can underestimate the ‘influence’ of this....like a huge artist’s quarter feeding each other’s drive to be true to ourselves...and competition is part of that, the kind that stimulates and challenges...
Ooo yes, this topic of competition has been on my mind lately as well - me and Alex Dobrenko recently recorded a conversation related to this that we're going to publish soon. It's in the air! And I think that's kind of your point....
That AGNI essay is a wonder, a joy, the prelude to a manifesto, a sock for old Geoff to chew on, and a bell announcing the hour of the coming-out ball for sensitive folk. It also proves your point about lit mags. Even reading your post and the AGNI essay on the same mobile device, I felt the different “medium.” The lit mag essay slowed way down, in the best way. Hallelujah.
Thank you so much Tara, this makes my week! I am thrilled with the way that essay turned out and the home it found...to your point, it just would have felt different on Substack.
I love this slow writing idea! I often feel I want to write something that takes longer and more effort but I never think these fit the Substack mode of publishing once a week, so I will definitely be considering magazines for these pieces. And I fell in love with a class on Grubsteet until I realised it runs midnight to 3am my time. 😳😢
Remember there is no “substack mode” as everyone is experimenting to find their audience and themselves. I have seen great cartoonists, music curators and more in here so feel free to take an opportunity to share whatever you would like. We are all benefited by it :)
And argh, sorry about the Grub class - I definitely have fallen in love with classes there only to find I couldn't take them for one reason or another. The good news is they have so many! So often I look at the list and am like, wow, did they design that class just for me at this moment?!
Fantastic resource and advice Rae. I've saved it for future reference.
1. My last artist date was to go to two different art stores and buy supplies to draw and learn how to use the brush stroke pens. Just because it looks cool and admire all the artists here on Substack.
2. I haven't submitted to any magazines or newspapers since my 20's (a long time ago). I have an interest and this post is super exciting for me. Because...
3. I signed up for a writing class at the University of Victoria through Continuing Studies and it started two weeks ago. It is definitely reigniting my creative spark (and helping with some practical tools like the ones you've shared above.)
Thanks so much for this post Rae. Greatly appreciated. xo
Very cool that you just started up a class! I cannot overstate the impact those adult ed classes have had on me. It's really what made me a writer in many senses of the word - craft, confidence, publishing savvy...
From reading these comments I'm really interested in doing some visual art! It's scary to me since I really think of it as "not my thing," but I can see how it would be a great way to break out into a different mindset.
I also have "The Artist's Way" and have gone on artist's dates with myself. The last date outside my home was pre-pandemic; however, I have a reminder in my calendar to set aside one day out of the week for Play. Usually this means collaging on a little project. It takes me out of the "verbal" world of writing and gives voice to my nonverbal parts.
When I was attending college, I managed to publish two stories in the "official" literary magazine they had there, a very short piece I wrote pretty well spontaneously and a longer story I had worked several years on. I daresay the stories were the first Science Fiction stories the university had seen!
As to reigniting my creative spark, there are a handful of music videos I found on YouTube that do the trick, from my MTV days when they played actual music videos. Reading new-to-me stories can also do it. If I find myself wanting to take a story I'm reading and go farther with its characters and/or plot, that's a sign that I'm good to go, along with it being a really good story.
As a visual artist, when I am feeling stuck I find it often helps to switch medium. Drawing is not going so well so I have started playing around with printmaking again. It helps me to loosen up, psychologically.
Hallelujah indeed! Sadder but wiser may not win the futile game of capitalism but we reside in truth. And as I sit here with a cat making quiet biscuits by my side, rain insisting on gray and no tidy answers in my reach, I’m content. Thank you Rae for joining me/us there. Genuine, validating, vulnerable, powerful essay.
That AGNI essay is so, so good! An absolute must read!
I’m itching to write on a more personal level, but I’m not ready to share that with my email list. Too many people that I know in real life.
I’ve used Submittable for writing workshops and photo submissions but had not connected the dots to the idea of personal writing. I’m really grateful for the how-to here.
Yes, I definitely have that tension too in terms of personal writing. For me there are a number of topics that are on the table, and a number that are just not an option, at least for now. I find there's enough that I'm willing to share to get a lot of depth, but I don't push myself into uncomfortable territory or to places where I might offend someone important in my life.
Thanks for the insight, and tips. I've been told a few times to submit my work to literary magazines (I write fiction as well as non-fiction) but it still feels quite daunting to sit down and actually start the process. This will definitely help.
I also really struggle with the slow writing idea - it pains me, almost, to be writing week after week on the same post and feel like it's not ready. It's that fine line between 'done is better than perfect' and determining 'no, this one needs a little more cooking'.
I totally have the same hangups about the slow writing. That's why it has really helped me to have two parallel modes, and to do both regularly. Certain posts are faster and go on Substack, certain essays are longer and go to submission, and I work on both in parallel.
Although the Artist's date concept is new to me, I sometimes go to see live music by myself, especially if this is a musical style that none of my friends are into, but sometimes even if they are. I will now add to this going to galleries without knowing what is on. That sounds really inspiring.
Thank you for reminding us that your work gets rejected! You are a brilliant writer and even though I know good writers get rejected it’s nice to see it in writing from the writer herself.
I am going to check out Grub Street!
I’ll answer #1. I’ve taken myself on a few artists dates watercoloring. I write (bad) poetry in my yard while watching the hillsides.
Omg SO many rejections! I should have highlighted that even more, haha. I think anyone doing submissions will get mostly rejections, no matter your writing chops, until/unless you reach the point where your work is being solicited by journals, which is not necessarily even a goal I have in mind.
Love the ideas of watercolor and poetry in the yard!
First, I disagree with the advice to submit to smaller markets at first with any project. That's prejudging your work and, for all you know, that Big Name Editor might be looking for something exactly like what you've written. The other piece is that after they've seen a certain amount of work from you, they start looking for something that they can buy from you.
Secondly, for me one caveat is that I never, ever, pay to submit.
Other than that? Go for it! If you are really intense and wanting to submit fiction and essays, honestly, your best chance is to build up an inventory of 10-20 things in circulation. I heard this one years ago and it's true...once you're sending out that quantity of work, things do sell. Regularly.
Thanks for this post Rae. It's a great reminder of why some of us do slog through the literary magazine submission process. I've only been shortlisted once so it's still a "goal". My writing process is increasingly strengthened by sharing my stories in my writing groups, including one that includes a weekly live storytelling session. It's changed my life. The idea of an artist's date is one I'm familiar with but again thanks for the "nudge". I'm hoping to submit to CBC (Canada) short fiction contest next week. I actually dictated a story to myself during a 3 hour drive this morning but on transcribing it see it now as a piece of non-fiction so I think it's going to Prairie Fire. Reading stories out loud has become the best tool in my "toolbox". Thanks again!
I love hearing about your writing group - I've never really achieved that outside of workshop classes but it's something I hope for in the future!
For me it definitely helps thinking about the lit mag world as a loooong marathon. Nothing really happens within a year, but looking over five years things can! I think it took me many years of ad hoc submitting before I started to get in a groove and actually get acceptances. It's a really different experience than most of modern life...which is why I like it!
When a trek through the mountains isn’t possible, a trek through the thrift store provides sneaky creative beauty. Recently- I went to three thrift stores and just looked at the book sections, lightly keeping an eye for volumes I could use for erasure poetry & cutup work -- a playful creative departure from my usual flow.
For me (a non-traditional artist type; although also a musician), I achieve "The Artist's Date" by going into nature. Most recently, an arduous backpacking trip through the Yosemite back country.
There is something deeply creative about the process. Finding camp in a nook amongst the rugged landscape, collecting wood and building fire, finding water and filtering it for use, carrying everything I need upon my back, waking with the sun.
Sure, I could go out to a music venue or take a pottery class. I think that would be meaningful. But nothing seems to strike me to the core, awe me with its beauty, and tap me into the creative flow as immersion in the wild does.
I love the description of camping as a creative process. I completely agree. I used to be an avid backpacker and I remember the scenes you describe fondly. For various reasons I haven't done it in years, but I very much hope to get back to it someday soon. It's definitely an experience that "strikes to the core," as you say!
And Rae, you are invited to join us at the first San Francisco Substack Writer Meetup -- Alyssa and I are hosting, Dec 6 → https://lu.ma/l08hen0k
Oh yay! I was hoping someone would do this. Unfortunately (/fortunately?) I am due with a baby on November 27th! So it seems like that date will be tough to make...but I do hope to come to a future one!
oh c'mon, one-week old, no problem! Love your question mark there... That's such sweet news! Fortunately for sure! I'm sure we'll do another one in the new year, perhaps ~quarterly... you're on the list. Cheers Rae.
same here, precisely. Four weeks vanning and hiking, and then two weeks deep in the high Sierra backcountry this summer did me a world of good. Reflections on that here:
https://bowendwelle.substack.com/p/life-as-a-goat
This is a wonderful answer. I can attest to the effectiveness of this dating strategy.
Thanks Rae for this helpful information and intriguing possibility.
And thanks for sharing your essays, which I look forward to reading.
My reading often sparks my own essays.
Ted Gioia's essay on the Death of Information made me think of trust and that made me think of self-trust and now I'm working on a pst about a time I lost trust in myself.
Questions: Am I correct in assuming that magazines will only accept work that has NOT been posted to Substack? And a variant of that question: what if you posted an essay on Substack but wanted to take it much further in terms of depth and length?
Hey David! Your project on self-trust sounds really interesting.
Each magazine has their own guidelines about previously published work, but, yes, for the most part they don't accept work that has been published before, even on a newsletter. I do think that if you have a post on Substack and you rework it/deepen it that seems totally acceptable as original work, though I'm not expert here :)
Followed you David, looking forward to the self trust piece....
Yeah, I think that Substack feels a little less like we're all competing and more like we're collaborating (though of course the competitive thing can creep in but I try to keep it at bay as much as possible).
Very much into this undercurrent of collaboration and cross-pollination. I can often feel myself weaving and threading here, I don’t think we can underestimate the ‘influence’ of this....like a huge artist’s quarter feeding each other’s drive to be true to ourselves...and competition is part of that, the kind that stimulates and challenges...
Ooo yes, this topic of competition has been on my mind lately as well - me and Alex Dobrenko recently recorded a conversation related to this that we're going to publish soon. It's in the air! And I think that's kind of your point....
That AGNI essay is a wonder, a joy, the prelude to a manifesto, a sock for old Geoff to chew on, and a bell announcing the hour of the coming-out ball for sensitive folk. It also proves your point about lit mags. Even reading your post and the AGNI essay on the same mobile device, I felt the different “medium.” The lit mag essay slowed way down, in the best way. Hallelujah.
Thank you so much Tara, this makes my week! I am thrilled with the way that essay turned out and the home it found...to your point, it just would have felt different on Substack.
I love this slow writing idea! I often feel I want to write something that takes longer and more effort but I never think these fit the Substack mode of publishing once a week, so I will definitely be considering magazines for these pieces. And I fell in love with a class on Grubsteet until I realised it runs midnight to 3am my time. 😳😢
Remember there is no “substack mode” as everyone is experimenting to find their audience and themselves. I have seen great cartoonists, music curators and more in here so feel free to take an opportunity to share whatever you would like. We are all benefited by it :)
Oooooft love this perspective.
Where are you located, Isabelle, Australia like me by any chance?
Sadly not!! Am in the UK. :)
Yes it's awesome to have multiple outlets!
And argh, sorry about the Grub class - I definitely have fallen in love with classes there only to find I couldn't take them for one reason or another. The good news is they have so many! So often I look at the list and am like, wow, did they design that class just for me at this moment?!
Fantastic resource and advice Rae. I've saved it for future reference.
1. My last artist date was to go to two different art stores and buy supplies to draw and learn how to use the brush stroke pens. Just because it looks cool and admire all the artists here on Substack.
2. I haven't submitted to any magazines or newspapers since my 20's (a long time ago). I have an interest and this post is super exciting for me. Because...
3. I signed up for a writing class at the University of Victoria through Continuing Studies and it started two weeks ago. It is definitely reigniting my creative spark (and helping with some practical tools like the ones you've shared above.)
Thanks so much for this post Rae. Greatly appreciated. xo
Very cool that you just started up a class! I cannot overstate the impact those adult ed classes have had on me. It's really what made me a writer in many senses of the word - craft, confidence, publishing savvy...
From reading these comments I'm really interested in doing some visual art! It's scary to me since I really think of it as "not my thing," but I can see how it would be a great way to break out into a different mindset.
Some answers...
I also have "The Artist's Way" and have gone on artist's dates with myself. The last date outside my home was pre-pandemic; however, I have a reminder in my calendar to set aside one day out of the week for Play. Usually this means collaging on a little project. It takes me out of the "verbal" world of writing and gives voice to my nonverbal parts.
When I was attending college, I managed to publish two stories in the "official" literary magazine they had there, a very short piece I wrote pretty well spontaneously and a longer story I had worked several years on. I daresay the stories were the first Science Fiction stories the university had seen!
As to reigniting my creative spark, there are a handful of music videos I found on YouTube that do the trick, from my MTV days when they played actual music videos. Reading new-to-me stories can also do it. If I find myself wanting to take a story I'm reading and go farther with its characters and/or plot, that's a sign that I'm good to go, along with it being a really good story.
I love the idea of a weekly Play day, if only this could be a common and well-accepted practice in our culture! I think we'd all be much better off.
As a visual artist, when I am feeling stuck I find it often helps to switch medium. Drawing is not going so well so I have started playing around with printmaking again. It helps me to loosen up, psychologically.
That's a great one! I like quilting or playing piano (very badly) as a way to switch modes.
Hallelujah indeed! Sadder but wiser may not win the futile game of capitalism but we reside in truth. And as I sit here with a cat making quiet biscuits by my side, rain insisting on gray and no tidy answers in my reach, I’m content. Thank you Rae for joining me/us there. Genuine, validating, vulnerable, powerful essay.
Thanks so much for your kind words Kimberly! And I love the image of you there on a rainy day with your cat and biscuits.
...this is in reference to your AGNI essay.😌🙏
That AGNI essay is so, so good! An absolute must read!
I’m itching to write on a more personal level, but I’m not ready to share that with my email list. Too many people that I know in real life.
I’ve used Submittable for writing workshops and photo submissions but had not connected the dots to the idea of personal writing. I’m really grateful for the how-to here.
Thanks for the kind words John!
Yes, I definitely have that tension too in terms of personal writing. For me there are a number of topics that are on the table, and a number that are just not an option, at least for now. I find there's enough that I'm willing to share to get a lot of depth, but I don't push myself into uncomfortable territory or to places where I might offend someone important in my life.
Beautiful article on AGNI! walked right through me.
<3
Thanks for the insight, and tips. I've been told a few times to submit my work to literary magazines (I write fiction as well as non-fiction) but it still feels quite daunting to sit down and actually start the process. This will definitely help.
I also really struggle with the slow writing idea - it pains me, almost, to be writing week after week on the same post and feel like it's not ready. It's that fine line between 'done is better than perfect' and determining 'no, this one needs a little more cooking'.
I totally have the same hangups about the slow writing. That's why it has really helped me to have two parallel modes, and to do both regularly. Certain posts are faster and go on Substack, certain essays are longer and go to submission, and I work on both in parallel.
Thanks for the insight, I will see if I can hit a similar rhythm.
Although the Artist's date concept is new to me, I sometimes go to see live music by myself, especially if this is a musical style that none of my friends are into, but sometimes even if they are. I will now add to this going to galleries without knowing what is on. That sounds really inspiring.
Cool! Sounds like you were already doing Artist's Dates :)
Thank you for reminding us that your work gets rejected! You are a brilliant writer and even though I know good writers get rejected it’s nice to see it in writing from the writer herself.
I am going to check out Grub Street!
I’ll answer #1. I’ve taken myself on a few artists dates watercoloring. I write (bad) poetry in my yard while watching the hillsides.
Omg SO many rejections! I should have highlighted that even more, haha. I think anyone doing submissions will get mostly rejections, no matter your writing chops, until/unless you reach the point where your work is being solicited by journals, which is not necessarily even a goal I have in mind.
Love the ideas of watercolor and poetry in the yard!
Two things--
First, I disagree with the advice to submit to smaller markets at first with any project. That's prejudging your work and, for all you know, that Big Name Editor might be looking for something exactly like what you've written. The other piece is that after they've seen a certain amount of work from you, they start looking for something that they can buy from you.
Secondly, for me one caveat is that I never, ever, pay to submit.
Other than that? Go for it! If you are really intense and wanting to submit fiction and essays, honestly, your best chance is to build up an inventory of 10-20 things in circulation. I heard this one years ago and it's true...once you're sending out that quantity of work, things do sell. Regularly.
Thanks for the perspective! Makes sense, and I'm sure there are a number of paths that can lead to success here...as with most things in life!
Thanks for this post Rae. It's a great reminder of why some of us do slog through the literary magazine submission process. I've only been shortlisted once so it's still a "goal". My writing process is increasingly strengthened by sharing my stories in my writing groups, including one that includes a weekly live storytelling session. It's changed my life. The idea of an artist's date is one I'm familiar with but again thanks for the "nudge". I'm hoping to submit to CBC (Canada) short fiction contest next week. I actually dictated a story to myself during a 3 hour drive this morning but on transcribing it see it now as a piece of non-fiction so I think it's going to Prairie Fire. Reading stories out loud has become the best tool in my "toolbox". Thanks again!
I love hearing about your writing group - I've never really achieved that outside of workshop classes but it's something I hope for in the future!
For me it definitely helps thinking about the lit mag world as a loooong marathon. Nothing really happens within a year, but looking over five years things can! I think it took me many years of ad hoc submitting before I started to get in a groove and actually get acceptances. It's a really different experience than most of modern life...which is why I like it!
When a trek through the mountains isn’t possible, a trek through the thrift store provides sneaky creative beauty. Recently- I went to three thrift stores and just looked at the book sections, lightly keeping an eye for volumes I could use for erasure poetry & cutup work -- a playful creative departure from my usual flow.
That's a great one! I'm gonna steal that idea :)
Have fun! I’ve been playing with my recent find- a big coffee table tome called HOW THE UNIVERSE WORKS. 💯