Reading for the sake of writing
The source of my newsletter inspiration
My newsletters have long been a hot spot for me to share my uncensored sass in many ways including imagery. And this week is no different - except I have a brand new series of portraits to share with you (some of MANY coming this summer). And so alongside sharing the first of these images, I’d like to embed them in a gratitude post to the writers who inspire me. Read on and learn about how much I credit other writers for the head space I am in today.
The way I connect with other people's writing is a rainforest of inspiration, washing me with an abundance of knowledge, and providing a chorus of perspectives that shape my mind and spark a delicious cycle of curiosity. I treasure the way their stories carve a space for vulnerable truth sharing and their eloquence reminds me how powerful a rich, full sentence is. The difficulties and challenges that writers generously expose become a bed for my own experiences to soften. Their newsletters feel like a sibling popping their head in each week and saying ‘hey honey, have you thought about this?’
I cry sometimes when reading their vulnerable words; I relate to their memories and feel deeply responsive to the gentle ways they are willing to open up. I have embodied their guidance and wisdom helping me carve my own creative pursuits and enthusiasm to act with purpose. Through the words of other writers I have learnt how to silence the bullies, navigate creative careers, ask for more and build the future I desire.
Meet my newsletter heroes:
When the newsletters of the writers listed above land in my inbox each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday I am immensely grateful. The comfort it brings knowing I have four or five curated paragraphs to look forward to reading gets me through my inbox to-do list. On publishing days, I wake up with an appetite to munch on their words and aspire to be as impactful through my own writing.
I wonder if you’ve ever felt the same? If you look forward to these sassy words winding their way to you? Do you meet my words with joy, resistance, trepidation, neutrality? I’m never quite sure what you, my dear readers think until, once in a while, a stranger or friend or distant acquaintance stops me at an event or reaches over a dinner table to tell me they’re a sassy subscriber and they love what I write. It means the world when this interaction takes place and it happened recently over a zoom call with a long-lost client who shared how much they had learnt about kink and body image since reading this substack, before asking me ‘how do you show up each week and write?’
For me, the writing process is something that happens in two forms. The first (and more frequent process) is when it gets to Wednesday night and I clock that a newsletter is due for the next day. I’ll pull open my notes or grab my laptop and write, write, write. A tumble of thoughts arriving in the 11th hour. Sometimes I’ll start a new draft three times before finally finding the flow allowing the words to pour out. The next morning I’ll tweak the structure, rework certain sentences and try to make sure I have a solid point that I’m getting across. I then select the images and whoosh, off it goes on route to your inbox.
The second way is where I greet you from today, waiting on a curb, with a pocket of time to spare before friends arrive. I’ll sometimes find myself having an idea of what to write while in these in-between moments when an idea for a title will come to me (it always starts with the header) and out pours a thought that spins into a story, a passage of quandaries, an idea that’s asking to be explored, knocking on the inside of my brain and reminding me it's time to write. This feels like flow state and it's bloody delightful.
If you've been sitting on an idea to start writing, or if you struggle with that pressure to turn up and create then, as always, I suggest two acts. Firstly - look for inspiration. Read something, watch someone, observe your life, ask questions and gather new references, sources, ideas and thoughts.
And secondly - act. Put pen to paper, dip the brush in paint, open your mouth and sing, move your body and dance. Whatever it is, give yourself permission to do it. Get going and the more you welcome movement the easier it will be to swim with the current, to flow with creation and activate your gifts, talents, skills and abilities. We all have them lying inside of us, waiting to be brought to life in the most joyful ways. ‘Do’ for the sake of doing, ‘do’ for the sake of feeling, ‘do’ for the sake of creating, ‘do’ for the sake of yourself - to unlock, unravel, unwind, undo the resistance and have fun.
Sent with sassy love, as always
Bx
Portraits by the gorgeous Wayne Lee. So many more goodies coming from our day spent in the photo studio together last month.
@wl6538 on IG: https://www.instagram.com/wl6538?igsh=cDY2bDVhZnZsZXRq