Surrender
Heart Leap writing hour begins at 9am this morning - do join us if you can.
“The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.” Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
This month in Heart Leap we are exploring The Creative Space, and after spending last week thinking about how we fill the well, what inspires us, what catches our attention and what gives us that little spark of creative energy, this week I want to think about how we actually protect it.
I have just had a glorious weekend with some very old friends who came to stay, and there has been lots of talking, laughing, eating, remembering ridiculous things we did twenty years ago and generally being reminded of how precious it is to have people in your life who have known you through so many different versions of yourself.
But I have to admit that it also feels really good to come back to my Writing Hour this morning, to sit down with my notebook and carve out a little piece of time that belongs to me and my creativity. Because I think that is the bit we sometimes forget. We can buy the beautiful notebook, collect ideas, read wonderful books, go to galleries, dream about the novel or the painting or whatever it is we would love to make, but at some point creativity needs us to actually make a space for it in our lives.
And life, annoyingly, is extremely good at filling any space we leave unattended.
There is always work to do, somebody to ring, an email to answer, washing to put away, a dog to walk, a kitchen cupboard that suddenly seems desperately important to reorganise just as you are about to start writing.
We can also imagine that creativity requires huge stretches of freedom, preferably involving a cottage somewhere beautiful, a desk beside a window and absolutely nobody asking us what is for dinner.
But perhaps what it really needs is much smaller than that, maybe it simply needs an hour that belongs to you.
That is one of the things the Heart Leap Writing Hours have taught me. I do not have to feel inspired before I begin and I do not need the rest of my life to be perfectly organised. I just have to keep turning up and protecting that little space, because if I do, sooner or later something happens inside it.
So this week, I want us to think about the space we give our creativity, not just in our heads but in our actual lives.
Where does it live in your diary? And if the answer is that it currently doesn’t, perhaps this is the week to give it somewhere to go.
Writing prompt:
Which hour of your week could become yours, and what would you need to protect it from?
Want to create a writing practice? Come join us at Heart Leap.
If you’ve been meaning to write — your journal, your Substack, your book, your Big Beautiful Thing but somehow always end up reorganising the fridge instead… welcome home.
At Heart Leap, I host four writing hours a week Monday to Thursday from 9–10am GMT. We chat for five minutes at the start, five at the end, and the rest of the time we simply write together. No pressure or performance, just a calm, friendly corner of the internet where pages get filled and ideas stop hiding.
If you need accountability, a regular rhythm, or a space where other writers are also muttering “why is this so hard?”, you’ll be in excellent company.
We also have a Writing Rehab class on the first Wednesday of the month and we run the 12 week Artist’s Way once a year (we start 4th September 2026).
If you want 2026 to be the year your writing life finally feels supported, fun and alive, subscribe for £7 a month and come write with us.
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