Pen of the Beloved 7/29/24 Pen of the Beloved 7/29/24

When Writing Fails to be the Healing

I started this month, this eve of blooming flowers and mid-spring showers, hoping to write more, filling notebooks with stanzas half-ripened and primed for poetic revelry.

I am learning to lean into the quiet, to linger in the minutes of solace between grinding coffee beans and making meaning in movement, seeking measures of poems and prayers in the silence the day begets.

Pen of the Beloved 1/29/24 Pen of the Beloved 1/29/24

Desiring Intentionality in the New Year

Slower mornings, egg frittatas, and coffee still warm to the lips. Much of my life up until this point has been about financially surviving until I could finally work for myself. Until I could have enough time to muster up the courage and seek a life more fulfilling than the stories told in the formative construction of mine and so many others’ childhoods.

Pen of the Beloved 11/30/23 Pen of the Beloved 11/30/23

You Don’t Need Permission - A Reflection on NaNoWrimo & Creativity

Creativity as a means of daily routine isn’t easy. It doesn’t always feel accessible to tap into creative rhythms, especially when you can feel that all your time is being devoted to other equally, if not seemingly more important, things like work, family, and all of the little intricacies that come with them. In some ways, the act of creating feels like we need some sort of allowance from the world, our families, or even ourselves to begin this journey of engaging with creativity past the stages of inspiration and influence.

Pen of the Beloved 9/9/23 Pen of the Beloved 9/9/23

The Pursuit of Creativity

As a child, one of the things I longed for was to write for a living—to string together prose and poems to incite something in people striving to live beautifully and boldly amid the mundanity we are often fed throughout the course of our lives. After college, I assumed my days would be filled with books and coffee in a big city where I might’ve made a home in the field of publishing. Instead, I found a home in a nonprofit, a job filled with words and doling out helping hands for organizations barely afloat. In a way, isn’t that all nonprofits, to some degree, a crew of workers logging long hours at sea hoping for a stretch of land to fall into sight? I can at least say that I am fortunate to be both a writer recreationally and professionally.

Pen of the Beloved 7/14/23 Pen of the Beloved 7/14/23

Embracing Slow Creativity

Slow creativity, the practice of creating with intention and purpose is slow. It’s quiet and sometimes, possibly boring. For me, it looks like consuming less and choosing silence. It is paying attention to sunrises and sunsets, favorite albums, and favorite poems that exist not always as influence and inspiration, but as enjoyment. Creativity isn’t always doing, many times it’s just being. Choosing to create at a slower pace and even in a more private way allows me to know that my gifts are not commodities. This way of living teaches me to treat creativity like the gift and expression from God that it is.

Pen of the Beloved 10/16/22 Pen of the Beloved 10/16/22

Building Creative Rhythms That Last

Building rhythms that last with intention can place you on a path that leads to less stress, more productivity, and more time to do the things that need to be done while also leaving time for the things you love.

Pen of the Beloved 7/11/22 Pen of the Beloved 7/11/22

Seeking Creativity in New Seasons of Growth

There are moments where I felt posting poetry was enough, that poems were enough to fulfill God’s will for my life. What I discovered is that posting poetry is easy, but creating community is harder. It is indeed the more beautiful thing, but I am always faced with the question of “who am I to do this kind of work?” Pushing past this kind of question leaves me at times, willing to seek convenience than seeking out the perfect plan of Abba for my life and for this work I know He’s called me to.

Pen of the Beloved 12/1/21 Pen of the Beloved 12/1/21

Day 1 | All You Have is All You Need

Today marks the first day of 25 Days of Creativity 2021!

Pen of the Beloved 10/14/21 Pen of the Beloved 10/14/21

When Creativity Strikes Differently Than You’d Hoped

6/29/21 6/29/21

4 Ways to Stay Creative | Semi-Quarantine Edition

Pen of the Beloved 2/22/21 Pen of the Beloved 2/22/21

A Goodness That Lasts | Prose

The world is a tilting sphere on an axis hovering on grace upon grace. Sometimes we take for granted this gift, this overwhelming essence, which stems from the kind of Goodness that lasts. This world needs the kind of Goodness which lasts and stretches, a kind that can wrap its being to cover the roundness of an earth that has forgotten. Forgotten that beauty isn’t so rare, and love, although difficult, isn’t so hard to muster within the caverns of hearts.

Pen of the Beloved 1/21/21 Pen of the Beloved 1/21/21

Three Easy Ways to Set Goals for Your Creativity in 2021

Pen of the Beloved 1/14/21 Pen of the Beloved 1/14/21

20 Lessons Learned in 2020

Hi dear creator,

How does one look back on a year that held so much uncertainty and newness all at the same time? This year was full of new and different things. It is pertinent to note that new doesn’t always mean good, although we tend to think it does.

Pen of the Beloved 12/28/20 Pen of the Beloved 12/28/20

Reflecting on Creativity During a Pandemic| 25 Days of Creativity 2020

In March 2020, for many of us, life shifted. What we knew to be concrete and sure eerily began to be subdued by fear, quarantining, and an inevitable lockdown. We never thought that by December 2020 what felt so heavy in March would still feel so very real in December.