Trudging though trending posts and articles this past month, I came across the term glimmer. It rang familiar until I remembered my own attempt to define that sensation back in July as a way to chase, or choose, joy.

Glimmers are basically the opposite of triggers. They are cues to relax, return to self and allow your body to calm itself. Here is a great overview to the term, but pop back over when you’re done. For I have some pointers to weave glimmers into your creative process or to get back into that creative flow.

RAM of Joy

Joy and delight often make me think of surprises. For example, you had a sweet high school girlfriend who always left chocolate in your locker. It was a sprig of delight in the moment. Later in life you realize that while you don’t eat that candy like you used to, it has become cherished. Savoring that chocolate has become a new meditation that you can’t quite explain.

These glimmers aren’t comprehensive experiences. They are simply pings of memory that you randomly access by experiencing your day. It can be how the right coffee is made or the scent of an old, favorite book. Sometimes in order to find a glimmer, we have to be able to look back to what made us feel happy and warm. If you need help accessing that inner self, having a professional to anchor you as you scuba for that information is totally understandable. Sometimes they have techniques to find those things in the present as well, so check with them to figure out how to find those precious gems in your own mind.

Catching glimmers can be difficult, but I have a few ideas on grasping them.

• Do an activity slowly and without distraction. I argue for being weird and exaggerated with the motions. We are eliminating nuance by shifting perception. Maybe the satisfaction from brushing comes from feeling your textured hair. Perhaps it comes from the tidy work of removing a knot. Slow it down and pay attention to what pops up.
• Is your body and mind running frantic so you can’t catch them? Lean into the heat then! Glimmers are difficult to find when you already feel like you are on fire. If slowing down feels painful, then accept that need to run. Use it to get to a point where you can actually rest. Attack that laundry pile, throw your current projects into an action bag, or go buy that tape you keep forgetting to refill. Move your body, fill the ears with fast talking podcasts till your brain starts to even out. Match your actions to how you feel.
• If stuck in a numb state, it’s time to go to an outside source – i.e. talk to some people. It is important to note what it is you try to talk about, for that reveals more about you than you realize. Ask them what delighted or surprised them for the day to see other possible avenues to discover your glimmers. Look up interviews with your favorite writers. See what they say and do some compare and contrast. Here are no wrong answers, just what is or isn’t true for you.

Passing Glimmers into Our Work

Understanding triggers and glimmers can better inform our personal creative habits. We have to be cautious that our passions do not overwhelm us to burnout, or go so stale that we forget our point. What I’ve learned over the year is that while the creative process itself can be a glimmer, our common struggles are completely at odds with that: over-saturated preparations; work activating triggers; giving up before the finish line; and throwing the piece away. How can glimmers get us over these inevitable blocks?

Honestly, it won’t be easy. I’m still going to be struggling with this experiment myself. However I know that building discipline is difficult, but not impossible when you know the elements of mental fortitude and when you know yourself. Thus, let’s start with:

Over-Saturated Preparations

It’s one thing to sit down to write with a drink and treat at hand, it is another thing to set up an entire stage of treats, tools, and more on the table. How can you create when you have the table filled with so many things. Be honest, are you fidgeting with them now, as you find the perfect background sound?

This is an intense charcuterie board of dopamine. You are forcing the joy of writing BEFORE the action. Glimmers are reduced to noise, loosing what made them pop for you. That tether is very long, making it difficult to even start on what you want to do. You can’t find the joy of the work if you’re too busy making it perfect.

So accept the imperfection. Step away from the norm you created.

• create a travel bag for your project. Pack it with the MINIMUM of what you need. The smaller or compact bag is ideal. Identify what you need. Be friends with that bag, recognizing that when you pick it up, you become that identity you apply
• inspiration or muse as a single object. Be choosy, allowing instinct to pinpoint the most important piece. What is the single picture, the ONE item that when you hold it for meditation, you are infused with thought.
• specify the reward you want most at the time. Ask yourself what you want at the end of this writing session. I’ll be honest I have a chocolate frog on the other side of this post. Do I want to go upstairs and eat it instead of writing? Absolutely! But where is the satisfaction in that? Place something on the other end of the experience rather than front loading. This encourages pacing and actually finishing the darn thing.

Triggering Work

You are elbows deep in the moment, fervently typing, building to a climax when you just… choke. Maybe you scribble out several lines, threaten to delete the page. Every sentence feels weak and you are stuck in a cycle of reacting to your own work. And you don’t like it.

I have found it difficult to write when my emotions are activated. It can to lead to more vivid work, but that comes at a cost. It is a reminder of that emotional event, which can feel cringe or uncomfortable.

Take heart, glimmers still shine here. It is about making the space for them. This is appreciation for the sheer audacity. Before editing with a hatchet, consider the following:

• If still writing, commit to the insane. Go off the rails, write the parts that feel janky and wrong, let that character spiral. Pour out emotional vulnerability because that is what it is meant to do: to capture and direct the reader in a direction they did not know how to travel before. Let them into the journey as you write. There is a reason why self-help books capture minds, they show an emotional underbelly that not many are willing to admit to having.
  
• Lean into the uncomfortable and cringey. I have found that delving into the uncomfortable allowed me to accept that I was actually good at incorporating horror elements. Does it make me feel good in the moment? No. Do I generally like or consume horror on a regular basis? Absolutely not. Does it do the job of creating an atmosphere and capture the audience? Yes, and that is what I want. However, it is difficult to grow your voice or style as a writer if you shy away from the uncomfortable. In that darkness of unknown, there is a shadow of a glimmer that you’ve never discovered. Brave the darkness to find what lies deep in you.
  
• Take that break. Grab your favorite comfort item, eat a piece of chocolate you swore you were saving for later. The smallest of glimmers can lighten the mood when you dismount from the project. Use mindfulness to absorb the moment and collect yourself. It sounds so simple, but when the mind is racing even the smallest of breaks to step away and simply enjoy can make all the difference.
  
• Move on to the part you are most interested about. Allow for a time skip to completely divert yourself into a style that makes you feel more grounded. If this means planning for another chapter, take that as a constructive distraction. Point is to have words down, get words down without casting judgement. It is okay to change things up if you are feeling stuck.

Giving Up & Abandonment

Maybe the project has been on the back burner for weeks, maybe months. Does that mean they have to linger partially forgotten till you look at them again? If you stare at the page long enough, does it feel like it’s already dead before you share it? Before giving up the work, consider these approaches to bridge into the ending.

• Return to Basics – what made you finish your work as a kid? Deadlines? Set them and work with a friend who wants the accountability as well. Were you a showoff or liked to daydream your epic finishing party? Then feed that ego to serve you with a single date to your favorite restaurant. Plan and have that celebration for yourself if that is what makes you happy.
  
• Stickers, So Many Stickers – I don’t care that I’m in my 30’s. Stickers are so much fun. If I have to create a sticker chart like I did for studying music as a kid, I’m ALL the way in. Does it fuel perfectionism? Maybe. Does it make me a completest? Absolutely. And it helped. It is a variant of Don’t Break the Chain but with stickers of stars with sunglasses. It’s cool and always loved it. Glimmer upon glimmer upon glimmer.
  
• Stop Picking – So easy to pick things apart. Yet, my dear friend, are you any closer to feeling done? If you are going to publish a book, the editing process is going to be significant. Make things nice as you go along, clarify things as you do so. But what you initially send out will not be your final version. Be clear of what you intend for the vision, but be ready to receive the insights and perspectives of those who are in the thick of the business. They know how to extract the best out of authors, let them work their craft on you to make you better. So make sure to enjoy what you have written. Notice your repetitive phrases as mirth as they reappear. Enjoy when you find a pattern of quirks. You have the chance to observe your growth by how much you let yourself try.

Inevitable Abandonment

At some point you do have to give up the post, either because you are tired of staring at it, or because you finally decide to post it. It cannot sit in perpetuity like Schrödinger’s Blog – it simply would not exist. The difference is in accepting what we have created.

The blog will never have perfect grammar, or hit the perfect rating according to the Jetpack A.I. Your book will not be saved from plot holes nor repetitive phrases. We are human with funny brains that like to make up things, egos that claim we do have an opinion that we believe is worth sharing.

This is the glimmer of Ownership. If you write a book, finish it and print it up only to discover it’s painful trash? Guess what… that is YOUR Trash. And what a glorious piece of Trash it is! It is a glimmering trash that has your heart poured into it. That cringe is you.

Joy is a passing feeling, glimmers are even shorter. You can abandon work, however never abandon yourself. Take Ownership of yourself and your creations, no matter where in the creative process you are!

Last year, a classic YouTuber, Matt Muholland released a beautiful video about being cringe. It is a wonderful look into finding artistic authenticity through the uncomfortable. Making yourself accessible is scary, who knows what family and friends would think if you were simply your true self? Even opening up your skills to the world is unnerving. After all, you are not Tolkien, Maas, or other successful writers. But they did not appear out of no where.

Work through the fear of abandoning your project by remembering the glimmers of stars and inspirations around you. They had their own fears and torn pages. There are abandoned story lines and their own cliches. And yet they persisted, Owning their cringe even as they improved their style.

Own yourself, Own your style. Within that is the ability to turn yourself into your own glimmer, another reason to press on into the winter nights as you craft your dreams.

Fall in love with the process of writing as if you are learning to fall in love with yourself; and dare to be your own star to shine and glimmer through the darkest of times.