Tiny Beautiful Things
Hello Sweet Muser,
February is one of my favorite times of the year for a very specific reason: It’s the start of gardening season. For a Florida gardener, February is when we get the last of our seedlings started indoors, and make any final preparations so the garden can thrive come March.
This year I wanted to spread the gardening love, so I invited over some friends for a seed starting party. We dug around in the dirt, put seeds in planters, and dreamed of what they would become. I am now the mother hen to our dozens of seedlings, watching them daily as they peek out of the ground and grow.
It’s a remarkable process to witness.
Most of these seeds are so small they could pass for a speck of dirt. And yet, with a little light, soil, water and warmth, they will evolve into a beautiful plant. That plant will provide all of this sustenance and beauty, and in a few months will cease to exist entirely.
It’s a little bitter sweet, and I’ll be honest, my first year gardening it bummed me out.
We live in a world that encourages bigger is better. We must have more, and do more, to have any value at all. Things must live on forever! I mean heck look at the internet, things do live forever!
So old me would desperately try to nurse my tomato plants along, keeping some fictitious dream alive that they could be more than they were supposed to be. Like I could somehow keep them growing forever.
As creatives the bigger is better way of thinking can be detrimental. Sure we all have our big dreams. We need our big dreams. They are really fun, give us direction, and encourage us to imagine more for ourselves than we thought possible.
I love a big dream.
But what about the small ones? When the pressure of the world steps in around small dreams, it can take something tiny and beautiful, and rip it to shreds with questions like:
How can I monetize this? Will it generate enough income to be worth it?
How will it fit into my brand?
What’s the optimal pricing strategy and place in my sales funnel?
What is the most scalable model for it?
Is the market too saturated for this?
I mean seriously . . . can you feel the joy being sucked out of the room just by reading those questions? Because I sure can.
Don’t destroy those tiny beautiful things!
Sure sometimes a small idea is destined to be more, but I wonder if we can ask a better question. Can I be more like the humble tomato plant and make something remarkable in the present? Can I just begin and let it be what it is?
It’s why I love writing novellas. They are exactly that. Would it have been better for my author career to write another full length? Eh, probably. Could I have stretched Afterlight out into a novel? Well thank the stars I didn’t, because that would have been a terribly drawn out, boring book.
Sometimes to honor the idea most, we have to let it be a tiny beautiful thing.
Still, as a society we can’t help ourselves. I often get asked, “Will you write a companion novella for every novel you write?” It’s that cultural pressure creeping in again.
What’s next?
What’s the plan?
What’s the point?
The truth is who knows if I’ll keep writing novellas or not. They don’t exist for some grand plan, so it will depend on future me and the muse.
Creatives need space for tiny beautiful things. Creations that don’t serve any other purpose than making what you feel called to make.
For this month’s creative spark we will dig deeper into creating tiny beautiful things, and how as creatives we can cultivate more of that energy into our practice. This is part of the paid musings offering, but as always, you can use a free trial if you want to join us.
As you move through your week, spend some time noticing the tiny beautiful things around you. The small joys people hang on their fridge, the decorations on the birthday cakes at the grocery store, and the hints of spring coming through. Then ask yourself, how can I be like a tomato plant? Can I make something just because I want it to exist? Even if it’s going to be irrelevant in a month, a day, an hour?
I’d love to hear about what you notice. Drop me a message so we can chat.
Keep on creating,
P.S. If you want to learn more about my latest novella, Afterlight, which releases on March 10th, you can check it out here.
How my creativity looks this week: Besides digging in the dirt, I have been working on a developmental edit for a novel that has me soaking up another era. No spoilers of course, but it’s inspired me to crank some rock music while in the car this week.
Where I’m seeing the muse: I am itching to do some pottery again so I’ve been rewatching the Great Pottery Throwdown. It always leaves me buzzing with the possibilities of clay. Also who doesn’t love a British competition show?
A Creative Reminder from The World: Completing something, no matter how small is an opportunity to close the loop. To feel the loose ends tie up. Take time to enjoy the beauty at the end of something. Feel the inner power and delight that come with it too. You made something.
Really enjoyed this, Yin. Thanks
My kids found daffodils in my neighbors yard yesterday ❤️