I am inviting you for something special.
The Storytellers Collective: A focused month long online creative workshop
Let me start with a long sigh.. Staring at the blinking line at the start of the empty substack page for the past few minutes, I realised that what they say is true: words don’t write themselves. Today, I wish they did. I wish I could just connect a USB cable to my heart and the stupid blinking line, rather than just staring back at me and making me nervous, could actually write something itself. Omg, I can’t tell you how nervous I feel. I have been wondering - How could I possibly be offering the most ambitious gift of my life and yet feel so nervous, so insecure, so small?
It is slowly coming to me and I know how it completely makes sense but to go through it all over again at this time just sucks so bad. This is what I find hauntingly beautiful about the creative journey: it really knows how to humble you down.
In the past few days of working towards this day of finally launching it, I feel so consumed, almost like my reservoir has dried up, putting all its resources into bringing this all together. I feel small to write this today, but I know I have to do this. This is exactly what will replenish me. I need to do this.
So here it goes-
Last year, around the same time in the month of March, I realised something very profound about the creative journey.
I had just moved to the mountains, and I was excited to build my life as a writer and artist. I thought I had it all, the mountains for inspiration, the rivers to remind me to flow and the solitude to allow me focused work.
A few weeks down, I realised what I was missing.
A community.
Yes, I longed for and missed having a community around.
But, weren't we all told that to write well, we had to isolate ourselves from the world?
Weren't we told that the muse only arrives when the creative is in solitude and in distance from the "impure" world?
That's what I learnt, and I thought so too.
Realising this, I took a bet. I started to host writing spaces, which had no fixed agenda. I just wanted to host a space and trust that the community will support me in driving the space forward.
And that's exactly what happened. In the last year, we hosted 15 writing + creative spaces together. Ranging from topics such as success and failure to zine making, from creative writing to newsletters, we explored many forms of writing and creativity.
The creative spaces became a container for a few of us to write, create and express freely. Personally, I benefited a lot from the spaces.
It almost felt like being replenished every weekend with the community's vibrant energy, only to go back to my workspace for some work in solitude and then repeat!
While it was fun to meet on weekends for a few hours, I missed co-travelling with a cohort of creatives. I missed seeing people again the next week. I missed not being able to follow up on their journey!
That's why I have designed a month-long workshop.
The Storytellers Collective
aspires to provide a disciplined and dedicated structure for creatives to work on a creative project of their choice. Through 90 min weekly community spaces on Saturdays, hourly creative sessions on Mon - Wed - Fri and one on one coaching calls with the facilitator, the goal is to make creative work irresistible. Whether you're a business owner, a working professional, a freelancer or a full time artist, this collective honours and welcomes you as you are.
The Philosophy:
For the longest time, the archetype of a creative person has been that of a lonely person living in the woods. Fuelled by multiple cups of coffee and a pack of cigarettes, the only purpose of this creative is to live to see the next day and to finally make the most defining and moving piece of their life.
While it sounds sexy to live this life deep in the jungles, away from the noise of the world, it is not the most healthy. Creativity is not enabled through loneliness and scarcity.
Here are some things that movies and documentaries of creative people have informed us -
Creatives need to have enough pain to be able to create.
Creatives must remain poor and scarce to be able to stay true to their craft.
Creatives must only focus on themselves and their craft to be able to make it big.
If there is one field that is the most misunderstood of all, it is the field of creativity.
Creative people are almost expected to have tattoos, piercings and a joint in hand.
Regardless of how you look, what job you have, what background you come from and what your financial aspirations are, YOU have the permission to create. And create you MUST.
Especially in these pressing times.
We are in the middle of a polycrisis. Climate crisis is not just a distant reality, we are living it. Doomscrolling and phone addiction are claiming lives. Economies are collapsing, politicians and billionaires are leaving no stone unturned to gain every ounce of money and power, and news channels are puppets of the state.
With all collective systems breaking down, the last hope is that of well-intentioned, creative, mindful communities. We are not marching to a new world but perhaps returning to the old one. Systems that were meant to keep us sane and safe have taken everything from us. The system benefited from our insecurities, our anxieties and our individuality. The system wanted us to fight with our neighbours so that the next time we find ourselves without salt at home, we order it using a quick delivery app rather than taking help from our neighbour. The system has succeeded, the individual has failed and is lonely.
We are the individual. We are the creative. We crave for a community. We want to trust. We want abundance. We want to share. We want to love. We want to speak. We want to express. We want to create.
How does it work?
2 one-on-one coaching calls with the facilitator (thats me :P)
(before and halfway through the month)
In this call, I will speak to you and we will together decide on a creative project that you will undertake for the next month. We will set realistic monthly and weekly goals such that there is a structure around which we can work together. I will share my goals and aspirations for the month as well. Additionally, we will have space to discuss whatever roadblocks or hurdles you face as a creative, and I will take those inputs to design some parts of the journey. I may or may not know the answer to all your doubts, but I will leave no stone unturned to research it.
Weekly Creative Community Space (7th June, 14th June, 21st June, 28th June)
We meet every week on Saturday from 11 am to 12:30 pm IST to gather as a community. The facilitated space will have creative exercises, prompts, practices and rituals that will inform our collective. We will engage with different creative tools such as writing, poetry, photography, zine making, art and meditation.
Creative Hour Sessions (1 hour focused space on Mon - Wed - Fri)
An optional space, we meet thrice a week on M-W-F from 7 pm - 8 pm IST and it is in these spaces that we work, create and practice our craft individually in the presence of a community.
Was that confusing?
Imagine group studying with your friends like the good old days in school. The only difference is that we do this online, together with our videos on to create a subtle sense of discipline and accountability.
NOTE: It is important to keep videos ON for all the sessions.
The link to register is:
Thank you for being around and for being a co-traveller in this journey. I really hope to see you there. If you have any questions, reply to this email.
I invite you to reflect and write on the following prompt:
When was the last time you did something very
ambitious but felt small while actually doing it?
As a feature of all my newsletters, I share a blackout poem, song, book,
plant-based meal, film/video that inspired me, and some photographs.
Blackout Poem: My blackout poem for this week is hidden in a post!
Open the post and swipe right to find out.
Song: Couldn’t stop humming this beautiful song all week.
Book/Newsletter: I have been re-reading some books on creativity these days to feel confident about where I am in my journey. Austin’s series of books is helping + Osho’s commentary on creativity.
Meal: All home-cooked, delicious, seasonal meals + lots of mangoes!
Film/Video:
Photograph(s): Saw a double rainbow for the first time in my life. Mail me back if you want to see more photos + a beautiful video <3
Read my other newsletters :
Why I Ran From Vipassana
The story of moving to the mountains
My relationship with failure
Photography, my first love
Read my short stories :
Socratree
Quenched
Chetak
Coronaceptive
Compilation of all recommendations :
Video recommendations
Music recommendations
Books read
Free Journaling eBook:
Last year, I compiled a journaling ebook for myself for times when I feel I have nothing to write. I am offering it to you for free. Whether you’re starting your journaling journey or feeling stuck in a creative block, this guide will help you find your way.
Download your journaling eBook here.
Thank you for reading my work
Rishabh
All the best, my friend!
This will grow big, I assure you.
this program is for how many months?