How to Write During a Zombie Apocalypse
witches resist by creating!
I get why the proverb “May you live during interesting times” is a curse. Christ on a cracker, how can a human mind process all this insanity?
The answer is your BRAIN CAN’T. Fascism is having its way with your gray matter. It’s scrambling you with despair and overwhelm and sheer WTF?
Which sucks.
AND the resistance is working. Cracks are showing. Yes, it’s terrifying but please keep up your good work calling your reps and making lots of noise!
Because witches resist by creating!
Witches say hell no, fascists, out of my brain space, now! Be gone Satan, you will not steal my life force today.
Yes, it’s easier said than done some days to ignore the zombies chomping at the front door. They can be so loud, moaning and all.
Here are a few practical ideas:
Spells are often made of words.
Words are sacred magic. Tap into that. And if writing isn’t your jam, find the sacred beauty in whatever materials you use. It’s there.
Tap in your rebel self.
Tap into your no more f**ks to give energy to get to your creative work. Shake your fist and shout, “Out of my head, you little chaos-creating losers!” Or perhaps use a few more pointed words. I love to curse. I’m serious — flip the bad actors a bird, use that hell no energy to get over inertia and back to work.
“Do not obey in advance” by giving up your creative power.
It takes precious cognitive resources to pretend everything is okay when it certainly is not and it also eats up your energy to spin endless doom scenarios, even really creative ones.
I should know, I’m very good at it!
Sometimes you have to feel all the scary feelings before you can work or otherwise, you go numb, and so does your desire to create. Sometimes when I sit down to write, I put my hand on my heart and spend a couple of minutes feeling all my rage and fear while dropping the stories about what I think might happen in the future. That last part is essential. Not easy — again cue writer’s brain that loves to make up wild stories — but it is very effective for clearing inner noise.
Remember: when you create, when you focus on the things that bring you meaning and joy, you gain energy to resist.
As I wrote a few weeks ago, “Witches are profoundly creative. We need to be profoundly creative right now, for our sanity and our world.” Your witchy power is fed by creating. Create to keep your power levels up. We need your magic. Fill your battery with what lights you up. This is a long-haul fight for freedom and autonomy and all the good things we love.
Keep it small.
If you have little energy or few ideas, do something tiny just for yourself. I make collages on postcards at my kitchen table. A little spark of fun can relight the pilot light of hope in your heart.
Extra super practical tips I use to write my novel these crazy days:
Decide each day when you will create and for how long. Vagueness saps your will. Be specific. “After I walk the dog, I will go right to my computer for one hour without checking email, social, or the news.”
On the days you won’t create, be clear about that too. Don’t hold your creative practice over your head like a threat. Clarity eliminates guilt.
Give yourself a simple ritual to enter the work. SIMPLE! Here is mine:
I boil water for herbal tea (I have a kettle and a drawer of tea right next to me).
While the water boils, I check off anything quick that needs doing like answering a quick email or adding things to my to-do list for later. Then I make my creative cave — close my email, any unnecessary tabs, push any business paperwork out of sight.
Tea steeping, I put on noise-canceling headphones, set my cheap kitchen timer, and start writing. I usually set my timer for an hour and then take a short break. Try 15 minutes! Longer isn’t better if it means you won’t show up!
I do not cheat on my timer often because it makes me feel bad. If it says I have 12 minutes left, I don’t click away to check if the zombies have eaten through the garage door. I like to keep my promises to myself. I sometimes also use Freedom to block the internet, especially the news sites, if I’m wanting to check the last bat-shit crazy stunt.
Another key practice for me is breadcrumbs. At the end of every writing session, I make a note about what to write next. Today my breadcrumb was, “Thea researches the crystal next.” The notes only need to make sense to you. It makes it so less overwhelming to go back to your writing when you have a place to start. Love!
The other thing I do that helps is when I really really can’t settle, I tell myself, “Stay five minutes more" which means just that - stay with the writing for five more minutes and then no guilt, creating is over. Sometimes nothing comes in that 5 minutes, sometimes something important clicks into place, and sometimes I can settle and write longer. All that matters is teaching myself to stay.
If the zombie apocalypse is making it hard to have any ideas, try these prompts to get you going:
Imagine the world you want to live in. Pick one tiny aspect of that world and write about it, paint it, or dance it but make it real. Even five minutes of this will feel better than doomscrolling.
Make a list of the themes in your work or the materials you love to work with or anything that feels familiar. Combine two of these themes or materials.
Ask yourself, “What would my brave self create today?” Listen to her.
Remember you are learning a new skill — how to write during a completely pointless meltdown in governmental norms and human empathy being wrought for one reason and one reason only: to divvy up the spoils of the world to make the rich more powerful. That’s some hard-to-believe shit. So be gentle with yourself.
Love,
Jen
P.S. It does help tremendously these days to gather with other writers and creatives so look for community events or create one around your kitchen table. I have one cabin left in my September Writing Retreat - I lead truly awesome retreats for writers of all genres and levels. Nourishing, generative, healthy, and fun. And this is the last time I will be teaching in the East!
This was like a few moments of being on retreat with you! I wish I could swing September, but I’ll see you in April!! Thanks for the witchy resistance tips, Jen. Super helpful (she says as she listens to ocean waves lapping the shore in St. Thomas….)
This witchy practitioner is weighing in to say this post is perfectly timed for the Pisces new moon tomorrow. 🌙 ✨
What a great time to let the news go dark for a day or two (I promise civilization will not end). Then let yourself rest, daydream, and conjure up images of the world you want to see. At this stage of the cycle it’s not super important to have action steps defined (that comes around the first quarter moon).
Pisces is a mutable water sign that thrives on unity consciousness. Let those possibilities swim in the deepest ocean of your imagination. Jot them down if you feel moved.
Rest is revolutionary if we are going to play the long game. May your dreams lead the way to great healing and joy.