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The subscriber chat is open!!!
As creatives, connection with fellow artists is critical. We need folks to bounce ideas off of—people to help us process our blocks, emotions, emergent epiphanies, and other developments as we move through the work. Sometimes we just need accountability and to be electrified by the combined force of a group of people who are constantly moving energy through the creative process.
I know for me personally, I’m at my most engaged and generative when I can feel the presence of others’ honored aliveness.
That’s why I’m firing up the ol’ subscriber chat—which you can access from the Substack app or right there at the top of the OTG navigation bar on desktop.
I’ve been dying to connect with you all more and hear how you’re engaging your creative channel. I want to create a space where we can all share excerpts from our super secret artist notebooks or paradigm shifts that pop in throughout the day or whatever’s happening in our daily lives that could (totally unbeknownst to us) become the art fodder of tomorrow.
I’m a firm believer that your art is your life. Your most powerful and resonant material is also, often, your most mundane. But it’s hard even for me to honor that sometimes—and I’ve had a lot of practice.
Even I find myself refusing to write about the silly little bits of my everyday life; thinking they’re too boring or unimportant to be worth paying attention to.
But one thing that seems to help me bypass that is when I’m talking to people I vibe with or shitposting on social media. Hell, I’ve written some of my best poems directly into the Threads status bar. I went in thinking I was about to fart out the nonsense drivel of my collected vibes for others to blankly scroll by on the feed only to be confronted with something sorta inspiring and more than a little satisfying that I could squirrel away for later reflection.
So what will you find in the OTG subscriber chat?
Anyone can start a new thread so you’re free to use this space as your personal yap-box. Don’t worry about overstepping—I’m auDHD and can easily overdo things, too, so I’ll let you know privately if you need to slow your roll.
Regular somatic check-in threads inviting you to share what’s coming up for you and what feels most alive/resonant/positively pulsating in the moment.
Regular conversation prompts to help us all get to know each other as artists.
Notes and status updates from my creative practice and excerpts from my notebooks that can’t be found anywhere else.
Weekly paid subscriber accountability thread where you can share progress from your projects or regular creative practice. This is the perfect place to get support and feel seen. Come celebrate your wins, share your bubbling excitement, and talk about any sticky spots, resistance, or challenging emotions coming up. <3
Sharing circles for paid subscribers to discuss the results of recent OTG rituals, meditations, and art challenges that you tried.
Sound fun? Then come join the chat!
Today, we’re kicking things off with an introduction thread.
Just pop in and let us know…
Your favorite way to express yourself (doesn’t have to be a traditional art medium—maybe your fave art form is talking to your local nature spirits!)
What initiated you as an artist
Anything else you want us to know!
But before you jump in, let’s cover some ground rules
Be cool to others as you would have them be to you. We’re going to share some pretty sensitive and vulnerable things in this space and we need to regularly check-in with ourselves and make sure we’re meeting others the way we would like to be met. If you wouldn’t appreciate being hassled about your process or how you’re dealing with your emotions/life events, don’t do it to your internet friends!
Make sure you’re being cool to yourself. Before you share something, check-in with yourself and make sure all parts of you are onboard with your most sensitive material being made public knowledge. Ask yourself if you would be honoring this emotional experience by sharing. (There’s no right answer, just what feels right to you.) Ask yourself if you’re in a place to receive reflections on this experience/emotion at the moment and what sort of response you are and are not available for so that you can honor those boundaries if the unexpected happens. If you don’t like how someone responds, you’re always welcome to ignore their message or respectfully let them know that you’re not open to that conversation. You can always change your mind later!
Observe coffee shop rules—be careful not to get too familiar. Before chiming in with a question or response, imagine you’re chatting up a stranger in a coffee shop. Ask yourself if you’ve been invited to challenge or analyze someone before offering your input. Your sight is powerful. And when offering it to someone who hasn’t consented or prepared to receive it, it can also be a weapon. Be respectful of other people’s learning process and how they like to live their lives. Don’t give advice unless you’ve been invited. (Not all invitations need to be literal and explicit, just use your intuition. It’s okay to get it wrong! When in doubt, just ask, “are you open to hearing any feedback on your situation?”)
Be respectful of people’s identities, perspectives, and lived experiences. Before you interrogate or oppose someone’s perspective on reality, try asking some questions first. Lead with curiosity and receptivity instead of suspicion and censure. Always respect the names and pronouns that people prefer for themselves and try to keep track as best you can. Try not to police others’ language unnecessarily. Unless they’re directly referring to you or their words qualify as hate speech, use your intuition to determine what they’re trying to say and respond accordingly. It’s frustrating when people nitpick your language before they’ve even attuned to you or considered past precedent of your usual behavior and what they’ve gathered about who you are as a person!
If you see something, say something! If you repeatedly feel discomfort with the way a fellow member is behaving in the chat, shoot me a direct message or email me at overthegraynbow@substack.com. Trust your gut. If something feels off to you, it’s always worth exploring, and I’m here to help you get to the bottom of it. If we find that someone has violated the rules of the space, I can take appropriate action to approach them directly and, if necessary, remove them from the space.
With all that in mind and without further ado, I introduce to you: the over the Graynbow community!
