Women Create
Turn that whisper of an idea into reality
no matter how unclear, big or scary.
Reclaim joy & your voice in the process
so pressure, fear, and doubt don't drive.
Create consistently,
learning what works best for you,
and stop struggling to start, stick with it, and finish.
Propel your progress in community.
Instead of wondering why you don't get it done alone.
Leave with confidence, courage, and trust that you can & will create
whatever whisper comes next.
75 minute sessions, Mondays
5:30-6:45 PST on Zoom
30 minute optional work session from 6:45-7:15 after class
April 1, 2023 - July 30, 2023
Program Overview
Part experience playing with creative practices as a group.
- These build your capacity to imagine, work with empty space, play and have fun no matter what you're creating, listen to where the creative process leads you next, dial down the voice inside that tells you nothing you do is any good, stay focused on what YOU want first and foremost, put constraints around your creative work so it isn't too overwhelming to do, and follow your energy and intuition instead of trying to plan what you can't know yet.
Part creative project accountability group,
- To encourage and support you in creating consistently, identifying and taking doable next steps, working through the obstacles that come up along the way, starting and finishing your project, making your work visible and allowing yourself to be seen in more of who you are, honoring your boundaries around how and when to share or receive feedback, allowing your voice while amplifying others' courage and confidence in the process. and experiencing the joy in connecting with others who are just as creative and deep as you are.
Part personalized support along the way.
- To meet you right where you are as challenges arise with 1-1 coaching, a whole group session focused on your creative work, regular feedback with a small group & creative coach, weekly opportunities to check in 1-1 during optional work sessions, and weekly Q&A videos in response to what you're running into.
Part in person retreat (also available online).
- We'll begin (April 1 & 2) and end (July 29 & 30) with a 2 day, in person retreat in the beautiful Pacific Northwest at Molly's cozy and expansive cabin home overlooking Bellingham Bay, the San Juan Islands and the Olympic Mountains. You'll gain clarity on your project in community, get to know one another while being in nature, cook together, enjoy natural and delicious food, have space to work individually and with the group, and share your work and what's come up for you in the process in a powerfully facilitated and guided space. Breakfast on both first retreat days; hearty, healthy snacks all 4 days; and one dinner included in program tuition. Lodging is not included.
Women Create is for anyone working to make a creative dream a reality
(even if you're not exactly sure what that dream is yet)...
All ideas are welcome. Creative arts. Business ideas. Exploring next steps in your career. Doing simple things in your daily life you love. You name it. This group supports you in moving towards it. And loving the process!
What You'll Receive In this Experience
Capped at 12 participants
Get Comfortable with the Creative Process
15 weekly group sessions to practice creative approaches with others
Begin and end with 2-day retreats to create in new ways that make the process fun
Weekly in-class creativity practices to expand your sense of how to approach your work creatively.
Bonus videos & resources on the creative process
Personalized Support
Access to Molly & Group
2, 60 minute 1-1 coaching sessions with Molly
1 group mastermind to work through your real-time project/process needs
Space to check-in 1-1 weekly during post-class optional work sessions
Weekly Q&A videos in response to your questions
Group communication platform
Create in Community
So You Actually Do It!
Optional weekly work sessions with others after our group session.
4 small group feedback sessions with a creativity coach
Space to share your completed work at our final 2-day retreat
"Why should we all use our creative power...?
Because there is nothing that makes people so generous, joyful,
lively, bold, and compassionate, so indifferent to fighting
and the accumulation of objects and money."
Brenda Ueland
You'll Learn How To
Create anything you'd love in your life.
And love the process of creating.
1Take the pressure out of creating.
Most art classes I've taken leave me more insecure, not less. As soon as the instructor shows us what we're supposed to do, everyone starts trying. Hard. Brows furrow. People crumple up their work, complain about how bad it is, then start over unhappy. This is NOT how creating has to be. We'll learn a new way. One that amplifies your joy instead of burying it.
2Take action consistently.
Struggling to act on your creative dreams consistently is normal. Learn simple ways to start, stop endlessly planning, decide on an idea and act, even if you're not sure you like it, then keep going and finish. Life's demands will no longer strip you of your creative time. You'll have momentum. And a sense of how to work with yourself, no matter what comes up when you create.
3Stop silencing your creative genius
Society teaches us to use our rational mind for everything. This kills creative impulse, insight, and intuition, by focusing us on doing "good" work. Learn to let creativity lead and rationality support, unleashing your best work. And learn to use your rational mind in ways that don't drown you in floods of judgment that make you want to quit!
4Work through resistance.
Resistance is what keeps us from our creative work. The more we care about our work, the more we'll resist doing it. Get familiar with your favorite forms of resistance. And learn to work with resistance, motivating and making space for your creativity by without trying to discipline and push your way through (which doesn't work long term anyhow).
5Make creativity work for you.
There's no right or wrong way to create. But it's easy to feel flawed for struggling to create using all the tips people say should work. Learn what actually works for you (and what doesn't) by playing with different approaches and learning from others. Leave able to move forward and motivate when things get hard by playing to your strengths.
Space is Limited. Sign Up for a Discovery Call with Molly.
In this free 60-minute call you'll get a clearer sense of what you'd like to create and whether Women Create is right for you!
Create More of What You Want & Love
Even if you're not sure what that is! Experiment & follow your curiosity to become clear.
Create Your Art
Start & finish any creative inkling. Learn to enjoy the process & create consistently.
Create Fulfilling Work
Stretch instead of settling. Bring who you really are to the entire job search process.
Create Habits & Approaches That Work 4 U
Notice what works (& doesn't) as you move forward. Play to your strengths as you go.
Create Your Business
Take consistent action. Grow your biz & confidence with experimental, inspiring steps.
Create & Imagine New Work
Try out new possibilities that make you curious (w/o jumping ship before you're ready)
Create Anything At All
Doing anything new keeps us feeling alive and good. But it takes creativity, commitment, community, & courage to move in new directions! You don't have to know exactly where to begin. Just that you want to take consistent action towards something you want in your life!
What People are Saying...
after completing Women Create
Creativity Connects You With Yourself
"This was such a transformative experience for me. Women Create drastically altered my relationship with creativity. Before I was unable to set boundaries around my art, but now I feel so much autonomy and joy around my work. Molly helped guide me back to myself, and that inner kid that wants to create wildly, abundantly, and often. Art has become such a vital part of my life. Before, I was afraid to let people know I am an artist. Now that I have solid boundaries around my work, I feel called to show people what I'm working on, allowing me to show up in the world more authentically, not just in my art. Creating a safe space for my art has also allowed me to create a safe space for myself. A relationship with creativity is a sacred form of connectivity with yourself."
Safe & Supportive Community
"The community aspect of Women Create was rich. Creating is so vulnerable, but I feel such love, companionship, and joy for the people I created alongside. These connections felt deep and authentic. Sharing such an intimate extension of yourself is a risk. But Molly encourages you to share and open yourself up at your own pace, of your own accord. The community was warm and supportive, which almost made it harder not to open yourself up eventually. The reward on the other side is a more confident, artistic, aware, sensitive, and courageous person."
Joy!
"I experienced more consistent sparks of joy because I was doing something I love (drawing/creating/ thinking deeply) more often. Women Create made space to dig into my soul's true desires. And provided support as I poked around and explored those desires throughout the class."
Sense of Creativity Expands
"I knew I had a creative side I wanted to make more room for. But I didn't know how expansive my CREATE was before taking this class. I thought drawing/sketching was my create. Turns out my art is cooking, writing, dancing, singing, bringing people together, building/fixing, gardening, arts/crafts, adventuring. Creating is so integral to my being. I'm glad I can now give that part of me the credit and love that it needs. I now give myself more self love more often. I recognize and accomplish small creative feats more consistently. More consistent creating = more self love. Depression feels a little more manageable when it comes around."
Big Picture of the Program
"So this, I believe, is the central question upon which creative living hinges:
Do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you?
I'm talking about living a life that is driven more strongly by curiosity than by fear."
Elizabeth Gilbert in Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond FearAbout Molly
Women's Life & Creativity Coach
"You have a really loud inner critic!"
Not exactly the words I wanted to hear from my writing coach. But the moment they left her mouth I knew they were true. The last time I'd let myself do anything creative was a college art class which I dropped after 3 days when we had to start drawing in pen and critiquing others' work. Even though I didn't really know what an inner critic was at the time, I did know this: Anytime I tried to create something (like writing my memoir) or follow my curiosity when I didn't know where it was leading, I faced a wall of vulnerability and resistance so huge it was certain to stop me in my creative tracks. Surely, what I was doing was no good. And mattered to no one. Where would I even start? And what would keep me from quitting like I always had before? To top it off, I wasn't even sure I could justify creating with the world's problems vying for my attention and needing my help!
That was years ago...
Since then, I've learned the art of reclaiming joy and creativity as a consistent force in my life. Now, I know how to work with myself and resistance, fear, and doubt while creating. I make space to create no matter what's going on in my life or what the world expects of me. And I no longer try to make everything I create excellent by others' standards, wrecking enjoyment of the process and stifling my authentic voice. This has been such a huge gift in my life. Learning to imagine and play and bring these to my work and life has taken me so many places I never expected at the outset. Now, I start my day by creating what I love. I let myself have my say for the day before anything else. And I no longer let myself be swept away in incessantly striving to fix the endless array of world problems. What if my creative work and what I love is enough? I think it is.
What I'm creating & doing in the world these days...
I'm nearing the completion of my memoir, learning to play the banjo, gardening and cooking new recipes with what I grow, and imagining possibilities for regenerating the land and building a home on our island property. I love supporting women in accessing and reclaiming their voice, power, creativity and love and bringing these to their life and the world. I'm happiest working with smart, deep women who've always known they're different and are tired of being invisible or seen for only a small part of who they are. In my work at Western Washington University, I design similar experiences: helping students of all ages trust what lights them up, drop what doesn't, reconnect with creativity, and experience connection in community.
A Couple of Other Things You'll Learn
(And much more)
- How to set up your day, week, and physical space so you actually create consistently
- What your inner critic sounds like and how to work with it so it doesn't sabotage your dreams
- How to turn "mistakes" and the unexpected into opportunity and possibility. How to let the creative process lead you instead of trying to force a plan.
- Work back and forth between the big picture and the messy process of actually being in the daily work of creating
- Turn overwhelm into action you can actually achieve and want to do
- Get started rather than spinning on a million possibilities
- Keep creating when you don't know where the process is leading or where exactly to go next
- Follow your energy each step of the way.
- How to know when you're ready to receive feedback and when feedback will kill your creative drive.
- How to ask for EXACTLY what type of feedback you need and want when.
- How to allow your work to be seen by others in ways that honor your boundaries and leave you feeling connected instead of too vulnerable.
- How to give your rational mind enough to hang onto and work with so you can keep going when uncertainty is high
- How to honor the natural rhythms and flow of the creative process (and stop beating yourself up for not being a productive machine)
- Manage the intense vulnerability of the creative process with self-compassion and self-acceptance
- How to work with difficult emotions and traumatic content in ways that keep you grounded and functioning.
- Know when to use you rational brain (and when to turn it off) so you can access your creative wisdom.
- Learn to structure your creative work and life in ways that you don't rebel against.
Program Accessibility
It matters to me that this program is accessible to anyone who feels called to participate. At the same time, it matters to me that I model valuing my time and self in how I design and price programs. And, at the very same time, it matters to me that this program benefit the world. If you'd like to participate and cost is an issue, please reach out. If you'd like to participate and you'd love to help make this program more accessible for other women (including their capacity to travel to the in-person retreat), please reach out. Together, we can do more than alone. And I'm excited to see what we can make possible in support of a diverse and intergenerational group of participants.
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