6 tiny side quests for when you've lost your inspiration

I was watching a video of someone’s cosy autumn plans, with a pile of board games sitting right in front of me, unplayed. Oh.This week: the difference between living something and performing it (or planning it, or watching other people do it). I explore where it creeps into seasonal living, mothering, and creativity, and why “how did that look?” is such a hard filter to switch off. Then I set myself a handful of unpolished experiments, and invite you to try your own.In this episodeThe sofa moment: craving the idea of a board game rather than the board gamePlanning, talking about it, and posting it all feel like doing (but are they?)Where “watching myself” shows up: seasonal living, mothering, creativityLooking vs feeling: how we judge whether something was worthwhileThe experiments: tuning into feelings before, during and after; following the feeling rather than the image; moving faster; sharing less; a sensory portrait instead of a photoThe tension I haven’t resolved (slow down to feel, speed up to skip the filter)MentionedWomen in the Picture by Catherine McCormack the book that’s been shaping this thinkingTry it with mePick one thing you keep absorbing, planning, or scrolling about. Do it this week, unfiltered and uncaptured, and let me know how it felt.Stay in touchI write on Substack every week: https://creativemumsclub.substack.comI’d love to hear where living vs performing shows up for you. 🍂

Sometimes "just give yourself permission" isn't enough. Sometimes you have to make the permission with your hands.I sat down with my playbook, opened Pinterest first (as you do), and started hunting for the perfect page to make. Then I stopped, grabbed one of my son's stubby crayons, and wrote, big and ugly, "The point is to have fun." Once the page was already messed up, it was surprisingly easy to mess it up more.In this episode:A handful of ways to mess up a page on purpose: the nearest crayon, X pages (inspired by Lynda Barry's Syllabus), non-dominant hand scribbles, starting with your eyes closed, and "to be deleted" for blank documentsWhat happens when trial and error leaves the notebook: getting dressed in the morning, and the daily feelings of a toddlerQuietening the internal judge, and whether you can be enough in the momentA little teaser about living our creativity rather than performing itOne question to take with you: where could you add a little mess this week?Happy growing.

This summer I gave myself a playbook, a loose structure of prompts and questions to keep creativity alive during six weeks of full-time toddler care. In this episode I'm looking back at what actually happened: a library book that spiralled into a Cy Twombly rabbit hole, a shared-notebook ritual with my son that never quite became a ritual, and a summer of "failed" games that turned out not to have failed at all.More than anything, this one's full of questions — why play feels different alone than it does with my son, what's actually worth my time, and what I found out about my own nervous system along the way.If you want to start a playbook of your own, or follow the ongoing, unfinished version of mine, I share it weekly on Substack: https://creativemumsclub.substack.comHappy growing.

Six weeks of summer. A toddler at home full-time. An honest attempt to remember how to play again... In this unscripted episode, Lucie shares the questions she has no answers to yet; how to stay present and playful with her son, and how to rediscover what she personally loves doing for fun. Inspired by Lynda Barry's Syllabus, she's building a daily "playbook," and deliberately chasing randomness outside the algorithm: library shelves, source material, books that pair fiction with nonfiction. No resolutions here, just an honest starting point, and an invitation for you to share how you're finding play this summer.

What do you do when the inspiration just... stops? Not a creative block exactly - more like the tap has run dry and you can't remember how to turn it back on. In this episode I've been thinking about inspiration as a practice rather than something you wait for. I share six tiny side quests that have been helping me find my way back to curiosity and creative energy over the last few weeks - including the one that surprised me most: that sometimes the most useful thing you can do when you're creatively stuck is absolutely nothing. We also get into why the word "inspiration" literally translates to "breathe in" ,  and what that means for what we do when we're already full. How have you been finding inspiration recently? What curiosity practices do you do?  Let me know  Instagram → @lucie.lincoln Website → www.lucielincoln.com YouTube →   / @lucielincoln Substack → https://creativemumsclub.substack.com

What does it take to become more of yourself? Eight years and 100 episodes ago, I started this podcast because I felt like I was in a race I was going to lose - a race against aging, against "should," against what it meant to be a grown-up. I decided to redefine growing up for myself: with play, with wonder, with permission to not know. This is episode 100. And while I haven't found all the answers, I have found better questions and some things worth sharing about what it takes to become more of ourselves, and why that work matters. In this episode: Why permission to not know is the foundation of becoming yourself How play became my most powerful tool for exploration and growth The power of questions over answers in navigating adulthood Why community matters and why you're not doing this alone Covering the same ground over and over again—and why that's actually the practice Wonder as a daily practice for staying curious and human Recognizing seasons: when to push into discomfort, when to nurture yourself through change Why becoming yourself isn't selfish—it's how we create connection and change Questions I'm still exploring after 100 episodes Mentioned:   - Almost Grown...Up - Not knowing episode: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2LrQ3VVOHD9eq82hrVNhNj?si=yhXuBJiSSySPNR1l7Uihzg - Almost Grown...Up - Play series: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Ncd1E6Kb0Nb2E6eoS2hPg?si=42f5f9685adb49b2 - Almost Grown...Up- Questions Episode : https://youtu.be/pMlSIvM8f-Y?si=LfVWV5drMPvf1mLT - Letters to a Young Poet - Ranier Maria Rilke: https://share.google/bdDn59rA7X43nElOV - Instructions for Traveling West: Poems- Joy Sullivan: https://share.google/JXr8AGy6cN2fxu0aR - Hospicing Modernity- by Vanessa Machado de Oliveira: https://decolonialfutures.net/hospicingmodernity/ The truth: It's still a mess. I'm still figuring it out. But I love that there's so much left to discover. If you're trying to figure out your own way of growing up, your own way of showing up in the world, I hope this gives you permission to stay in the mess too. Because when you turn up as you, we all win. Thank you for being part of this 100-episode journey. Here's to the next 100 of still figuring it out.

What if we stopped trying to control outcomes and instead focused on creating conditions for play, wonder, and silliness to grow? This spring, I ran three experiments: daily silliness, returning to stop-frame animation from childhood, and exploring personal style without fear of "trying too hard." I had no idea what would grow from any of them, and that was exactly the point. In this episode: Why gardening is the perfect metaphor for creativity, parenthood, and life Three spring experiments: silliness, stop-frame animation, and style exploration What happened when I carried a tiny figure in my pocket and skipped down city streets The patience required for frame-by-frame animation and what it teaches about creative work How the fear of "trying too hard" keeps us from self-expression Dropping the performance and showing up honestly Creating conditions for hope when the world feels heavy Why we can nurture the seeds but can't control what blooms Mentioned: "Art and Fear" by David Bayles and Ted Orland, childhood talismans, Polly Pockets, stop-frame animation What seeds are you planting this spring?  Let's me know! Instagram → @lucie.lincoln Website → www.lucielincoln.com YouTube →   / @lucielincoln Substack → https://creativemumsclub.substack.com

What if instead of pursuing perfection, we did the complete opposite—and pursued imperfection instead? In this episode, I share what happened when I got stuck in creative fear and decided to try something counterintuitive: deliberately making bad art, chasing mistakes, and embracing the mess. I explore the philosophy of wabi-sabi, why our flaws show our humanity, and how deliberate imperfection can unlock creative flow. In this episode: Why perfectionism keeps creative people paralyzed at the blank page The sketchbook experiment: filling a notebook in 10 days without second-guessing How music exists because of silence (and what that teaches us about creativity) Making a zine with a typo on the front page, and why that's actually ok Why imperfection is a superpower in an AI-generated world Finding poetry in everyday moments and messy parenting Practical experiments to try: making bad art, poetry watching, and chasing imperfection The question I'm left with: What would you make if you had permission to get it wrong? I'd love to hear your thoughts on pursuing imperfection, reach out on Instagram, TikTok, or in the Spotify Q&A. Get a copy of the pursuit of imperfection zine here.  Sources Tatiana Hopper: The Japanese Philosophy that makes better photographers : https://youtu.be/9fr26i3a7C8?si=e4veorD8EfGRIv7- Art & Fear By David Bayles and Ted Orland: https://share.google/5IJ2dR9k5QoOM3fhp Poetry Watching on Anna Corrine Substack: https://annacorinne.substack.com/p/poetry-watching Wabi Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philsophers : https://share.google/7QzaxirCxmppyIQQJ Let's figure it out together: Instagram → @lucie.lincoln Website → www.lucielincoln.com YouTube →   / @lucielincoln

What does it actually mean to live seasonally beyond pumpkin spice lattes and fall bucket lists? I've been noticing we've reduced the seasons to things we consume and curate, but what if there's a deeper invitation here? This episode explores seasonal living as a practice of attention, connection, and remembering that we're not separate from nature - we ARE nature.  In this podcast: Iris Murdoch's "un-selfing," Hermann Hesse on wonder, Japan's 72 micro-seasons, and what happens when we shift from performing seasons to participating in them. Sources Iris Murdoch - Unselfing : https://www.themarginalian.org/2019/1... Butterflies Reflections Tales and Verse by Hermann Hesse https://share.google/oCY4RfzncLwjbO1TH Ebb and Flow: a Guide to Seasonal Living by Tiffany Francis-Baker: https://share.google/o6mrYAK0hNqq1boAx Museguided Substack - The Grace in Withering: https://museguided.substack.com/p/the... The Japanese Art of Living Seasonally by Natalie Leon : https://share.google/xc3PCYVRlPgAlvFW0 Let's figure it out together: Instagram → @lucie.lincoln Website → www.lucielincoln.com YouTube → / @lucielincoln

Welcome back to a new year of Almost Grown...Up Today we are kicking off the season with the question: Are questions better than answers? If you have ever felt the desire to get on with something but the doubt that you're not quite sure what exactly that something is then this episode is for you.  Let's figure it out together: Instagram → @lucie.lincoln Website → www.lucielincoln.com YouTube → / @lucielincoln