Your creative life is shaped by the decisions you make, not the amount of “free time” you have (or don’t).
Maybe you’re squeezing writing in at the end of the night or early morning, but it doesn’t FEEL good. In fact, it feels forced. You think to yourself, “well, if I had more time or didn’t need money, I could totally do this.” You tell yourself that other writers are making it work because they must have more free time than you.
I’ve been there. Family emergencies, bills piling up, extra last-minute shifts… how could I possibly focus on my creativity, especially when it’s not the thing paying the bills?
Ready to join the creative ecosystem launchpad waitlist? Jump ahead.
Don’t leave your creative net worth behind anymore
Years ago when publishing my first couple of books as a single parent, while working multiple day jobs and running a literary magazine, I felt pulled in a thousand directions. Like I was carrying a stack of big, awkward boxes, constantly shifting, never quite balanced, the threat of something slipping and hitting the ground was always there.
I didn’t see how my writing and creative work could fit into a life that already felt so full.
I tried a lot of things that didn’t solve the issue: quitting jobs, moving, signing up for courses to “inspire me” , changing my hours, limiting relationships. But I was still getting further and further away from my writing life.
It wasn’t until I explored what I truly wanted to do and how I truly wanted to live my life that I was able to make the choices that would lead to a sustainable, fulfilling, and rewarding creative life.
This was my first step toward aligned decision-making.
Aligned decision-making is a process rooted in confidence, self-advocacy, and vision.
It’s an ecosystem approach to making choices—many small, some quite big—that shape the daily experience of your writing life as well as the whole arc of your identity as a writer. When we make aligned decisions, our life and work feel less chaotic and haphazard. What was once disorganized or ad hoc becomes neat and coherent.
The writers I work with often express a sense of overwhelm and awkwardness about their creative life and how it connects to the rest of their life. Those feelings are symptoms of a lack of aligned decision-making, which often looks like:
Saying yes to people, opportunities, and spaces without fully considering our real priorities.
Rushing to act without pausing to reflect on how what we’re writing connects to our values or what we stand for.
Ignoring our experiences (even the bloopers) and missing valuable creative data.
Valuing the output instead of how we want to feel
But these are the very things that shape our confidence … the clarity we need to make decisions that truly include and support our creative work. This is where we start.
It’s time to look at how intricately our creative life can be strategically woven into the rest of our lives and make decisions that protect it.
Today, I still do a lot. I write, I teach, I coach, I mentor, I parent … I live a full life. The difference is, I’ve figured out how everything needs to connect for me and the life I want. I’ve seen and acknowledged my vision. Then, I protected the heck out of it. I’ve built a unique personal operating system.
What if … no matter what came up in life, you kept your writing life a top priority?
The Creative Ecosystem Launchpad helps you expertly lay the foundation needed for your dream creative life. One that fits and shapeshifts alongside everything else that is important to you: family, work, activism, you name it. You’ll learn how to make decisions that help integrate all the other important aspects of your life into your creative practice.
By the end of the program you’ll have everything you need in order to start making decisions differently, you’ll have created the conditions for your dream creative life by making space for all the pieces that are non-negotiable. You’ll notice cohesion.
Once you start to see the essence of that creative life, you’ll want to protect it. You’ll raise your hand, eager to continue the work.
And you’ll have met a whole community of writers who want to do the same.
The Creative Ecosystem Launchpad is for writers. You are interested in publishing but it’s not your only goal. You want … more. You want to change how your writing life fits with the rest of your life.
A confident, vision-oriented self-advocate makes the decisions that allow them to design and live their dream creative life.
The Creative Ecosystem Launchpad is 12-weeks
1 x 90 min session per week for 12 weeks
The Creative Launchpad Weekly Session FLOW
Frame it
Each week, we begin with a quote, question, or problem that kicks off our time together. This gives you something to respond to, and something to gently push against.
Learn it
You’ll be introduced to a focused concept, framework, or technique based on the week’s topics, designed to deepen your understanding.
Observe & Apply
Together with the group we move from theory into creative micro practice. You’ll explore examples and be guided through a creative exercise so you can immediately apply what you’re learning in a way that feels personal and real!
Wrap & Wonder
We close each session in conversation. There’s space for questions, reflection, and noticing what’s coming up for you, plus a clear sense of what to carry into the assignment.
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Week 1: You will explore what ideas and topics make you want to raise your hand to speak so that you can articulate what you stand for.
Week 2: You will build your values framework as lived behaviours so that you can clearly communicate values and how they connect to your message.
Week 3: You’ll get clear about what your “I want more” is, so that you can articulate 1-3 clear goals around what you want from your art, and connect them to your values and your message.
Week 4: Pour the foundation: Together we will visually connect your message, values, goals to your dream creative life so that you have a solid base for decision-making.
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Week 5: Get honest about the opportunities that don’t fit into your unique ecosystem so that you can keep space for the bits that matter.
Week 6: Practice setting and communicating your boundaries in order to protect your creative time once and for all. Many people get stuck here, but worry not, I’ve thought about this and built potential missteps into the design. There’s plenty of support during week 6.
Week 7: Start establishing your creative net worth so that you have a full and clear inventory of what you’ve accumulated as a creative.
Week 8: Start leveraging your newly established creative net worth so that you can track and make good use of your assets.
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Week 9: Alchemize your creative assets, reduce your liabilities (the bits that weigh you down) so that you can zero in on ideas and materials to repurpose and how.
Week 10: Visually map out your dream house—your creative life—so you can clearly see how each piece fits together, and recognize just how uniquely yours it is compared to others in the group.
Week 11: Revisit your goals so that you have clear next steps that you can repeat again and again.
Week 12: Plug in your processes so that you know where all your material lives and you have workflows in place to make this all feel like ONE thing vs 1000 tasks.
Between sessions you have access to a private, asynchronous discussion space with the group and the instructor via a platform called Mighty. Here, we can stay connected in-between sessions.
The reason I do things this way is because I want to encourage discussion in the space. I know how instinctual it can be to want someone to just tell you how to do the thing. But in my experience, finding a way to be inspired by an idea—and then constantly asking yourself, “how can I alter this to work for me and my life, right now?”—is where the biggest life changes happen. I’ve seen it again and again.
If you miss a session it’s okay since the sessions will be recorded, but there is so much value (and accountability) in showing up live!
If you are interested in specific feedback on any of the weekly assignments, you can book 1:1 creative support calls as an add-on any time during and after the program.
Meet your instructor!
I'm Chelene Knight, author of five books, including the award-winning novel, Junie which was winner of the 2023 Vancouver book award, long-listed for the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction and CBC Canada Reads.. Junie keeps on giving! Translation rights have been acquired, and the novel has recently been optioned for a feature film : )
My other books include a collection of poetry, the award-winning memoir, Dear Current Occupant (also winner of the 2018 Vancouver Book Award), a book of narrative nonfiction Let It Go: Free Yourself From Old Beliefs and Find a New Path To Joy, and most recently, Safekeeping: A Writer's Guided Journal For Launching a Book With Love.
I've held a lot of amazing roles in the literary realm including festival director, creative writing professor (both continuing Ed and MFA level), literary agent ... you name it, I've done it. Personal and professional development are a regular part of my life. I've also added certified coaching in various niches, mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), and certified mindfulness facilitating to the mix. My own commitment to personal and professional development informs how I show up for writers, and I am so proud of the work I've done so far. I value all of it. My creative assets toolkit is brimming, y’all!
While I’ve had the privilege of working in many corners of the literary world, my greatest joy comes from supporting writers as they grow into their voice, practice, and self. Helping writers protect what they value most, is my heartwork. This is literally my purpose in this world!
Your Investment:
The cost for this 12-week group program is $1395 CAD.
What you get:
12 x 90 minute Zoom sessions which include a lesson, discussion, real time creative practice
Weekly assignments that build on each other each week
Access to three, monthly “Office Hours” sessions where you can pop in pop out and ask questions (note, these sessions are also open to my 1:1 writing mentees, so make friends haha)
Access to recordings for the duration of the program + 30 days post program
Option to add on 1:1 Creative Support Sessions for an additional fee, booked at your leisure
FAQ:
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You have the option to pay in full or break your payments into two equal payments.
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My 1:1 mentorships focus specifically on a writer’s writing project, and it is a 1:1 offering by application only.
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My guided journal covers just a few of these ideas and only in a general way. The journal is helpful for folks launching a book and who want to curate their experience. This curriculum, on the other hand, focuses on the wider creative life and was carefully put together to help writers bring all the key pieces together in a clear, structured way. They definitely pair well though!!
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If you ask specific questions during the Zoom sessions, my answers are tailored to you in the moment. For more in-depth, personalized feedback, you can add a 1:1 Creative Support Call Package for $349. This includes both the session itself and a follow-up resource I provide afterward.
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Highly encouraged! In fact, repeating the program can become part of your seasonal or annual routine within your creative ecosystem. This work is naturally cyclical, and revisiting it lets you step more fully into the role of an apprentice. Sharing your experiences in group discussions with new people also builds your creative “net worth” and boosts your confidence!
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This is a bit hard to pin down—group size could range from 10 to 40 people, and some seasons may be fuller than others. A smaller, more intimate group gives you extra space for your questions, while a larger group lets you hear a wider variety of perspectives.
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Yes! If you are unsure and you’d like to make sure this is the right program for you, you can book a brief 15-minute Zoom call with me here.
Dates and times will be announced this summer! Get on the waitlist to be notified when the program opens.