5.3 Eleanor Cheetham: ‘Weaving Words & Spinning Tales’
Welcome to series 5, episode 3 of the Prompted by Nature podcast.
Action point: Contact your MP about standing up for nature, whether that be asking them to speak out against fracking, reading the state of nature report and asking them what they’re doing to support the transition to renewable energy, or the move away from fossil fuels. Here in the UK you can contact you MP or local councillor through the website www.writetothem.com .
Onto today’s episode…
Today you’ll hear my conversation with the wonderful Eleanor Cheetham.
Eleanor is a writer, editor, mentor and teacher, intrinsically connected with the land, inspired by ancient British folklore and stories, and the soulful relationships that our ancestors had with the more-than-human world. She believes that words and stories are medicine for our mind and food for our soul, and that we are all storytellers. You'll find her at Creative Countryside, an independent publishing press, Wild Writers, a sacred space for soulful words, and The Wild Academy, a home for untamed learning.
In this episode we discuss:
What the concept of creative spirit means to Eleanor
Her creative practice and how she removed the pressure
The importance of following our own creative flow
Finding our ‘tilt’
Creating an intentional creative practice
Eleanor’s journey of creativity
The problem with permission slips
How Creative Countryside and the Wild Academy about
Intentional, sustainable publishing
How Eleanor overcomes creative blocks
A little note before we start that I seemed to have had microphone issues in this conversation, which I didn't realise until after we had recorded. Hopefully it's not too distracting and Eleanor's is fine so I don't think it detracts from the chat.
You can find Eleanor on her websites www.creativecountryside.com and www.thewildacademy.co.uk and on Instagram @creativecountryside
Episodes that would accompanying this on well are:
1.8a Ian Solomon-Kawall - Biodiversity, Creativity and Safe Space in Urban Settings (composting words)
1.13b Dawn Nelson - Rewilding the Self through Story-telling
2.10a Marchelle Farrell - My Garden, My Story
3.2a Stella Tomlinson - Priestesshood and Earth-Based Spirituality
As always, I'm www.promptedbynature.co.uk or on Instagram @prompted.by.nature and Twitter @promptedxnature
Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/promptedbynature
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In this prompt, I introduce you to the Intentional Creativity workbook that I've created inspired by my chat with Eleanor. You can download the workbook via my Substack newsletter - https://promptedbynature.substack.com - by visiting my website www.promptedbynature.co.uk where you can find the link.
Let me know how you get on and what you create if you use it.
Helen x
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*From the introduction of the workbook*
Welcome to this short Intentional Creativity workbook. This book accompanies episode 5.3a of the Prompted by Nature podcast and is inspired by the conversation I had with writer and facilitator, Eleanor Cheetham, In our conversation, Eleanor spoke about the part that embracing a more intentional creative practice has played in her work.
If you are a regular listener, you'll know that I usually create more specific writing prompts for each conversation but for this one, I wanted to do something more tangible that you could use in your creative life.
How to use this Workbook
Similar to the 30-Day Writing Prompt Project Workbook I created last year, this book can be started at any point.I've designed it so that it runs for 8 weeks, roughly the period of time between a fire festival, like Yule, to a cross-quarter festival, like Imbolc, but you can increase or decrease this timescale as works for you and your life.
The main idea is that you are creating a cycle of creativity with one or two creative projects in mind and a focus of mind that lasts for the length of that cycle, after which you'll take a break or work on your creativity in a more unstructured way.
A few things to consider:
Be realistic about your end goal and the amount of time you can dedicate to this each day/week. Every day will be different so move and flow with your time and the demands on it so that you are enjyoing this process rather than turning it into yet another item on life's to-do list!
If the more structured approach that I discuss in the episode doesn't work for you, feel free to adapt the daily planning sheets so that they do; everyone works differently and you know yourself the best.
There is an invitation to have two 'rest and reflect' weeks, one in week 4 and in week 8. These are to give yourself space to look at where you are and make any necessary adjustments. Perhaps you could use the final week to look ahead at what you might do with this piece of work, write that pitch email, or turn it into something bigger as and when you are ready for another cycle of creativity.
Enjoy the workbook. I hope it helps you to create something you can feel proud of and maybe even share with others!
