Trust & Allow: A Process

Strategies for Creativity from my AuDHD Brain

Best practices can make everything possible. I’m obsessed with process. It’s baked into Brave Space, my online offering. Even long before Brave Space, I spent decades listening to people talk about their creative process. And I’ve seen how attention to process changes everything. I believe anyone and everyone can be amazingly creative if they want to be. And the world needs more people doing creative things, getting in touch with our true nature, and feeding our own personal joy.

Trust & Allow is an organic process that means whatever arises is what wants to be written. I trust in it and allow it. I meet it, examine it, find out what it wants to be (because there will be drafts and layers) in a process of becoming, but originally it’s a mass of tangled words.

It took time to learn this. I had to start slowly. I didn’t trust what might come out of my hand (or fingers on the keyboard). I had to learn to trust that no one but me would read what I wrote. It had to be safe.

If you’re like, “but I need to write a scene in a play or a screenplay, something I’m going to share, so it has to be formed,” well, yes. But first Trust & Allow yourself to write freely. To let your characters and your unconscious arise and show you the way. If you have to start at point A and you have an event at point B, then that will mean ending at point C, but the writing can be you trying to make that happen or you Trusting & Allowing that it will happen. There’s a difference.

artwork by Scott Sherman at ScottShermanStudio on instagram

Creativity is built into every brain. All kinds of brains. If you’re wrestling with Doubt and Judgment that often shows up for all creatives, try these posts about permission to create or this one or on speaking up in a silencing world.)

At the beginning of 2024, I went to see a psychiatrist to find out if I’m ADHD, and I am (in addition to my 2021 diagnosis as Autistic). I saw my own brain scans that proved that, when asked to try, my brain quits!

It turns out that ADHD brains literally won’t try! We have Yoda brains! No try, only do! This is why if I try to turn my engine on, it dies on me every time. But if I release the emergency break and let my car roll downhill, I can jumpstart it and drive all day! I only have to always remember to park facing downhill.

Starting by rolling downhill is a metaphor for Trust & Allow. I’ve been telling people to Trust & Allow for years now. As in Trust & Allow creativity to come through you. As in Trust yourself and Allow yourself to do the work. Stuff (you could call it ideas but I don’t, it’s more like a tangled ball of yarn) arises through you, and you can allow yourself to write it down. Then find out what it is, meet it, get to know it, help it be its best self. It’s a process more like listening than thinking.

Understanding that I can’t make my brain do the work is big. If you’re ADHD and live in a world where people think you’re lazy, or they just expect you to figure stuff out, or just try harder, you get how impossible it is. Like asking someone without legs to walk faster.

I need crutches! Trust & Allow is my crutch that I lean on when I need to know what I think and feel (because I’m also autistic and alexithymic).

The Prompt:

If you’re trying and noticing that what you want to write isn’t what is happening on the page, and that’s just frustrating and not worth the time it takes, and you have concluded that you can’t, then I hope you will spend 5 minutes not trying. I hope you will spend 5 minutes, (set a timer), not writing the way you used to, not caring about sentences or grammar or punctuation or even style, not having an agenda as to what will come out.

You are welcome to have an agenda in terms of what you put in. Free-writing doesn’t mean just whatever—it means Trust & Allow. Often I will start with a free-write focused on a problem or a situation or even what some might call an idea. But I am not trying to write toward it or about it. I am responding in a kind of free-falling spill. If you know what you want to write about, that’s fine. But you must agree, for these 5 minutes, to Trust & Allow that whatever comes out is whatever comes out. Not judging good or bad is a best practice here. Output is. Output will be.

Here are a few words you could start with or pick your own! Stem of a rose; charcoal briquets; family member; gasoline; mall rat; cold; muscle.

Without output, there is nothing to work with, nothing to respond to, nothing to dive into, nothing to push or probe, nothing to discover.

Take your 5 minute exercise and let it sit for at least a day. Three days is better. (I typically don’t return for a month. But I’ve got other exercises to return to.) After whatever amount of time you can manage, try to come back with new eyes. Ask, what surprises you in this? What are the parts you feel? What are the parts that make meaning for you? What does it seem to be saying? What does this want to be? And then how can you help it be what it wants to be?

It is possible to learn to Trust that there will be something there. If you Allow yourself, you can find meaning in it.

I call what most people call first drafts, discovery drafts. If you read what I write, you might find it meaningful, but you probably aren’t aware that I’ve been discovering it every step of the way.

Brave Space helps all kinds of writers and other creatives get back to their creativity. It works every day with so many writers. This is the origin of Trust and Allow.

Do you know someone creative who wants support starting or finishing their projects? With prompts, grounding practices, & discussions, Brave Space helps playwrights, poets, painters, potters! Novelists, memoirists, musicians & artists working in any medium! Brave Space is a safe place to make meaning in community. $5-25 suggested per session. 4-6x/week! On or off camera. No commitment, drop-ins ok. Try it!

Brave Space Schedule:

12/13 Friday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/15 Sunday 6pm ET All Human Brave Space
12/16 Monday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/17 Tuesday 12pm ET Brave Space w/wkshp
           Tuesday 7pm ET Brave Group Coaching for ALL
12/18 Wednesday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/19 Thursday NO Brave Space
12/20 Friday 12pm ET Brave Space

12/22 Sunday 6pm ET Brave Space for All Humans
12/23 Monday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/24 - 12/26 Tuesday - Thursday NO Brave Space 
12/27 Friday 12pm ET Brave Space 
           Friday 3pm ET Brave Sharing Salon

12/29 Sunday 6pm ET All Human Brave Space
12/30 Monday 12pm ET Brave Space
12/31 Tuesday NO Brave Space
1/1 Wednesday 12pm ET 1st Brave Space of 2025!
1/2 Thursday NO Brave Space 
1/3 Friday 12pm ET Brave Space

Each week Tuesdays includes fast feedback for up to 1 page (@250 words) of writing or you can bring in a craft issue/ask for help with your project. 

Each month there are 2 Sharing Salons: Second Sundays (730pm ET) and Final Fridays (3pm ET) for sharing up to 10 minutes of work (up to 1500 words).

Amazing People Doing Amazing Things:

Marilyn Ness is raising funds to finish her documentary film about her play, POST MORTEM, that many of you remember we workshopped in the WriteNow Workshop with 29th Street (pre-pandemic)! Here is a link to the update where you can find out what she was able to do with it, and where it’s headed! Congratulations to Marilyn, and I hope we can all get behind this project with support of any size.

Streaming Tickets to Golden Thread’s 11 REFLECTIONS created and directed by Andrea Assaf featuring acclaimed Syrian opera singer Lubana Al Quntar and Turkish composer and violinist Eylem Basaldi - watch now online!

12/4 - 12/29 Get your tickets to the world premiere of the beautiful land i seek (la linda tierra que busco yo) by Matt Barbot produced by Fault Line Theatre with Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater and Latinx Playwrights Circle. Use the DISCOUNT CODE FLT10 to purchase any ticket at a 10% discount. It’s funny, it’s theatrical, it’s philosophical, it’s political and truly remarkable. I love this play! Go!

12/20 online 11:30 am ET - 1pm ET Center for Mindfulness & Compassion IFS Research Fundraiser with Richard Schwartz, Martha Sweezy & others. Register for Free Here. Donations Here

12/21 Transcend, a trans/gender-expansive chorus, will perform their Winter Solstice concert in person and live-streamed from NYC. TICKETS HERE (start at $5 for streaming)

1/4 & 1/5 Leap with Passion this coming January! (Either day) Get ready to leap into your New Year! Rhonda Musak’s fabulous day-long workshop to help you find focus and clarity around your life goals is transformative! I highly recommend it! Register Here!

Opportunities:

12/27/24 Applications Due for Experimental Theater Writing Workshop Winter 2025 Suzanne Willett is seeking female or female-identifying experimental writers for a series of ten Zoom classes held Tuesday evenings from 01/07 - 03/11. Classes will consist of discussions of homework material; prompt assignments; and readings of work generated in class, culminating in final presentations. More Info Here or you can apply directly here

11/1/24 - 1/31/25 Autistic Oral History Project is offering grants of $3K to Autistic folks and Autistic-adjacent folks who want to participate in collecting oral histories.

11/1 - 12/31 Autistic Voiceover Artists is a new initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering autistic adults through voiceover training and practice. AVA’s mission is to create an inclusive and engaging space where autistic adults can explore voiceover as a means of self-expression, skill-building, and creativity. This November and December, AVA is offering free online voiceover workshops for Autistic adults! Webinar schedule and more info here.

12/15/24 The Orchard Project is accepting submissions for:

• The Orchard Project Performance Lab (link), for development of work intended to be performed in front of a live or virtual audience.

• The Orchard Project Greenhouse Program (link), for collaborators generating new works and collaborations in a multitude of forms;

• The Orchard Project Episodic Lab (link), for writers working on the advancement of original TV scripts;

• The Orchard Project Audio Lab (link), for early development of scripts and ideas in the audio storytelling form.

12/17/24 NYFA grant deadline for Playwriting/Screenwriting, Photography, Choreography and other disciplines for New York artists. For $8K, no strings attached, it’s a tough application, but worth it. Break a leg!

The Playwrights Center in Minneapolis offers the following programs to apply to:

-Core Writer Program - open to any committed professional playwright, deadline in January 2025

-Many Voices Fellowship - for any early career BIPOC playwright interested in spending two years in Minnesota, deadline in December 2024

-McKnight National Residency and Commission - open to established playwrights outside of Minnesota, deadline in December 2024

-McKnight Fellowship in Playwriting - open to mid-career Minnesota-based playwrights, deadline in January 2025

-Many Voices Mentorship - open to beginning BIPOC playwrights based in Minnesota, deadline in December 2024

-Core Apprentice - open to playwrights in or recently graduated from undergrad and graduate programs, deadline in February 2025.

12/31/24 Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program rent-free non-living studio space to 17 visual artists for year-long residencies in DUMBO, Brooklyn.

1/1/25 Pen America U.S. Writers Aid Initiative The U.S. Writers Aid Initiative (USWAI) is intended to assist fiction and nonfiction authors, poets, playwrights, translators, and journalists in addressing short-term financial emergencies. To be eligible, applicants must be professional writers based in the United States, and be able to demonstrate that this one-time grant will be meaningful in helping address a short-term emergency situation. Grant decisions are made on a quarterly basis by a volunteer committee of literary peers in consultation with PEN America staff.

1/3/25 McColl Center Artists-in-Residence Programs to spark artistic growth for emerging and mid-career artists. Residents enjoy private housing, a large-scale studio, guidance, marketing support, and a stipend. They have the freedom to focus on artistic exploration and engage with the local creative community. Access to shared labs: 3D, ceramics, media, and woodshop. The program runs from September 9 to December 15, 2025.

McColl Center Fall 2025 Artists-in-Residence in Partnership with Atrium Health
McColl Center invites local Charlotte and regional artists to apply for the Fall 2025 Artist-in-Residence program, with a focus on healthcare and healing. Artists may work in drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, film, video, new media, or interdisciplinary practices. Successful proposals should engage Atrium patients and/or staff. Residency includes private housing, a large-scale studio, curatorial guidance, marketing support, and a stipend. Access to shared labs: 3D, ceramics, media, and woodshop. The program runs from September 9 to December 15, 2025.

1/5/25 Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts Residency free, stipend-supported, accessible residencies to artists and writers who are residents of New York State and Indian Nations therein. They support artists and writers working in the following disciplines: Poetry, Playwriting & Screenwriting, Photography (film or digital) & Filmmaking, and Visual Arts (Painting, Sculpture).

2/1/25 Wave Farm Transmission Art Residencies in Hudson, New York This residency will emphasize “A Radio Art Hour.” During a 10-day residency at Wave Farm, artists will develop new transmission artworks informed by access to a research library, equipment, unique workspace resources, and on-site staff support. An artist fee of $1,000 will be provided to each resident artist.

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