An intentional writing practice
- Cathy Williams
- Nov 26, 2025
- 4 min read
I have been holding a writing container this year - I’ll share more juicy details on this project soon ;) - but the experience has been so potent, ever magical and opened up so much tenderness in my heart space that I feel it is something I want to do every year, and with such glorious connecting intention.
My own personal writing practice has been a constant: a pillar for releasing, understanding, sitting with, shifting, gaining clarity and coming back to myself - again and again.
We can often not know where to start, or get caught up in the narratives of “but I’m not a writer”, “who would want to read it anyway” and “is it even any good?”
Just how I advocate that creative arts therapy is not about artistic skill and movement therapy isn’t about dancing to perform or it looking a certain way - the same can be said of writing. It is a creative process of alchemising our experiences, of seeing beauty, of making sense of situations, of offering our humanness. Most things I write are purely for me, and I rarely - rarely - read over anything in my journal. It is the process of getting it out onto the page - and showing up to the page, for that matter - that is where the healing is. But every now and again, a project will form, where I have an enquiry and I take it further and I see the value in sharing this with others - to connect us, to be seen, to offer up something to the wild tapestry that is our lives.
We each have a story to share, many stories to share. These past two months has been filled with glorious community workshops, events, awards nights and women’s festivals. I have connected with beautiful humans sharing of themselves through story, through experience and I am consistently curiously about how people view the world, what their season of life looks like and how they navigate challenges.
I was a Judge for the ABLE Author Golden Book Awards where I got to meet all the authors in-person and watch them take their moment on the stage. I participated in a gorgeous storytelling workshop at Sistahood Rising Festival and witnessed folktales come to life through performance. I witnessed women connecting for the first time through the creative arts therapy exploration I facilitated in my workshop and making meaning of what came out onto the page in colours, lines, shapes and words. I got to hear the stories of business founders creating impact at the Telstra Business Awards. And back in my home town, I was serenaded with poetry at the monthly Wordcraft night supporting local poets sharing everything from first drafts to polished memorised pieces.
The act of journalling, scribbling musings, pondering contemplations and sharing them is a wild and brave and cathartic and connective experience.
If you dabble or would like to dabble, I fully encourage you!
The creative process is going to be different for everyone.
I trust that you will find your rhythm and come to learn the ways, methods & environments that best support you.
I’ve collated some tips & considerations that have supported my writing process over the years.
I share in the hope it supports you to cultivate yours.
Some tips, tricks & considerations
A dedicated journal ~ A one stop shop to scribble down all my ideas, musings, quotes I see, visuals that stick with me. I often find that I have a few things floating about and they slowly begin to weave themselves together into a clearer picture.
Writing blocks in short bursts ~ Carve out dedicated time where you can focus in and disconnect from the rest of the world for that moment. I used to believe that I would need whole days to dedicate myself to writing. Not only is that hard to come by, I don’t know how productive it was. Lots of things influence how I create - mental space to daydream and sit with contemplations being one of them. So shorter bursts of writing time meant that I committed to getting something out - even if it wasn’t any good, I could always return to it.
Writing & Editing are two different head spaces ~ Write first, edit later. To beat the overthinking mind of ‘how does this read’ and stop the perfectionist in its tracks, I’ve needed to remember this one. The editing, polishing process comes later. Right now it is about getting ideas down, words down, letting concepts naturally begin to form.
Raw, real, honest ~ My morning pages practice has supported me to get into a stream-of-consciousness flow. I don’t usually go back and read what I write in my journal, its more just pouring out onto the page into raw honest form, knowing no one is going to read it. This way of writing has served to get the crux of what I’m moving through and I can always return to it another time and in the next sitting maybe that’s when I bring in creative angles. So writing for yourself first - knowing you can change and adapt it later. I feel like if write thinking someone else will read it, we censor ourselves and block the flow.
Write it for yourself ~ Sometimes we can get caught up in thinking about the reader. I’ve found that what is true for me is to write for myself, or even a younger/older version of myself. That is when I can be the most authentic. And funnily enough, when we write from this place, it then allows others to connect to themselves. The personal is universal after all.
Create a practice ~ It doesn’t have to be grand, but it helps to be consistent. What is rising within you that wants to be shared? What is the thing that you really want to say in this moment? Even this contemplation has become a mini ritual practice of sorts as I open to ideas of what to write about or how to create an ‘entry point’ in.
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If you’re looking for practices and journal prompts for self-enquiry and creative discovery, my book Body Wisdom shares 20+ invitations and the downloadable Body Wisdom Companion Journal has 75 worksheets to inspire you and get you started!
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