Hey Filmmaking Lounge,
This week, my creative growth hasn’t looked like learning something new. It’s looked like learning how to carry a lot at once, trusting that my creativity is still there even when I’m tired, and reminding myself that preparation is part of the process.
Between packing, painting, wrapping up end-of-year work, preparing for a move, and laying groundwork for 2026, my brain has been pretty full. There hasn’t been much extra bandwidth for big creative breakthroughs or deep dives into new techniques. And that’s okay.
What this week has reinforced for me is that growth doesn’t always show up as momentum or inspiration. Sometimes it shows up as endurance. As learning how to stay steady when life gets loud. As trusting that the creative part of you doesn’t disappear just because it’s temporarily in maintenance mode.
Preparation counts. Systems count. Rest counts. Carrying the load now makes room for creative clarity later.
What about you?
What has creative growth looked like for you this week? Has it been learning something new, or simply learning how to keep going, recalibrate, or give yourself permission to slow down?
As creatives, our work is shaped not just by what we make, but by how we move through these in-between seasons. I’d love to hear what yours has looked like.
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You're absolutely right that creative growth isn't always about breakthroughs or learning new skills. Sometimes it's about building the infrastructure that supports creativity long-term.
For me this week, growth has looked a lot like yours: endurance over inspiration. Between wrapping Q4 projects, prepping for 2026 initiatives, and managing the usual end-of-year chaos, I've been in execution mode more than exploration mode.
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Hey, Ashley Renée Smith! Congratulations on your creative growth!
"What this week has reinforced for me is that growth doesn’t always show up as momentum or inspiration. Sometimes it shows up as endurance." You're right. I have to remind myself that sometimes.
My creative growth is trying different things in a short script this week. I wouldn't have been able to do these things before. Reading posts and blogs on Stage 32 and taking webinars on here helped me grow.
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Thank you for sharing Ashley Renée Smith ! I think rest is always important to creative output or even just practicing, I recently got a roll of film developed and the photos didn't come out exactly the way I wanted it too, I would like to blame on the fact that i don't practice film photography as much and in turn made me rusty. That and the fact that I've grown reliant and fascinated by digital photography. As well as it being a hobby! But with the new year around the corner, setting goals and being intentional with what you want to see yourself doing is huge!
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Ashley Renée Smith Yey, growth! I'm proud of you, endurance is key when life plus career plus creativity sort of have on of those meshing together moments, happens every once in a while : ) For me, this week, I have seen myself growing as an actor, by stepping into the energy I wish to be in, the leveling up, if you will, by trusting, "ok, I know I know how to do it, love it", and putting on my business side, and claiming my next move with my agent, and treating that relationship with lots of trust, confidence, but as an equal partnership, as I move and expand. And as a writer, I've learned to "trust the process" for each script. I am used to working super lighting speed and inspired hard core, but this script is taking me slowly, and detailed-ly, and deeply, and am going with it.