“You can’t wait for the perfect time. Sometimes you must dare to jump.”
-Susie Ormon Schnall
This past week, I’ve been running a little time study on my business. In other words, I’m observing, tracking, and analyzing how and where I spend my time. I’m sure you can relate to the feeling of time just flying? Like, where did it all go?
To help me, I’ve been using a tool called Toggl, which was recommended to me by a fellow creative entrepreneur and is super easy to use. Because, the truth is: I’ve left corporate for a year now and structure is still the top challenge I struggle with. Not what to do and how to do it, but when to start and stop.
So, I’m running this long-overdue experiment to better understand how my priorities and actions may or may not be aligning, and where to make tweaks. So far, it’s given me a lot of insight and has even changed how I feel waking up each day.
So, I’m curious: Do you have a good sense of how you’re spending your time? Think about all the important areas of your life: personal, health, relationship, business/career, spiritual, creative, or others. Maybe you’re spending too much time on things you don’t actually want to prioritize, and too little on things that you deem important?
Also, let me know: where can this newsletter be of more service on this creative journey of life? Whether you’ve been here for a hot sec, or are an OG Tomatokind reader, let us know by sharing a few words with us! ⬇️
Quick reminder to join us…
August 14 - Creative Lunch Club x Adobe SF, a creative lunch gathering we’re co-hosting in San Francisco. Enter the lottery to attend here.
August 20 - Live Conversation with Nicky Weldy, a visual designer who left her career in tech and entertainment to start her cosmetic tattoo studio Featherhaus. Add it to your calendar here.
August 26 - Tiny Lessons From Obituaries: Stories That Could Change Your Life, a co-hosted event with Mary McGreevy at Local Economy that will involve reading real obituaries as a way to reflect us back to ourselves. Get your tickets here.
August 31 - 4-Step Creative Flow for Inspiration Hoarders, a Creative Mornings Field Trip we’re leading that will make space for your latest dreams. RSVP link coming soon.
Ok, now…Welcome to our dream-board, a weekly column that was born from an Instagram story and this little thread in our community chat!
Straight to your inbox every week: I round up creative part-time/ full-time opportunities, fellowships, workshops, brick and mortar offerings, and other creative voices and resources to help you pursue a life of creative abundance!
Initially, all subscribers will get access to this weekly board. Eventually, we’ll be limiting this column to paid subscribers only. So, dig in now (and tell us what you want to hear more of)!
Weekly Dream-Board
Are you exploring an early/ new career in dance? RAWdance is launching its 3rd round of the Radiate Fellowship, an 18-month paid opportunity supporting early-career dance artists as they pursue their own journeys and goals (artistic, administrative, activist, and any permutation in between).
Passionate about live storytelling and event production? KQED is looking for their next Producer of Live Events to help advance their mission of convening civic dialogue and crafting distinctive experiences that inform, inspire, and involve live audiences throughout the SF Bay Area.
Passionate about the intersection of beer+art+music? Collective Arts is a Canada-based grassroots brewery fusing the creativity of craft beverages with the inspired talents of emerging artists and musicians around the world. And, they’re hiring for multiple roles.
Are you an artist interested in teaching? The Mendocino Art Center offers affordable workshops taught by both visiting and local artists in a range of mediums and topics. Apply to teach here.
Other cool stuff
BitterSweet Monthly is an online publication that shares stories of justice, compassion, and hope from around the world. Every year, they seek nominations for nonprofit organizations that use imaginative, subversive, and inspiring solutions to address the challenges of the modern world. Nominate a story for 2027!
Suppers at Headlands Center for the Arts is a monthly dinner gathering that celebrates artists and community in Marin Headlands, CA, designed to help sustain meaningful creative engagement and art-making.
Back in 2013, Amtrack announced its writer’s residency program, which gave writers the dedicated opportunity to hone their craft while aboard a multi-day, scenic interstate route. While the program is no longer active, here’s a guide to plan your own writer’s retreat aboard miles of inspirational track.
Cool people to follow
Follow Kat Vellos for conversations and grassroots practices that cultivate better friendships and thriving communities
Follow samantha aiello for all things functional hormone health, nutrition science, and nervous system support
Follow Sheryl Patel for vulnerable stories that voice and heal the feminine collective
With zeal and gratitude for this creative life,
Vanessa
P.S. If you’re at a place in your creative journey where you’re seeking guidance around unlocking your creative joy, overcoming mental blocks, and/or infusing more imagination and play into your life and career, I’d love to chat 🫶
Ahhhhh! Thanks for the shout out Vanessa! I appreciate you!
Thank you for this shout out Vanessa! You are the best - appreciate it!!