📝 THE FOUNTAIN FLOW 📝

April 3, 2025 Edition

👋 HELLO, WRITERS!

Welcome to our first newsletter! In just one month since our soft launch, our community is already buzzing with activity and meaningful connections. Members are experiencing breakthroughs as they take inspired aligned action toward their writing goals.

If you're new to The Fountain, here's what makes our approach unique:

• Exclusive Clearings—guided audio experiences that dissolve creative resistance and help you access flow states

• Transformative Channels—written exercises and deep inquiry prompts that build authentic artistic confidence

• Grounding Anchors—somatically attuned affirmation practices that integrate creativity into your body and daily life

• A Community of creators actively sharing insights and supporting each other's creative journeys

As we shift into spring, we're excited to continue building this journey with you—fellow writers who understand that creativity flows when we create the right conditions.

🧠 NEUROSCIENCE NUGGET

Writers often experience the most powerful narrative insights when they're away from their desks—in the shower, on a walk, or just before sleep. This is because creative breakthroughs happen when your brain shifts from focused "task mode" (dominated by the prefrontal cortex) to the more associative default mode network, where unexpected connections form. This explains why forcing words rarely works, but stepping away often leads to that perfect plot solution or character insight arriving effortlessly.

🔍 MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Community member Penny Zang is gearing up to debut her novel, DOLL PARTS! We’re so thrilled for her. You can check it out and preorder here! 

👩‍💼 FOUNDERS' CORNER

Kim: This month I've been deep in research on neuroplasticity and flow states, and creating new frequencies for our forthcoming walking Anchors. I’m also working on scripts for some new Buffer Clearings (we’re very excited to keep adding more of these to our library for the 3-Step-Flow Practice).

I wrote an essay for Wildsam Magazine (forthcoming in the May issue) about a road trip I took to Joshua Tree with my mom after her hip replacement surgery (she needed bionic hips not because she’s old but because she’s crazy–she spent two years jumping out of airplanes every weekend and had a few too many rough landings!). Essays are not my usual inclination but I’m really happy about how this one turned out—I also wrote a (very rough!) draft for another one to promote the paperback launch of We Were the Universe in June. I also wrote a draft of a short story for the new collection I’ve been working on for the last few years. It’s been a really productive month and I owe so much to the 3-Step-Flow and prioritizing two-hour writing chunks (with frequencies) every weekday.

Chelsea: I’ve been busy writing the scripts for our soon to be released walking Anchors and diving deep on how we can deepen our writing through movement based practices. I’ve also been loving the community that’s building and have been having so much fun creating The Weekly Inspiration that appears every Monday morning! 

In my writing life, I’ve been working on my fourth book in earnest (a novel!) and feeling that the 3-Step Flow Practice has simplified my process so much. I’ve been processing through some intense feelings around it, and am thankful I have these targeted tools to work with.  I also had the wild and wonderful experience of lucid dreaming a new novel that came much fully formed, and I woke up and started writing. It was such an unexpected arrival, but no doubt a product of what happens when we open ourselves to the call. 

📅 UPCOMING EVENTS

The Fountain Members Monthly Live Meeting: "Are You a Fountain, or a Drain?" April 25th 10 AM PT (RSVP in the community if you haven't already)

🖋️ OUT IN THE WRITING WORLD

• Stony Brook Manhattan — Kim flew to New York to give a reading and an interview at the Writers Speak Wednesday reading series (you can watch here).

• Montana Public Radio—Kim spoke about writing into the weird with host Lauren Korn on The Write Question podcast.

• Frontera Festival—Kim is heading to Dallas next weekend for Southwest Review’s Frontera Fest (featuring amazing writers Mary Miller and Lynda Berry among others).

• Oregon Literary Awards and Fellowships—Chelsea and Kim were honored at Portland Literary Arts (Kim is a finalist for the Oregon Book Award and Chelsea won an Oregon Literary Fellowship award).

• Books, Looks, and Lobotomies Podcast—Chelsea recently talked all things Madwoman and psychology with OCD therapist Alegra Kastens on her podcast. 

✨ FEATURED PRACTICE: TACTILE RECALIBRATION

Try this concrete physical exercise to unlock creative flow:

1. Find a small object with interesting texture (stone, fabric, shell)

2. Hold it in your non-dominant hand while writing

3. When you feel stuck, pause and focus entirely on the sensations:

• Temperature

• Weight

• Texture

• Pressure points

4. Take three deep breaths while maintaining this sensory focus

5. Return to writing without planning what comes next

So happy to connect with you, 

Chelsea and Kim

When you're ready to write the book you were born to write, join us at The Fountain ⛲