May 1, 2025 Edition
👋 HELLO, WRITERS!
May has arrived, bringing with it a renewed sense of possibility and creative energy! We're seeing so many of you embrace the rhythms of your writing practice with more confidence and ease as you continue your journey with The Fountain. Your shares in the community about breakthrough moments and daily victories are inspiring us all.
✨ FIRST MEETUP REFLECTION: "ARE YOU A FOUNTAIN OR A DRAIN?"
We're still buzzing from our first live monthly Meetup last week! It was incredible to see so many of you show up with such openness and vulnerability as we explored the powerful distinction between our "fountain" and "drain" parts.
During our session, we discussed how these drain parts often form in childhood as protective mechanisms against pain, shame, and the unknown. While they once served an important purpose, these parts continue to run old programs even in adulthood, showing up as procrastination, self-criticism, freezing, numbing, chronic busyness, distraction, people-pleasing, and even getting stuck in envy.
Many of you shared beautiful insights, and we were particularly moved by the collective realization that our drain parts—when approached with compassion rather than judgment—can transform into powerful creative allies. For those who couldn't join us live, we're excited to announce that the recording is now available in our new "Classes" Module in your Course Library. You'll find all our recordings there moving forward, making it easy to revisit these Meetups whenever you need them.
🔑 NOTE: Our Meetups are exclusively for current Fountain members. Not a member yet? Join The Fountain today to access this class (and all past and forthcoming monthly Meetups!), our complete library of writing resources (including guided audio tracks and deep inquiry exercises), and an amazing community of like-minded writers, all for only $33.00 a month.
As we move deeper into spring, remember that creativity thrives when we honor its natural ebbs and flows. Your writing practice doesn't need to look the same every day—what matters is creating consistent space for your creativity to express itself authentically.
🧠 NEUROSCIENCE NUGGET
The "digital detox" many of you are exploring through our Deep Dive module has solid neurological benefits. Research shows that the constant notifications and scrolling of social media trigger dopamine hits that actually fragment our attention and creative thinking.
When we step away from these digital distractions, our brains gradually rebuild their capacity for sustained focus and deep work. Even more fascinating: during periods of digital absence, the brain's default mode network—crucial for imagination, memory consolidation, and narrative construction—has more opportunity to activate and strengthen. This is why many writers report sudden creative insights appearing during or after a social media break, as you'll read in our Member Spotlight below!
🔍 MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: LINDSEY PETERS BERG
This month, we're shining the spotlight on writer Lindsey Peters Berg, who courageously took on the Digital Release challenge from our Deep Dive module and discovered unexpected creative gifts in the process. Linsdey was kind enough to answer our questions about how The Fountain is fitting into her writing routine:
What are you processing right now with The Fountain?
When I arrived upon Deep Dive's "Digital Release" module and read the recommendation to go on a 30-day social media break, my mind came up with ALL the excuses to reject it. I thought, "Well, I'll cut back, but I can't totally abstain. I need to be on at least occasionally." Whenever I've considered a social media break before, this is where my personal inquiry has stopped.
But The Fountain has encouraged me to dig deeper. I asked myself why I think I need it. My answers were unconvincing. Underneath those excuses was a very small, ashamed kernel of truth: I was afraid that if I tried to abstain from social media, I would fail. I was afraid that I was so addicted to the doomscroll that I would feel agitated, disconnected, and bored without it.
Recognizing this fear motivated me to challenge it. The Digital Release Clearing sealed the deal by illuminating the value of redirecting my energy away from social media, toward my creative practice. Now, just over a week into my social media break, I feel more present in the world around me. I'm jotting down funny overheard conversations, I'm taking long, lingering looks out windows (it's spring out there!!), I'm entertaining my mind by memorizing a Mary Oliver poem. What I feared would be boredom is actually just spaciousness. The Fountain has reminded me that I have the strength to do things that scare me, and often there is something beautiful on the other side.
What are you working on?
I've been carefully revising my work-in-progress! It's a novel about a sexually repressed woman and her high school sweetheart, who share tandem queer awakenings after their hookup with a gender-bending, bisexual hyperpop musician eleven years their junior. When not revising, I process the emotional experience of writing (and existing) for my weekly Substack, deardiary.
What is one recent win you'd like to share?
I'm so excited to attend the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop this summer! For the first time, I'll have the opportunity to give my full, undivided energy and attention to my creative practice for a whole week. Most of my writing community exists online, so I'm also looking forward to making irl writer friends!
👩💼👩💼 FOUNDERS' CORNER
We're thrilled with how our first monthly Meetup went! Seeing so many of you show up with such openness and vulnerability reinforced for us exactly why we created The Fountain—writers need community and tools that honor both the craft and the deeply emotional journey of creative expression.
Kim: Those of you who write to our two-hour binaural frequencies will be happy to know we have added three new ones to our library! We've created second versions of 174 Hz (for grounding), 285 Hz (for clarity—this is one of my go-to frequencies), and 396 Hz (for removing self-limiting beliefs) that offer subtle variations on the original frequencies. I've been incorporating these into my daily practice with great results. Find these in the Frequencies Only tab in your Clearings Library.
I'm deep in the revision process for a story, and I've found that our new Buffer Clearing 4 (Finding Your Motivation), which is now available in your Clearings Library, has been invaluable for quieting the noise and getting to work this week.
Chelsea: We have been busy dreaming up a summer intensive called 100 Days to Your Full Draft. We are so excited to offer this container for summer and dive deep with those of you interested in coming away with a full draft of your book. We are writing a deep curriculum, our Fountain version of craft blended with the self-inquiry that allows for lasting integration. Look out for more details about this new offering soon!
In addition to your course library you will now see an added module called The Classes where you can access past recordings of our Meetups. Listen on the go on the app, or any time you want to engage in powerful writing prompts and exercises.
In my writing life, my novel is taking some unexpected turns this month, with a voice emerging who wasn't in my original vision but who feels absolutely essential to the story now. I'm learning to trust these intuitive redirections more and more, and the Daily Reflection practice has been instrumental in helping me process my resistance to these changes. I'm finding that when I approach these surprises with curiosity rather than control, the work expands in ways I couldn't have planned.
📅 UPCOMING EVENTS
-
The Fountain Monthly Live Meetup: The Connective Query Letter
Our next Meetup is Friday, May 30th at 10 AM PT. With endless information about how to query agents out there, it can be hard to narrow things down to their most essential form. This Meetup will guide you through a holistic approach that honors what your Connected Self truly desires in your publishing journey. We'll cut through the noise and help you create a plan that aligns with the deeper work you are doing in The Fountain, illustrating how to approach querying from a place of alignment and connection versus scarcity and fear. Join us as we explore the emotional journey of finding and querying the literary agent of your dreams. RSVP and find the Zoom link in the Vision Holders Community.
🖋️ OUT IN THE WRITING WORLD
-
Fountain Member Book Release—Congratulations to Fountain member Ashley Whitaker whose novel Bitter Texas Honey was released April 15! Here's what Kim had to say in her blurb about this wonderful book: "Bitter Texas Honey is wildly offbeat and endlessly entertaining—a novel that manages to be incisive, heartrending, and hilarious all at once. With nimble prose and a deadpan delivery, Whitaker brings each of these deeply relatable, deeply endearing characters to vibrant life. This is a dazzling debut from an outrageously gifted writer.”
-
Oregon Book Awards Ceremony—Kim and Chelsea had a magical night at Portland Center Stage, where Literary Arts hosted the 2025 Oregon Book Awards. Kim won the OBA for Fiction (the Ken Kesey Award) and Chelsea was honored with the Swails Monroe Fellowship for her novel-in-progress.
-
If you're in Portland, connect with Chelsea at the beautiful new Deep Waters space for a talk on conceptualizing mothers in art and writing. She'll be joined by three luminary women artists from 4-6pm on May 10th. There will be light snacks, tea, and time for Q&A. Get your tickets here.
-
Chelsea will also be in conversation with Ling Ling Huang, author of Immaculate Conception at Powell's on May 14th at 7pm.
-
Southwest Review—Kim’s essay about the time her mom pulled her out of school in the middle of the day to watch The Silence of the Lambs in the theater was published in the latest issue of the Southwest Review (it’s also about Tom Petty’s “American Girl,” unconventional motherhood, and the terror of simply existing as a woman in this chaotic country).
✨ FEATURED PRACTICE: DIGITAL DETOX WRITING RITUAL
Inspired by Lindsey's experience in our Member Spotlight, try this practice to harness the creative benefits of digital disconnection:
-
Set aside 30 minutes where you deliberately turn off all digital devices (phone, computer, tablet, smartwatch)
-
Bring only a notebook and pen to a comfortable space
-
Begin with three deep breaths, noticing the sensations in your body
-
Ask yourself: "What am I noticing now that I'm not being pulled into digital spaces?"
-
Write freely, without judgment, capturing observations, feelings, or creative ideas that surface
-
Notice if different types of thoughts or expressions emerge when writing by hand versus on a device
-
After your session, take a moment to reflect on how this spaciousness felt in your body and mind
Try this practice three times a week and note how your relationship with both digital media and your creative work begins to shift. Remember, what initially feels like "boredom" is often the fertile ground where your most authentic creative insights take root.
So happy to connect with you,
Chelsea and Kim
