Megan Dalla-Camina on creativity, truth, spiritual practice, the inner critic and making space for the work that wants to come through.
Author, researcher, women’s leader and founder Megan Dalla-Camina on creativity, truth, spiritual practice and making space for the work that wants to come through.
This is part of the Interviews with Creatives series, a curated library of conversations from the Creative Momentum with Meg podcast.
Creativity needs somewhere to come from
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We often talk about creativity as something we need to fit into our lives. We make the time, set the goals, build the routine and try to get the work done.
But what if creativity needs something different?
For Megan Dalla-Camina, the answer isn’t a stricter routine. In fact, she doesn’t really have a creative routine at all. What she does have is a deep spiritual practice, a willingness to slow down and an increasingly strong trust in her own inner listening.
Megan is an author of four books, a PhD researcher in women’s spirituality and feminine wisdom, and the founder of Women Rising. She has also been a dancer and actress, and describes writing as her first and greatest creative love. After 18 years working in corporate America, she found her creativity flourishing again through writing books.
What struck me most in our conversation was the contrast between the way we often approach creative work and the way Megan now approaches hers.
She talked about the difference between having to get something done and allowing something to unfold.
Her first book was written in four months, under a tight deadline. Her most recent book, She Who Remembers, took much longer. There was more sitting, sifting, contemplating and listening. Her spiritual practice had deepened, and with it, so had her trust in the creative process.
That doesn’t mean she doesn’t work. When she’s in the middle of a book project, she creates a loose schedule around the time available and works towards the publisher’s deadline. She starts with an idea, allows it to gestate, then usually creates an outline and works through the book from beginning to end. But there is still room for the unexpected.
And that, I think, is the interesting part. Creativity can have structure without being controlled. It can have deadlines without being rushed. It can involve work without becoming productivity for productivity’s sake.
Megan told me that she thinks it is very hard to create when we’re moving at the speed of productivity. For her, stillness, space, walking, reading, meditation and simply sitting and looking out the window are part of the creative process, not time away from it.
And perhaps that is why her answer to my question about what feels like home for her creative work stayed with me.
“Truth is the word that just keeps coming to me.”
For Megan, being at home in her creativity means being connected to her own wisdom and to what she feels wants to come through her, rather than trying to create what somebody else might create.
That feels like a particularly useful question for any creative person: What wants to come through me? Rather than, What should I be making?
In this interview we explore
- Why Megan doesn’t have a fixed daily creative routine
- How spiritual practice has changed the way she approaches creative work
- The difference between getting creative work done and allowing it to unfold
- How she moves from an initial idea to a book
- Why she believes creatives need to challenge the inner critic before they begin
- What to do when you’re stuck and why looking for the “next right action” can help
- Why meditation, stillness, nature and simply sitting with an idea are part of her creative practice
- What it means to trust yourself and protect an idea while it is still forming
- Why Megan says truth feels like home in her creative work
Read the full conversation below, or listen to the episode above.
Conversation with author Megan Dalla-Camina
MD-C:I’m a mother of an amazing 25-year-old man. I’m an author of four books, a PhD researcher in women’s spirituality and feminine wisdom, and I’m the founder of a women’s leadership company called Women Rising.
My creative work, I just love to write. I always try and work out what my first love was. Was it writing or was it dance?
I grew up as a dancer and an actress, and I think I was dancing before I was writing, but I think writing was always my first, greatest love, whether it was poetry when I was growing up, or song lyrics when I was a rebellious teen. Then my creativity shut down a lot when I was in corporate, when I was working in corporate America for 18 years, and then it started to flourish again through writing books.
So, it’s been an interesting journey.
MD: Would you say that the work that you do in Women Rising is also part of your creative work?
MD-C: Absolutely, because I am creating ways and methods to help women wake up. That’s essentially what it is. Yes, it’s women’s leadership. Yes, it’s women’s empowerment.
Women Rising is mostly for women who are working in corporate environments like I was, who really need that creative spark of, what’s my life vision? Where’s my purpose? How’s my career evolving? How do I be well? All of these things.
So, my creative work in that is the creation of the teachings and coaching. It’s a creative, co-creative process, I find, and books and thought leadership pieces and writing, all of that, which I do a lot in Women Rising as well. So, it’s not all creative. I’m running a business as well, which has its other aspects, but absolutely, so much creation.
MD: I have been privy to some of the workshops that you’ve run, and I can say that you do hold a really great creative space for women as well in that.
MD-C: Thank you.
MD: It definitely feels like creative work, even though I know it is about women in leadership.
Creative Routine
MD: Can you tell me a little bit about what your routine is for your creative work?
MD-C: I don’t really have one. As soon as anyone says routine to me, I’m such a rebel. But so many creatives would relate to being organic in their process, particularly if they’re not in a creative work.
If I’m working on a book, that’s different. If I’m deep in PhD research, that’s different. I have to have structure around that. But on a day-to-day basis, I don’t have a creative routine. I don’t get up at a certain hour and do an hour of writing. I envy those authors who have all of the different routines. I’m none of that. I have definite structure and routine around my spiritual practice and process, but not so much around my creativity.
MD: So how do you ensure that you get the work done?
MD-C: I go project to project. If we just look at pure creative work, like writing a book, that’s probably the cleanest example. I will work on a book for however long that is, six months, a year, sometimes it’s a longer gestation period, and then I’ll get into the writing. When I’m in a project, I will set times, whether it’s days, half days or weekends. I don’t usually write in evenings. I might do early mornings, but I will have a schedule where I know, okay, I’ve got this much time to get this piece of work done. Then I will set myself a bit of a loose project schedule. Because I’m never just working on a book. I’m working on a book and running a business and doing PhD work and all of the things. So it will definitely have more structure because there’ll be a deadline that a publisher is waiting on. But it’s still quite loose. I’m not that structured.
Creative Process
MD: Do you have a process from going from, ‘I think I want to write about this’, to getting the thing done? Is there a process that you follow for each of them and does it change with each of them?
MD-C: I typically start with an outline, which kind of is counter to no structure, right? Because my brain works in a very structured way in my business, and my training as a business strategist is very structured.
I will usually start with a concept, an idea. I’ll let that sort of gestate and marinate for a while, and then I will typically do an outline. It’s just an outline, not lots of detail under the outline. Just, okay, this is what’s going to come through. This is what I think it is. For all of my books, actually, once I’ve gotten to that stage, that’s been what it is. The outline has ended up being pretty close to what the book is. And then I also write front to back. I write nonfiction, for those who don’t know. I will start at the beginning, I’ll write the introduction, and then I just work my way through. I don’t tend to jump around. I tend to just go start to end. And then I will go back and edit.
MD: I was going to ask, do you edit as you go, or do you write it out first and then go back and do the edits?
MD-C: What I try not to do, because I’ve listened to all the great writers, is edit as I write. But I will write a chapter, and then I will often go back and edit that chapter before I move to the next one. Or I might move to the next one and then play around with that and go back to another one because I’ve had another thought. So, yes, front to back. Structure, introduction. But then there’s some of that organic flow that just happens. You get a bit of inspiration and go, “Oh, I need to go and tweak that or fill that thought out a little bit more.”
MD: Has it changed for you over the years? You’ve got four books out now. Has that whole process of going from an idea to coming up with the outline been that way the whole way through?
MD-C: It’s kind of been that way. I remember my first book, Getting Real About Having It All. I literally sat down, I remember it so clearly, it was Australia Day. I came back from Byron Bay, I’d been on holidays, and I came back and sat down. I’d been awarded this book contract from Hay House that I had never even expected because I wasn’t intending to write a book.
I remember sitting down with art pads with no lines, and I just opened it up. That was my outline for my book. And I did the same thing for Simple, Soft or Sacred. Even though that book, my second book, was a different book. I was intending to write a different book. There was a much smaller book. It was this much simpler idea.
I kept talking to Hay House and going, “Something doesn’t feel right about this book. It doesn’t feel like this is the book that I’m being called to write.” That’s when I eventually landed on Simple, Soft or Sacred.
It was the same thing. I was in Byron, sitting there and thinking, “What do I want this to be? What do I want to write about?” And I just wrote down Simple, Soft or Sacred.
And that was it. “Oh, that’s actually the book.” It was a big book. It’s my, I think, biggest book. Then the outline came, and I wrote it like that.
I think the thing that has changed or evolved would be that, as my spiritual practice has evolved and deepened over all of that time, my inward process, my inner process, my listening process, my download process, if that makes sense, and my trusting process have deepened. I think that’s really flowed through my work, particularly my latest book, She Who Remembers.
MD: So, thinking about that, how has that affected your creative process? Does that mean more quiet, still time?
MD-C: Well, I have a lot of quiet, still time in my life because I do a lot of spiritual practice. It’s foundational to everything that I do. I think it’s slowed me down. It’s created more space in my creativity. My first book I wrote in four months. It was a really tight deadline. Sit down, go, get it done, get it out. Whereas my last book, She Who Remembers, which has just come out, I took a lot more time. There was a lot more sitting and sifting and contemplating, and just sitting with the work.
It sits alongside my PhD research. So there’s the academic side over here, and the spiritual feminine wisdom side, even though my PhD research is on feminine wisdom. It’s just that unfolding process, letting it unfold versus feeling like, with Women Rising, I have to get it done. I have to get it all done and out, because this is a body of work that needs to be complete in some ways. So, I think that’s how it’s changed.
Creative Inspiration
MD: You said earlier that you have been a dancer as well. Is there anything that you have taken from dancing into your creative work with writing?
MD-C: That’s a great question. I’ve never actually thought about that. No one’s ever asked me that. I think being a creative being, I think we’re all creative beings at our core. That’s how we’re born, right?
MD: Agreed. We all come out creative. We get it stamped out of us as we get into education and go through our lives.
MD-C: And that’s a whole other thing. I think that connection to being a creative being, as a dancer, even though that was a long time ago, it was half of my life that I was a dancer. Having the spirit of creativity, having the spirit of creation, I think is the piece. It’s the connector. It’s the piece that translates, whether that was dancing, whether it was acting, I was an actress for half of my life, or whether it’s writing. I think that’s the link: that ability to create, that willingness, the bravery, the courage that it takes.
MD: I love that so much. And I agree 100% that we all are creative. I hear so many people, mates of mine as well, who say, “I’m not creative, not like you.” Well, we are all creative. We just get taught not to be, or to put the barriers up. So, I’m really curious to hear from you about where you draw inspiration from for your creative work, for your writing.
MD-C: I mean, the short answer is everywhere. That’s the short answer. I think so many of us as creatives, with a capital C, would understand that. I’ve got this picture of Mary Magdalene that I got in her cathedral in France when I was on pilgrimage last year. I look at that, and I could birth 15 creative works from looking at that one picture because it’s just so… I’ve got Anandamayi Ma here, an Indian saint, who’s very, very important to me. So, everywhere. Everywhere I look, I feel inspired to create. I would say my core source of creativity at this stage of my life comes from two sources.
One would be my spiritual life.
And the other is people, and particularly women. I’ve always been inspired by women. My whole life’s work is about women. But every day I get inspired by women and want to go create something, either to reflect back their brilliance and their amazingness, because I think something could bring through some wisdom that would open a pathway.
MD: So, if you had to narrow it down, you would say those two areas?
MD-C: Those two things.
MD: I love that so much. I’ve worked pretty much solely with women as well, and what a privilege it is to work with women and to get wisdom from them.
Creative Wisdom
MD: Megan, can you tell me what would be your pearls of wisdom for someone who is either starting out in a creative way and wanting to dip their toe in, or they’re feeling a little bit stuck and not sure how to move forwards?
MD-C: For anyone starting out, my most simple advice is to just start. Pick something. Pick a place to start and just do something. If you want to write a book, get your pen and a blank piece of paper and write an outline. Just do a stream-of-consciousness download of what’s in your head so that you can start somewhere. Because I think so often that time before starting a project, we get so caught up in our inner critic narrative.
‘Who am I to do this?’
‘No one’s going to read it.’
‘No one wants to publish it.’
‘Everything’s been done before.’
‘AI’s writing all this slop anyway.’
‘So who’s going to care and read my work?’
And that’s all inner critic narrative. I do so much work on the inner critic, and gosh, no one needs more inner critic work than creatives. Because it’s so hard to sit with a blank anything and start. So just start.
MD: You know, it’s interesting talking about that because I have reframed that for many of my clients to call it a playful first draft.
MD-C: Oh, I love that too. I love that too. That’s really nice. Just get it done. Just start. For those who are feeling stuck, I always like to look at: What’s the next thing? from Annie Lamott who wrote Bird by Bird. For feeling stuck, number one, what’s the inner critic story that is keeping you stuck? What is the narrative? What are you telling yourself about where you are at in the process? And if we can catch that story and start to challenge that story, that can help us move through.
Then I also like to look at: What’s the next right action on this project? What’s the next thing? If you’re writing a book and you’re stuck on one chapter, just go find another chapter that you can write three sentences on. And guess what? You’re unstuck. You’ve moved through it.
So, I think those two things help.
And the other thing that I would say around wisdom is trust yourself, listen to yourself, hold it close. Don’t go tell everyone what you’re working on. In fact, I’d even say, don’t tell anybody what you’re working on until you’re at such a stage that it’s really baked in, it’s grounded, it’s in your energy, it’s in your spirit, you’re really clear. And then, if you want to, and you’ve got a few people you trust, I love Julia Cameron’s idea of believing mirrors.
That’s someone who really just holds your space and reflects back to you your brilliance. By all means share, but hold it really close.
And I would also say, please meditate. Please meditate. Sit down for five minutes before you start your work, or when you’re trying to bring through an idea. Ask the question. Go in, sit, breathe, focus on your breath. Just do five minutes, and it will have a profound impact on your creativity.
MD: Yes. I love that so much. And five minutes. We can always find five minutes.
MD-C: Everyone can find five minutes. I tell people I sit for an hour at a time and they go, “Oh, I’ve definitely got five minutes. I can go find five minutes.”
MD: We’ve all got five minutes.
MD-C: We’ve all got five minutes. We’ve probably even got an hour.
MD: Yes. If we put the phone down.
MD-C: Stop scrolling, start writing.
Creative Cup
MD: Tell me, what fills your creativity cup?
MD-C: Meditation, spiritual practice, nature, walking.
I love to walk. Often I will walk listening to something creative or something spiritual, spiritual teachings, or I love listening to other writers talk about their process, but often I will just walk with nothing in my ears. And I walk by the beach or through the bush near where I live. So those things: stillness, space, reading. I read a lot, particularly as a researcher, I read a lot. And I just think for me, so much of creation and creativity and filling that cup is sitting.
I’m in my office right now, a tiny little space, and I just put my feet up on the chair next to my desk and I just stare out the window. I literally just sit and just see what wants to come through and that fills me up creatively as well. I think it’s very hard to create when we’re moving at the speed of productivity.
MD: We need the space. It needs the space.
Home for Creativity
MD: What feels like home for you and your creative work?
MD-C: Oh, that’s a good question. What feels like home? Truth is the word that just keeps coming to me. Truth feels like home. If I’m sitting in my truth as a human. If I’m sitting in my truth connected to my wisdom. And my truth for what I feel wants to come through me, versus through any of the other billions of people on the planet, that feels like I’m home.
Connect with Megan Dalla-Camina
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Creative Momentum with Meg, a podcast of conversations with creatives
This interview originally appeared on the Creative Momentum with Meg podcast, where I talk with writers and creatives about how and why they do their creative work.
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