Welcome to Creative Living Diaries

This is the part where I am supposed to tell you who you are.

I’m supposed to sell you on this newsletter, speak to your pain points, or tell you what subscribing will do for you, but I can’t do that. There’s no way for me to know who you are.

I can only tell you a little bit about who I am, what engages my imagination, what I love, and hope that when we make a connection, you’ll want to stick around.

I’m a writer and a visual artist.

I write personal essays on creativity, culture, consciousness, philosophies, theologies, nostalgia, and the unseen threads that run through us and shape us.

I sit down in front of this glowing screen and tell myself, please don’t write about weird stuff that alienates people.

The problem is, despite appearances, my true self is still a nineteen-year-old with chipped black fingernail polish and combat boots, wearing a leopard-print babydoll dress, fake-smoking clove cigarettes under a streetlight in an empty parking lot with some guy she likes just because of the way his hair falls across his face, listening to a Bowie cassette. She looks at me with her uneven eyeliner and says, “Whatever. I’ll write about whatever I want.”

So here we are.

I write because I’m compelled to, and even though I don’t have a clear niche or a pitch or an elevator speech, I hope that when you read the things I write, you’ll feel inspired to be your true self.

Inside Creative Living Diaries, you’ll find:

✨ Essays on creativity, spirituality, culture, and whatever else I feel like writing about.

✨ The Monthly Love List – a roundup of what’s lighting me up lately: books, art, moments.

✨ Behind-the-scenes glimpses into my studio, garden (plant native!), divination practice, vintage closet, personal rituals, and travels.

✨ Cosmic Heart – my book-in-progress blending memoir, spirituality, and cultural critique.

✨Live Cosmic Cafe events on or around the full and new moon each month.

The illustrations on my posts are my digital drawings. I have this dream that one day the Love List will be fully illustrated - like a graphic novel or an art journal - but that hasn’t happened yet.

Storytelling is what makes us human. Creative expression is how we stay alive. So let’s be alive together. Let’s create. And, most importantly, let’s be exactly who we came here to be.

Meet Lori-Lyn

I’m GenX. Aquarius sun and moon, Capricorn rising.

I’m currently working on a YA novel.

I live with my partner and our pug in a slightly haunted house.

I’m an aunt to three amazing humans.

When I’m not dreaming about relocating to the woods of New York, I’m writing and creating or watching old movies.

I think about the wardrobe in Pretty in Pink and Desperately Seeking Susan more often than you’d probably imagine.

I love:

🌙 Sitting under the moon and stars

🌿 Gardening for the pollinators

☕ The smell and taste of morning coffee

🔮 Tarot and oracle cards

🛍️ Vintage and thrift store finds

✨ Quiet, unscheduled days filled with creative flow

🌲 Slow, easy hikes

🧿 Chatting with my spirit guides (which might be a fun way of saying I chat with different aspects of myself)

👻 The paranormal

🌈 Social justice and freedom for all

Please come on in and get comfortable. The incense is burning, the coffee is brewing.

If this speaks to you, let’s party! (If by party, you mean curl up on a little blanket of moss and do nothing.)

To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.