I’ve been listening to “Everybody Scream,” the new single from Florence + The Machine, on repeat since it was released last month. It’s a great uplifting song, the kind that compels you to move as you listen. But the more times I hear it, the more the lyrics haunt me. I’m no performer getting on stage, but the insatiable demand to create no matter what hits the same whether you’re a musician or a writer.

Here’s a Spotify link to listen to the song for yourself.

You can also listen and watch the music video on YouTube.

Creative Freedom as a Space

Some people enjoy a welcoming, supportive space from the moment they choose to answer the call to create—and keep creating. That space is full of encouragement and excitement for what you come up with next. It might be just one person or many, but the space is full of that wonderful “keep going, we love what you do” energy.

For some of us, the first time we try to step into that space, we’re met with “oh…well, good for you,” if not something more discouraging. It pauses that creative energy and stops things from happening. If the people we most want and expect to be excited for us just aren’t, why bother? Some stranger might become my biggest fan, but they might not.

Finding a loving space to share our creativity becomes a quest. We search out the people who like our work for what it is—warts, spice, and sharp edges all. We don’t need to be so kind as to change the nature of our work to make it more palatable for them. We don’t have to be quiet for those telling us what we should do or how to twist our ideas into their vision.

There, our work gets to be extraordinary and sparkly. It also gets to be normal and flawed. A work can be a work in progress. The space is not just where you are free to create, but your creations are free to be utterly, unapologetically yours.

Creative Freedom as a Feeling

How does it feel in your body when you can express your creativity freely? When you can talk through a whole idea with an enraptured listener?

If I can borrow some words from Halsey, I feel bigger than my bones.

In that quest to find a loving, supportive space to express our creativity, we spend a lot of time navigating less friendly spaces. We share parts, but never the whole.

“Oh, I do a lot of different things for my art. What do you like to do in your spare time?”

“There’s kind of a lot going on in my writing and I don’t want to bore you. So, do you like to read?”

“I have a lot of different projects I’m working on, so I’m a bit all over the place.”

Minimize. Downplay. Deflect. Avoid. Hide. Contain. Protect.

Yet when you find that loving space and show up completely with your creativity, aren’t you so glad you came?

How “Everybody Scream” Hits Me Right Now

My main creative focus lately has been this blog. Doing a little maintenance here and there, writing new posts to breathe life back into my corner of the Internet, getting the Legacy Collection ready to go so I can have a break to write some shiny new short fiction.

On maybe my 200th listen to “Everybody Scream,” I got giddy over a silly little realization.

I’ve spent the last couple of years cautioning my fellow creatives that they don’t own the space their social media posts occupy. Those spaces can be taken away with no notice at any time. From a marketing perspective, it’s essential to have your own website and an email list. Because you do own those things.

I have been blogging since 2010. I bought my domain and officially owned my site since 2014. But it’s only now sinking in that my little corner of the Internet really is mine.

Thinking back to my original dream when I started blogging, I wanted to publish my fiction here. I wanted this to be a space for stories, as well as craft and personal experience. But then a lot of outside voices said, “Oh no, that’s just for hobby writers. If you want to be a real, capital-W Writer, you shouldn’t do that. You have to do these things instead, or it doesn’t count.”

That was a lot of nonsense I was pressured into believing. The funny thing is you can do whatever you want with your own corner of the Internet. There are actual serious laws you have to comply with, but all those other “rules” are optional.

Remembering that, I could suddenly take a deep breath that felt full. When self-doubt threatens, I play “Everybody Scream” yet again. This is one of those loving spaces for my creative work. Yes, there are risks: trolls, thieves, AI bots, and others.

Which is bigger: fear or creativity?

At some point, courage and confidence to handle the bad times has to be more than anxiety generated by an endless list of scary “what-ifs.”

I think hard about when Florence sings, “Aren’t you so glad you came? / Breathless and begging and screaming my name.” I think about the you she asks.

Maybe it’s a die-hard fan who can’t get enough. It could be creativity personified, exultant at being totally uninhibited, eager to work through a creator.

I like to think of it as the self. To me, absolute creative freedom is a place where you feel loved by yourself and no shame toward yourself. You can run yourself ragged in a place like that, chasing that feeling, but it’s never enough.

It’s the place where you can scream—and create—as loud and messy as you want.

I invite you to think about a loving space for your creative energy, whether you’ve found one or are still searching. What’s it like? How does it feel in your body to be there? You can let us into your space by sharing in the comments.

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