The book Structuring Life to Support Creativity offers concepts and guidance so that creative people can make more space in the life they have for the creative work they want to do. Now I want to take that a step further and host a guided community experience where backers of this project can get tailored activities and community support to make 2027 a year where they focus on their creative work. More than that, I want to help them build structure step-by-step so that at the end of the year they have habits, space, and energy for more creative work than they did before.

To make this happen we need a group of people who are all excited by the idea of making 2027 a Year of Creativity. Launching a crowdfunded project is the best way to gather that group of people and then to launch our journey together at the beginning of the next calendar year.

Organizing and keeping this group effort on track will take more than just an enthusiastic group. I'm excellent at keeping creative people on track, but it does take time and effort that I then can't spend on other work. This is the other reason to crowdfund A Year of Creativity

Goals for crowdfunding A Year of Creativity: 

• to gather people for a shared experience
• to launch us all into focusing on our creative projects
• to pay for my time coordinating and hosting

A Year of Creativity is a subscription delivered in installments. At the beginning of each month you'll receive an email with four activities designed to spark new creative ideas, help you connect with your projects, or help you put a small piece of structure into your daily routine that will help you create more space in your life for the projects you want to do.  Many of the activities are deceptively simple at first glance, but when you engage with them you discover 

• how to connect better with your project
• how your physical spaces are hampering your creativity
• what you can do to have more energy for creative work
• how to reduce your daily mental load
• ways you can re-connect to your motivation
• skills for cultivating more confidence in your self and your work
• tools for tackling health challenges
• management techniques for grief that impacts creativity
• ways to implement change that actually stick
• and more

The activities are delivered both as digital text and as a printable PDF for people who like having a collection of cards to hold.

During the month you'll have access to a Discord server where you can talk with other people who are also tackling those same activities. If you select a pledge level with Community Support there will also be live Zoom sessions where people can share their struggles and get brainstorming help for how to tackle those challenges. 

Your Year of Creativity can be a solo adventure, one you take on with a few self-selected friends, or you can join a hosted community of people taking on the same challenges. As a backer at the monthly delivery level or higher you get access to a shared Discord server where you can commiserate and celebrate with other creative people who are taking on the same activities and share your challenges with making sure that creative projects have space in your life. 

If you want more interaction, you can pick the community tier and get monthly virtual meetups with others to connect, share stories, and offer support. 

All items in this project are delivered digitally via Patreon or Email. 

Collected Activities PDF  $20 

This is the budget option which lets you get all the activities at once. They’ll be delivered to you in single digital file at the end of the year. 

Year of Creativity Subscription  $50

Year of Creativity Subscription + Community Access $150

Attend monthly live sessions for creative support, hosted Co-working sessions, a library of video lectures, Discord access, and other community support for thriving in your creative work.

Super Supporter  $500 

In addition to all of the rewards from prior pledge levels your name will be listed in a special Thank you section of the final project PDF. You also get a warm feeling of knowing that your support is invaluable in making this project happen for everyone.

Structural Support Trial Pack  $900

Access a high-level of support and creative troubleshooting. Meet with Sandra weekly for three months (Jan-March 2027) in addition to all of the rewards at lower pledge levels.

 Digital Delivery

Everything in the main project will be delivered digitally. If you want to save yourself shipping charges, choose from Digital add-ons.

• Structuring Life to Support Creativity ebook  $10 – Get the book on which A Year of Creativity is based.
• Structuring Life to Support Creativity Activities Notebook PDF $10 – A companion book to Structuring Life to Support Creativity. This notebook has designed pages for each of the activities in that book.
• One-on-One Consult – Meet with Sandra for a one hour meeting to discuss your creative challenges and strategize solutions for them. $100
• 3 months of Structural Coaching  $750 – Sandra will meet with you weekly to discuss your creative challenges and plan structure for organizing your creative work around your other life obligations. 
  Meetings can begin in April. Limit 5
• Gift Subscription $50 –  Gift someone A Year of Creativity.
• Gift Subscription + Community $150 – Gift someone A Year of Creativity with Community Access.

Physical Delivery

These add-ons come from our warehouse at  https://shop.schlockmercenary.com/pages/sandra-tayler.  NOTE: You will be charged for shipping on these items when you fill out your survey.  These books are available now and will ship within a few weeks of the close of the project, but we can't guarantee holiday delivery. If you want these books for holiday gifts, we recommend purchasing directly from https://shop.schlockmercenary.com/pages/sandra-tayler

• Structuring Life to Support Creativity paperback  $10 – Get the book on which A Year of Creativity is based.
• Structuring Life to Support Creativity Activities Notebook spiral bound $10 – A companion book to Structuring Life to Support Creativity. This notebook has designed pages for each of the activities in that book.
• Hold on to Your Horses and Strength of Wild Horses picture book bundle  $20 These picture books feature Amy, a little girl whose ideas run away with her. 

I’m a freelancer with a minimum $40 per hour rate. Like most freelancers I can’t afford to work for free. I love the idea of this project. I believe it can be a wonderful tool in the lives of creative people who want a gentle guided way to be brought back to their creative work on a monthly basis. I want to provide structural support to make this happen. Funding this project is buying me hours so that I can do that work. I arrived at my funding number using the following information

Paying back sunk costs:

• $1200  Art by Melissa Williams Design (Some on display here, some held for future use)
• $1600 I spent more than 40 hours writing activities, crafting creative experience to make sure that the activities can make a meaningful long-term difference in the lives of backers, planning, graphic design, campaign set up, and other prep work.

Paying for future work:

• 2 Hours Monthly: Finalizing, proofing, and wordsmithing the activities. This includes adjusting activities in response to the needs of community members or even doing research and coming up with entirely new activities if needed.
• 1 Hour Monthly: Graphic design to layout words into a printable format.
• 1 Hour Monthly: Admin on sending emails, creating Patreon posts, and other structural support to deliver expected items to backers.
• 3 Hours Monthly: Prepping for, running, and doing post work on a live community meeting.
• 3 Hours Monthly: Community building and Discord moderation for channels specific to this project. This includes detailed answering of questions, helping community members troubleshoot their creative challenges, offering emotional support, as well as making sure that the channels have joyful points of connection as well.