Subtle Maneuvers

Subtle Maneuvers is a twice-monthly newsletter on the creative process, with lessons and insights from novelists, painters, poets, filmmakers, and musicians delivered to your inbox every other Tuesday. From the author of Daily Rituals: How Artists Work.

It’s also a community of creative folks who cowork together on Zoom, share resources and advice in the group chat, and convene quarterly for a book club. Keep scrolling to read more. ↓↓

Subtle Maneuvers is by me, Mason Currey, a Los Angeles–based writer and the author of three books on making art in the real world.

I launched the newsletter in 2020 as a loose, serialized sequel to my Daily Rituals books. But over the years it has grown into something much looser indeed: an ongoing investigation of how to be an artist—or how to become one—grounded in my own ups and downs with the writing process. When I got terribly stuck on my third book, I used the newsletter to think through my struggles with writer’s block, procrastination, middling self-confidence, and other dilemmas—and to daydream about a less dutiful, more improvisational relationship with my work.

During this period the newsletter became a real lifeline—and ultimately helped me finish my stuck book! And it’s been a wonderful way to connect with fellow writers and artists “wriggling through”* their own creative projects. Here are kind words from a few of them (click the images to enlarge):

Join the community!

Subtle Maneuvers began as just a newsletter—but it has grown into a diverse community of creative weirdos (I mean that in the best sense) connecting around this funny, unpredictable, important work we’re all trying to do. Everyone is invited to participate in this community by reading the newsletter and joining the discussion in the comments. But paid subscribers also get access to:

• Worm Zoom
  My virtual coworking club, meeting every weekday from 6–8am Pacific / 9–11am Eastern time. This is a great way to inject some accountability and camaraderie into your creative practice—join us anytime.

• The Group Chat
  A place to connect with fellow creative workers and share progress, resources, and advice (and complaints!)—available on the Substack app or in your browser.

• The Book Club
  For our next meeting, on Sunday, April 26th, I invite you to read my long-simmering romp through writers’ and artists’ financial lives and then join me on Zoom for a freeform chat/discussion/Q&A. Read more and join us here.

In addition, paid subscribers get the full archive of 170-plus back issues1 and my sincere gratitude for your support—thank you!

*On “wriggling through” a creative life

The newsletter title comes from a letter Franz Kafka sent in 1912. He wrote:

Time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy, and if a pleasant, straightforward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle maneuvers.

I first encountered this passage in 2009, while I was researching and writing my first book, working a full-time job as a magazine editor, and just generally feeling overwhelmed. Could I do this book justice, hang onto my day job—this was in the midst of the Great Recession—and also maintain some semblance of balance in my life?

Reading Kafka’s letter in the library one evening, I felt strangely cheered, almost elated. One must try to wriggle through by subtle maneuvers—of course! What else is there to do? And I think this approach is especially valuable for creative projects, where progress tends to accrue gradually, through small increments of work and through small shifts in our attitudes and habits. So: This newsletter is about those small shifts and how we might implement them in our own work and lives.