Be More Creative. Feel Less Alone. Find Wonder Every Day.
A Slow, Gentle Space Dedicated to Helping You Nurture the Moments When Your Soul Comes Most Alive.
Overwhelmed by the noise in your news feed? Feeling drained and disconnected in the places you most want to be inspired? Lost in an online echo chamber longing to find your creative mojo again?
Then, welcome friend. You are in the right place.
I’m Michele. Painter of whimsical things. Writer of stories and encouragement. Lover of open roads, blank pages, and wild spaces.
I write from the stories that have left stretch marks on my soul and the beauty I have found along the way in unexpected places.
And I get it. I’ve been there. Many days I still am. It is hecka noisy out there.
That’s why I’m here… Carving a space for courage and community and inspiration for those who want to be more creative and feel less alone. Because we all feel a little lost sometimes.
Put a finger down if you ever:
➡️ Wish you could slow down in the middle of the rush? To breathe long enough to get fresh perspective on all the things on your plate?
➡️ Want to be more consistently creative, but feel stuck in the mud of last week’s ideas?
➡️ Want to be focused, but feel distracted and frustrated instead?
➡️ Wish you could harness inspiration to show up practically when and where you need it?
➡️ Get tired of feeling overwhelmed and disconnected from the reasons you started creating in the first place?
➡️ Want to live a more curious, connected, creative life… but right now the only thing you have energy to change is what show you’re binging on Netflix?
Yes? Then… You BELONG Here.
1 in 2 People in the USA Report Struggling With Loneliness + Isolation
Finding ways to connect back to ourselves, one another, and the world around us have never been more vital.
Do I ever I get it. January 28, 2018 I woke up the morning after a car accident with what felt like a stranger's brain in my head. I became a writer who lost her words. And I never felt more alone.
In the first months of recovery spent in a dark, silent room watching my life crumble around me, I promised myself 2 things.
Even if I had to learn language all over again, I would learn better words than the ones I lost. So I immersed myself in poetry, in small moments of beauty, and in the practice of finding daily wonder to try and help that happen.
I would find people doing what I wished I could be doing and pour courage on their dreams.
Wonder was the path back to myself and to depths of connection and creativity I could not have then imagined. It was so, SO simple. And I want to share it with you.
The Wonder Habit™ is a practice of cultivating simple everyday moments that deepen our creativity and strengthen our wholehearted connection to ourselves, one another, and the world around us.
So Here 👏🏻 We 👏🏻 Are 👏🏻
And this ⬆️ is an accurate depiction of how I feel about it. 😉
Yes, that’s me. If we haven’t met, I navigate life with 3 legs (ok, 2 of them are crutches), 1 hip, and a 96.3% fused spine. No, that isn’t a super scary fifth-grade math word problem I promise.
I’m a creative to my core. Wandering along shorelines and through forests feeds my soul. My art and writing explore the connection, courage, and curiosity rooted in wonder as a daily practice, the beauty of the natural world, and the power of our unfolding stories.
What Can You Expect Around Here?
It’s a little like a choose-your-own-adventure novel.
You’ll find good stuff around here like:
➡️ Regular encouragement in my Dear Creatives & Everyday Wonder series
➡️ Real-life behind-the-scenes inspiration from my studio, sneak peeks at my sketchbook, thoughts on slower intentional living.
➡️ Original resources in a project library.
➡️ The Wonder Drop Monthly creativity & inspiration delivered right to your inbox, including a blend of:
A creative deep dive, mini-workshop, or project
Behind the scenes on our year-long Wake Up to Wonder project
Hand-selected image inspiration you can use for creative references & visual prompts.
Encouraging written reflections
Periodic open chat threads on Substack to share your creative work from the masterclass and connect with the community.
➡️ A growing archive of beauty and words that build you up in a world that seems too often to want to tear things down.
All for you. So you can be more creative and feel less alone.
This is a place where I hope you feel: Seen. Significant. Celebrated. Empowered.
Because you aren’t on the outside looking in. You are the first pick not the last. You are invited into a space you don’t have to fit into because you already belong.
There’s a seat with your name on it at this table.
Your being and becoming are celebrated in this space. Because you are full of wonder worth celebrating.
There are 2 Main Ways to Connect in This Space
I know times are tight everywhere these days. So I have kept things as accessible financially as I can.
✨ For Free Subscribers:
💌 The #DearCreatives emails where I write letters of courage for your creativity
✨ My Everyday Wonder emails about the creative life
🎧 The Wonder Habit™ Podcast
🗞 All delivered to your inbox and housed on Substack without ever needing to navigate not-so social media.
✨ For Paid Subscribers:
Join/upgrade to the paid subscription community for $10.99/month or $98/year— less than the cost of a solo Starbucks run each month and get…
✨ The Wonder Drop: Get monthly creativity & inspiration delivered right to your inbox, including a blend of:
A creative deep dive, mini-workshop, or project
Behind the scenes on our year-long Wake Up to Wonder project
Hand-selected image inspiration you can use for creative references & visual prompts.
Encouraging written reflections
Periodic open chat threads on Substack to share your creative work from the masterclass and connect with the community.
📚 Our Original Prompt & Project Library with over 500 One Word Wonder Prompts, community workshops, and projects
🎧 PONDER: Field Notes on the Creative Life, our private podcast where I answer your questions and share insights on cultivating creativity.
🖥 Monthly Third Thursday Live Zoom Wake Up to Wonder Check-In Calls exclusively for paid subscribers.
🗓️ NEW for 2025: First dibs & discounted rates on 1:1 Wonder Coaching Micro Sessions with yours truly.
🗄 Full, unlocked access to the Wonder Habit archives
💬 Access to the Conversation on all Substack posts to connect with the community.
You also get to be part of supporting me to do this work and make this space possible. I don’t run ads here. I don’t take sponsorships. You are the reason I get to do this & I am deeply grateful.
Delivered to your inbox and housed here on Substack in an online community dedicated to offering more of what you need to find space for your soul to breathe, make wonder a daily practice, and live a more curious, connected, and creative life.
Without the distraction of navigating a social media platform to get to the conversation. Say it with me: “Be more Creative. Feel Less Alone. Find Wonder Every Day.”
Wonder is your birthright. I can’t wait to get to know you more as we grow and explore together.
Questions? Please drop me a note ⬇️.
Other Places You Can Find Me
DMichelePerry.com, my fine art website where you can find all the latest on art collections, commissions, and studio behind-the-scenes.
Across social media @dmicheleperry
