Real Talk with Gatekeeper Press | Episode 1
Every writer knows the tension between wanting to create and wondering whether the time, the idea, or even their voice is ready.
In the premiere episode of Real Talk with Gatekeeper Press, Luis Javier sits down with poet, author, creative writing mentor, strategist, and founder of The Creative Writing Hour, Dhayana Alejandrina, for a conversation about creativity, community, identity, healing, and what it means to trust the ideas that continue calling us forward.
Dhayana is the author of Agridulce: Poetry and Prose and the visionary behind Creative Stillness, a collaborative anthology exploring identity, grief, joy, healing, culture, and artistic devotion. The anthology was made possible after Creative Stillness was selected as a recipient of the 2026 Gatekeeper Press Publishing Journeys Grant.
At the heart of the conversation is a simple but powerful idea: creativity may be deeply personal, but we were never meant to experience everything alone.
Watch the full episode below.
What Is Creative Stillness?
When asked to define creative stillness in a single sentence, Dhayana offered an idea that became the foundation for much of the conversation:
“Permission to exist with the complexities of the self and life.”
For Dhayana, stillness isn’t the absence of growth. It is recognizing that transformation doesn’t always need to be visible.
We live in a culture filled with urgency. There is pressure to do more, become more, create more, and constantly demonstrate progress. Creative stillness asks us to consider another possibility: sometimes there is purpose in becoming, and sometimes there is purpose in simply being.
Dhayana describes it as learning to discern whether we are becoming something because it is authentic to us or because we are watching everyone around us move and feel pressure to move with them. Some transformations require action. Others happen quietly beneath the surface.
Why Does Creative Community Matter for Writers?
The Creative Writing Hour began with something many writers experience: loneliness.
Dhayana found herself writing alone and wondering whether other creatives were searching for the same sense of connection. Rather than simply joining an existing community, she began asking what she would want such a space to feel like.
The result was The Creative Writing Hour, an online co-working community where writers and creatives gather to work on manuscripts, poetry, scripts, songs, blogs, and other creative projects. Members share feedback, discuss their processes, and create alongside one another. Within its first year, the community grew to more than 100 members.
That experience led Dhayana to a larger realization:
“We are not self-made.”
Community gives writers something isolation cannot. Other people can reveal fears we haven’t voiced, perspectives we haven’t considered, and parts of ourselves we may not have recognized.
As Dhayana explains, every interaction creates another opportunity for awareness and transformation.
What Can Stillness Teach Us About Creativity?
Creative work is often measured by output.
How many words did you write? How much did you publish? What did you accomplish today?
Dhayana offers a different metaphor: a tree.
When the leaves fall, the tree may appear dormant from the outside. What we cannot see is everything happening within.
Our creative lives can work the same way.
Not every meaningful step forward will be visible to other people. Sometimes the work is sitting quietly. Asking difficult questions. Reconsidering your direction. Understanding yourself more deeply.
For Dhayana, that requires resisting comparison and becoming intentional about your own path before looking outward for acknowledgment, approval, or answers.
Why Writers Should Keep Asking “Why?”
One of the strongest ideas in the conversation is also one of the simplest:
Ask yourself why.
Why are you rushing?
Why do you want to publish?
Why does this particular story matter to you?
Why are you creating in the first place?
Your answer matters because external validation is never guaranteed. Someone may dislike your book. You may receive a bad review. The response may be different from what you imagined.
If your reason for creating depends entirely on outside approval, those moments can derail you.
Dhayana encourages writers to periodically return to their why and make sure the reason they’re creating still belongs to them.
How Can Authors Build Meaningful Relationships With Readers?
Publishing the book isn’t the end of an author’s relationship with readers.
It may actually be the beginning.
Dhayana encourages authors to bring readers into the journey instead of appearing only when it is time to sell the finished book.
Share the nervousness. The hesitation around a chapter. The struggle over a cover. The decisions that shape the final work.
Most importantly, allow readers to experience your actual voice.
Connection doesn’t have to disappear after publication either. Ask questions. Recognize the people who have consistently supported your work. Send someone a copy simply because they have championed you. Find ways to make the experience human and reciprocal.
As we discussed during the episode, when people feel that they have been part of an author’s journey, they are far more likely to champion the story once it enters the world.
What Should You Do If You’re Waiting for the “Right Time” to Create?
Dhayana’s answer is beautifully uncomplicated:
“You have to just start.”
Waiting until you’re ready can become its own form of avoidance.
When you have the degree. When you have the certification. When you meet the right person. When you finally have enough time.
But some of those doors cannot open until you take the first step.
And starting doesn’t need to be dramatic.
It might simply mean writing for ten minutes today.
“Don’t overthink it. Just a gentle start. It’s enough.”
The objective isn’t perfection. It’s movement.
One Idea We’re Still Thinking About
Toward the end of the conversation, Dhayana shared a thought that captures so much of what this episode is about:
“The one idea that you overthink the most, that you place the most fear around, once you do it, is gonna be the most liberating one.”
Fear often grows around the things that matter to us.
Creating anyway doesn’t guarantee success. But it gives us something waiting never can: the opportunity to discover what exists on the other side of the fear.
Five Takeaways from Our Conversation with Dhayana Alejandrina
1. Creativity doesn’t have to be solitary.
Community can provide encouragement, perspective, accountability, and the opportunity to understand ourselves through others.
2. Not all growth is visible.
Stillness can be part of transformation. Progress isn’t always something the outside world can measure.
3. Keep returning to your why.
Knowing why you create can help ground you when recognition, reviews, sales, or external validation don’t unfold as expected.
4. Bring readers into the journey.
Meaningful author-reader relationships begin long before a book launch and can continue long after publication.
5. A gentle beginning is still a beginning.
You don’t need perfect circumstances to start. Ten intentional minutes can be enough to begin moving toward something larger.
About Dhayana Alejandrina
Dhayana Alejandrina is a Dominican poet, author, creative writing mentor, strategist, and founder of The Creative Writing Hour, an online community bringing writers and creatives together to create, share, and grow.
She is the author of Agridulce: Poetry and Prose and the visionary behind Creative Stillness, a collaborative anthology featuring 26 voices exploring identity, culture, grief, joy, healing, and the many complexities of being human. During the conversation, Dhayana describes the anthology as something that could not have become what it is without the writers, friends, and community who believed in its vision.
Creative Stillness was selected as a recipient of the 2026 Gatekeeper Press Publishing Journeys Grant.
Learn more about Dhayana and The Creative Writing Hour.
Continue Dhayana’s Publishing Journey
Dhayana’s relationship with Gatekeeper Press began before Creative Stillness.
As a two-time Gatekeeper Press author, her journey offers another perspective on finding your voice, bringing creative work into the world, and navigating the publishing process.
Read: From Manuscript to Publication | Dhayana Alejandrina
Every Author Has a Story. What’s Yours?
If you’re considering independent publishing and want to understand what bringing your book into the world could look like, we’re here to help.
Schedule a Free Publishing Consultation
100% rights. 100% creative control. 100% royalties.