30 Days of Side Quests Challenge for Artists
The 30 Days of Side Quests Challenge is a free, choose-your-own-adventure challenge for cultivating creativity, curiosity and community.
For one month, you’ll receive a weekly letter in ye’ ole email with multi-medium creative prompts, artistic inspiration, and a field notes template for documenting your journey.
You will generate creative work in this challenge, but that is not the main value of this offering. 30 Days of Side Quests gives you permission to let your creative whims take the wheel without the pressure of creating something perfect and polished.
It’s not just about what we create.
It’s who we become through creating.
Your success is entirely dependent on your sense of whimsy. In the world of Side Quests, digressions and diversions are sacred again. In this space, we allow our curiosity and penchant for novelty take the wheel.
The 30 Days of Side Quests Challenge is now over, but you are welcome to click the button below and sign up for a free sample of Side Quests.
You identify as an artist, but you’re caught in a loop of consuming more than you create. You have ambitious ideas of what you could be doing, but you procrastinate instead, waiting for the perfect conditions to align.
Or maybe you can see the path forward, but the voice of perfectionism and the fear of failure keep you glued to your phone, doomscrolling and feeling jealous of other creators who are living their best, creative lives.
Does this sound familiar?
Or perhaps you know you're creative, but your daily habits don’t reflect this reality. You’re easily discouraged, instead of inspired, when you witness other artists sharing their work because you feel you’ll never be as good as them.
It feels safer to never try, to suppress all your creative urges. But deep down, you long to feel brave enough to take creative risks.
I know what it’s like to deny and avoid your destiny as an artist. I created a series of creative Side Quests as an alternative pathway for artists and closet creatives to break free from the loop of perfectionism, procrastination, and mindless social media consumption.
This isn’t your average Hero’s journey. This is an adventure that requires you to deviate from the main plot. Are you ready to go on a Side Quest, my liege?
Break the loop of doomscrolling, procrastination, and perfectionism by getting your free Side Quest PDF.
Side Quests helps the hesitant creative claim their artistic authority.
Creative Side Quests are for…
⚔️ The artist who wants to break the loop of consuming more than they create.
⚔️ The creative who wants to shed
paralyzing perfectionism.
⚔️ The multi-medium creator who longs to connect their various interests together.
Embarking on a Side Quest solves the problem of feeling stuck and un-inspired.
Side Quests….
⚜️ Relieve creative stress from
main projects.
⚜️ Give you permission to explore
new artistic mediums.
⚜️ Cultivate curiosity about what
exhilarates and inspires you.
⚜️ Deepen your understanding of your
creative practice and process.
⚜️ Transmute feeling stuck into
feeling inspired.
Meet your facilitator
My name is Aryn the Alchemist (they/them) and I’m a writer, astrologer, pagan devotee and perpetual Side Quester. As an interdisciplinary artist, the Side Quests framework helps me connect all of my various creative interests together. I write more about this in my Substack series Side Quests.
30 Days of Side Quests started as an Instagram visibility challenge, facilitated by Captolia in her Witch & Famous program. I created a series of reels documenting a variety of my projects, including sewing, writing stories based on astrology, hosting a presentation party, building devotional altars, and touching grass. Now, I’m offering my community the opportunity to join me.
Side Quests is my way of working with, rather than against, my tendency to get distracted and my penchant for whimsy. As a neurodivergent creator, Side Quests is a permission slip for letting curiosity, instead of rigid expectations, lead the way.
Side Quests from the Bard cultivate your sense of whimsy and wonder while prioritizing playfulness and self-expression. Many of them are creative sprints: high frequency, low intensity.
Quick Stats:
He/They
The Fool meets Hermes
Planetary patrons: Mercury and Jupiter
High Charisma, Low Stamina
Powers: Persuasion, Telepathy, Song.
Associated objects: Musical instruments, feathers, coins.
Side Quests from the Witch develop your creative intuition, harness your inner magnetism, and encourage communication with spirits, gods and ancestors.
Quick stats:
She/her
The High Priestess meets Persephone
Planetary patrons: Venus and the Moon
High Charisma, Low Strength
Powers: Shape-shifting, Manifestation, Glamours.
Associated objects: Divination orb, ribbon, wand.
Side Quests from the Monarch nurture your commitment to excellence and elevate your creative authority. Their quests require more time, energy, mastery and visibility.
Quick stats:
They/them
The Emperor meets Helios
Planetary patrons: Saturn and the Sun
High Intelligence, Low Dexterity
Powers: Scrying, Healing, Transformation.
Associated objects: Butterflies, scepter, throne.
Side Quests gives artists permission to…
🧭 “Free my inner explorer.” — Kathleen
🧭 “Make my own rules.” — Ayu
🧭 “Be in touch with my shadows.” — Niki
The emotions my clients feel when they step into my world are…
✨ Fascinated
✨ Stimulated
✨ Playful
✨ Expanded
✨ Curious
✨ Confident
✨ Inspired
✨ Excited
✨ Motivated
FAQs about 30 Days of Side Quest Challenge
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I define a Side Quest as an activity that diverges from your main path. It could be a project in a medium you wish to explore, something to do to cure boredom, or an opportunity to connect deeper to the community or place you’re in.
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There will be two live scheduled calls at the beginning of the program to kick it off (2/18 at 3pm CST) and at the end to celebrate our journey (3/19 at 5pm CST).
There will also be casual co-working spaces held in Discord during Week 2 + 3. -
No. The 30 Days of Side Quests Challenge is completely free to participate in.
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30 Days of Side Quests is designed to be flexible and accommodating to however you wish to participate, whether you want to go all in or simply dabble. Choose your own adventure, my liege.
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Yes. You will gain access to a Discord channel with fellow Side Questers. There are different channels to discuss your experiences, brainstorm ideas and share what you create in this container.
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Absolutely. Side Quests will remain the title of my Substack newsletter and the community container will continue to evolve with my business.
About a month after the Challenge ends, I will be launching another Side Quests container with a new theme and various payment tiers.
I will host another 30 Days of Side Quests Challenge at a later date if you can’t participate in this round.