creative practice
10 Brilliant Ideas on Writing and Work
I was lucky enough to find a writing coach and editor in the early part of my career who invested in me, let me borrow his books, and nurtured my curiosity about all things writing, editing, and publishing. Over the years, I’ve developed a wide network of writer/editor friends with whom I’ve received and exchanged […]
Women Would Be Crazy to Lead (Lead Anyway)
There’s the cult of productivity ethic that tells you to do more, always more, for who knows what reason, often to your detriment. And then there’s going out and doing what you really want to do as a human being on this planet, day to day and in the long-term. These are different things.
Things we learn from action films about mindfulness and work
It is important to stay fit for your job. A few months ago I went to see the film Safe House featuring two remarkably fit men, Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington. I didn’t love the film, but I left feeling grateful for having received this clear, albeit unexpected, message. It is important to stay fit […]
Ursula K. Le Guin on working with what you have
The air is full of tunes. A piece of rock is full of statues. The earth is full of visions. The world is full of stories. As an artist, you trust that. You trust that that is so. You know that whatever your experience, it will give you the material, the ‘ideas’ for your work… But […]
Clarissa Pinkola Estes on making things happen / getting unstuck
Whether the injuries be to your art, words, lifestyles, thoughts, or ideas, and if you have knitted yourself up into a many-sleeved sweater, cut through the tangle now and get on with it. Beyond desire and wishing, beyond the carefully reasoned methods we love to talk and scheme over, there is a simple door waiting […]
Leading Our Own Lives First: Ageless Lessons from Mary Catherine Bateson’s Composing A Life
Real leadership means making good choices for ourselves, big or small, on a daily basis and over time about how we live in the world. Choices that we can believe in, that feel authentic and true for us as women and creative people; choices that often go against the grain and feel difficult; and choices that as much as possible, sustain us individually as we seek to do good work in the world.
A Generation Inclined to Share
What might other, more meaningful kinds of sharing look like? On one level, it may mean doing something with all of that good information we come across on a daily/near-daily basis and feel compelled to share with others. It may mean attempting to make sense of all of those ideas, reflecting on them in community with other live human beings (or even just one over coffee) or moving those ideas forward one way or another by offering our own unique insights in our work or art.
Returning to the Lonely Page, What I Learned After Taking a Break From Writing
Long ago the word alone was treated as two words, all one. To be all one meant to be wholly one, to be in oneness, either essentially or temporarily. That is precisely the goal of solitude, to be all one. —Clarissa Pinkola Estes I took a break from writing in 2011. I did a fair […]
5 Books for Women Artists/Writers, or 5 Books That Changed Everything
If You Want to Write, Brenda Ueland At 17, although I knew I loved writing, I had a hard time getting words on paper. I remember struggling with one assignment in particular, visiting a professor one day to finally ask for help. She recommended this book to me, which was the most helpful thing she […]
Caroline Knapp on writing and activism
“Steering hope away from false gods, shepherding the focus back toward the heart, learning to see one’s private pain in a larger context, coming to link body with spirit: This, of course, is the essence of revolutionary work, and it always requires the reframing potential of language, the ability of words to fuel insight, rearrange facts, break down old paradigms.” […]
