Chasing Creative: Recent Episodes
Ashley Brooks and Abbigail Kriebs
Chasing Creative is all about how everyday people can make creativity a priority in their daily lives. We're talking to regular people who have insights and action steps you can take TODAY to make your creative plans happen. Whether you’re squeezing creative pursuits into your kids' naptimes or in the evening after working a 9-5, we're here to give you the inside scoop on how regular people are chasing creative.
We thought we’d be back with a new season of Chasing Creative in 2022, but alas: it did not happen. Our lives are just too full right now with, well… life! We cannot, however, let the year go by without getting together to talk about books: our most favorite episode to record each season. So, we’ll dive in and talk about our reading wins this last year, our goals for next year, and what life actually looks like these days for both of us.
Where to connect with Abbie:
Goodreads | Instagram | Newsletter | Bookshop (affiliate)
Where to connect with Ashley:
Goodreads | Instagram | Newsletter
Books Mentioned:
The Chaos Machine by Max Fisher
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van der Kolk
Wintering by Katherine May
Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett (audio narrated by Tom Hanks)
Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal
Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (on audio)
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
Matrix by Lauren Groff
Sea Wife by Amity Gaige
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
The Supper of the Lamb by Robert Farrar Capon
Louisiana’s Way Home by Kate DiCamillo
The Life We’re Looking For by Andy Crouch
The Tech-Wise Family by Andy Crouch
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
The Wild Robot & The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown
The Silver Arrow by Lev Grossman
Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling (illustrated versions, too!)
The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street Series by Karina Yan Glaser (audio)
The Henry Huggins Audio Collection by Beverly Cleary
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Rewilding Motherhood by Shannon K Evans
State of Wonder by Anne Patchett
Attached to God by Krispin Mayfield
The Making of Biblical Womanhood by Beth Allison Barr
Try Softer by Aundi Kolber
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
These Precious Days by Ann Patchett
Hi! It has been an entire year since we last appeared in your podcast feed.
We’re wading through Pandemic Year 2 just like everyone else, complete with all the day-to-day negotiations and risk calculations like everyone else. And also: a fourth baby for Ashley, a smattering of kids entering the public school system for both of us, and entire routines shifting overnight.
We gave ourselves a break and didn’t record a single thing together in all of 2021 – but it didn’t feel right to finish a year on the calendar without talking together about books. So let’s talk books!
Resources Mentioned:
Pantsuit Politics Extra Credit Book Club
The Anthropocene Reviewed podcast by John Green
Books Mentioned:
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Rewilding Motherhood by Shannon K. Evans
No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler
Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley
What You Wish For by Katherine Center
It Didn’t Start with You by Mark Wolynn (DNF for Ashley)
Fair Play by Eve Rodsky (skimmed by Abbie)
Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham
The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson
Harry Potter Book 1-3
The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi
Keep Going by Austin Kleon
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton
Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto
The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
Who Made This Cake? by Chihiro Nakagawa
The Wordless Trilogy by Aaron Becker
The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
Mine! How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control our Lives by Michael A. Heller and James Salzman
12 Tiny Things by Ellie Rosher and Heidi Barr
The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary
These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
Where to connect with Abbie:
Goodreads | Instagram | Monthly Newsletter | Bookshop Storefront (affiliate link)
Where to connect with Ashley:
Goodreads | Instagram | Blog | Newsletter
2020 hasn't been kind to most of us, but books are always there to see us through. Listen in to hear how 2020 changed our reading habits, the books we loved (and didn't), and what's next for our reading lives—and the podcast!—in 2021.
Books Mentioned in This Episode
The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett
Becoming by Michelle Obama
The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Kindred by Octavia Butler
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
Pride by Ibi Zoboi
The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi
The Selection Series by Kiera Cass
The Book of Essie by Megan McLein Weir
Your Blue Flame: Drop the Guilt and Do What Makes You Come Alive by Jen Fulwiler
What Is a Girl Worth? My Story of Breaking the Silence and Exposing the Truth about Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics by Rachael Denhollander
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
Attachments and Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Eleanor & Park and Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Harry Potter (of course)
Beach Read by Emily Henry
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion
The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters by Tom Nichols
I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong
Rhythms of Rest: Finding the Spirit of Sabbath in a Busy World by Shelley Miller
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stievater
The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden (book 3 of Winternight trilogy)
The Book of Essie by Megan McLein Weir
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
Tweet Cute by Emma Lord
Calm the Hck Down* by Melanie Dale
Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
Curious George by H. A. Rey
Maybe God Is Like That, Too by Jennifer Grant and Benjamin Schippert
The Wind in the Willows by Igloo books
The Preacher’s Wife by Kate Bowler
Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and Women's Work by Kathleen Norris
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Reconnect: Spiritual Restoration from Digital Distraction by Ed Cyzewski
The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner
The Switch by Beth O’Leary
The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
Links Mentioned in This Episode
Past Chasing Creative episodes with Kendra Adachi (the Lazy Genius): Kendra Adachi on Trusting Your Creative Intuition and Kendra Adachi on Valuing Yourself Enough to Create
The Naughty Corner comedy special by Jen Fulwiler on Amazon Prime
Read more of Ed Yong’s science writing for the Atlantic
Ashley’s Winnie-the-Pooh books are out of print, but this looks similar
Abbie’s copy ofThe Wind in the Willows
Connect with Abbie:
Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Connect with Ashley:
Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial
In today’s episode, we chat with Kayla Craig about what it looks like to advocate for the more vulnerable people around you. As a journalist, Kayla learned the value of listening well and choosing to hear a story and act on it. As a mom, Kayla knows just how important the stories we read and tell and see in our own lives affect everything about them -- and she has some tips for adding diverse voices to your shopping list this year.
Kayla Craig is a writer and podcast producer who believes in the power of story. She writes modern prayers for moms and dads at Liturgies for Parents and her book is forthcoming with Tyndale in 2021. Kayla co-founded and hosts Upside Down Podcast, a place for conversations on faith and justice. She is a podcast producer for Sacred Ordinary Days, where she helps cultivate peace, presence, and purpose. Kayla loves deep mugs of coffee, deeper belly laughs, and even deeper questions. She and her pastor-husband Jonny live in Iowa, where they’re raising four young kids who joined their family via birth and adoption. She has two fluffy dogs and spends too much time on Instagram. Her most recent published essays are in This Is Motherhood: A Motherly Collection of Reflections + Practices and Rally: Litanies for the Lovers of Jesus and Justice.
Kayla’s tips for diversifying your holiday decor and your bookshelves:
- Buy a nativity set where the figures are historically accurate and have brown skin.
- Buy books written by Black and brown authors.
- Don’t just buy books with diverse characters struggling with racial tension. Buy books that normalize the lives Black and brown people live; make sure that your kids see Black joy.
- Follow @hereweread on Instagram for diverse book suggestions all year long.
Books we talked about:
Madeleine L'Engle Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life
The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner
This Is Motherhood: A Motherly Collection of Reflections + Practices
Rally: Communal Prayers for the Lovers of Jesus and Justice
Here’s where to find Kayla:
Site: www.kaylacraig.com
Newsletter: https://kaylacraig.substack.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kayla_craig/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kaylacraig
Liturgies for parents info: http://www.kaylacraig.com/liturgies-for-parents.html
Liturgies Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liturgiesforparents/
Podcast: http://www.upsidedownpodcast.com/
Work: https://sacredordinarydays.com/pages/podcast
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/kayla_craig
Here's where to find Abbie:
Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Here's where to find Ashley:
Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Ari Tison is an award-winning writer with poems and short works published in Yellow Medicine Review, The Under Review, and Rock & Sling. She is also the editor for Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop's Broadside Competition. Ari lives and works on Dakota and Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) lands in St. Paul, MN. Join us as she shares action steps for lifting up underrepresented voices in the literary community, especially Indigenous people and those who are incarcerated.
Action steps that life up underrepresented voices* Reach out to nonprofits to see where they need help. Look for ways to serve that match your interests and talents. * Investigate nearby prisons to see if they have creative arts programs you can support. * Seek out and share work by marginalized populations. * Read anthologies that include Native writers. * Connect with tribes in your area to learn about creative events or festivals you can attend or local artisans you can support. * Learn about the history of the land you live and work on. Which Indigenous tribe(s) was the land taken from?
Links mentioned in this episodeMinnesota Prison Writing Workshop
Birchbark Books
Books mentioned in this episodeThe works of Poet Laureate Joy Harjo
New Poets of Native Nations edited by Heid E. Erdrich
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
There There by Tommy Orange
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makai
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
Here's where to find AriWebsite: www.aritison.com
Twitter: @AriTison
Instagram: @aritisonwrites
Deep in a pandemic, an election cycle, and a world that looks vastly different than six months ago, we’re all a little worn out these days. But we also need to press ahead like never before. We wanted to talk to Dani Bruflodt on how she summons the energy to engage online around social justice, politics, and making a difference in the world -- and how hydration is her secret weapon to get it all done with some energy left over.
Dani Bruflodt is a writer and creator who “talks loud on the internet”. She’s a native Minnesotan currently living the Universal-Healthcare dream life in Copenhagen, Denmark, and she would love for you to drink some water.
Resources from this episode:
The Enneagram Institute has excellent resources to help you find your type.
Dani’s hydration tracker for kids.
Plan Podcast Episode 029: How to achieve optimum hydration
Dani’s 7 tips for how to get engaged and make a difference:
- Know that it is never too late to become a better person. Feeling hypocritical stops a lot of us from joining movements or getting involved. You can wake up tomorrow and decide you’re going to be a better person.
- Know that it is okay to change your mind, especially when you are presented with better information.
- Pick one thing you’re passionate about. One cause that you really, truely, deeply feel passionate about. You don’t have to become an expert on everything immediately.
- And then when you pick that thing, take time to step back. Do not rush in and expect to fix this issue that you’ve taken up. It’s especially important to pause and look to see who is already doing this work and fall in line with how to support them and continue their work rather than do anything that might interfere with work already being done.
- It is okay to be wrong, and it is okay to say “I am not informed enough to speak on this topic”. Fear of being wrong, or the feeling that if you claim to be an activist you automatically have to know everything stops so many of us. No. It is OKAY to be wrong. It is a mark of intelligence to recognize when you’re wrong, learn better, and do better, and there is nothing wrong with being asked a question or being engaged in a conversation and saying “You know what, I don’t feel informed enough to speak on this.”
- Know that there is probably not an end-point to the work. Whether it’s anti-racism or ending child hunger. Even if you ensure all children have full tummies, you still have to get up every day after that and ensure those programs stay afloat, that they have funding.
- You have to remember to rest. Getting into the trenches with any form of activism is not for the faint of heart. It takes a toll on you physically and emotionally -- especially if you are a privileged white person who has rarely had to endure chronic stress -- this can really hit you like a brick wall. You have to learn to take breaks, to rest, to step away from the work for a moment and then get back in there.
Dani’s 3 groups of people we’re worried about offending and what to do instead:
- “Following”: Focus on gaining supporters, not followers. Focus on quality, not quantity.
- Family/Friends: Lean into the fact that if you lose them for being outspoken, they may not have been worth your time or energy to begin with.
- Potential Clients or Collaborators: Trust that sharing your morals and values will help you attract clients and collaborations that align with you.
Books we mentioned:
The Deepest Well by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris
How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
The Preacher's Wife by Kate Bowler
Connect with Dani:
Website: http://thyme-is-honey.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thyme_is_honey/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThymeIsHoney/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thyme_is_Honey
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/thymeishoney/
Podcast: https://PlanPodcast.com
Hydration Course: https://HydrationChecklist.com
The Daily Page Planner: https://DailyPagePlanner.com
Digital Daily Page Planner: https://DigitalDailyPage.com
Connect with Abbie:
Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Connect with Ashley:
Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
We’re welcoming counselor, writer, and calligrapher Simone Griffin to the show today. Join us as she shares about the overlap between counseling and creativity, and how art—both our own and others’—can improve our mental health. Be sure to check out Simone’s newsletter, Counseling + Christ, and her devotional workbook, Glimmers of Hope.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Christ + Counseling newsletter
Glimmers of Hope: A Devotional Workbook for Navigating the Struggles of Womanhood with Graceby Simone Griffin
Mini book club:
A Holy Pursuit: How the Gospel Frees Us to Follow and Lay Down Our Dreams by Dianne Jago
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
Pride by Ibi Zoboi
Hamilton Broadway film
Here’s where you can find Simone:
Website: http://simonegriffin.org/
Etsy: GlimmersofHopeShop
Instagram: @sincerelysimoneg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Hope-Anchored-Soul-1492959650997664/
Here’s where you can find Abbigail:
Website: www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Here’s where you can find Ashley:
Website: www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Creatively Yours newsletter
Instagram: @ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: @brookseditorial
We’d be remiss in trying to continue on with the podcast acting as if nothing is happening around us. 2020 has been an upheaval year for just about every single person on the planet, and while we are both privileged, middle-class white ladies in Midwestern states who are faring quite well during the pandemic, all things considered, our lives do still look very different than they did in March.
So this season, rather than continue to explore how we fit creativity into our daily lives -- something we are largely unable to do right now as we have in the past -- we wanted to explore a topic that has emerged as one we both care about deeply: How do we use creativity to make a difference?
We’re going to be interviewing people who use their creativity to create change in directions that matter to them. We hope you’ll get to hear from a wide variety of artists who hold a variety of views. None of them will be identical to our own, and we don’t believe that they have to be. In this episode in particular, we’re going to be talking about the pandemic and what our lives look like right now. The choices we’ve made for our families may not be the same as yours, and that’s okay! We know that in this time, everyone is doing what they think is best.
However, we do want to be upfront and say that race and issues of equality are not “too political” to talk about on a podcast that discusses creativity. Everything is political, first of all. And second: the issue of equality for all people is a human rights issue, not something we are willing to debate.
We hope you gain some ideas from our guests this season about how you can create change around the things that matter to you, regardless of where your personal views land.
Got someone you’d love to hear from this season about how they make a difference with their creative gifts? Email us at chasingcreativepodcast@gmail.com.
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
Andy Slavitt on Twitter
King Gutter Baby on Instagram (infectious disease expert)
1619 Podcast Series
Pantsuit Politics Podcast
Home Cooking with Samin Nosrat and Hrishikesh Hirway
The Lazy Genius Podcast with Kendra Adachi
Lisa Hensley on Instagram
Mini Book Club:
Best Summer Reads:
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
The Selection by Kiera Cass
Harry Potter (of course)
Pride by Ibi Zoboi
Nonfiction that’s changed our perspective:
Just Mercy by Bryan Stephenson
The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place by Andy Crouch
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Books that have spurred us onto action in some way:
Floret Farm's Cut Flower Garden: Grow, Harvest, and Arrange Stunning Seasonal Blooms by Erin Benzakein
Visions of Vocation by Steven Garber
**We had originally planned to air this episode in early June of 2020 (recorded in early May), but chose to hold off on publication to keep the airwaves clear in the wake of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor, and the nationwide uprising that continues to today as more Black lives are taken because of racist people and racist policies. We want our listeners to know that we stand in full support of the protests and the push for racial justice and equality. We are actively engaging with our own racial bias in our own lives, learning, growing, and working to become antiracist. We are listening to BIPOC Voices as we move forward in this never-ending work, and we are pledging to use this space to amplify those voices in the future. We apologize that we have not made this a priority in the past. We will do better. If you are someone that identifies as BIPOC and would like to come on the podcast to talk about creativity and your journey as an artist, or you'd like to recommend and connect us to someone who does, we would be grateful if you'd reach out to us at chasingcreativepodcast@gmail.com. Our mic is yours.
This season of Chasing Creative was about the ebbs and flows of the creative life. When we brainstormed that theme last summer, we had no idea that the world would be facing a pandemic in the spring of 2020 as we record and release this episode. It’s brought changes big and small to our own creative processes and, we’re guessing, yours too.
In this episode, we catch up on the first few months of 2020 -- new babies! pre-pandemic vacations! -- and how the onset of a global pandemic has affected our lives inside and out.
Resources We Talked About
Ashley recorded a special episode of the podcast title Creativity as Self-Care in early April. If you’re finding your creative energy decimated by the pandemic, that episode could be a creative hug for where you are at right now.
Ashley is knitting a shawl using this pattern, and she gets her yarn from Yarnery in Minnesota. They offer shipping around the country in case you, too, have a hankering to make something with your hands these days.
The blue unicorn and festive llama cross stitch kits that Jacob completed can be found here if you or your kids (or partners!) need some handiwork for the evenings.
Want to know when Season 7 launches? Sign up for our email list here.
Books We Talked About
The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling (of course!)
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
Here’s where you can find Abbie:
Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Here’s where you can find Ashley:
Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
As the lazy genius, Kendra Adachi teaches people how to be a genius about the things that matter, and lazy about the things that don’t. Join us in this episode to hear how she listens to her intuition when it comes to creative projects, the seasonal rhythms she uses to get things done, and the creative process that led her to leave perfectionism behind as she wrote her book.
Resources mentioned in this episodePreorder Kendra’s book, The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn’t, and Get Stuff Done.
Find Kendra on the Lazy Genius Podcast and the Lazy Genius Collective!
Sign up for Kendra’s monthly newsletter, The Lazy Letter, for some of the best book/movie/TV show recommendations on the internet, plus smart reflections on living life the lazy genius way.
Change Your Life Chicken Recipe (Guys, it really will change your life.)
Check out our first episode with Kendra back from 2016! On Valuing Yourself Enough to Create with Kendra Adachi
Mini book clubA Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
In the Woods by Tana French
The Likeness by Tana French
Still Life by Louise Penny
Burnout: The Secret to Solving the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski
Deep Work by Cal Newport
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
Here's where you can find KendraWebsite: thelazygeniuscollective.com
Podcast: The Lazy Genius Podcast
Instagram: @thelazygenius
Here's where you can find AbbigailWebsite: inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: @abbigailekriebs
Facebook: @inkwellsandimages
Here's where you can find AshleyWebsite: brookseditorial.com
Personal blog: ashleybrookswrites.com
Instagram: @ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: @brookseditorial
The world has been turned upside down, and being productive as a creative doesn't need to be your top priority right now. Instead, learn to think of your creativity as a form of self-care.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
The No Grocery Challenge by Sarah von Bargen
Bank Boost by Sarah von Bargen
Elise Blaha Cripe's Three Things Template for Instagram
Encouraging Creative Kids by Elise Blaha Cripe
Coloring printables for kids from Jane Heinrichs
The Growing Gills book club with Jessica Abel
A Pep Talk for Being Stuck on The Lazy Genius Podcast by Kendra Adachi
Mini Book Club
Big Dreams, Daily Joys by Elise Blaha Cripe
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Spark by Andrea Debbink
Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren
Keep Going by Austin Kleon
Calvin and Hobbes comics
Past Episodes of Chasing Creative to Revisit
S6 E5: Sarah von Bargen on Setting Creative Goals that Actually Make You Happy
S6 E3: Elise Cripe on Having Big Creative Dreams and Making Them Happen
S6 E2: Nicole Gulotta on Seasons of Creativity
S5 E7: Jessica Abel on Integrating Creativity into Your Life
S5 E8: Doing the Work: How We’re Using the Lessons from Growing Gills
S5 E4: Creativity, Burnout, and a New Way of Looking at Self-Care with Addie Zierman
S5 E3: Taking Creative Risks with Andrea Debbink
S5 E2: Creativity and Place with Jane Heinrichs
S4 E25: Creating in the Chaos
S4 E7: Creative Challenges
Today we’re chatting with Lindsay Swoboda about how being a military spouse experiencing seasons of deployment and living overseas has affected her creative journey. Along with being a military spouse, Lindsay is also a mom and writer. Her blog Uplifting Anchor encourages mothers and military spouses in their daily and creative lives.
Resources Mentioned in the EpisodeEating Popcorn in the Dark Because You’ve Earned This, by Melanie Dale on Coffee + Crumbs
Elise Blaha Cripe on Having Big Creative Dreams and Making Them Happen (Chasing Creative Season 6, Episode 3)
The Get to Workbook
Jessica Abel on Integrating Creativity Into Your Life (Chasing Creative Season 5, Episode 7)
Mini Book ClubCirce by Madeline Miller
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Big Dreams, Daily Joys by Elise Blaha Cripe
Here's where to find LindsayWebsite: www.upliftinganchor.com
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/upliftinganchor/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/upliftinganchor/
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/upliftinganchor/pins/
Here's where to find AbbieWebsite: www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: www.twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Here's where to find AshleyPersonal blog: www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: www.twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/brookseditorial
We both spent 2019 getting serious about writing our novels. In this episode, we're hashing out all the details, from where we got our book ideas to how we're fitting writing into our daily lives. Listen in to hear more about our creative processes and what the future holds for our writing.
Resources mentioned in this episodeS6 E3: Elise Cripe on Having Big Creative Dreams and Making Them Happen
S5 E7: Jessica Abel on Integrating Creativity into Your Life
S5 E8: Doing the Creative Work: How We’re Using the Lessons from Growing Gills
Scrivener
Self-Control app
Abbie and Ashley's writing accountability template
WriteTrack word count tracker
Rachael Herron on How to Write Your Book in 90 Days
Books mentioned in this episodeAnne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery
Divergent series by Veronica Roth
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Atomic Habits by James Clear
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
Eat, Pray, Loveby Elizabeth Gilbert
Click here to take the Chasing Creative survey!
Join us in this conversation with author and kindred spirit Ashlee Cowles as she shares about how travel and parenthood have changed her creative process. Ashlee believes that “creativity is not something we can lose, even if it has to lie dormant sometimes,” and we wholeheartedly agree. Listen in to learn how she’s spreading support and encouragement for creative parents through her latest project, The Most Creative Thing.
Ashlee Cowles is the author of the award-winning novel, Beneath Wandering Stars, and its sequel, Below Northern Lights. Her YA gothic mystery, THE POPPY & THE ROSE, will be published in 2020.
Ashlee’s booksBeneath Wandering Stars
Below Northern Lights
Wisdom for the Way: A Camino de Santiago Guidebook for the Pilgrim’s Soul
Resources we sharedThe Most Creative Thing
The Cultivating Project
Discover Your Creative Personality Type resource on The Most Creative Thing
Books we talked aboutAtomic Habits by James Clear
Before I Disappear by Danielle Stinson
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Four Seasons in Rome by Anthony Doerr
The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal
Great Kitchens of the Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
Where to find Ashleewww.ashleecowles.com
www.themostcreativething.com
Instagram: @ashleecowles
Instagram: @themostcreativething
Where to find AbbieGoodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/20016618-abbigail-e-kriebs
Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Where to find AshleyWebsite: www.brookseditorial.com
Blog: www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Instagram: @ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Do we normally try to keep our book talk to a minimum at the end of each episode? And do we normally keep our episodes under an hour? Yes and yes. But today, we have nearly an hour and a half of entirely book-focused conversation for you -- and we hope you love it as much as we loved recording it.
Come find us on Goodreads!
Abbie: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/20016618-abbigail-e-kriebs
Ashley: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1864876-ashley-brooks
Resources we mentioned:
Take our listener survey! We’ve been producing this podcast since 2016, and a lot has changed since then. We’re constantly tweaking this podcast so that it works for our lives, but it’s important that Chasing Creative continues to be helpful to YOU. Our survey is short and sweet and will be open now through January 31st. We’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas, and feedback as we plan for the future of the podcast. Take it here.
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The interview between Cal Newport (author of Digital Minimalism) and James Clear (author of Atomic Habits).
Whitney Conard’s Instagram account, @theunreadshelf, where she challenges you to get through that TBR stack one book at a time.
Abbie shops used at ThriftBooks quite often. Her referral link will get you 15% off your first order.
Books we talked about in this episode:
The Whole Thing Together by Ann Brashares
The Last Summer (of you and me) by Ann Brashares
The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal
Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
The Techwise Family by Andy Crouch
Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy by Angela Garbes
Big Dreams, Daily Joys by Elise Cripe
Doing Harm by Maya Dusenbery
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
Atomic Habits by James Clear
I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron
I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott
Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeleine L’Engle
A Room with a View by EM Forster
Turtles All The Way Down by John Green
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson
Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved by Kate Bowler
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
The People’s Republic of Everything by Nick Mamatas
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Road Builders by B.G. Hennessey
Maybe God is Like That Too by Jennifer Grant
Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaiman
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Keep Going by Austin Kleon
The Inspector Gamache Series by Louise Penny
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova
On Stories by C.S. Lewis
Circle of Nine - Beltany by Valerie Biel
Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge
What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon
The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
Here’s where you can find Ashley:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1864876-ashley-brooks
Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where you can find Abbie:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/20016618-abbigail-e-kriebs
Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Did you know that it actually takes between 12-265 days -- with the average being 65 days! -- to make a new habit stick? Sarah Von Bargen shared that statistic with us on the podcast, and we were blown away! Sarah is the mastermind behind yesandyes.org where she is a writer, coach, and educator who helps people spend their time, money, and energy on purpose. We had her on the podcast to discuss how to craft goals that actually matter to you, create habits that support those goals, and what the ebbs and flows of the self-employed and creative life look like for her.
Resources We Talked About
Need to figure out what makes YOU happy? Sarah’s ebook might help you do that.
Sarah also teaches courses that can help you change your habits in the New Year. You can find her raved-about Habit School, Bank Boost, and more over here.
Here’s the link to Sarah’s free private Facebook Group called “Money + Happy” where -- you guessed it! -- the community talks about how to spend their money in ways that make them actually happy.
This podcast is the one Abbie shared about self-care for the different Enneagram numbers.
Books We Talked About
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
Lillian Boxfish Takes A Walk by Kathleen Rooney
I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Where to Find Sarah:
Website: http://yesandyes.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yesandyesblog/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yesandyesblog/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/yesandyesblog/
Here’s where you can find Abbie:
Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Here’s where you can find Ashley:
Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
We're welcoming returning guest Callie Feyen to the podcast! Join us as we talk about Callie's recent transition into full-time self-employment as a brave step toward making space for creative work.
Listen to our first interview with Callie here.
Listen to our second interview with Callie here.
Books we talked aboutDesigning Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing by L.L. Barkat
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
No Happy Endings by Nora McInerny
It's Okay to Laugh (Crying Is Cool Too) by Nora McInerny
The Magic of Motherhood by Ashlee Gadd
Here’s where you can find CallieOrder your copy of Twirl: My Life with Stories, Reading & Clothes in paperback or on Kindle.
You can also snag her previous book, The Teacher Diaries: Romeo & Juliet here.
Read Callie’s blog.
Connect with Callie on Twitter or Instagram.
Here’s where you can find AshleyPersonal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where you can find AbbieWebsite: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
We’re so glad to have Elise Cripe back on the podcast! We previously chatted with her on episode 4 of season 3, all about how she got to where she was creatively, and touched on taking creative breaks and her Get To Work Book business. Today, we wanted to have her on to talk about her first traditionally published book that releases tomorrow, October 8th, titled Big Dreams, Daily Joys, which is all about setting goals and making time for what matters, as well as what the ebbs and flows of her own creative life look like.
Here’s our previous chat with Elise all about getting to work on your creative projects.
Where to find Elise:
Preorder Elise’s new book, Big Dreams, Daily Joys! It comes out October 8th, and you can find it at all major online retailers at Elisejoy.com/book.
Elise’s planner business, GET TO WORK BOOK, is at Gettoworkbook.com.
Definitely follow @elisejoy on Instagram if you haven’t already.
Elise occasionally shares her latest craft adventures on her blog, EnjoyItBlog.com.
Books We Talked About:
Taproot Magazine
A Year Between Friends: 3191 Miles Apart: Crafts, Recipes, Letters, and Stories
The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
Here’s where you can find Abbie:
Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Here’s where you can find Ashley:
Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Nicole Gulotta wrote the book (literally) on navigating different seasons of the creative life. Join us to hear her advice on the ups and downs we all experience as creatives, and get the scoop on her new book, Wild Words.
These show notes may contain affiliate links to IndieBound, a website that connects readers with books sold by independent bookstores. These links generate a small commission for us if you make a purchase. Thanks for supporting the show and small booksellers!
Nicole's Books Wild Words: Rituals, Routines, and Rhythms for Braving the Writer’s Path
Eat This Poem: A Literary Feast of Recipes Inspired by Poetry
Links and Resources Mentioned in this Episode Literary Cooking with Nicole Gulotta on Chasing Creative
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
Join the Wild Words community
Mini Book Club Beyond the Point by Claire Gibson
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Art of Slow Writing: Reflections on Time, Craft, and Creativity by Louise DeSalvo
Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeleine L’Engle
Here's where you can find Nicole Websites: nicolemgulotta.com / thewildwords.com / eatthispoem.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/nicolegulotta
Twitter: www.twitter.com/nicolegulotta
Here's where you can find Abbie Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Here's where you can find Ashley Blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Hello and welcome back to Chasing Creative for Season 6! We’re excited to be back with you, and still cannot believe that we’ve been doing this together for six seasons now. This season, we’re going to be interviewing some previous guests and some new guests, but asking them all similar questions: what do the ebbs and flows of the creative process look like for them? This season will include interviews with Nicole Gulotta in September, Elise Cripe in October, and many, many more. In this first episode of the season, Ashley and Abbie catch up on what they’ve both been doing since their creative retreat in June, share how they manage ebbs and flows in their own creative lives, and gab about the best books they’ve read this summer.
This podcast is the one Abbie shared which talked about your menstrual cycle affecting your creativity.
Books We Talked About:
Still Life (#1 in Inspector Gamache series) by Louise Penny
Everything Happens for a Reason & Other Lies I’ve Loved by Kate Bowler
Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel by Kate Bowler
It’s Okay to Laugh (Crying Is Cool, Too) by Nora McInerny Purmort
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey
Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott
We were in the same room for the third time ever for our first (and hopefully not the last!) creative retreat. And we decided to record an episode all about how we made it happen, what our plan was, and what we accomplished while in a valley near LaCrosse, WI with no WiFi for 48 hours.
Resources We Mentioned
We first heard about creative retreats from Jennie Moraitis back in episode 12 of the first season of Chasing Creative.
Ashley was making a sweater as part of the 100 Day Project which ends in early July.
Books We Swapped
What Ashley gave Abbie:
- An American Childhood by Annie Dillard
- Beneath Wandering Stars by Ashlee Cowles
- Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy by Angela Garbes
- Introverted Mom: Your Guide to More Calm, Less Guilt, and Quiet Joy by Jamie C. Martin
- Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
What Abbie gave Ashley:
- Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
- Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living edited by Manjula Martin
- Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
- Glitter & Glue by Kelly Corrigan
In the last episode of season 5, we're exploring all the ways recording this podcast has changed our own creative lives. We're talking about the power of audio conditioning in motivating you to do the work in front of you, catching up on our novel writing processes, sharing our progress in The 100 Day Challenge, and giving a preview of what's next for us in the months to come.
Resources mentioned in this episode Growing Gills by Jessica Abel
The Moment with Brian Koppelman: Interview with Seth Godin 1/1/19
Chasing Creative Season 5, Episode 8: Doing the Creative Work
Scrivener writing software
Chasing Creative Season 5, Episode 5: Intentional Creativity with Ron Vitale
The 100 Day Project
Mini Book Club A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace Wells
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
I Feel Bad about My Neck by Nora Ephron
Keep Going by Austin Kleon
Here's where you can find Abbie Website: Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: @abbigailekriebs
Facebook: @inkwellsandimages
Here's where you can find Ashley Personal blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Writing website: Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @ashleybrookswrites
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
We first chatted about Growing Gills with Addie Zierman in this episode on self-care, resourcing, and diving back into writing after some time away.
Then, we got the chance to interview Jessica Abel herself on her method for creating systems that help you be creative in this episode.
And then we realized that we had a lot to say about what Growing Gills taught each of us and how we’re incorporating those lessons into spending time on our own much-neglected creative projects.
That’s what this episode is all about.
Get your hands on a copy of Growing Gills: How to Find Creative Focus When You’re Drowning in Your Daily Life and the free workbook on Jessica’s site here and start creating!
Or check out Jessica’s Creative Focus Workshop, which is an even more intense, instructor-led process to set up strategies to help make your creative work happen.
Other things we talked about:
Ashley uses the Insight Timer - Meditation App. Abbie is probably going to download that ASAP and try the session Ashley recommends, “Five Minute Break for Reflection by Tony Brady”.
Atomic Habits by James Clear
The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden (Winternight Trilogy #2)
How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen by Joanna Faber and Julie King
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman (updated edition!)
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
Here’s where you can find Ashley:
Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where you can find Abbie:
Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Jessica Abel is cartoonist and author who is demystifying the creative process. Join us as we talk about her philosophy that the creative life is just . . . life. You’ll gain practical strategies for integrating creativity into your everyday life with systems and routines that work for you.
Books and Links We Talked About Growing Gills: How to Find Creative Focus When You’re Drowning in Your Daily Life by Jessica Abel
The Creative Focus Workshop
Article on the scarcity mindset: If Creativity Is So Freeing, Why Do I Feel Like I'm Trapped?
Scarcity: The New Science of Having Less and How It Defines Our Lives by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir
Here’s where you can find more about Jessica and her creativity resources: Website: https://jessicaabel.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jccabel
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/visiblewoman/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jccabel
Books: https://jessicaabel.com/books/
Here’s where you can find Abbie: Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Here’s where you can find Ashley: Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
John Blase is a former pastor turned writer and editor. He spends his mornings writing poetry, his days as a developmental editor for Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers in Colorado Springs, and his evenings with his wife and three kiddos (when they’re home from college!). He preached for over a decade and has brought a pastoring stance to his writer’s pen. His books include The Jubilee: Poems; Know When To Hold ‘Em: The High Stakes Game of Fatherhood; Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas; and All is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir (with Brennan Manning). We chat with John about when he gets his creative work done and how he switches from writing someone else’s story back to writing his own -- and it wouldn’t be a discussion of faith and writing today without a brief dip into the Enneagram.
You can connect with John here:
Website: https://johnblase.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/johnblase
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jdblase/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.blase
Books: https://johnblase.com/books/
Books We Talked About:
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Upstream by Mary Oliver
The Jubilee by John Blase
Here’s where you can find Ashley:
Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where you can find Abbie:
Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Science fiction and fantasy author Ron Vitale keeps up an impressive writing pace while working full time and being an active father. What’s his secret? Intentional creativity. Join us in this episode to hear how Ron makes space for creative work, manages marketing and networking alongside writing, and maintains a self-care routine.
Books, links, and tools mentioned in this episode How to Become a Successful Author While Working Full Time by Ron Vitale
Psst! Stop choosing goals you don’t have control over! by Sarah von Bargen
There’s a Monster in Your Book by Tom Fletcher
Ron’s 2018 Self-Publishing Year-End Review with Full Sales Numbers
Author Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Scrivener
Trello
Asana
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
You’ve Torn Your Achilles and Now What? by Ron Vitale
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Chasing Creative season 4 episode 11: Tracking and Setting Creative Goals
Here’s where you can connect with Ron Website: www.ronvitale.com
Twitter: @RonVitale
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ron.Vitale.Author/
Here’s where you can find Abbie Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Here’s where you can find Ashley Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Reading is a big part of our creative lives, and we know the same is true of many of our listeners. We're giving you the rundown of our year in reading, including our top picks in a variety of genres, our favorite read-alouds for our kids, and the one book we BOTH couldn't finish! If mini book club is your favorite part of the podcast, this episode is for you!
Love the podcast and happy to see new episodes in your feed? Consider supporting us on Patreon. If everyone who listens gave $1 per month, we could cover our expenses and maybe even hire an editor. That would allow us to create more—for ourselves and you!
Follow us on Goodreads! Goodreads is social media for book lovers. Love it or hate it, this platform is a big factor in how we track our books, set reading goals, and decide what to read next. Follow us on Goodreads to keep up with our reading habits in real time!
Abbie's Goodreads
Ashley's Goodreads
Books mentioned in this episode Beartown by Fredrik Backman
Circe by Madeline Miller
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Off the Clock by Laura Vanderkam
How to Be a Happier Parent by KJ Dell’Antonia
Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren
Introverts in the Church by Adam S. McHugh
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
The Road Back to You by Ian Cron and Suzanne Stabile
Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat
Heating & Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly
Great with Child by Beth Ann Fennelly
Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist
Operating Instructions by Anne Lamott
Virgil Wander by Leif Enger
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
The Red Rising trilogy by Pierce Brown
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
One Beautiful Dream by Jennifer Fulwiler
Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Girls by Emma Cline
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
Jane Unlimited by Kristin Cashore
There’s a Monster in Your Book by Tom Fletcher
Don’t Push the Button! by Bill Cotter
The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don Wood
She Has Her Mother’s Laugh by Carl Zimmer
The Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan
The Temperament God Gave Your Child by Lorraine and Art Bennett
Heartland by Sarah Smarsh
The Minimalist Kitchen by Melissa Coleman
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
Cozy Minimalist Home by Myquillyn Smith (the Nester)
Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel
Stories by C.S. Lewis
Shadowland by Elizabeth Kostova
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
My Life in France by Julia Child
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
Where we find book recommendations Erin Smith on Instagram
Kendra at the Lazy Genius Collective
From the Front Porch podcast
Anne Bogel at Modern Mrs. Darcy and the What Should I Read Next? podcast
Morgan Swank on Instagram
Other links from this episode Personality and Creativity: Chasing Creative Season 4, Episode 20
Here's where you can find Abbie Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Here's where you can find Ashley Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/brookseditorial
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/brookseditorial
The creative world is full of people and places encouraging you to practice self-care. But what if the self-care that the world is promoting feels a little hollow? Addie Zierman shares with us a new way at looking at self-care on the podcast today. It’s called “resourcing” - and we think you’re going to gain a lot from this concept.
Addie Zierman is the author of When We Were on Fire (named one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Books of 2013) and of Night Driving: A Story of Faith in the Dark. She lives in Minnesota with her husband and two sons and blogs regularly at addiezierman.com.
You can connect with Addie here:
Website: https://addiezierman.com
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/addiezierman
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/addiezierman
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/addieziermanwriter/
Our inspiration for this episode comes from a post Addie wrote on her blog, “A Better Way To Think About Self-Care”.
Addie shared Jessica Abel’s Growing Gills workbook as something she used to get back on track creativity after a period of taking a step back.
Love the podcast and happy to see new episodes in your feed? Consider supporting us on Patreon. If everyone who listens gave $1 per month, we could cover our expenses and maybe even hire an editor. That would allow us to create more -- for ourselves and you!
Books we talked about in this episode:
How to Be Here by Rob Bell
Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren
Here’s where you can find Ashley:
Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where you can find Abbie:
Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Andrea Debbink is an editor and author with more than a decade of experience in the publishing world. Currently she’s an editor at American Girl where she creates nonfiction content that empowers girls to explore their creative potential. Her new book Spark: A Guide to Ignite the Creativity Inside You just won a 2018 Moonbeam Children’s Book Award. We chatted with Andrea about what it looks like to take a creative risk, her favorite books on creativity, and what creative risks Ashley and I are taking in 2019.
You can connect with Andrea on Instagram, Goodreads, or at andreadebbink.com.
Grab a copy of Andrea's book, SPARK: A Guide to Ignite the Creativity Inside YOU, illustrated by Emily Balsley.
People & Things We Mentioned:
The Lovely Drawer has 25k followers on Instagram and still struggles with getting her posts seen.
Leif Enger writes slowly. Ashley highly recommends this novel, and his halfway through his current. And Leif is on Instagram!
That book we couldn’t remember the name of that Ashley read about the cycles of creativity? It was Ryan Holliday’s Perennial Seller that she talked about in this episode.
Ashley recommends the #amwriting podcast.
Anthony Trollope worked as a mail carrier and wrote before he went to work each day. If he finished a novel before heading to work, he started a new one. Woah.
Books We Talked About:
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Daily Rituals by Mason Curry
Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living by Manjula Martin
How to Be a Happier Parent by KJ Dell’Antonia
How does the place you live and work impact your creativity? Do beautiful landscapes or bustling cities help boost creative inspiration? Join us as we explore these questions and more with illustrator Jane Heinrichs.
Jane works as an illustrator with publishers around the world. Her first children's book, "Magic at the Museum," was short-listed for best-illustrated book at the Manitoba Book Awards. She splits her time between three different continents: London, England; Cape Town, South Africa; and Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Links from the Show "How Geography Shapes Our Identities"
Mini Book Club The Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley
The Art of Slow Writing by Louise DeSalvo
Circe by Madeline Miller
Four Seasons in Rome by Anthony Doerr
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Here's where to find Jane Website: https://www.janeheinrichs.net
Instagram for daily drawings and stories from my studio: @janeheinrichs
Shop (children’s nursery prints and books) : https://www.janeheinrichs.net/shop/
Pinterest (for creativity inspiration): @janeheinrichs
Facebook Page: @janeheinrichsstudios
Here's where to find Abbie Blog: Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Here's where to find Ashley Blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
We’re back after an extended summer hiatus! And we’re so happy about it. Not much changed for Abbie, Ashley had a third baby, and here’s how they’re managing life and creativity as they ease back into life in the fall.
While they’ve been gone, Abbie started hosting the Exhale Creativity podcast. Exhale Creativity is a monthly membership site where the Coffee + Crumbs team is able to encourage moms to follow their creative hearts. You can check it out here: exhalecreativity.com.
Want to hear the background on Abbie & Ashley’s personality types and how they approach their work + life? Here’s the episode you should listen to next.
We’re going to be releasing one episode per month this season. You can look for our first interview of the season next Monday, October 8th. And then we’ll have a new episode the first Monday of every month after that.
Love the podcast and happy to see new episodes in your feed? Consider supporting us on Patreon. If everyone who listens gave $1 per month, we could cover our expenses and maybe even hire an editor. That would allow us to create more -- for ourselves and you!
Here’s where you can find Abbie:
Website: inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Here’s where you can find Ashley:
Personal blog: ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: brookseditorial.com
Instagram: instagram.com/brookseditorial
Twitter: twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Mini Book Club
Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
This Must Be The Place by Maggie O’Farrell
Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done by Laura Vanderkam
The Ensemble by Aja Gabel
In our last episode of Season 4, we’re chatting about how we keep creating even in chaotic seasons. Most of us have plans and dreams for the way we want our lives to go, but here in the real world, life is messy and unpredictable, and things rarely go as planned. When things go off the rails, creativity is often the first thing to take the hit. Sometimes scaling back is necessary, but we also believe there are ways we can prioritize creating even when we’re living right in the middle of chaos.
We will be back for a Season 5 at some point… but we’re not really sure when. To get updates on when we do, sign up for our newsletter. We promise it is the lowest-commitment email newsletter you will ever sign up for, because we send about one email a year.
You can now support Chasing Creative on Patreon!
Resources We Mentioned
While Ashley is on maternity leave, you’ll be able to find Abbie over at Exhale Creativity hosting a podcast that explores where motherhood and creativity intersect.
The Lazy Genius helps everyone manage life a little better - Kendra is a great resource for anyone trying to do things smarter to make more room for what you want to be doing instead.
Mini Book Club
Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life & Work by Chip and Dan Heath
Beartown by Frederik Backman
Here's where you can find Ashley Personal Blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Business Website: Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
Here's where you can find Abbigail Website: Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
While we are usually bemoaning our lack of time to sort out all of our creative projects, every once in a while we get stuck in a place where we’ve got time or desire to do something creative, but find ourselves with an utter lack of inspiration. When that happens, we both have some tried-and-true places we turn to that give us that little nudge we need to get back to making, and we thought we’d share them in today’s episode.
You can now support Chasing Creative on Patreon!
Resources We Mentioned
Blogs:
Melissa Camara Wilkins
John Blase, especially his advent book, Touching Wonder
Anne Bogel a.k.a. Modern Mrs. Darcy, specifically The Examined Life archives
Erin Loechner at Design for Mankind
Podcasts:
The Next Right Thing by Emily P. Freeman
The New York Times Book Review
The Lazy Genius Podcast by Kendra Adachi
Magic Lessons by Elizabeth Gilbert
The #AmWriting Podcast
The Create if Writing Podcast
Social Media:
Nicole Gulotta’s Wild Words Collective - you can sign up for her newsletter to get access here
Lindsay Crandall on Instagram
The Coffee + Crumbs Instagram account
Our episode in Season 3 with Nicole Gulotta, the author of Eat This Poem
Mini Book Club
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller
A Million Little Ways by Emily P. Freeman
Finish by Jon Acuff
Here's where you can find Ashley Personal Blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Business Website: Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
Here's where you can find Abbigail Website: Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
We’re all have limited resources to dedicate to creativity, and one of those is money. No matter what your financial situation, money is a finite resource, and we can only spend so much on creative pursuits---and the costs can add up quickly. So how do we budget for creative projects when we’re not independently wealthy? That’s the conversation in this week’s episode.
Resources mentioned in this episode Society6 for selling your creative work
YNAB (You Need a Budget) budgeting app
EveryDollar budgeting app
Financial resources by Dave Ramsey:
- Total Money Makeover book
- Budgeting Tips
- Podcast
Wave for business accounting
Mini book club Euphoria by Lily King
The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr
Here's where you can find Abbigail Inkswells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: @abbigailekriebs
Here's where you can find Ashley Personal blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Business website: Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
We’ve all heard that we’re supposed to be building an audience online. Even if we don’t want traditional success, many of us put our work online to share our creativity and use it to connect with others. But building all these “platforms” takes time and energy away from the creative process. It can make us discouraged as we compare ourselves to others and frustrated that we don’t have time to do all the things we’re “supposed” to be doing. So how do we balance social media and the creative life? That’s what we’re talking about in this episode.
You can now support Chasing Creative on Patreon!
Resources We Mentioned
Ashley loves Alexandra Franzen, who is not on social media and doesn’t seem to actively build a platform anywhere. It can be done!
Rachel Meeks from Small Notebook hasn’t blogged in years and Abbie still goes back and re-reads her blog from time to time.
Hootsuite does post to Instagram now! So does Buffer, but Abbie’s favorite remains Later.com.
Ashley recommends finding tools that recycle past updates for you on social media. She recommends RecurPost and SmarterQueue for Twitter as free or close-to-free options, and Board Booster for Pinterest, but she doesn’t remember how much it costs.
Mini Book Club
Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs by Beth Ann Fennelly
Great with Child: Letters to a Young Mother by Beth Ann Fennelly
Here's where you can find Ashley Personal Blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Business Website: Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
Here's where you can find Abbigail Website: Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
We have to eat, we have to have clean clothes, and we should probably vacuum once in a while. If you can’t outsource any (or all!) of those kinds of things, maybe the next best step is to inject a little more creativity into them so that they feel like less of a distraction from our creative goals and more a part of them. Join us in this episode to learn how we make our daily tasks a little more creative.
Resources mentioned in this article The Fitness Marshall on YouTube Note: Not all songs are appropriate for little ones!
Callie Feyen's Chasing Creative episode on writing through transitions
Mini book club The Teacher Diaries: Romeo and Juliet by Callie Feyen
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
Here's where to find Abbigail Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: @abbigailekriebs
Facebook: @inkwellsandimages
Here's where to find Ashley Ashley Brooks Writes
Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
We’re both personality nerds, so it’s no surprise that our Myers Briggs letters and Enneagram types have come up multiple times on the podcast before. In today’s episode, we’re devoting our entire conversation to the ways our personalities can affect our creative lives. There are probably hundreds of personality typing systems out there, but today we’re focusing on three that have had the biggest impact on our creativity: the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the Enneagram, and Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies.
You can now support Chasing Creative on Patreon!
Resources We Mentioned
Reading People by Anne Bogel
Creative You: Using Your Personality Type to Thrive by Otto Kroeger
The Sacred Enneagram by Chris Heuertz
The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron & Suzanne Stabile
The Road Back to You podcast
16personalities.com
A recent Hope*Writers podcast interview with Ian Morgan Cron
The Selfie Podcast series on enneagram
The Enneagram Institute online resource
Explore Your Type online resource
The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin
Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies quiz
Mini Book Club
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Sherlock Holmes Series by Arthur Conan Doyle
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Here's where you can find Ashley Personal Blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Business Website: Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
Here's where you can find Abbigail Website: Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
The longing for a peaceful creative retreat at a cabin in the mountains is probably high on the wish lists of creative people everywhere. But the fact is, our mountaintop creative moments don’t happen all that often, and we probably need to dream a little closer to our own backdoors if we’re ever going to make creative retreats happen in our own lives. Today we’re chatting about those retreats, the dreamy ideal ones and the real ones.
Thanks to sponsor Jennie Moraitis and her Creative Retreat workbook! In the Creative Retreat workbook, there are activities to get your creative juices flowing and blank pages to do idea dumps when you need them. It’s a planning resource + coloring book combined, and it’s full of Jennie’s signature adorable doodles. If you struggle to make the time that you have for your creative projects count, this workbook can help. It’ll walk you through why you want to take a retreat, how to get started, and how to keep the magic flowing even once you come back home.
Learn more and grab your copy at makearetreat.com!
Resources mentioned in this episode Plan Your Perfect Writing Day on the Hope*Writers podcast
Tips + Tricks for Planning a Solo Retreat by Ashlee Gadd
Mini book club Letters to a Young Poet by Ranier Marie Rilke
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
The Harry Potter series
Emily of New Moon books by L. M. Montgomery
Here's where to find Abbigail Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: @abbigailekriebs
Facebook: @inkwellsandimages
Here's where to find Ashley Brooks Editorial
Ashley Brooks Writes
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
For many of us, it’s tempting to shove our creativity into a dark corner and try to keep making progress on our own. But like we talked about in our episode on sharing your creativity, creatives aren’t meant to work in a vacuum. This week, we’re focusing on creative communities: how to find them, how they can help us achieve our goals, and our personal experiences being part of creative communities.
You can now support Chasing Creative on Patreon!
Cool Things We Mentioned
The StorySocial and #CreateLounge Twitter chats
Nicole Gulotta’s Wild Words Collective
The #AmWriting podcast Facebook Group
Jon Acuff’s 30 Days of Hustle
Mini Book Club
The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile
Here's where you can find Ashley Personal Blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Business Website: Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
Here's where you can find Abbigail Website: Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
We’re excited to share a special episode this week as we welcome back returning guest and one of our favorite writers, Callie Feyen. Callie has been on the podcast twice in recent years, and we’ve loved hearing from her about her writing journey and how it has evolved as her life has changed. Since we last chatted, she’s undergone another big transition and published her first book, The Teacher Diaries: Romeo and Juliet, released February 14th by TS Poetry Press, and she’s here to tell us all about it.
Listen to our first interview with Callie here.
Listen to our second interview with Callie here.
You can now support Chasing Creative on Patreon!
Mini Book Club
Joseph Cronin’s The Passage books
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Beastly by Alex Flinn
The Rose & the Dagger by Renée Ahdieh
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Here’s where you can find Callie Order your copy of The Teacher Diaries here, in paperback or on Kindle.
Read Callie’s blog.
Connect with Callie on Twitter or Instagram.
Here's where you can find Ashley Personal Blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Business Website: Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
Here's where you can find Abbigail Website: Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Do you get excited about a new creative project, then give up halfway through? Or maybe you don't think your idea is good enough to even get started? What if you get all the way to the end of a project but can't quite push through to the finish line? We all have individual struggles with actually completing a creative project. Today, Ashley and Abbie are hashing out some of the most common creative pitfalls and how you can troubleshoot them.
Resources mentioned in this episode Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Magic Lessons podcast
Start by Jon Acuff
Finish by Jon Acuff
Essentialism by Greg KcKeown
How to Set Goals Like a Normal Person from the Lazy Genius Collective
The Lazy Genius Finds Her Purpose
Toggl time tracker
I Know How She Does It by Laura Vanderkam
Laura Vanderkam’s time log
Mini book club The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan
The Girls by Emma Cline
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
The Bright Hour by Nina Riggs
"Two dying memoirists wrote bestsellers about their final days. Then their spouses fell in love."
Reading People by Anne Bogel
Here's where you can find Abbigail Inkwells and Images
Facebook: @inkwellsandimages
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Here's where you can find Ashley Ashley Brooks Writes blog
Brooks Editorial blog
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
Life is full of those little things that have to get done but that can really drag us down. If we let them, they’ll steal our time and our energy away from the creative pursuits that are important to us. Today, we’re chatting about all those small things that drag us down and our best tips for dealing with them so we can get back to our fun creative projects.
Books and resources mentioned in this episode Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach
Mini Book Club A Simplified Life by Emily Ley
Truest by Jackie Lea Sommers
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Here's where to find Abbigail Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Facebook: @inkwellsandimages
Pinterest: @abbigailekriebs
Here's where to find Ashley Brooks Editorial blog
Ashley Brooks Writes
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
We’re all trying to make room for our creative projects in our already full lives, so how do we approach trying new types of creativity? Do we even? Ashley and Abbigail chat about the types of creativity they’ve tried in the past, things they’ve picked up, loved, hated, and put down, and what new things they’d like to try someday soon.
You can now support Chasing Creative on Patreon!
Mini Book Club
Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work that Lasts by Ryan Holiday
Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach
Here's where you can find Ashley Personal Blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Business Website: Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
Here's where you can find Abbigail Website: Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
We're not huge fans of structured creative goals, but we do like building creative habits into our daily lives. In this episode, we're sharing how we cultivate creative habits and the tactics that do and don't work for us.
Thanks to our sponsor, Jennie Moraitis! Jennie's new book, Happy Journal, Happy Life, is a fun, low-pressure way to add a creative habit to your day in 10 minutes or less. Happy Journal, Happy Life can ignite your creative energy, boost your gratitude, and bring the joy back to journaling.
Get Happy Journal, Happy Life in paperback!
Get Happy Journal, Happy Life for your Kindle!
Click here to learn more about Jennie and the wonderful work she's doing to encourage everyday creativity.
Resources mentioned in this episode The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin
Powersheets from Cultivate What Matters
Ashley's post on Reading Deeply in 2018
Habit Streak app
Mini book club The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo
Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist
Here's where you can find Abbie Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Facebook: @inkwellsandimages
Pinterest: @abbigailekriebs
Here's where you can find Ashley Ashley Brooks Writes
Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
What counts as "real" creativity? Join Ashley and Abbigail as they explore the definition of creativity and how to define it in your own life.
Resources and quotes mentioned in this episode "But unless we are creators we are not fully alive. What do I mean by creators? Not only artists, whose acts of creation are the obvious ones of working with paint of clay or words. Creativity is a way of living life, no matter our vocation or how we earn our living. Creativity is not limited to the arts, or having some kind of important career.” ― Madeleine L'Engle, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art
"The discipline of creation, be it to paint, compose, write, is an effort towards wholeness.” ― Madeleine L'Engle, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art
“If you are worried that your art is a waste of time, perhaps you need to redefine success in art. Are you becoming more fully yourself?” ― Emily P. Freeman, A Million Little Ways
“ . . . being an artist has something to do with being brave enough to move toward what makes you come alive.” ― Emily P. Freeman, A Million Little Ways
"Creativity should be an everyday experience." ― Erwin McManus, The Artisan Soul
Modern Mrs. Darcy blog post on the eight-line edit: "The Eight Uncomfortable Lines I Want to Cut from Books I'm Reading These Days"
Mini book club The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
Here's where to find Abbigail Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Facebook: @inkwellsandimages
Pinterest: @abbigailekriebs
Here's where to find Ashley Brooks Editorial
Ashley Brooks Writes
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
Setting creative goals can be a whole lot of fun -- but meeting them is often a whole different story. Ashley and Abbigail chat about what their creative goals are for 2018 and how they plan to measure and track them. There’s a lot of discussion on what makes a creative goal a good one and how to choose goals when you’re just not sure what your year is going to look like.
You can now support Chasing Creative on Patreon!
Good Stuff We Talked About
Lara Casey’s Powersheets - the 2018 set is sold out, but there are still some 6-month sets left at the time of this episode airing.
The Get to Work Book by Elise Joy - Abbie uses this for all her planning.
The Day Designer by Whitney English - Ashley has used this in the past.
Mini Book Club
The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton - There’s an updated review of this in our January 15th episode on what counts as creativity. Ashley’s short review: don’t read it!
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
Here's where you can find Ashley Personal Blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Business Website: Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
Here's where you can find Abbigail Website: Inkwells & Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
This episode is all about books! We're chatting about how reading helps (and hinders) our creative lives, the books that have made an impact on our creativity, and the ups and downs of setting reading goals.
Books mentioned in this episode Deep Work by Cal Newport
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
A Million Little Ways by Emily P. Freeman
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Crossroads of Should and Must by Elle Luna
Magicians Trilogy by Lev Grossman
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren
Great with Child: Letters to a Young Mother by Beth Ann Fennelly
Other resources mentioned in this episode The Magic Lessons podcast with Elizabeth Gilbert
If This, Then That (IFTTT) recipe for saving Goodreads book reviews to Evernote
How to Bullet Journal at the Lazy Genius Collective
The Lazy Genius Bullet Journals on the Lazy Genius podcast
Austin Kleon's "I will not finish books I don't like"
Modern Mrs. Darcy blog
What Should I Read Next? podcast
What's Your Reading Personality? quiz from Modern Mrs. Darcy
What's Your Reading Personality? quiz from Oprah
NYT Book Review podcast
Greenlight Bookstore Radio Hour (Abbie's favorite episodes are Emily St. John Mandel and Elizabeth Gilbert)
The Simple Show podcast
@bookedandready on Instagram
Follow us on Goodreads! Ashley's Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1864876-ashley-brooks
Abbie's Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/20016618-abbigail-e-kriebs
Here's where you can find Abbie Website: Inkwells and Images
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: @abbigailekriebs
Facebook: @inkwellsandimages
Here's where you can find Ashley Brooks Editorial
Ashley Brooks Writes
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
Every one of us dreams about having the perfect creative space: it’s got tons of natural light, elegantly potted plants, clear surfaces, and all of our tools within arm’s reach. This is far from reality for most of us, contrary to what Instagram would have you think. Ashley and Abbigail share what their real creative spaces look like, how they could make them better, and tips and tricks you may not have thought of to help you claim your creative space as your own and make it work for you instead of against you.
You can now support Chasing Creative on Patreon!
Good Stuff We Talked About
Ashley’s cousin, Nikki, is also a creative person! We interviewed her in season one.
Mini Book Club
Recipes for A Beautiful Life by Rebecca Barry
Truly, Madly, Guilty by Liane Moriarty
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
Here's where you can find Ashley Personal Blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Business Website: Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
Here's where you can find Abbigail Website: Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Facebook: @Inkwellsandimages
Today's episode is all about creative wins: what we consider a win in our own lives, why it's so important to acknowledge our accomplishments (big and small), and our favorite ways to celebrate creative wins.
Resources mentioned in this episode Hello There, Friend
Chasing Creative episode: Sharing Your Creativity
Chasing Creative episode: Make a Mini Creative Retreat with Jennie Moraitis
Mini Book Club Truest by Jackie Lea Sommers
The House by the River by Lena Manta
Here's where you can find Abbigail Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Facebook: @inkwellsandimages
Here's where you can find Ashley Brooks Editorial
Personal blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
It’s hard to work on your own creative projects. You have to find the time, the energy, and the motivation -- and those three rarely live on the same planet for most of us these days. One way to convince yourself -- or maybe trick yourself -- to prioritize your own work and make progress on your creative goals is to join a creative challenge. Ashley and Abbigail discuss the creative challenges that they are aware of, how they’ve helped them on their creative goals, and which ones they’d do again.
You can now support Chasing Creative on Patreon!
Good Stuff We Talked About
Rachel Dawson’s episode
Jennie Moraitis’s episode
Elise Blaha Cripe’s episode
Coffee and Crumbs episode on memory making
1 Second Everyday app
Quiz from Gretchen Rubin on the 4 Tendencies
2030Make Challenge
100 Days Challenge
Write 31 Days challenge
NaNoWriMo
Mini Book Club
From Sand & Ash by Amy Harmon
The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin
Here's where you can find Ashley Personal Blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Business Website: Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
Here's where you can find Abbigail Website: Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Facebook: @Inkwellsandimages
We all have our busy seasons in life, whether they're predictable or unexpected. No matter what’s happening in our lives, we still only get 24 hours in each day. In this episode, we’re talking about the tried-and-true resources that fill us up and don’t feel like a time-suck, even when life gets busy.
Blogs that fill us up Design for Mankind with Erin Loechner
Emily P. Freeman’s blog
Melissa Camara Wilkins’ blog
No Sidebar
The Art of Simple
Coffee + Crumbs
Hello There, Friend
Becoming Minimalist
The Life on Purpose Movement by Erica Layne
Books that fill us up The Harry Potter series
A Million Little Ways by Emily P. Freeman
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist
Podcasts that fill us up Coffee + Crumbs
The Next Right Thing with Emily P. Freeman
Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me!
Other resources we mentioned Being Actively Creative with Lindsay Crandall on Chasing Creative
Intentional Creativity with Erica Layne on Chasing Creative
“The Hidden Load at Home” episode of the Straight and Curly podcast
The Skimm daily news roundup
Mini Book Club Hourglass: Time, Memory, Marriage by Dani Shapiro
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Here's where to find Abbigail Website: Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Facebook: @inkwellsandimages
Here's where to find Ashley Personal blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Business website: Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
It’s a big topic in the creative world: sharing your work. It’s an issue that creatives of all ages and all experience levels can relate to. It’s scary to put your work out there, but hopefully our conversation in this episode will help you feel more comfortable sharing your creative self with the world.
You can now support Chasing Creative on Patreon!
Good Stuff We Talked About
That Hummingbird Life post on the cost of sharing
Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work by Austin Kleon
Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
Quote from Daring Greatly: “Perfectionism crushes creativity---which is why one of the most effective ways to start recovering from perfectionism is to start creating.”
Brené Brown’s TED Talk on vulnerability
Mini Book Club
Real Artists Don’t Starve by Jeff Goins
The Golem & the Jinni by Helene Beckwith
Here's where you can find Ashley Personal Blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Business Website: Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
Here's where you can find Abbigail Website: Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Facebook: @Inkwellsandimages
We’ve all done it: said we had no time to get everything done, let alone do something creative. Sometimes, that’s true. And other times, we need to take a look at how we are actually spending those little moments throughout the day and ask ourselves if not having enough time is the issue, or if we are maybe just wasting a little more than we think. Ashley and Abbie fess up on what they spend their “extra” time on - and what they should be doing instead.
Resources on Time Wasting
I Know How She Does It by Laura Vanderkam
Overwhelmed by Brigid Schulte (mentioned, but not recommended)
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Becoming Minimalist site
No Sidebar site
Straight and Curly podcast episode 64 on decision fatigue
Moment app
Newsfeedburner extension for blocking Facebook newsfeed
Self-Control app
The Lazy Genius's New Fall Rhythm
Mini Book Club
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
Here's where you can find Ashley Personal Blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Business Website: Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
Here's where you can find Abbigail Website: Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Facebook: @Inkwellsandimages
We’re continuing to explore the intersection of creativity and daily life with a look at a day in Abbie’s life. Key takeaways include looking at your life as a rhythm rather than a rigid structure, the importance of getting a good night’s sleep, and remembering that we all go through seasons of ups and downs in our creative lives. Listen in to gain new insights and perspectives on your own creative life!
Here's where you can find Ashley Personal Blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Business Website: Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
Here's where you can find Abbigail Website: Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Facebook: @Inkwellsandimages
In this episode, we’re jumping into a day in the life with Ashley as she juggles the urge to be creative with freelance work and being home all day with her two young kids. Key takeaways include starting the day with a peaceful morning and planning to make good use of your most unproductive time of the day. Listen in to gain new insights and perspectives on your own daily routine!
Books Mentioned Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Here's Where to Find Ashley Personal Blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Business Website: Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
Here's Where to Find Abbigail Website: Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Facebook: @inkwellsandimages
Chasing Creative is back for season 4! Tune in to hear more about what we have planned for the upcoming season and find out what we’ve been up to in our creative lives lately.
Good things we talked about Kendra at the Lazy Genius blog
What Should I Read Next? podcast with Anne Bogel
Mini Book Club Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Reading People by Anne Bogel
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
Gods in America by Neil Gaiman
The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
Here's where you can find Ashley Personal Blog: Ashley Brooks Writes
Business Website: Brooks Editorial
Twitter: @brookseditorial
Instagram: @brookseditorial
Pinterest: @brookseditorial
Here's where you can find Abbigail Website: Inkwells and Images
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Facebook: @Inkwellsandimages
In our last episode of Season 3 of Chasing Creative, we chat about how our creative projects and goals are going for 2017, what work looks like for each of us, and what we’re going to be doing on our next break. Join us for the conversation!
Sign up for our completely not-overwhelming newsletter to get updates about the podcast, i.e. when Season 4 airs later this year.
Mini Book Club:
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Podcasts We Mentioned
The Lazy Genius Podcast with Kendra Adachi (we interviewed her in Season 1 here!)
Straight & Curly with Kelly Exeter and Carly Jacobs
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: https://www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: https://www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
We're chatting with Lisa Hensley about how she embraces her season of motherhood and makes space for creativity as she raises three (soon to be four!) boys. Lisa is the master at working within the life she's living rather than wishing she had more time to create. Listen in to hear her wisdom!
Lisa Hensley is a writer, podcaster, and volleyball coach who pursues other creative interests. She and her husband have three boys, including one with a rare disease, are expecting another, and live in a college town in rural Kentucky. Her online spaces encourage women to thrive as mamas and grow as creatives.
Sign up for our completely not-overwhelming newsletter to get updates about the podcast, i.e. when new seasons air!
Here's where you can find Lisa Delighting in My Days blog
Podcast
Here's where you can find Abbigail Website
Here's where you can find Ashley Website
Writing blog
Mini-Book Club Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey
The Life-Giving Home: Creating a Place of Belonging and Becoming by Sally Clarkson and Sarah Clarkson
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy, and "Women's Work" by Kathleen Norris
We chatted with author and editor Sarah Fox about how she balances her day job (which is writing and editing) with her side hustle (which is also writing and editing...), how she gets in a writing groove, and the books she thinks you should read right now.
Sign up for our completely not-overwhelming newsletter to get updates about the podcast, i.e. when new seasons air!
Mini Book Club:
These cool book darts that Ashley mentioned.
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Story Engineering by Richard Brooks
On Writing by Stephen King
Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick
Where Am I Now? by Mara Wilson
Is Everyone Hanging Out without Me? by Mindy Kaling
Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
Swear on this Life by Renee Carlino
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter & Sweet by Jamie Ford
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Here’s where to find Sarah:
Website: http://www.thebookishfox.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebookishfox/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BookishSarahFox
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bookishsarahfox/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/bookishsarahfox/
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: https://www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: https://www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Elise Blaha Cripe lives with her husband and two young daughters in San Diego, California. She has been sharing thoughts and DIY projects online since 2005, running an online shop of handmade goods since 2008, and in 2015 launched GET TO WORK BOOK, a day planner + goal-setting journal. She also hosts a weekly podcast, Elise Gets Crafty, that focuses on creative small business. We're chatting with Elise about being creative throughout the different stages of life, taking breaks from your creative projects, and where she got the inspiration to create the GET TO WORK BOOK.
Sign up for our completely not-overwhelming newsletter to get updates about the podcast, i.e. when new seasons air!
Here's where you can find Elise Elisejoy.com
Gettoworkbook.com
@elisejoy on Instagram
enjoyitblog.com
Here's where you can find Abbigail www.InkwellsandImages.com
Here's where you can find Ashley www.brookseditorial.com
www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Mini Book Club The Time-Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett
Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey
We're chatting with blogger Rachel Dawson on how to balance work creativity with personal creativity, how to find a happy medium with social media, and what she's reading lately (she reads more than just about anyone else we know!).
Elle Luna’s 100 Day Project
Sign up for our completely not-overwhelming newsletter to get updates about the podcast, i.e. when new seasons air!
Mini Book Club:
Anything by Brene Brown
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
Beneath Wandering Stars by Ashlee Cowels
Here’s where to find Rachel:
Website: http://www.racheladawson.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/racheladawson
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/racheladawson
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/racheladawsonblog
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: https://www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: https://www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
We're chatting with blogger and writer Nicole Gulotta about her forthcoming literary cookbook, Eat This Poem. Join us to hear her tips on managing the writing life while supporting other authors (and, of course, cooking delicious food).
Sign up for our completely not-overwhelming newsletter to get updates about the podcast, i.e. when new seasons air!
Here's where you can find Nicole: Website: eatthispoem.com
Writing Resources: http://nicolemgulotta.com/
Twitter: twitter.com/nicolegulotta
Pinterest: pinterest.com/ngulotta
Instagram: instagram.com/nicolegulotta/
Here's where you can find Abbigail: Website: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Here's where you can find Ashley: Website: https://www.brookseditorial.com/
Blog: https://www.ashleybrookswrites.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brookseditorial/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brookseditorial/
Mini-Book Club Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Still Writing by Dani Shapiro
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott
Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese
We're back for Season 3 of the Chasing Creative podcast! And we're chatting all about setting creative goals, practical tips we have for making creativity easy to slip into your daily life, and - of course! - the books we read on our break.
Sign up for our completely not-overwhelming newsletter to get updates about the podcast, i.e. when new seasons air!
Resources we Mentioned:
Elise Blaha Cripe's Get To Work Book
The Moleskin notebooks Abbie carries everywhere.
Tsh Oxenreider's "Think" days.
Instacart which Ashley wishes she could use for grocery delivery.
Mini Book Club:
Chasing Slow by Erin Loechner
Shotgun Love Songs by Nickolas Butler
Beneath the Bonfire by Nickolas Butler
You're Never Weird on the Internet by Felicia Day
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: https://www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: https://www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Ashley & Abbigail here with our final episode of Season 2 of the Chasing Creative podcast! We're taking another little break after our mini-season, and in this season's finale we chat about why, how rolling with life's ups and downs is essential to the creative process, and when we're (hopefully) going to be back again with new episodes in Season 3.
Email us: chasingcreativepodcast@gmail.com
Click here to sign up to be notified when Season 3 launches. (We promise we won't spam you with emails--we're on a break, too!)
Here’s where to find Ashley: Website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail: Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Jenna and Josiah are newlyweds, and one of the most creative couples I know. Jenna works from home as a self-employed photographer and blogger. Josiah works in graphic design and makes music as much as he can in his spare time. He finds selling other people’s stuff easier than selling his own. They recently moved to Denver… and then back again, and we wanted to catch up with them in their new home in Chicago! We last heard from them in episode 17 of season one, and they’ve made a few changes since then.
Here’s where to find Jenna & Josiah:
Website: http://jennahazelphotography.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/jenna.hazel
Facebook: http://facebook.com/jennahazelphotography
Band: http://settlinghouses.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/josiahhazel
Instagram: http://instagram.com/josiah_hazel
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: https://www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: https://www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
We first chatted with Callie Feyen in Episode 5 of Season 1. At the time, Callie was living near Washington, DC, and was teaching part-time, writing part-time, and being a mom all the time. Now she's moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and is learning to balance writing with a full-time teaching job and a lengthy commute. Listen in to hear about her new creative projects (including TWO books!) and how she's making them happen. You can follow along with Callie at www.calliefeyen.com and on Twitter and Instagram as @CallieFeyen.
Here’s where to find Callie:
Website: http://calliefeyen.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/calliefeyen/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CallieFeyen
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: https://www.brookseditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: https://www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
We last heard from Bethany Grow in Episode 9 of Season 1, where she shared her dreams for opening her own ice cream business--and this last summer, she did! Learn what made her finally pull the trigger and start her own business, as well as the challenges and successes of her first summer selling ice cream. You can learn more about Bethany’s ice cream adventures and love of food at her personal blog, www.bethanygrow.com.
Here’s where to find Bethany:
Website: http://www.bethanygrow.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/bethaneat,
http://instagram.com/companionicecream
Twitter: http://twitter.com/bethaneat
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: https://www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: https://www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Mini Book Club:
Jellicoe Road by Marlena Marchetta
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
The last time we chatted with Aliza Latta in episode 24 of Season 1 of Chasing Creative, she swore she was never, ever going to college. Well, she changed her mind and we were so excited to have her back on the podcast to discuss how she came to that decision and what her creative life looks like now that she’s back in class.
Here’s where to find Aliza:
Website: https://www.alizanaomi.com
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/alizalatta
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alizalatta
Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/choosebrave
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alizalattawriter
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: https://www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: https://www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
We first met Amy in Episode 20 of Chasing Creative. Since then, she’s left her full-time job and is pursuing her next creative project: The Global Creator, a shop where designer goods and experiential luxury travel combine. Today we’re chatting about the perfect timing of starting her new business and what it’s been like to collaborate with so many other creatives. Be sure to check out The Global Creator at http://www.theglobalcreator.com!
Here’s where to find Amy:
Website: http://www.theglobalcreator.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/theglblcreator, http://www.twitter.com/creatricemonde
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/theglobalcreator, http://www.instagram.com/creatricemondial
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theglobalcreator/
Email list: sign up either on Facebook or at http://www.theglobalcreator.com
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: http://www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: http://www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
We’re back! We really, really enjoyed our break - and are also so excited to be back recording Chasing Creative again. In our Season Two intro, we share what we did over our summer vacation, how our creativity fared, and - of course! - what we read.
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: https://www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: https://www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Mini Book Club:
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
How to Be Here by Rob Bell
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Join us in this last episode of Season 1 as we chat all about creative breaks, setting goals for yourself even during the slow seasons, and strategies for handling your online life when you're actively avoiding the online world. Whether you're a brand new listener or have been with us from the beginning, we can't thank you enough for joining us in the conversation here on Chasing Creative!
Get notified when season 2 is released! Click here to sign up to be notified when Season 2 launches. (We promise we won't spam you with emails all summer---we're on a break, too!)
Take the Season 1 listener survey: Help us make Season 2 even better than Season 1! Click here to take the Season 1 listener survey. We're virtually high-fiving you for letting us know what you think!
Links and resources from this episode: Edgar
Unroll.me
Inbox Pause
Boomerang for Gmail
“Don't Carpe Diem” post by Momastery
Coffee + Crumbs blog
Tip from Abbie: Listen to podcasts and/or audiobooks at 1.5 speed
How and Why to Clean Out Your TBR List on Ashley's blog, and the original post that inspired the cleanout, How to Spring Clean Your Goodreads TBR Pile from BookRiot
Other podcasts we love and recommend Coffee + Crumbs podcast (Start with the episode about potty training!)
Freakonomics (Abbie recommends the episodes about the gender pay gap and the economics of sleep.)
Lazy Genius podcast with Kendra Adachi
Createlounge podcast with Kayla Hollatz
Hope*Writers podcast
Uniquely Woman podcast
Mini Book Club Middlemarch by George Eliot
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Unraveling of Mercy Louis by Keija Parssinen
7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Euphoria by Lily King
Quotes from the episode “It’s kind of crazy that we have goals for our break.” --- Abbie
“I don’t know that I’ve given myself a true creative break since I started blogging in 2014.” --- Abbie
“I feel this desperation to enjoy the summer and I get really resentful of things that take me away from that. I try to drop as many projects as I can that I can’t do outside.” --- Ashley
“There’s just these tiny little things that distract you from the things that are actually important to you.” --- Ashley
“Think of one thing that distracts you and figure out how you can turn off that one thing for a little bit.” --- Ashley
“Reading isn’t supposed to be essential. It’s supposed to be fun.” --- Abbie
Here’s where to find Ashley: Website: www.brookseditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail: Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Aliza Latta is a twenty-one-year-old writer, storyteller, artist, and hand letterer. She is a huge fan of both courage and ice cream, and we like how she thinks. We chatted with Aliza about her art, where she gathers her inspiration, why she chose not to go to college, and how choosing her own creative path has helped her find her passion.
Here’s where to find Aliza:
Website: www.alizanaomi.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/alizalatta
Instagram: www.instagram.com/alizalatta
Etsy Shop: www.etsy.com/shop/choosebrave
Facebook: www.facebook.com/alizalattawriter
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: https://www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: https://www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Mini Book Club:
The Passion of Mary Margaret by Lisa Samson
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
Room by Emma Donoghue
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
Wine Folly by Madeline Puckette
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Caine
Resources in this Episode:
Boomerang from Google
Inbox Pause for Gmail
Quotes from this Episode:
“It helps when you love it, because then it doesn’t feel like work.” - Aliza
On Blogging: “I don’t know what my tagline would be. We’re always growing, and I want my blog to be a representation of that.” - Aliza
“I feel like as I get better at the business side of thing, I step back and think ‘You are not doing anything creative’.” - Ashley
“It can be a hard struggle between being the responsible business-y individual and also creating things that you want to look back on.” - Abbigail
“I am a very all in person.” - Aliza
“I am really, really happy with the choices that I have made.” - Aliza
“There’s no one success metric for everyone.” - Abbigail
“I’m often trying to figure out why I feel certain things.” - Aliza
“I realized that the only reason I would accept this book deal was to say that I had a book deal…. It was this tangible thing that showed my worth. That’s not a good enough reason.” - Aliza
“If there is one thing we are learning from this conversation is that there is no balance, anywhere, in life. There is just a lot of give and take and lot of different season and you just have to go with it and do whatever is in front of you at the moment.” - Ashley
“I worked, I saved, and I went.” - Aliza
“It’s always awesome when you can find the place or the ritual where you are like 'OK, now I can be creative.' ” - Ashley
Sarah Woolworth is the blogger behind Wisconsin from Scratch and a cofounder of Wisconsin Whisk, a collective of Wisconsin-based food bloggers. Sarah is a former engineer turned culinarian. We're excited to chat with her about finding her creative passion as an adult, starting a collective with other bloggers, managing a schedule filled with several creative projects and a young baby, and where she finds her cooking inspiration.
Here's where you can find Sarah Website: http://wisconsinfromscratch.com/
Twitter: twitter.com/wifromscratch
Instagram: instagram.com/wifromscratch
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WisconsinFromScratch/
WI Whisk Website: http://wiwhisk.com/
Here's where you can find Abbigail Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Here's where you can find Ashley Website: www.brookseditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Resources mentioned in this episode Trello
Asana
Mini Book Club The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler
The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee
Will It Fly by Pat Flynn
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
Euphoria by Lily King
Quotes from the episode
“I did the big scary thing: I took a leap and left my engineering job
and I started my blog.” --- Sarah
“Cooking was a creative outlet when I was in this world of things
being very logical and straightforward.” --- Sarah
“I still have [cooking] disasters. I don’t think you ever grow out of
that.” --- Sarah
On managing a schedule with a baby: “Coming to terms with the fact
that there’s not always going to be a fixed schedule and that’s okay
has been a challenge for me.” --- Sarah
“Some days won’t be
productive at all, but other days I’ll be super productive. It all
seems to balance out.” --- Sarah
“Cooking does help me feel more like a normal person [after having a
baby].” --- Sarah
“Starting to do a CSA helped me get more creative with cooking.” ---
Sarah
Stephanie is a freelance graphic designer with a passion for all things creative. Since graduating with her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2015, she’s worked for numerous businesses, bloggers, and other creatives, bringing brands and web designs to life, and has even freelanced for dream clients like Target. On weekends you can find her with her cameras, and while she loves design, her true loves in life are her family and stuffed-crust pizza. She believes that creativity is essential for living a full life and that everyone is creative - and we agree. We couldn’t wait to speak with Steph about being a work at home mom, choosing graphic design over radiology, and being married to someone just as creative as she is.
Here’s where to find Steph:
Website: https://www.behance.net/schammer
Twitter: https://twitter.com/imstephhammer
Instagram: http://instagram.com/imstephhammer
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: https://www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: https://www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Mini Book Club:
On Being a Photographer by David Hurne and Bill Jay
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Elegantissima: The Design and Typography of Louise Fili
In Progress by Jessica Hische
Steal Like An Artist and Show Your Work by Austin Kleon
Quotes from this Episode:
“I like to think that I am more of a creative person before a person that has a specialty. It makes me feel like I can do anything.” - Steph
“I still ask Santa for art supplies.” - Steph
“I remember being so happy that I had made something and it had made me happy, and that someone else also found joy from it.” - Steph
“I just wanted to create and share with people and improve their lives.” - Steph
“It was so hard, but it was so worth it. I loved what I was doing… I remember sitting back and thinking, if I could do this for the rest of my life, I would be so set.” - Steph
“Do I love this enough to keep going? Yes. Let’s keep going.” - Steph
“It’s not always going to be rainbows and butterflies, but if it’s the thing you love doing you are going to take the good with the bad.” - Ashley
“I’m going to be 100% real with you: I don’t know.” - Steph
“I am going to be a mom, because is what I always wanted to do. And I’m going to be a designer, too, because there is no reason I can’t.” - Steph
“I am doing what I love and it gives me energy.” - Steph
“That’s when my work becomes stressful, when I try to do things while [my daughter] is there.” - Ashley
“[creative work] is as important as taking a shower, for me.” - Steph
“There’s a turning point in blogging where it goes from being a hobby to being a job and it can get really stressful.” - Ashley
“I make sure that I am always having good stuff coming in.” - Steph
“I know how I work and I know how I get my ideas.” - Steph
Erica Layne is the mom of three behind Let Why Lead, a place for purposeful women. Listen in as we chat with her about finding your why as a creative, living by your values, and being intentional about self-care and wellness.
Here's where you can find Erica Website: http://www.letwhylead.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/letwhylead
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LetWhyLead
Here's where you can find Abbigail Website: https://www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Here's where you can find Ashley Website: https://www.brookseditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Resources from this episode Tsh Oxenreider's post that inspired Erica's search for her "why": Neither Poverty Nor Riches
Erica's post on reducing noise: 9 Practical Ways I Reduce Noise in My Life
Erica's post on productivity: How to Detangle Productivity and Your Self-Worth
Erica's post on self-care for moms: 24 Self-Care Practices for Mothers
The Lively Show podcast
The Unmistakable Creative podcast
The Happier podcast with Gretchen Rubin
Mini Book Club Start with Why by Simon Sinek
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Love Does by Bob Goff
The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty
The Wild Diet by Abel James
Quotes from this episode
“If you focus on why you’re doing what you do---the things that really
matter---then you can let go of everything else.” --- Erica
“I’ve broadened my definition of creativity to include anything that
makes my soul come alive.” --- Erica “I love having my kids around
while I work because I think it’s a great example to them, especially
to my daughter, to see that her mom always had a creative passion that
filled her up.” --- Erica
“Who are your creative ventures for?” --- Erica
“A lot of people in my real life don’t know how much my online writing
means to me.” --- Erica
“Learning to live by your values and guard those and let go of the
extra stuff is key to finding joy.” --- Erica
On self care: “It’s a lens of loving yourself and taking care of
yourself and then giving yourself to other people.” --- Erica
“Now I feel like I’m living this life I designed instead of a life I
tumbled into.” --- Erica
“Being very specific about what I choose to spend my time on has
helped me appreciate my time more.” --- Abbigail
“It’s such a skill to be able to sit with your own thoughts and find
goodness in them.” --- Ashley
Amy has played with wearing many hats over the years - artist, designer, blogger, freelance journalist. But at the root of all of this lies two things: a passion for travel and a creative, free-spirited soul. She now combines all of the above as the creative director for a luxury travel company headquartered in Miami, Florida, with 43 additional offices in 34 countries around the world. We chatted with Amy about how she makes travel a priority, what it’s like to run an Instagram hashtag that stretches around the world, and how the building blocks of her career led her to a dream job.
Here’s where to find Amy:
Website: https://www.amylynnehayes.com
Blog: https://www.creatricemondial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/creatricemonde
Instagram: https://instagram.com/creatricemondial
Here’s where to find Abbigail
Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Here’s where to find Ashley
Website: www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Mini Book Club
Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown
Rising Strong by Brené Brown
The Urban Monk by Pedram Shojai
Essentialism by Greg Mckeown
Anything by Sharon Kay Penman
The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
Anything by Ann Rinaldi, especially Time Enough for Drums and The Last Silk Dress
Amy’ Three Things To Have for Planes:
iPod for books; Noise-cancelling headphones; Eye-mask
Abbie’s standing desk: https://www.ergodesktop.com/content/kangaroo-elite
Abbie’s Book-reading tip on iPad: Turn on airplane mode! Battery lasts longer, no notifications to interrupt your reading. :)
Quotes from this episode:
“All of those different things led you to this one dream job.” - Abbigail
“It literally took me a year to realize that travel was the thing that combined it all.” - Amy
“It just worked out - that could be the motto of so many creative people.” - Ashley
“I’ve tried everything… the thing that sticks may not be the thing that you wanted to do originally.” - Amy
“It’s about trade-offs. If you want to travel, you may not be able to go shopping every weekend.” - Amy
“Location independence is not Instagram feed-worthy all the time. You are still going to be working really hard.” - Amy
“When you are doing something that feels right and you’re not getting that resistance that feels so discouraging, it doesn’t really feel like work. You are doing stuff and you are busy, but it’s not the soul-sucking busy of ‘I’ve got to tick these things off the list.’ ” - Amy
“Everywhere you go, McDonald’s will have WiFi.” - Amy
“I love being able to put something out there and connect with people.” - Amy
“I didn’t want all the pressure of creating all the content.” - Amy
“When I’ve traveled, I have met up with people all over the world that I’ve met on Twitter.” - Amy
“If you want to do the creative work, something else in your life is probably going to have to go.” - Ashley
Jenny Bravo is the self-published author of These Are the Moments and the blogger behind Blots and Plots, a motivational blog for readers and writers. We're chatting with Jenny about being intentional with your time, balancing creation with consumption, building the dreaded author platform, and crappy first drafts.
Here's where you can find Jenny: Check out Jenny's website, Blots and Plots, for plenty of writing resources. Don't forget to download your free book at Jenny Bravo Books! You can also catch Jenny on Twitter and Instagram.
Here's where you can find Abbigail: Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Here's where you can find Ashley: Website: www.brookseditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Quotes from the episode
“If you want to write a novel, you really should be writing something
that means a lot to you.” --- Jenny
“Once I made the decision to write something I knew and was confident
in, I went from there.” --- Jenny
“You’re not going to learn how to write a novel until you’re actually
writing through it.” --- Jenny
“[Writing sprints on Twitter] really motivated me to get the writing
done.” --- Jenny
“If you want to actually make all these things happen, you’re going to
have to find space in your day.” --- Jenny
“If it’s something you really want to do and you really care about,
you’ll find the time.” --- Jenny
“We can’t always be consuming stories if we ever want to create our
own.” --- Ashley
“If I’m writing a book, I’m not going to be reading another
contemporary romance book because I don’t want that to filter into my
own writing.” --- Jenny
“Just have some quiet time where you can be with your own thoughts and
not with other people’s thoughts.” --- Jenny
“Consuming too much content can really put us at a disadvantage when
it comes to creating our own.” --- Abbigail
“I like to put in at least an hour of work/writing time per day.” ---
Jenny
“Being honest and having conversations with the people in your life.
Saying ‘Look, this is important to me, and maybe you don’t fully
understand what it is, but I need time to work and to write.’ “---
Jenny
“Being by other people gives you new ideas and new perspectives.” ---
Ashley
“Everyone has a unique experience and relationship with the world. I
would be doing a disservice to people who are reading my book and to
the art itself if I were cocky enough to think I could create
everything on my own and not have this dialogue with other people who
have had way different life experiences.” --- Jenny
“Our first drafts are just going to be really awful . . . After I got
that out of my system, I could write something people would actually
want to read.” --- Jenny
“If you don’t at least start something, you’re never going to be able
to work to improve it.” --- Ashley
On blogging: “I never wanted to be teaching people things that I
hadn’t experienced myself.” --- Jenny
“Instead of focusing on ‘How do I build this big following?’ focus on
‘How do I meet people who are really inspiring, and how do I meet
people I can have honest conversations about writing with?’ “ ---
Jenny
“Those are my two main things: Having a website where people can find
you, and being on Twitter where people can have a conversation with
you.” --- Jenny
Mini Book Club Now and Again by Jennifer Ellision
Vinyl by Sophia Elaine Hanson
Secrets Don't Keep by Elora Ramirez
Write without Crushing Your Soul: Sustainable Publishing and Freelancing by Ed Cyzewski
The Charismatics by Ashley R. Carlson
The Color of Water in July by Nora Carroll
Amber Thomas of Mr. Thomas and Me is one of our internet favorites. She’s genuine, geared for engagement, and so, so smart. We chatted with Amber about all the projects she has going (hint: it’s a lot of awesome), how her creativity changed as she experienced the loss of her father to dementia, and how she uses the internet in ways that keep her inspired.
Here’s where to find Amber:
Blog: http://www.mrthomasandme.com
Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/AmberThomasMakes
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrthomasandme
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrthomasandme/
Confetti Community: https://www.instagram.com/confetticommunity/
It Begins Here: An Anthology that features Amber’s art and words
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: https://www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: https://www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Mini Book Club:
The Crossroads of Should and Must by Elle Luna
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull
Quotes from this Episode:
“I’m comfortable online.” - Amber
“I’ve tried to put myself in a box like that so many times and it never works. It burns me out.” - Amber
“Blogging is my hobby. I make zero dollars doing it. So it’s only going to be what I love to do.” - Amber
“My creativity is that spastic, frenetic kind of energy. I have to be intentional with my time.” - Amber
“If you are feeling like you aren’t making progress in any area, try batching tasks.” - Ashley
“My brain doesn’t volunteer to line up things for me.” - Amber
“We pulled ourselves back into a very sacred space.” - Amber
“I’m allowed to talk about myself and my story, but not at the expense of anyone else.” - Amber
“I don’t ever want the private expense to be greater than the public good.” - Amber
“It’s wonderful when your giftedness aligns with doing something for other people.” - Abbigail
“Creativity is really hard to grow when you are in the middle.” - Amber
“You just have to start again.” - Amber
“Find that one beautiful moment of each day.” - Abbigail
“It’s great to know what drags you down personally so you can unfollow it.” - Ashley
“Be intentional: what do you want your life to look like? You have to make your online life look like that. FOllow things that get you closer to that point.” - Abbigail
“I’m not using the internet right if when I leave it I am angry with myself.” - Amber
Josiah and Jenna are newlyweds navigating the waters of making space for creative projects and taking big creative leaps. Josiah works in marketing by day and makes music by night while Jenna is a full-time creative as a self-employed photographer and blogger. Together, they recently released their first debut album for their band, Settling Houses. Join us as we chat about finding space in the margins for creative work, tackling a big creative project together, taking leaps of faith in your creativity, and dealing with the awkwardness of self-promotion.
Here's where you can find Josiah and Jenna: Check out their band, Settling Houses, on Bandcamp!
You can find Jenna at her photography website or her food and lifestyle blog, and you can also catch her on Facebook and Instagram.
You can find Josiah on his website, Twitter, Instagram, and Soundcloud.
Here's where you can find Abbigail: Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Here's where you can find Ashley: Website: www.brookseditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Quotes from the episode
“Music has always been something I’ve loved doing and haven’t had to
work too hard at to find time for.” --- Josiah
“It’s really been the last three years that I’ve realized I can do
creative things full time and not necessarily have to devote all my
time to a ‘practical’ job.” --- Jenna
“I’ve had to schedule creative time more than I’m used to.” ---
Josiah, on getting married and having other adult responsibilities
“We owe it to our spouse and our families to be the best person we can
be, and sometimes that means taking a little bit of time to
ourselves.” --- Abbigail
“It was just trying to find the small available moments to work on
[music]. It was a lot of five minutes here, fifteen minutes there.”
--- Josiah
“Eventually those five minutes added up and it actually happened.” ---
Josiah
“You can do big things in small amounts of time. You just have to be
patient and wait, but they will add up eventually.” --- Ashley
“Having somebody you’re accountable to is important.” --- Jenna
“I needed to be okay with him going off and working on his creative
thing and me working on something else.” --- Jenna “We didn’t want
to look back in 10 years and think ‘Oh, we missed out.’” --- Jenna
“I’d rather just be in my own head and write stuff instead of telling
people to listen to me.” --- Josiah
“You care so much about what you do that when people are criticizing
your art it feels like they’re criticizing you.” --- Abbigail
Mini Book Club The Luminous Portrait by Elizabeth Messina
Not Fade Away: A Short Life Well Lived by Laurence Shames and Peter Barton
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
Today we are chatting with Jessica Lawlor. Jess is a communications professional, writer, personal branding expert and speaker in the Philadelphia area. After six years in the corporate PR world, Jessica left her job this spring to run her own communications agency, blog, and brand, and to teach yoga. We chat about her time management now that she is self-employed and how yoga brought new inspiration to her life.
Here’s where to find Jessica:
Website: http://jessicalawlor.com
Yoga: http://jessicalawlor.com/yoga/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jesslaw
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessicallawlor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicallawlor/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jessicalawlor/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicalawlor
Snapchat: @jessicalawlor
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: https://www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: https://www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Mini Book Club:
Yes, Please by Amy Poehler
Ask Gary Vee by Gary Vaynerchuck
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Quotes from this Episode:
“I have no deadlines, which is a good thing AND a bad thing.” - Jessica
“I’m still trying to do my most creative writing first thing in the morning.” - Jessica
“You have a chance to get that first energy burst out on whatever is most important.” - Ashley
“Having that set amount of time forced me to only work on what was most important for that day.” - Jessica
“Online work expands to fill up the time you have available.” - Ashley
“I’m trying to be gentle with myself, knowing that I have all these hours ahead of me in a day.” - Jessica
“I do my creative work in the morning and my afternoons are a little more social.” - Jessica
“The definition of Getting Gutsy is stepping outside of your comfort zone to live a life that makes you truly happy.” - Jessica
“Emailing people to be guests on this podcast have been some gutsy moments for Ashley and I.” - Abbigail
“It’s worth sitting down to write even if you never get a book deal.” - Ashley
“It’s much, much harder to sit down and do the thing that you are passionate about. But the key really is in getting started.” - Jessica
“Those goals I have for a couple of years down the line start with writing tomorrow’s blog post.” - Jessica
“Sometimes ideas can be exhausting.” - Abbigail
“I have found so much creativity through my yoga class and through my yoga teaching.” - Jessica
“It doesn’t seem to matter where you are at, someone else is in the same place.” - Abbigail
We're chatting with creative couple and hosts of the Our First Drink podcast Josh and Stasia Haroldson about what it looks like to be in a creative partnership with your spouse. Join us as we talk about the relationship dynamic that comes from working on a shared project, tips for any creative collaboration, and being yourself on social media.
Here's where you can find Josh and Stasia Search your favorite podcast app for “Our First Drink” and visit www.ourfirstdrink.com. You can also check out Josh and Stasia on Instagram.
Here’s where to find Abbigail Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Here’s where to find Ashley Website: www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Quotes from the episode “We’re both balancing the podcast with more traditional 9-5 jobs, so it’s been an interesting balance trying to make time for the creative pursuits we have while keeping our careers at the center for us.” --- Stasia
“Is this something you would do even if nobody paid attention to it?” --- Josh
“If it’s a hobby or a creative pursuit, it just needs to be something you would do because you’re compelled to do it, even if no one cared.” --- Josh
“It’s just awesome to have things to look back on that you made that are your own.” --- Josh
“We give the best of ourselves at work. The person we want to spend the most time with and we care the most about doesn’t get to see the best version of ourselves.” --- Josh, quoting Stasia
“That’s the cool thing about podcasting. You get to have these deep conversations.” --- Josh
“Before these couples even get into [their creative project], they recognize their complementary skillsets.” --- Stasia
“If I have to pay taxes to the federal government with anyone, I’m glad it’s with you.” --- Abbie
“The last thing social media should ever be is a point of contention.” --- Josh
On growing an engaged social media following: “Don’t be a jerk.” --- Josh
“By being yourself, you’re more inclined to connect with the people you want to connect with.” --- Stasia
“I just really try to share authentically the stories that I care about.” --- Josh
“I use Instagram as a very curated version of how I see things.” --- Josh
“You Instagram is your space to do what you want with it.” --- Stasia
“Ultimately you have to understand what that means. If being you is that you just want to share what’s important to you, you also have to know that it’s okay if maybe your account doesn’t grow, or maybe you don’t get the same numbers other people do. But that’s okay, because the people that do come through are really quality people in your life.” --- Josh
“I put myself in this box of creative versus not creative. This year, I basically said I’m not going to think of myself this way anymore.” --- Stasia
“I just wanted to let myself out of my internal noncreative box I had put myself in.” --- Stasia
“You almost have to give yourself permission to let yourself explore [your creative passions].” --- Stasia
“Your creativity can look wildly different from someone else’s, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t count or it’s not valid.” --- Ashley
“There were always some topics I never used to write about because I was afraid of what would happen if I did.” --- Abbigail
Mini Book Club Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Will It Fly? by Pat Flynn
A View of the Lake by Beryl Singleton Bissell
The Long-Shining Waters by Danielle Sosin
Roots & Sky by Christie Purifoy
The Anne of Green Gables series
Nikki Tran is a photographer, painter, pianist and puppy-mom to a Yorkipoo named Rusty. Over the last several years she has built a business as a talented wedding photographer in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Now, she’s decided to give up what some people would think is a dream job to return to a 9-5 life. Listen in as she describes what her motivating factors are, and how she plans to make room for her creativity in this transition.
Here’s where to find Nikki:
Blog: http://nikkitranphotography.com/blog
Wedding Photography Website: http://nikkitranphotography.com
Photoshop Resources Website: http://theenchantedcollections.com
Facebook (Wedding Photography & Blog): https://www.facebook.com/nikkitranphotography/
Facebook (Photoshop Resources): https://www.facebook.com/theenchantedcollections/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkitran1015/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/tran2011/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/nikkitranphotography
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Mini Book Club:
We gushed about our favorite classic children’s lit as well as what books we turn to as escapist literature. What are your favorites? Tell us on Twitter with #ChasingCreative!
The Mary Poppins Series
The Harry Potter Series
The Laura Ingalls Series
The Doldrums - Nicholas Gannon
Anything - Susan Branch
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
Four Seasons in Rome - Anthony Doerr
Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery
Quotes from this Episode:
“Owning my own business has opened up a lot of doors for me.” - Nikki
“I looked at what the professionals were doing and I did it too.” - Nikki, on being self-taught
“I don’t think you ever lose that feeling of being a fraud... I like what I do. That’s all I need.” - Nikki
“What I’m hearing is that everybody just feels like they are completely winging it.” - Ashley
“It’s great when other creative people can be honest and say ‘Nope, I’m totally faking it over here! How about you?!?’” - Abbigail
“If you don’t like what you’re doing, it’s not going to work.” - Nikki
“No 9-5 job, no kids, no schedule… it sounds like a dream, but it can really mean 60 or 70 hour work weeks because there are no boundaries.” - Ashley
“Make creativity easy for yourself.” - Abbigail
“I’m completely different than I was at 22, and it’s only been 4 years.” - Nikki
“We feel so much pressure to make money off of everything. It can be just as successful to have a steady job and work on the things that you really care about. Sometimes the pressure takes all of the fun out of it.” - Ashley
“I’m excited to leave work and come home and work on creative things that I really want to do.” - Nikki
“It it gets rejected or doesn’t get in, it’s OK. At least I wrote it.” - Ashley, on creating for the sake of creating
“I think it’s good to mix personal and business... People want to know the you behind the business.” - Nikki
“I love the kiddish wonder in things.” - Nikki
“I’m 26-going-on-5.” - Nikki
In this solo episode, we're taking you behind the scenes of our own creative lives. Learn about the tools we use to manage our creative projects, our favorite ways to outsource mundane tasks, what our daily routines look like, and how we define creative success.
Here's where you can find Abbigail: Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Here's where you can find Ashley: Website: www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Resources mentioned in this episode This episode's show notes contain affiliate links. Thanks for listening and supporting the podcast!
Outsourcing
Coborns Delivers
Instacart
Thumbtack
Stitch Fix
Calendars
Day Designer
Emily Ley's Simplified Planner, Weekly Edition
iCal
Social media and blogging
Asana
Evernote
CoSchedule
Editorial Calendar plugin
Edgar
BoardBooster
Canva
PicMonkey
Pages
Death to the Stock Photo
Photoshop
Lightroom
Buffer
LaterGram
Mini Book Club The Best Yes: Making Wise Decisions in the Midst of Endless Demands by Lysa Terkeurst
Creative You: Using Your Personality Type to Thrive by Otto Kroeger and David B. Goldstein
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time by Brigid Schulte
A Million Little Ways: Uncover the Art You Were Made to Live by Emily P. Freeman
Quotes from the episode “I don’t want groceries and dust bunnies to be the reason I don’t hit my creative goals.” --- Ashley
“Every season of life has its different adjustments, and you just have to figure out what that new adjustment looks like for you.” --- Abbigail
“Where can I make space in the next 24 hours for this thing I want to work on?” --- Ashley
“I’m just used to not having my 9-5 open to do anything creative, and I just try to figure out ways to make it work in the margins of life.” --- Abbigail
“Maybe there’s a commitment you need to take a step back from as part of your creative strategy.” --- Ashley
“Having to make time for this and be accountable to myself for $0 a day is what’s proven to me that this is something that’s important to me and that I’m going to keep doing it.” --- Abbigail
“Sometimes we need to separate the monetary value from the creative work.” --- Ashley
“I think that’s part of why this podcast exists: none of us have it all figured out.” --- Abbigail
Jennie Moraitis from Little Girl Designs started college as a music major… and then ended up working at engineering firms all across the U.S. It’s a little less of a traditional route than we hear on Chasing Creative, and it was such a joy to hear how she re-introduced creativity in her life, how she got started blogging about creativity, and how she makes time for it in her everyday life. She shares with us her theory of “procrastinating joy” - and how she created the project #2030Make to help us all conquer it.
Here's where to find Jennie:
Website & Creativity Resources: http://www.littlegirldesigns.com/cc/
2030Make: http://littlegirldesigns.com/30daycreativechallenge/
Shop: https://gumroad.com/littlegirldesigns
Instagram: http://instagram.com/thelittlegirldesigns/
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/littlegirldsgns/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/littlegirldesigns
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: http://www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: http://www.www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Mini Book Club:
The Crossroads of Should and Must - Elle Luna
How to Be An Explorer of Your World - Keri Smith
Spilling Open - Sabrina Ward Harrison
Thinking Outside the Gift Box - Lauren Lanker
Little Red Writing Hood - Melissa Sweet
Amos and Boris - William Steig: the story of the unlikely friendship between a mouse and a whale
Euphoria - Lily King
The Girl with All the Gifts - M. R. Cary
Big Magic - Elizabeth Gilbert
Out of Sorts - Sarah Bessey
A Prayer Journal - Flannery O’Connor
Overwhelmed - Brigid Schulte
Quotes from this episode:
“That move was my creative renaissance. I started exploring my creativity again.” - Jennie
“I almost majored in biochemical engineering.” - Ashley (seriously!)
“I get a lot of my inspiration from children’s books, actually.” - Jennie
“I started getting emails from people asking me how I made time for creativity… so I started sharing.” - Jennie
“I love talking about creativity. It is so varied and broad. All of us are creative, but people express it so differently.” - Jennie
“I love seeing how creativity comes out in different ways in different people.” - Ashley
“I struggled with my creativity because I wasn’t making money from it… it felt like it wasn’t legitimate.” - Jennie
“You wonder is all of this even worth it if I’m not benefiting financially. Sometimes, we just need to be creative, and not for any other higher purpose than being creative.” - Abbigail
“What else am I going to do? This is my life. I love doing this and making things.” - Jennie
“We want the experience or the conditions for creativity to be perfect - and most of the time they aren’t.” - Abbigail
“I’m a big believer in secret projects. You don’t have to share everything.” - Jennie
“I call it ‘procrastinating joy’ - you have something you want to make, but instead you do something else. Why am I organizing my sock drawer when I can’t write for 15 minutes?” - Jennie
“I didn’t consider it being creative because I wasn’t doing projects that had a beginning and an end. It made me redefine creativity for myself.” - Jennie
“Where real growth happens is in being consistent.” - Jennie
“Choose one thing: you don’t have to do them all.” - Jennie
“Make an actual date with yourself.” - Jennie
“If your creative retreat is a burden, you’ve kind of missed the whole point.” - Jennie
Morgan Swank is a freelance fashion illustrator: how cool is that? We loved chatting with Morgan about how she chose to do what she loved even when it was a little scary, how she finds balance between making and creating, and how to stay yourself on social media. For all of you introverts out there, she also talks about the struggle to balance the desire to be alone in order to nurture creativity, with not being too disconnected from people that she goes too crazy. Relate? We sure can.
Here’s Where to Find Morgan:
Website: http://www.morganswank.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morganswankstudio/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/moswank/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/morganswankstudio/
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Mini Book Club:
The Gift of Asher Leve by Chaim Potok
Creative, Inc. by Joy Cho: A book Morgan found helpful for freelancing. High level, but gives you a good starting place for your thoughts.
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron: A book about creativity and art. It has a lot of good exercises and practices to help unleash your creativity.
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Quotes from this Episode:
“I realized that I loved fashion and that is what I wanted to pursue.” - Morgan
“I think the desire to do fashion illustration just kept growing.” - Morgan
“Once you end up crying in a J.C. Penny’s parking lot, you realize you have to make a life change.” - Morgan
“When there is a passion like that that keeps coming back again and again, and you can’t squash it down into something more reasonable or something that earns a better paycheck, that is definitely a sign that you just need to go for it.” - Ashley
“The majority of it is being a hardworking, show up on time person. Look like you care.” - Morgan’s secret to success
“I’m not being creative. I’m not drawing anything. I’m just sitting on the couch binge-watching Netflix.” - Morgan
“I try to jealously guard my Saturdays so that, as an introvert, I can have that day to not see people.” - Abbigail
“I don’t have time to create art and market art.” - Morgan
“I made this picture. Please view it. I like it. I hope you do, too.” - Morgan
“My hope is that my pictures speak a 1,000 words and that people just enjoy seeing something pretty.” - Morgan
“The thing that turns me off is when I feel somebody is being disingenuous.” - Morgan
“Sometimes, my true self is just silent.” - Morgan
“I don’t want to put myself out there on so many streams that I feel overwhelmed.” - Morgan
“The social media part of marketing can completely take over your life if you let it.” - Ashley
“If having 140 characters or less would make people like me more, then I don’t need to go for those people then.” - Morgan
“You’re never going to do social media justice if you hate doing it.” - Abbigail
“What are the next five things I need to do. Then I do them.” - Morgan
“As a freelancer I can get really internalized. I need to stop and see what other people are doing.” - Morgan
“At the end of the day: what do I want to do? Is it a good reflection of me?” - Morgan
“Right now, what I’m doing is the closest expression of me and my style as I can be at the moment.” - Morgan
“You are following your passions. If you were anybody else, you wouldn’t be you.” - Morgan
“I don’t do it all well, but my life as a freelancer is a marathon, not a sprint.” - Morgan
“The reason you make your own job is to enjoy it. If you aren’t enjoying it, you might be doing something a little more than you ought to.” - Abbigail
This episode is a little longer than usual, but we think Kendra’s words are worth it. We giggled. We made fun of folding fitted sheets. And we so, so enjoyed her perspective on making time for creativity amidst the craziness of children, home renovations, and the changing seasons of life. She gets seriously real about not feeling guilty about taking time for yourself, and how being a mom is not always what fills her creatively. She’s exactly the kind of creative, regular person we had in mind when we started the Chasing Creative podcast, and we hope you will enjoy and learn from her words of wisdom on being your own creative self.
P.S. from Abbie: Do you ever get a little tongue-tied when speaking to one of your internet crushes? I totally do. And Kendra is one of them. So… when I said at 1:45 that I’m not a wife or a mom… it was my mouth getting ahead of my brain. I’ve been married for nearly 10 YEARS and somehow declared that I wasn’t. Oops. Love you, Scott! I’m not a mom, though, so I was half correct. :)
Here’s where to Find Kendra:
Website: http://www.thelazygeniuscollective.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lazylazygenius
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelazygenius/
Podcast: http://www.thelazygeniuscollective.com/podcasts/
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Mini Book Club:
Kendra's recent fiction reads:
All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
Wild - Cheryl Strayed
Kendra's recent nonfiction reads:
Ignore Everybody - Hugh McCloud
Creativity books Kendra's excited about:
Deep Work - Cal Newport
Rework - Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson
Presence - Amy Cuddy
Kendra’s favorites of all-time (fiction):
Till We Have Faces - CS Lewis
Harry Potter (duh)
The Wingfeather Saga - Andrew Peterson
Jane Austen, Bronte sisters, etc.
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
Favorites of all-time (nonfiction):
Anything by Tina Fey or Mindy Kaling
Anything by Emily Freeman
Thinkertoys - Michael Michalko… this is a good one to talk about because it gives ideas to engage your brain in unusual ways when you need a fresh take on your creativity.
What Ashley & Abbigail are reading:
Divergent - Veronica Roth
The Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater
The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Out of Sorts - Sarah Bessey
A Prayer Journal - Flannery O’Connor
Overwhelmed - Brigid Schulte
A Million Little Ways - Emily Freeman
Quotes from this Episode:
“I couldn’t get the writing jitters out any other way.” - Kendra
“If I am going to do this, I need to have a new perspective.” - Kendra
“This is not where your value comes from. I feel like I need to help people connect dots differently for their life.” - Kendra
“I feel like everybody needs some sort of creative outlet, and I long for people who haven’t found it yet, to find it.” - Kendra
“One thing I’ve learned in starting businesses: they build on each other and your creativity changes with your life.” - Kendra
“The things that don’t matter: folding fitted sheets.” - Abbigail
“I’ve learned is that tips can only go as far as how kind you are to yourself with you don’t follow them.” - Kendra
“Be kind to yourself. Treat yourself as kindly as you do your best friend.” - Kendra
“Everybody has their own personal method for overthinking things that don’t matter.” - Ashley
“I know that for a long time I saw makers and artists as people who used paint.” - Kendra
“Being a mother is not always what makes me come alive. I think it’s OK.” - Kendra
“I can be a fully creative version of myself and be a mom at the same time.” - Kendra
“I never gave myself to permission to be bad at things.” - Kendra
“I didn’t create because I was told I couldn’t.” - Kendra
“You can choose to be a maker. It works a different part of your brain. It engages a different part of your soul” - Kendra
“You can approach life in general as art.” - Abbigail
“Don’t do anything during those hours that your children are gone that you could do when they are around.” - Kendra
“I don’t do anything while she naps that I could do while she is awake.” - Ashley
“There is time. It is OK for you to claim it for yourself.” - Kendra
“It’s OK to be frustrated with the way life is. But go into with the thought that you are going to make for as long as you can.” - Kendra
“Life is hard. Being a person is hard. No one is exempt.” - Kendra
“You can live a life that doesn’t have constant production and it be full and not at all wasteful.” - Kendra
“If I want to work, I trust that desire to work. If I just really want to watch TV, I trust that desire.” - Kendra
“If you feel guilt about sitting down to watch TV, then maybe you should be working on something instead.” - Abbigail
“You know yourself and you need to be kind to yourself.” - Kendra
“End products are not the sole reason for creativity.” - Ashley
“Cheryl Strayed is a magician. She made me want to go hike. I don’t hike.” - Kendra
We're chatting with Bethany Grow about her transition from working as a freelance graphic designer to developing ice cream recipes in the hopes of one day opening her own ice cream shop. Join us as we talk about how to how to handle tricky creative transitions, why it's worth it to embrace trying new things, and how to find positivity on social media.
Here's where you can find Bethany Website: http://www.bethanygrow.com
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/bethaneat
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bethaneat
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/bethanygrow
Don't forget to check out Bethany's foodie stationary on Etsy and her food and travel website, The Collaboreat!
Here’s where you can find Ashley Website: www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where you can find Abbigail Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Resources We Mentioned Sloth app
Day Designer
Simplified Planner, weekly edition
Get to Work Book
Asana
Evernote
Ashley's blog post, "Books I Hate that Everyone Else Loves"
Mini Book Club My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl
Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer
Quotes from the Episode “Usually by the afternoon I get antsy to leave my desk, so that’s when I go make ice cream.” --- Bethany
“It’s always good to have a system, especially if you’re working with other people and collaborating on different things.” --- Ashley
“I think the biggest thing I’ve learned with collaborating with people, especially on the Collaboreat, is just to put myself out there, even if I feel super awkward about it.” --- Bethany
“I’ve had to train myself to say who cares if they don’t respond, or say no, or don’t like me, or think I’m awkward. I’m going to ask anyway.” --- Bethany
“I focus on the people who say yes and are really excited about it.” --- Bethany
“A lot of amazing things have come from being brave and getting out there.” --- Bethany
“Get over yourself and your fears and reach out. What’s the worst that could happen?” --- Bethany
“If they’re not excited, you didn’t want to partner with them anyway.” --- Abbigail
“During my girlboss designer stage, I really got overwhelmed with doing everything. I was trying to follow every piece of advice out there about how to win on social media on every platform. It just never felt right, and I was exhausted.” --- Bethany
“I think I found a good balance where I can comfortably promote the things I’m doing and the things I really care about for those who actually care and want to know what I’m up to, as well as sharing my life moments.” --- Bethany
“I’m being more mindful about who I follow and how I react to what people post.” --- Bethany
“What is running your own business and being an entrepreneur all about if you hate what you do?” --- Abbigail
“I love change and trying new things. This is just another one of those things I’m just enjoying learning about.” --- Bethany
“We didn’t know how to start a podcast, but we knew how to Google how to start a podcast.” --- Abbigail
“I think the biggest part of change that’s been hard for me is being able to tell people about it.” --- Bethany
“When I’m going through stressful transitions, I always fall back on my favorite ‘comfort food,’ which is the books I love.” --- Abbigail
Lindsay Crandall is a photographer and writer, a mama, and half of the daily collaboration at hellotherefriend.com. She has written for Art House America and The Curator. Most recently, Lindsay began working as a photographer with Stocksy United. Listen in as we chat with Lindsay about finding joy in creativity, defining creative success on your own terms, being actively creative, and finding art in the ordinary.
Here's were you can find Lindsay: Website: www.lindsaycrandall.com
Instagram: instagram.com/@lindsaycrandall
Twitter: twitter.com/@crandall
Don't forget to check out Lindsay and Beth's daily letter-writing collaboration at http://www.hellotherefriend.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/hellotherefriendproject/!
Here's where you can find Ashley: Website: http://brookseditorial.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrooksEditorial
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/brookseditorial/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brookseditorial/
Here's where you can find Abbigail: Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Mini Book Club Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle
Quotes from the episode
If you’re asking me about my creative journey, it goes back to when I
was a child. --- Lindsay
It’s interesting how when you are interested in things, the resources
just come to you. --- Lindsay
Sometimes to be your most creative self you need to step back from
[the Internet] and learn to define success in a different way than
everyone else is defining it. --- Ashley
If it doesn’t give me some sense of joy and make my heart sing, what
is the point of doing it? --- Lindsay
I love the excitement of learning something new. It makes you feel
great on the inside. --- Lindsay
I am a creative person and I want to continually pursue that. ---
Lindsay
I could be sitting on the couch watching reality TV and wasting all my
time, or I could decide I was going to be the kind of person who was
going to get up and do stuff. I want to be the kind of person who gets
up and does stuff. --- Lindsay
Being actively creative is the difference between creating and
consuming. --- Lindsay
What is that thing that makes your heart sing? --- Lindsay
There is an ebb and a flow to it all the time. I’m not creating in
every spare moment of my life. --- Lindsay
The idea of showing up every day and doing the work is the kind of
stuff that gives you a foundation so that when you need to take a
break you can step out, and you don’t lose everything that you’ve
accumulated. --- Lindsay
What in my life can I celebrate through a photograph? --- Lindsay
There are all sorts of beautiful things around us. We don’t
necessarily take the time to pay attention to them. --- Lindsay
Embrace the fact that life is extremely ordinary, but we can have
these creative celebrations throughout all of that. --- Lindsay
As creatives, everything you know is important for the next step you
take. --- Abbigail
“Essay” in French means “to try.” --- Lindsay
Our collaboration has become such a deep friendship. - Lindsay
It is amazing how much more intentional we are with our thoughts and
words when we are sitting down with pen and paper. - Abbigail
I was so beaten up by the word “fearless.” It was awesome, but
exhausting. - Lindsay
No words. No challenges. This is a time to pull back, not to push
forward. - Lindsay
“Only what matters”: that is my guiding force for the year. - Lindsay
Maybe this is a Sabbath year for me. - Lindsay
Without the Internet, does my life feel satisfying and full? ---
Lindsay
She was talking about showing up and doing the work before it was a
thing on the internet. - Lindsay, on Madeleine L’Engle
I first read Walking on Water in college and I think I’ve re-read it
every year since then. - Ashley
Listening to the seasons of your own life - Madeleine L’Engle would
encourage that. - Abbigail
Susannah Brinkley is the creative behind food and travel blog Feast + West and the branding and graphic design site Garnishing Co. Join us as we chat about the challenges of balancing many interests and projects, staying productive and organized, finding your creative focus, and why the cycle of creative burnout may not be as bad as you thought.
Where you can find Susannah Websites: feastandwest.com and garnishing.co
Instagram: instagram.com/slbrinkley, instagram.com/feastandwest, and instagram.com/garnishingco
Twitter: twitter.com/feastandwest and twitter.com/garnishingco
Facebook: facebook.com/feastandwest and facebook.com/garnishingco
Where you can find Ashley Website: www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Where you can find Abbigail Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Mini Book Club Blog, Inc. by Joy Cho
The AP Style Guide
The Recipe Writer's Handbook
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
#GirlBoss by Sophia Amoruso
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
Quotes from the Episode On blogging: “If I’m going to do this, I’m going to be all in.” -- Susannah
“My blog is my living portfolio.” --- Susannah
“You have to have a box in order to think outside the box.” --- Susannah
“I’d rather be crossing a lot of boundaries than feeling like I’m stuck inside one thing.” --- Susannah
“I just needed to focus on all the things I was doing for myself.” --- Susannah
“Some of my best ideas come from a place of burnout.” --- Susannah
“Burnout is inevitable. How can you make the most of it?” --- Susannah
“I build a [creative] system, then I can break the system.” --- Susannah
Amanda Shofner satisfies her need for adventure through the written word. She’s a self-published author who has written urban fantasy, non-fiction and romantic suspense. She’s a voracious reader, TV-watcher and Minneapolis native. We chatted with Amanda about her writing process, alpha readers, beta readers, pantsing, plotting and a little bit of everything in between.
Here’s where to find Amanda Shofner:
Website/blog: http://amandashofner.com/
My blog posts at Mill City Press/where my non-personal writing content is: https://www.millcitypress.net/blog/authors/amanda-shofner
Published: http://published.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/amshofner
Instagram: http://instagram.com/amshofner
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amshofnerauthor/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/amshofner/
Writing Sprint Hashtags: #NaNoWriMo #AmWriting
Mill City Press self-publishing services: https://www.millcitypress.net
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Mini Book Club:
The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi
The Lunar Chronicle Series by Marissa Meyer
Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Quotes:
“Everything I have done in life has led me to where I am now.” -- Amanda
“Writing is a priority and I had to figure out how to fit it in my life.” -- Amanda
“I started writing 30 minutes every morning. A morning is not a morning without writing.” -- Amanda
“Your self control stumbles over into other areas of your life when you choose to be really diligent about something.” -- Abbigail
“You don’t need a lot of time to write.” -- Amanda
“A lot of the things that I told myself about writing were wrong. Writing is what you make it.” - Amanda
“If you commit to writing and if it is something you really want to do, you will be surprised in where you can find the time.” -- Amanda
“[Netflix] is kind of an easy pit to fall into.” -- Ashley
“It’s tough to find a balance: sometimes you do need those days where you don’t do anything.” -- Ashley
“Sometimes just doing the work in your daily life takes a fair amount of creativity.” -- Ashley
“The first draft can be terrible. I can hit delete later on in revision. But I need to write terrible now to get to the next point.” -- Amanda
“Given the choice between something that I am really excited about and something that I want to never look at again, it was an easy choice.” -- Amanda
“You need to be excited about the project that you are working on.” -- Ashley
“You still run into problems, but writing can be enjoyable.” -- Amanda
“Times are changing in self-publishing: it’s no longer a last resort.” -- Amanda
“It’s probably smarter to focus on one thing at a time.” -- Ashley
“That’s why I have a full-time job: I can write as much as I want and not have to worry about what is paying my bills.” -- Amanda
“Having a full time job allows you to take a little more risk and fail a little more often.” -- Abbigail
“The ability to fail is huge. You have to be able to fail in order to succeed. Failing means you are trying things.” -- Amanda
“Creativity is more like a muscle: you have to train it to do what you want it to do.” -- Amanda
“Writers struggle at finding other people to connect with. It is a very isolating experience.” -- Amanda
“Writing sprints are how I am able to do as much as I do.” - Amanda
We couldn’t wait to chat with Callie Feyen for the Chasing Creative podcast! If you’ve ever read her blog, you know why: her essays are stunning glimpses into a life lived with eyes wide open, taking in the world and finding the beauty in the everyday. Callie is a writer, a teacher, and a mom to two awesome daughters. In this episode, she discusses how balancing the three of those callings has looked differently in each season of life, how she learned to bring her writing into her daily life, and adds a half a dozen more books to everyone’s TBR list.
Here’s where to find Callie:
Her essays on her blog are fabulous.
You can also find her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Mini Book Club
Tell It Slant by Brenda Miller & Suzanne Paolo
Rumors of Water by L.L. Barkat
Handling the Truth by Beth Kephart
Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr
The Memoir Project by Marion Roach Smith
Great with Child: Letters to a Young Mother by Beth Ann Fennelly
Quotes from this Episode:
"I threw away everything. I was just going to be a mom. That was what I
was going to do." -- Callie
"I had always written. Even before I was seriously writing, I was writing." -- Callie
"What I loved about writing even as a little girl was that I loved to go back and look at something
again and again." -- Callie
"It’s always been a balm for me to revisit something." -- Callie
"I remember thinking: that is exactly what I love to do." -- Callie
"I basically DIY-d my own career. I teach part time. I write part time. I am a mom all the time." -- Callie
"I had six hours a week to write. I would get any textbook I could find and I would go to a
coffeeshop and I would just write for three hours." -- Callie
"It’s really good to hear from someone who has done that and made it work and says it was worth it. It’s encouraging". -- Ashley
"I felt so much better after having been away. Sometimes motherhood is
like looking at a crossword puzzle - you have to step away a bit to
get the answers." -- Callie
"It was nice to say 'hi' to myself again." -- Callie
"My goal is to write. When I sit down, my goal is to keep writing." --
Callie
"I always have a list of things I want to write about." -- Callie
"Every single gig I have is because I was already writing." -- Callie
"When I am try to change my voice to fit in, I get rejected." -- Callie
"When you first hear that voice that says you should never write about
this, I think you should." -- Callie
"I learned how to write dialogue by studying my daughters." -- Callie
"I was reading Virginia Woolf 48 hours ago and now I’m folding socks." --
Callie
"If writing is going to be a part of you, you have to fit it into your
day." -- Callie
"Before I had kids, I decided I was going to write. I had all day! I
didn’t write. I did not have the discipline to do it all day." -- Callie
"It would make me really sad if somebody said 'I would love to be a
mother but I’m a writer so I can’t do that.' ” -- Callie
"It’s my story. Nobody is going to write it except for me." -- Callie
"That really stings. Maybe you’re no good. Do you want to keep writing
anyway? The answer is always yes." -- Callie
"You may have this negative emotion. But what else do you feel?" --
Callie
"The three of us combined could probably talk about books for 3 or 4
hours straight." -- Abbigail
"You can’t be a good writer if you aren’t a good reader." -- Callie
Leah Van Ert is a church secretary by day and a writer, illustrator, and creator by night. Most often, she writes at her blog, My Favorite Adventure, about book recommendations, weekend getaways, daily life, and everything in between. Listen in as we chat with Leah about scheduling time for creativity, the key to being a consistent blogger, and when you’re “allowed” to think of yourself as a creative person.
Here's where to find Leah Website: www.myfavoriteadventure.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/leahvanert
Twitter: www.twitter.com/leahvanert
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/leahvanert
Here's where to find Ashley Website: www.brookseditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here's where to find Abbigail Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Mini Book Club The Perfectly Imperfect Home: How to Decorate and Live Well by Deborah Needleman
The Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Quotes from the episode
“I schedule a good portion of my day, so I literally will write in my
planner an hour set aside for writing on my blog, or an hour set aside
for doing illustration.” Leah
“I try to do something creative every day, otherwise I start to feel
drained from my day job.” Leah
On blogging consistently: “Being organized helps me out a lot. I find
that when I get in a groove of getting things done ahead of time, that
is definitely helpful with staying consistent.” Leah
“I had people all around me pushing me on, otherwise I probably
would’ve quit [Blogtember] four or five times.” Leah
“I think I don’t feel creative because I don’t want to have to live up
that idea people have of somebody who is creative.” Leah
“There’s this broad spectrum of creativity where some people show
their creativity through problem solving or through improving ideas
that already exist, and some people create from writing on a blank
page or creating something from scratch.” Ashley
“I remember reading once that creativity is just connecting the dots
in a way that they’ve not been connected before. Taking other ideas
and pulling them into your own world and adding to them, I definitely
think that’s a creative way of looking at things.” Abbigail
“Acknowledging that you are a creative person doesn’t necessarily mean
that you need to live up to that standard that everybody else has for
you.” Ashley
“The source of all creativity is the inspiration that’s led us to this
point.” Abbigail
Join us for this episode of Chasing Creative as we talk with creative community builder Kayla Hollatz! Kayla is a PR and social media professional by day and a creative coach, community builder, short-form poet, and host of the Twitter chat #createlounge by night. Listen in as we talk about investing in your audience to build an authentic community, finding the courage to launch your creative projects, and fighting off online overconsumption.
Here’s where to find Kayla Website: www.kaylahollatz.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kayla_hollatz
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaylahollatz/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/kaylahollatz/
Periscope: https://www.periscope.tv/kayla_hollatz
Grab Kayla’s poetry collection, Brave Little Bones!
Don’t forget to stop in at #CreateLounge on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. CT!
Here’s where to find Ashley Website: www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Quotes
“Remember how important it is to keep chasing that creative work,
because we need it.” Kayla
“The people I’m investing in are going to come along with me because I
care about them.” Kayla
“The only way that you’re going to build loyalty is by building trust,
and the only way that you’re going to build trust is by giving value.
That value is going to show that you’re really keeping your community
in mind and you’re creating content for them.” Kayla
“Everybody has something that they can bring to the table that no one
else can. Nobody else is going to be able to do exactly what you do
and bring your perspective and experience to your creative work.”
Kayla
On silencing that critical voice that says you have nothing to offer:
“The best way to silence that is by not only creating what you do but
launching that creative work.”
“What you do and what you launch is going to inspire other people.”
Kayla
On passion projects: “Just get started on it, fall in love with it,
and launch it.” Kayla
“There’s room to have passion projects that you hold dear to you that
nobody else necessarily has to see, but it can still have value to
you, and that makes it still valuable of your time and effort.” Kayla
“Just because you’re not putting something out there for likes or
tweets or to sell doesn’t mean that it’s not worth going after in your
own time.” Ashley
“It’s just so important to keep going after what you’re passionate
about. Even if it’s something different from what you do
professionally, I really believe it will still help you professionally
because it’s going to flex those creative muscles and make sure you’re
always looking at things in a different way.” Kayla
“I think everything you do influences the other parts of your life. I
don’t think you can separate your creative self from your ‘real life’
self.” Abbigail
“Part of what we have to do as creative people is make time to honor
that little part of the self that wants to create, that wants to do
something just for the sake of doing something.” Abbigail
“It’s worth fighting the feeling that creative work isn’t worth your
time because what you’re doing is really worthwhile, even if you can’t
see it or measure it.” Ashley
“The numbers may feel good and make you feel warm and fuzzy for a
little bit, but what’s going to make you feel so, so fulfilled online
is having a group of people that are likeminded who are rallying
around you and who support just about everything you do.” Kayla
“When you’re investing your time in your people, they’re going to
invest back in you.” Kayla
“As much as we can talk about connection, there’s also the sad reality
that we all do, in some way shape or form, have to make
money---hopefully doing what we love. Having a community that’s set up
to respond well to your product is going to have those people become
not only loyal community members but also loyal community members that
convert when you do offer new products or launch something new.”
Abbigail
“Give yourself the excuse to play around, have some conversations, and
see where you enjoy being and where your audience enjoys being. That’s
when you can start to make those one-on-one connections and have them
go from just an audience member to a community member.” Kayla
“I think when overconsumption happens, that’s our cue to shift
ourselves from consuming a lot of content to creating more content.”
Kayla
“You can’t invest well into your community if you’re not investing in
yourself as well.” Kayla
“Anytime we start to second-guess something, we want to take some time
to make sure we’re moving in the right direction.” Kayla
“None of us can be at 110% at all times. It can feel like everyone
else online has it all figured out, but none of us really do. We’re
all just trying to do the best we can with the energy we have.” Kayla
“Make awesome things.” Kayla
“As long as we make sure that we’re always making room for creativity,
that’s going to make room for everything else that we hold really dear
to us.” Kayla
“Writing short-form can help anyone who wants to improve their
long-form writing.” Ashley
Mini Book Club The Anatomy of Being by Shinji Moon
Spoken word poetry by Sierra DeMulder: http://www.sierrademulder.com/
Reading Novalis in Montana by Melissa Kwasny
Online poet John Blase: www.thebeautifuldue.com
Summary For our first interview on Chasing Creative, we chatted with Kenzie Swanson from Hello Neverland. Kenzie is a writer, a photographer, an Etsy shop maker, and a mom to an 18-month-old. In the episode we chat about how her blogging strategy has changed over the last several years and how she’s tried out different creative outlets in a very public space. She gets real about going back to work after having her daughter - and then deciding that it wasn’t working and making the change to stay home. We chat about her love for journaling, how she manages her time, and what she’s been reading lately. Oh---and young, creative yuppies.
Where to find Kenzie Her blog used to be Chasing Happy. Now it’s Hello Neverland.
Her Etsy shop rocks.
You can also find Kenzie on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Or, if you are in the Lincoln, Nebraska area, you can hire her as a photographer (she’s awesome!).
Where to find Ashley Website: www.brookseditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Where to find Abbigail Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Articles mentioned in this episode Two articles on hipsters/yuppies/yuccies:
http://mashable.com/2015/06/09/post-hipster-yuccie/#rv.XtYj7fOqE
http://www.complex.com/style/2015/06/yuccie-explanation
Mini book club The Homemade Kitchen: Recipes for Cooking with Pleasure by Alana Chernila
An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler
Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table by Shauna Niequist
Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them by J.K. Rowling
Quotes from the Episode
“Having a blog that you update regularly is a great way to push
yourself.” --- Kenzie
"When you pick a niche topic, you are naturally going to be challenged to find different ways to write about that
thing.” --- Kenzie
“In every creative endeavor, you are going to have ebbs and flows, and
it goes in a cycle for everybody.” --- Kenzie
“The ebbs and flows don’t make you a bad or good journaler, just that
journaling is always there for you when you need it.” --- Abbigail
“We don’t have to go to all these extra lengths to make the perfect
photo album or perfect journal.” --- Ashley
“When it comes to art or business or anything, you have to experiment
and see what works and think on your feet and let it change and let it
evolve.” --- Kenzie
“So often when we get old, we get stuck in deadlines and routines and
schedules and we let go of creativity. We are wired to be creative.” ---
Kenzie
“You can’t see everything that is in front of you, but you can see
what you need to do next.” --- Kenzie
“If it is not right, let go of it.” --- Kenzie
“We get so caught up in not failing that we’re not willing to take the
risk to make something better for ourselves.” --- Abbigail
“What’s creative for me is going to be different than what’s creative
for someone else.” --- Kenzie
“Give yourself the freedom to experiment with creative processes.” ---
Ashley
“Nobody cares what you’re doing as much as you think they do.” ---
Ashley
“Time limits are a huge blessing in disguise.” --- Kenzie
On being a work-at-home mom: “I get more done in a two-hour nap window than I do
when I have a full day.” --- Ashley
“You have to take the time to invest in yourself, too. You have to
sometimes choose yourself.” --- Kenzie
“Schedule breaks before you need them.” --- Kenzie
“If you are an ambitious young woman in today’s world, you are a
little worried that you are going to be left behind if you take time
off.” --- Abbigail
“We think that there is this one thing we are meant to do with our
lives. There is something we are meant to do in each season of our
life. It’s going to change every time we enter a new season and we are
meant to do something else. Don’t be so afraid to miss that one thing.
If we are meant to do it, we can do it at any point.” --- Kenzie
“We expect genius to come so early in life. You keep living until you
are done living.” --- Abbigail
“Keep your eyes on your own paper. Look at far you’ve come.” --- Kenzie
Welcome to the first episode of the Chasing Creative podcast! In this short intro episode we’re giving you the rundown on what Chasing Creative is all about. We’re sharing where we’re at in our own lives, including our constant struggle against creative burnout. We chat about not having enough energy for creative projects at the end of the day, the ways we (kind of) prioritize our creativity, why we have a love/hate relationship with Twitter, and what you can expect from the Chasing Creative podcast going forward.
Here’s where to find Ashley: Website: www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail: Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Mini Book Club Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne Valente
Quotes from the Episode
“You can spend your time creating things, or you can spend your time
marketing things.” -- Abbigail
“I had this realization that all the podcasts I listen to have all
these famous people they interview. And they have really great
insights to share, but they don’t have action steps that someone like
me---a regular person with a toddler---can take right now.” --- Ashley
“It’s a difficult balance between ‘We make money and we’re surviving’
and ‘But we also want to be creative.’” --- Ashley
“Nobody in school told us how to get up every day and continue to be
creative.” --- Abbigail
“Our society tells us that creativity is a nonessential. It’s a hobby
you squeeze in when you have time or at the end of the day or maybe
when you’re retired. The message of Essentialism tells creatives that
if creativity is something that’s important to you, you need to make
it an essential thing in your life. Make it a priority.” --- Ashley
“We’re following through on an idea. This is good for us!” --- Ashley
