Been a minute hasn’t it? I have needed and been renewed by the break but it’s also given me clarity.
The pod is going on hiatus and while you won’t be able to listen to me weekly for a bit I do hope you will stick with me on other journeys. I’m working on Tell Me Why You Love It the next pod to come, and hope you will keep telling me things YOU love. While I wasn’t planning episodes I had enough brain space to envision the creative cohort I wish existed. I want to help you realize your creative dreams. In the words of Rick Rubin, “Put your blinders on and focus on creating something you love.
In a November 2022 newsletter
shared:Last month I attended a writers’ conference where I took a class from Melissa Febos, and I keep thinking about something she told us one morning, which I will now attempt to roughly paraphrase. She said that because writing is vital to her, she has worked to intentionally shape her life so that there is very little in it that isn’t related to writing. She writes essays and books; she teaches writing; and she is married to a fellow writer, the poet Donika Kelly. In this way, she maintains a sort of immersion, so that her days rarely ask her to leave the headspace of ideas and words.I’d never thought about it that way, but I think I’ve wanted that life for a long time.
I’ve thought about this since Molly shared it because I too want that. I don’t want to keep being split between worlds. Of course I go hard for Melissa Febos. I am owning my particular Febos bias and blinders, I also adore Molly and how she goes about a self defined life. However it struck me so often where I have gone wrong is keeping what I want outside of my reach versus within my grasp for no other reason than I just thought it had to be. I feel closer to the life I want to be in all the time versus seeing glimpses of possibility. I don’t know that I want to write full time but I feel clearer on the life I need to build in order to maintain the immersion I desire.
I guess if I want to feel whole I have to quit splitting myself into pieces. Who would have known? I hope you will grant me the grace to change.
xx. A
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