Trisha Traughber
Write a book that will set you apart: María ...

If you’re a creative, teacher, trainer, or coach, should you write a book? 

And if you do want to write a book, have you asked yourself why?

I’ve worked with many online writers who decided to write books--and when they start asking me their questions, I often respond with a question too. 

“Why do you want to write a book?” 

There is no right answer to that question--only your answer.

And, yes, you’re allowed to have many reasons for wanting to write a book—from being passionate about the subject, to wanting to share something with the world, to ‘just having a book in you.’

Today, I’m really excited to share an interview with María Ortega Garcia on the many reasons she wrote her book.

Write a book that will set you apart: María Ortega Garcia
Trisha Traughber
What keeps you inspired in uncertain times?

Sometimes, when the world seems like too much, I pull a heavy, fuzzy blanket over myself and disappear into a novel. This month, as the world spins, and wobbles, I’ve been reading The Paris Network--our creative community’s book of the month. I invite you to pick up this story (or another great book) and see what happens when you forget your surroundings, your time for a minute…

Suddenly you’re in France, World War II, the occupation. You pop into a bookshop. The owner writes “poetry prescriptions” to keep the townsfolk strong, runs a resistance book club with banned books. Poetry falls from the sky in airdrops. And it’s all based on true events: the banned books, the resistance publishers, the literature and poetry woven into the novel, like “Liberté” by Paul Eluard.

Under the story, there’s a truth that will, no doubt, resonate with you:

Sometimes, literature (or art) is more important than food.

What keeps you inspired in uncertain times?
Trisha Traughber
Writer profiles: Sofia Polykreti: Cultivating ...

Are you someone who works with words? Maybe you teach or translate, write copy in one or more languages?

Are deadlines something you’re familiar with? Do they add a certain rhythm to your days?

If so, you know that time to create, to express yourself, to work on your own projects is an issue.

And you’re probably intimately familiar with that feeling of working all day on a big writing, translating or teaching project…and the challenges that come with transitioning into your creative self at the end of a long day. Even if you love your work.

If that sounds like you. I think you’re going to really enjoy reading this interview with Sofia Polykreti. Sofia is an active and inspiring member of our Tip of the Iceberg Writing Community. She brightens our book chats with her insights, brings her energy to writing workshops and shares her unique work in our forum.

Writer profiles: Sofia Polykreti: Cultivating time to create.
Trisha Traughber
Reconnect to your body--and your creativity.

When is the last time you stopped to think about your body?
As a writer, a creative…a human.

At our Vagabond Voices Creative Community, our inspiration revolves around creative seasons. And…there’s a ‘season’ that is just about the body—remembering you have one and reconnecting to it.

So, whether the season is one where it feels like winter is melting all around you, or summer is going to sleep--whatever side of the globe you’re on, join me today for a celebration of your body. It’s healing, it’s good for your creativity (and good for your writing).

This year, as we enter the creative season of ‘the body’ I’ve got a blog post for you with ideas for tapping into your body for healing and creativity.

And I’ll have a few words of wisdom from a fantastic book I finally finished reading: The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, brain, and body in the transformation of trauma. by Bessel Van Der Kolk.

How is a book on healing trauma relevant to our writing and creativity?

Here is what I know:

So many of our artforms, our modes of creative expression actually help us heal.

They are a part of what helps us survive as individuals and cultures.
Even when the unthinkable happens. Or when it’s all around us.
They make us strong. They make us whole.
They bring us together--and they are our human tradition.

Celebrate these with me--whether you’ve experienced trauma or not.
Help keep these creative acts alive and share them with others.

For all of us.

Here are a few ways…

Reconnect to your body--and your creativity.
Trisha Traughber
When there are no words: peace, creativity + ...

Have you been sleepless lately?
Me too.
There was a night last week when I woke up at 3 AM, and could not accept—anything.

It’s the kind of thing that will leave you asking the ceiling overhead, the rafters, the roof creaking in the wind, the sky:

Is it worth being angry at the world?
Does it help anything?
Does it put bread on the table?
Stop madmen in their tracks?

So many questions and one thing I know for sure:
This is what the first creative step looks like sometimes…

When there are no words: peace, creativity + doodle prompts.

Writing Community

What keeps you inspired in uncertain times?

What keeps you inspired in uncertain times?

Sometimes, when the world seems like too much, I pull a heavy, fuzzy blanket over myself and disappear into a novel. This month, as the world spins, and wobbles, I’ve been reading The Paris Network--our creative community’s book of the month. I invite you to pick up this story (or another great book) and see what happens when you forget your surroundings, your time for a minute…

Suddenly you’re in France, World War II, the occupation. You pop into a bookshop. The owner writes “poetry prescriptions” to keep the townsfolk strong, runs a resistance book club with banned books. Poetry falls from the sky in airdrops. And it’s all based on true events: the banned books, the resistance publishers, the literature and poetry woven into the novel, like “Liberté” by Paul Eluard.

Under the story, there’s a truth that will, no doubt, resonate with you:

Sometimes, literature (or art) is more important than food.

Book Club Picks for Readers, Writers and Vagabonds: Summer and Fall 2022

Book Club Picks for Readers, Writers and Vagabonds: Summer and Fall 2022

What does reading look like at your End of the world?

Are you by a Loch on a seemingly unending day?


Maybe it’s autum,
and you’re reading your book in your cozy socks with your little one sleeping under a knitted blanket?

Do you slip your book in your bike bag when you go for a ride?
Or pack it in your luggage as you set out to see the world?

Even if we’re all reading in our own unique ways.
We’re all here together.

And we remembered to do what really matters:


Pick up a great book.

Because each time you read you…

How you can stay creative even with commitments: A writer profile with Ellen Bratsche

How you can stay creative even with commitments: A writer profile with Ellen Bratsche

“What keeps you writing?” is a series of interviews where I ask writers from our Vagabond community what keeps you writing and creating. Even when, well, life unfolds all around you.

This week, I’m very excited to share a bit of wisdom from a writer and illustrator, Ellen Bratsche. Ellen has celebrated a major creative victory this year--the birth of her daughter! I’m amazed by the way she keeps creating with a newborn (sometimes literally) in her arms. I also really enjoy having Ellen in our creative community because she always reminds me that it is possible to tell a story with pictures, doodles and illustrations...or that when the words won’t come, you can start with a drawing first.


You can find Ellen’s illustrated flash fiction, Birds of the Water at the Vagabond Voices publication on Medium. And you should definitely check out her beautiful children’s book, Das kleine Buch der wilden Tiere which allows children to flip the pages and create fantastic animals using Ellen’s illustrations. Well you kind of have to see it for yourself…

Let’s hear from Ellen about how she keeps writing and stays creative. And no, it’s not by waking up at 5AM to write in the dark...quite the contrary…

Our book list for the rest of 2021...and beyond.

Our book list for the rest of 2021...and beyond.

I just need to start reading again.

Someone in my community said that to me recently.

And I knew exactly what she meant.

For some of us, it’s a little like saying we need to start breathing again. Or living again.

It never ceases to amaze me: the way the tiny habits stack up and make us who we are. In life and as writers too.

With every new book list we select and vote on in the Tip of the Iceberg Writing Community, I like to take a moment and remind myself that reading soothes your soul, calms you down, brings you resilience, strength, and community in hard times--and empathy too.

I think we become better people with each book we read.

And for those of us passionate about it--better writers too.

Reading for Resilience: Why Good Books Get Us Through...

Reading for Resilience: Why Good Books Get Us Through...

It’s funny, the things I know for certain? They never cease to surprise me anyway. Like reading novels and discussing them with people you trust...and who inspire you.

Earlier this week, I showed up to our writing chats, curled in layers of wool against the cold and armed with tea. It was like a small break from, well, everything else.

We met to talk about Mr. Pip. A beautiful book set during the civil war on Bouganville off the coast of Papua New Guinea. A book that sweeps you up with beauty and resilience in the face of catastrophe.

And that got us all talking about the way stories get us through.

In Mr. Pip, one of the main (and mysterious!) characters, Mr. Watts, reads Dicken’s Great Expectations to the school children as all the teachers have left the island. Ultimately, he draws the entire village into the story, to create something new a new tale that deviates perhaps from Great Expectations...possibly from the whole and exact truth of his own life.

“Do we forgive Mr. Pip for not being entirely honest?” I wanted to know in our book chats?

Do we forgive the author for telling us the story that we need to hear? For handing down the story that makes us strong rather than ‘just the facts?’