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.
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.
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.
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…
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…
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…
Do you ever get going so fast that you realize…you’ve lost yourself?
Misplaced a bit of who you are the way you’d misplace your car keys, or that darned paper you were meant to fill out for your children who may or may not attend their next activity or school depending on a chaotic branching pattern of possibilities.
Also possibly on your busy and tangled mind…
What country should you be living in? Should you return home…or a place that feels more like home than home?
Family near…and far that you haven’t seen in a while--or who is harder to see than before.
Your career—which is is shifting underfoot--and you’re wondering what you even want it to look like these days…
Changes within the culture(s) you know—it’s all looking just a bit different now. And you’ve always had your foot in more than one culture to begin with.
And in all this, life goes on!
Only now you’ve forgotten yourself like you forgot that appointment…
Where did you go? What were you doing just now--and why?
You could have sworn you put that important part of you someplace for safekeeping--so you would be able to find it!
2022 has come in so fast…and here we are talking about the new normal.
I want to make the gentle suggestion that we make this new normal work for us too.
And so my invitation--to you, to myself and all the creatives, multilingual, and dreamers around here is this:
Make time in your day-to-day to ‘stop time’ and remember who you are. Why you do things. Why it all matters—read a book, write about your life…
Have you ever felt stuck, silenced? At a loss for words?
Or maybe you’re like me these days and when you actually do have the time to write--you’re not ready yet. You know, when it feels like you can’t quite transition from the tsunami of information and decisions that is our everyday existence these days. When you can’t create…yet.
It feels scary. But the solution is actually pretty simple. Ask yourself:
What if the time you spend away from your desk was as important to your writing, your creativity, and your language learning?
What if you just needed to take a walk to find your creativity and focus again?
“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…
I’m always inspired when someone writes anyway. When a writer keeps going through hard times, writes to find meaning, scribbles in a notebook...or publishes a book.
In spite of it all.
And today I’d like us all to celebrate a milestone for someone whose writing I’ve been reading for a long time: Elena Mutonono.
I’m really excited to help her celebrate her latest book:
Grounded Growth: Sustainable and Profitable Online Teaching Business On Your Own Terms.
For those of us who are language teachers and coaches, you’ll recognize Elena. And for those of us who are writers, well let me introduce you:
Do you use writing to make sense of the world--or yourself?
Or maybe to escape for a while?
If you’re one of those people who make sense of the world through writing--and who loves to connect with others through writing and writing communities, the question of how you keep going becomes something, well, essential.
Today’s blog post is a special one for me--and I think it will be for you. I interviewed Linda Alley and I think Linda’s answers will get us all reflecting on how we keep going. How we keep making sense of the world and ourselves through the act of putting a pen to paper.
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.
It’s this simple: if you want to flourish as a writer, you need to flourish as a human being.
And, as writers, we really are lucky.
There are so many writing practices that are good for your writing--that can also help you thrive.
The reverse is also true:
Showing up at the page to write for self-care can have a real impact on the quality of your writing over time. Especially if you’re aware of that possibility.
One day, a couple of weeks ago I woke up in the morning and I felt it. My coffee didn’t quite pick me up the way it usually does. Even scribbling in my journal didn’t seem so fun. No nuggets of inspiration...no runaway curiosity fueling the ink.
For a long time, I’ve had the feeling that in some ways, the pandemic hadn't caught up with me...yet. It had occurred to me that it was odd to be cruising ahead at creative full speed. In spite of everything...
This month, I’m happy to share the writing, experience, and work of an author whose writing always touches me, Gosia Rokicka. She is a member of the Tip of the Iceberg creative community and you can find her beautiful story, “The Fern Flower,” in The Tip of the Iceberg Anthology
