the Inspirited Word

This month on the pod, I’m going to be doing something that is sometimes considered obnoxiously gauche and self-obsessed—I’m going to tell you about a totally weird dream I had (two totally weird dreams, actually).These dreams fall into the category of what you might call “big dreams.” In Jungian psychology, a big dream is a basically one that feels transpersonal. It’s made up of images and symbols that are clearly archetypal. And it comes to us with a big message, something that can shift and shape our process of becoming ourselves.Join me as I share one of the creative secrets I learned from these big dreams: the difference between writing for an “audience” and writing for the “holy crowd.”_____If your writing life feels more like a doom spiral than a drafting process... join the newsletter circle to access the Creative Rescue Kit, a set of three easy-to-implement tools to help you reclaim your creative path.You’ll also receive monthly tips to put the pod into practice, delivered right to your inbox._____Episode links:Episode 9: Hearth and horizonweb link (no timestamp, skip to 1:27)AppleSpotifyOvercastEpisode 11: Telling the story that breathesweb link (no timestamp, skip to 2:24)AppleSpotifyOvercast

If you were around for last month’s episode, you may have caught this little line toward the end: “You want to practice your craft consistently as an ethic, not a metric.” And maybe you thought, “Okay, sure... but what does that actually mean, Mary?”(Or at least, that’s what I thought to myself after the fact.)So today, I’m exploring the difference between creative ethics and creative metrics, and how adopting a personal writing philosophy can fuel a sustainable, generative, and ever-evolving practice.Join me as I dig into an example philosophy called the Witches’ Pyramid, to uncover how it could help you meet specific writing goals – without letting those goals determine the way you relate to creative craft as part of your life._____If your writing life feels more like a doom spiral than a drafting process... join the newsletter circle to access the Creative Rescue Kit, a set of three easy-to-implement tools to help you reclaim your creative path.You’ll also receive monthly tips to put the pod into practice, delivered right to your inbox._____Episode links:Éliphas Lévi, creator of the Pyramid

This month on the pod, I’m going to be giving you a little creative pep talk about two things:Why your consistent creativity matters, even if you’re not publicly prolificA practical way to reach the level of consistency that feels right for your practiceAfter February’s episode on managing the overwhelm of productivity culture, I wanted to dig deeper into something specific that surfaced – the creative ideal of being prolific.How can you escape the productivity ethos but still commit to creating more meaningful work (both in the sense of making stuff that captures deep meaning, and also in the sense of making that kind of stuff more often)?I guess if last month was me talking shit about productivity, then this month is my follow-up on how to rehabilitate an aspect of it.Tune in for three steps to nurture a more consistent creative practice – without getting sucked into the productivity trap._____If your writing life feels more like a doom spiral than a drafting process... join the newsletter circle to access the Creative Rescue Kit, a set of three easy-to-implement tools to help you reclaim your creative path.You’ll also receive monthly tips to put the pod into practice, delivered right to your inbox._____Episode links:Rachael Stephen, How to NOT f ** k up your creativity for a decade (YouTube)Kening Zhu, botanical studies of internet magic podcast10. sharing your work as creative release17. transcendence of a productivity addictElizabeth Jarrett AndrewMarch 2025 newsletterThe Release

This month, something very strange happened. I found myself researching a biz-bro productivity hack for writers... and actually wanting to try it.How did this come to pass? In these manically trying times, it’s been feeling especially hard to avoid getting flooded with information and content – to actually integrate what I’m taking in, instead of being swept up. And ironically, this productivity system might be a way to do just that.So, does this mean my long-running, deep-seated distrust of creative productivity culture may be misguided? Am I going to pivot to being a prolific, write-and-post-every-day kind of writer? Meh, I still don’t think so.There’s nothing wrong with being prolific – but there’s nothing inherently good about it, either. Being prolific requires the courage to speak, but speaking well requires making space for deep and surprising thought. Sometimes it requires prioritizing slowness over productiveness.I think the line between expression and noise comes down to two concepts that sound similar, but are ultimately opposed: “next actions” and “next right things.” And it’s very easy to mistake one for the other.But when you get it right, you unlock the potential to reclaim what’s truly meaningful to you (no productivity system needed)._____If your writing life feels more like a doom spiral than a drafting process... join the newsletter circle to access the Creative Rescue Kit, a set of three easy-to-implement tools to help you reclaim your creative path.You’ll also receive monthly tips to put the pod into practice, delivered right to your inbox._____Episode links:Bob Doto“The Spirit of Productivity: Channeling Inspiration Into Doing What Matters Most”A System for WritingMain blog“Information Dysregulation: This New Term is Changing Everything,” Taylor Heaton (YouTube)“Do the Next Right Thing: Carl Jung on How to Live,” Maria Popova, The Marginalian“Slow productivity is a team sport: A critique of Cal Newport’s Slow Productivity,” Meredith Farkas, Information Wants to be Free

It's January! And regardless of how you feel about the whole “new year, new you” vibe, January is the ultimate case study of goal-setting in the wider cultural zeitgeist. Maybe you’ve tried the often-hyped approach of choosing a word to act as a mantra or touchstone to guide you over the course of the year.Tools like a word of the year can be powerful reminders of the ways you want to feel and act along the path toward your ideals – but only if they also help you stay curious about that path, and about your actual life, as it exists right now.This year, what if we all chose questions rather than words? A question is a reminder to keep going deeper, to explore how our ideals are emerging and evolving in the moment.And for storytellers, the art of asking good questions is maybe the most important gift, even more than the art of writing pretty words.Tune in for some support and solidarity to nurture your creative potential in the months ahead (regardless of how all those goals turn out)._____If your writing life feels more like a doom spiral than a drafting process... join the newsletter circle to access the Creative Rescue Kit, a set of three easy-to-implement tools to help you reclaim your creative path.You’ll also receive monthly tips to put the pod into practice, delivered right to your inbox._____Episode links:On Being podcast: “Foundations for Being Alive Now,” Krista TippettHannah Louise PostonEpisode 10, “Freedom with form (Or, story structure for optimists)”

I allude pretty clearly to my political leanings on the podcast, but I don’t generally structure entire episodes around specific political issues. And I do like for this to be a kind of quiet space where you can come to recollect your creative self, whatever’s going on in the world and in your life.But I decided it wouldn’t feel genuine to not talk about the fallout of the US election this month. Because it’s certainly affected my creative practice, and I’d imagine that may be true for you as well.I’ve realized that the practical aims of the election, and of politics as a whole, have had the effect of substituting a desired strategic outcome for what I actually desire in my life and in this world. Basically, I’ve lost touch with my longing.And the most immediate and vital way I can reconnect with my longing in the daily way I live is to live creatively – to let my creative sensibility feed and shape the way I interact with others, and the actions I take.Join me to explore a model of storytelling (from the mind of Ursula Le Guin) that’s been giving me hope and nurturing my creative longing... even when the strategic outlook isn’t so inspiring._____If your writing life feels more like a doom spiral than a drafting process... join the newsletter circle to access the Creative Rescue Kit, a set of three easy-to-implement tools to help you reclaim your creative path.You’ll also receive monthly tips to put the pod into practice, delivered right to your inbox._____Episode links:Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction”