Honing In

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Bee Scolnick.Rebecca "Bee" Scolnick (she/her) is a writer, witch, and weirdo, who wants to help make meaning out of mess. Her books The Witch’s Book of Numbers: Enhance Your Magic With Numerology and Marriage by the Numbers: Planning Your Wedding Using Numerology are out now, and she pens swimming in the soup on Substack. She is also one-third of Call Your Coven: Practical Advice for Nonsensical Times, a new podcast that blends numerology, astrology and the tarot into one monthly forecast. Bee lives in Los Angeles with the loves of her life: her wife and their pup. Follow her @beescolnick on Instagram and Bluesky.Here are some of the things Bee and I discuss:Navigating a career shift from production to self-employmentBee's lifelong journey and study of numerologyApproaching writing as "idea first" or "container first"How to find your yearly cycle using numerologyGrounding yourself in a weekly practiceBee reads the numerology for my wedding!Resources & Links:Bee's websiteBee's Substack, swimming in the soupBee's books, The Witch’s Book of Numbers: Enhance Your Magic With Numerology & Marriage by the Numbers: Planning Your Wedding Using NumerologyBee's podcast, Call Your Coven: Practical Advice for Nonsensical TimesBook a tarot reading with Bee on MoonlightContact Bee directly for a numerology readingBee's Numerology for Witches lectureThe Rebis, Devil EditionThe Secret Language of Birthdays by Gary Goldschneider and Joost ElffersChristine DeLoreySUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS💻 Please join me and Dr. Katy Peplin for AcWriMo in November! Sign up here for a month of free resources to support for your writing practice.⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter🎃 Download the free 100 Pomodoros in October workbookBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Dr. Eric Darnell Pritchard.Dr. Eric Darnell Pritchard (they/them) is an award-winning writer, cultural critic, and Brown Chair in English Literacy and Associate Professor of English at the University of Arkansas. They are also on the faculty of the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College. They earned their BA in English-Liberal Arts (magna cum laude) from Lincoln University, the nation’s oldest historically Black college and university (HBCU). They also earned an MA in Afro-American Studies and a PhD in English (with distinction) from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.Dr. Pritchard’s research and teaching focuses on the intersections of race, queerness, sexuality, gender and class with historical and contemporary literacy, literary, and rhetorical practices, as well as fashion, beauty, and popular culture. Originally from Queens, NY, they are an award-winning writer, teacher, cultural critic, and self-described Black queer feminist alchemist. Their newest book, Clothes to Make You Smile: Patrick Kelly Designs His Dreams, will be published on January 13, 2026.Here are some of the things Eric and I discuss:Eric’s journey of studying Patrick Kelly and relaying his life with honesty and compassionHow studying an artist can help us re-see ourselves as artistsBiography as an intensive labor of love, an ancestral relationship, and an act of necromancyThe collaborative artistic partnership for Eric’s forthcoming picture book, Clothes to Make You SmileThe classroom as place to create the world we want to live inResources & Links:Eric’s websiteEric’s first book, Fashioning Lives: Black Queers and the Politics of LiteracyPre-order Eric’s forthcoming picture book in collaboration with illustrator Shannon Wright, Clothes to Make You Smile: Patrick Kelly Designs His DreamsEric’s chapter in The Oxford Handbook of African American Women’s WritingEric will be speaking on October 9th for the School Library Journal Day of DialogEric will be signing copies of their book at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Conference in Denver this NovemberThe Community Literacies Collaboratory and their magazine, The SandboxThe Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism by Audre LordeBig Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth GilbertHow to Not Always Be Working: A Toolkit for Creativity and Radical Self-Care by Cody Cook-ParrottElla Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision by Barbara RansbySUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS💻 Please join me and Dr. Katy Peplin for AcWriMo in November! Sign up here for a month of free resources to support for your writing practice.⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter🎃 Download the free 100 Pomodoros in October workbookBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Let’s talk about the power of theme words!It’s my 39th birthday! This solo episode is about the reflection and intention-setting practices I engage with every September. I explore theme words that have guided me, the interplay of my yearly tarot card, and the practices I want to focus on during Quarter 4. Curious about choosing your own theme word for the next year, month, project, week, or day? I close out today’s episode with tangible tools for finding and committing to your own.Here are some of the things I cover:How theme words and metaphors can simplify decision makingMy journey to selecting a theme word for 39, “Again”Tarot as a tool for reflection and choosing guiding themesFour practices I want to focus on this yearPractical steps for finding your own theme wordResources & Links:My The Tending Year blogBrooke McAlary’s 1% ExperimentThe Devil Tarot CardLearn more about reflection and selecting a theme word in my free New Year Reflection and Planning WorkbookSUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity PlannerBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Michelle Pellizzon, a writer and intuitive business advisor, shares her journey of blending mysticism with creativity. She discusses the joy of embracing new skills without the pressure of perfection. Michelle highlights the unique community she curates at North Node, emphasizing intimacy and participation. The conversation also delves into her insights on agency in personal growth and the Feldenkrais Method’s role in self-awareness. Expect a mix of inspiration for both creative ventures and holistic living!

Today's episode with Emilia Richeson-Valiente, Creator and Director of Pony Sweat Aerobics, is such a blast. You can tell from our giggles how much we enjoyed our conversation, and as a long time fan of Pony Sweat, I was thrilled to learn more from Emilia.Emilia Richeson-Valiente (she/her) is a performer, writer, teacher, business-owner, and the creator of punk-feminist aerobics practice, Pony Sweat. She has cultivated a loyal following through her “fiercely noncompetitive” dance aerobics format, which celebrates anti-perfectionism, self-expression, and the liberation of all bodies. Alongside her Pony Sweat work, Emilia writes about music and somatic practices and is published in Dopamine Press's 2025 WITCH Anthology, and she currently performs with her dance troupé Haaagz. From 2017-2021 Emilia performed with the band Object As Subject. She has choreographed music videos for Alice Bag, Hayley Williams, Wallows, and Scrunchies, and has performed her work at Weirdo Night(s), SORORITY, and many many punk shows. She holds a BFA from Emerson College in Boston, and is an AFAA certified aerobics instructor. Originally from WI and VT, she moved to LA in 2006 to pursue her dream of becoming Weetzie Bat. She lives in the San Gabriel Valley with her wife and pup.Tune in to learn more about:Pony Sweat’s origins, evolution, and amazing core valuesEmilia's creative practice of making mixed tapes and dance movesHow building one project can beget other projectsHonoring our past selves through musicThe important of creating and protecting a queer-centered spaceHoning in on loosening your gripRESOURCES & LINKSWITCH AnthologyObject as SubjectPony Sweat’s core valuesPony Sweat’s newsletterAcross Time + Space online video subscription (Includes Exercising and Listening to Records)Pony Sweat’s InstagramPony Sweat’s YouTube ChannelSUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity PlannerBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

I’m excited to introduce you to Gabrielle Ione Hickmon and invite you into our conversation about art, research, home, history, and how Gabrielle blends them in her creative practices. Gabrielle Ione Hickmon is a Black woman from a middle place—Ypsilanti, MI. A visual artist and History PhD student at the University of Michigan, Gabrielle's practice is concerned with African American and Indigenous histories, presents, and futures in the Great Lakes Region. As a breast cancer survivor, Gabrielle’s practice also engages illness, disability, and health toward an attempt at clarifying her experience to herself and exploring cancer's intersections with history and culture. She is concerned with breast cancer, its aftermaths, and its impacts—especially on Black women. Her writing has appeared in Vox, Condé Nast Traveler, The Baffler, The Pudding, and Literary Hub. She has exhibited ceramic work domestically and internationally. Her ceramics are in the private collection of the North Carolina Historic Sites Division and the Modern Ancient Brown Foundation. Gabrielle has been an artist-in-residence at Pocoapoco, Mas Palou, Mudhouse, John Bauer Ceramics, the Visual Art Center of Richmond, and the Modern Ancient Brown Foundation. She lives, works, and studies in her hometown, Ypsilanti, MI.Tune in to learn more about:Differentiating projects, practices, and offeringsIntegrating place and family history into an art practice and scholarshipCalling attention to young Black women’s experiences with breast cancerWorking with different materials and techniques as a visual artistGabrielle’s rituals and routines in her ceramics studio (this was such a delight to hear!)RESOURCES & LINKSGabrielle’s website and newsletterGabrielle’s offerings, including Applications for ArtistsWORKING PROCESS podcastThe Cancer Journals by Audre LordeThe Cancer QuiltsImerman’s AngelsWorthwhile Paper Inquire Within deckNala Sinephro (Gabrielle’s reading music)Sisters of the Yam by bell hooksWhen Things Fall Apart by Pema ChödrönSUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity PlannerBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

*Note: I republished this episode on July 24 to correct an error where I accidentally re-published a solo episode twice. Whoops! All should be good now. Enjoy this convo with Sadie!* Today's episode is a fun exploration of creative processes with Sadie Dupuis, the guitarist, songwriter & singer of rock band Speedy Ortiz, as well as the producer & multi-instrumentalist behind pop project Sad13. Sadie also heads the record label and journal Wax Nine, and is a founding organizer of United Musicians & Allied Workers and its local UMAW Philly.Tune in to learn more about: How a personal process can fuel collaboration with other artistsSadie's process for building collections of poetry and albumsThe importance of harm reduction in nightlifeHow to best support musicians as a consumerRESOURCES & LINKSSadie's websiteSadie's writingPoetry is Not a Project by Dorothea LaskeySixteenth Minute (of Fame) PodcastMy Year in Mensa PodcastCouplets by Maggie Millner“How the Music Community is Fighting the Drug Overdose Epidemic” (Pitchfork article)Be The PlaceUnited Musicians and Allied WorkersLiving Wage for Musicians ActRun the Song by Ben RatliffCalling All CrowsSUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity PlannerBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

This episode is all about self-efficacy, or our belief that we’re capable of completing our tasks and achieving our goals. ✅ ✅ ✅ I dive deep into four key psychological concepts of self-efficacy and talk through how each of them has shown up (or not!) in my past and current projects. Tune in to learn more about: Navigating cognitive biases that skew our self-efficacyManaging the emotional ups and downs of a projectThe ways self-efficacy affected my creative, academic, an personal projectsHow accountability helps me to keep up with my projectsRESOURCES & LINKSKate's newsletter, Believing You Can Do It: self efficacy and thought patternsThe Tending Year blogAmelia HrubyLandscapes co-writing group with Cody Cook-ParrottSUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry 💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity PlannerBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Today's episode is an exploration of research, art, and the ways they come together to engage and educate audiences. It was my pleasure to chat with Camila Galaz, a multimedia artist, editor, and creative consultant. Here are some of the things we get into:How to do studio-based research (this was new to Kate!)The layering work that goes into multidisciplinary projectsThe intersection of artistic practice, research, and public scholarshipPrioritizing an audience’s access point to your creative projectCamila’s exciting new consulting and advising venture, Structured KnowledgeResources & Links:Structured KnowledgeCamila's website (check out her art and writing)Our Friend the Computer podcastIf you’d like to learn more about my work, check out my website and download my free Sustainable Productivity Planner.Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

If you struggle with building new habits or find it challenging to complete your personal goals, today’s episode is going to be a breath of fresh air! I’m thrilled to chat with neuroscientist and entrepreneur Anne-Laure Le Cunff about her new book Tiny Experiments.I love how Le Cunff makes scientific frameworks accessible for non-neuroscientists like me, and I found her book to be inspiring and refreshing in a sea of books that ask readers to hyper-optimize ourselves. Le Cunff's approach to experiments rooted in curiosity, discovery, and self-compassion—which we need more of when it comes to productivity!  Here are some of the things we get into:When to choose an experimental mindset over traditional goal settingThe difference between projects and experimentsViewing “failure” as helpful data (instead of judging ourselves)How curiosity is necessary for experimentingLearning in public (one of my favorite chapters in the book!)Resources & Links:Ness Labs newsletterOrder Tiny Experiments hereIf you’d like to learn more about my work, check out my website and download my free Sustainable Productivity Planner.Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.