Emerging Form

This is the first of a new mini-series in which we explore this weird new reality we’re living in by interviewing a variety of creative makers about how they’re channeling their creativity to cope with the new coronavirus. In this episode, we talk to Laura Joyce Davis, a writer from Oakland, California, host and creator of a new daily podcast, “Shelter in Place: finding daily sanity in a world that feels increasingly insane.” We talk about the challenges of balancing parenting and work; how sheltering in place can change family dynamics; about disappointments and silver linings; about how a daily practice has offered her surprising freedom, trust and a different relationship with daily life; and about how a bike ride the day before Shelter in Place changed her life. Shelter in Place Podcast home page and on iTunesLaura Joyce Davis This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to our extended conversation with Rose Eveleth, the founder and host of Flash Forward, a podcast about the future. In this bonus episode, we talk with Rose about clarity: how she uses it to guide a project through growing pains. We’ll talk about her process for making monthly goals (so much more useful than a single New Year’s resolution!), how she organizes her goals, about her new book, pros and cons of inviting collaborators in, how ego and fear can sabotage a project, how she loves her lawyer, and about the stages of small business growth. Flash Forward, a podcast about the future.Flash Forward’s Patreon pageChristie’s story, Your Inability to Do Pullups Is All in Your Head Rosemerry’s poem about pullupsThe Five Stages of Small Business Growth This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

In this five-minute bonus, Rosemerry reads four poems responding to the coronavirus pandemic: A Change in the LightThe Afternoon the World Health Organization Declares a PandemicStaying HomeTucking in My Daughter in the Time of Corona VirusRosemerry’s Daily Poem Blog, A Hundred Falling Veils This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

At some point, most creatives experience growing pains--when your project is going well and now you have decisions to make about whether to grow it, to bring in collaborators, or to expand your reach. We’ll also talk about avalanches of opportunity and money grubbing poets. Our guest this episode is the inimitable Rose Eveleth. She is the producer and host of Flash Forward, a podcast about the future. We’ll ask her two questions: 1) When do you know your project has grown beyond something you can do alone and you need to bring in collaborators? and 2) When the creative project you’re doing is bringing you new opportunities, how do you decide which ones to take and what direction you want to head?Christie’s Book, Good to Go, finalist for the Colorado Book Award! Christie’s Courage CampsRose Eveleth (photo credit: Eler de Grey)Flash Forward, a podcast about the future.A Change in the LightNow while the moonis hiding behind the cloudsnow when the rainis falling midwinter,and now that they’ve told usnot to hug or kiss each otherfor fear of contractingand spreading disease,yes now is the time to findwhatever light we havebeen hiding inside us—whatever measure of brilliancewe’ve managed to concealfrom each other, from ourselves—now is the time to bring forththat luminescence and offer itfreely to the world, nowwhen light matters most. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

In this bonus episode we talk with psychologist and author Scott Barry Kaufman about the imagination network--the default chatter in your brain--and how valuable it is. We also talk about paradox, and the tug between a longing for external validation and the need to look inward for creative growth. We talk about openness to experience as a key driver for creativity, and how a rut can sometimes serve the greater creative process.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Are you living up to your creative potential? Or are you stuck in a rut? Could it be that the rut is serving you? These are some of the questions we wrestle with in this episode of Emerging Form. We talk about Christie’s sweet spot between struggle and boredom, how fencing (or another new activity) might supercharge your creative process, and LOTS of tips on how to get out of a rut. We finish, as always with a guest. This episode features Scott Barry Kaufman, a psychologist at Columbia University and author of the new book, Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization. We ask him these two questions:* What does self-actualization look like for a creative person?* What’s the path to self-actualization in one’s creative life?Episode NotesChristie’s review of Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America’s Stolen Land by Noé ÁlvarezChristie’s review of Wired to Create by Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn GregoireKaufman’s NPR interview on Why So Many Gifted Yet Struggling Students are Hiding in Plain SightKaufman’s The Psychology Podcast Take a Self-Actualization TestThe figure skating routine to lift you out of a rutEn Garde--Rosemerry Wahtola TrommerKeep distance, the fencing teacher says,and by this he means, stay close enoughto your opponent that you could, at any time,extend, lunge and attack with your point.All my life, I’ve tried not to keep distance.All my life, I’ve done my best to avoidthe attack—from either side. And now,with my silver lamé and my one white gloveand my face safe behind metal mesh, I digto find the part of me who craves engagement,who seeks a bout, who wants to threatenmy target and exploit their vulnerability.Keep distance, he says, and I understandthat this is how I show up for the game.This is how I meet not only the opponent,but, perhaps for the first time, myself. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

In this bonus episode, we continue our conversation with USA Today best-selling author Sarina Bowen, who has written more than 30 contemporary novels and is cohost of the #amwriting podcast. She tells us the most important thing to remember when we think we are utterly stuck and shares with us tools from her “deep bag of tricks” for how to get unstuck.  We also talk about how genre writers are like chefs, and she shares stories about three collaborative writing projects and what they taught her. Sarina Bowen This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Like a lot of life plans over the past few weeks, this episode veered from our original schedule. We’d planned to discuss the joys and challenges of creating things with friends, but instead we found ourselves talking about these strange times. In this emergency episode of Emerging Form, we talk about how COVID-19 is changing what and how we write, and how it’s affecting all kinds of creative careers. Warning: we get a bit emotional at times. Topics include toilet paper hoarding, coronavirus anxiety, the importance of the arts, financial insecurity, online alternatives to in person events and how our lives are different now. We check in with our fabulous audio producer, Rob Dozier, and then we talk with our scheduled guest, Sarina Bowen, a USA Today best-selling author who has written more than 30 contemporary novels and is cohost of the #amwriting podcast. Read Rosemerry’s daily poemsFuture of Another Timeline by Annalee NewitzRob DozierSarina Bowen#amwriting podcastcoronavirus image by pixabayTonight I Pray for All the Doctors, the Nursesthe Healthcare WorkersAnd tonight I thinkof the seventeen Italian doctors,dead. And the hundredsof thousands of peoplewhose test results were positive.And all the doctors, nurses,health care workers—some right here in our town.I think of them eating breakfast,reading the same discouraging news,then kissing their loved ones,putting on their shoes,and walking out the door,though resolution’s as elusiveas last month’s peace—the peace we didn’teven know we had.         —Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

In this bonus episode, we talk with memoirist and essayist Claire Dederer about the role of ambition in a writer’s life. She also discusses the different ways she responds to rejection, and how it differs when it comes from a professional source versus from a reader. She also talks about the writer’s imperative to write about difficult subjects, why it’s important it is to have clarity and distance before sharing difficult personal stories, how domestic labor can affect a writer’s work life and how devoting time to her work has, at times, made her feel monstrous. Claire Dederer (photo courtesy Claire Dederer)Claire Dederer’s essay “What do we do with the Art of Monstrous Men?”Claire Dederer’s essay “Eclipsed: In our two-writer household, my husband's literary star shines all too brightly” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

“We’re sorry, your work does not suit our needs at this time.” These words are so common. Rejection is a difficult reality for most (all?) writers and artists. So how do we handle rejection? Can we use it to improve our work? What does it have to tell us and teach us? In this episode, we talk about a useful phrase in the face of rejection, Christie’s Southeast Asia Problem, and one of the poetry worlds’ best rejection letter writers. Then we’ll talk with memoirist and essayist Claire Dederer and ask her two questions: 1) How do you process rejection, especially when it’s a work that feels very personal? And 2) What have you learned from rejection? We’re interested in your feedback on these answers, too! Episode Notes:Halcyon Poetry PrizeChristie’s article on mammography in Mother JonesChristie’s report for the Pulitzer Center on Agent Orange in VietnamColorado’s New Poet Laureate Bobby LeFebreMost Rejected Books of All TimeClaire Dederer (photo courtesy Claire Dederer)Claire Dederer’s essay “What do we do with the Art of Monstrous Men?”Claire Dederer’s essay “Eclipsed: In our two-writer household, my husband's literary star shines all too brightly”**Tim Green’s Outstanding Rejection Letter Dear Rosemerry— Thanks for sharing this. The subject matter is perfect for the series, but we receive over 100 poems every week, and I can only pick one (or occasionally two). This week I ended up choosing something else—check our website tomorrow morning to read it. This decision is, of course, no reflection on the importance of the event you were writing about, or of your response. It's great to read poets reacting in a meaningful way to current events, and very difficult to choose just one. I'm sorry that I can't reply individually, though many poems make me want to—reading all these every Saturday morning is a lot of work! We do have a closed Facebook group, where you can safely share your poems with each other, if you'd like—just join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/poetsrespond/Anyway, don't hesitate to try again whenever you have another timely one—or to send general submissions any time. Best, Tim This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe