Ed Cyzewski: A Creative’s Guide to Overcoming Digital Distraction

How does our current use of technology undermine our creativity? How can we clear space to better inhabit our creative nature? Today we talk with Ed Cyzewski about technology, creativity, and the importance of using technology intentionally, instead of letting technology use us.

Ed recently released a new book, Reconnect. You can find out more about Ed and his new book HERE.

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As always, there are a few ways to listen: click the play button in the image above, go to the webpage to hear this and all of our other episodes, or head on over to Apple podcasts or Spotify!

Those in our Patreon community receive bonus material and have the opportunity to join in conversations about writing and creativity. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider joining our Patreon community at the $5 / month level HERE.

Keep writing!

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One of the best ways to support the writers you love is to preorder their books. If you’d like to preorder my next novel, These Nameless Things (releases 6/30), you can find out more by heading HERE.

While the Protestors Marched, I Painted the Fence White

I heard the protestors
five days after medics
carried Big Floyd motionless
on a stretcher. I was painting
the fence white, the boards
that separate our back patio
from our neighbor’s. I had put up
the fence because their girls
would sneak into our chairs
and smoke cigarettes
when we were
not home.

At first I wondered why the
car horns had erupted, and then
I heard the distant rumble
of voices, strange in a blue-eyed
day with no storms in the
forecast. As they came closer
up Prince Street, I realized
the words they chanted:
i can’t breathe
i can’t breathe
i can’t breathe
I gently dipped the brush
in the white paint and methodically
coated the first board.

Five days after a police officer knelt
on Big Floyd’s neck for nine
minutes, I knelt beside an old fence
for much longer than that
and slid the roller in between the slats
making sure to coat it completely
in white. Not missing
a spot. And the protestors came
around again, filling me with a strange
sense of dread and
wonder. Anything seems possible
when the people are on
the move. My children shouted,
“They’re here! They’re here again!” and
stood on the front porch, watching
and clapping and waving. My nephew said,
“This is the coolest thing
I’ve ever seen in my whole life,” as I turned
and walked wearily back
and picked up my brush.

I should be walking with them, I thought.
But if I left my post at the fence,
the brushes would dry out, the white
paint would grow stale and crack
and the rollers would be lost. I did
not feel like making another
trip to the hardware store. Besides, it was
such a nice day for painting.

I know how to work, how
to paint, have been taught by the generation
before me how to make a clean edge,
how to always apply a second
coat, how to put down a drop
cloth to make sure everything remains
nice and tidy. But I was never
taught how to make a protest
sign or how to shout
until I was hoarse or how to walk
in the hot sun, the police
following quietly
behind, their boots solid
on the double-yellow lines,
their thumbs clasped in their body
armor, Covid-19 masks covering
their faces.

The voices dim in the late afternoon
and I am in the kitchen, cleaning out
my brushes. A paint brush used
to paint white boards is a funny
thing, though—no matter how
long I clean it, I can’t seem
to get all the white out. Eventually,
I stop trying, dry them and wrap them
and put them away. I go up
to my bedroom
and look down on empty James Street
and realize that this is the problem:

While the protestors marched,
I painted the fence white.

NEW EPISODE! Tsh Oxenreider: Creativity as Therapy

We have a lovely conversation with Tsh Oxenreider about the therapeutic benefits of creativity, the problem with writing to feel accomplished, and a better definition for self-care. We talk about what an annual writing schedule might look like, but also the difficulty in nailing down writing schedules in a busy household.

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As always, there are a few ways to listen: click the play button in the image above, go to the webpage to hear this and all of our other episodes, or head on over to Apple podcasts or Spotify!

Those in our Patreon community receive bonus material and have the opportunity to join in conversations about writing and creativity. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider joining our Patreon community at the $5 / month level HERE.

Keep writing!

* * * * *

One of the best ways to support the writers you love is to preorder their books. If you’d like to preorder my next novel, These Nameless Things (releases 6/30), you can find out more by heading HERE.

NEW EPISODE: Can You Call a Piece of Writing Art If It’s Never Read By Anyone?

We dig into some interesting questions today, questions that came to us as we read Walter Wangerin’s book, Beate Not the Poore Desk. Questions like,

“Can you call a piece of writing “art” if it’s never enjoyed by anyone?”

“Can the novel explore and reveal things the writer never intended?”

“Is a routine necessary for writing?”

And we talk a bit about some things coming down the pike for our little podcast.

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As always, there are a few ways to listen: click the play button in the image above, go to the webpage to hear this and all of our other episodes, or head on over to Apple podcasts or Spotify!

Want to help keep this little podcast going? You can join our Patreon community at the $5 / month level HERE.

Finally, please leave a review wherever you listen! Reviews are so helpful.

Keep writing!

Traci Rhoades – Developing Your Way Into a Book Idea

Today we had the opportunity to chat with Traci Rhoades, blogger and author of the recent release, Not All Who Wander (Spiritually) Are Lost. We talk about the time leading up to her book launch, where her writing voice came from, and what it’s like navigating the ever-treacherous online conversations around spirituality.

You can find out more about Traci and her work HERE.

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As always, there are a few ways to listen: click the play button in the image above, go to the webpage to hear this and all of our other episodes, or head on over to Apple podcasts or Spotify!

Those in our Patreon community receive bonus material and have the opportunity to join in conversations about writing and creativity. This month’s book is Beate Not the Poore Desk by Walter Wangerin Jr. You can join our Patreon community at the $5 / month level HERE.

Finally, please leave a review wherever you listen! Reviews are so helpful.

Keep writing!

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One of the best ways to support the writers you love is to preorder their books. If you’d like to preorder my next novel, These Nameless Things (releases 6/30), you can find out more by heading HERE.

Conditions for Creating

Today marks the 39th letter in the correspondence between Jen Michel and me. Here’s a little sample:

“I find myself mired in thinking about writing, in planning for writing. I keep waiting for the best conditions to write rather than writing as time allows. I wait for the best words rather than catching ordinary words, which certainly seem better than no words at all. These are faults I’m able to name, although they’re not faults I feel confident about overcoming, especially when the act of writing, in these pandemic days, feels a little more laborious that it previously did.”

To read the rest of the letter, click HERE.

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What began as a Twitter conversation between two writers on creative work and family life has become an exchange of letters. Here is where Postmarked began:

Postmarked: Dear Shawn (1)