I love this one so much. I really enjoy receiving letters and this year I pledged to write more letters far and wide. What I have been doing is writing a few whenever the mood takes me. It has been good for my mood and exercising my hand. It seems difficult to write for long stretches (everything seems long as we are not accustomed to writing these days). It is wonderful for you to be able to go through scrapbooks of letters. I've been reading a non-fiction book titled 'To the Letter' by Simon Garfield which you might also find fascinating.
Thanks Santina, so glad to hear you share a love of writing and receiving letters. I just put the Garfield book you mention on hold at the library, thanks!
Yes, I loved the book. It arrived as a surprise from a friend last summer and immediately drew me in. I hadn't thought to look for an audio version but I imagine it is fun to hear the different voices, thanks for the recommendation.
Thank you! I love the idea of playing with what life offers you. Also the sense that adversity, overwhelm, and love are both motivators of creativity and liminal states.
I would love to hear more about how speaking with others about their creativity and vocation helps you prevent or address blocks. This makes so much sense but I've not heard it stated like that before. Thank you.
In the period following my MS diagnosis, I mourned the loss of my career. Listening to vocational stories was the part of my job I loved the most. I went from spending all day, 5 days per week, listening to clients and encouraging next steps on their journeys to employment, to spending my days mostly alone after I moved to a small town where I knew very few people. Soon after, I was laid up with long COVID, as well as MS.
Before moving, I knew that I wanted to start writing. Seriously. The first few narrative pieces I wrote involved interviewing individuals for local publications. I remember interviewing Anndreyea Kyro about her passion for painting and noticing the arc of her painting journey. It stood out partly because it was one of the purely vocational stories I had listened to that was not strictly tied to employment.
She allowed me to record the interview. I noticed the changes in her vocal tone as she spoke about beginning to paint later in life and becoming prolific. She also mentioned a little about her spiritual influences. For me, it was like having a new map to follow towards creativity, and the scale I wanted to be writing on. Since then, I pay careful attention to how people speak about their creative formation, especially where it intersects with spiritual formation. @ChristianneSquires Lighthouse Community saved my sanity during that first year of adjustment and healing. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to listen to so many other women who tie spirituality and creativity together. There are too many teachers from that community to list here.
One of the first workshops I attended with the Lighthouse community was with you, in the winter of 2022. You focused on creativity as a discipline, rather than solely making. I was taken with how you documented and analyzed your own journey as an art therapist and artist. And I have borrowed your colour wheel and finger labyrinth exercises (always with credit to you). With students, I utilize the finger labyrinth to connect to interiority before writing poetry.
Since then, Elizabeth Gilbert's book on creativity, Big Magic, has widened my perspective on creativity. I feel like reading her book performed an exorcism of early lessons that restricted my artistic development. I had far too many voices that put restrictions on play and the value of art. Big Magic definitely contributed to my taking more creative risks. My soul is better for it, and so is my writing. Kate Bowler interviewed Elizabeth about writing Big Magic on the podcast Everything Happens. It is well worth listening to. Come to think of it, Kate's podcast is another place I often go to hear others talk about their creative formation.
Presently, I am reading Sue Monk's, Writing Creativity and Soul. I am only a couple of chapters in, but I am already noticing how she charts others' creative journeys alongside her own.
Oh, and also the novel, Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver.
If you are curious about Anndreyea's story, check out the article.
Thank you for all of this, I love your noticing of how vocation not being tied to employment really got your attention. Thank you for the links and resources too and for sharing so much of your story. I too find creativity and spirituality deeply connected. I’ve read a few Sue Monk Kidd novels but not her book on writing. I’ll have to check it out. Thank you.
This is so delightful, Kathryn! What an absolute treasure that scrapbook is! I'm going to message you because of course I want to answer via snail mail....perhaps even the one you met in the leaf litter. :) xo
I love this one so much. I really enjoy receiving letters and this year I pledged to write more letters far and wide. What I have been doing is writing a few whenever the mood takes me. It has been good for my mood and exercising my hand. It seems difficult to write for long stretches (everything seems long as we are not accustomed to writing these days). It is wonderful for you to be able to go through scrapbooks of letters. I've been reading a non-fiction book titled 'To the Letter' by Simon Garfield which you might also find fascinating.
Thanks Santina, so glad to hear you share a love of writing and receiving letters. I just put the Garfield book you mention on hold at the library, thanks!
Let me know what you think of it once you start reading it.
Kathryn, have you read the book, The Correspondent? The audio version is gorgeous!! I'm sure you'd enjoy it!!
Yes, I loved the book. It arrived as a surprise from a friend last summer and immediately drew me in. I hadn't thought to look for an audio version but I imagine it is fun to hear the different voices, thanks for the recommendation.
I think I got it now (I do love a questionnaire!):
1: a need
2: to follow that need
3: anytime / anyplace
4: Writing, taking fotos, singing, humour, but really any way I play with what life offers me.
5: I think it was always in me, probably inherited, but mostly a gift.
6: anything and everything, but mostly I guess, adversity, overwhelm, and love. All liminal states, probably.
7: so far, haven't encountered any.
Thank you! I love the idea of playing with what life offers you. Also the sense that adversity, overwhelm, and love are both motivators of creativity and liminal states.
I connect profoundly with interviewing others about their vocations, especially creative ones.
It’s my antidote to creative blocks.
I would love to hear more about how speaking with others about their creativity and vocation helps you prevent or address blocks. This makes so much sense but I've not heard it stated like that before. Thank you.
In the period following my MS diagnosis, I mourned the loss of my career. Listening to vocational stories was the part of my job I loved the most. I went from spending all day, 5 days per week, listening to clients and encouraging next steps on their journeys to employment, to spending my days mostly alone after I moved to a small town where I knew very few people. Soon after, I was laid up with long COVID, as well as MS.
Before moving, I knew that I wanted to start writing. Seriously. The first few narrative pieces I wrote involved interviewing individuals for local publications. I remember interviewing Anndreyea Kyro about her passion for painting and noticing the arc of her painting journey. It stood out partly because it was one of the purely vocational stories I had listened to that was not strictly tied to employment.
She allowed me to record the interview. I noticed the changes in her vocal tone as she spoke about beginning to paint later in life and becoming prolific. She also mentioned a little about her spiritual influences. For me, it was like having a new map to follow towards creativity, and the scale I wanted to be writing on. Since then, I pay careful attention to how people speak about their creative formation, especially where it intersects with spiritual formation. @ChristianneSquires Lighthouse Community saved my sanity during that first year of adjustment and healing. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to listen to so many other women who tie spirituality and creativity together. There are too many teachers from that community to list here.
One of the first workshops I attended with the Lighthouse community was with you, in the winter of 2022. You focused on creativity as a discipline, rather than solely making. I was taken with how you documented and analyzed your own journey as an art therapist and artist. And I have borrowed your colour wheel and finger labyrinth exercises (always with credit to you). With students, I utilize the finger labyrinth to connect to interiority before writing poetry.
Since then, Elizabeth Gilbert's book on creativity, Big Magic, has widened my perspective on creativity. I feel like reading her book performed an exorcism of early lessons that restricted my artistic development. I had far too many voices that put restrictions on play and the value of art. Big Magic definitely contributed to my taking more creative risks. My soul is better for it, and so is my writing. Kate Bowler interviewed Elizabeth about writing Big Magic on the podcast Everything Happens. It is well worth listening to. Come to think of it, Kate's podcast is another place I often go to hear others talk about their creative formation.
Presently, I am reading Sue Monk's, Writing Creativity and Soul. I am only a couple of chapters in, but I am already noticing how she charts others' creative journeys alongside her own.
Oh, and also the novel, Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver.
If you are curious about Anndreyea's story, check out the article.
https://www.prpeak.com/in-the-community/a-day-without-paint-is-not-a-day-says-qathet-region-artist-7045113
Thank you for all of this, I love your noticing of how vocation not being tied to employment really got your attention. Thank you for the links and resources too and for sharing so much of your story. I too find creativity and spirituality deeply connected. I’ve read a few Sue Monk Kidd novels but not her book on writing. I’ll have to check it out. Thank you.
Dear Kathryn, those letters are treasures now!
Will try to answer your questions, first answer came to me very quickly: Creativity is a need.
Love how quickly the answer came and your clarity.
An! All the flowers! I might have to pop a letter in the mail to you … but will need to think on these questions!
I would love to hear from. you - and please take your time!
This is so delightful, Kathryn! What an absolute treasure that scrapbook is! I'm going to message you because of course I want to answer via snail mail....perhaps even the one you met in the leaf litter. :) xo
Thank you Mel!