*Read to the end for the recording + notes from our fantastic weekend workshop: Protecting your Practice: Boundary Setting for Creatives!*
One thing I love about the work I do is the ability to change scenery. Few things make you appreciate the scene around you quite so much as having the ability to see something different then return to it, renewed and refreshed.
I definitely felt this after my recent travels to McCarthy, Alaska, and have been enjoying settling back into my writing routine and life routine at home, the daily work and tasks that feel monotonous when performed in an unending loop, but welcome after I step away.
Having just gone out of the “office” (my house), I’m stepping out again, this time the plan was to go to Craigarden in upstate New York for a Place-Based Residency, but life had other plans, so instead I’m making my own smaller, closer place-based residency at a getaway cabin in the mountains in Alabama, where I plan to hike and eat and create and not talk to anyone for the better part of a week while I connect with the mountains I love.
What does placed-based work mean exactly?
Of course every creator will have a different spin on place-based work, but for me it’s an opportunity to dive deep into the place-based wild fermentation and foraging I do here, likely in combination with visual art and the written word.
I begin with two questions: What does this place taste like? How can we share its essence with others who are not here? I’ll start building flavors relying on the wild plants and microbes onsite, hoping to create an edible snapshot of a moment in time.
I’ll see where the wind blows me from there.
Most likely, I’ll also save some generative and deep reflective time to continue refining the work I do to serve other creatives, like coaching and workshops and, eventually, interdisciplinary and immersive events and retreats (as well as building offerings for other folks’ events and retreats).
And of course, I’ll save some time for the kind of deep, reflective, generative writing that lets me just ramble down a path just for the joy of seeing where it leads.
This means I’ll be away from the newsletter the next two weeks to give me space to deep dive into my curious, unstructured work.
I always love to see what emerges from these moments, and I can’t wait to share what I discover with you!
In the meantime, here’s a reading and resource list and a request:
Reading/Resource/Idea List
As I prepare for Writing Playground next month, I’ve been going through resources on the craft of writing, including Jane Alison’s Meander, Spiral, Explode and Susan Shaugnessy’s Walking on Alligators: A Book of Meditations for Writers, as well as favorite pieces of writing, like Bee Wilson’s Consider the Fork, Sandor Katz’ Fermentation as Metaphor, and Food Feminism Fermentation’s abecedary.
I’ve also been plugging back into some of my favorite resources that support my writing practice, including Trello (great for putting links I run across somewhere more organized than my phone’s browser) and Toggl (which helps me and my clients compare the routines we want to build to the actual structure of our days).
If you’re looking for some tools that are easy to pick up and useful, I recommend these two (a note that in general, I’m cautious about recommending productivity tools because finding and trying new tools until you find ‘the right one’ is, in itself, a form of productive procrastination).
I’ve also been reconnecting with sounds, scents, and snacks that make my writing practice and physical space more pleasurable:
I love the Summer Splendor candle from The New Savant (artichoke, white wine, olive, sesame), tree.fm (sounds of forests from around the world) and binaural beats, and having a snack, like coconut curry cashews from Your Dekalb Farmer’s Market, or a box chocolate covered pecans, ready and waiting on my writing desk.
I also like to do short grounding and meditation exercises, even if it’s just taking a few deep breaths or doing a quick body scan, throughout the day. This is something I’ve been doing more and more for me and my clients and wow, what they say about caring for your mental health is true, turns out I write much better when I do (shocking, I know!)
All of us experience and cultivate pleasure through our creative work in different ways, but perhaps these will give you a few ideas for cultivating a more nourishing, pleasurable creative practice.
Request (two, actually)
It would mean the world to me if you joined me on a little creative retreat of your own while I’m on mine. We may not all be able to get away for a week or even a full day, but take some intentional time to create this week, even if just for an hour, letting yourself wander down the hallways and tree-lined paths of your curious mind without a destination in your sights.
Creating just to create is so powerful and illuminating, and whether come away with a new piece of art, some journal pages, a new jar of sauerkraut, or just a few new ideas, trust yourself that you’re receiving what you need from that creative space.
And, if you want to tell me, I would love to hear about how your own creative retreat went! What did you do? What did you learn or create?
Who knows, maybe our experiences will overlap and enrich each other in some cool ways (as is often the case!)Occasionally I ask folks to share my newsletter with others, both because I love my community of readers and want to keep growing and deepening it, but also because, on a practical level, this newsletter helps keep me fed and housed (which, as it turns out, are really helpful for writing).
So, here’s a renewal of my occasional request: If you have a favorite newsletter issue you’d like to share with folks generally, or want to share this newsletter with someone who might enjoy a food/history/creative process/nature publication, I sure hope you do. As our little community here continues to grow, I’d love to welcome your favorite fellow readers in, too.
I am just a few folks away from 100 subscribers, which is a huge milestone, and it would be amazing to cross over to triple digits this month!
Happy reading, cooking, and creating over these next two weeks: I look forward to seeing you when I’m back!