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Submit ReviewWe thought we’d be back with a new season of Chasing Creative in 2022, but alas: it did not happen. Our lives are just too full right now with, well… life! We cannot, however, let the year go by without getting together to talk about books: our most favorite episode to record each season. So, we’ll dive in and talk about our reading wins this last year, our goals for next year, and what life *actually* looks like these days for both of us.
Where to connect with Abbie:
Goodreads | Instagram | Newsletter | Bookshop (affiliate)
Where to connect with Ashley:
Goodreads | Instagram | Newsletter
Books Mentioned:
The Chaos Machine by Max Fisher
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van der Kolk
Wintering by Katherine May
Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett (audio narrated by Tom Hanks)
Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal
Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (on audio)
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
Matrix by Lauren Groff
Sea Wife by Amity Gaige
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
The Supper of the Lamb by Robert Farrar Capon
Louisiana’s Way Home by Kate DiCamillo
The Life We’re Looking For by Andy Crouch
The Tech-Wise Family by Andy Crouch
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
The Wild Robot & The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown
The Silver Arrow by Lev Grossman
Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling (illustrated versions, too!)
The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street Series by Karina Yan Glaser (audio)
The Henry Huggins Audio Collection by Beverly Cleary
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Rewilding Motherhood by Shannon K Evans
State of Wonder by Anne Patchett
Attached to God by Krispin Mayfield
The Making of Biblical Womanhood by Beth Allison Barr
Try Softer by Aundi Kolber
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
These Precious Days by Ann Patchett
Hi! It has been *an entire year* since we last appeared in your podcast feed.
We’re wading through Pandemic Year 2 just like everyone else, complete with all the day-to-day negotiations and risk calculations like everyone else. And also: a fourth baby for Ashley, a smattering of kids entering the public school system for both of us, and entire routines shifting overnight.
We gave ourselves a break and didn’t record a single thing together in all of 2021 – but it didn’t feel right to finish a year on the calendar without talking together about books. So let’s talk books!
Resources Mentioned:
Pantsuit Politics Extra Credit Book Club
The Anthropocene Reviewed podcast by John Green
Books Mentioned:
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Rewilding Motherhood by Shannon K. Evans
No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler
Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley
What You Wish For by Katherine Center
It Didn’t Start with You by Mark Wolynn (DNF for Ashley)
Fair Play by Eve Rodsky (skimmed by Abbie)
Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham
The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson
Harry Potter Book 1-3
The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi
Keep Going by Austin Kleon
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton
Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto
The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
Who Made This Cake? by Chihiro Nakagawa
The Wordless Trilogy by Aaron Becker
The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall
Mine! How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control our Lives by Michael A. Heller and James Salzman
12 Tiny Things by Ellie Rosher and Heidi Barr
The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary
These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
Where to connect with Abbie:
Goodreads | Instagram | Monthly Newsletter | Bookshop Storefront (affiliate link)
Where to connect with Ashley:
Goodreads | Instagram | Blog | Newsletter
2020 hasn't been kind to most of us, but books are always there to see us through. Listen in to hear how 2020 changed our reading habits, the books we loved (and didn't), and what's next for our reading lives—and the podcast!—in 2021.
Books Mentioned in This Episode
The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett
Becoming by Michelle Obama
The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Kindred by Octavia Butler
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
Pride by Ibi Zoboi
The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi
The Selection Series by Kiera Cass
The Book of Essie by Megan McLein Weir
Your Blue Flame: Drop the Guilt and Do What Makes You Come Alive by Jen Fulwiler
What Is a Girl Worth? My Story of Breaking the Silence and Exposing the Truth about Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics by Rachael Denhollander
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
Attachments and Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Eleanor & Park and Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Harry Potter (of course)
Beach Read by Emily Henry
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion
The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters by Tom Nichols
I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong
Rhythms of Rest: Finding the Spirit of Sabbath in a Busy World by Shelley Miller
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stievater
The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden (book 3 of Winternight trilogy)
The Book of Essie by Megan McLein Weir
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
Tweet Cute by Emma Lord
Calm the H*ck Down by Melanie Dale
Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
Curious George by H. A. Rey
Maybe God Is Like That, Too by Jennifer Grant and Benjamin Schippert
The Wind in the Willows by Igloo books
The Preacher’s Wife by Kate Bowler
Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and Women's Work by Kathleen Norris
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Reconnect: Spiritual Restoration from Digital Distraction by Ed Cyzewski
The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner
The Switch by Beth O’Leary
The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
Links Mentioned in This Episode
Past Chasing Creative episodes with Kendra Adachi (the Lazy Genius): Kendra Adachi on Trusting Your Creative Intuition and Kendra Adachi on Valuing Yourself Enough to Create
The Naughty Corner comedy special by Jen Fulwiler on Amazon Prime
Read more of Ed Yong’s science writing for the Atlantic
Ashley’s Winnie-the-Pooh books are out of print, but this looks similar
Abbie’s copy ofThe Wind in the Willows
Connect with Abbie:
Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Connect with Ashley:
Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial
In today’s episode, we chat with Kayla Craig about what it looks like to advocate for the more vulnerable people around you. As a journalist, Kayla learned the value of listening well and choosing to hear a story and act on it. As a mom, Kayla knows just how important the stories we read and tell and see in our own lives affect everything about them -- and she has some tips for adding diverse voices to your shopping list this year.
Kayla Craig is a writer and podcast producer who believes in the power of story. She writes modern prayers for moms and dads at Liturgies for Parents and her book is forthcoming with Tyndale in 2021. Kayla co-founded and hosts Upside Down Podcast, a place for conversations on faith and justice. She is a podcast producer for Sacred Ordinary Days, where she helps cultivate peace, presence, and purpose. Kayla loves deep mugs of coffee, deeper belly laughs, and even deeper questions. She and her pastor-husband Jonny live in Iowa, where they’re raising four young kids who joined their family via birth and adoption. She has two fluffy dogs and spends too much time on Instagram. Her most recent published essays are in This Is Motherhood: A Motherly Collection of Reflections + Practices and Rally: Litanies for the Lovers of Jesus and Justice.
Kayla’s tips for diversifying your holiday decor and your bookshelves:
Books we talked about:
Madeleine L'Engle Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life
The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner
This Is Motherhood: A Motherly Collection of Reflections + Practices
Rally: Communal Prayers for the Lovers of Jesus and Justice
Here’s where to find Kayla:
Site: www.kaylacraig.com
Newsletter: https://kaylacraig.substack.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kayla_craig/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kaylacraig
Liturgies for parents info: for-parents.html">http://www.kaylacraig.com/liturgies-for-parents.html
Liturgies Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liturgiesforparents/
Podcast: http://www.upsidedownpodcast.com/
Work: https://sacredordinarydays.com/pages/podcast
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/kayla_craig
Here's where to find Abbie:
Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Here's where to find Ashley:
Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Ari Tison is an award-winning writer with poems and short works published in Yellow Medicine Review, The Under Review, and Rock & Sling. She is also the editor for Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop's Broadside Competition. Ari lives and works on Dakota and Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) lands in St. Paul, MN. Join us as she shares action steps for lifting up underrepresented voices in the literary community, especially Indigenous people and those who are incarcerated.
Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop
The works of Poet Laureate Joy Harjo
New Poets of Native Nations edited by Heid E. Erdrich
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
There There by Tommy Orange
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makai
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
Website: www.aritison.com
Twitter: @AriTison
Instagram: @aritisonwrites
Deep in a pandemic, an election cycle, and a world that looks vastly different than six months ago, we’re all a little worn out these days. But we also need to press ahead like never before. We wanted to talk to Dani Bruflodt on how she summons the energy to engage online around social justice, politics, and making a difference in the world -- and how hydration is her secret weapon to get it all done with some energy left over.
Dani Bruflodt is a writer and creator who “talks loud on the internet”. She’s a native Minnesotan currently living the Universal-Healthcare dream life in Copenhagen, Denmark, and she would love for you to drink some water.
Resources from this episode:
The Enneagram Institute has excellent resources to help you find your type.
Dani’s is-honey.com/2020/05/15/how-to-get-kids-to-drink-more-water/">hydration tracker for kids.
is-honey.com/2020/02/20/plan-podcast-episode-029-how-to-achieve-optimum-hydration/">Plan Podcast Episode 029: How to achieve optimum hydration
Dani’s 7 tips for how to get engaged and make a difference:
Dani’s 3 groups of people we’re worried about offending and what to do instead:
Books we mentioned:
The Deepest Well by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris
How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
The Preacher's Wife by Kate Bowler
Connect with Dani:
Website: is-honey.com/">http://thyme-is-honey.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thyme_is_honey/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThymeIsHoney/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thyme_is_Honey
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/thymeishoney/
Podcast: https://PlanPodcast.com
Hydration Course: https://HydrationChecklist.com
The Daily Page Planner: https://DailyPagePlanner.com
Digital Daily Page Planner: https://DigitalDailyPage.com
Connect with Abbie:
Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Connect with Ashley:
Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
We’re welcoming counselor, writer, and calligrapher Simone Griffin to the show today. Join us as she shares about the overlap between counseling and creativity, and how art—both our own and others’—can improve our mental health. Be sure to check out Simone’s newsletter, Counseling + Christ, and her devotional workbook, Glimmers of Hope.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
manage.com/subscribe?u=43ac558c0eb50d837587c093c&id=1a5f060399">Christ + Counseling newsletter
Glimmers of Hope: A Devotional Workbook for Navigating the Struggles of Womanhood with Grace by Simone Griffin
Mini book club:
A Holy Pursuit: How the Gospel Frees Us to Follow and Lay Down Our Dreams by Dianne Jago
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
Pride by Ibi Zoboi
Hamilton Broadway film
Here’s where you can find Simone:
Website: http://simonegriffin.org/
Etsy: GlimmersofHopeShop
Instagram: @sincerelysimoneg
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Hope-Anchored-Soul-1492959650997664/
Here’s where you can find Abbigail:
Website: www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Here’s where you can find Ashley:
Website: www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Creatively Yours newsletter
Instagram: @ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: @brookseditorial
We’d be remiss in trying to continue on with the podcast acting as if nothing is happening around us. 2020 has been an upheaval year for just about every single person on the planet, and while we are both privileged, middle-class white ladies in Midwestern states who are faring quite well during the pandemic, all things considered, our lives do still look very different than they did in March.
So this season, rather than continue to explore how we fit creativity into our daily lives -- something we are largely unable to do right now as we have in the past -- we wanted to explore a topic that has emerged as one we both care about deeply: How do we use creativity to make a difference?
We’re going to be interviewing people who use their creativity to create change in directions that matter to them. We hope you’ll get to hear from a wide variety of artists who hold a variety of views. None of them will be identical to our own, and we don’t believe that they have to be. In this episode in particular, we’re going to be talking about the pandemic and what our lives look like right now. The choices we’ve made for our families may not be the same as yours, and that’s okay! We know that in this time, everyone is doing what they think is best.
However, we do want to be upfront and say that race and issues of equality are not “too political” to talk about on a podcast that discusses creativity. Everything is political, first of all. And second: the issue of equality for all people is a human rights issue, not something we are willing to debate.
We hope you gain some ideas from our guests this season about how you can create change around the things that matter to you, regardless of where your personal views land.
Got someone you’d love to hear from this season about how they make a difference with their creative gifts? Email us at chasingcreativepodcast@gmail.com.
Resources we mentioned in this episode:
Andy Slavitt on Twitter
King Gutter Baby on Instagram (infectious disease expert)
podcast.html">1619 Podcast Series
Pantsuit Politics Podcast
Home Cooking with Samin Nosrat and Hrishikesh Hirway
The Lazy Genius Podcast with Kendra Adachi
Lisa Hensley on Instagram
Mini Book Club:
Best Summer Reads:
Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
The Selection by Kiera Cass
Harry Potter (of course)
Pride by Ibi Zoboi
Nonfiction that’s changed our perspective:
Just Mercy by Bryan Stephenson
The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place by Andy Crouch
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Books that have spurred us onto action in some way:
Floret Farm's Cut Flower Garden: Grow, Harvest, and Arrange Stunning Seasonal Blooms by Erin Benzakein
Visions of Vocation by Steven Garber
**We had originally planned to air this episode in early June of 2020 (recorded in early May), but chose to hold off on publication to keep the airwaves clear in the wake of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor, and the nationwide uprising that continues to today as more Black lives are taken because of racist people and racist policies. We want our listeners to know that we stand in full support of the protests and the push for racial justice and equality. We are actively engaging with our own racial bias in our own lives, learning, growing, and working to become antiracist. We are listening to BIPOC Voices as we move forward in this never-ending work, and we are pledging to use this space to amplify those voices in the future. We apologize that we have not made this a priority in the past. We will do better. If you are someone that identifies as BIPOC and would like to come on the podcast to talk about creativity and your journey as an artist, or you'd like to recommend and connect us to someone who does, we would be grateful if you'd reach out to us at chasingcreativepodcast@gmail.com. Our mic is yours.
This season of Chasing Creative was about the ebbs and flows of the creative life. When we brainstormed that theme last summer, we had no idea that the world would be facing a pandemic in the spring of 2020 as we record and release this episode. It’s brought changes big and small to our own creative processes and, we’re guessing, yours too.
In this episode, we catch up on the first few months of 2020 -- new babies! pre-pandemic vacations! -- and how the onset of a global pandemic has affected our lives inside and out.
Resources We Talked About
Ashley recorded a special episode of the podcast title Creativity as Self-Care in early April. If you’re finding your creative energy decimated by the pandemic, that episode could be a creative hug for where you are at right now.
Ashley is knitting a shawl using this pattern, and she gets her yarn from Yarnery in Minnesota. They offer shipping around the country in case you, too, have a hankering to make something with your hands these days.
The blue unicorn and festive llama cross stitch kits that Jacob completed can be found here if you or your kids (or partners!) need some handiwork for the evenings.
Want to know when Season 7 launches? Sign up for our email list here.
Books We Talked About
The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling (of course!)
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
Here’s where you can find Abbie:
Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs
Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages
Here’s where you can find Ashley:
Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com
Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
As the lazy genius, Kendra Adachi teaches people how to be a genius about the things that matter, and lazy about the things that don’t. Join us in this episode to hear how she listens to her intuition when it comes to creative projects, the seasonal rhythms she uses to get things done, and the creative process that led her to leave perfectionism behind as she wrote her book.
Preorder Kendra’s book, The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn’t, and Get Stuff Done.
Find Kendra on the Lazy Genius Podcast and the Lazy Genius Collective!
Sign up for Kendra’s monthly newsletter, The Lazy Letter, for some of the best book/movie/TV show recommendations on the internet, plus smart reflections on living life the lazy genius way.
Change Your Life Chicken Recipe (Guys, it really will change your life.)
Check out our first episode with Kendra back from 2016! On Valuing Yourself Enough to Create with Kendra Adachi
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
In the Woods by Tana French
The Likeness by Tana French
Still Life by Louise Penny
Burnout: The Secret to Solving the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski
Deep Work by Cal Newport
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
Website: thelazygeniuscollective.com
Podcast: The Lazy Genius Podcast
Instagram: @thelazygenius
Website: inkwellsandimages.com
Instagram: @abbigailekriebs
Twitter: @abbigailekriebs
Pinterest: @abbigailekriebs
Facebook: @inkwellsandimages
Website: brookseditorial.com
Personal blog: ashleybrookswrites.com
Instagram: @ashleybrookswrites
Twitter: @brookseditorial
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