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!    ..read more

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 Fl ..read more

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 i ..read more

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. Action steps that life up underrepresented voices Reach out to nonprofits to see where they need help. Look for ways to serve that m ..read more

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 Copenhag ..read more

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:  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 ..read more

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 ..read more

**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 ant ..read more

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. Resources mentioned in this episode 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!&nb ..read more

The world has been turned upside down, and being productive as a creative doesn't need to be your top priority right now. Instead, learn to think of your creativity as a form of self-care.   Resources Mentioned in This Episode The No Grocery Challenge by Sarah von Bargen Bank Boost by Sarah von Bargen Elise Blaha Cripe's Three Things Template for Instagram Encouraging Creative Kids by Elise Blaha Cripe Coloring printables for kids from Jane Heinrichs The Growing Gills book club with Jessica Abel A Pep Talk for Being Stuck on The Lazy Genius Podcast by Kendra Adachi Mini Book Club Big Drea ..read more