This blog post shares a career discernment practice: K-W-L, a way of mapping what you already know, want to know, and need to learn. Career discernment coaching involves, among many things, listening to and learning from fears, uncertainties, and the many unknowns involved in making change. Sometimes what’s needed is recognizing fear—allowing it to speak, be witnessed, and given a right-sized role. Other times, what’s needed is a way to list and begin to answer ... Read more ...
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Bear Ways: A Commitment Statement in Poem Form
Earlier in June, after months of intense revision, I finally updated my commitment statement. It was a long time coming, as I returned to southern Appalachia and newly to Asheville—Cherokee Land in Western North Carolina (WNC)—back in 2024, ten weeks before Hurricane Helene hit. My writing has been coming slower since the move partly because of recovery and healing from the storm. Partly because of the time involved in putting down roots, building community, and ... Read more ...
This Valentine’s Day, Here Are Questions to Hold with Care
This Valentine's Day, I want to share gratitude and say again that I'm making it through these times because of community care and creative interventions, including many small affirmations that add up to being here, breathing in and out, writing little by little, and taking it truly day by day.In these times, gifting feels more important than ever, so for the coming months (in my newsletter, via social media, and through YouTube), I'll be offering more prompts and ... Read more ...
Meaningful Writing Doesn’t Always Make Its Way into Writing Portfolios
I recently created a new writing portfolio, which I am excited to share! Because my SelectedWorks page was sunsetted this summer, I needed a new way to share publications. The portfolio highlights some, while linking to a fuller list (what I’d share as part of an academic CV). I start with academic publications and then share pieces from public and community writing. And I include a final section of meaningful writing that doesn’t always (or even often) make its way ... Read more ...
Recommitting and Reconnecting With Your Writing
The month of May always feels like a time for recommitting and reconnecting: recommitting and reconnecting to creative work, to writing projects (especially those set aside), and to ourselves and the people we write with and for. There's an invitation to start again, as spring is in full bloom and the promise of summer awaits. It's not that the everyday efforts end, but there's the potential of more levity with longer days stretching ahead. There's the potential for ... Read more ...
Befriending Fear and Cultivating Courage
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about Maya Angelou's often-circulated quote about courage being the most important virtue: "Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency." This quote's been coming to mind (again and again) as I find myself experiencing fear or saying "so much is scary." And so much is! There's so much injustice. What and who we care about are being attacked, fired, dismantled, criminalized, disappeared, hidden, abducted, ... Read more ...
Writing Retreats Are for All Sorts of Writing
Writing retreats are for writers creating across genres, at any stage, and for various audiences, including ourselves. But so often, even when we spend our lives working with words, we bracket what counts as “writing,” and we find it hard to claim the role of “writer.” This blog post combines reflections from two of us, Beth and Phoenix, about the experience of one-day, online writing retreats. Together, we want to affirm that, truly: writing is expansive, and writing ... Read more ...
