We 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.

Ashley and Abbie reunite on the podcast after a year away to record their favorite episode: the one where they talk about the books they've read this year.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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, Christ + Counseling, and her devotional workbook, Glimmers of Hope.

Ashley and Abbigail are back with Season 7 of Chasing Creative and introduce the topic of this new season: using creativity to make a difference. They catch up on what life looks like for them, how creativity is happening (or not) in these pandemic days, and discuss the books they've read this summer that have left an impact.

**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-pandmenic vacations! -- and how the onset of a global pandemic has affected our lives inside and out.

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.

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.

Today we’re chatting with Lindsay Swoboda about how being a military spouse experiencing seasons of deployment and living overseas has affected her creative journey. Along with being a military spouse, Lindsay is also a mom and writer. Her blog Uplifting Anchor encourages mothers and military spouses in their daily and creative lives.

We both spent 2019 getting serious about writing our novels. In this episode, we're hashing out all the details, from where we got our book ideas to how we're fitting writing into our daily lives. Listen in to hear more about our creative processes and what the future holds for our writing.

Join us in this conversation with author and kindred spirit Ashlee Cowles as she shares about how travel and parenthood have changed her creative process.

Do we normally try to keep our book talk to a minimum at the end of each episode? And do we normally keep our episodes under an hour? Yes and yes. But today, we have nearly an hour and a half of entirely book-focused conversation for you -- and we hope you love it as much as we loved recording it.

Did you know that it actually takes between 12-265 days -- with the average being 65 days! -- to make a new habit stick? Sarah Von Bargen shared that statistic with us on the podcast, and we were blown away! Sarah is the mastermind behind yesandyes.org where she is a writer, coach, and educator who helps people spend their time, money, and energy on purpose. We had her on the podcast to discuss how to craft goals that actually matter to you, create habits that support those goals, and what the ebbs and flows of the self-employed and creative life look like for her.

We're welcoming returning guest Callie Feyen to the podcast! Join us as we talk about Callie's recent transition into full-time self-employment as a brave step toward making space for creative work.

We’re so glad to have Elise Cripe back on the podcast! We previously chatted with her on episode 4 of season 3, all about how she got to where she was creatively, and touched on taking creative breaks and her Get To Work Book business. Today, we wanted to have her on to talk about her first traditionally published book that releases tomorrow, October 8th, titled Big Dreams, Daily Joys, which is all about setting goals and making time for what matters, as well as what the ebbs and flows of her own creative life look like.

Nicole Gulotta wrote the book (literally) on navigating different seasons of the creative life. Join us to hear her advice on the ups and downs we all experience as creatives, and get the scoop on her new book, Wild Words.

Hello and welcome back to Chasing Creative for Season 6! We’re excited to be back with you, and still cannot believe that we’ve been doing this together for six seasons now. This season, we’re going to be interviewing some previous guests and some new guests, but asking them all similar questions: what do the ebbs and flows of the creative process look like for them? This season will include interviews with Nicole Gulotta in September, Elise Cripe in October, and many, many more. In this first episode of the season, Ashley and Abbie catch up on what they’ve both been doing since their creative retreat in June, share how they manage ebbs and flows in their own creative lives, and gab about the best books they’ve read this summer.