the Inspirited Word

Mary Lanham
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the Inspirited Word

The Inspirited Word is the monthly podcast for writers ready to stop second-guessing their storytelling and ready to start breathing life, spirit, and deep magic back into their craft. We’ll explore ways to enliven the technical mechanics of our writing with the full visionary potential of our imaginations—so we can uncover our most potent, most necessary work. Join us as we rediscover the radical, transformative power in our stories... and actually get those powerful stories on the page. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 11/29/2024

    23. The creativity of longing (Or, crafting hopeful stories)

    I allude pretty clearly to my political leanings on the podcast, but I don’t generally structure entire episodes around specific political issues. And I do like for this to be a kind of quiet space where you can come to recollect your creative self, whatever’s going on in the world and in your life. But I decided it wouldn’t feel genuine to not talk about the fallout of the US election this month. Because it’s certainly affected my creative practice, and I’d imagine that may be true for you as well. I’ve realized that the practical aims of the election, and of politics as a whole, have had the effect of substituting a desired strategic outcome for what I actually desire in my life and in this world. Basically, I’ve lost touch with my longing. And the most immediate and vital way I can reconnect with my longing in the daily way I live is to live creatively – to let my creative sensibility feed and shape the way I interact with others, and the actions I take. Join me to explore a model of storytelling (from the mind of Ursula Le Guin) that’s been giving me hope and nurturing my creative longing... even when the strategic outlook isn’t so inspiring. _____ If your writing life feels more like a doom spiral than a drafting process... join the newsletter circle to access the Creative Rescue Kit, a set of three easy-to-implement tools to help you reclaim your creative path. You’ll also receive monthly tips to put the pod into practice, delivered right to your inbox. _____ Episode links: Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    28 min

  2. 10/25/2024

    22. Magical thinking for practical writers

    This month, sort of in honor of Halloween and sort of just because, I want to share and explore a single phrase about writing that has been inspiring me lately: Your characters are your ancestors. This idea unlocks all sorts of potential for me – but I admit that it also feels a little overly sentimental. Even for creatives, there can be disdain around ways of thinking about writing that feel precious instead of practical. There’s a sense that while of course art is magical in its way, your perspective on your own work better not be, or you risk being naïve and unserious. And it’s not like there’s zero truth to that. When you get too precious about every word that hits the page, you can’t work through projects, and you can’t keep improving. But magical thinking doesn’t necessarily have to lead to precious thinking – I’d actually say that in the creative life, you have to find ways to maintain a strong dose of it if you want to thrive. And in that sense, magical thinking can be practical magic. Tune in to unpack how a magical mindset can help even Very Serious Writers do deep and liberating creative work. _____ If your writing life feels more like a doom spiral than a drafting process... join the newsletter circle to access the Creative Rescue Kit, a set of three easy-to-implement tools to help you reclaim your creative path. You’ll also receive monthly tips to put the pod into practice, delivered right to your inbox. _____ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    26 min

  3. 09/27/2024

    21. The story is not the territory (Or, stories as maps)

    Today’s pod is coming to you from the messy middle of something I’ve been mulling over for a long time. Something I don’t have a tagline for yet, but that still feels worth sharing, in all its in-process, still-forming glory. If there’s anything I believe in, it’s the power and necessity of creative expression. But I’m going to be talking this month about the limitations of story – the ways that turning our life experiences into stories can maybe keep us from actually living what we experience. One way to think about the role of storytelling is that stories are maps – ways of navigating the stuff of life. And as maps, stories are representations of something bigger and deeper than any single narrative can encompass. Or, to borrow a commonly used phrase: The map is not the territory. This feels pretty self-evident… until you realize how deeply story maps are ingrained into the way you think about how your life is supposed to happen, and what kind of meaning you’re supposed to make out of what happens. This month, let’s get real about navigating with story maps (and when it might be time to get a bit lost instead). _____ If your writing life feels more like a doom spiral than a drafting process... join the newsletter circle to access the Creative Rescue Kit, a set of three easy-to-implement tools to help you reclaim your creative path. You’ll also receive monthly tips to put the pod into practice, delivered right to your inbox. _____ Episode links: Marisa Goudy, KnotWork Storytelling: A Story About Getting Unstoried | S5 Ep12 Feminist takes on the Hero’s Journey model Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction”The Heroine Journeys Project, a website that includes summaries of some of the major feminist responses to Joseph Campbell’s theory Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    34 min

  4. 08/30/2024

    20. How (and why) to hold creative space

    Today’s episode is for any writer who’s found themselves focused more on chasing the perfect creative practice than actually having a creative practice. (So, it’s for most of us.) This month I’m sharing a writerly angle on the idea of holding space or creating a container. Specifically, what kind of space might actually keep you contained enough to experience sustained growth and discovery in your writing. One of the challenges of making art in a capitalist world is staying attuned to your vision amid a constant flow of things you’re expected to consume and worry about and enjoy and reject and chase. But to fully hold space for your creative self… you have to stay there, in the space you’ve made. And sometimes that feels constraining. Sometimes it feels like holding yourself back from dashing out into a wider space where everything is actually happening, and if you stay here you might miss something important. This month, tune in to explore what it can mean to hold better creative space for yourself and your stories. Plus, I share a simple formula to help you turn your writing practices into containers that actually support you and your work. _____ If your writing life feels more like a doom spiral than a drafting process... join the newsletter circle to access the Creative Rescue Kit, a set of three easy-to-implement tools to help you reclaim your creative path. You’ll also receive monthly tips to put the pod into practice, delivered right to your inbox. _____ Episode links: The Numinous Network, monthly membership community with therapist, somatic practitioner, and spiritual counselor Carmen Spagnola. I learned the somatic exercise featured in this episode from the network’s library of somatic practice videos. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    35 min

  5. 07/26/2024

    19. Finding allies for your creative dream

    This pod is usually focused on our personal relationships to our writing, and ways to rediscover and strengthen that alchemical creative connection. But this month, I’ve been thinking about the role other people can play in helping us sustain and carry our creative dreams. It’s much easier to tap into the flow of creative alchemy if someone else is extending their own alchemical gaze onto you – a supportive gaze that can transform your ordinary self into someone capable of making artistic work with deep meaning. The further away your ordinary self is from what’s generally considered “ordinary,” though... the more you usually lack carriers for your dream. And carrying it alone can leave your creative reserves stretched pretty thin. Tune in to explore two ways you can change this state of affairs and access the crucial power of vision carrying in your writing life. _____ If your writing life feels more like a doom spiral than a drafting process... join the newsletter circle to access the Creative Rescue Kit, a set of three easy-to-implement tools to help you reclaim your creative path. You’ll also receive monthly tips to put the pod into practice, delivered right to your inbox. _____ Episode links: Goddesses in Everywoman, Jean Shinoda Bolen Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    33 min

  6. 06/28/2024

    18. No before yes: How to learn from writing you hate

    As a rule of thumb on this podcast, I try to keep things generally positive, since most of us have enough negativity in our creative lives. This month, though, I’m inviting you to take a little trip with me to the realm of evaluation, judgment, and yes, even snark. But let’s be clear: I don’t mean snark directed against yourself. I’m talking about letting yourself just really, really hate something you’ve read that somebody else wrote. And here’s why: Sometimes, it’s easier to learn from work we don’t like than from work we do like. Sometimes we need to indulge in a really deep “no” to get to an even deeper “yes.” Let’s get into how to distill wisdom from snark – without being too much of an asshole. _____ If your writing practice feels more like a doom spiral than a drafting process... join the newsletter circle to access the Creative Rescue Kit, a set of three easy-to-implement tools to help you reclaim your creative life. You’ll also receive monthly inspiration and supportive, inspirited practices delivered right to your inbox. _____ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    32 min

  7. 05/31/2024

    17. Dead, mad, or a poet (Or, how to be less tortured)

    (First things first: Thank you to thank Taylor Swift for releasing The Tortured Poets Department last month and thus making this episode kind of topical…) We’re all way too familiar with the idea that emotional suffering or “madness” is the most powerful source of our creativity. It’s the cultural story that just won’t die. But today, I’m sharing a folklore-and-history-informed counter-narrative. (Note that this is truly not even a lukewarm album take, Swifties do not come for me.) In this narrative, it’s not madness we’re supposed to be seeking when we go out to the edge of ourselves in search of inspiration – it’s divine joy. The kind of joy that by its nature isn’t going to look or feel the way we’d expect it to, but that will bring us closer to our truest fates. I think we have a duty to liberate our stories from the cult of the tortured artist. After all, we get to choose the lineages of our creative work. So if we don’t want to be the tortured poet… we don’t have to be. Tune in to discover what the lineage of the inspired poet can offer us instead. _____ If you’re dreaming of a sustainable writing practice filled with more life, spirit, and deep magic, visit the link to join the newsletter circle. You’ll get monthly inspiration and supportive, inspirited practices delivered right to your inbox. https://www.inspiritedword.com/about/#the-praxis-circle Prefer to access subscriber content via Substack? I got you: https://inspiritedword.substack.com/ _____ Episode links: Cauldron of Poesy translations P. L. Henry, 1980Liam Breatnach, 1981Erynn Rowan Laurie (non-academic) General historical references H. R. Ellis Davidson, Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions https://www.patheos.com/blogs/agora/2018/03/dead-mad-or-a-poet/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadair_Idris#Myths,_legends_and_popular_culture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Knockgrafton Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    36 min

  8. 04/26/2024

    16. When to let a story go

    It’s pretty much objectively true that finishing stories is an excellent way to get better at finishing stories. This is true on both a practical level and a skills level — in addition to requiring persistence, writing endings is a technically difficult aspect of the craft, no matter what genre you’re writing. But while getting to the end of a project is often excellent practice... I don’t think it’s actually always best to push through to the finish. Sometimes pushing through becomes a reinforcement of unhelpful craft habits, ways of approaching our stories that we’re ready to outgrow but don’t know how to yet. How can we know when we need to stick it out with a tricky project (even if we don’t really want to), vs when we need to let that project go (even if we don’t really want to)? I’m sharing three key questions to help you discern the path forward when the writing gets tough, plus my best advice for what to do when it really is time to let a project go. _____ If you’re dreaming of a sustainable writing practice filled with more life, spirit, and deep magic, visit the link to join the newsletter circle. You’ll get monthly inspiration and supportive, inspirited practices delivered right to your inbox. https://www.inspiritedword.com/about/#the-praxis-circle Prefer to access subscriber content via Substack? I got you: https://inspiritedword.substack.com/ _____ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    30 min
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About

The Inspirited Word is the monthly podcast for writers ready to stop second-guessing their storytelling and ready to start breathing life, spirit, and deep magic back into their craft. We’ll explore ways to enliven the technical mechanics of our writing with the full visionary potential of our imaginations—so we can uncover our most potent, most necessary work. Join us as we rediscover the radical, transformative power in our stories... and actually get those powerful stories on the page. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Mary Lanham
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2024
  • Episodes
    24
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Mary Lanham
  • Show Website
    the Inspirited Word

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