This Creative Life with Sara Zar‪r‬ Sara Zarr

Listen now (75 min) | Lindsay Eagar is an author and writing coach with a recent ADHD diagnosis. She’s been very open about it online and generous with my personal questions, and I wanted to bring her on for a more topic-focused episode. In this case: our brains! Lindsay shares her background, symptoms, diagnosis process, and management strategies in ways that I found so interesting and helpful, and I think you will, too. We also talked about her “fast drafting” 80/20 course and philosophy, dirty books we loved as kids, and the delusions of grandeur we should all strive for.

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Dave Connis is not only the legendary composer of the theme music for this very podcast, but also an author in his own right, with two YA novels out and a picture book on the way.

The emotional theme music of this episode is honesty. Dave and I get into matters of art and faith, how a sudden loss changed his writing life and drive, and how not to be a Slughorn in a business where various relational challenges can be baked in. We also, of course, talk about the practical matters of writing, such as: writing with a full-time job and several (at least) children, prioritizing when you’re a person with a lot of ideas, and the freedom in knowing your limitations. And we wouldn’t be two Christians (or in my case, Christian-ish) if we didn’t mention the enneagram.

Selected show notes:

Dave online, books and music and newsletter

Atlas Obscura

Makoto Fujimura

Ye Olde Bookshop shoppe

This podcast is hosted, produced, and edited—for better or worse—by me, Sara Zarr

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Amy Gentry is the author of three psychological thrillers for adults, one 33 1/3 on Tori Amos, and a bunch of shorter stuff. Her latest book is Bad Habits, which is here to scratch all your dark academia itches and also make you laugh and cringe.

After chatting a bit about her book and her own background in academia, we dug into process and publication (and her #pitmad success story), the dead end of trying to be “a good little author,” money and class and missing hotels. Amy also got me thinking differently about my standard weaknesses/obstacles question—nay, the very idea of weaknesses. And, I think she got me back onto Goodreads.

I loved Amy’s energy and the energy of this conversation, and I hope you do, too.

Amy online

Small Axe // Lovers Rock

Joe Pera Talks with You

Morning [expletive] Pages

Produced & edited by me, Sara Zarr

Theme music by Dave Connis

Ye olde Bookshop shoppe

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Listen now | For the first episode of 2021, author Maurene Goo and I jumped on the phone just hours after the inauguration, having kept our scheduled conversation in hope and faith but also ready to cancel. For many reasons, I’m so glad we didn’t have to. Phew! After processing world events for a bit, we dig into Maurene’s backstory, writing process, the upsides of being married to another creative professional, and life as a new mom, and

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The Annotated Courageous Creativity, 1

Intro & Silent Messages

Note to listeners: This is the first episode of the first paid subscriber season, The Annotated Courageous Creativity. I’m making this first episode available to all to help you decide if you’d like to hear more. Annual subscriptions will be 25% off through January 31st. Enjoy!

In this episode, I read the introduction about what creativity is and why one might need courage, and the section “My Story” which is the part I use as a springboard for the diving in a little deeper for the annotations.

0.00 - Season introduction and introduction of book

14:35 - My Story

24:10 - Annotations

Paid subscribers: When you first signed up, you should have received an email that included a link to open from your phone to get your subscriber feed set up in your favorite podcast app. Please let me know if you have any questions about this! This episode will also be in the general feed, but starting next week you’ll need the special link if you’d like to listen via a podcast app (vs from this page or your email).

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In the final episode of 2020, I talk to Michael Bourret of Dystel, Goderich & Bourret about the year in publishing, authors and social media, making mid-career changes, and more. This is a great episode for those who love to talk shop and want to understand a little more about where publishing has been and where it may be going. Listen right here, or find it in your favorite podcast app.

Thanks for coming along with me for this 2020 return to podcasting. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have, and I’m looking forward to what’s in store here for 2021. Happy New Year! 

Show note: A brief history of Book Expo

Produced & edited by me, Sara Zarr

Theme music by Dave Connis

Ye olde Bookshop shoppe

Tell a friend!

Hey visitors, get a free or paid Substack subscription to hear about new episodes or set your podcast app to alert you! Annual subscriptions are 25% off through January 31st. For $36 you’ll get the full Courageous Creativity audio with my commentary in the form of subscriber episodes, plus other themed mini-seasons within the main TCL seasons.

PayPal tip jar, if you like!

This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at thiscreativelife.substack.com/subscribe