Anne Lamott is one of our most celebrated creative and spiritual leaders, and for good reason. With 9 bestselling fiction and non-fiction books, including Bird By Bird which many celebrated creatives consider the best book about writing ever written, Anne's one of the wisest teachers about the creative life and definitely one of the funniest.

In this episode:

What inspired Anne Lammott to write her latest book, Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage
Her advice for reviving faith when you’re feeling spiritually flat
How she “weaves” her mission of service with the demands of writing, publishing, and promoting her books
The power of paying attention and how it feeds the creative process
How radical self care and self love makes creating easier and more possible
Why trusting your own voice is just about the most important thing a writer can do

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Her book, Bird by Bird is considered one of the best and most influential works about writing and creativity ever written. So it was my honor to welcome Anne as our first guest on the Create Out Loud podcast. I admit, sitting down with a famous, seven-time New York Times best-selling author as my first interview out of the gate made me nervous. But it was so worth it and she was so gracious, as you will hear.

We talk about God and faith…

“God is a creator and co-creates with us. I think it's like having a really fabulous trusted collaborator who's really really safe for you to try out new ideas with. Both of you bring something to the table, sort of a combination of elbow grease and little sparkles of memories and nudges.”

I confess to her that the last few years have left me feeling spiritually flat, and her advice for revival made me cry. If you feel like you’ve been faking it or your creative life has been falling apart, you won’t want to miss what she told me - spirit food!

Then she asks...

“What are you gonna do with this precious spring that has followed the most ghastly year-long winter of our American lives?”

And that made me cry some more and then she said…

“If you're crying, that is basting you, and it is hydrating you. It is baptizing you and it is growing the seeds that are under the earth at your feet. And we don't even know, you don't know (God may) what those seeds are. They have been planted by time and trials and love and grace—for your next book, for your next phase of life, which I think is going to be a renewal for you, spiritually.”

And when she talks about the power of paying attention and shares the simple wisdom of her time-honored writing routine, reveals how radical self-care makes creating easier and more possible, and talks about why, as creatives, we must find the courage to use our own voice… well I think you’ll find it all wonderful.

“I just want to convince people, it's the voice that you have been been given with which to sing, the songs that have come through you and that you have just maybe gotten a few chords of so far...but if you stay with them, the song will manifest and the rhythms of the song and the melodies...it's such hard work—to trust your own voice, and it's just about the most important thing a writer can do.”

Join me as we discover how Anne Lammott creates out loud.

Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage - Bookshop | Amazon US | Amazon UK

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