I love being in the creative industry! Every single day there’s incredible work being produced and I forever have a list of content that engages, inspires, teaches, or shifts the way I think. As a writer, I’m always reading. I’m always absorbing. I’m always coming across excellent articles and something I’m going to try to do more often is to share those pieces – not only as a means for coming back to it in my own self-reflection, but to spark discussion, new ways of thinking, and engagement.

Here’s the first edition of “What I’m Reading This Week,” a collection of quotes, excerpts, articles, thoughts, images and ideas I’ve stumbled across in the last seven days, organized for your browsing pleasure. 😊 And here’s where you can find additional weeks.

If anything interests, excites, frustrates, confuses you, etc. feel free to leave a comment below and we can talk! (Love hearing from all of you!)

1. “February” by Rachel Mannheimer.

Excerpt: “I thought I stored my emotions in air and, through my skin, absorbed them.
And the light, returning, nudged me from sleep, and later walked me to dinner,
a hand at my back, giving me shape. I’d say that I found it companionable.”

Okay, I just love these lines because they feel reminiscent of the way I’m continually feeling emotion, expressing emotion, and then trying to dissipate that emotion into the world as I move through my day. Do you ever feel like this? Comfort in releasing? Finding solace in nature? Carrying your feelings with you as if they were a tangible object? (Or maybe I’m just weird.)

2. This A-Z sandwich guide from Bon Appétit.

Michael Graydon / Nikole Herriott

This was literally the most visually stimulating content I’ve come across all week. And I love to eat, so naturally this was epic.

3. This interesting male perspective piece by Daniele Fiandaca on International Women’s Day.

“On IWD, I believe we should also shine a focus on men. Not to celebrate them en masse, as my co-founder says ironically, ‘every day is international man’s day’. Rather, to ask them what they’re doing to champion equality…Change will not come if men don’t lean in too.”

On one had, I’m frustrated because I feel like the whole point of IWD is to focus on women. And yet, I also feel like we can’t acknowledge one sex without the other – we are so closely tied. It’s valuable to figure out how we can work for and with one another for change, and encourage one another to be vulnerable. Check out this piece. Do you agree or disagree? (Feel free to comment below.)

4. This creepy release on ‘preserving your brain.’

Because apparently that’s a thing, now? Except you have to be dead and there’s a waiting list people are paying $10,000 to be on. Wild.

5. This list of body-inclusive habits.

Which I totally love because I don’t always think about the way I talk to myself or compliment myself. Sometimes a simple shift from outward to inward compliments (for myself and others) can really make self-image positivity center on things other than the body.

6. This interesting article on the objectivity of journalism vs. creative writing.

“As a novelist, your impulse is toward multiplicity: multiple voices, multiple perceptions, multiple nuances—the ambiguity in human communication. Fiction really is the ultimate home for that sense of ambiguity.”

I find this interesting because truthfully, I’m perplexed. I’ve always thought that creative writing should be exploratory, open, and subjective based upon characters – that’s what makes the experience real for readers. Yet, there is value in having objectivity, as to not try to be in the head of every figure in the book. What do you think?

7. This list of amazing female-role models in books by Jojo Moyes.

You may remember Jojo Moyes as the author of Me Before You and After You (both great books, by the way). But she compiled a short list of books with inspiring female roles and I’m starting to comb through them.

Those are the biggest pieces of this week; I’ll be sharing (as consistently as possible) on Fridays!

Anything awesome you’ve stumbled upon that you want to share? Drop the link below! Comments on any of the above? Feel free to talk – I love hearing from you!
 

Featured Image Credit: Joao Silas

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