Emerging Form
Tuesday @ 6:30PM
Emerging Form is a podcast about creative process. It’s a conversation between friends — science writer Christie Aschwanden and poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer — in which we discuss the joys, the agonies and the black holes of our creative endeavors. Each episode, we discuss issues and questions that plague creative people. Season 1 tackles question like: How can I get useful feedback? What’s the best way to counteract existential angst? How do I know when a project is finished? Can hard work overcome mediocre talent? How do I push through when I’m stuck? When should I call it quits on a project and when should I push through? How do I build a creative habit?
Latest Episodes
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“I turn to the poem, I turn to the page for a sense of hope, how to move through life, how to get through a day,” says Danusha Laméris. “I have come to a place where I trust the poem more than I trust myself.” In our second conversation with the award-winning poet, she shares from her newest collection, Blade by Blade, and we talk about how a writing practice grows us, how it allows us to “salvage time,” and how it helps us see how connected we other with the past and with others. -
“Doing this book took me out of my comfort zone, into new fields I wasn’t comfortable with,” says Alex Hutchinson, speaking of his newest book The Explorer's Gene: Why We Seek Big Challenges, New Flavors, and the Blank Spots on the Map. And so it is we speak with the expert on exploration about his own experiences of exploring in creative practice. Why are we drawn to what we don’t know? How do we know when enough is enough? When is it better to build on what we know than launch into new territory? And what of that revelation that seems to stay just beyond our grasp? -
“I had built up a lot of don’ts in my head about writing,” says bestselling author Paolo Bacigalupi. In this episode, we speak with the speculative fiction novelist about how he went from wondering if he would ever write again to publishing his new book, NAVOLA. We cover daily habits, discipline, pleasure, and meeting the negative voices in your head. -
How do the stories we tell become intricately involved with our identities? And how do we change the stories that are not serving us? In this episode of Emerging Form, we speak with storyteller Kristin Pedemonti, founder of Steer Your Story, about Narrative Therapy Practices. We discuss unpeeling layers of stories, how to “thicken the threads” of a preferred narrative, the importance of play, and meeting “stuckness.” -
Sometimes, telling a story can save you. In this episode, we speak with novelist, short story writer and journalist Charlie Jane Anders about her new book, “how writing helps us set rules, create frames, and surprise ourselves with what is possible. “Stories keep us alive,” she says. We also talk about writing and politics, writing the story you want to read, changing gears and creativity as a “saving grace.” -
How can our creative practice extend to the way we treat other people? How might we build entire careers out of our creative dreams? These questions are at the heart of our conversation with Sherry Richert Belul.
