Author Joanna Roddy

My friend Katie Gray loves non-conformity, psychology, and NPR. She told me recently that people who work regularly with their hands have less occurrence of depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders. I’m not sure the exact statistics, but I’m willing to believe her.

When it comes to the writing life, I discovered early-on that I can only sit at my desk and work for so long before I have to get up and do something. Writing is all in-my-head. I took up step aerobics. But that wasn’t enough. I needed an creative outlet that was tactile and immediate. I needed the satisfaction of finishing projects in a short time. [...]

*Mythmakers is a recurring post topic to highlight mythic storytellers

“Myth is necessary because reality is so much larger than rationality.” -Rolland Hein

I’m a little obsessed with mythmakers. Who are such people? Storytellers, yes. That’s a prerequisite. But mythmakers have a talent that surpasses the ability to just tell a good story. While their work is often entertaining, the goal is not entertainment for its own sake.

What mythmakers do, at their very essence, is to tell the story of humanity. Myth brings us out of our minor stories with their personal melodramas and leads us squarely to the realm of the major story that is being told in all of our lives, collectively. Ironically, most mythmakers access this human territory through confrontation with the supernatural: magic, evil, gods, wizards, and devils. What better way to force us to get past ourselves and into something much, much bigger? [...]

(Research-Driven Writing)

People sometimes think that the creative life requires a certain kind of personality: dreamy, eccentric, and brimming with wild ideas. More like Luna Lovegood, as Harry Potter analogies go. But writers come in all types (pun intended), and while we all need a hefty dose of ingenuity and inspiration, I’m a lot more like Hermione. The girl with the frizzy hair and the books. The girl who always has her hand up in class. The girl who thinks expulsion is worse than death. Yeah, I can relate. [...]

Courtesy Getty Images

Being a new parent is notorious for sleeplessness, harried expressions, and a refrigerator calendar more out-of-control than Boo Radley’s front yard. Being a creative of any kind mostly requires one to work a “day job” and squeeze the creative life into pockets of time carved out on evenings, weekends, and lunch breaks. So what do you do when your day job is being a parent? It’s not like you can punch your timecard and go home. Home is your job.

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I have come to a place in my life where I can look back on it and be surprised by what I see. I’m thirty, which could be almost halfway through. A third, if I’m blessed with longevity. Too much water has passed under my hull by now to see the course I’ve taken in its entirety.

This week I’ve had several reminders of pieces of my life I’d all-but-forgotten. Marveling at who I was then, who I am now.

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