Episode 5: Writing Creatively with Callie Feyen

We couldn’t wait to chat with Callie Feyen for the Chasing Creative podcast! If you’ve ever read her blog, you know why: her essays are stunning glimpses into a life lived with eyes wide open, taking in the world and finding the beauty in the everyday. Callie is a writer, a teacher, and a mom to two awesome daughters. In this episode, she discusses how balancing the three of those callings has looked differently in each season of life, how she learned to bring her writing into her daily life, and adds a half a dozen more books to everyone’s TBR list.
Here’s where to find Callie:
Her essays on her blog are fabulous.
You can also find her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Here’s where to find Ashley:
Website: www.BrooksEditorial.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brookseditorial
Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial
Here’s where to find Abbigail:
Website: www.InkwellsandImages.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbigailekriebs/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inkwellsandimages/
Mini Book Club
Tell It Slant by Brenda Miller & Suzanne Paolo
Rumors of Water by L.L. Barkat
Handling the Truth by Beth Kephart
Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr
The Memoir Project by Marion Roach Smith
Great with Child: Letters to a Young Mother by Beth Ann Fennelly
Quotes from this Episode:

"I threw away everything. I was just going to be a mom. That was what I
was going to do." -- Callie
"I had always written. Even before I was seriously writing, I was writing." -- Callie
"What I loved about writing even as a little girl was that I loved to go back and look at something
again and again." -- Callie
"It’s always been a balm for me to revisit something." -- Callie
"I remember thinking: that is exactly what I love to do." -- Callie
"I basically DIY-d my own career. I teach part time. I write part time. I am a mom all the time." -- Callie
"I had six hours a week to write. I would get any textbook I could find and I would go to a
coffeeshop and I would just write for three hours." -- Callie
"It’s really good to hear from someone who has done that and made it work and says it was worth it. It’s encouraging". -- Ashley
"I felt so much better after having been away. Sometimes motherhood is
like looking at a crossword puzzle - you have to step away a bit to
get the answers." -- Callie
"It was nice to say 'hi' to myself again." -- Callie
"My goal is to write. When I sit down, my goal is to keep writing." --
Callie
"I always have a list of things I want to write about." -- Callie
"Every single gig I have is because I was already writing." -- Callie
"When I am try to change my voice to fit in, I get rejected." -- Callie
"When you first hear that voice that says you should never write about
this, I think you should." -- Callie
"I learned how to write dialogue by studying my daughters." -- Callie
"I was reading Virginia Woolf 48 hours ago and now I’m folding socks." --
Callie
"If writing is going to be a part of you, you have to fit it into your
day." -- Callie
"Before I had kids, I decided I was going to write. I had all day! I
didn’t write. I did not have the discipline to do it all day." -- Callie
"It would make me really sad if somebody said 'I would love to be a
mother but I’m a writer so I can’t do that.' ” -- Callie
"It’s my story. Nobody is going to write it except for me." -- Callie

"That really stings. Maybe you’re no good. Do you want to keep writing

anyway? The answer is always yes." -- Callie
"You may have this negative emotion. But what else do you feel?" --
Callie
"The three of us combined could probably talk about books for 3 or 4
hours straight." -- Abbigail
"You can’t be a good writer if you aren’t a good reader." -- Callie