Spark and Hustle
Welcome to Spark and Hustle. The podcast that ignites your inspiration and fuels your hustle in the dynamic worlds of career and entrepreneurship. Join our host Karina a marketing junkie, on a journey of exploration, conversation, and empowerment.
In each episode, we dive deep into stories of professionals, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders. Discover the spark that ignites their journeys and the hustles that propelled them to success.
Whether navigating the corporate ladder or building your empire, follow Spark and Hustle for inspiration, practical advice, and occasional humor. Get ready to spark your ambitions and elevate your hustle game.
We believe in the power of connection. Join our community on Spotify, iTunes, and Instagram to share your experiences, learn from others, and become part of a supportive network of dreamers and doers. 🚀✨
@sparknhustlepodcast
Spark and Hustle
Balancing Poetry and Tech | Emily's Journey from Private Musings to Published Art
What if your most private musings could become a beacon of inspiration for others? Join us on Spark and Hustle as we welcome Emily, a poet and visual artist from Austin, Texas, who has fearlessly turned her personal writings into a published collection. Emily opens the episode with her evocative poem "Austin, Texas," from her book "Slightly Tilted, Perfectly Centered," setting the stage for a journey from Nebraska to Austin filled with outdoor adventures, live music, and resilience in the tech industry. She reveals how being laid off twice was a blessing in disguise, providing the time she needed to transform her poetry into a published book.
Emily shares the emotional process of turning private thoughts into public art, highlighting the invaluable support of her editors, Morgan and McKay, and the guidance of the self-publishing consulting firm, MHAUS. She dives into the complexities of self-publishing, discussing everything from the creative challenges behind her book cover to the cost considerations of multiple revisions. Emily reads her poignant poem "Charles Bridge, Prague," reflecting on how transformative experiences have shaped her work, and underscores the importance of retaining creative control throughout the journey. Learn how her chronological structuring of poems offers a poetic retelling of her twenties, capturing highs and lows in a relatable, authentic way.
Balancing a tech career with creative pursuits, especially during a pandemic, is no easy feat, but Emily's story is a testament to resilience and adaptability. From the ideation stage in 2020 to a table read by fall 2022, she talks about the extended free time that unemployment provided and how it contributed to her creative process. Emily offers practical advice for aspiring authors, including insights into Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing and tips for avoiding burnout by maintaining diverse creative outlets. Tune in to discover how Emily's journey can inspire you to balance your professional life with your passions, all while navigating the ups and downs with grace and creativity.
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Welcome to Spark and Hustle. I'm Karina, your host, and today we have the pleasure of delving into the world of Emily, a remarkable individual who has beautifully woven her love for writing into the fabric of her corporate career. This episode marks a special occasion. I'm very excited. It's our first exploration into the realm of poetry and professional prowess. Join me as we uncover the unique journey of Emily, whose book of poems, slightly tilted, perfectly centered serves as a testament to the harmonious balance she's achieved between her literary pursuits and her corporate endeavors. Get ready to be inspired by her story of creativity, resilience and the art of finding equilibrium in life's multifaceted tapestry. To start, I'd love to have Emily do a reading of one of my favorite poems in her book.
Speaker 2:Austin, Texas. There is no room for sadness in Austin. All neon and glow light, the way To happier times. Our happiest times are here and here to stay. I couldn't reach west of the hills, so I stayed by the river. It's moving steady as it ever was. Let's hope the rain's coming quicker. A hot July won't turn me down. Where in the world would I go? Because once the sun is gone, the moon and stars expect to show. Movement is embedded in our language. How do you sway? How do you step? Whatever story you'd like to tell, dance with me and your secrets kept. Story you'd like to tell, dance with me and your secrets kept. I'll stay up all night and dance by your side as neon and glow light, the way to happier times. Our happiest times are here, and here to stay.
Speaker 1:Hello, welcome to Spark and Hustle, the podcast that ignites your inspiration and fuels your hustle in the dynamic worlds of career and entrepreneurship. I'm your host, karina, a marketing junkie on a journey of exploration, conversation and empowerment. In each episode, we dive deep into the stories of professionals, entrepreneurs and thought leaders, discover the spark that ignites their journeys and the hustles that propel them to success. Whether you're navigating the corporate ladder or building your empire, follow Sparking Hustle for inspiration, practical advice and why not? Occasional homework. Get ready to spark your ambitions and elevate your hustle game. We believe in the power of connection. Join our community on Spotify, itunes and Instagram to share your experiences, learn from others and become part of a supportive network of dreamers and doers.
Speaker 1:Again, emily, thank you so much. I feel very fortunate to be able to interview you and get to know more of your professional background. I was really pleased and happy to meet you a few weeks ago whenever you were presenting your new book, and I've actually read a few poems, as I mentioned. So I'm very excited to continue to read through those poems and to learn from your professional background and what really got you into writing. So, to start off, if you could just tell me a little bit about yourself, give an introduction and give us a little bit of your background.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, thank you, karina. I'm excited to be here. Thank you for having me. A little bit about me I am originally from Nebraska and now I live in Austin, texas, where we met. I've actually been here for it'll be six years. It's been six years since yesterday, so celebrating my six-year anniversary in Austin. But yeah, I am a poet and a visual artist. I have been writing for over a decade. I just published my first poetry book, slightly Tilted, perfectly Centered, which we met at the reading at a friend's house, and I just published that book last year at the end of the year, in November. Outside of my creative pursuits, I've been working in tech for the last six years. Creative pursuits I've been working in tech for the last six years. And outside of work, I enjoy running and being outside, anything like that, and Austin, I'm going to see live music and shows. So yeah, that's a little bit about me, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for sharing and congratulations for your sixth year in Austin. I just recently moved, a few months ago, and I'm totally loving everything you just mentioned running outside, tech outdoors. Everything aligns perfectly with my goals, so I'm very excited to hear that that's also a few of the things that you enjoy doing, and you've managed to come to Austin for the tech world. And then you're also a writer, so I wanted to ask how you managed to pursue your passion for writing alongside your professional career, if you could share with us how you found balance between the two aspects of life, which I'm on an ongoing journey on how to balance my passions with my professional life.
Speaker 2:I'm sure you've heard how volatile the tech industry has been for the past few years. So I actually have been laid off twice in the past three years, so that definitely freed up a lot of my time to focus on creative pursuits. So I don't know if I would say it's balance. It's more two extremes, like a lot of work or then no work at all. But that first bout of unemployment in 2020, during the pandemic, I came up with the idea for this book while I was on a run. I was going through a lot of my creative inventory collages, my photography, and then I worked through my writing and I had much more written down than I had imagined. Most of it was digital, so there was a time stamp. I'd say 95% of what I wrote in the book, slightly tilted, perfectly centered is from my notes app on my iPhone, and so it was really easy to get started editing and to form this idea.
Speaker 2:That was a chronological kind of poetic retelling of my 20s. From there, when I did become employed again, I would work on evenings or weekends, so that was definitely a balancing act. And then, when I was ending a job and then about to start a new one summer of 2022,. I took time off intentionally between those two jobs and took about a month to finish editing my book with my editors McKay Mitzi and Morgan Hogue. And then last year I was laid off for about six months and took that time to do final edits and I designed the book myself. So I designed the book and then published it. So I would say, as far as balance goes, it was kind of the, you know, the two extremes. My situation is very unique, but when I was working, you know, I just had to rigorously prioritize how I used my time.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's good to hear that you were able to make a positive action out of the layoffs. I'm pretty sure it wasn't easy mentally and emotionally to be in such a uncertain time. I would say Definitely, definitely. So would you say. This really helped you cope with those uncertain times.
Speaker 2:That's a really good way to put it. It definitely gave me a purpose and a sense of routine when I would have meetings with my editors or focus on working on certain sections of the book, and so that definitely helped add some purpose to those times when I felt a little bit like I had too much free time and needed to focus a little more, and I actually have a copy of your book in my hands at the moment.
Speaker 1:Could you tell us a little bit about the process of writing the book? Maybe it could be motivation and inspiration for others who are thinking of eventually one day publishing their own book. I know I have a few friends that are writers themselves, like to write on their free time, and I think it could be a great way to showcase what you write.
Speaker 2:A lot of the inspiration for this book is from experiences that I had throughout my 20s. The premise of the book is each chapter is an age ages 20 through 29. And so each section, each chapter, has pieces that were written during that year of my life and, like I said, they were written on the notes app on my phone so I could timestamp them. So some of them are inspired by people in my life, situations I was in with them, either friendships, family, romantic relationships. Some of them are from experiences like going to concerts or traveling or living abroad, or just being in school or work so different aspects of life, I'd say.
Speaker 2:What helped me bring that all together was, like I said, I just thought of this idea while I was running. So, I think, having some other kind of outlet for me, which is usually running I do photography and collage and other types of visual art that helps me use other senses and get other perspectives. That helps bring things together in a unique way. And then, like I said, this happened during the pandemic, where I had a lot of time to reset and to rest, and I do think that, as creatives, we need a chance to rest, a chance to be a little bored and then let things marinate and then really good ideas tend to present themselves. After you've had time to kind of step away or free your mind, if you will.
Speaker 1:Yeah what do you like best? Do you like using the digital apps platforms to write, like your notes app, or do you like to grab a piece of paper and pen and and write what? What do you prefer?
Speaker 2:uh, right now I'm still about convenience. I feel like that's been something I've uh leaned towards with writing on my notes. App is oh, I'm here and maybe I'm away from home or away from my journal and so I just need to write something down quickly, and so having that has been super helpful. I do think there's value in pen to paper. I journal a lot and so that is helpful as well. I think it. You know, I don't think that there's one is better than the. I think it's more personal preference.
Speaker 1:Yeah, personal preference and inconvenience, like you said, because, like you mentioned, that was very helpful for you to already have it written down digitally. I'm sure it made the process easier.
Speaker 2:Is that right? Yeah, definitely, definitely. It was a lot of copying and pasting and still some editing, but, uh, definitely quicker than having to type up everything, had it just been handwritten and previous to pandemic, because you mentioned that that's when you really started to have more time into writing.
Speaker 1:But do you recall previous to the pandemic how did you get into writing and did you journal when you were a kid? Or do you remember the first time that you figured out that you enjoyed writing?
Speaker 2:I have enjoyed writing since elementary school and definitely was one of my favorite subjects in high school school and definitely was one of my favorite subjects in high school, so always prioritized writing through my education in high school and college and started journaling pretty regularly in college and used that as a therapeutic outlet and just a way to remember moments in time at the beginning of college and then after college throughout my adult life.
Speaker 2:So I've always been a writer, I've always considered myself a writer, but most of the things I wrote until age 28, which is how old I was during the pandemic I didn't consider sharing it with the world or had never published anything or thought about that as like a path I would go on.
Speaker 2:Most of this was more therapeutic release. So it was very vulnerable and very kind of scary at times to go through these pieces I had written with the intention of no one seeing and put it out into the world or think about putting it out into the world. There was a lot of back and forth with that at the initial stages of this process but with my editors I was able to find parts of it that felt really valuable or really necessary to share and I really credit them to guiding me through that process and making it less scary like what sparked you making the decision to to really put it out to the world um, I think I would more describe it as I had come up with this idea and then had seen, actually, one of my editors morgan is a poet herself and had come across her book and was really, uh, drawn to it.
Speaker 2:I had bought a copy and was just very excited about this and asked to talk to her about her process, and she was very open to sharing how her process was.
Speaker 2:Mckay was her editor as well, so the two of them have a kind of self-publishing consulting firm, if you will, and so they were very easy to work with from the beginning.
Speaker 2:They knew what they were doing and knew how to set me up for success and understand if my goals and my hopes with this were aligned. And then also, once I sent them the rough draft of the manuscript, they were so in love with the themes and the, the concepts that I presented so they like having them be excited about my work gave me that extra validation that well, while I like what I've written like, I like my own work, having someone else give that same energy back to you is such an amazing feeling and it helps give you that confidence to be like, yes, I can put this out into the world. So I think working with the right people, like having them come into my life at just the right time, was super valuable in helping me see like this is a possibility. This is something I can do, and I can do it my own way and have success. Look like what I want it to look like with this.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that. And how would you recommend people finding their team? So you mentioned that you did you reach out? How could people find their own publishers or team?
Speaker 2:I think it depends on the goals of the project. There are publishers out there that's published poetry books, so people can submit their manuscripts online, submit to publishing houses. That whole traditional publishing process still exists and people can still go that route. I chose to self-publish and so with that you can find many editors online and through word of mouth. I found mine through a mutual friend, morgan. The poet is a friend of a friend and so when I saw her book featured on Instagram, I reached out to her and then she and McKay scheduled a meeting and we connected from there and their agency, mhouse M-H-A-U-S.
Speaker 2:I'm not sure if they're taking new writers, but they're a great place to start because they have a ton of resources for authors who want to self-publish. But I think it's important. If you want to get your work published in a book, to understand your goals, do you want to have full control over it and set your own metrics for success and work on your own timeline and have control over the design and the printing process, then self-publishing is probably the route for you. If you want to more reach, a bigger audience or maybe a very specific audience, working with a publishing house will get you maybe a broader audience or a very specific audience, depending on the publishing house, and you won't have to put as much cost into publishing your book. It really just depends on your goals. For me, my goal was just to accomplish this feat of publishing a book and work within a certain budget and a certain timeline, which that fluctuated a lot throughout this process, and McKay and Morgan were very understanding of that.
Speaker 1:I think it all just depends on your goals, I'm sure the process is different for everyone, like you mentioned, depending on what they're trying to accomplish and what their goals are. And, as I'm holding your book here, slightly Tilted, perfect, perfectly centered for those who are listening, Emily has a picture of herself and I can let her talk a little bit about the cover and how you chose the design of the cover. Did the publishers also guide you to what to do for your cover? Or maybe, if you can talk to us a little bit about the behind the scenes of this blurred picture? Yeah, of course, which is really interesting. It really sparks a lot of questions. When I saw the cover, I really thought like, okay, what is this? What does this mean?
Speaker 2:Oh great, I love that. Yeah, I was hoping it would spark some curiosity, so I'm glad that it did. Because I self-published, I needed to find either my own designer, morgan and McKay my editors. They had designers they recommended as well.
Speaker 2:But the design process was really daunting to me. I didn't really know what I wanted as far as cover art or what I wanted my book to look like, and so I knew, going into the design process, it would probably be quite expensive on my end, since I didn't have a vision. It would probably be quite expensive on my end, since I didn't have a vision. Not having an idea of what I wanted design-wise meant there would probably be multiple revisions, which is costly. I didn't have the budget for something like that, so I used the InDesign, which is a popular design tool. I've used it in high school and college, and so I retaught myself that tool to design the layout and the cover.
Speaker 2:The cover is actually a photo that a friend of mine took when we were just out of college. We were abroad, and it's actually one of the poems that I wrote in chapter 23 is like based off of this night when my friends and I were out in Prague, um, and so I took that photo and tilted it on its side. But it's a photo from the poem Charles Bridge, prague. Um is is that evening. So yeah, 23-year-old me in that photo.
Speaker 1:Nice. Do you want to read that poem, charles?
Speaker 2:Bridge Prague. Walking across the Charles Bridge, Prague, sunset, laughing at the world, a Monday night, with nowhere to be. What could go wrong? We'll see. Anything is possible when you're 23. Anything is possible in good company, anything is possible with absinthe. And then, roughly 12 hours later, crossing the bridge, sunrise, sobbing, shaking tears into the river, convulsing with fear. How could I let all my demons come out in one night, bravo.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you, oh gosh, for reading that. Thank you, I love that and it definitely took me back to when I was 23 myself. I was thinking what was I doing when I was 23?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, we're all doing something slightly embarrassing, or something that makes our head shake a little bit at 23. That's the point, though that's the age.
Speaker 1:I loved it. No, thank you so much for reading it. And as I continue to read through some of the other poems, that's the one question that's coming up for me the most, just re-miscizing my 20s and what was I doing at that same age that you're mentioning in all these poems? So, thank you so much for reading that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's. That's one of the um outcomes I hope comes through, or one of the pieces that I hope is relatable is that we all have this nostalgia or this kind of whimsical feeling of that's that decade in your 20s so much happens, so much growth and so much change and I feel like people can relate, even if the ages don't align completely. Uh, we all have our own paths and journeys and I feel like some of that will look different for everyone, but we can still relate to these feelings of uncertainty or feelings of, you know, trying to take life for all that it is and still maybe taking too much or coming up short. Just all these different ups and downs of life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%. Where can they find the book?
Speaker 2:The book is on Amazon. I publish through Amazon's self-printing site so you can buy the book on Amazon. Just search the title and it'll show up, okay.
Speaker 1:Thank you, and I wanted to ask you is there a reason behind the structure on why you chose to structure each chapter like it is? Is there a meaning behind the order of the poems?
Speaker 2:So there is a flow to it. I hope it feels natural when people read it, and I played with different options with my editors, who tried a layout that was thematic so not in chronological order but organized by theme, and that didn't feel as natural as this process of getting to see the author if I could think of the author as a character almost outside of myself. But just seeing this person grow from ages 20 to 29 and a lot of people have said they can see a real shift in the writing style at age 28, which is the year I decided that I'm going to turn this into a book and so to know that people can see on the page me taking myself seriously as a writer and deciding that that's part of my identity, I think is really cool and I hope that growth comes through and people see how intentional it is to start the way that I did from ages 20 to 29, rather than mixing everything up or having some kind of like sectioned off theme or something like that nice.
Speaker 1:Thank you, um so very important to, like you mentioned, to have a great team of edit of um editors and publishers, um, because they're their guidance on every little detail about the book.
Speaker 2:Right, um, I will say, as someone who's self-publishing, I'm the. I'm the publisher, so my editors were there for guidance, but at the end of the day, I still had full autonomy and full creative control so I could take or leave their edits. There were certain things that we would maybe go back and forth on and I could see their point of view and would adapt accordingly and maybe make the changes. Sometimes I wouldn't make the changes, so each poem was different. But having people that you trust to be vulnerable with and get into the nitty gritty details with, I think is super important. And get into the nitty-gritty details with, I think is super important. And, yeah, we all clicked so well that it was really helpful to get on a call, get into it and know that I could be my authentic self with them.
Speaker 1:And they really wanted to have my work be presented as its best work. Oh, okay, gotcha. So would you say that's one of the biggest, and me I'm a little bit ignorant on the topic, but would that be one of the biggest differences between being you the publisher, then going through um another, a third party publisher that they, you would basically have control? The author has control over the publishing instead of when you're going to a third party I can only speak to the process that I went through.
Speaker 2:So working with these editors, like I said, and then having helping guide me through the editing process, and then when it came to publishing, the KDP website has a ton of resources, so that was helpful to look at those resources and helping design the book and helping format it, and so, because I was doing all of that, I had control over it. I'm not sure how different that process is if you work with a traditional publisher.
Speaker 1:Okay, Okay, no problem. I was just curious on what the differences were from a traditional publisher than publishing yourself and touching on a little bit about the balance or the corporate world. So you've had various roles you mentioned. You've done marketing and I was going to ask you how has your experience in the field influenced your writing and vice versa? Yeah, so how was your experience in the field in your professional path influenced your writing journey and vice versa?
Speaker 2:creative role and I think because of that, because every day I don't have to flex these artistic creative muscles, I'm able to come back to my creative work refreshed or like ready to look at those projects in a different light. And also, I think, in my nine to five job I'm doing a lot of problem solving and so I think those creative skills lend itself to creative problem solving. So I'm coming at these issues at work with a different perspective, maybe a different set of skills, or I'm able to, you know, pause and step away from things and then come back to it and solve it, just like I do with these poems. Sometimes I'm editing them over several months, or even with the case of this book, it was years, and so I think that they're parallel processes in working in a traditional creative way with writing or poetry and then coming at creative problem solving with these same skills.
Speaker 1:Okay, so it's more like a creative outlet to reset and come Exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a great way to put it, okay, okay nice and how?
Speaker 1:so how long did it? How long was the process of publishing the books that you told?
Speaker 2:it perfectly, center the process itself was maybe two years, two and a half years. I thought of the idea in, I want to say 2020 or 2021. It was sometime during the pandemic and then actually started editing the book with my editors at the beginning of 2022. We worked on it for about six months together and then I had a month off work where we finalized things in a more robust way. And then the fall of 2022, I had a table read, which is more like a book club, if you will, or a way to get potential readers and ideal readers and other writers to read your book and get feedback writers to read your book and get feedback.
Speaker 2:And then last year I wasn't working on it for a few months while I was focusing on my more of the corporate job, and then, with the layoff that happened, I was able to refocus my energy back on the book and designed it in four months A little longer than that. I took my time with it. I will say it is funny having the periods of unemployment that I did, helpful in getting rest and getting that creativity reinvigorated in other ways. But I am definitely one of those people where, if I have all the time in the world, you know it's hard to give yourself a deadline there. There are pros and cons to having all of that free time yeah, no, definitely.
Speaker 1:Um, there there are a lot of pros and cons and you've mentioned in your um nine to five job you did a lot of problem solving. Could you talk to us a little bit about what entails your current role at the moment?
Speaker 2:So my current role is within the marketing function, helping understand how we get more users to our product. And so, if that's through different webinar content or like what that package looks like to get a hold of potential users, and so I would say the creative problem solving. And that is like how do you? There's some writing or some communication to it, because how do you get in touch with these people, how do you explain your message to them?
Speaker 1:And so, coming across that in a creative way, Okay, so you are still able to apply some of those writing skills into your current role at times? Yeah, definitely, okay, nice, that's really good. It's a good mix of your professional job with the passions that you have, which is writing and then so do you have any plans to publish a book in the future, or would you consider doing the whole process again?
Speaker 2:And what kind of writing would you like to do? Definitely I would love to publish more poetry books. I plan to, not in the near future, but just in general. I feel very comfortable with the self-publishing process now and would again look to mhouse as a creative partner in that.
Speaker 1:So definitely see that something I would like to do in the future great well, I look forward to see, um, what other writing you do in the future. I wanted to ask you also for publishing on am, through amazon, because you said uh, you or correct me if I'm wrong. I don't know if I'm saying it right, but you publish through Amazon, you sell it through Amazon. Do they take like a certain percentage of fee, or how much does it cost for you? Or is there a fee that you have to pay for every sale you make? How does it work?
Speaker 2:Yes, so it's free to be on the site and to actually submit the book. It didn't cost any certain fee, but they will take I believe it's 60% and then also the cost of creating the book. So they'll subtract the cost of creating the book. So they'll subtract the cost of creating the book and then from there 60% of the cost between what you're selling it at and from my research last year and the year before when I was really getting into this, that was the most I was getting the most return out of. Any other self-publishing site was through Amazon, and so I chose that one because the process was simplest. It ships to pretty much everywhere and, like I said, I got the most return from that site. I'm not sure if that process has changed since then.
Speaker 1:Okay, Now, yeah, good to know that that was whenever you were doing it back in the day, because you know things are changing so fast lately, especially with the different platforms, websites. And then another question I had in regards related to that do you keep your inventory and you're the one shipping out, or do you give it to Amazon and they ship it out for you With?
Speaker 2:KDP, kindle Direct Publishing. They print on demand. So every time someone orders a book, that book will be printed once they order it and then sent to the customer. So I don't have to keep an inventory. But I can order wholesale books and keep them at my home if I want. I've done that, but usually I just direct people to Amazon. It's a bit easier for everybody.
Speaker 1:Okay, no, wow, that sounds pretty straightforward and not a lot on your plate for you to do once it's already published. So basically, they take care of everything for you, right? Yeah, exactly, that's good. That's good. And then I wanted to say so for aspiring authors who are also balancing a professional career what advice would you give them? Based on your own experience, I know your situation was just basically giving you an opportunity to focus on your passion, but would you give any advice to those who are trying to balance their professional career with their passions, like writing?
Speaker 2:Definitely definitely. And I will say I agree that my experience was very unique, but in the moment it didn't feel like this time for creativity. You know, during the pandemic and last year it were stressful times and I did spend a lot of energy looking for work or up-leveling my skills and focusing a lot on my professional career. That time in my life it was still very stressful and still not an opportunity that I saw for creativity. I think in hindsight it definitely was, but at the moment I was not really sure what I should be focusing on or, I guess, where I should spend my energy. My first priority was for most of those, for both of those experiences, was to find a job and I think in hindsight it's really easy to look back and see how special that was to stay creative and stay present with this book project. But one thing I will say as advice is to not wait for the right moment, especially because, like I said, it won't always feel like the right moment in time, but make sure to carve out a little bit of time each day, make the right moment for yourself.
Speaker 2:I'm a big believer in daily habits, so I try to journal every day, I listen to music every day and do other creative things. I run a lot or get outside just having other creative passions to make sure I'm never in a you know, a creative drought. That way I'm always flexing those muscles in one way or another. One book that I would recommend that really changed my life and my approach to creativity is the book the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. If you haven't read it yet, I would highly recommend it. I think that book, during that first stretch of unemployment is doing all of those activities, created this mental shift. That was the catalyst I needed to prepare and write and create my poetry book, and so I highly recommend that book.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you for your insights and recommendations for people who are trying to balance things. I haven't heard of that book, so I'm going to look it up and check it out for sure. How have you stayed resilient on situations of uncertainty like that, when you're being let go? I know myself I've been let go once and it was a very stressful time, and it was a very stressful time and it, just the way that it happened, messed a lot with my mental health, just really thinking like, okay, why is this happening? Um, you know, am I not good enough? Or you know you could just go in a rabbit hole of negativity, but I wanted to ask you how have you stayed resilient in an industry that changes a lot?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I totally agree and identify with all the things you mentioned, so I'm sorry that you have had to go through this too. It's not a fun experience. I would not recommend it, but it does happen and I think what I learned the most throughout it is to be very accepting, to just feel all of the things I'm feeling. I know that's kind of a very poet's response, but I think that poetry has taught me a lot about processing things and to just feel exactly what you're feeling in the moment. Having an outlet, a healthy outlet, like writing or exercise, helps even more with processing those emotions and moving past it and then, like you said, becoming more resilient, taking that experience and learning from it. I think that's a very short version of it, because it was a very scary and uncertain and, at times, very awful time, but, like we mentioned at the beginning, something great came out of it. I was able to publish this book and I learned a lot and was able to express myself in a way that felt very true to me through that experience.
Speaker 1:And you've kind of touched on answered a little bit of one of my next questions. I know we only have a few minutes here, but maybe can you walk us through the creative process when writing poetry, and how do you find inspiration and translate it into?
Speaker 2:your work. A big part of my creative process is daily habits. I listen to music every day. I often go on walks or go running. I'm outside often.
Speaker 2:In Austin we have a lot of good live music so I see a show about once a week, if not a couple times a month, and these outlets and being with friends or things like that usually spark something and so I, like I said, use my notes app so I'll write things down. Like, for example, there's a poem in the book and all it says is sky so pink, you'd think it was blushing. That's all. That's a poem in the book and all it says is sky so pink, you'd think it was blushing. That's all. That's the poem. That poem was written after taking a walk after the rain in Austin.
Speaker 2:The sunset has this very specific shade of pink. After an evening rain. It's just so magical. So after I had seen that, I needed to write it down and now every time I see a really pink sunset, I think of that line. I think just being open to the world around you and writing down even something so simple or mundane as the color of the sky during a sunset is something to keep yourself open to and to not judge yourself for something that might seem silly, but later it could create something really beautiful.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful. It almost seems like you find inspiration in all the little things that come through your day and you're able to write basically about anything and create a poem out of it.
Speaker 2:Thank you, yeah, I've tried my best, so thank you, yes no, of course.
Speaker 1:No, it's really beautiful and I'm definitely probably going to think of that every time I look at the sunset now. But now, with a busy schedule, studying and achieving goals can be daunting. How do you manage your time effectively and you ensure progress both in your writing and in your professional career?
Speaker 2:I think with this, with achieving goals and balancing a busy schedule it's something I touched on earlier, just focusing on daily habits touched on earlier, just focusing on daily habits and so getting a little bit done each day, rather than feeling like you need to write a whole book in one day.
Speaker 2:No one's going to do that Just having little small goals every day or taking time out to write every day. But also, like I mentioned, I make sure I have other creative outlets or therapeutic outlets so I don't ever feel like I'm in a creative drought. Instead, I am working on photography or maybe it's just something simple, like redecorating my apartment or going on a run, walking through nature and observing what's around me, but just being present with other types of creative perspectives. So that way I don't have to focus all my time on one and, you know, kind of get burnt out. And I think that's really important in work to be open to new experiences, be open to new challenges, so that way you can diversify your skills and always be open to approaching different challenges or different things at work. I love that.
Speaker 1:Myself. I tried. I'm a runner as well and if I'm not running a marathon I really find it hard to balance my running. So if I don't go out and run over 10 miles I feel like I've disappointed myself. But then I really think back and say, hey, you know, if I at least go for a walk, it's something. It's a step towards getting back to running, and same with doing other types of exercising. I know I don't have to be exercising for a full hour, as long as I find even 10 minutes out of the day to do something. Just baby steps, it's better than nothing.
Speaker 2:Exactly Just like strengthening muscles and for people who are runners if you haven't been running in a while, you can't just go out and run a marathon, you need to up your mileage slowly. Marathon, you need to up your mileage slowly. It's the same kind of concepts.
Speaker 1:Thank you. And in regards of impact of poetry, poetry has a unique way of connecting with people on an emotional level and I've experienced it myself when I was at your reading. It was very touching, very emotional and even right now, when you were reading the poems, even though I might have already read it on the book, just listening to it. It always gets me. It's so touching, it almost makes me want to cry, for some reason, in a good way. So how do you hope your poetry resonates with readers and what message or feeling do you aim to convey through your work?
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. That's wow. I feel touched, so thank you. I hope that people, like we said before, they feel seen by some of these experiences. I hope that if they're inspired or if they want to write that they're inspired to write. You know they understand that if I can do it, they certainly can too.
Speaker 2:And another thing I wanted to touch on is the way that we met through a friend had offered to host, to let me read at his house, at his house, and just opening up.
Speaker 2:I hope this book and other experiences where I get to share the book or other experiences like that open people up to sharing their creativity with others, however that looks like, and just opening up to our community. So I hope that this experience and if people read my book and they get inspired, I hope that this experience and if people read my book and they get inspired, they share their creative pursuits with others and we continue to foster more of a community. I feel like I since then, have talked to more people about my book and opened up about it and have had others offer and inquire about having me read it in certain places, inquire about having me read it in certain places, and then also have had other community experiences where people are opening up and sharing their work, and I feel like that's so important, especially now, to connect with others and have community space and community gatherings where we can all express ourselves and share, you know, things that are important to us and our passions.
Speaker 1:Yes, 100%. I have to be very thankful of Leo. Leo Lacayo is who introduced me to Emily and that's how I got to know about her book, because he hosted a reading for her, and it's very strange that it just felt such a cultural gathering and, just like you said, a community gathering. I feel like I that was the first time I've been to a community gathering where, um, you know, we weren't just out in a house drinking and partying, I don't know. It just felt very wholesome to have a community gathering and even do a book reading.
Speaker 1:It was my first book reading ever as well, and it was truly inspiring to hear your poems and it really sparked so much curiosity for me to come up and I was afraid, I'm not gonna lie, I was very nervous when I thought about approaching you and asking you if you would be interested to come up into the show, but then I thought you know it's my only one chance and you know I already have the no and I would totally understand if she says no, but at least I have to ask, because it really did bring a lot of inspiration and motivation to me. So you definitely accomplished that for me whenever I heard your reading.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you. No, I'm honored to be here and this has been such a joy. I've really enjoyed chatting with you, and that evening with Leah was so lovely. He has a great way of making space for people, so very thankful to him.
Speaker 1:Yes, and just to close up again, because I do want to be respectful of your time, there is one last question that I usually ask the people that I interview, and it's if there is a trade secret that you could share with it.
Speaker 2:I would say my advice is to write all the time. Just keep writing, even if it's bad, write it down and read as much as possible. Reading helps a lot too. I was actually never a very big reader. Throughout most of my adult life I'd say most of my 20s I wasn't always reading a book, and the last few years I've been constantly reading and that has helped immensely with my writing. So always be reading, always be writing.
Speaker 2:That book Artist's Way that I mentioned earlier by Julia Cameron Highly recommend that every artist, every person, whether or not you are an artist, should read that book, every person who's creative, and I think she pulls that creative energy out of people who may not identify as creatives. So highly recommend that that book. I'll recommend one other book that I found to be super helpful with my kind of creative mindset and it's a very short book. It's called how to write one song. It's by Jeff Tweedy. He is the lead singer in Wilco and that book is absolutely wonderful. Would highly recommend it. But yeah, my, my general advice is keep reading, keep writing. And then those two books I recommend to anyone who, anyone at all, who is creative. But if you're a writer. I think both of those books will do you a lot of good.
Speaker 1:Aw well, thank you so much for sharing. I will myself definitely be looking those books up and and giving them a read. It is a goal of mine to grow my reading this year. It's not always, yeah, especially being english being my second language. I feel like reading is always helping me learn new words and just improve my vocabulary in general, and with the consequence, or with the result, of also improving my communication. So I'll definitely be checking it out.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. Thank you, I've enjoyed being here.
Speaker 1:I'll say thank you for your time and where can people find your book?
Speaker 2:You can find my book on Amazon. If you search Slightly Tilted, Perfectly Centered, it'll come right up. You can also find that and my photography on my website. My website is myfullnamecom, so Emily, E-M-I-L-Y truffles, T-R-O-F-H-O-L-Zcom.
Speaker 1:I know I've mentioned this throughout the whole episode, but I cannot address this enough. Thank you so much for sharing your insights and experiences with us today. Your availability to pursue both your passion for writing and your career in the corporate world has been truly inspiring. If you want to check out Emily's book, it's on amazon slightly tilted, perfectly centered. It's a quick, nice read for a poem that you can resonate with any day to our listeners. Thank you for joining us on this journey with emily. Remember, no matter how busy life gets, it's possible to pursue your dreams. Until next time, on spark and hustle, keep sparking and hustling.