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Sarah McColl
Sarah McColl

572 Followers

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Motherhood Is The True Hero’s Journey

Lisa Marchiano, Jungian psychoanalyst and author of ‘Motherhood: Facing and Finding Yourself,’ on fairy tales, maternal rage, and more — I was never alone during the pandemic. There was an infant always attached somewhere to my body. On long walks, we enjoyed the company of Lisa, Deb, and Joseph, hosts of the podcast This Jungian Life. I found my new companions in a fit of new mom googling—not about the…

Motherhood

7 min read

Motherhood Is The True Hero’s Journey
Motherhood Is The True Hero’s Journey
Motherhood

7 min read


Aug 31, 2021

The Accidental Sidelining of Maternal Joy

Have we made so much room for the struggles that there’s less space for our contentment? — At my first prenatal appointment for my first child, my doctor asked how I was feeling. “Good, I said, “but tired.” I wasn’t throwing up, just sleeping. “Don’t tell any other mothers that,” she said. “Tired and not puking is better than tired and puking,” she said. Fast forward through…

Motherhood

4 min read

The Accidental Sidelining of Maternal Joy
The Accidental Sidelining of Maternal Joy
Motherhood

4 min read


Published in

Creators Hub

·Aug 31, 2021

In Praise of Wimpy Goals

Whatever it takes, you know? — This story is behind Medium’s membership paywall, which means the writer earns through our Partner Program. To become a Medium member, click here. In graduate school, a professor asked me if I had a “writing practice.” We were sitting in an attic office with acute angles and a low ceiling…

Writing

3 min read

In Praise of Wimpy Goals
In Praise of Wimpy Goals
Writing

3 min read


Aug 31, 2021

What Writers Can Learn from Musicians

They seem like they’re having more fun, don’t they? — One of my writing teachers was the exceptionally generous Jacob Slichter, author of So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star and the drummer of ‘90s Twin Cities hit machine, Semisonic. He taught me there are insights to be gleaned across the creative disciplines. Have you ever thought of…

Creativity

4 min read

What Writers Can Learn from Musicians
What Writers Can Learn from Musicians
Creativity

4 min read


Aug 29, 2021

Are All Happy Families Alike?

In praise of narrative optimism, a term I just made up. — I wrote a book that is often described in shorthand as being “about grief.” That was only part of it, the moon in shadow. “It’s really about pleasure, and about joy, and that is so hard to write,” a writer told me recently. She gets it, I thought. Lately I…

Reading

5 min read

Are All Happy Families Alike?
Are All Happy Families Alike?
Reading

5 min read


Jul 31, 2021

On Dictating First Drafts

Perfectionists, this one’s for you. — One of my most pleasurable reading experiences of the year so far has been Melissa Broder’s second novel, Milk Fed, a book I had to read after hearing Broder interviewed by author Lisa Locasio on the podcast LitCit. It’s a wonderful interview start to finish about sex, death, desire, disordered…

Writing Tips

3 min read

On Dictating First Drafts
On Dictating First Drafts
Writing Tips

3 min read


Jul 31, 2021

In Praise of 5 a.m.

On writing with children when you’re not a morning person by nature — When I first began to ask women about their writing lives once they had children, five o’clock in the morning came up a lot. My internal response was anguish. Is rising at an ungodly hour what a creative life would require? Take my body, my independence, and sleeping in on…

Motherhood

3 min read

In Praise of 5 a.m.
In Praise of 5 a.m.
Motherhood

3 min read


Published in

Creators Hub

·Jul 27, 2021

I Grant You Permission to Write

Trouble is, I’m not the one who can give it — Recently, at a workshop geared toward artists who are also parents, I asked participants to think about what was getting in the way of their work. I envisioned material things: lack of childcare, paucity of time, no quiet space of their own. Their obstacles, I should not have been so…

Inspiration

3 min read

I Grant You Permission to Write
I Grant You Permission to Write
Inspiration

3 min read


Jul 21, 2021

Why Your Critics Shouldn’t Keep You From Making Art

The bittersweet redemption of Vashti Bunyan — May 1965, British singer-songwriter Vashti Bunyan released her first single, “Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind.” Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the song was not a hit. Bunyan wasn’t into the swinging London scene so she and her art school boyfriend, having no car and no money…

Music

3 min read

Why Your Critics Shouldn’t Keep You From Making Art
Why Your Critics Shouldn’t Keep You From Making Art
Music

3 min read


Jun 30, 2021

Is There a Poetics of Motherhood?

Intrusions, collaboration, and a writing prompt-permission slip to help move from frustration to iteration. Toward the end of a conversation with Sarah Manguso and Sheila Heti on poet Rachel Zucker’s podcast Commonplace in 2017, Zucker asks her guests about the possibility of a “poetics of motherhood.” It’s a complex question and one she frames carefully, and at length, about kinds of writing that, “complicate…

Writing Prompts

3 min read

Is There a Poetics of Motherhood?
Is There a Poetics of Motherhood?
Writing Prompts

3 min read

Sarah McColl

Sarah McColl

572 Followers

author of JOY ENOUGH, writer of a newsletter LOST ART https://www.sarahmccoll.com

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