In this episode, Belinda Pollard, Donita Bundy and Alison Joy interview Jodie McCarthy, who writes quiet, contemplative words in the midst of a noisy and painful world. Her books of poetry and prayers are transparent expressions of grief and loss, but also hope and healing. Jodie is also honest about the times when creative writing needs to take a back seat for a season. 

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Episode summary:

• Journaling as a way of processing life, and how that led into blogging.
• How poetry helped Jodie process the emotions of infertility, miscarriage and grief.
• Becoming an “accidental author” when people shared her first book of poetry, and later an “accidental self-publisher”.
• Talking about hard things gives people permission to talk to you about their own hard things. Learning to hold other people’s heavy stories lightly helps you avoid overwhelm.
• How the content influenced Jodie’s production decisions, such as hardcover over paperback for a sense of solidity.
• Software (Scrivener) that helps with the process of organising a book and overcoming writer’s block. Also using old-school techniques and moving around handwritten or printed pages.
• Writing more poems than needed to allow choosing the best.
• The poetry market that is emerging on Instagram.
• Taking time from creative writing to work on analytical writing during a study program in Spirituality. A season of input rather than a season of output.
• The blessing of writing gracenotes in a time when the news is so heavy and everyone is feeling heavy.
• Jodie’s beautiful “prayer for creatives”.