“Into the Silent Layers” with Julie Esther Fisher (GWTW915)

Yeah, it's wonderful, though, because when you said that you went away for about three years and did other things, it struck me as an important thing that I think creators need to understand.

And I think it's because we are, I don't know if we're fed this by society, but in order to be successful, you must be constantly producing.

You must be constantly relevant, constantly trending, whatever it is.

And I think I find solace in the fact that sometimes you need to go away.

Sometimes you need to step away to discover that fierceness.

to fall back in love with your intuition, with that trust of listening to what the stories need to be.

And I think that's so powerful.

I hope people resonate with that because it's, I think, freeing as opposed to this endless churning that just ultimately, I think, destroys us.

Absolutely.

And there can be a fair amount of churning that may be of a different kind when you do need to step away.

I definitely experienced it as a great loss of a voice that I had learned.

I've never been a very public person, to put it mildly.

I live in a very secluded place, and I think I really do fit the bill as a recluse.

I think I can actually use that word.

And so for me, it wasn't the outside world coming at me, and I have to brand myself and any of that stuff, because...

Unless you're trying to publish a book, if you're publishing short stories, it doesn't really enter that world.

It's usually like, oh, that's nice.

Another story got published or, you know, you win an award or something.

And then you're just going back to sitting in your chair and doing more work.

And so I didn't have to contend with any of that.

or being an outward face of anything until now.

And so that's another matter.

But I feel like as long as there's still a listening ear, as long as there's still some threads of receptivity inside you while you're stepping away, and perhaps some other arenas that hold... how you live out your curiosity and how you can create in other ways.

I think it was very, you know, a really wonderful thing that, well, I had to move during those three years.

So that, that was, you know, in itself, that was a creative act of, uh, but yeah, Also, when we got to our new place, of course, I had to create gardens, and that is an obsession of mine.

Yeah, it's wonderful, though, because when you said that you went away for about three years and did other things, it struck me as an important thing that I think creators need to understand.

And I think it's because we are, I don't know if we're fed this by society, but in order to be successful, you must be constantly producing.

You must be constantly relevant, constantly trending, whatever it is.

And I think I find solace in the fact that sometimes you need to go away.

Sometimes you need to step away to discover that fierceness.

to fall back in love with your intuition, with that trust of listening to what the stories need to be.

And I think that's so powerful.

I hope people resonate with that because it's, I think, freeing as opposed to this endless churning that just ultimately, I think, destroys us.

Absolutely.

And there can be a fair amount of churning that may be of a different kind when you do need to step away.

I definitely experienced it as a great loss of a voice that I had learned.

I've never been a very public person, to put it mildly.

I live in a very secluded place, and I think I really do fit the bill as a recluse.

I think I can actually use that word.

And so for me, it wasn't the outside world coming at me, and I have to brand myself and any of that stuff, because...

Unless you're trying to publish a book, if you're publishing short stories, it doesn't really enter that world.

It's usually like, oh, that's nice.

Another story got published or, you know, you win an award or something.

And then you're just going back to sitting in your chair and doing more work.

And so I didn't have to contend with any of that.

or being an outward face of anything until now.

And so that's another matter.

But I feel like as long as there's still a listening ear, as long as there's still some threads of receptivity inside you while you're stepping away, and perhaps some other arenas that hold... how you live out your curiosity and how you can create in other ways.

I think it was very, you know, a really wonderful thing that, well, I had to move during those three years.

So that, that was, you know, in itself, that was a creative act of, uh, but yeah, Also, when we got to our new place, of course, I had to create gardens, and that is an obsession of mine.