We covered a lot in this week’s episode! Here’s what we talked about, but we’ll also be sharing more inspiration and rituals this week here on the blog and on Instagram, and would love to hear from you — what gets you in your chair?

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Arriane Serafico on motivation

There are a lot of references to the muse showing up when you show up for the muse, but this one is an iconic essay.

REM Automatic for the People

Olivia’s blog post referencing an interview with Patrick Brook about magic and formless hunches

Our mentors: Carrie Frye (Meghan’s) and Emjay Holmes (Olivia’s)

Gretchen Rubin and her new book on the four tendencies

Abba’s Dancing Queen

The Rocky Theme

Writing podcasts we like:

• Sara Zarr
• WMFA – Episode 1 with Emily St. John Mandel
• Write Now

Meghan’s things that inspire or motivate her:

• Podcasts (see above)
• A.S. King
• Madeleine L’Engle
• Music – REM (see above) and Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car”

Olivia’s things that inspire or motivate her:

• Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird (THE GREATEST – available in paper or audiobook form)
• Books about the writing life (like Scratch, edited by Manjula Martin) or writing craft (John Yorke’s Into the Woods)
• Remembering that I’m afraid of never having written this book!

Olivia’s blog post on rituals

And Meghan’s fantastic quote by E.L. Konigsburg from The View from Saturday

Tillie said, “There are pens that come with ink in a cartridge, Noah, but I will have nothing to do with them.” So when we were back at her condo, Tillie taught me how to fill a pen, or, as she said, “How to properly fill a pen.”

One: Turn the filling plunger counterclockwise as far as it will go. Two: Dip the nib completely into the ink. Three: Turn the filling plunger clockwise until it stops. Four: Hold the nib above the ink bottle and turn the plunger counterclockwise again until three drops of ink fall back into the bottle. Five: Turn the plunger clockwise to stop the drops. Six: Wipe the excess ink completely from pen and nib.

When I told Tillie that six steps seemed like a lot to have to do before you begin, she said, “You must think of those six steps not as preparation for the beginning but as the beginning itself.”