In this episode, Melody, Gina, and KimBoo really dig deep into what it means to be in the writing season of “Harvest.” Coming off of several episodes focusing on burnout, this time we talk about the feelings that rise to surface when we have “harvested” all of our hard work. It’s a time of rough drafts, beta readers, early feedback and…insecurities!

What does a balanced harvest season for writers look like? How can we practice self-care when our worries are driving the bus? Can we share our excitement without slamming the door on our creativity?

Join us as we talk about “writers who aren’t writing,” healthy ways to rest from writing, and ways to nurture the creativity we both love and, sometimes, fear!

Ep.09: Seasons of Writing: Harvest – TRANSCRIPT

Dave Hogan, Gina’s Pop
0:02
Welcome to Around the Writer’s Table, a podcast focusing on the crossroads of creativity, craft, and conscious living for writers of all ages and backgrounds. Your hosts are Gina, Melody, and KimBoo, three close friends and women of a certain age, who bring to the table their eclectic backgrounds and unique perspectives on the trials, tribulations, and the joys of writing. So pull up a chair and get comfortable here around the writer’s table.

Melody, A Scout
0:43
Welcome again to Around the Writer’s Table. This is episode nine in our podcasts on the five seasons of the writing process, and today we’re going to talk about the season of Harvest. Some call it Indian Summer. That small, delightful season wedged in between the end of Summer and the start of Fall. And my name is Melody, A Scout. And I help my clients find their sense of home by restoring balance and harmony to their lives through plant spirit medicine and my book Soul of the Seasons. 

And joining me today is KimBoo York, who’s a romance novelist and former project manager who helps writers and solopreneurs find time, mojo, and motivation to create. Gina Hogan Edwards is with me, as well. And she’s passionate about supporting women and finding their voices on the page, and then from the stage. 

Well, today’s topic, again, is the season of Harvest. For those of you who may be tuning in for the first time, I want to briefly go over the five seasons of the writing process. 

So starting with Spring, Spring is the season of shiny new things. Everything is awakening: our seeds, our story ideas are sprouting. The visions are popping for us of what we want our projects to look like and how we want them to go out and influence the world. 

The next season is Summer. This is a season of maturation. You’ve set the fruit and now it’s going to develop and the care is taken in overseeing your project and making sure it goes in the direction of your vision. 

Following Summer, of course, is this season of Harvest, the one we’re in right now. This is a season of gratitude. It’s when the Harvest is ripe for the picking. It’s time for nurturing and nourishing. It’s also time for rumination. And we’re going to talk about that today as well. 

Following Harvest is a season of Fall. It’s all about letting go in the Fall. In our projects, this would be times of revisions, revisions, revisions, cutting away the things that don’t serve our project or our vision. 

Following Fall, of course, is Winter, the season of rest, where new seeds start to sprout, where we go inward and hibernate, where we have a season of death and let those things go, fall away. That’s time to begin again. 

So welcome again. And to start out, I’d like it if Gina, could you go over what a balanced season of Harvest looks like?

Gina Hogan Edwards
3:46
Hi, ladies. Hi, listeners. It’s wonderful to be here. Thank you. And as I look at this list in front of me of what a balanced Harvest looks like I realize I’ve got some work to do.

KimBoo York
4:04
Yeah, kinda thinking the same thing.

Gina
4:07
So I’m looking, yeah, I’m looking forward to this discussion about the balances and the imbalances. And, you know, using this framework of the seasons to look at the writing process is just so fascinating to me and really is helping me, as we’ve talked through these different seasons, to see where I am and where I can find a little bit more balance, or where I’m sort of tipping off the edge if you will. 

So, a balanced Harvest, some of the aspects of a balanced Harvest are giving freely and also graciously receiving from others. Offering healthy, empowered nurturing. Finding a sweetness and a satisfaction in life. Being able to carefully break things down and ruminate. A real balanced care for both yourself and others. Being empathetic. Being able to connect emotionally with others in a healthy way. Maintaining a sense of grounded awareness. Being oriented to your surroundings; being relaxed, if you will. Also, being aware of needs in yourself and others. Being attentive to what those needs are. Being accommodating and agreeable. 

And I see some commonalities in some of these bullet points. A little bit different language around them and a little bit of different implications if you will, and slightly different meaning but definitely some connectedness. 

Thriving on harmony. Togetherness. Seeing the importance of loyalty and security. Seeing the connection in all things. That’s an interesting one, as I was reading this list, thinking about what that one means. So I hope we get to touch on that. 

Being considerate and sympathetic. Brounded and down to earth. And also being sociable. 

So those are the balanced aspects of Harvest.

KimBoo
6:32
I’m going to jump in real quick because as you’re reading this over, I think it’s just really interesting. In the mornings, I pull a tarot card, just to get some insight on myself and my state of mind. And today I pulled the Four of Cups reversed. And that is a message to me, too. It’s time to stop being a turtle, start building community, and coming out in the community. And then we sit here down here with this podcast, and it’s about, you know, being a part of the community and being social and finding connections with nature and with others. So I think this is the message for KimBoo today. I don’t know about you, but it’s really being repeated. I think, you know, nature’s coming out and hitting me upside the head with this one today. For sure. 

Gina
Listen up, KimBoo. 

KimBoo
I’m so good at listening to that, too. Yeah, really just awesome.

Gina
7:33
No sarcasm there.

KimBoo
7:34
Yeah, none whatsoever friends.

Melody
7:37
I’m glad I mastered that in my life.

So the five seasons of the writing process is based on the five seasons, as outlined in my book, Soul of the Seasons. And in the season of Harvest, it’s also the element of Earth, Earth Mama. And the Earth is that connection between all living things. We are always in relationship with everything and everyone on the earth all the time. It is comforting and disturbing at times that we are all connected. And you can see, I do–I don’t know about y’all; maybe you two can comment about this as well–when I start up a new project, I’m planning that vision in my head. It’s like this burst of how all of that is connected, how this affects that character, and this is all connected in one way or another. It just feels like a constellation, and they’re all these little streams of light that connect each other. Is that happen with either of you?

Gina
9:08
I think for me, when I am in what I think a lot of us refer to as being in the flow, there is this sensation of both being completely connected to everything and yet sort of free-floating, if that makes any sense. I don’t know if it does or not. But that’s the best way I know to describe it. But there’s definitely this sense of connection to everything that is.

KimBoo
9:47
I think what hit me when you were talking, Melody, and and I think relates to what you’re talking about, Gina, being in the flow was the word constellation. Because you look at the constellations in the sky, and they’re all very distinct stars, or planets or galaxies, or whatever is up there. And, but yet, we are all connected in this universe because no matter how far in distance these things are, we are all part of this connection. So as you were talking, Melody, I was thinking about that because it does feel like when I’m writing being part of a constellation. I know where the point where I am, but I can see the other points around me. And I, as you guys know, I do a lot of science fiction and fantasy writing. And so for me, world-building is a big part of it. And when I’m building those worlds, I really look for those kinds of connections, and it pulls me into the story that I’m writing a lot.

Melody
10:42
Huh, beautiful. Yeah, you both described it really well. And I definitely feel that I know when I’m in the flow. And just things pop. There’s no effort about it. That is one of the qualities of this season is everything is in its fullness. You are not in need of everything, anything at this time. And then that’s where also the gratitude and the sweet satisfaction comes from, as well, when you are not in need at all, at this time. Everything is coming to you and flowing out of you at the same time. It’s a beautiful place to be.

Gina
11:26
I want more of that.

KimBoo
11:30
Can I put in an order?

Melody
11:35
I have to say, when I was writing this chapter in my book Soul of the Seasons, this was one of the most difficult chapters for me to write. In fact, I wrote all the other segments and had to come back to this. It took me over a year to write this. And part of it had to do also because this is also about the archetype of mother, which is a whole other complicated Dr. Phil, that we will discuss at another time. Not today.

KimBoo
12:16
Or not. Could we not? We’re all daughters here. Let’s just say.

Melody
12:18
Yeah. It’s the time that we need to take the moment. It’s like nothing needs to be done. The fruit is ripe on the vine. There’s no more efforting in the garden. The only thing left is to pick the Harvest and utilize it. And we feel abundant, abundant and generous at this time for all we have. This is the place where we can give without condition to others, because we feel so much of that fullness in ourselves. And as women, this is a season we struggle with because we are natural givers much of the time and we give and we give and we give. The first point is “gives freely and graciously receives from others.” That implies a balanced aspect of giving, giving and receiving. We receive as we give. There is that exchange. And I don’t know about you all, but when I give too much, my first go-to is, “Give some more. I must not be giving enough.” I don’t know what that’s about but that does not serve me well.

Gina
13:39
And what I see on the receiving side is how uncomfortable that makes so many of us because we are so accustomed to the giving that the receiving is really challenging. 

KimBoo
So challenging.

Melody
13:54
Absolutely. And we may be professional at our giving ultimately. Literally, I know and am related to people who will literally give you the shirt off their back. And it’s an expansive way if you trust in God or whoever your higher power is to provide for you at all times. That’s a beautiful exchange as well. But this season also is about giving equally to ourselves as we give to others, so we replenish our cup along with others, and when we recognize the imbalance to call that balance back into being “where do I need to give more to myself?”

Gina
14:45
Okay, so can I stop you there? 

Melody
Sure. 

Gina
Giving to ourselves. Can you expand on that idea a little bit? Just a little bit. I know we’re going off script here but I need some clarification, please

KimBoo
15:01
Go off script? As the erstwhile producer of this show, I’m like, “Oh, going off script. Here we go.”

Melody
15:12
Yeah, it means…

KimBoo
15:13
Giving to ourselves. That’s a great question though, Gina, because like, what does that look like? What does that really mean? Like, what is it?

Melody
15:20
Well, absolutely, and this is one that I have struggled with, probably a lifelong struggle. But I have learned to be more connected to my body. This is definitely a season about being aware and empathetic with your own body and yourself. And if I am exhausted, if I can hardly bear any sound or voice, you know, sound of someone talking, if I am walking around like I did last night, depleted and confused and couldn’t find the remote to turn the TV off for an hour. Locating, it was in the bathroom on the vanity. Doesn’t everybody keep there? Those are all clues to me that I need to give to myself. So in that instance, I needed rest. I needed quiet. I needed calm. I probably needed a little grounding food. And, and also, I reached out earlier in the day to KimBoo and said come over and let’s have lunch. Because we had great conversation, very insightful, as we usually do when we’re together. We shared a meal together, right.

KimBoo
16:49
Great food. Great food. If you ever get a chance for Melody to make you lunch, take it.

Melody
16:54
That’s one way I love to nurture others and myself so, but you really have to know what it is you and your body need. And then give it that. Does that answer your question, Gina?

Gina
17:14
Yeah, it does. And I’m just thinking about it in terms of us as writers and what that literally means for us in terms of paying attention to our bodies. Obviously, we sit at a desk a lot. We look at computer monitors a lot. And we’re alone a lot. And so I think that paying attention to those things are just very simple, basic things that we can do to help us get back into some sort of alignment or balance, paying attention to those.

Melody
17:51
Absolutely. And, it doesn’t always look like a spa day or a great massage. That can be part of it, but sometimes it’s rigorously tending to your own boundaries.

KimBoo
18:08
You know, it’s interesting you said that because while you were talking earlier, I really was thinking the word ‘boundaries’ came up for me, because I’m giving to other people and then receiving from other people. That’s the type of thing that can easily get toxic if boundaries aren’t in place.

Melody
18:28
Absolutely. So that… and it’s really only out of that grounded and balanced space can we truly give without condition. One of the imbalances–we can talk about those in a minute–but one of the imbalances is manipulating others to give to you without asking for it directly. And that’s an unhealthy way to create self-care, based on personal experience of both doing it and receiving it. No one likes to be given to with a whole bunch of strings attached to it. And so, we can feel that. It feels sticky and oppressive. And these are all… Take notes, listeners, because these are all great qualities to put in your characters, if you want to create some balance or definitely create some interesting scenarios. 

So, this brings up another quality in the season of Harvest, which the core emotion is sympathy, and sympathy is that balanced connection between yourself and others. It’s a level of grounded understanding: I know what you’re going through; I can connect with what you’re feeling. And when you’re around somebody who’s really balanced in this season, you really feel like they get me at a deep level. And that in itself is so nourishing. 

The lack of sympathy, on the other hand, is, again, someone who gives with an agenda, Giving to get it’s been described before, and/or demanding, demanding from others those things that you wish to be given. But out of fear, you fear you won’t be given. So there’s, I wonder, I’d like to hear from you, KimBoo, about the lack of sympathy for yourself and your writing process. Has that ever come up for you? And what does that look like?

KimBoo
21:20
Oh, you know good and well it has, because we, as writers, have talked about it in the past. This comes a lot out of trying to be a professional writer, writing in genre fiction, writing romance novels. But I just, when I launch into a story and I write it, and then I finish it, I have no sympathy for myself for the effort that went into that. Like I just, I’m, you know, I get easily into the grind mentality. And so I’m just like, well, that’s done, that’s over with, on to the next thing. And I don’t have any respect for the time and the effort that went into that story, and how much it took for me creatively to write. 

When I talk about having sympathy for myself, it always comes back to compassion, in the sense of being aware of limitations and being aware of energy, which is not something I do. I tend to try to be, you know, be a bull and just punch my way through the wall. But what ends up happening is that I end up collapsing my creative well. And I don’t want to say it dries up, because I don’t think creativity can dry up. But I think our connection to it can wither. And so when I’m forcing it, and I’m not being sympathetic to my own boundaries as a writer, and I’m not being someone who appreciates the work that I’ve done, then the feedback loop is that that connection withers, that actually it starts becoming like you were talking about earlier, the, in the sense of giving where in this sense of not giving myself sympathy. It’s less the sticky, icky feeling and just the dry, brittle feeling that comes over me. And I can always tell because, like I said, that connection to my creativity withers when I start just being so demanding of myself that I can’t keep up with it and having no respect for the energy and the time I’ve put in to the work that I’ve done.

Melody
23:57
That makes a lot of sense. You got any comments on that, Gina?

Gina
24:04
I relate. 

KimBoo
Sorry.

Gina
Yeah, I do think, you know–and we’ve mentioned this a couple of times in previous episodes about not giving ourselves credit for the work that we’ve done. And I think that it is so important as a writer. And this goes for pretty much all aspects, not just having sympathy for yourself, but to be able at times, to sort of step out of yourself and be able to observe yourself. I think that that gives us an ability to start recognizing when we’re not giving ourselves sympathy, when we’re not giving ourselves those moments of celebration. You know, when we’re not being attentive to our own needs are attentive to the needs of the others around us that support us in our writing process.

Melody
25:06
That reminds me of a time when I was writing my book, actually, and many of you know, Gina was my editor for my book, and I had just finished a big revision. And so my usual response, when I’ve done a big task is, “Next.” And Gina kindly reminded you, you really need to celebrate.  This is a big accomplishment for you to get this far. What are you going to do to celebrate? And I thought, that is a novel idea of celebrating, taking a moment celebrating, you know, my accomplishments and all my hard work.

Gina
26:00
And isn’t celebrating a way of giving to ourselves? 

Melody
Uhm hmm, absolutely.

KimBoo
26:07
That’s a good point. Yeah. And that feeds back into my own lack of sympathy or empathy or compassion for myself, because if I don’t celebrate, I’m not giving myself any kind of reward for the work that I’ve done.

Gina
26:22
Yeah, so, KimBoo, when you get into that, you mentioned breaking the feedback loop. Losing that connection with your creativity. And I think that there are… especially when we’re really pushing ourselves as writers when we’re maybe setting certain goals and we’re so focused on those goals that they sort of overshadow the flow and the naturalness and the spontaneity and the organic nature of writing. And sometimes that break in the feedback loop and that disconnection from our creativity can spin us into a phase of not writing. And then I don’t know about y’all, but when I’m not writing, I get all these little voices in my head that start chiding me for that. And I start getting really impatient with myself. I start getting angry with myself. I start getting worried that I will never get back to the writing process again. So I’m curious, Melody, on your take of how that sort of not-writing phase as a writer plays into the Harvest imbalance. And vice versa.

Melody
27:50
Right! Well, you brought up a bunch of really good points. And one is we are hyper-focused in our culture on productivity. And we’re taught that rest is indulgent. And, “I’ll rest when I’m dead” sort of mindset. And that is very destructive to the creative process to go beyond. You know, the end result is burnout. Listen to our last two podcasts on burnout, because it is such an important subject. And we, especially as creative people, suffer from it so much. What was the last part of that question?

Gina
28:40
Just wanting to understand better the connection between being a not-writing writer and those Harvest imbalances.

Melody
28:49
I see. If you’re taking a rest, but you’re not, you know, you haven’t brought out your inner Nazi to take over and, you know, I got an image once about someone standing behind me with a cane whacking me on the back. Whack, whack, whack, whack. And I said, “Stop that!” and he turned to me and said, “If I don’t do this, nothing will ever get done.” And how much I have internalized that message, that I can’t do anything without some kind of harsh criticism all the time. And finding out that, oh my gosh, I can be motivated to do things without beating myself up for it. 

Actually, in my fullness, in feeling abundant and satisfied and well cared for–all the stuff of Harvest–I give more and I want to give more because I have more to give from. So you know, rest is another thing we’re going to talk about in the season of Winter in a couple podcasts coming up, and what true rest and what imbalanced rest looks like as well. But I would say what goes on in your internal dialogue and in your internal world will give you some big clues on what kind of rest or break. Everybody needs to have a break. And even within this season is a break because as I said, there’s nothing to be done here. And in Five Element medicine which is an aspect of Chinese medicine, which I based this whole process on, the season of Summer, or Harvest, is the season that includes the organ systems of the stomach and pancreas, which is about digestion, which is about where the word rumination comes from. And rumination is the process where you–just like the stomach–you take whole product and it’s worked down into usable bits. We cannot take into our bloodstream tacos.

KimBoo
31:26
However much we might want to. 

Melody
31:31
This can go directly into the bloodstream. So the stomach’s job and pancreas’s job is to provide the next necessary requirements to build that down into usable materials that gets your organ systems, your body healthy. And when we have completed a stage, we brought something to Harvest, like a first draft. You know, I’ve got to mention, there’s going to be seasons repeated, seasons of Harvest throughout your project. But say for the first draft, we’ve completed it. That rest, that time away from it is a way for us to ruminate and allow things to be broken down into usable bits. When we go back to it later on, then we can say, “Oh, I understand. This needs to go here. And we can do this here. And this…” You understand where things need to be nourished, where you need to prune back. 

Well, that just segues us right into talking about the imbalances of Harvest. And so we’ve already brought that into the discussion. KimBoo, can you go over the bullet points for Harvest imbalances?

KimBoo
32:44
Yeah, I’m not gonna feel called out by any of this at all. I just want to let you know. So, obviously, right? So obviously, imbalances, we’re going to… it’s kind of a mirrorverse–for those who are Star Trek fans–a mirrorverse version of the balanced aspects of Harvests. 

So it’s giving to others at the expense of yourself, harming yourself by doing that. I always use the oxygen mask example, putting on other people’s oxygen mask before your own. Smothering loved ones, kind of a play on that. Over-giving, trying to do too much. Feelings of insecurity. Feeling ungrounded. Fuzzy thinking. Gluttony, over-eating and can’t get enough of, whether that’s food or drink or whatever. Cravings, I have no idea. I mean, we could just put potato chips as a picture there, I think. Starved self nutritionally and emotionally, so that’s not listening to the body as Melody was talking about earlier. Not being in touch with the body and the mind and the connection. Stingy, withholding nurturing; it’s a kind of the opposite of over giving. Denial, rejection of your own needs. Obsessive worry, which I think feeds into what your original question was there, Gina, and certainly something I feel when I was talking about that disconnection from creativity, where that’s kind of withered on the vine. I do, just like you were talking about, I get worried about it. I get freaked out about it. And, I’m a productivity maven. As a Task Mistress, productivity is something I know a lot about. And so it’s very easy for me to get really ground down into that hyper-toxic productivity, hustling mindset, and worry about every single thing I’m doing. 

So moving on, just manipulates others to get our needs met. Any kind of form of manipulation is toxic. Rejects nurturing, or nourishment and neglects yourself. And also discomfort with mature female body and finds little sweetness in life. And I was really interested in that one because on the original list I highlighted in our notes for the show, “finds sweetness and satisfaction in life” is one of the ones that I highlighted on the original list. So “finds little sweetness in life” is a real message for me. So those are the signs of an imbalanced Harvest season.

Melody
35:24
So that list right there, it contains important clues for us to be aware of when we’re getting off track in the season of Harvest. If you relate to any of those–I don’t relate to any of those at all. Just cured. Big fat lie! And also the kind of nourishment you are taking in, both the quantity and the quality. And nourishing the body is only one level of nourishment. Are you feeding your intellectual requirements? Are you feeding yourself emotionally and spiritually and sexually? Those are all ways we nourish and nurture ourselves.

KimBoo
36:15
I’m going to jump in there because I want to ask Gina because, Gina, you’ve worked with a lot of writers as an editor, and what is something that either you recommend or that you’ve seen other writers do that is nurturing as a writer, when you’re working with writers, if that question makes sense.

Gina
36:37
Yeah, in some ways, I think it’s going to… I think the answer to that question is very individual, but sort of a general answer to that would be something that I’ve seen writers who are balanced pull off really well, that those of us who get imbalanced can learn from, is–and to get back to this non-writing thing–is an intentionality about when we are not writing. Because I think that we need to give ourselves space sometimes not to write. 

That doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re neglecting our writing practice, because not writing could look like putting your manuscript in the drawer for two weeks so that you can get some distance from it and come back to it with a new perspective and fresh eyes. It could look like, one of my favorite things, is doing a cross-creative practice; instead of writing, paint, doodle, sculpt, play with Play Doh. You know, anything that feels creative. Gardening, anything that feels creative to you, but that is not writing. Just to give yourself an emotional and intellectual distance from whatever that project or that practice is at the time so that you can come back to it fresh and refreshed. So an intentionality about not writing.

KimBoo
38:24
Yeah, I’m really seeing a thru-thread here with the intentionality, you know, mind-body awareness, sympathy, compassion for self. Those are all just like you were saying, Gina, like the writer who is well-balanced in Harvest season can not write and not worry, because they’re doing it intentionally based on their understanding of their boundaries and their needs and using it as a nourishment.

Gina
Absolutely.

KimBoo
That’s really interesting. Thank you. Sorry to derail us, yet again. I’m good at that.

Melody
39:09
That’s what we do. It brings up a really valid point, though. I think it’s, again, what we’re doing with our internal dialogue, because those are all… Not writing, nourishing yourself, nourishing your craft, those are all parts of the writing process. Somehow we’ve got it in our minds that pen to paper, fingers on keyboard is the only thing that really qualifies as writing. Well, that’s just not true. There’s a great deal of time that goes into allowing our vision to come into our consciousness and play with our characters in our head and, you know, do all that fun stuff. And that’s all part of the writing process. And caring for ourselves as individuals and as writers is also part of that process. 

I took the day off the other day and went down to the coast with another writer friend. And we had a writing session out in nature, which was really cool. Shifting where you write, or where you’re engaging on these processes is fine. And also, there’s a time to not nourish. 

I wrote a story in my book about lemon meringue pie. I love lemon meringue pie. And I love that first piece, and it melts on my tongue, and it’s tart, and it’s sweet, and it’s smooth and creamy. And so I have a second piece. I don’t enjoy it quite as much as the first piece. Still good. But if I just keep eating pie, it has very diminishing returns. And even as much as I love it, I cannot eat it every day. I probably could eat it every day. But my body would tell me, that is not the best way to get my nourishment. So balancing where nourishment comes from, balancing rest with activity, and again, being grateful for what we have already accomplished. Boy, that’s when I really have to remind myself to give myself credit for the work I’ve already done. Take a moment. Savor it. Yeah, I did that. That was a cool thing. That was a big thing. That was a hard thing. I did that. 

So I want to hear more about nurturing and nourishing. And we’d love to hear from each of you. One thing you do to nourish your writing process, Gina?

Gina
42:20
Y’all are gonna think I’m such a nerd.

Melody
That’s because you are.

KimBoo
42:24
No, this is a nerd safe space. We’re all nerds here. This is okay. 

Gina
42:32
Well, I’m gonna give you the obvious answers, because they’re things that I’ve mentioned on previous podcasts. Things like, and I know you said one thing, but I’m cheating. Walking in nature, doing cross-creative things, you know, those are all things that I feel like do feed into and nurture my creativity, in general. But the one thing that came to mind when you asked the question, Melody, you were talking about how we think that putting keys, putting fingers on the keyboard or putting pen to paper is really the only piece of the writing process. But there’s so much more to it. And one way that I really both nurture and sort of jazz myself up about my writing process is I do research, because I love to write historical fiction. And so when I can, I know that when I take the time to do my research and get things historically accurate, that that’s going to be a much more enriching experience for me and the reader, especially the reader. And yet I find myself sometimes thinking that the research is like a bonus, or maybe even a waste of time sometimes, when it’s not. That’s really the thing that feeds into the richness of my writing. And so when I give myself the permission to do that, it feels very, very nourishing.

Melody
44:00
Nice, I must be a nerd too, because I love doing that.

KimBoo
44:05
Nerd safe space. I’m telling you, that’s what this is. I’m actually going to leapfrog off of that because I love world-building. And it’s the same thing. You’re world-building. You’re doing research on your world because your world is based on actual history, with the book that you’re writing is, I know, set in the 60s. And yeah, yeah. Someday I’ll remember that. You’ve only talked about this for so long. And I just like oh, yeah..

Gina
Don’t remind me.

KimBoo
Oh, I left out the actual years. 

Gina
Thank you. 

KimBoo
You’re welcome. That’s me, that’s me giving to you. But when you said that, Gina, because I was actually kind of mulling on that question. I know, it’s on there, it’s on our show notes and I had time to look at it, had time to think about it. And I really don’t purposefully nurture, nourish my writing. But I do. And I do it through world-building because I love world-building. So, unlike you, where you go look at actual history, I create the history. I create the backstory. I’ve got stories set with history and backstory that goes back thousands of years. And I just love that. I’ve loved that since I first read Dune when I was a young girl. And it’s just fascinated me and I enjoy it. I have old wikis, just outlining everything. I’m going into–what is it? World Anvil, which is a world-building tool online that a lot of science fiction fantasy authors use. It’s very, very robust, to build another world that I’m doing, and I just love it. It’s fun for me. It’s fun for me. 

And I’ve realized, when you said that, Gina, I’m like, You know what? That really is part of my nourishment and building my excitement for my writing is letting my mind free. Just saying what, because it’s not constrained by the story and the characters and the structure of the story. It’s saying, Well, why do these people wear red skirts? Like, what’s the story? What’s the history of these red skirts on these characters? And then I can just like, go ham, as they say. You know, just go wild thinking of why? Why would they be wearing red skirts? And so it’s just so much fun.

And I think having said that, I need to allow myself to do it more. I tend to, like you, Gina, say, “Well, you know, that’s, that’s not actually writing the story.” Like it’s…

Gina
It’s play.

KimBoo
Yeah, that’s play, exactly, play. Like, that’s just playing. Well, you know, playing is important. And that’s kind of what we’re getting to here with this whole podcast, this particular episode, is you’re finding the things that nurture you and respecting that and having compassion and sympathy for yourself and saying, “Yeah, that’s your version of Legos. Just do it. Just do it.”

Melody
47:13
Yeah, absolutely.

Gina
47:15
I hereby declare KimBoo, the bigger nerd.

KimBoo
47:24
Not a contest people.

Melody
47:27
But you win. Yeah, and you hit the nail on the head, KimBoo. Because it’s all about knowing what nurtures us individually. You know, I love both of the things that you two have talked about. And I enjoy some of the same. I was researching, writing, it’s a bit of a historical novel. I’m writing something loosely based on my grandmother, who emigrated over from what is now Ukraine to the US in the early 1900s. And so I started researching about what would that trip be like? And what were the ships like that carried people over? And where would they have stayed? And they came over on a luxury liner and how could they have afforded that? And to my knowledge, they were not wealthy, but they had steerage passengers passages that they sold for $10 a ticket and carried many people to the New World that way. So that opened a whole like, holy crap, that’s really cool.

But that gets me excited. It reignites my passion. It makes me want to, gives me sort of like this internal energy to write more, to do more, to be more creative, which is super nourishing to me, anyway. So that thing, do that thing, those things. I also enjoy talking to other writers, and I enjoy reading good writers, and observing how they do their craft. You know, oh, look at how they did that. Look at how they worded that and moved you from this place to this place. That was really creative. That’s another way that, you know, sparks my interest and passion. 

So, Harvest holds an abundance of nourishment for all of us. I think it’s really important for us as writers and creative beings to nourish ourselves in effective ways. We could do many more podcasts on this subject and we will come around to it again. But we have really covered a lot of food for thought today, literally, figuratively. And if you haven’t already, go back and listen to the earlier podcasts. And this will help it put it into perspective even more, because we start from Spring and we’ve worked through all of the seasons. Our next podcast is going to be on the season of Fall and letting go. As this one, our inner critic can be helpful and help us know what to leave and what to let go. 

And we’re going to have a worksheet on our page, next to this podcast. And it’s going to have all the stuff we talked about, points of this. I think there’s a transcript of this podcast as well going to be up there. 

KimBoo
50:47
Yep, we’re gonna have both on our web page for this episode at our website. So if you’re listening to this on a distributor like Spotify or sketcher, or Stitcher, that’s it. Thank you. Yep, yep. Right. I think we’ve expanded my brain a little too much this morning. But so if you’re on a distributor, like that, Apple podcast, go to our actual website AroundTheWritersTable.com. Look at the episode listing. You can get to that from our homepage. There will be the worksheet. We’ll have the exercises, plus an outline of Harvest balance and imbalances. So you can check yourself before you wreck yourself. 

And we also will have a transcript. Usually the transcripts available a couple of days at the most after the podcast goes live. We try to get that up as quickly as possible for you. It’s also on the same webpage as the episode page on our site. And, so yeah, so those will be available for people if you go to our website.

Gina
51:51
AroundTheWritersTable.com.

KimBoo
51:56
Yeah, just go to some random website that I just gave the address of. No, Around the Writer’s Table, all one word, no dashes, dot com

Melody
52:05
Yes, and we’ll include in this episode on Harvest a fun exercise on the season of Harvest to do with your characters. So go check it out.

KimBoo
52:21
So this wraps us up. We’ve been at this for almost an hour. Now I know, edited format, listeners aren’t going to get the full hour, but you’re going to get pretty close. We got into a lot of things this episode. 

As Melody said, our next episodes coming up, we’ve got the season of Winter for writers is on the agenda. And we’ve also got one about community, building community, the importance of community. So those are going to be taking us through the rest of the year.

Gina
You left out Fall.

KimBoo
I left out Fall. I did leave out Fall. Wow. So we’ve got Fall and Winter coming up as seasons for writers, and then also an episode on community. So I’m not quite sure what order, while obviously Fall is gonna come for Winter. But bear with me here. We’ve got this episode’s coming up. And we’ve also got 2023 coming up. So yeah, I know because by the time this episode goes live, it’ll be November. Yeah, I know. Right. So we’ve got a lot on our plate, but we will be here with you. And we appreciate you coming here to the table with us. This is KimBoo and Gina and Melody signing off for Around the Writer’s Table. Thank you.

Gina
53:35
Bye, everybody.

Dave
46:38
Thanks for joining us around the writer’s table. Please feel free to suggest a topic or a guest by emailing info@aroundthewriterstable.com. Music provided with gracious permission by Langtry. A link to their music is on our homepage at AroundTheWritersTable.com. Everyone here around the writer’s table wishes you joy in your writing and everyday grace in your living. Take care, until next time.

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Around the Writer's Table and its co-hosts, Gina Hogan Edwards, Melody, A Scout, and Kimboo York own the copyright to all content and transcripts of the Around the Writer's Table podcast, with all rights reserved, including right of publicity. ​​You ​are welcome to share an excerpt from the episode transcript (up to 500 words) in media articles​, such as ​​The New York Times, ​Miami Herald, etc.; in a non-commercial article or blog post (e.g., ​​Medium); and/or on a personal social media account for non-commercial purposes, provided you include proper attribution and link back to the podcast URL. No one is authorized to use the Around the Writer's Table logo, or any portion of the transcripts or other content in and of the podcast to promote themselves.