Create Out Loud Podcast with Jennifer Louden

Though she's now considered one of America's most important novelists, Ruth Ozeki didn't think of herself as a writer until her 30s. Before that, she had stumbled into a career editing schlocky, low-budget Japanese horror movies, struggling to find her way. But wisely, she knew, even then, that the experience would serve her. Because ALL experiences end up serving us in the end, right? Among other things, Ruth and Jen discuss:

3:00 - Inquiry-based creativity and writing.

7:12 - Allowing vulnerability and curious to guide our work

11:16 - Exploring self-trust.

16:14 - Understanding our readers interpret and create work.

20:21 - The profound power of storytelling.

30:31 - “Knowing your ruts.”

38:54 - Process and discipline.

Hazlitt - "We Should Probably Listen Harder": An Interview with Ruth Ozeki

“When I think about things left behind, and I think about memory and legacy, of course the first thing that pops to mind is the book. That’s what books are, they’re containers for memory. They’re containers for the stories of the past. It’s an artifact that allows you to communicate with the past. It allows you to communicate with the minds of the dead, if you’re reading dead authors. There’s that lovely idea that if you read the poems of the dead poet out loud, it’s actually the poet who’s borrowing your tongue. It’s the dead poet borrowing the tongues of the living in order to speak again.”
— Ruth Ozeki

December 8, 2021
Hazlitt | Interview with Haley Cullingham