The Cabinet of Creative Resources
MY LITERARY BLUEPRINT & OTHER FORMS OF ACCIDENTAL EDUCATION
A cabinet of curiosities was historically a room where collectors displayed the objects that shaped their worldview. Shells, maps, fossils, artifacts, scientific instruments — these are items with a story inherent in them. But the collection wasn’t just valuable because of the objects themselves. It was valuable because, taken together, they revealed the mind of the collector.
This essay is my cabinet. Consider these the books, art, practices, people and palimpsests that I have traced over to build my creative life. They are the resources I recommend most often, return to most frequently, and trust to rekindle my curiosity whenever it begins to dim.
THE LIBRARY - A PARTIAL ACCOUNT OF THE WRITERS WHO HAVE BEEN FLAGRANTLY REARRANGING MY BRAIN FOR YEARS
My Sacred Text: Letters to a Young Poet — Rainer Maria Rilke
A collection of letters written between 1903 and 1908 after a young military cadet named Franz Xaver Kappus asked Rilke for guidance on becoming a writer. More than a book about writing, it is a book about how to build a life around art. I have returned to it yearly for over a decade.
“Being an artist means not numbering and counting, but ripening like a tree, which doesn't force its sap, and stands confidently in the storms of spring, not afraid that afterward summer may not come.”
My Writing Instructor: Natalie Goldberg, particularly in her novel Writing Down the Bones
The best book on craft I’ve ever read, and I’ve read a lot. Actionable and accessible exercises.
Essay I Wish I’d Written: On Keeping a Notebook — Joan Didion
A reminder that the act of noticing is never wasted.
“See enough and write it down, I tell myself, and then some morning when the world seems drained of wonder, some day when I am only going through the motions of doing what I am supposed to do, which is write - on that bankrupt morning I will simply open my notebook and there it will all be, a forgotten account with accumulated interest, paid passage back to the world out there…”
Adaptation I Love Most: Wild
Made into one of the most beautiful movies ever by French film director Jean-Marc Vallée and starring Reese Witherspoon (screenplay by Nick Hornby). This was originally written by the one and only Cheryl Strayed, about her journey hiking the PCT in the 90s.
Memoir That Defies Its Genre: Why Fish Don’t Exist — Lulu Miller
Part biography, part memoir, part philosophical inquiry. A beautiful example of how seemingly unrelated narratives can be woven together into something larger and stranger.
“With each new fish, each new catch, each new name placed on a formerly unknown piece of the universe, came that impossibly intoxicating feeling. That sweet honey on the tongue. That hit of fantasized omnipotence. That lovely sensation of order. What a salve, a name.”
Favorite Lecture: A Room of One’s Own — Virginia Woolf
Nearly a century old and still startlingly relevant. Woolf’s argument for creative independence, solitude, and privacy feels heartbreakingly significant in a society that increasingly relies on and rewards immediacy, visibility, and external validation.
“When, however, one reads of a witch being ducked, of a woman possessed by devils, of a wise woman selling herbs, or even of a very remarkable man who had a mother, then I think we are on the track of a lost novelist, a suppressed poet, of some mute and inglorious Jane Austen, some Emily Bronte who dashed her brains out on the moor or mopped and mowed about the highways crazed with the torture that her gift had put her to. Indeed, I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.”
THE SALON - CONTAINING SEVERAL PEOPLE I CONSULT WITH REGULARLY DESPITE THE FACT I MOST CERTAINLY WILL NEVER MEET THEM
Substack I Admire: Field Notes from Nowhere Girl
Dakota Warren likes to live very romantically, dare I say theatrically. I love her distinct style. I love her website. (Have you ever noticed how many author websites are so boring? JHC I might write a whole essay on this.)
Patron Saint of Podcasters: Anna from Wild Geese
I love this woman. She hosts thoughtful, reflective conversations and is the person who introduced me to digital gardening. (Which can be defined as: “…hyperlinking at it’s best. You get to actively choose which curiosity trail to follow, rather than defaulting to the algorithmically-filtered ephemeral stream. The garden helps us move away from time-bound streams and into contextual knowledge spaces.”
The Industry Decoders: The Shit No One Tells You About Writing
Two literary agents breaking down real query letters and first five pages in real time. Equal parts illuminating as it is honest. Must listen for anyone pursuing publication.
Interview I Recommend to Every Writer: Ocean Vuong: How to Write Supremely Well
Vuong reminding us to take more risks and write with more idiosyncrasy. He says, “We are asked to be too awestruck by the canonical," and I can’t stop thinking about that.
Also -
John Green: We’re not Merely a Catastrophe
I will never get over the Green brothers. Hank interviewed John for his new podcast “Humans,” and sent me trotting off into a maze off topics I’d like to explore further. Like when Hank says of humanity: “We’re either the hero or the villain.” And John says he thinks Hank is giving us too much credit. That, “After we’re gone, earth is going to be fine. Earth is going to retain complex life... But there will be nobody left to listen to Billie Holiday records, and that’s a bummer to me.” He goes on to say, “I get a little frustrated with the relentless doomerism that claims humanity is merely bad news… Of course we’re catastrophic, we’ve always been catastrophic. But we’re not merely a catastrophe.”
THE WORKSHOP - OR, THE SYSTEMS I HAVE BUILT TO COUNTERACT MY NATURAL INSTINCT TO STARE AIMLESSLY OUT WINDOWS
Favorite Writing Practice: Café hopping with a pen and paper
There’s something very invigorating about the aimless wandering in between sitting on random park benches, or in oak-carved cathedrals, or at cafe’s hidden in between brick alleyways (I’m looking at you).
Favorite Reading Practice: Reading with a pen and/or sticky notes
I’m begging you to write down your favorite quotes and a summary of each book after you read it. Helps with memory retention and refining the gold. The only downside is I can’t listen to substantive podcasts while I’m doing chores anymore because of how religiously I now write these quotes down. Here is a quick list of three quotes still burning a hole in my pocket. And to think I might never have found them again if I weren’t writing them down:
“She was a committed romantic and an anarcha-feminist. This was hard for her because it meant she couldn’t blow up beautiful buildings.” - Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson
“Kafka’s night-writings, Woolf’s stream-of-consciousness, James Baldwin’s exiled clarity – none of these emerged from comfort or compliance. They were forged in the crucible of longing.” -Erotic Decisions by Tamara
“...he had this idea of double-consciousness, how Black people in America always have to be mindful of how racist white people see them. And how this applies to a lot of marginalized people, always having to look through the eyes of the folks who hate them.” Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
How I Get Unstuck: Boredom
The major benefit to the aforementioned podcast neutering is I have let my mind wander more often on its own. I have left my phone behind. On this, I journaled: And in the silence my mind comes rushing back to me. The part that wants to wear clown make up and organize a circus show for my friends, the part that wants to call my mom and talk about the wildflowers she’s planting, the part that wants to write about everything and trick people into reading it.
North Star of Creative Rituals: Choosing my field notes over my phone (which I write about here)
This practice turns mundane moments like waiting for a bus, grocery store lines, sitting in the front seat of a car while your gas is pumping, etc., into something full of potential.
THE ROAD - IN WHICH I ATTEMPT TO DEFEND THE IDEA THAT A CREATIVE LIFE IS BUILT MOSTLY AWAY FROM THE WORK
Non-Creative Creative Habit: Actually doing the Thing
Returning to old saved articles, bookmarked tutorials, abandoned sewing project, and unread recommendations and finally enacting their advice instead of just collecting them. Then. Deciding you want more of it, or deciding you are done with it.
Creative Risk I’m Most Grateful For: Living in a van for three years
Living in a van taught me a hard lesson in pairing down my non-essentials. It also taught me how to trust my own company and as Rilke put it, “Enjoy the great silence.” Skills I use the most in my writing practice today.
Creative Lesson Learned the Hard Way: To stop rereading my work so damn much
I used to spend hours doing this and it subsequently took me years to finish drafts. Someone (I can’t find the person to credit but I believe it was Stephen King) said something about how rereading your work makes it feel inevitable. It becomes too hard to tell what sounds off or unnecessary, because everything sounds familiar. Just finish the first draft then go touch some grass. Then reread. It’s game changing.
THE LONG TABLE - CONCERNING THE PEOPLE I WOULD MOST LIKE TO FEED, QUESTION, AND OCCASIONALLY DISAGREE WITH
Dream Dinner Guests: (To be determined.)
This section is intentionally unfinished. The best cabinets always leave room for future discoveries.