Emerging Form

“It feels like a radical practice not to be productive, to allow the space to guide what comes next,” says prolific poet and beloved writing teacher James Crews. “I have tendencies toward control.” In this episode, we talk about the importance of slowing down and doing less, and why a creative practice depends on this. James reads several poems from his new collection, Breathing Room: Poems of Rest and Retreat, and we talk about creating healthy boundaries around productivity, embodiment in a creative practice, and poetry as a spiritual practice.
James Crews lives on forty rocky acres in Southern Vermont, on the unceded lands of the Abenaki people, with his husband Brad Peacock, with whom he co-edited Love Is for All of Us: Poems of Tenderness & Belonging from the LGBTQ+ Community & Friends (Storey Publishing). Crews is the author of several collections of poems, including Unlocking the Heart, Turning Toward Grief and Breathing Room. To sign up for free weekly poems and for more info, visit: jamescrews.net.


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For thirty years, Dimity McDowelll made a life–and a living–with running and writing about running. Then, for health reasons, she had to stop. In this episode of Emerging Form, we talk with Dimity about how our creative identity is linked with other identities and what to do when that radically changes. We discuss her new book The Twenty-Seventh Mile: How to Smooth the Rough Transition out of Your Running Years, and the difference between writing a book with a partner and writing alone. We talk about embodied writing, the importance of empathy when incorporating other people’s stories, and the challenges of writing about loss.
Before focusing her career on running, Dimity McDowell was a sports journalist, holding staff positions at Self, ESPN: The Magazine, and Sports Illustrated for Women. She co-authored three running books (Run Like a Mother, Train Like a Mother, and Tales from Another Mother Runner) and co-founded Another Mother Runner, an inclusive community for all female runners, with Sarah Bowen Shea. A personal trainer and running coach, she has finished countless races, including Ironman Coeur d’Alene and the Pike’s Peak Half Marathon. Dimity is the mother of two adult children, and lives in Denver with her husband and two dogs.


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What’s the secret to making a living doing your art? “There really is no magic trick … spoiler,” says Mason Currey, author of Making Art and Making a Living. But in this episode of Emerging Form, we talk with Currey about what he learned by studying how other creatives across genres, cultures and centuries have made it work. We also talk about his own relationship to creative practice–little tricks and attitude shifts, the importance of repetition and habit, developing trust in our own practice, and which compromises can really harm our creative energy.
Mason Currey is the author of the Daily Rituals books, featuring brief profiles of the day-to-day working lives of more than 300 brilliant minds. His latest book, Making Art and Making a Living was published on March 31, 2026. Currey lives in Los Angeles and writes Subtle Maneuvers, a twice-monthly newsletter on the creative process.


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“I discovered a narrative though my journaling,” says author, creative coach and workshop leader GG Renee Hill. “Writing is a place I can be raw and honest with myself.” In this episode, we speak with GG about her new book, Story Work: Field Notes on Self-Discovery and Reclaiming Your Narrative. We talk about
* How to rewrite a victim narrative
* The intersections of creativity and psychology
* How to build your capacity to be vulnerable
* How to discern when, where and why to share your story
* The role of hope in creative practice
* The importance of breaking the silence around mental health
GG Renee Hill is an author, creative coach, and workshop facilitator whose work centers writing as a tool for healing, self-discovery, and creative expression. Her mission is to help others enrich their lives and communities through the transformative power of the written word. She is the author of Self-Care Check-In: A Guided Journal to Build Healthy Habits and Devote Time to You (2020) and A Year of Self-Reflection Journal: 365 Days of Guided Prompts to Slow Down, Tune In, and Grow (2021). Her most recent book, Story Work: Field Notes on Self-Discovery and Reclaiming Your Narrative was published by Broadleaf Books in November 2025. When she’s not writing, GG facilitates writing workshops for a diverse list of corporate and non-profit clients and literary organizations.
Books: allthemanylayers.com/books
Instagram: @ggreneewrites
Substack: thelayers.substack.com


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“Elation and connection” are two of the side effects of communal singing, and for over four decades, Kate Munger has been writing songs to be sung in tender and difficult moments–at the bedside of the dying, in prisons, and now at gatherings to repair democracy. We talk with Kate about what makes a good communal song, her writing process, how song can transform a negatively charged moment, and what are some of the challenges for communal singing in this moment.
Kate Munger has been passionate about community singing since she was 8 years old at Girl Scout Camp and has led community singing now for over 45 years. In 2000 she founded the first of now 200 Threshold Choirs around the world, singing at the bedsides of people who are dying. Now retired from running the Threshold Choir, Kate has returned to her passions of writing songs for medicinal use and singing for people in coma and with folks who are incarcerated she is offering monthly free sessions to learn 60 new songs to sing on the way to, at and from protests to repair democracy, called “Hate Has No Home Here.” An email to Kate ([email protected]) will sign you up.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingform.substack.com/subscribe