Slow Writing: Create at Your Own Pace – Details, episodes & analysis

Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay “put away the call of her soul” to become a scientist, earning a PhD. in biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology. But after two decades as a science writer, feeling grateful for her career wasn’t enough. Her debut novel, Chitra Demands to Go Home, was drafted in the car during her youngest kid’s tennis practice, and Raj proceeded to encounter the sheer vulnerability of fiction where you can’t hide behind rules, facts, or data. 

Episode Highlights

• Unique ways science storytelling prepared Raj for fiction

• Moments of generosity that led to writing (and finishing) her novel

• What happened when she accidentally showed up to an open mic night with nothing to read

• First draft strategies: writing in the car and using a distraction-free typewriter

• Navigating a story through ambiguity

• How an ordinary conversation with her mom planted the seed of her novel idea

• Writing the realistic yet mythological mother/son relationship in Bengali culture

• The surprising reaction from her LinkedIn community after announcing her book

• The vulnerability of publication after a lifetime of meeting external expectations

Links + Mentions

• ⁠Chitra Demands to Go Home⁠, out from Modern Artist Press

• ⁠Freewrite travel typewriter⁠

Let’s Connect

• Sign up for my encouraging newsletter
• Curl up with one of my books: WILD WORDS and EAT THIS POEM

For Part 3 of our cycle series, I’m in conversation with Vanessa Novissimo Wright, a creative communications strategist, writer, and certified life coach for midlife creatives. Before she was fully tapped into her midlife joy and authenticity, Vanessa had a pretty rough perimenopause experience. She generously shares the low points in her journey, which led her to develop a self-care method that keeps her connected to herself and her creative well. If you’re struggling to make sense of this life stage and in need of some wisdom from someone who’s been through it, you don’t want to miss this one.

Episode Highlights

• How her perimenopause symptoms forced her into deep relationship with herself

• The daily practice of surrender 

• The FLOW method that keeps her grounded

• Vanessa’s “self-care-bag” and how she made her car a creative cocoon when her kids were young

• How a “planting seeds” approach to pave the way for embracing creativity in menopause

• Essential practices when you’re experiencing fatigue, brain fog, and can’t string sentences together

• The creative permission slips she’s giving to midlife folks she coaches

• Releasing perfectionism around journaling

• The necessity of fun, whimsy, and joy on the journey

Meet Vanessa

Vanessa Novissimo Wright is a creative communications strategist, writer, and certified life coach for midlife creatives. She helps them navigate menopause with creativity and joy so they can show up vibrantly for their community. Using her FLOW self-care method, Vanessa guides clients to embrace this age and stage of life with clarity, creativity, and curiosity. Follow her on Instagram and Substack.

+ Go to the show notes for links and resources mentioned in the episode

+ Sign up for my encouraging newsletter

+ Curl up with one of my books: WILD WORDS and EAT THIS POEM

🎙️🐌 Big news, listeners! 

Wild Words is now… Slow Writing. 

After a year and a half hiatus, we're back with a new name, new cover art, and new episodes coming your way in January 2026. 

This show might be freshened up on the outside, but we’ll still dig into all the same topics—seasonal creative living, separating our worth from productivity culture, untangling from social media, the relationship between writing and our bodies, and more.

Tune in for a preview of what’s on the horizon!

• Sign up my encouraging newsletter

• Order WILD WORDS and EAT THIS POEM

• Listen to the archives
  

Closing out this batch of episodes and heading into summer, I'm re-releasing one of my most popular shows from last year: Searching for White Space.

Because we’re conditioned to link our productivity to self-worth, we’re not always practiced in the art of releasing and slowing down, so I wanted to share my own experience in an effort to help you find your own white space in whatever season you need it.

Episode Highlights:

• White space on the page vs. the white space in our creative lives
• Nature isn’t productive 24/7 and we shouldn’t be easier
• How we can struggle with resistance when taking time to rest
• A 4-step process you can implement to cultivate white space if you need it

Let’s Connect

• Visit my website: nicolemgulotta.com

• Sign up for my encouraging Substack newsletter

• Curl up with one of my books: WILD WORDS and EAT THIS POEM

• Say hi on Instagram: @nicolegulotta.author

Seven years ago this spring, I was in Brooklyn on book tour for my literary cookbook, Eat This Poem. I was there for a live radio spot and a bookstore event, and had time to find the cutest coffee shop where I parked myself for three hours to write the draft of my proposal for Wild Words, which came out a couple of years later.

When starting to work on episodes for this season of the podcast, I came across an old draft called “Notes from the Road.” This document was filled with questions I was asked at events—the kinds of questions that were so good I wanted to share them with everyone who wasn’t there in person.

Questions We Discuss

• If you have 3 kids and 20 minutes of free time, what should you work on first?

• How do you get back to writing if you haven’t done it in a while?

• Does your writing process change with each book?

• What’s the secret of balancing writing with everything else?

• Have you ever been afraid of success?

• When you do have a margin, how do you avoid just scrolling through Instagram?

• How do you reconcile wanting to write for yourself, but also the desire to get affirmation for your work? 

• How do you be content with just being a writer, and not being the next Ann Patchett? 

Linkable Mentions

• Episode 45: Preparing Your Nervous System for Publication with Tiffany Clarke Harrison

Let’s Connect

• Visit my website: nicolemgulotta.com

• Sign up for my encouraging Substack newsletter

• Curl up with one of my books: WILD WORDS and EAT THIS POEM

• Say hi on Instagram: @nicolegulotta.author

Today I’m answering a listener question: How do you know when you’re done? It seems straightforward on the surface—you’re done when the essay is published, when the book comes out, or when the workshop is over. But not every writing project has defined edges. In fact, this episode argues that when we’re wondering if we’re done with something, we’re actually asking the wrong question. 

Conversation Starters

“When something is finished, it might mean something is true. It could mean someone will read your words. It means you now need to relate to this part of your life differently. You need to tell a new story about what happened to yourself. None of these things are bad, but when we're habituated to the old narratives, change is always hard.”

Episode Highlights

• Understanding completion as a phased experience

• Questions to ask yourself to gauge where you are in the process

• Examples of finishing—from blogging to Facebook groups

• The advice MFK Fisher gave Ruth Reichel that changed the course of her career (and her relationship to finishing)

Linkable Mentions

• Episode 26: Cultivating Trust in the Writer’s Life

• Episode 50: Make Space, Not Time & Other Insights From the Sacred Pause

• Julia Gets Real With Ruth Reichel

Let’s Connect

• Visit my website: nicolemgulotta.com

• Sign up for my encouraging Substack newsletter

• Curl up with one of my books: WILD WORDS and EAT THIS POEM

• Say hi on Instagram: @nicolegulotta.author

Because of social media’s shape-shifting nature (hello, algorithms) it’s useful to check in a few times a year to see if it’s still serving you, and if there’s anything you’d like to change about how you’re using it. This episode is less about whether or not you should be on these platforms in the first place, and more about how to be in relationship to our visibility and the internet at large in ways that are inspired by nature and our bodies. 

Conversation Starters

“It might seem strange to give this much thought to how we’re using apps like Instagram, but I think it’s really important, especially because as Annie Dillard once wrote, “how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” 

Episode Highlights

• A framework for social media use based on your body’s inner seasons, the lunar calendar, and nature’s shifts

• Prioritizing our needs within the framework of a larger digital ecosystem

• 5 suggestions for using social media based on your menstrual cycle

• 6 ways to play with the cyclical energy of your choosing (and still benefit from Instagram)

Linkable Mentions

• How Embracing the 4 Phases of Your Menstrual Cycle Can Expand Creative Potential

• Episode 30: A Post-Pandemic Relationship with Social Media

Let’s Connect

• Visit my website: nicolemgulotta.com

• Sign up for my encouraging Substack newsletter

• Curl up with one of my books: WILD WORDS and EAT THIS POEM

• Say hi on Instagram: @nicolegulotta.author

If you’re ready to give yourself the gift of space, time, and rest, this episode is for you. I’m sharing the highs and lows of a recent writing retreat I took with a friend, plus lots of takeaways to help you plan your own DIY getaway.

Episode Highlights

• Why even one night away is always worth it (and how to make the most of a short trip)

• Thinking through the when, where, and how—logistics are covered

• The pros and cons of solo vs. group retreats

• The value of meal planning (including my favorite sparkling water and a tip for when you return home)

• Seeing the momentum before and after a retreat as adding to the overall experience

• How to capture retreat magic at home

Linkable Mentions

• Substack Newsletter: Diary of a Writing Retreat

• Episode 52: Micro-Shifts to Prioritize Writing

• What to bring on a writing retreat (Edan Lepucki)

• Aura Bora sparkling water

• Vacation Anticipation Can Boost Happiness (Well+Good)

Let’s Connect

• Visit my website: nicolemgulotta.com

• Sign up for my encouraging Substack newsletter

• Curl up with one of my books: WILD WORDS and EAT THIS POEM

• Say hi on Instagram: @nicolegulotta.author
  

Writing in the margins isn’t just the actual time captured, it’s also the belief that these micro-moments add up to something. In Part 1 of our liminal space series, we discussed the “sacred pause,” Part 2 covered how to approach liminal seasons as a vacation from writing, and today we explore re-entry. What happens after we’ve moved through a pause, a break, or liminal season but also find the same schedules and demands waiting for us? 

Conversation Starters

“Big shifts are harder to achieve and make sustainable long-term, so pick one, maybe two things to start with and see what happens when you prioritize your writing again with both your energy AND your time.”

Episode Highlights

• How I moved through creative liminal space in 2023

• Experiments to reconnect to your writing practice

• Why writing magazines can help you feel connected

• What’s happened since making micro-shifts to prioritize writing

Let’s Connect

• Visit my website: nicolemgulotta.com

• Sign up for my encouraging Substack newsletter

• Curl up with one of my books: WILD WORDS and EAT THIS POEM

• Say hi on Instagram: @nicolegulotta.author
  

After spending three weeks away from home this winter (more on why in the episode), it got me thinking about how we spend time off from our writing routines, and how to approach it when we do. This episode is full of real-time insights on preparing for a break, including suggestions for mindfully setting expectations and cultivating curiosity along the way. 

Episode Highlights

• What *not* to do when you’re preparing for a break or vacation

• How to set realistic expectations

• 6 things to try when you’re out of your regular writing routine

• My biggest takeaways from three weeks away from home

Let’s Connect

• Visit my website: nicolemgulotta.com

• Sign up for my encouraging Substack newsletter

• Curl up with one of my books: WILD WORDS and EAT THIS POEM