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Survival as a creative act

Writer Suleika Jaouad on how journaling saved her life -- and how it can transform yours
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A lot of what we do here at The Ink can be, well, depressing. But we just had a truly inspiring conversation with the writer Suleika Jaouad and almost 2,500 of you about the practice of journaling and the glorious awkwardness of life (and of live online conversation). Suleika, the author of Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted and The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life, and publisher of The Isolation Journals here on Substack, talked to us about:

  • How journaling just for yourself, without any practical expectations, no matter how messy and disorganized or what it does or doesn’t include, can unlock the path to the future

  • How she credits a 100-day project of journaling every day (inspired by designer Michael Bierut) not just with transforming her writing, but with saving her life during her fight with cancer

  • What living with the personal uncertainty of illness — and imagining survival as a creative act within that — taught her (and can teach the rest of us) about living in these times of unprecedented political uncertainty

  • And, of course, how you can get started with journaling (or any other creative practice) in a way that will let you keep doing it

You won’t want to miss any of it. Just click on the video player above to watch the conversation, and click on the cover below for more about Suleika’s new book.

Cover of Suleika Jaouad's The Book of Alchemy

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