Being Creative When You Don’t Think of Yourself as an Artist, with Jane Ward
Hello aligned authors!
I'm Valerie Ihsan, and this is Episode 221 of the podcast and it's September 22, 2026 as I record this.
Main Topic: Jane Ward (creativity, baking, travel, and how to do anything creative when you don't consider yourself an artist)
PATREON:
Thank you to my existing patrons for believing in my work offline and here in the podcast. If you are a patron, in either tier, you get all my content, always. You can support me and my dreams and my writing and my aligned author life for $11.11 USD, and I will be so so grateful. Truly. Heart to heart. Gratitude for your gifts. If you want coaching too (with TWO LIVE CALLS EACH MONTH, you can BACK me at $55.55/mo USD). You will NEVER find coaching sessions for less money than this. If you've ever wanted continued support for your writing and accountability for your projects, this is the way to do it.
Become a patron of the arts and of me at Patreon.com/valerieihsan.
And you can support my friend and colleague and Visiting Co-Host author Erick Mertz at Patreon.com/strangeairstories for short stories in the paranormal mystery genre.
Announcements/Author Updates:
mini-writing retreat was a lot of fun; it felt special; I spent a couple of hours with two lovely ladies; and I got a lot of writing done. I'm thinking I'll do that maybe quarterly.
Setting up a Telegram Broadcast channel for a monthly chat and Q&A; I want to call it something more fun than that. I'm a writer, but copywriting is a different skill. ;-)
Spain (plus trying to find a place to live!) + Eclipse;
Structure and Spark (writing process and book planning) more editing
What are you reading?
Just finished: •We Need Your Art (Amie McNee) and The Someday Gardener (Ashly Poston) and Kiss Her Once For Me (Alison Cochran)
Creative Act (Rick Rubin)
Fiction: On Fire Island (Jane Rosen)
(Main Topic):
"Being Creative When You Don't Think of Yourself as an Artist" with Jane Ward
Also, "Bread Baking and Writing Go Together Like Peanut Butter and Jelly"
Jane Ward is the author of Hunger (Forge 2001), The Mosaic Artist
(2011), and In The Aftermath (She Writes Press 2021). After graduating
from Simmons College, Jane began working almost immediately in
the food and hospitality industry, doing everything from planning
private events to working as a weekend baker in a neighborhood
bakery. Later, she became a contributing writer to an online regional
and seasonal food magazine, and a blogger and occasional host of
cooking videos for an internet recipe resource affiliated with several
regional newspapers. Most recently she has contributed book reviews
to Story Circle and Mom Egg Review. She loves to travel and often
documents her trips through travel photography. Jane lives in
Ipswich, Massachusetts.
1. Let's talk about artists. As an author, do you consider yourself an artist?
Yes. The craft of writing is artistry. Paint pictures with words.
In what other ways do you consider yourself an artist?
Photography helps to process what I see visually.
Cooking is an art form.
Look at things in a diff ways and we all have commonalities.
Living an aligned author life to me means living from the inside out. Showing up on the outside as who you are on the inside. That your behaviors and actions mirror your internal values and the codes you say you want to live your life by. I don't see being an artist differently. I think we are all artists. And that our art, our self-expression, can be cooking, gardening, painting, singing, or even teaching.
2. For beginning writers, who barely dare to call themselves writers (let alone authors), how would you coax them into accepting the moniker of Artist for themselves?
Step up and call yourself an artists. Don't have a body of work yet. Claim your space. I can be part of this. Confidence that you have intention.
2.5. Why do you think a person wouldn't consider themselves artistic or creative? Where do those stories get started?
From our youth we hear, don't rock the boat, stay in line. Don't put yourself out there. Don't speak up too loudly. Be humble. Be grateful. Might never even considered art for self-expression.But assertive isn't a bad word. Stand up for yourself.
3. Why baking bread for you? And how does it marry up with writing so well in your mind (and your life)?
Soothing ritual (baking bread). Struggling with a manuscript? Do something with my hands and turn my mind off. Stop the noise in my head. Meditation on waiting.
Working with the time you have. Sometimes it takes longer than you think.
(Anthony St.Clair from Learners and Makers said that he was taught that if you were a writer, you also had to do something with your hands. To get into your body and out of your head to balance it out. He chose cooking and baking. ... I remember when in massage school, I had to take an art class of some sort (didn't matter what) to balance out all the intellectual science and book-learning I was doing.)
4. Tell us about your travels and how they've affected your writing life.
Walking holidays. Just become a body in time and space. Just moving. Anti - sitting in a chair and churn out stuff from my mind.
Art museums, talk with people who've been there. Understand the different people and cultures.
Informs the writing: interactions between people. Knowing the way other people act makes us more aware of how diff characters would react. Expand your mind with what you don't know. Not just write about myself.
Does the reader come on the journey with me?
Is this making sense? Is this furthering what I'm trying to say? (For the editing process)
Always start with an idea of what I want to say (that you hope they will take away).
5. Tell us about your latest book.
Should Have Told You Sooner. About a woman in her 50s, goes on a journey of reexamining her past and living with the consequences of her actions.
6. What are you most excited about these days?
Weighed down these days, but feel lucky I can use my imagination! Author friends get together and lift each other up. Coffee dates, dinners, walks.
Janeaward.com sign up for newsletter (recipes, photography, articles); @authorjaneward on IG and Threads.
"No Lessons Yet"- a great title for a memoir; Who wants it? :-)
7. What are you reading?
The Correspondent (Virginia Evans)
While editing, Jane reads mysteries (British police procedurals), like from Ian Rankin, and Elizabeth George.
Valerie's Linktree: https://linktr.ee/valerieihsan
Erick's Linktree link: https://linktr.ee/erickmertzauthor
