Feed the Art

In this episode, writer Lydi Conklin chats with host Catherine LaSota about their first novel, Song of No Provenance (Catapult, 2025), and the many themes explored in this book: artists in community, teaching, mentorship, jealousy, creative competition, and, ultimately, the relationship of an artist (and the public) to their artwork and the artmaking process. Tune in to learn not only about Lydi's own process in making this book, but also for a wonderful and informative conversation on what it means to grow as an artist and build a creative life!

About our guest:
Lydi Conklin has received a Stegner Fellowship, four Pushcart Prizes, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, a Creative Writing Fulbright in Poland, a grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation, and fellowships from MacDowell, Yaddo, Bread Loaf, Sewanee Writers Conference, Emory University, Hedgebrook, Djerassi, the James Merrill House, Lighthouse Works, and elsewhere. Their fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, One Story, McSweeney’s, American Short Fiction,and VQR. They have drawn cartoons for The New Yorker and Narrative Magazine, and graphic fiction for The Believer, Lenny Letter, and the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. They’ve served as the Helen Zell Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan and are now an Assistant Professor of Fiction at Vanderbilt University. Their story collection, Rainbow Rainbow, was longlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Award and The Story Prize. Their novel, Songs of No Provenance, is out from Catapult in the US and Vintage in the UK.

More about Lydi:
website: lydiconklin.com

Instagram: @lydiconklin

Twitter/X: @lydiconklin

Bluesky: lydiconklin.bsky.social

Thanks for listening to Feed the Art!
Learn more about Catherine LaSota's offerings as a creativity coach and workshop facilitator at catherinelasota.com.
Looking for more ways to feed your art? Join Catherine's occasional newsletter, full of stories, prompts, inspirations, and resources, here.

Thank you to our podcast editor Jade Iseri-Ramos, and thank you to Pat Irwin for our theme music.

Astrologer and self-described "multi-faceted everything and anything you need me to be" (and absolutely wonderful human) Anthony Perrotta talks with host Catherine LaSota about the relationship between creativity and astrology, and about the power of reflecting back on our creative practice as we move forward. Listen in for some permission on following your creative urges, giving your projects the time, space, and grace they need, and so much more.

If you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to check out our upcoming online workshop with Anthony!:

THE CREATIVE RETROGRADE on July 17, 2025 at 7pm ET -- a 90-minute cosmic writing workshop on Zoom. Learn how to work creatively with the many retrogrades in our solar system. No previous astrology experience is required, and all registrants receive a recording of the live workshop, too. More information and registration can be found here.  https://catherinelasota.myflodesk.com/creativeretrograde

About our guest:
Anthony Perrotta is a queer Astrologer, Artist, Poet, Designer, Author, & Stylist. He has been a practicing astrologer for over a decade and a student of the craft for over 16 years. He has a background in Fashion and Interior Design and has spent years bridging the gap between his passions. Because astrology is at the heart of everything he does, he has created intersections of art, design, dreamwork, and poetry with astrology. Recently having written a book, he has brought to life ways to style yourself through your chart. For him, style is more than just dressing well, it is about self-expression and actualizing who you are. If you are ever looking for fashion inspiration for the zodiacal season, check out his Pinterest boards. He has been featured in Well + Good, Homes and Gardens, EveryGirl, Elle Decor, Witchology Magazine, Parade, and Bustle. He resides in Rhode Island with his partner, his cat, and his rabbit.

More about Anthony:

Instagram: @ap_astrology

Website: www.perrotta.co

Substack: https://anthonyperrotta.substack.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/apastrology

Bookings: https://www.perrotta.co/bookings

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ap_astrology/_saved/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/apastrology.bsky.social

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@anthonylperrotta

Thanks for listening to Feed the Art!
Learn more about Catherine LaSota's offerings as a creativity coach and workshop facilitator at catherinelasota.com.
Looking for more ways to feed your art? Join Catherine's occasional newsletter, full of stories, prompts, inspirations, and resources, here.

Thank you to our podcast editor Jade Iseri-Ramos, and thank you to Pat Irwin for our theme music.

What is the difference between producing and creating? How can we build a creative life for ourselves that pushes back against the demands of society and capitalism that tell us we must always be doing, rather than making? And what does it mean to be an artist when you aren't producing anything at all? Join host Catherine LaSota for a wide-ranging conversation with fellow writer and creativity coach Maria Bowler, about Maria's wonderful book Making Time: A New Vision for Crafting a Life Beyond Productivity. Catherine and Maria discuss a range of topics to help nourish your own creative practice, including the human need for a sense of safety, the role of failure in the creative process, the many lessons we can learn from children, and so much more.

About our guest:
Maria Bowler is a writer, coach, and retreat leader. She holds a masters in religion and the arts from Yale University, is a former magazine editor, and has taught creative writing at the university level. Canadian by birth, she now lives in the Driftless region of the US with her family.

More about Maria:
website: mariabowler.com
Making Time book: mariabowler.com/makingtime
Instagram: @mariaevbowler

Thanks for listening to Feed the Art!
Learn more about Catherine LaSota's offerings as a creativity coach and workshop facilitator at catherinelasota.com.
Looking for more ways to feed your art? Join Catherine's occasional newsletter, full of stories, prompts, inspirations, and resources, here.

Thank you to our podcast editor Jade Iseri-Ramos, and thank you to Pat Irwin for our theme music.

In this solo episode, Catherine shares her thoughts on treating your connection with your creative practice as a relationship. What can we learn from the important, long-term human relationships in our lives, and how can we take these learnings and apply them to how we approach our creative practice? What happens at different stages of our relationship with our creative practice, and how can we set expectations for that relationship? Most importantly, how can we tend to ourselves and our creative practice in ways that will keep our relationship with our art strong, long-lasting, and loving?

Thanks for listening to Feed the Art!
Learn more about Catherine LaSota's offerings as a creativity coach and workshop facilitator at catherinelasota.com.
Looking for more ways to feed your art? Join Catherine's occasional newsletter, full of stories, prompts, inspirations, and resources, here.

Thank you to our podcast editor Jade Iseri-Ramos, and thank you to Pat Irwin for our theme music.

This episode of Feed the Art brings you a conversation that host Catherine LaSota had with writer Lilly Dancyger in the summer of 2024, about Lilly's book First Love: Essays on Friendship (The Dial Press, 2024). Catherine and Lilly talk about the importance of being witnessed by fellow writers, showing up for your identity as an artist, writing into difficult material, and more. They discuss the structure of First Love and its interwoven threads, as well as Lilly's process of moving deeper into the work by questioning her own places of resistance. This is a wide-ranging and heartfelt conversation about the depths of friendships' impacts on our lives, and how we might approach writing about such things. Tune in for a wonderful conversation with a terrific writer, and some thoughts on Law & Order, and leather jackets, too!

(Content TW: friendship death/murder)

About our guest:
Lilly Dancyger is the author of First Love: Essays on Friendship, and Negative Space. Her work has been published by The New York Times, The Atlantic, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Guernica, Literary Hub, and more, and she writes the newsletter The Word Cave. Dancyger lives in New York City, and teaches at the Randolph College low-residency MFA program.

More about Lilly:
website: lillydancyger.com
newsletter: The Word Cave
Bluesky: @lillydancyger.bsky.social
Instagram: @lillydancyger

Thanks for listening to Feed the Art!
Learn more about Catherine LaSota's offerings as a creativity coach and workshop facilitator at catherinelasota.com.
Looking for more ways to feed your art? Join Catherine's occasional newsletter, full of stories, prompts, inspirations, and resources, here.

Thank you to our podcast editor Jade Iseri-Ramos, and thank you to Pat Irwin for our theme music.

How can we connect to our creative practice in times that are filled with great challenges? When life and the world seem to be in a state of permacrisis, your connection to your art can be disrupted or interrupted. While this can feel unsettling, it is natural for your art making to go through cycles that look different over time. How can we take care of ourselves and respond to the current moment? Host Catherine LaSota offers this brief solo episode with some ideas and prompts for navigating your relationship with creativity during times of upheaval.

Thanks for listening to Feed the Art!
Learn more about Catherine LaSota's offerings as a creativity coach and workshop facilitator at catherinelasota.com.
Looking for more ways to feed your art? Join Catherine's occasional newsletter, full of stories, prompts, inspirations, and resources, here.

Thank you to our podcast editor Jade Iseri-Ramos, and thank you to Pat Irwin for our theme music.

This episode of Feed the Art brings you a conversation that host Catherine LaSota had with writer Tracy O'Neill in August 2024, about Tracy's memoir Woman of Interest (HarperOne, 2024). Catherine and Tracy talk about epigraphs, a writer's relationship to time, and the motivations for writing a book, among other topics. They discuss some of the themes of Woman of Interest and the way that Tracy develops characters in her writing, when the characters are herself and her friends. There is a lot to learn here, both about Tracy's creative process and ways to think about the life of a writer!

About our guest:
Tracy O'Neill is the author of the memoir Woman of Interest. Her novels include The Hopeful, one of Electric Literature's Best Novels of 2015; and Quotients, a New York Times​ New & Noteworthy Book, TOR Editor's Choice, & Literary Hub Favorite Book of 2020. In 2015, she was named a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree and long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. In 2012, she was awarded the Center for Fiction's Emerging Writers Fellowship. Her writing has appeared in Granta, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, the New Yorker, LitHub, BOMB, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Believer, The Literarian, The Austin Chronicle, New World Writing, The Baffler, Narrative, 4Columns, Scoundrel Time, Guernica, Bookforum, Electric Literature, Grantland, Vice, The Guardian, VQR, ​The San Francisco Chronicle, and Catapult. She holds an MFA from the City College of New York; and an MA, an MPhil, and a PhD from Columbia University. She teaches at Vassar College.

More about Tracy:
website: tracyoneill.net
Instagram: @tracysoneill

Thanks for listening to Feed the Art!
Learn more about Catherine LaSota's offerings as a creativity coach and workshop facilitator at catherinelasota.com.
Looking for more ways to feed your art? Join Catherine's occasional newsletter, full of stories, prompts, inspirations, and resources, here.

Thank you to our podcast editor Jade Iseri-Ramos, and thank you to Pat Irwin for our theme music.

On our second episode of Feed the Art, host Catherine LaSota dives into her relationship with tarot and shares some of the ways she uses tarot cards in her creative practice and in support of other artists. Catherine talks about the books, teachers, podcasts, and rituals that have helped her developed a relationship to her tarot decks, and she pulls one card and offers a interpretation on how to interpret this card as a guide for creativity. This episode ends with three prompts that you can take to your own tarot deck (or an online random tarot card generator, if you don't have a deck!) in support of your own creative practice.

Thanks for listening to Feed the Art!
Learn more about Catherine LaSota's offerings as a creativity coach and workshop facilitator at catherinelasota.com.
Looking for more ways to feed your art? Join Catherine's occasional newsletter, full of stories, prompts, inspirations, and resources, here.

Thank you to our podcast editor Jade Iseri-Ramos, and thank you to Pat Irwin for our theme music.

It's our first episode of Feed the Art! In this episode, host Catherine LaSota shares one of her favorite tools in her creative practice: journaling. Catherine talks about the role that journaling has played in her own life and offers three suggestions to keep in mind when developing your own journaling practice. She also provides two prompts at the end of the episode, to get the words flowing on your journal pages.

Thanks for listening to Feed the Art!
Learn more about Catherine LaSota's offerings as a creativity coach and workshop facilitator at catherinelasota.com.
Looking for more ways to feed your art? Join Catherine's occasional newsletter, full of stories, prompts, inspirations, and resources, here.

Thank you to our podcast editor Jade Iseri-Ramos, and thank you to Pat Irwin for our theme music.

Welcome to Feed the Art, hosted by writer, artist, and creativity coach Catherine LaSota. On Feed the Art, you'll find stories, prompts, and conversations to help you build and sustain your own unique creative practice.

Sign up for Catherine's newsletter for writings and inspirations for the creative life.

More about your host: catherinelasota.com

Music by: Pat Irwin

Thanks for listening to Feed the Art!
Learn more about Catherine LaSota's offerings as a creativity coach and workshop facilitator at catherinelasota.com.
Looking for more ways to feed your art? Join Catherine's occasional newsletter, full of stories, prompts, inspirations, and resources, here.

Thank you to our podcast editor Jade Iseri-Ramos, and thank you to Pat Irwin for our theme music.