236 What if the secret to a sustainable creative life isn’t thinking bigger — but thinking smaller?
In this heartfelt and wide-ranging conversation, Illustrator Hallie Bateman, memoirist Molly Wizenberg, and host Nadine Kenney Johnstone explore the power of tiny containers: daily journal comics, glimmers, four-panel sketches, letters, lists, and small true stories.
They talk about:
- Why children naturally learn through words and images — and why adults often abandon that balance
- Creative resistance (and why it doesn’t mean you’re broken)
- The relief of giving your thoughts a place to land
- How constraints can unlock magic
- Falling back in love with your work after seasons of doubt
- And why retreating from daily life can change everything
From postpartum depression to IVF, from manuscript meltdowns to rediscovering joy through humor, this episode is an honest look at how creative practice can sustain not just your art — but your sanity.
You’ll hear how small, repeatable acts of attention — a daily comic, a 100-word love story, a page of “I remember” sentences — can become the foundation for books, healing, and creative renewal.
If you’ve ever said “I’m not an artist,” struggled with resistance, or forgotten that loving your work is even an option, this conversation is your invitation back.
Because sometimes the smallest forms hold the biggest transformation
Join Nadine, Molly, and Hallie in Spain from Oct 26-Nov 2 for Tiny True Stories and Sketches: A Micro-Memoir Retreat. Whether you’re a seasoned writer or just wanting to preserve impactful memories on the page, remember that every story—no matter how small—is worth capturing.
About Nadine:
Nadine Kenney Johnstone is an award-winning author, podcast host, and writing coach. After fifteen years as a writing professor, she founded WriteWELL workshops and retreats for women writers. She interviews today’s top female authors on her podcast, Heart of the Story. Her infertility memoir, Of This Much I'm Sure, was named book of the year by the Chicago Writer's Association. Her latest book, Come Home to Your Heart, is an essay collection and guided journal. She has been featured in Cosmo, Authority, MindBodyGreen, Natural Awakenings,Chicago Magazine, and more. She writes a regular column about mid-life reclamation on Substack.
About Molly:
Molly Wizenberg is a bestselling memoirist, James Beard Award-winning essayist, and teacher of personal narrative writing. She is passionate about helping people learn to use writing as a tool to better understand themselves, their experiences, and their stories.
Her memoir “The Fixed Stars” was an American Library Association Stonewall Honor Book and a finalist for the Washington Book Award in biography and memoir. Her food memoirs, "A Homemade Life" and "Delancey," were both New York Times bestsellers.
Molly’s work has appeared in The Guardian, The Washington Post, and Bon Appétit, where she was a monthly columnist for three years. Since 2010, she has co-hosted the hit comedy-and-food podcast “Spilled Milk.”
In other lifetimes, she wrote the beloved blog “Orangette” (2004-2019), her debut in the writing world, and she co-founded the award-winning restaurants Delancey and Essex, both in Seattle, Washington. She writes the newsletter I’ve Got a Feeling on Substack and teaches writing workshops online and around the world.
Learn more about Molly Wizenberg and her work by visiting her website or her Substack, or find her on Instagram.
Hallie Bateman
Hallie Bateman is a Cincinnati-based writer and illustrator. She is the author of 4 books, and her work has been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times, BuzzFeed, Cup of Jo, and many others.
Hallie made art from a young age, but her real artistic journey began in college. She was an English major and took an art class alongside her writing studies. When she drew with a nib pen for the first time, she fell in love, realizing images were what had been missing from her writing.
Hallie’s first book, “Brave New Work,” published by The Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 2017, is an inspirational journal meant to guide its readers through an interactive creative journey, helping them get started on creating their own art.
More books followed. “What to Do When I’m Gone” is a 2018 graphic memoir in which her mom, Suzy Hopkins, offers instructions for Hallie to follow, beginning the moment Suzy dies. Their second collaboration, “What to Do When You Get Dumped,” was published in 2025 and traces Suzy’s journey through heartbreak after the end of her 30-year marriage. Like their first book, it is funnier than it sounds.
Hallie’s book portfolio also includes “Directions,” “Eggasaurus,” “Love Voltaire Us Apart,” and “If Our Bodies Could Talk.”
Hallie has made daily journal comics off and on for over a decade and passionately believes they can serve as an accessible foundation for a wider creative practice. They allow us to write and draw in combination, learning how each medium impacts and aids the other, while cultivating an artist’s sense of awareness and aliveness.
Learn more about Hallie and her work by visiting her website and following her on Substack and Instagram.
