Just a heads up everyone.

These are adults having adult conversations,

so there is the possibility of adult language. Hi everyone and welcome to Magic Lessons, a podcast produced by Maximum Fun.org and

Riverhead Books.

I'm Elizabeth Gilbert and I just wrote this book called Big Magic, Creative Living Beyond Fear.

But even when I was finished with the book, I didn't feel like I was really finished with the subject.

So I wanted to make this podcast where I could take the subject of creativity out into the world and have real conversations with real people about it.

And that's where magic lessons come from.

And what are magic lessons?

Roadmaps for the path to creativity, the extra nudge we need when we're

feeling stuck in our creative lives.

Hey everyone, welcome to Magic Lessons. I'm Liz Gilbert. In the last episode I spoke with Melissa Phillips in California. She's a singer-songwriter who wants to write new songs, but for some reason she just can't.

She told me how she's still dealing with grief over the loss of her sister three years ago,

and how that's blocking her creativity now.

I gave her my take on the situation but I also wanted to call up a friend of mine,

the extraordinarily sensitive human being and amazing novelist Anne Patchet for some extra help.

Is that famous Nashvilleian author and Patchet?

Am I going to have to call you Elizabeth during this?

So here is what I'm doing. This is a podcast called Magic Lessons and what I did was I put out a call to people who are feeling stuck in a particular creative project and you are the expert witness in the case of wonderful Melissa.

Melissa is a singer-songwriter who has been quietly and steadfastly and with great diligence

learning how to interact with her craft.

She was quick to point out to me that she's slow, it takes her a long time under the best of circumstances

...