Maggie Smith — ”You’re a human before you’re an artist.”

What ingredients are necessary to write? Where does a story begin and end? Why is the blank page both endlessly exciting and daunting? For renowned poet, memoirist, and educator Maggie Smith, these questions are the center of her life and work. And in her latest book, Dear Writer, she offers something bigger than answers.

Across ten principles, readers are greeted with a wealth of inspiration that invites artists of all genres to tap into their creative practice. Maggie extolls the beauty of attention, the power of vulnerability, but beyond the page, she also contends with the more nuanced “ingredients”—intuition, luck, retreat. Maggie spoke about all of these ideas and shared more about her own writing evolution, how slow storytelling haunts and heals us, and the questions she has about—and for—writing. This episode also opens with a story from Domenica Ruta.

---

https://slowstoriespodcast.com/maggie-smith/ 

Subscribe to Slow Stories on Substack: https://slowstories.substack.com/     

Purchase Slowing: https://bookshop.org/p/books/slowing-discover-wonder-beauty-and-creativity-through-slow-living-rachel-schwartzmann/21201888?ean=9781797223759    

Purchase Dear Writer: https://bookshop.org/p/books/dear-writer-pep-talks-practical-advice-for-the-creative-life-maggie-smith/21525857?ean=9781982170844&next=t 

Purchase All the Mothers: https://bookshop.org/p/books/all-the-mothers-domenica-ruta/21707238?ean=9780593734056&next=t 

Follow Maggie: @maggiesmithpoet

Follow Domenica: @domenicaruta

Follow Rachel: @rachelschwartzmann