Redefining Creative Priorities
Erica Vipond on how illness forced her to cut everything but the essential
Daily, chronic pain shows you what you really love. I shed day dreams and wishes and focus on one thing besides my health: I write.
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I LOVED this conversation with
, an extraordinarily thoughtful fiction writer who has been through it. Erica is uniquely able to reflect on how her illness is changing her, even while slogging through the thick of it. Isn’t it wild and inspiring how every single one of the women in this series are deeply wise and also generous with their wisdom?Erica has an autoimmune condition that affects her nerves, causing shooting pain and loss of sensation in various parts of her body. Like many of us here, Erica is a doer who pursues very cool projects, like creating a magazine with contributors around the world. But after her diagnosis in 2020, Erica was suddenly limited in how much she could do each day.
In this interview, Erica shares how chronic pain forced her to hone in on the most important thing in her life, which for her is writing. Through the painful winnowing of life pursuits that she has had to endure in the last few years, she has continued writing multiple novels, because she identified that act as the beating heart of her life.
Listen to the full interview by clicking play below!
And please join us in the comments! Have life events ever forced you to cut the nonessential? What went out the window and what remained?
Find more from Erica!
Website: EricaVipond.com
Instagram: @EricaVipondAuthor_
Substack newsletter: https://ericavipondauthor.substack.com/
Starling Darling will officially publish in October but pre-order announcements will be shared through my substack in September.
Another lovely conversation. As a fellow spoonie writer, I found myself nodding a lot. The comment about bringing someone with you to an appointment in order to be believed is a very real, relatable, and painful fact for so many of us. As is the conversation around "I'm tired too". So few people truly listen to us, hear our definition of exhaustion or pain or depression. I'm saddened by the fact that she's experienced so much of this too. <3 Gentle hugs.
Eager to listen to this podcast. I have two chronic illnesses - fibromyalgia and ME/CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome). One was likely caused by the unimaginable stress of my 18-yr-marriage to an abusive narcissist (which ended with him cheating in 2017); the other was likely caused by the Epstein Barr virus. I will go through periods where I feel decent and am able to walk and work at my desk; but then there are times when I end up in bed all day, so exhausted in pain I can barely move. These flares just do me in and I feel so helpless and frustrated. I still think I should be able to do All The Things. I don't think I've reached the acceptance stage yet.
I, too, decided to give my limited attention and energy to my writing. I gave up working on my PhD, gave up all of my freelance and volunteer work, and am home most of the time. I cancel plans with friends and family all the time, and the guilt is overwhelming.