We all have unfinished conversations that haunt us. Mira Jacob decided to take all of hers and craft them into an incredible graphic memoir called Good Talk.
In this episode, Mira and I take a deep dive into the mechanics of the creative process. We discuss how she dove into creating a graphic memoir with no formal drawing experience, the methods she used to protect herself emotionally while creating a work that deals with painful conversations around race, and the challenges she faced when promoting her work as a woman and a person of color.
Key takeaways from this conversation:
- Why creating constraints for your project makes your creativity rise to the occasion
- How Mira taught herself how to draw & constructed a graphic language from scratch
- The challenges of self-promotion & confronting other people’s notions of how you should present your work
- The role of “creative ancestors” in carving a path for future work to get published
Go Deeper
RESET, a cosmic tune-up for your workday. RESET is a course created by Hurry Slowly host Jocelyn K. Glei that shows you how to move from a speed-obsessed way of working to a heart-centered way of working. It will teach you how to let go of “productivity shame,” tap into the natural rhythms of your energy and attention, and get into your creative flow. Learn more at reset-course.com.
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Favorite Quotes
“I feel like the more constraint I offer myself, the more the rest of me will rise up to meet the challenge. So, for example if I tie one hand behind my back, then the other hand is going to just get really, really creative.”
“There really was a kind of a rhythm, and a rule, and a method for everything that kept me in check as I was going, because I’d never drawn anything before. I’d never really drawn a book, I’d never really drawn anything more than a few pages, and I just feel like I needed the rules so that I could guide myself forward.”
“I didn’t get published until I was 40. If you have a story that you’re trying to get out there, if you have some creative work that you’re trying to do, keep doing it.”
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Resources
The references and ideas that we mention in this epi:
- Mira’s viral piece 37 Difficult Questions From My Mixed-Race Son
- Jeff Sheng’s photo essay on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
- Longreads’ interview with Mira: “Imagine Us, Because We’re Here”
- Mira’s creative ancestors: Toni Morrison, Arundhati Roy, and Alexander Chee
- My new online course RESET, a cosmic tune-up for your workday
- Follow Mira at: Website | Twitter
Call to Action
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