Slow Writing
& The Order I Didn't Expect
Several years ago, I came across Nicole Gulotta’s Wild Words, a book about letting creativity meet you where you are. As a new mom, in the midst of nap-trapped days and sleepless nights, I devoured that book. We’re talking highlights, underlines, notes spilling into the margins.
After I finished Wild Words, I moved on to Nicole’s podcast. I have distinct memories of walking around my neighborhood, pushing a stroller, headphones on, and Nicole’s voice in my ear. At the time, I had no plans of publishing a book. I only knew that I wanted to keep writing. So I did—over several slow, mostly unremarkable years.
In 2025, I published my first poetry collection, A History of Holding. A month or two after its release, an order arrived in my inbox.
From Nicole Gulotta.
I was shocked, confused, elated. How did she know I existed? Where did she come across the book? I reached out to thank her and tell her how much Wild Words meant to me, and she was as kind and gracious as I’d imagined.
A few weeks later, she sent me an email.
She’d finished my book. She liked it. She wanted to have me on her podcast!
Nicole brought such thought-provoking questions to our conversation. We chatted about the cost of visibility (aka when my poem was torn apart on Reddit), creating ceremony and self-care around writing, publication fatigue, and finishing my book in the booth of a Chuck E. Cheese.
The episode is now available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. I wonder who might be out there, pushing a stroller and listening to this conversation—without any idea where their writing will take them.





So incredible!!! I love when things like this happen -- where you orbit each other's worlds and then suddenly collide. The goodness of the internet :) Downloaded it to listen to!
Aww I love this! Gonna check out that book and the podcast!