Sabina Leybold

It’s been shown repeatedly that New Year’s resolutions aren’t effective. The sudden burst of energy and ambition on January 1 is great for setting goals, but sustaining that energy is nearly impossible if the flip of the calendar was the main impetus to dream of change. AND YET…I set some creative resolutions for myself this … More Making–and keeping–creative resolutions

It sounds simple, but if you’re feeling a bit stuck creatively, a great place to turn is collaboration. Feeding off someone else’s energy and riffing on each other’s ideas can reinvigorate your process and push your boundaries into paths you don’t usually tread. Ways to collaborate Collaboration comes in so many forms that the only … More On collaboration

It’s well known that the life of an artist can be solitary if you let it. Creativity often requires looking inward, which often also means forgetting to look up, out, around. It can turn into an echo chamber: an idea strikes, you pursue it and explore it and rework it, and if you fall in … More Feedback is a gift

A few days before the end of September I put a poll on my Instagram Story: Should I do a prompt list? Months earlier, running out of steam on my 100 Day Project, I had turned to prompts on Instagram–primarily geared towards poetry–to keep me motivated and fueled for daily creation. It was so helpful to me … More More than just a whirlwind: What I learned from hosting a month of poetry prompts

Last month I had to give a short talk at work about how I stay inspired to create.  I used the opportunity to talk about my 100 Days of Pantone project; the presentation date happened to fall on Day 100, so it was natural fodder for a case study on my own creativity. During the … More There is no right or wrong way to create

When lockdown began, I assumed I’d be erased of all inspiration and creativity. In the Before Times, I always sought inspiration from novelty (traveling to new cities or exploring unfamiliar streets in my own) and observation (eavesdropping in public or basking in art installations). Almost all of those experiences vanished in lockdown, so I figured my creative expression would … More Finding inspiration in lockdown

I don’t know how exactly old I was when I started losing interest in holidays and other special dates. I’ve been uninterested in Christmas for at least five years, if not more like ten by now. Many of my birthdays have been unremarkable at best. Valentine’s Day – whether single or in a relationship – has … More How to get married in a pandemic

In the latest 99% Invisible podcast episode, host Roman Mars acknowledges the strange new world of self-quarantining with a tranquil ode to the little-known stories behind the ordinary objects in our homes. He tells listeners about the historical connotations between windows and wealth, the cultural associations between fans and death, and the rise and fall of … More You recognize that this is noise, right?

If you look at my Goodreads “want-to-read” list chronologically, it’s a pretty fascinating archive of what was most important to me in each year of my recent history. The list never stops growing for a few reasons: 1) there are always more books than there is time to read them; 2) I have a tendency … More Culling My TBR List and My Obligations to My Past Selves