Anna Brones: Being creative is part of being human. So it's something that we all have the capacity for. And I think creativity is part of being human. What are the other things that make us human? And what are the things that make us thrive as humans? And yeah, it's like movement, socializing, being connected to the world around us, right? Those are, they are very basic, but we forget how important they are. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Hey, and welcome to #The100DayProject Podcast. I'm your host, Lindsay Jean Thomson. If you're new to the community, welcome. Here's the idea: every year we pick a start date. You pick a creative project, and beginning on the start date, you do your project every day for a hundred days and document it online. You can find out more at the100da project.org. That's the 1 0 0 day project. org. While you're there, sign up for our newsletter to learn more about the next round of the project. My guest today is Anna Brones. Annaa is a paper cut artist, educator, and the founder of Creative Fuel Collective, a platform dedicated to creativity. She also produces Creative Fuel, a newsletter and podcast, and is the author of several books, including the upcoming Cold. Hi, Anna. Hello. Thank you so much for being here on #The100DayProject Podcast. The funny thing is, is we have been chatting for several minutes already, but there's like this sort of pre-interview chat that you do before you record. Anna Brones: So well, I'm excited to be here. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Well, thank you so much. So you and I first met I was coming up on two years ago now in Lindsay Stripling's Yellow Brick Road. That's right. She's also a podcast guest this season. And that was such a cool experience. I met so many wonderful people there. And it's been so nice to make art friends all over the world through that community and beyond. And you also lead a creative community. Anna Brones: Yeah. Yeah. That's funny that you mentioned. Lindsay because I was actually just thinking about it the other day because it was like early in the year and so I was kind of thinking the other day like, oh, I'm kind of coming up on that time that I took that that series. So I love that you brought that up. Yeah, I do lead a creative community I run a newsletter and community called Creative Fuel, and through the pandemic did a weekly workshop every single Wednesday at lunchtime, my time, lunchtime, that I ended at the end of last year. So it was almost four years of a weekly thing, which was a long time. So I kind of transitioned that this year into just more of the newsletter community. Which has been nice, but still do some workshops and have a writing group through that community that I don't facilitate, but my friend Kerri Anne does Lindsay Jean Thomson: I, you know, I put this list together of people who I wanted to bring on to the podcast and I started primarily with people I already know, although we've never met in person, we just know each other through the magic of the internet and it was, really after I put the list together that I realized, oh, almost all of them are not just artists, but also community builders. And it's funny because you start a project, like this podcast is a project and you don't really know ahead of time, like what the through line is going to be. You don't know what it's going to be at all. It's really only through doing it that you start to see like, oh, “that’s actually something that's really interesting to me.” Anna Brones: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's like any creative project, isn't it? Yeah. You just start and you're like, I hope for the best. I don't know what will happen. I mean, it's interesting that you bring up that community thing though, because I think that something that I think a lot about is that for some reason we're still living with this like myth of the solitary artist and creative. And I think that obviously we need alone time and solitude to get work done, of course, but I think we really just don't highlight how much we need other people in our creative lives. Other creatives, but also just other people who want to support our creativity, right? And I think that that's pretty important. Probably also just because of the culture that we live in, you know, a highly individual culture where it's sort of a forge your own path, do it alone. Right. And it's like, we just don't do it alone. So it's, it's not surprising to me that the artists that you connect with are really actively involved in community, because I think a lot of us, we create what we need. Right? And I think a lot of us just like really need and crave and want support. And if we don't have it, we're like, well, let me find it and put it together. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Yeah. And I think too, part of what drew me to that workshop with Lindsay, or that course with Lindsay, was we have this container, the hundred day project, but it's actually really nice to go be a part of somebody else's container. Anna Brones: Oh yeah. Even though like, it's a different experience to be a participant when you are not also like facilitating the experience. Yeah. I went on a writing retreat in October with a bunch of other writers that I was invited to go on. And I mean, truth be told, I think it's actually the first retreat that I had gone on, like solely as a participant, not being in charge of any component of it, which is sort of embarrassing considering that I lead retreats. So maybe it would be good for me to do more retreats myself, but it was wildly different. And I afterwards, I mean, it was just so restorative and so lovely. And I actually ended up texting two good friends who I've led retreats with in the past afterwards. And I just said, retreats, who knew they're incredible. I had no idea, you know, cause I'm just, I think if you're used, if you, if you were often find yourself in a teaching facilitating capacity and that's part of your creative process. Like I know for me, that is part of my, that's like part of my art, right? It's like creating those communities and doing that thing. So if you're in that space a lot, I think you just forget to take that time for yourself. Cause you do get energy out of that, right? Even when you're the person quote unquote in charge. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Yeah. I, I find the facilitating community to be like incredibly creative and energizing. And sometimes to be a participant is to just experience the value of it in a different way. You know? Anna Brones: Well, and I think it's like, I always think of this, I think it's The Oatmeal which is like this online comic that's existed for a really long time. And there's this comic about creative process being like breathing. And so this like equation of like the inhale is like taking things in, right? Like taking an inspiration, whatever. And then the exhale is like the output and that you can't have. All one or the other, because then you pass out, right? If you're only breathing in all time, like you're just going to, and you can't only breathe out. But I think it's kind of the same for, for that, like teaching learning relationship, you can't always just have output. Like you also have to take something in. And I think in particular, as artists sometimes, I think also particularly as women, we don't allow ourselves that, or we are sort of so used to being in a giving offering supporting role that to say, I want to do something for myself and my practice feels really kind of radical and sometimes selfish quote unquote, because that's what society tells us it is, but actually we really, really need it. Like it's a resource for us. To do our jobs. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Well, I love that so much. And I think for the a hundred day project, so many people are, you know, people are so busy, right? Like there's so many things going on. A lot of people who participate have full time jobs and kids and the whole thing. Right. And to say, I'm going to do something just because I want to, just because I'm curious about it. It might not be something that, you know, produces income or makes me famous on Instagram or whatever. Right. Like just because. Oh, like I feel this little pull to do something and maybe I haven't done it ever. Maybe I haven't done it since I was a kid. Like there's something really powerful about that. Anna Brones: Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's something that we. Are sort of told that we're not supposed to do to do something solely because we want to, or because it like makes us happy or, you know, we always need to tie it to something else because of our capitalist productivity driven model. So I think that saying yes to those things does feel like we're pushing up against something. And that's really important. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Yeah. You're making me think of something. When I first reached out and I said, “well, let me know if there's anything that you really want to talk about on the podcast.” You said you wanted to talk about the creative midwinter. And I think that kind of goes hand in hand, right? There's this like, fallow season, this slow down season. Am I using that word right? Fallow. Yeah. I am now. Yeah. Anna Brones: Yeah. I, I think I'm so really intrigued in people's own seasons of creativity because, you know, they don't always align with the seasons exactly. And, you know, we, some of us, I love working on a creative projects in winter and some love doing so in summer, but I think just in general, thinking of creativity as something that is cyclical in nature, like as a process. And so that it's not always on or always off. It's kind of like somewhere in between usually and ebbing and flowing and starting to identify what some of those moments are in our own process. So I think having those more fallow, slower periods that are maybe more periods of like incubation are really essential. And I think those are often more difficult because they don't have an external output component. And I think we're really used to having an external output component, particularly with social media. But it's like, we want something quote unquote to like show for our labor. Right. And I'm, I'm working on a book right now, which is sort of classic example of a very long project where you don't have something to quote unquote show for a very long time, but you're doing lots and lots of work and incubating and thinking. And, and it's like a really interesting process. Cause I feel like I'm coming up against that all the time. Sort of feeling like, have I done enough? Am I, you know, what am I doing? And I think that that is just sitting in that sort of like unknown space is really, really hard, but it's also really important. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Yeah. It's kind of like the inhaling and exhaling you were talking about earlier. Anna Brones: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And I think that one thing I think about like now, like in the sort of like winter period, like where it's actually winter, the season of winter. I think for me, you know, the end of the year is like a really intense time with a lot of like, output and a lot of like external facing stuff because I have like a shop and I sell things and I do some markets and like I do a lot with the newsletter. And so there's really a lot of like external facing. And so I like to think of maybe like January, February into March as the, it's not like a stop time for me creatively. It's actually, there's like a lot of creative work happening, but most of that is internal and personal and not getting shared out. And that kind of feels like a form of incubation for me because I'm like sitting with things or working on projects and it takes some active checking in pretty regularly with myself to remind myself that I don't need to be putting something out. Right. And I think we just live in a culture that kind of demands that a lot. So again, one of these things we have to sort of resist against and it does take work. Lindsay Jean Thomson: It does take work. I think also just one of the benefits of getting older is I'm lessened to feeling bad for no reason. Like if you have done something that hurts somebody's feelings or something like it's reasonable to feel bad, but I don't know, if I feel like lying down instead of painting something, maybe I just need to lie down. Maybe it doesn't have to mean something, you know, maybe it just means that I need a break. Anna Brones: Absolutely. Well, and I think that we, it's hard for us to listen to those cues of when we need a break because of the culture that we live in. So I'm pretty well aware of what my cues are. And often I blow past them because I don't know if there's moments where you have to, or you don't have the space to do that. But I think about this a lot too, I work for myself. So I'm not tied into like a corporate job structure, but you know, I have friends who get very few days off and it's like, it's like very different. The way that they think about rest or taking breaks is very different from me, but I actually feel like a sense of responsibility to advocate for periods of like rest and breaks, because like, if you work for yourself and you can't take a break, then there's really a problem, but it's hard. Lindsay Jean Thomson: It's really hard. It's really hard. Yeah, I totally hear that. And it's been nice to be able to develop that skill over time. I think for the project, one of the things that I have learned over, you know, 10ish years of doing it is that the container is that it's a daily project for a hundred days, right? Like you pick something, you do it every day for a hundred days, but like, it is really up to you. Right. So like, whatever the action actually is, is so subjective and, and can really be any number of things. And if you're, for example, if you're a potter, it might not actually be feasible for you to travel to a studio every day to create. So how could you still use this container of the project to work towards something without being so limiting about it, without being so prescriptive about like, “Oh, I have to output X in order for it to count?” but how can I be more expansive in my definition of like, what counts? Anna Brones: Yeah. And I think it's interesting because I think on some level, if you look at like most artists and creatives across history, and sort of take their processes, most people have some kind of a form or structure to their creative work. Whether that is like in where they do it, when they do it, you know, like, it's just like rare that you find someone that's like, I just do stuff when I feel like it and then we'll see what happens. Like most people, if they're actively involved in that creative process and work do have some like rituals, routines and rigidity around their process. But it's also this like really fine balance of knowing that and like being able to lean on that and then also have the moments where you're like, this is actually not what I need right now. So to your point about the projects, this sort of grace that you give yourself to maybe not do it for a couple of days, if that's what you need, or maybe stop because that's what you need and come back to it later or switch what you're doing halfway, cause it's not working. Right. It's like, I think that the sort of structures only serve us as they serve us. Right. And if they're not serving us anymore, it's worth like reassessing. And I think that. Yeah, that's just I think it's something we have. I don't know why we necessarily have a hard time doing that, but I think especially when we say I'm doing this thing and I'm doing it this way, it's like we feel we have to stick to that forever because we've said it and we've like vocalized it, but it's like we're allowed to change. We always have a choice. Like it is up to us at the end of the day. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Absolutely. And you know, the, whatever the project is, whether you're doing the hundred day project or some other kind of creative practice, like just like this podcast, it starts out as an idea and then it becomes what it actually is through the process of doing it. One year I started a project. I wanted to make a tarot deck with collage. And I realized on like day two that I didn't actually enjoy cutting things out. Yep. But the thing that was so liberating about it is, you know, a younger version of me would have felt really bad about that and seen it as a failure. But as someone who has developed some resiliency over the years, instead, I allowed that, I allowed that to morph into something else. And I did not actually end up making a single tarot card that year, but I did find watercolors and fell totally in love with watercolors. You know, so you need that, like the container to your point, like to get started with something, you need some degree of rigidity or shape to make the commitment to show up, but the commitment is to show up. It isn't actually to make the tarot cards. Anna Brones: Yeah, absolutely. It's funny because I, I had just written a few weeks ago about. Like having a sentence a day practice, like writing one sentence a day. And a couple writers who come to us, Chris La Tray is one, he's in Montana and he has this like beautiful book called, I think it's called One-Sentence Journal. But anyway, it's just, so he writes these like beautiful sentences, one sentence a day. And I had written this thing about, well, that's such a nice practice and whatever. And then of course, immediately, like a few weeks later, I was like, oh my gosh, I haven't been doing this one. I haven't even written a sentence a day. And then I thought, oh I have actually written a lot of sentences every day. Yeah. You know, I mean, have I had an intentional beautiful sentence in a journal type of a practice? No. Have I also been writing every single day? Yes. So it's really interesting. I think we, We're just not very nice to ourselves, or we're not very like compassionate. And it's sort of, I think that classic thing of instead, we just have a tendency to err on that negative side, like, what have I not done? Or what have I done wrong? Or instead of thinking, what have I done? Or yeah, what have I done that's maybe informed how I'm working? Um, what have I learned? What have I seen? I think those are sort of, I think that's a really important question to ask when we're in those kind of moments when we're being hard on ourselves. What helps you be nicer to yourself? Uh, having friends who help me to be nicer? Yeah. I think, I think this, to your point about having community, I mean, I think that having just having a few close creative friends who can help you to be nice to yourself. But I do think that having some people who understand the ups and downs of the creative process. So who are in creative work themselves is really helpful because they see that and they understand those ups and downs really well. And I think you need them to hold the mirror up to you because it's like where we are always. We are meaner to ourselves than we'd be to our friends. And I think every time, every time that negative voice pops up, it's like, you know, no part of me would ever say that to one of my artist friends, right. I would be horrified, but I'm happy to say it to myself, which is just so silly. So I think like, I think, yeah, having other people to hold that mirror up is really important. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Yeah. Okay, so friends, I feel like I know from your work and from the internet that nature and movement are really core for you. Anna Brones: Yeah, you know, it's funny, sometimes I think, like, what's the point of talking or writing about any of this? Because it's all so basic. I mean, it's like, I don't know: “go outside”doesn't really seem to be some revolutionary life changing thing… Lindsay Jean Thomson: And yet… Anna Brones: Right. Yeah. I would say that I think being creative is part of being human. So it's something that we all have the capacity for and creativity is part of being human. What are the other things that make us human? And what are the things that make us thrive as humans? And yeah, it's like movement, socializing, being like connected to the world around us, right? So I think that those are, they are very basic, but we forget how important they are. Yeah. I mean, I, I'm not always great at any of those things, but you know, but yeah, we try, we try our best. Yeah. Yeah, I think, um, I always think of, uh, especially now it's winter and it's dark out and I've been trying to a couple of days a week, you stop working like earlier in the afternoon. So I can go on a bike ride like in the last hour before it gets dark and that's become like a really nice, it happens maybe two or three days a week, not all the days, but it's become a really nice habit because it's kind of towards I try to start working a little bit earlier in the morning cause I'm better in the morning. So by that time of the day, it's like, I need a space to just. Release. And I always think of the bicycle as like the idea machine, because inevitably you're in movement, you can't look at your phone. You're just like looking at the world around you, you're paying attention, making sure you don't run into anything or, you know, but that's like the space where your brain starts like processing through all your thoughts and ideas. And so I think that that then becomes, that to me feels not like a luxurious break that I've taken. It actually feels really essential to doing that creative work and processing through like whatever is in my head space. Lindsay Jean Thomson: I hear you. I call it my sunset sanity walk. And at this time of year, the sunset sanity walk starts at like 3 PM. Anna Brones: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But that's part of being cyclical, right? It's doing it when the time is right. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think, you know, again, I'm conscious I plan my own schedule. So I know for people who are stuck in an office and cannot get outside at that time, I totally get that. But it also makes me really frustrated that companies don't have a better grip on that in terms of that. Those things actually are really essential for making people more creative and feel well. And so, you know, they really should be part of. Yeah. Just part of work culture, you know? Yeah. Lindsay Jean Thomson: So speaking of culture, you are Swedish American, right? What are the kind of, as someone who has maybe more than one lens or kind of dual lens, bifocal lenses on culture, like what are the, some of the things from, Swedish culture that affect or impact your kind of worldview around creativity? So like, I know, for example, Fika, you wrote a book about this. It's a big thing. Anna Brones: Yeah. Well, so Fika for people who don't know is basically the Swedish coffee break. The Swedes are just very enthusiastic. Yeah, it's, I mean, it really is just a coffee break. Like it's coffee plus something, but it's, I think it's sort of just in the way that it's done and the cultural space that it takes up. So it is really is a time that you take a break. It is often social. You are not just drinking coffee and on your phones at the table together, there's a conversation. And so I think there's sort of some of those what I'd call like slower aspects to it. And that also shows up in Swedish work culture. You know, you have fika break at work. So that is, that's certainly one thing. I mean, I, I think, I think in general, it's, it's interesting because it's hard to, It's hard to like pull out what's just cultural and also what is facilitated because of infrastructure and I think in Sweden you do have a little bit more space for those things because you do have a social welfare system and people are not living with low grade anxiety that they're going to go bankrupt because of a health crisis, right? And I think that some of these, it's really easy for us to romanticize these like nice little elements of culture elsewhere, but I think sometimes they really, especially in the U.S., there's so much that we're lacking in terms of support that would make our lives just be easier. And it's just really important to acknowledge those larger systemic things. I think particularly as, as creatives and artists, especially those of us working for ourselves, it's just something really important to think about. Like just imagine if you're worrying for yourself what your life would feel like if you just knew that you had health care, right? Like if you just took that component out of your everyday anxiety and stress levels, what if you could just be stressed about your creative projects? I don't know. What a gift that would be. What a dream. What a dream. Like what a dream. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Yeah. Well said. So let's talk a little bit about what's next. You have a book coming out in the next year, probably 2025 or 2026? Anna Brones: Yeah. The manuscript's due in October. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Okay. So probably not out till 2026. Anna Brones: If I turn it in on time. Yeah. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Is that, is that a flexible thing? Anna Brones: Oh, well, I'm on contract. So I do have October 2025 in my contract, but there's always some wiggle room if you need it. There is some flexibility, but I'm really trying to hit that. I'm also like a really big believer in deadlines and the power of a deadline. I like to hold that. That being said, I'm like very, very delayed on a different deadline for a different writing project. So, you know, sometimes we just, certain things get priority and others don't, but yeah, it's a book about cold is what I'm working on. So largely cold water, but other things too, but it's a, yeah, it's like the biggest book project I've ever worked on. So it's requiring a lot of creative thinking. A lot of creative thinking. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Well, I can't wait to read it. In 2026. Anna Brones: The deadline feels like it's tomorrow for sure. Yeah. It is interesting though, I've thought a lot about just because we were talking about kind of creative seasons, since I, much like other people, you know, I do a couple of different things for my creative work. So I write, but then I do papercut illustration. I also teach and it's interesting to see how those things kind of like ebb and flow and interact with each other. Right now, I just really feel like I'm in a writing season and I'm not doing that much visual art. And so it's just interesting to think about how those things come up and recede as well. And I think that again, it's a little bit easier for me right now to say I'm in a writing season because it is like I am working on a thing and I know that there's an endpoint and, and it's not something that I'm just working on. And then I don't know what's going to happen with it. Like it's in a very specific container. But I do think that again, if we're creative people, we probably have lots of interests. And I think we live in the kind of culture where obviously we all want to be really good at what we do. It's nice to be good at what we do, but I think because of maybe social media culture, just the internet. There is this sort of real craving for like, “Oh, I have to be good at what I do. And I have to really like produce at that.” And that doesn't leave a lot of room for like experimentation and curiosity and just having fun. And I think what's kind of nice having the writing thing be kind of full-time going into next year is that I'm kind of excited for just the space to work on some visual stuff just for fun. Because that's doesn't need to be the main thing. And I'm just like really excited about that because I haven't had that in a while and to just be able to mess around a little bit. And I think that particularly when you're a working artist or your creative practice is your profession, you have to be really mindful about that because it's really easy that it stops being fun, or it's really easy that you don't, like, take time and make space to have that space of play, and just, like, messing around. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Yeah, the opportunity to do something different, or be bad at something, or do something just for fun. Anna Brones: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember in – hopefully I can swear on this podcast – I do remember in Lindsay's Yellow Brick Road, I do remember writing down really big in my notebook, **** around and find out. Meaning, with your materials or your medium or whatever, and just like, see what happens and see where that takes you. Right. Cause we just, I just hard to, it's really hard to set out space for that. I think in a culture that is really like product and outcome oriented. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Yeah, I hear that. Well, I am so excited for the book and to continue to get the newsletter. Uh, anything else happening? Any retreats? Any events? You said you're focusing mostly on writing this year. Anna Brones: I have two retreats in 2025, but they're both full. Lindsay Jean Thomson: So great. Get on the mailing list to find out about 2026. Anna Brones: You can get on the mailing list. I do lead a couple of retreats and workshops every year, so people can definitely sign up for, for the newsletter for, for more of that. And we didn't even really even talk about the newsletter, but yeah, the newsletter is called Creative Fuel. It is really just whatever I want to write about. So that's not true. It has creativity as the through line. But like I said before, creativity is sort of just a human thing. So all of it. It's all of it. Right. It's all of it. All of it. Yeah. Anything and everything. It's all of it. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Yeah. I love it. No, no need to compartmentalize here. Anna Brones: Nope. Nope. Not at all. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Well, thank you so much for, for joining #The100DayProject Podcast today. It's always so nice to connect with you. I appreciate you being here and I can't wait to share. Anna Brones: Yay. Thank you so much for having me. This is, it's always fun to talk about these things with people who get it. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Part of why I did this as I just was like, “Oh, it'd be really fun to jam with people about art and talk about our feelings.” I'm a cancer, if you can't tell. Anna Brones: I can hypothetically but I’m a Libra. Lindsay Jean Thomson: Libra. So very, very diplomatic, measured, balanced. Anna Brones: Yeah. To a fault, but you know… Lindsay Jean Thomson: I love it. I love it. That's so funny. Yeah. That's great. Well, thank you again. And I hope you enjoy your holidays. Yeah. Same to you. I hope you get some, some rest. Thanks so much for joining us on #The100DayProject Podcast. You can connect with Anna at annabrones.com or @annabrones on Instagram. My guest next week is Lindsay Stripling. Here's a quick peek at my conversation with Lindsay. Lindsay Stripling: It's also like retraining our intuition for these things, right? Like the thing that I tend to do naturally is not necessarily the thing that I'm seeking or the thing that I want. And so I think, like you said, holding these things at the same time, holding several kind of seemingly opposing forces at once and recognizing when I'm being called to do one for X, Y, or Z reason or when I feel like maybe I want to go in this direction. Is that actually the information that I'm seeking or is it because I'm uncomfortable or is it because that feels easier? Those are kind of the questions that no one else can answer for us and that we're kind of exploring when we do this stuff.