Best Sketch Zone Podcasts (2025)

1
Episode 141: Jennie Erin Smith on Exploring the Marathon Project 32:12

Play Pause

5d ago32:12

32:12

When a creative project lasts for many years, how do you create a cohesive story? How do you gather and organize that much research? At what point do you begin writing? How do you handle the changing of an editor? What happens when you don’t know the ending? And what if you hoped for a different ending? We cover all these questions with Jennie Erin…

1
Episode 140: Lisa S. Gardiner on Learning From the Past 30:56

19d ago30:56

30:56

How can looking at the past help us understand what to do about a current crisis? “I’m a firm believer that history can help give us perspective here,” says science writer Lisa S. Gardiner. She’s speaking about her research with coral reefs, but it’s an apropos metaphor for how our past experiences with creative endeavors can help inform our curren…

1
Episode 139: Adam Becker on Why Doubt is a Strength 31:58

1M ago31:58

31:58

What happens when the subject of your creative practice scares you? Not only that, but what if you’re scared, too, of what might happen when you put your work into the world? We speak with physicist and author Adam Becker about his new book, More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Hu…

1
Episode 138 Bonus: Bil Lepp on Repsonding to an Audience in Real Time 12:36

1M ago12:36

12:36

Knowing your audience is everything for a storyteller, and sometimes that information comes in real time. “Within three minutes I am going to know if this is going to be terrible for all of us or great,” says storyteller Bil Lepp. In this bonus episode, we talk about how to respond on stage to an audience’s laughter, what to do if you find yourself…

1
Episode 138: Bil Lepp on Humor and Storytelling 27:24

2M ago27:24

27:24

Humor for the joy of it is reason enough, but in this episode we speak with storyteller Bil Lepp about how humor might also be a way to earn trust with an audience so that we might bring in difficult conversations. He offers techniques for how to craft toward a punchline and how to use a “Lego” approach to crafting multiple stories. We also touch o…

1
Episode 137: Andrea Barrett on Accepting the Process 31:58

2M ago31:58

31:58

“Practice teaches us to have faith in the process,” says Andrea Barrett, National Book Award winning author. In this episode of Emerging Form, we speak with her about her newest book, Dust and Light: On the Art of Fact in Fiction. It’s one of the most metaphor-rich, process-curious shows we’ve had yet. We explore the joys of rabbit holes, the impor…

1
Episode 136: Danusha Laméris on Creativity as a Leap of Faith 32:01

3M ago32:01

32:01

“I turn to the poem, I turn to the page for a sense of hope, how to move through life, how to get through a day,” says Danusha Laméris. “I have come to a place where I trust the poem more than I trust myself.” In our second conversation with the award-winning poet, (We also interviewed her in Episode 29 on “the understory”), she shares from her new…

1
Episode 135: Alex Hutchinson on the Benefits of Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone 28:41

3M ago28:41

28:41

“Doing this book took me out of my comfort zone, into new fields I wasn’t comfortable with,” says Alex Hutchinson, speaking of his newest book The Explorer's Gene: Why We Seek Big Challenges, New Flavors, and the Blank Spots on the Map. And so it is we speak with the expert on exploration about his own experiences of exploring in creative practice.…

1
Episode 134: Kristin Pedemonti on the Power of Stories 30:53

3M ago30:53

30:53

How do the stories we tell become intricately involved with our identities? And how do we change the stories that are not serving us? In this episode of Emerging Form, we speak with storyteller Kristin Pedemonti, founder of Steer Your Story, about Narrative Therapy Practices. We discuss unpeeling layers of stories, how to “thicken the threads” of a…

1
Episode 133: Sherry Richert Belul on Creativity and Kindness 30:15

4M ago30:15

30:15

How can our creative practice extend to the way we treat other people? How might we build entire careers out of our creative dreams? These questions are at the heart of our conversation with Sherry Richert Belul. We also talk about creating a “seamless life” with no delineation between work and play and how to pay attention to (and act on) the crea…

1
Episode 132: Evan Ratliff on Creating an AI Voice Agent 32:04

4M ago32:04

32:04

Artificial Intelligence now permeates our daily lives. What conversations are we not having about AI? And how can creative projects help open these discussions about what is really at stake? In this episode of Emerging Form, journalist Evan Ratliff shares with us how he cloned his voice, connected it to a chat bot, and created a voice agent that to…

1
Episode 131: Auden Schendler on Storytelling and Climate Change 30:11

5M ago30:11

30:11

How does storytelling matter? Why might we bring in feelings about our children or a moment of being overcome with beauty into a book about, say, climate change? In this episode of Emerging Form, we speak with Auden Schendler about the power of story, about how we are drawn to tell the stories we most need to tell, and how and why it’s important to…

1
Episode 130: Mitzi Rapkin on the Art of Conversation 31:38

5M ago31:38

31:38

There’s an art to deep listening and eliciting enlivening conversation, and in this episode we speak with celebrated interviewer Mitzi Rapkin, founder, host and producer of the literary podcast “First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing.” Join us in an exploration of how to draw out authenticity and invite conversations “with a life force of their own” th…

1
Episode 129: Kellie Day on Shadow Careers and Creating from the Spirit 30:07

6M ago30:07

30:07

“If you are sitting around waiting to be inspired, you won’t get a lot of painting done,” says mixed-media artist Kellie Day. In this episode, we talk about finding inspiration, a practice of showing up, the difference between creating from the head vs. creating from the spirit, how “shadow careers” can be an attempt to get closer to our passion, t…

1
Episode 128: Christie & Rosemerry's Annual Review 44:46

6M ago44:46

44:46

It’s our annual end of the year episode, in which we review the year that was and assess how things went. We share our revelations and highlights and what we hope to do better in the coming year. We also pick new words for 2025 to help guide our process and look back on our words for 2024 and how they served us. And we have news! Starting this mont…

1
Episode 127: Rebecca Mullen on Turning a Counseling Practice into a Book 29:35

7M ago29:35

29:35

How does the writing practice help us know what we most want to say? How do we translate an intimate, interactive personal style into a practical, how-to book? In this episode of Emerging Form, we interview Rebecca Mullen who has spent decades as a marriage counselor and recently translated her experience onto the page. “My process as coach is as q…

1
Episode 126: Creativity in Dark Times 29:32

7M ago29:32

29:32

How does creativity help us meet a difficult time? In this episode, co-hosts Christie Aschwanden and Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer talk about ways that creative practice can nourish us, how it can help us envision a way forward, how it helps us to widen the lens and see beyond the moment, how it helps us embrace paradox, opens us to connection, and mor…

1
Episode 125: Laura Pritchett on Being Kind to Yourself 26:19

8M ago26:19

26:19

When we asked prolific novelist Laura Pritchett to speak with us about writing fiction, little did we realize that not only would she offer us a host of practical advice about character, revision and ambition, she would also teach us about meeting our art with great self-compassion. We speak about her two new novels out this year, Playing with Wild…

1
Episode 124: Richard Panek on the Power of Not Knowing 31:24

8M ago31:24

31:24

When is lack of knowledge a writer’s best friend? New York Times bestselling author and Guggenheim winner Richard Panek has found that starting from a place of relative ignorance allows him to research and then write about complicated subjects in a way that allows the average reader to find their own way in. We speak with Richard on the book birthd…

1
Episode 123: James Crews on Writing Prompts 35:41

9M ago35:41

35:41

“I believe that telling our story, even the story of a moment, the story of an emotion, is one of the most healing things we can do,” says James Crews, poet, teacher and speaker. His new book, Unlocking the Heart: Writing for Courage, Mindfulness and Self-Compassion blends poetry, essays and writing prompts to help readers tell their own stories. W…

1
Episode 122: Mark S. Burrows on the Art of Translation 36:09

9M ago36:09

36:09

One of the most thrilling stories of creative inspiration is that of Rainer Maria Rilke writing Sonnets to Orpheus and the Duino Elegies following a time of great international and personal upheaval. Translator and poet Mark S. Burrows shares Rilke’s story with us and talks with us about the art of translation–full of creative conundrums and choice…

1
Episode 121: Rosemerry's New Poetry Collection 31:24

10M ago31:24

31:24

This week, Christie interviews Rosemerry about her new book, The Unfolding, out on October 1st. Do her a big favor and pre-order it now at this link. Rosemerry explains how the poems came together, how she structured the book and why the cover is pink. It’s a wonderful conversation we know you’ll love. Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer is a poet, teacher, …

1
Episode 120: Mirabai Starr on Ordinary Mysticism 31:22

10M ago31:22

31:22

“It took me years to reclaim my creative life as not other than my spiritual life but the very place my spirit flowers,” says Mirabai Starr award-winning author, internationally acclaimed speaker and a leading teacher of interspiritual dialogue. In this episode, we speak with Mirabai about how she created an intimate, welcoming tone in her most rec…

1
Episode 119: Trying a New Form with Holiday Mathis 27:44

10M ago27:44

27:44

How can trying a new art form vitalize and fuel your creative practice? Christie and Rosemerry travel to Nashville to meet in person with their most frequent guest, Holiday Mathis, and converse about her experiences with learning about writing and performing stand-up comedy. The laughter-filled episode explores developing your creative voice, the b…

1
Episode 118: When an Article Turns Into a Book with Nicola Twilley 32:23

11M ago32:23

32:23

What happens when a project grows way beyond its original scope? We talk with Nicola Twilley about her new book Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet and Ourselves, originally envisioned as an article. In this episode we cover being fluid with our plans, research, rewriting, the differences between writing alone and with a partn…

Sketch Zone Podcasts

1
Sketch Zone

Sketch Zone

1
Ranger Zone Podcast

Ranger Zone

1
Emerging Form

Christie Aschwanden

1
Episode 141: Jennie Erin Smith on Exploring the Marathon Project 32:12

1
Episode 140: Lisa S. Gardiner on Learning From the Past 30:56

1
Episode 139: Adam Becker on Why Doubt is a Strength 31:58

1
Episode 138 Bonus: Bil Lepp on Repsonding to an Audience in Real Time 12:36

1
Episode 138: Bil Lepp on Humor and Storytelling 27:24

1
Episode 137: Andrea Barrett on Accepting the Process 31:58

1
Episode 136: Danusha Laméris on Creativity as a Leap of Faith 32:01

1
Episode 135: Alex Hutchinson on the Benefits of Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone 28:41

1
Episode 134: Kristin Pedemonti on the Power of Stories 30:53

1
Episode 133: Sherry Richert Belul on Creativity and Kindness 30:15

1
Episode 132: Evan Ratliff on Creating an AI Voice Agent 32:04

1
Episode 131: Auden Schendler on Storytelling and Climate Change 30:11

1
Episode 130: Mitzi Rapkin on the Art of Conversation 31:38

1
Episode 129: Kellie Day on Shadow Careers and Creating from the Spirit 30:07

1
Episode 128: Christie & Rosemerry's Annual Review 44:46

1
Episode 127: Rebecca Mullen on Turning a Counseling Practice into a Book 29:35

1
Episode 126: Creativity in Dark Times 29:32

1
Episode 125: Laura Pritchett on Being Kind to Yourself 26:19

1
Episode 124: Richard Panek on the Power of Not Knowing 31:24

1
Episode 123: James Crews on Writing Prompts 35:41

1
Episode 122: Mark S. Burrows on the Art of Translation 36:09

1
Episode 121: Rosemerry's New Poetry Collection 31:24

1
Episode 120: Mirabai Starr on Ordinary Mysticism 31:22

1
Episode 119: Trying a New Form with Holiday Mathis 27:44

1
Episode 118: When an Article Turns Into a Book with Nicola Twilley 32:23