"The only joy in the world is to begin" - Cesare Pavese, This Business of Living

Welcome to Episode #107:

The writing life is full of possibilities and paradoxes, yet some times you need some tips and tricks on how to move forward, how to make time, how to get past the resistance and the limitations, and just write. Living a creative life takes a little audacity, a dose of commitment and a tonne of self care, it’s about nurturing your creativity and your projects until they are ready to bloom.

Today I share some of the tools, the tricks, some tips and the books on writing and creativity that have helped me complete my books, or more so, just get started. It is all about beginners mind and the art of small compounding victories that lead you to build momentum and structure over time. Anyway, this is what I have discovered over thirty years of being curious and absolutely determined to keep creating and making things along the way!

Find all Shownotes at michellejohnston.life

Buy my new book: In the Shadow of a Cypress - An Italian Adventure

Book Link for my MichelleJohnston.life

© 2025 A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life
Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2025

Music Available on Spotify & Apple Music, today I featured Richard's 'The Ghan' on the Show!!

Enjoy xo

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"It was always in my heart" - Pinch Me, Waking up in a 300-Year-Old Italian Farmhouse by Barbara Boyle

Welcome to Episode #106,

Barbara shares her book ‘Pinch Me - Waking up in a 300-Year-Old Italian Farmhouse’ and the tale of traveling from France to Piemonte to discover the region of the Langhe, the place she would fall in love with, buy an old farmhouse and begin a grand restoration process. Barbara and her husband Kim made a life in Italy, following the pull, the irrational desire to create something special for them to enjoy in their retirement and live for an extended time in Italy.

I love these stories about people making the leap into new territory, buying a home, learning the language, living another kind of life. It is very possible to do that and it speaks to living the Italian dream and giving it a go.

Pinch Me - Waking up in a 300-Year-Old Italian Farmhouse by Barbara Boyle

Visit Barbara’s Substack - Letters from a 300 year old farmhouse

Barbara’s Website for More!

Barbara’s Instagram

Find all Shownotes at michellejohnston.life

Buy my new book: In the Shadow of a Cypress - An Italian Adventure

Book Link for my MichelleJohnston.life

© 2025 A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life
Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2025

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"You actually have permission to orient your life according to your nature rather than according to your culture and what you were taught was expected of you" - Elizabeth Gilbert, Living an Imperfectly Perfect Life - In Conversation with Sarah Grynberg

Welcome to Episode #105:

After three days in Sydney pondering a workshop with Elizabeth Gilbert I come away with this share. It was a gift to myself to just get away for a few days, number one there was that. Number two, I could have just gone there to see the tsunami of women of all ages ready, pens and journals in hand waiting. There were people of all ages, including some men, one beside me scrawling notes, trying to catch what poet she quoted, all listening, waiting, watching, talking and mostly just feeling her words ricocheting off the podium where she stood.

In such an experience there is before, there is then and then there is after. …. it’s the holy trinity… And so it has been many years of knowing her work from afar, reading her books, loving her books and Liz sharing the art of creative living. For most of us it did start with the iconic ‘Eat Pray Love’ - for some it was the love story, for some the epic travel journey, for some the long pasta lunches in Italy, for some it was the spiritual seeking and the searching for herself. For me, it was everything. Livy was in my belly when I first read ‘Eat Pray Love’, and she is now sixteen years old. I have had three kids, and managed to live a creative life and stay married, in my mind it is quite the endurance test.

It is lovely to see her and listen to her to talk, but it is bigger than that, Liz Gilbert does the work. She questions and she calls it out, and she is willing to ride the wave and get dumped a few times. And if you see her live, you are with her walking into the fire, you are warmed and you are transformed, rising from the flames, anew and alive to whatever you are calling in next!

This share I go all the way in the deep end of living my own personal journey and feeling the rumble of change and growth and my own potential hovering in the wings as I share this podcast. It is creative living and I wouldn’t change any of it - it’s a grand adventure and a joy to share along the way…..

Find all Shownotes at michellejohnston.life

Buy my new book: In the Shadow of a Cypress - An Italian Adventure

Book Link for my MichelleJohnston.life

© 2025 A Writer In Italy - travel, books, art and life
Music Composed by Richard Johnston © 2025

Support the show