Navigating transition can be challenging. It can also be an opportunity to embrace creativity, calling, and authenticity. Terri Connellan’s Wholehearted shows us how. This panoramic journey of inquiry and insight invites readers into the discipline of self-leadership and guides us in reclaiming our passion and purpose. Read this book and come home to your wholehearted self. You will be initiated into sacred pathways and practices that help you uncover and trust your true shine.
Sage Cohen,author of Writing the Life Poetic and Fierce on the Page, writing catalyst, strategic storyteller
We need more guides like Terri who have traveled the path of transformation. She knows the exact thing to say, and the steps to suggest, for women who are tired of settling for a half-lived life.
Pamela Slim, author, Body of Work and The Widest Net
Every once in awhile the right book lands in our hands at the perfect moment, offering a much-needed lantern to illuminate our path in dark times. This is that book. Beautifully written, insightful, and wise, Wholehearted is a gentle yet empowering guide for women navigating major transitions in their lives, work, and in the world around them.
Victoria Smith, teacher, mentor, artist—themojolab.com
So many of us go through life with our eyes closed, running the program, doing what we think life expects of us. Wholehearted shows us how to get in touch with our own unique identity and craft a life that feeds our souls. Terri’s open and honest personal accounts, combined with her expert knowledge of personality theory and tarot, make Wholehearted engaging and insightful. Get ready to open your eyes and see what you discover!
Dr Angelina Bennet, Chartered Occupational Psychologist and Director of I Potential Ltd
Pioneering in her capacity to conceptualise self-leadership, Terri Connellan provides a cogent way forward for women of all ages and life stages. In a time when many feel lost or dis-spirited, this book can change lives. Integrating ancient and new knowledge, she accompanies the reader with processes, advice and ideas to ensure self-efficacy in our complex world.
Meredith Fuller, psychologist and author
Blending tarot, memoir and self-leadership tools and techniques, Terri Connellan’s Wholehearted is a soul-centred manual for women in any stage of life transition looking to fuse the lessons of the past with a more fulfilling, creative and connected future.
Louisa Deasey, author of Love + Other U-Turns and A Letter From Paris
Wholehearted is a comprehensive, woman-centric guide to owning your power and becoming the leader you’ve been waiting for. A beautiful blend of personal experience and intensive research to gently guide you in your journey towards self-leadership. Inspiring, motivating and illuminating. A thought-provoking, interactive guide to becoming your best self.
Pamela Cook, author, co-host Writes4Women podcast
Reading and working through Wholehearted is like spending time with a kind and generous companion who takes your hand and says, “I’ve walked this path, let me help you find your way”. For those who have temporarily lost heart it is an essential resource, instilling courage and hope in navigating a journey towards wholehearted and creative expression in our work. Anyone interested in leadership will also find a treasure trove of guideposts, as here is a wise woman who understands that leadership must essentially start with the self.
Katherine Bell, Higher Education administrator and leadership scholar
Wholehearted is an inspiring and generous story of Terri’s Connellan’s desire to create a purposeful, meaningful life. This book sets you on a quest to claim your ‘onlyness’—the unique blend of style, skills and strengths that only you can offer the world. Like breadcrumbs scattered along a forest path, Terri shares the wealth of resources and practical skills she used to find her way back home. But this isn’t a book you read from the sidelines. Filled with reflective exercises, journaling prompts and mini assignments, you now have a roadmap for rethinking your life and navigating the journey that awaits you.
Beth Cregan, teacher, storyteller, writer and founder of Write Away With Me
Terri Connellan inspires me with her story of turning her unlived life and dreams into the reality of living a wholehearted life. This is a book for lovers of psychology, synchronicity, and intuition. Terri offers soulful and practical reflections on her major life transition, sharing her vulnerability and the passions that sustained her while she came to terms with significant losses. I loved the combination of personal life story woven with learning prompts and wisdom for the reader to reflect on and to apply in their own lives.
Lynn Hanford-Day, artist and coach
Wholehearted is a very well-written book dealing with an issue that every one of us experiences multiple times throughout our lives – transition! What makes Terri’s book stand out for me is that she is taking us on a journey with her. Not only does Wholehearted teach good wisdom and insights, it is Terri’s own personal story and journey that is incredibly powerful and impacting. It adds so much more integrity and depth to this subject. I like how she deals with transition from a holistic perspective and also a personality perspective. While I have differing spiritual beliefs and practises to Terri, I was able to reframe her practises and learnings into my own framework. Then having the workbook alongside takes it to another level of not only being head knowledge but also being life changing. Thank you, Terri, for your gift to the world.
Clare Ayers, Leadership and Personal Development Coach, founder of People Matters ‘unleashing your full potential’
Wholehearted is a unique book, part memoir, part practical resource, that should be on the nightstand of anyone seeking to travel the difficult path of transitioning into a more purposeful, self-determined and creative life. It takes enormous courage and trust in yourself to stray from the conventional path towards embracing self-leadership. Let Terri be your guide to becoming the captain of your own ship. She has traveled the path and she has collected a wide range of strategies and tools—from tarot cards, to journaling and psychological frameworks of personality types—that she shares in her book and accompanying workbook.
Invite Terri to speak with your book club or association, including virtually. Just contact me.
A reader’s introduction to Wholehearted
Wholehearted: Self-leadership for women in transition is a personal recount of one woman’s journey about shifting from being a long-term government employee towards enjoying a richer, more self-directed and creative life as an inspirational life coach. It comes together as a wise mix of memoir, practical strategies and positive self-leadership resources for women going through major change in their lives.
A Wholehearted Companion Workbook published concurrently is for those who want to go deeper with applying the self-leadership resources practically in their own lives.
Terri Connellan
Photo credit: Lauren Abi-Hanna
Bio:
Terri Connellan is a certified life coach, writer and accredited psychological type practitioner who specialises in creativity, personality and self-leadership especially for women in transition to a life with deeper purpose. Terri works globally through her creative business, Quiet Writing and Wholehearted is her first book, published by The Kind Press.
Praise for Wholehearted: Self-leadership for women in transition
________
We need more guides like Terri who have traveled the path of transformation. She knows the exact thing to say, and the steps to suggest, for women who are tired of settling for a half-lived life.
Pamela Slim, author, Body of Work and The Widest Net
So many of us go through life with our eyes closed, running the program, doing what we think life expects of us. Wholehearted shows us how to get in touch with our own unique identity and craft a life that feeds our souls. Terri’s open and honest personal accounts, combined with her expert knowledge of personality theory and tarot, make Wholehearted engaging and insightful. Get ready to open your eyes and see what you discover!
Dr Angelina Bennet, Chartered Occupational Psychologist and Director of I Potential Ltd
Blending tarot, memoir and self-leadership tools and techniques, Terri Connellan’s Wholehearted is a soul-centred manual for women in any stage of life transition looking to fuse the lessons of the past with a more fulfilling, creative and connected future.
Louisa Deasey, author of Love + Other U-Turns and A Letter From Paris
Terri shares her experiences of moving into a time of transition and knowing when there is no turning back. This is often accompanied by a turning point moment when it becomes very clear that change is happening. Change is external and transition is the internal journey of how we navigate and make our way in terms of mindset and practices. There is often a middle ground of transition which can feel uncertain and chaotic, but where new opportunities and creativity can flourish.
How does the framing of change as external and transition as internal help response to changing environments?
Where have you experienced a time of transition in your life (it might be now)?
What were the turning points when you knew that change was happening? How did that feel?
What footholds and practices helped you begin to move through?
Did you experience that uncertain, chaotic middle ground? How did that feel?
How did you begin to navigate this changing time inwardly?
SELF-LEADERSHIP
Self-leadership means leading ourselves first and takes first principles and ideas from leadership so we can feel comfortable in our skin and with how we choose to live. It involves building conscious self-awareness, self-knowledge, self-direction and making choices. It means stretching ourselves, dealing with self-sabotaging and being active rather than passive in our lives.
How does self-leadership relate to leadership?
How might concepts of self-leadership apply in your life?
What does it mean to lead ourselves first in practical terms?
IDENTIFYING YOUR PASSIONS
A starting point in times of change can be reconnecting with our passions and what makes us unique. These can often get left by the wayside as women as we put work and/or others first in our lives. Connecting with our passions and what we value and love to do helps us get clearer on who we are and what matters.
Why is it important to get back to our passions at times of transition?
What are your key passions and enduring loves over time? (Think: how you want to spend your time, where you feel most alive, what you want to learn more about, what calls you.)
How do they connect and blend in special ways to make you unique?
How can you reconnect with and make time for your passions?
PERSONALITY + PREFERENCES, YOUR NATURAL GIFTS
Knowing how we are wired, our natural preferences and gifts and our personal style can help us navigate change with self-knowledge. Building this knowledge more consciously can be a valuable support in times of transition especially when that shift is over an extended period.
Why is knowing our strengths and how we naturally operate so important to tap into when making change?
What do you know about your strengths and preferences now?
What are your natural gifts?
How would you describe your personal style in two words?
What else would you like to know and learn to help you manage change and make stronger transitions internally?
BODY OF WORK OVER TIME
Body of work is a useful concept for taking the longer view in our lives. It offers us the perspective of patterns, themes and skills in our life’s work and to see how they can be combined and developed in new ways. Terri shares the key themes in her body of work (p74). Moving through times of transition, looking at our body of work helps us identify the key threads that tie our story together.
Why is body of work a helpful perspective in times of transition?
What are the key ingredients and themes of your body of work over time?
How can they help you navigate a new path with strength and insight?
Think of key life transitions like: leaving paid employment, becoming a parent, retirement, becoming self-employed, starting a new job, becoming a carer. How can your body of work and skills learnt over time support you as you move into new phases of life?
WHOLEHEARTED SELF-LEADERSHIP SKILLS
In Chapter 6, Terri shares 15 wholehearted self-leadership skills that emerged as central supports in her transition to a new, more fulfilling life in line with her desires.
How did the 15 wholehearted self-leadership skills emerge as a focus?
Which of the 15 wholehearted self-leadership skills speaks to you most now?
Why is that – what support do you think it might give?
How might you build this skill more consciously into your life now?
When will you start?
VALUING + BUILDING INFLUENCES + CONNECTIONS
Terri explores the importance of valuing our influences and consciously building our connections in new ways in times of transition including online.
Why is it valuable to review our influences and connections in times of change?
What influences and role models are important in your life?
How might you build connections in new ways now including online?
WORKING WITH THE SHADOW SIDE
Terri highlights various ways we can explore the more shadowy sides of life as part of our journey in Chapter 8. The shadow sides explored include: shadow careers, opposites in our personality, learning from grief and other challenging times, envy, working with polarities and choosing to feel whole or less than whole.
Why is it just as important to look at the shadow side of life as it is the lighter and positive sides?
What have you learnt from the shadow side of life experiences?
How did they help you to become more integrated and whole?
Which of these shadow side elements jumped out to you as an area to explore further?
GUIDES FOR THE WHOLEHEARTED PATH
Two key guides for wholehearted living are highlighted: synchronicity and learning to become fluent in the language of coincidence and signs; and being grounded in the everyday.
Why do you think these two areas—synchronicity and grounding in the everyday—emerged as key guides for wholehearted living?
What experience have you had of synchronicity and how did this guide your path?
How did you learn the language of symbols and signs and to listen within more intently and with wisdom?
How do you ground yourself in the everyday?
What practices and choices would help to do this more?
SELF-LEADERSHIP AND LOVE AS THE HEART OF WHOLEHEARTEDNESS
The final chapter of the book emphasises self-leadership and the many choices we have each day and that love is the heart of wholeheartedness.
A key aspect of self-leadership is choice and making the most of what we have with our lives. How does the concept of self-leadership fit with mindset?
From this list provided on pages 225-7 of choices potentially available to us, which top three jump out to you as areas to focus on in your self-leadership and transition journey?
Where does love and centring what you are passionate about over time fit with your transitions and self-leadership in life?
The Wholehearted Companion Workbook: https://www.quietwriting.com/wholehearted-companion-workbook/ offers a deeper self-leadership and self-coaching guide you can work on as individuals or as a group. It tracks through the main book chapter by chapter with practical examples and prompts to apply the learning and insights in your life.
‘So following that critical turning point in July 2016, I began a journey of transition back to a life that more fully reflects me. For three decades, work had taken over and important pieces of me were missing in action.’
‘I made the crossing of this unknown sea from government employee with a regulated framework and defined job description to self-employed intuitive creative making wise choices and knowing where my practice and attention need to go next. These practices have also been an excellent way to trust my own processes and not worry about what others think.’
‘Being wholehearted is finding the self-leadership to be the explorer of your heart and to own that unique journey. It means not being captive to the smallness, meanness or insensitivity of others. Or your own shoulds. It means keeping the landscape big, the canvas open, the opportunities expansive and our hopes and dreams as real as when we first thought of them, and finding a way to navigate through them to our new way of being—the one we have imagined.’
‘I committed thirty years to my organisation and at the end of it, it just felt like a waste of time. It was not a total waste, I knew in my heart of hearts, but the lack of valuing of people is endemic and I think it’s a hole in the heart of the world that I can address. I decided I would write and reflect my way through and find a way to craft a business helping people transition from an organisation or lifestyle that no longer loves them into another future that they love with their whole heart.’
‘Writing daily as a creative practice, working on larger creative non-fiction pieces and progressing towards crafting a novel, is central to my business. If I am not authentically and creatively me—writing day in and day out, showing up, and making time for the longer pieces I have outlined or the ones there in my heart—it is not genuine. I am only able to help others with their creative lives and careers through my own writing and coaching practice of living this every day.’
You can download your pdf copy of Wholehearted Book Club Notes here:
Leading yourself first, self-leadership and solitude in leadership
The value of solitude is a critical but often overlooked component of leadership success. Finding quiet space in leadership roles is challenging and even more so with the expectations of constant connectivity.
‘Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude’, by Raymond M Kethledge and Michael S Erwin, focuses on solitude as an essential practice for effective, high level leadership. Its central thesis is that to lead effectively, you must practise self-leadership and lead yourself first.
Leadership as a quiet journey
My own journey as a leader has a search for solitude as a central piece. When I was invited to speak to a group of emerging leaders, I chose as my topic ‘Leadership: a quiet journey’. I spoke about what I’d learned from my leadership experiences as an INTJ and introvert at the extreme of the spectrum. In this, I drew on learning and evidence from Quiet by Susan Cain and Quiet Influence by Jennifer Kahnweiler.
From experience, I had come to understand the value of making space and time in my day for deep, focused thought. I realised that my skill in writing was just as effective a leadership strategy as speaking, if not moreso. I had learnt most about leadership when I had no direct line management of people and it was all about self-leadership.
Being quiet, writing, reading books and seeking solitude felt like a curious thing to be talking about in terms of leadership. My discomfort made me realise that my experience was not a subject that was commonly talked about.
The challenges of finding solitude in leadership
Whilst those who are naturally quiet will likely be seeking solitude spaces in their leadership days, the challenges working against it are increasing. The impact of technology and the expectations of always being available make closing the door, going for a walk or putting an hour aside to think all hard things to justify. Technology and social media contexts create another layer for leaders as they work through the sheer amount of information and people-contact generated. It also promotes the perception of being contactable across all levels of the organisation.
The reality is that, now more than ever, all people regardless of their personality preferences, need to create the space for deep thought and reflection to enable high-level leadership practices. We need the discipline to unplug and connect with ourselves and the larger vision and purpose of our work. We need to be aware of what we are losing by not making this space in our days.
Solitude, self-leadership and leadership qualities
With ‘Lead Yourself First’, Kethledge and Erwin build on the work of Susan Cain and others, extending the context of valuing quiet strengths into the critical difference that practising self-leadership and solitude in leadership can make for all personality types.
Through research, case-studies and interviews with inspiring leaders, the authors make a strong case for establishing the discipline of leadership solitude. They create a space where leadership and solitude can be talked about together more comfortably. In addition, they provide a qualitative evidence base for this. Most importantly, they provide practical strategies for creating solitude to enable strong self-leadership and through this, the effective leadership of others.
Kethledge and Erwin focus on four leadership qualities that solitude enhances:
clarity
creativity
emotional balance and
moral courage.
Their analysis of each of these qualities is through stories of how leaders have accessed solitude. For example, you can find clarity through both analytical clarity and intuition as shown in contrasting case studies of how Dwight Eisenhower and Jane Goodall honed their leadership skills in different contexts.
The discipline and practice of solitude
According to Kethledge and Erwin, you can develop the discipline of developing a practice of quiet leadership solitude in two key ways. Firstly, building ‘pockets of solitude’ into your life in a systematic way and secondly, maximising any unexpected solitude opportunities.
These two disciplines weave through the case study and interview stories. Leaders create spaces of self-leadership and solitude in their lives in many ways. These include: running, swimming, walking, writing, tractor driving, reading, going to church and driving. Taking the Viktor Frankl maxim that there is a space between every stimulus and response, the leaders describe how they consistently create and commit to this space to develop considered responses.
Co-author and extrovert Michael Erwin, in his leadership role as an Intelligence Officer in combat zones, regularly went for long runs in 100 plus degree heat in the desert to clear his head and focus on his leadership decisions. Winston Churchill laid bricks as a way of creating a ‘personal bubble of quiet’.
The ability to recognise and make use of unexpected opportunities for solitude is also an art to practice. Events like unexpected life changes, flight delays and cancelled appointments are all potential opportunities for solitude and quiet work. The pandemic environment of covid has created more quiet, alone and creative time for some people with unexpected opportunities of working from home.
The book describes effective leadership solitude practices through a series of case studies and interviews drawn from a range of contexts. These include military strategy, politics, education, religious and civil rights, scientific discovery and the corporate world. This is valuable for seeing the universal golden threads of solitude and self-leadership and its empowering capacities for leaders.
Examples of solitude self-leadership practice include:
Writing as clarifying reflection and strategic practice:
Thinking by writing is an underrated strategic and self-leadership skill; however, it has great power to connect thoughts and generate new perspectives. Dwight Eisenhower used the strategy of writing memos to himself as a way of clearing his mind. As he described it: ‘I’m just collecting my thoughts in a structured way.’ (p7).
Winston Churchill, a serious and committed writer, commenced his writing work at 11 pm. The practice was a way of focusing his thoughts and gaining historical perspective. The power of writing gave him the ability to speak with courage and authority as reflected in his speeches of the time.
Moral courage and seeing solitude as a first principle:
Brene Brown says in her interview that the biggest mistake can be seeing solitude as a luxury. She stresses the need for it as a first principle. Whilst the social pressures to resist solitude are ever present, the courage required is worth it. As Kethledge and Erwin reinforce, solitude is ‘not the reward for great leadership but the path to it.’ (p138)
Choosing to reclaim solitude in leadership
The authors encourage readers to reclaim solitude in leadership. They provide suggestions for practical change for creating leadership solitude in contemporary times. The first and most encompassing is to reset the explicit expectations around how you plan to work differently.
Strategies include: identifying a certain number of ‘no meeting’ days a month; setting aside time to think as an identified part of the day; setting a policy of no email communication over the weekend; and more explicitly talking about the need for solitude in the workplace.
Finding physical solitude havens such as the workplace library or other quiet locations is a suggested strategy. Working from home is an option we can all hopefully explore more in current times. Identifying the life activities that help achieve the leadership qualities needed is also highlighted. This includes meditation for emotional balance, journal writing for clarity or movement for mental stillness.
Like the feelings I experienced in speaking to emerging leaders about my quiet leadership journey, we may initially feel uncomfortable in talking about solitude practices or acting on them. They may be challenging for others or we may risk being seen as non-conformist. The authors highlight that the greater consequence is a loss of priorities as we drown in lack of focus.
Contribution to solitude in leadership
‘Lead Yourself First’ is a valuable contribution to the field of leadership and to the subject of quiet influence. Susan Cain’s book, Quiet, helped make being an introvert easier to understand and talk about. I hope this book makes it easier for leaders to carve solitude into their days and to speak about it.
The experience of reading this book was, in itself, one of intense reflective solitude on my own practices. It is one I encourage you to engage in also to consider your own self-leadership practices whether you are a leader or not. I hope this book leads to people focusing on the higher purposes of leadership and to practising self-leadership, in contrast to the moment to moment response to the latest email or crisis.
‘Our bodies and our personalities are vessels, and leadership, like captaincy, is a full inhabitation of the vessel.’
We can all only benefit from that fuller inhabitation that such moments of solitude and self-leadership provide.
Author note
This post was originally a guest post for WorkSearch published on their site in 2017. As their site is no longer live, it is reproduced here with amendments to reflect current times. Thanks to Bree Rackley for social media and guest posting supportfor the initial guest posting.
It’s fascinating how this post writtena few years ago now resonates so strongly as many deal with increased solitude and quiet away from workplace environments. I hope these insights are helpful to see the opportunities for solitude and self-leadership where we can in challenging times.
Warmest wishes
Terri
About the author
Terri Connellan is a Sydney-based certified life coach, author and psychological type practitioner accredited in the Majors Personality Type Inventory™ and Majors PT-Elements™. She has a Master of Arts in Language and Literacy, two teaching qualifications and a successful 30-year career as a teacher of reading and writing and a leader in adult vocational education. Her coaching and writing focus on three elements—creativity, personality and self-leadership—especially for women in transition to a life with deeper purpose. Terri works with women globally through her creative business, Quiet Writing, encouraging deeper self-understanding of body of work, creativity and psychological type for more wholehearted and fulfilling lives. Her book ‘Wholehearted: Self-leadership for women in transition’ will be published in 2021 by the kind press.
Book your Self-leadership Discovery Call with Terri here.
As part of the #quietwriting hashtag and Instagram Challenge, we begin with a focus on honouring and celebrating creative space.
Use the #quietwriting hashtag across platforms – for the challenge and beyond – as a way to create, connect and link us together on our ongoing journey to draft, process, create, make space for writing and other creativity and otherwise live a wholehearted creative life. Read on to discover more and connect with creative others about creative space.
Creative space
When I was thinking of prompts for the #quietwriting challenge, creative space was the first thing that came to mind!
Why? Because it’s the beginning of it all – our creativity and that quiet space, wherever it is, inside our house, inside our heads or outside in nature where conditions and influences help us to see afresh or make connections.
What creative space helps you go deep or inspires and fosters your creativity?
Today is an opportunity to reflect on this. Here are some ideas to prompt you!
Creative spaces inside
The first thoughts that comes to mind around creative space are where we actually do our work, which is often inside. Inside our homes or other work spaces – offices, cafes, co-working spaces, our studies, lounge rooms or bedrooms! Then of course there’s what happens in the creative space inside our minds and hearts. Think about:
Where do you work creatively at home?
What is around you to inspire you?
What does your creative workspace look like?
How do you organise your creative space wherever you work – the ergonomics, the tidiness or chaos?
What does it feel like?
What in your creative space helps you get moving – tarot, candles, music, silence, standing or sitting?
Do you like to look out a window or at a wall with special images and words in front of you?
What do you see as you work in your creative space?
What accompanies you as you work – tea, coffee, wine, chocolate, water, incense, oils diffusing?
Do you prefer silence or music to accompany you?
Love to hear your thoughts and see any images on Instagram – just use the hashtag #quietwriting for the challenge or anytime so we can connect with you. Or share your thoughts in the comments or on Facebook.
Creative spaces outside
This prompt made me think of the creative spaces outside that inspire me. For me, this is the beach and as I shared in my Instagram post:
I do a lot of my creating and writing sitting at a desk at home. But the space that truly inspires my creativity is the beach. Being by the water, in the water, watching the waves, sitting on the sand. Watching the sunrise like this stunner recently in Hoi An. It is all about making connections, relaxing into it, feeling, being inspired. It’s why I chose to live near the beach. It is why when I walk on the beach, I take so many photos capturing that feeling. And it’s also why my new logo and colour palette for Quiet Writing – which I’ll share soon – features these rose gold, watery colours. It’s the deep beginning of so much.
Living near the beach and swimming in the sea stimulates my creativity in so many ways. I love walking on the sand and noticing the shells, gathering the ones that connect with me. In my poem, Narrative, in this post, I share how a walk down to the beach can be so clarifying. I am inspired to gather myself, collect thoughts, connect ideas and often, notebook or camera in hand, new inspiration comes.
When I was in Hoi An and visited An Bang Beach at sunrise recently, I could feel the same sense of creativity and calm. The sound of the waves helped me to settle into my creativity in a new way there. It made me reflect on just how powerful the beach and sea is as a creative space in my life, these colours reflecting my Quiet Writing palette. And those colours reflect everything about me and what matters.
Creative places
Another aspect of creative space is the actual places that inspire or host your creativity.
Why is it that some places inspire you more than others?
Do you have a love affair with a particular country, city or village that means you return to try to engage with it and capture it?
Are there some places that you want to write about or create from?
Or is there somewhere you just long to be, somewhere where you can retreat for a week to create art and write story?
Is there somewhere unexpected that grabs your attention and make you want to craft something from the story that you feel there?
Think of Daphne Du Maurier and her love of Cornwall as Jessa Crispin reminds us for the Four of Wands in The Creative Tarot:
Many writers and artists pull inspiration from their surroundings: think of Daphne Du Maurier, who wrote novel after novel with the region of Cornwall as her muse.
What place is your muse? Why?
Creative and connected via #quietwriting
So I welcome your comments here or on social media. I look forward to seeing #quietwriting images that share thoughts and open up dialogue on creative space. All you need to do is share an image on Instagram using the tag #quietwriting and follow the prompts each day for stimulation. Here are the prompts:
And the #quietwriting hashtag will continue beyond the week of the challenge, so use it anytime to create and connect. You can learn more here about #quietwriting
Just a reminder of the key points:
Quiet Writing is about the strength that comes from working steadily and without fanfare in writing and other spheres to create, coalesce, influence and connect.
Hashtags are such a fabulous way to gather, finding our creative kindred souls and inspiration online.
On Instagram, you can now follow hashtags as well as individual profiles. So follow #quietwriting now and into the future to connect around creativity and your quiet work, writing and making art.
You can head on over to the #quietwriting hashtag on Instagram or Facebook or other social media anytime and see what’s popping up.
You could also post on your own profile on Facebook as well using the hashtag.
Often we write quietly, behind closed doors or in busy cafes, privately. Let’s shine a light behind the scenes and capture the process of writing and creativity in action, wherever we are and whatever we are up to.
Here’s a beautiful snapshot of our hands in action, quietly writing in a sacred creative space at our recent retreat in Hoi An, led by Kirsten Pilz of Write Your Journey. And of course, there is tea! This image is by Nigel Rowles and used with permission and thanks.
Get on board with #quietwriting + the hashtag challenge!
These are just some ideas and they will evolve as we all contribute. It doesn’t have to be all about writing – it can be any form of creativity. Nor do you need to be an introvert; all of us need quiet writing time to get creative work done.
I’ll feature my favourite images from the tag here and on Instagram and Facebook so share your images for the chance to be featured!
So join the #quietwriting party and let us know what you are up to! Who knows what creative connections you might make to support you on your journey or inspire your next creation?
Welcome your comments and images to inspire and connect our creativity online from your quiet spaces and lives!
Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’
You can work with me to help reset your creativity and wholehearted self-leadership. Free 30-45 minute coaching consults chats are available so please get in touch at terri@quietwriting.com to talk further. I’d love to be a guide alongside to help you conduct creativity and magic with spirit and heart in your own unique way. Consults available now for an October coaching start!
You can download my free 94-page ebook on the 36 Books that Shaped my Story – just sign up with your email address in the box to the right or below. You will also receive updates from Quiet Writing and its passions. This includes personality type, coaching, creativity, writing, tarot and other connections to help express your unique voice in the world.
Quiet Writing is onFacebook and Instagram – keep in touch and interact with the growing Quiet Writing community.
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Quiet Writing turns two today! And to celebrate I’m launching the #quietwriting hashtag as a way to increase our community connection.
Use the #quietwriting hashtag as a way to create, connect and link us together on our ongoing journey to draft, process, create, make space for writing and other creativity and otherwise live a wholehearted creative life. Read on to discover more and connect with creative others!
Why use the #quietwriting hashtag?
Did you know on Instagram, you can now follow hashtags as well as individual profiles? Launched in 2018, this is such a great way to connect with others and see content beyond those people you follow now. Plus it creates curated content around a theme to inspire and see what others on the same road or with similar interests are up to.
This idea came to me when I was working on the Instaretreat with Sara Tasker. I use the #quietwriting hashtag for all my posts on Instagram, Facebook and elsewhere. I hadn’t thought to encourage others to use it too – but it’s so obvious! Hashtags are such a fabulous way to gather, finding our creative kindred souls and inspiration online.
You can head on over to the #quietwriting hashtag on Instagram or Facebook or other social media anytime and see what’s popping up. Just as Wholehearted Stories enabled other voices to be heard and seen via Quiet Writing, let’s embrace more and different images and voices under the #quietwriting hashtag to inspire our creativity! So come on board and use #quietwriting to connect.
So what’s #quietwriting all about?
Quiet Writing is about the strength that comes from working steadily and without fanfare in writing and other spheres to create, coalesce, influence and connect.
So often we write quietly, behind closed doors or in busy cafes, privately. Let’s shine a light behind the scenes and capture the process of writing and creativity in action, wherever we are and whatever we are up to.
To celebrate and connect around the spirit of quiet writing online, here are some ideas for when you might use #quietwriting –
to share your writing locations – where you are writing, seeking inspiration, working on your craft
works in progress – behind the scenes snapshots, metrics, celebrations, challenges
the act and process of writing and other creativity – researching, drafting, editing, publishing
your creations – poems, novels, blog posts, artwork – the outcomes of quiet writing
how far you’ve come – celebrate, share your milestones, the starting point
writing buddies – who are you writing with, who is supporting you?
wholehearted stories
writing over the life time – creativity for the long haul
being a healthy writer
book reviews on writing and what fosters creativity
your favourite tools and tips for the journey
Get on board with #quietwriting + hashtag challenge!
These are just some ideas and this will evolve as we all contribute. It doesn’t have to be all about writing – it can be any form of creativity. Nor do you need to be an introvert; extraverts also need quiet writing time to get creative work done.
I’ll also feature my favourite images from the tag here and on Instagram and Facebook weekly so share your images for the chance to be featured!
And the week of 24 – 30 September, I’m hosting a #quietwriting Instagram Challenge to connect and inspire us all around specific prompts to get us going. Here are the prompts!
So join the #quietwriting party and let us know what you are up to! Who knows what creative connections you might make to support you on your journey or inspire your next creation?
Welcome your comments and images to inspire and connect our creativity online from your quiet spaces and lives!
Keep in touch & free ebook on the ’36 Books that Shaped my Story’
You can work with me to help reset your creativity and wholehearted self-leadership. Free 30-45 minute coaching consults chats are available so please get in touch at terri@quietwriting.com to talk further. I’d love to be a guide alongside to help you conduct creativity and magic with spirit and heart in your own unique way. Consults available now for a September/October coaching start!
You can download my free 94-page ebook on the 36 Books that Shaped my Story – just sign up with your email address in the box to the right or below. You will also receive updates from Quiet Writing and its passions. This includes personality type, coaching, creativity, writing, tarot and other connections to help express your unique voice in the world.
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In Podcast Episode 16, Raising Social Justice Awareness, I chat with Meaghan Katrak Harris – author of Memories and Elephants: The art of casual racism about her book and how the arts can be a powerful medium for raising social justice awareness.
We chat about writing Memories and Elephants, genres, influences, publishing, casual racism and privileged practices and behaviours and their impact on individuals and society. And how the arts can be a powerful medium for raising social justice awareness.
You can listen above or via your favourite podcast app. And/or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.
Meaghan is a social worker, academic, consultant and writer. She has a long and diverse social work background. This includes extensive experience and commitment to working alongside First Nations Peoples, families and communities. When not writing, Meaghan lectures and researches in social work at the University of Sydney and works in private practice across social work supervision, individual, group work and organisational change. Memories and Elephants: The art of casual racism is her first creative non-fiction book.
Meaghan and I have connected online as fellow the kind press authors, publishing our books within a few months of each other. It’s been exciting to watch Meaghan launch and share her important book, Memories and Elephants: The art of casual racism with the world. We chat about Meaghan’s book as well as her work as social worker, academic and writer, and her key themes and lived experiences. They all weave together around the value of community and raising awareness of social justice issues and impacts.
Today we will be speaking about writing Memories and Elephants, genres, influences, publishing, casual racism and privileged practices and behaviours and their impact on individuals and society.
Enjoy listening to this insightful and inspiring conversation!
I hope it encourages you to read Memories and Elephants and to take some time to think beyond the dominant narrative.
So let’s head into the interview with Meaghan.
Transcript of interview with Meaghan Katrak Harris
Terri Connellan: Hello Meaghan. And welcome to the Create Your Story podcast.
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Hi, thank you for having me.
Terri Connellan: Thank you for your connection across our writing and books. We’ve connected online as fellow authors in the kind press around writing and publishing. And it’s great to chat further on this today. So can you provide a brief overview about your background, how you got to be where you are and the work you do know?
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Sure. Yes. Thank you. So I’m a social worker and I have been for probably nearly 30 years now, working alongside communities in various roles. Probably about the last 15 years, I’ve also been an academic, teaching and researching in social work. So that’s been my career to date and social work’s such a broad profession, it’s given me the opportunity for lots of different ways of working with people. And, academia, I guess, has led me into doing more writing as well.
Terri Connellan: Awesome. Yeah, so it’s great to see how all the different strands of your personal life and professional life have come together to this day. So let’s have a look at your book, particularly, I’m really excited to talk about Memories and Elephants: The art of casual racism.
And congratulations on your book published in early December, 2021. So we’ve both recently enjoyed that process of taking a book from that idea from jotting things down, through to published book. Can you tell us a bit about what that process was like for you?
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Sure. It actually happened quite quickly, the process, which was exciting and interesting. And it actually started with my submission to the This I Know is True book through the kind press. And that happened really just because a good friend of mine, Annabel Sharman, who writes the introductory chapter, said to me, you should put a chapter in this book. You should get into this. And I looked at it, I looked at the submission and I thought, this looks awesome, but I don’t think that I’m the right fit.
Anyway, I said this to Annabel and she said, look, please just talk to the publisher. Talk to Natasha [Gilmour], everything that you talk about, she has a similar view on crossing genres and perhaps, maybe disrupting genres a bit and writing across academia and also creative writing. And, supporting women led businesses, the whole gamut. So the long story short was I did do the chapter and then I got into a conversation.
I’d already written the essay. And I got into a conversation with Natasha and I said, look, I’ve got about 12 I’d like to publish. And, several months later there we are. I’d nearly finished all the essays. I did another self sort of lockdown to get the last bit done, but, I had the work there and it was just a beautiful fit to find the kind press, I think for me.
Terri Connellan: Yes, I absolutely loved working with the kind press too. Natasha and her team are just really fabulous. Kind, as their name suggests and groundbreaking, I think in the approaches that they take to different voices and as you say, cross genre work, pushing the boundaries a bit. So in terms of the actual pieces, were they written over many years?
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Oh no, I smashed it in a few months, probably in lockdown. I got a bit of inspiration and one of the first essays was the privilege of sharing parenting fails. And I wrote that as a response to what I was seeing happening and kind of my internal discomfort with it.
And once I started, I just wrote them all. And, I guess, lockdown probably had something to do with that, time to think, walking and thinking, because I’d written them all in my head. By the time I kind of sat down and put them down on paper. But, I always saw them as a collection. So that’s why I was so happy to put them out together because I kind of felt like it told a story. They are each a standalone essay, but I felt like in their entirety, it was a better story if you like.
Terri Connellan: Absolutely. And I found reading it that there’s a lot in the spaces between what you write. There’s the spoken of what you experience, but also the unspoken. And I think, as you say, across the essays, it connects off into a bigger picture. So can you share with us a snapshot of what Memories and Elephants: The art of casual racism is about?
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Sure. So I describe it as a series of sociopolitical memoir based essays. So while they’re memoir based, I share my experiences against the backdrop of a bit of a socio-economic analysis of Australian society, culture, you know, the way we see ourselves.
And I kind of try to shine a broader light on the story, on my story, which I think can be extended to other experiences. So I guess for me, the analysis is as important as the memory or the memoir. And that’s kind of was my focus. Yeah.
Terri Connellan: Yeah, they’re beautifully told, and I think to me, the power of them is really just capturing those moments in life, when, as you call it casual racism and casual because it just seems to slide off, people’s tongues because of that privilege that people feel. And I think it’s that ability to capture the moment, but also the impact on you. You talk about feeling winded at times and the physical reaction of what happens on you is really beautifully told, but also must’ve been hard to tell.
Meaghan Katrak Harris: It was, you know, I shed tears writing it, but I felt like it was an important story to tell. The hardest thing was deciding whether it was in fact, my story to tell. And again, I consulted with people I love and my family and basically, they said, well, you know, this is your story, this is your story. If you can’t tell your own story, then what can you write about? But I was very careful to not to appropriate an experience that wasn’t my own. Because I’m also a white Australian person. So I have with that, all the inherent privileges, that every other white Australian has, but I have borne witness to this casual racism with my Aboriginal family and my multicultural family.
And, it is my lived experience, but I really wanted to be clear to position myself as to not to be appropriating the lived experience beyond what was mine. And I think doing it as memoir based, I just told it how it happened. So hope that that came across and the feedback I’ve had so far is that it, that it did. That’s how I came up with the ‘we’re all more than one story’, we’re all more than one defining characteristic. And, I could be defined by lots of things and lots of things that don’t define me at all, based on my appearance or where I live or what I do when we’re all so much more than that.
Terri Connellan: Yeah, absolutely. I loved that point where you said, you know now we are all more than one story and I think that intricacy to the insider/outsider dance, that’s hard to get right in your memoir. I was interested to hear more about that dance. It’s a dance you’ve engaged in for many decades now.
Meaghan Katrak Harris: I guess it is, but I think it’s probably something that, as we get older and wiser, we think about more, perhaps the complexities of when we’re younger and we’re living our life. And I was always very sure of my place in my family. Absolutely. And I still am in and in my community. But I guess I talk about when, being part of an Aboriginal community and the commitment to the advancement and activism, when that morphed into work, I felt there was a change in me that I became more aware that I could be taking up, as a white person, taking up space.
And I was never made to feel like that by other people. This was my own internal dance, if you like. And I think it’s an important one to be aware of. And I know at times, I consciously stepped back from employment and changed to work in mainstream as we call it, because I was so fortunate to start my career as a community worker in an Aboriginal community controlled organization. And, that was a privilege that has shaped me beyond anything I could say.
But then I also reached that time in that dance when I realized that, you know what, this is part of who I am too. And if I’m not honoring that, I’m not honoring my Aboriginal family and friends. If I’m feeling like I can’t honour that part of my life, then that’s not showing respect to those people that have had such an impact on my children, my family. And I feel like, in some ways maybe the essay, particularly, The art of casual racism was kind of my showing up for that and saying, okay, this is it. This is how I see it. This is who I am, and this is how I’ve lived it and continue to live it.
Terri Connellan: And I think, as you said before, touching into your lived experience is a really powerful lens for each of us. Particularly for you, telling your story with so many different cultural experiences and community experiences and diversity, which is fabulous. Thank you for sharing that. So, how would you describe the genre that you write in and what were your influences? We mentioned cross-genre before.
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Creative nonfiction, I guess. They’re memoir based narratives. I have always been a big reader. and I guess I never really realised the impact that reading creative nonfiction has had until quite recently, when I started writing these. And I talk about it in the first essay where I am suddenly drawn back to reading this genre because my head’s in that space. I’m writing these stories in my head. So I’m back reading Helen Garner, I’m reading, Joan Didion, I’m reading Roxanne Gay. I’m just really quite obsessed with reading other people’s stories. And I found that very validating because there is so many different ways to do this. There’s not one right way to write it. You write it as it comes, I guess. But yeah, I don’t think I’d realised the impact that creative non-fiction has had until now.
Terri Connellan: Yeah. And you mentioned Julia Baird’s Phosphorescence too, which I also read when I was writing my book and I found that a really validating book.
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Absolutely. And I’m glad you reminded me of that because I read that after I pretty much finished that essay. It came out or I got hold of it anyway. Julia Baird talks about, 20 years ago, as a young uni student, I think finding Helen Garner. And I thought, oh gosh, I’ve talked about that. And then I thought, of course, that’s not an accident. We’ve all talked about that because it is such an influence. So hence, my line about. I know, I felt late to the party, but in good company. So yeah, I found that I bought a copy from several friends. I found that book so important.
Terri Connellan: Yeah, and I think that’s been my experience and from reading your work, I think it’s that trying to find a way to bring our personal life experiences into a narrative that it also shines a light on ways it can help people or guide them on their own journey or give them some tools to think about things.
So, you write in the second person, which I love. It’s one of my favorite voices, I guess, in literature. Why did you choose that? How did you come to writing as you, rather than I, or we?
Meaghan Katrak Harris: I can’t do this question justice and several people have asked me. People have contacted me specifically to ask me why I chose to write the essays like that. And I’ve got no good answer, Terri, other than that’s just have they came out. And I don’t know if future writing will come out like that. I don’t know, but I just couldn’t write them any other way. That’s how they came to me in my head. And so that’s how they went down, and any analysis I’m doing now is retrospective.
I’m wondering why did I need to step back from it? But I don’t know. This is all, you know, with the benefit of hindsight and it’s interesting to think about, and I guess part of the answer will be how any future stuff comes out. If I continue to write it in that style or not.
Terri Connellan: I found it interesting. You said you wrote , the ‘parenting fails’ piece first. Cause that’s the one where I actually really noticed how you’re using ‘you wonder’. The piece is about that ability to joke about something with parenting fails that in other contexts would have dire circumstances or have judgment. And what I found was you were saying, you wonder, hmm, you wonder. I particularly loved how you used it in that context.
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Well, thank you. And that was, like I said, I would come home and I would say, can you believe it, this happened or that happened. And I was in a way, naively amazed at how people could not see that or understand, or, even feel a bit embarrassed to be able to joke about these things, because it is such a mark of privilege. You know, I would’ve died before I told anyone that my kids had nits and I’m still like that. And I know it’s a socially responsible thing to do, but when people send those messages, oh god, how can they do that?
If you’ve never been judged, if you’ve never been stereotyped, if you’ve never felt that society could be making assumptions about you, then you have that freedom. And I got such great feedback about that essay. One of the best bits of feedback I got was someone messaged me and just said, ‘Ooph – that got me in the gut – and thank you.’ And that was from the perspective of someone who was in a position to be able to do that. And she had never seen that that was a privilege. And I wondered if I’d been a bit harsh then, but, she was very gracious in her feedback.
Terri Connellan: That’s so amazing to hear. My feeling of reading the piece is I think, cause you took people on the journey with you, of like you said: I’m seeing this, and I’m thinking this, and I’m trying to work this out. I think it just works incredibly well to get the point across and for people to hear you processing, with all your knowledge and all your life experiences, where does this fit? This is not right. And I think, that way of approaching that type of content is going to have more impact than people saying ‘don’t do that’, for example. Yeah. I guess it’s raising awareness, isn’t it and consciousness about the impact?
Meaghan Katrak Harris: It is. And I think honestly that’s probably one of my motivators for doing the essay was I actually feel that the arts is a far better way to address social justice issues and awareness, than straight academia. You know, I joke about, as academics, we might write a paper for other academics to pretend they’ve read or students to read because they have to. It may be great work, but it’s to meet certain criteria for academia and it doesn’t necessarily reach a wider audience.
And I’ve long felt that the most powerful stuff that, I think it can be life-changing has been creative and in the arts. And I didn’t consciously think now I’m going to do this. I got a bee in my bonnet about it. I started that. And then there was that sort of ripple effect where it grew from there, but I feel like that’s where I can make a contribution, if any.
Terri Connellan: Yeah. But then also your academic work is important in another way.
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Oh yeah. I’m not diminishing it and I’m not a serious academic like some people are but then I’ve written a few things and I’m part of some great research that I’m very committed to. But I don’t have a full on tenured position. I have had in the past. Then I consciously chose not to stay on that path and it’s important work, but I get far more joy out of creative writing, far more joy.
Terri Connellan: And was it hard to shift from the academic voice or academic way of working to the creative, more personal?
Meaghan Katrak Harris: No, no, this is like the natural state, I think. It was great because a colleague and friend, another academic, who read the book messaged me, and this is the wonderful things you learn about people. She said, ‘oh, fellow over-user of capital letters’. Because I talk about in the acknowledgement that I had a very kind gentle editor who let me have my desire to capitalise important thoughts.
And this friend said, you know, I do that too. Everyone who knows me personally knows I do that. And we joked about it and I joked about how my PhD supervisor many years ago had to beat that out of me. But, in creative writing we can do these things.
Terri Connellan: Yeah, it is great. My work was in government and in the TAFE sector, mostly where you’re writing strategic documents and there’s a certain way of writing. So for me, I still think I’ve got a long way to go to get back to probably my more natural voice. It’s sort of dusting off, or shifting from that academic voice. Yeah.
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Exactly. Because it is very different . It’s far more rigid in corporate or academic writing. Of course. Yeah, absolutely.
Terri Connellan: But as you say, it sounds like the way that you’ve worked with Memories and Elephants it’s like you’ve hit your natural gear, found a way to really write joyfully and perhaps express things that have been there for a long time.
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Yeah. And it was an absolute joy to do. Absolutely. I loved doing it. I had so many ideas and thoughts that I wanted to get down. And as I said in the first essay, I probably think I only had about 12 stories in me. Well, I did, I had 12 and I knew I was done then with that, I felt like that was enough. And I know I spoke to Natasha from the kind press, when I talked about putting them together. And I said, but I’m worried it’s not enough. And she quoted Elizabeth Gilbert, who’s another writer that I really admire as well, in saying that the story tells you when it’s finished, to paraphrase. That the story will end when it ends.
And I honestly felt like that. I would have had enough material, but I just felt that’s what I wanted to say. And I feel that collection is enough as it is. And funnily enough, lots of feedback has been, I didn’t want it to end. And I thought for a minute, oh gosh, is it not long enough. And then I thought, you know, what? It was finished when it was finished. So that’s not a bad thing.
Terri Connellan: Yeah. I think it’s beautiful just the way it is. As I said before, to me, it’s that sense of each piece stands alone, but they reverberate and echo and also keep you thinking a long time after you’ve read and something to go back to. So yeah, I think they work incredibly well. So you’re a social worker, academic and author in the social justice area, as well as we’ve mentioned, across all sectors of government and non-government human services. Can you tell us more about your focus, projects and writing there?
Meaghan Katrak Harris: At the moment I’m teaching at Sydney Uni. I’ve been teaching there for the last three or four years, and I’m working on a few research projects with my colleagues there, that I’m really committed to and feel very fortunate to be involved in. So that’s my academic work at the moment. And I’m also working on a couple of other creative writing projects that I’m hoping will come into fruition this year.
Terri Connellan: Oh, fantastic. That’s great to hear there’s more creative work in the pipeline. Yeah. And I’ve spent some time just reading through some of your academic work too. So it’s been interesting just to see the different perspectives. In a way, your theme is pretty much similar.
Meaghan Katrak Harris: It is, my work is all, whatever it is, social justice, underpinned with my commitment to social justice. And it was interesting when I told a friend of mine about the creative work I was doing… he’s a filmmaker, artist, musician, activist. Richard Franklin, his name is, and he’s a very dear friend. And he said “oh, you’ve been dancing around the edges of the arts for a long time. So it’s about time you jumped in.”
Cause I would always be involved, as a participant, as an audience member, as an advocate and a supporter. And I found that very validating from someone, who’s achieved so much in this space.
Terri Connellan: So have you got any advice, if there’s people who have a similar passion or a similar theme or focus in life around social justice and want to write more personally, would you have any particular tips or thoughts for them?
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Honestly, I think finding your authentic voice is the key. Then I don’t really have any advice other than particularly as females, particularly as women to be unapologetic about wanting to have a voice and wanting to put something out into the world, not make ourselves smaller or feel we have to justify and apologise for wanting to do that. I think my advice is take up space, find your big voice. As one of my dear friends and colleagues, Dr. Mareese Terare talks about in social work, is find your big voice and find your authentic voice. I think that would be my strongest advice. And it doesn’t matter, if you’re not ready to share your work, I feel that it helps us grow so much in doing it. And you will find your audience.
Terri Connellan: That’s beautiful. I love that. Find your big voice, that’s great.
Meaghan Katrak Harris: I love it too. And I quote Mareese very regularly with that beautiful term.
Terri Connellan: Yeah. And as you say, it’s not all about publication. Just working with a group of women writers at the moment and I think publication is important to think about as a potential path. But it’s really great to have that free writing and that exploring and that ability to find your big voice comes from play.
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Yeah, I think that we know what we want really in our heart to do with that work. I know when I had written a few of the essays, I told a friend. They said, oh, you know, maybe you won’t want or need to get them published. Maybe writing them will be enough. No, it won’t be, I want them published. I knew, I felt I had something to say and I knew I wanted to put it out in the world. And it’s just about finding the right way to do that and, and the right time and things like that.
Terri Connellan: That’s great that you did find the right way and the right time then. And I think that’s just part of the author journey, isn’t it? It’s meeting the right people, collaborating, the publishers, the editors, the people encouraging us behind the scenes. It’s all part of the rich journey.
So, a question that I’m asking all people on the podcast being the Create Your Story podcast is how have you created your story over your lifetime?
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Oh, gosh, how have I created my story? I think that I’ve never really had a plan particularly. I know that works for some people. I’ve always been open to opportunities and not been frightened to take risks, creatively like, in my career, you know, leave a job, find another job. I think I’ve kind of just tried to live true to my values.
And my commitment to my family has been my driving motivator. But, even if five years ago, someone had said that I would be doing creative non-fiction, I would have been like really? It’s not like I had that on the plan. It’s not like I thought I really want to write, I’m going to sit here and think about what to write about. Like, the stories came to me and I just told them, and I feel like a bit of a witness in that sense, that, it’s our obligation to share what we learn. So I guess my plan has just been to try and do no harm and live a good life.
Terri Connellan: Yeah. It sounds like share your wisdom along the way too.
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Well, we hope we get some the way. I don’t know, but we hope so don’t we? I say to my students, the more I know, the less I know, I know. And that remains true.
Terri Connellan: Yep. That’s true. So, my book, Wholehearted, is about wholehearted self leadership tips for women and practices. Thank you. And, so I like to add to the body of work I’ve created by talking to people about their top wholehearted self-leadership tips and practices, especially for women. So I’d love to hear yours.
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Honestly, more and more. And I just had a conversation with a dear friend today about this, it’s about, you know, we say, lift a sister up. Let’s take every opportunity to support each other, to promote, to validate, to do all those things that lift us up individually and as friends, but also helps all of us, as women, as writers, as creatives, whatever it might be.
And about that authenticity, about just showing up as you are, doing your best to support the cause is what I’m pretty big on. I think it’s kind of that simple and that complex.
Terri Connellan: Yeah. And it is too, but I love that lift your sister up and yeah, I just really appreciated your support all the way through my writing journey there in the background saying, well done. Thank you. And you know, just liking posts and things. It really helps.
Meaghan Katrak Harris: I feel like we talk a lot about supporting the arts or creativity whether it be black businesses or, and I have this conversation with students where they say they might really want to support a female led business or a black business, but they may not be in a financial position to do that.
And, you can share a post, you can like a post, you can spread the word. And that is helping, that is supporting and that’s showing up. There’s lots of ways we can do that for each. And if we are in a position to purchase something, let’s think about it. I read a quote recently, the way we spend our money basically is a vote for the world we want to live in.
So, do we want to try to support small business, female led, all those things, and less the, you know, big multi-nationals. If we can do that, we should try try the best we can.
Terri Connellan: So true. But I also agree with your point, that there’s so much you can do that doesn’t cost money too. Doing reviews for people, sharing their podcasts, different reviews on blog posts. It’s certainly been part of my journey to both acknowledge others and be acknowledged by others. Again, it’s another type of dance that we can engage in with others and I know my life is so much richer for it as I can see yours is too. So thank you. And, that wraps up our conversation for today. It’s been lovely to have a chat with you, so thank you for your time.
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Thank you for having me, Terri. I’ve really enjoyed thinking about some of those questions you posed, so thank you.
Terri Connellan: My pleasure. So where can people find more about you and your work on line?
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Well, I’m on Instagram and there’s a link to my stuff there. I’m late to that party, but you know, I’m there for it. I’m finding it a very supportive environment. I’m on Facebook. I’m on LinkedIn also. So I’m not hard to find.
Terri Connellan: And we’ll pop the link to your book too, in the show notes and yeah, just encourage everybody to read Memories and Elephants: The art of casual racism. It’s a really important book. I think everybody should read it. And make sure you do all those things we’ve talked about: post a review and share it with others.
Meaghan Katrak Harris: Thank you very much.
Terri Connellan: My pleasure.
Meaghan Katrak Harris
About Meaghan Katrak Harris
Meaghan Katrak Harris is a social worker, academic, consultant and writer. She has a long and diverse social work background. This includes extensive experience and commitment to working alongside First Nations Peoples, families and communities. When not writing, Meaghan lectures and researches in social work at the University of Sydney and works in private practice across social work supervision, individual, group work and organisational change. Memories and Elephants: The art of casual racism is her first creative non-fiction book.
Memories and Elephants: The art of casual racism is a collection of memoir-based essays set against the socio political background of Australian society.
In these essays—written with clarity and compassion by Meaghan Katrak Harris—you’ll explore the intersectionality of Australian culture, classism, racism and identity as the author has lived it.
Drawing on her experiences of being a teenage mother, a member of a large multicultural family, a social worker, and an academic, Meaghan uses powerful personal narrative to illuminate often uncomfortable aspects of our society—the elephants in the room that have been historically downplayed and ignored.
Taking you from memories of country life to the city, from the street to national television, Memories and Elephants invites you to think beyond the dominant narrative of Australian identity.
