'Stay Brave' with Steph Post
‘Stay Brave’ is an interview series by woman-identifying creatives for woman-identifying creatives to inspire bravery in the creative life. [Created and curated by Leah Umansky]
How do you interpret the phrase, "Stay Brave?"
I actually have this phrase on a little card hanging on my wall and close to it is a note I wrote myself: 'Hope is Hard.' I think these two phrases go hand-in-hand. It's easy to give up- it's much more difficult to stay true to yourself and keep going. For me, Staying Brave means trusting yourself, your vision, your unique voice and what you can bring to the world. It’s different from the idea of ‘being brave.’ Staying Brave means that you already are brave, innately, and it’s important to remember that, too.
As a woman-identifying writer, what are the ways that you “stay brave” in your life?
One of things that’s become important to me lately is to not just publicly support other women writers, but to connect with them privately as well. I think women spend so much time being tough- because we have to be to survive, both as writers and as people in this world- that we forget that there are spaces to be vulnerable as well. There's more to 'staying brave' than being true to yourself. It's also about encouraging others to do the same.
Who is someone in your life who models “staying brave” for you?
My mom. Because she’s reached a point in her life where it seems she doesn’t let anything hold her back. She takes risks, stumbles at times, but figures out how to solve problems instead of just fighting against them. When she has a plan or a vision for the future solidified in her mind, she trusts that she’ll figure out how to make it happen.
What writers, artists, and/or musicians do you look to to foster a sense of “bravery?”
Is it cliché to jump straight to Mary Oliver who asks, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do/ with your one wild and precious life?” ? But this line from her poem ‘The Summer Day’ has recently become a guiding light for me, with regards to the direction of my writing. I read it as, ‘each writer has this one, incredible, unique voice and that singular voice is your gift to the world. Your voice has value, it is necessary- to someone, somewhere, at some point in time- and you have the power to share it.’ I find this incredibly inspiring.
What’s a piece of advice you would pass on to your younger self about “staying brave?” What’s something you know now, that you didn’t know in the past?
I wish I could tell my younger self that climbing this writerly mountain is not about how fast you can reach the top and how many flags you’ve brought to plant at the summit. It’s about stopping to watch the birds build nests in the crevices, it’s about detouring into a beckoning crystal cave. It’s about not losing your grip and falling. It’s about living on the mountain, not conquering it.
Can you remember a time in your life where you realized your own bravery? How did you use it to propel you forward?
The past year was a rough one for me, in terms of agents, contracts, book deals and the like. A lot of things fell through all at once for me and the disappointment was so great that I actually started questioning whether or not publishing was the route I still wanted to take. But then I went back to that idea of having a singular voice, of having something to offer the world with my work, no matter how small, and I picked myself back up. And then I knew that I could- pick myself back up. I could survive self-doubt and still come back to being true to myself.
What do you do when you aren’t feeling brave? What inspires you or motivates you?
Well, there’s a certain Sir Owl who always manages to show up and show me the way whenever I feel completely lost…. Seriously, whenever I need to be reminded to Stay Brave, I go out into the woods and try to be quiet and still and observe the wild world around me. The birds, for example, aren’t questioning themselves. They’re living their little bird lives and following the path they’re meant to be on and they don’t give a f* about publishing contracts or critics or book deals or author snubs. They care about seeds and worms. Just as I should only care about the words I’m putting down on the page.
[photo courtesy of the author]
In what ways would you like to be more brave in your creative life?
I have a ‘secret project’ that I’m beginning to work on, combining my art and my writing in a way I never before would have thought possible. Every day I wake up and have little doubts. Doubts that it either won’t work or it will ruin my ‘publishing career’. I want to, no, I HAVE to, stay brave and trust myself on this one.
What is your proudest moment of bravery?
I’m not sure I can pick just one. It’s times like I mentioned before—where I was at my lowest, when I was truly confused and in despair about my publishing journey—and yet I managed to keep going. I think the bravest moments come to us right after we think we can’t go on. And then we do.
What are you currently working on?
I’m also just beginning the second novel in a fantasy series. It’s a year of beginnings, I suppose, and that’s always a good thing! My new project, Terra Incognita, will be available for pre-order by the end of the month on my website (see below).
Thank you, Steph!
Steph Post is a novelist, artist and chicken whisperer living in Florida. She is the author of the novels Holding Smoke, Miraculum, Walk in the Fire, Lightwood, and A Tree Born Crooked. She is also the founder of the Imaginary Bird store on Etsy which is full of Linocut Prints, Cruelty-Free Feathers and More! Her new project, Terra Incognita will be out in late 2024! She can be found at: Twitter: @stephpostauthor and on Instagram: at @stephpostauthor.
Leah Umansky is a poet, writer, curator, writing coach, artist and teacher. Her new collection of poems is OF TYRANT out now with Word Works Books. She earned her MFA in Poetry at Sarah Lawrence College and has curated and hosted The COUPLET Reading Series in NYC since 2011. Her creative work can be found in such places as PBS, The New York Times, POETRY, Bennington Review, American Poetry Review, Minyan Magazine, The Academy of American Poets' Poem-A-Day and others. She is a writing coach who has taught workshops to all ages at such places as Poets House, Hudson Valley Writers Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering and elsewhere. She is working on a fourth collection of poems ORDINARY SPLENDOR, on wonder, joy and love. She can be found at www.leahumansky.com or @leah.umansky on IG.
If you like what you’ve read, please subscribe, spread the word, and STAY BRAVE!