I think you could probably go back and track the stages of grief, probably that is what I went through. But I think if you do it right, you end up at acceptance. And that's where I ended up. And that's not to say that I've fully accepted the idea that the golden toad is extinct. Personally, I do still hold out hope that it could still be out there in those forests." - Trevor Ritland This conversation is with Trevor Ritland, who—along with his twin brother Kyle—authored The Golden Toad . The book chronicles their remarkable journey into Costa Rica’s cloud forest, once home to hundreds of brilliant golden toads that would emerge for just a few weeks each year—until, one day, they vanished without a trace. What began as a search for a lost species soon became something much more profound: a confrontation with ecological grief, a meditation on hope, and a powerful call to protect the natural world while we still can. Links: SpeciesUnite.com Kyle and Trevor: https://kyleandtrevor.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adventureterm/ Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222249677-the-golden-toad Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Toad-Ecological-Mystery-Species/dp/163576996…
Weekly inspiration and advice on writing and creativity from the author of Fearless Writing and Everyone Has What It Takes.
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You start the conversation, and your reader finishes it. What’s the conversation YOU want to have?저자 Bill Kenower
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You don’t have to please anyone. You don’t have to care about your results. You don’t have to be good enough. You just have to get into that true writing headspace, and let the rest take care of itself.저자 Bill Kenower
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It’s hard to remember, especially as an artist, but you’re only job is to please yourself. Forget the applause and the reviews. Those only come after you’ve satisfied your own unique aesthetic.저자 Bill Kenower
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Writing is all about connection. I know you’re alone in your workroom, but when you get in that flow, you are connecting to something in all of us.저자 Bill Kenower
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It’s critical to learn your craft, but all that learning is driven by interest. Interest is the fuel that drives our creative engine, and without it, we will stall.저자 Bill Kenower
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It’s easy for artists to become distracted by and even addicted to praise. It may feel good, but it’s a bottomless need that will never be satisfied.저자 Bill Kenower
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Everyone needs to “come out” in one way or another, to be who they really are rather than who they believe they’re supposed to be. Writing is a great way to practice this kind of authenticity.저자 Bill Kenower
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Life is creative and so are you. But when you stop participating deliberately in that creation, life seems random and you feel out of control. Take what you learn at the page and apply it to your whole life.저자 Bill Kenower
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It’s impossible to overstate how important it is to think in small steps. After all, every novel or memoir is written one sentence at a time. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, think small. It’s how you get someplace big.저자 Bill Kenower
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At its core, creativity must be fun. Here are the two rules for having fun that I learned while playing Dungeons & Dragons that apply to games, writing, and life.저자 Bill Kenower
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It’s almost impossible to grasp the effect our work has in the world. Most of it happens where we can’t see it. But know that it’s happening, whether you ever learn of it or not.저자 Bill Kenower
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Here are the three steps I take whenever I start doubting and worrying about my work.저자 Bill Kenower
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Writing teaches us every day that the pleasure of creating is discovery. The same can be true of life away from the desk, if we accept that we don’t need or want to know the future.저자 Bill Kenower
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Whether you’re walking a balance beam or wondering whether you’re good enough, the goal isn’t perfection but rapid course correction. Balance is always available if you pay close attention to how you feel.저자 Bill Kenower
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It loves the unknown, which is the only place it can exist. It’s only when you doubt it, resist following it, that you suffer. It will never steer you wrong.저자 Bill Kenower
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If you have an imagination, curiosity, and desire you always have what you need to create anything you want. These can never leave you, but you have to trust they’re enough.저자 Bill Kenower
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The imagination is faithful, but it doesn’t discriminate. It will answer any question you ask it. Make sure you only ask those to which you sincerely want an answer.저자 Bill Kenower
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Sometimes our most creative moments stem from things that bother us – stories that we wished ended differently, or passages that seem sloggily written. To be truly creative, however, we can’t complain, which is focusing on the thing we don’t like. Instead, our attention must be on what we want, the story we want to tell, and the life we want to liv…
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If you’ve spent a lot of time taking care of other people, it’s easy to start believing their lives, their happiness, their safety and well-being, matters more than yours. It doesn’t. Writing demands we close the door and acknowledge that our life matters to us more than anything else.저자 Bill Kenower
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Writers sit down every day at their desk and summon all kinds of feelings, from joy to grief. When you’re not writing, focus less on the result you want, and more on the feeling you want, something you’re already good at.저자 Bill Kenower
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A story from my brother that serves as a great reminder of how easy it is to lock our attention onto what we don’t want. Creativity is all about thinking deliberately, knowing that whatever we focus on increases.저자 Bill Kenower
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Our craft evolves to match our creative desires. With time, you will always be “good enough” to write the kind of story you most want to write.저자 Bill Kenower
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We can’t let fear of being misunderstood keep us from sharing our work. Not everyone can get everything, and that has to be okay.저자 Bill Kenower
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Sometimes we go a few days or weeks without writing and feel disconnected and dissatisfied. Try not to despair. Your true creative self is always with if you know where to look.저자 Bill Kenower
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Nothing we dream exists outside of us. Just like our stories, it starts within us and then we dream it forward onto the page and into the world.저자 Bill Kenower
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You must be willing to tell the story you most want to tell in the way you most want to tell it. That is freedom.저자 Bill Kenower
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Writing is a great way to practice creating on purpose, rather than accidentally or by default. The blank page asks what we want, and only we can answer that.저자 Bill Kenower
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You need to know your character’s motivation to really understand them and tell compelling stories. You also need to be clear about your own motivation when you sit down to write.저자 Bill Kenower
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Starting this week, begin practicing how you think when you sit down to write. Practice caring about the story, not what other people think about the story. It’s as important as craft.저자 Bill Kenower
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I'll be hosting a Fearless Writing retreat January 26 - 31 in Portland, OR. Space is limited! I'd love to see you there. Retreat: https://www.portlandretreathouse.com/fearless-writing-with-bill-kenower Bill's website: https://www.williamkenower.com/저자 Bill Kenower
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We all have a personal aesthetic that’s unique to us. We can’t control it; we can only obey it. In this way, what we create is not dissimilar to the stuff we love that other people created.저자 Bill Kenower
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It can be hard to connect to why we publish aside from money and possibly acclaim. It’s important to remember that if you’re sharing something you love, you’re making the world just a little bit better.저자 Bill Kenower
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Writing has taught me, and continues to teach me, that the only thing real in life is love. You can’t manufacture it, you can only see it, find it, notice it, and then obey it.저자 Bill Kenower
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When we work with an editor, we will inevitably accept most of the changes they make to our story. It’s good preparation for sharing our work with readers, giving up our complete ownership as the reader makes the story their own.저자 Bill Kenower
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At some point, every artist must commit to their work before they have evidence of success. Let your love of the work be reason enough to make this commitment.저자 Bill Kenower
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Learning your craft is critical, but all the know-how in the world is useless without the right mindset. Unless we wait with an open heart and curious mind, we’ll never invite the ideas to which we will apply that craft.저자 Bill Kenower
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When you’re struggling, when you think you’re no good, when you feel like your story stinks – don’t try to fix anything. Do nothing until the feeling passes and you can make a better choice.저자 Bill Kenower
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The point of writing is never the outcome. An outcome is just an excuse to focus in a meaningful way, and when we do, we meet ourselves in a way we rarely do otherwise.저자 Bill Kenower
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The only real certainty in writing and in life comes when we follow that guidance that tells us what story to write and how best to write it. If you don’t follow that, life will seem random, even though it isn’t.저자 Bill Kenower
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Two helpful tips to get over our resistance to marketing: make it fun, and offer a conversation. It’s nearly impossible to do anything well that we don’t enjoy, and we don’t so much sell our books as invite readers to join a conversation.저자 Bill Kenower
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When we write, we’re always seeking the effortless way forward. But we often meet resistance. The pain comes when we try to force our way through the resistance rather than find the better, more natural way.저자 Bill Kenower
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You’re an artist. You don’t have to stop being an artist just because you’re marketing your work. Keep being creative in everything you do. It’ll be more fun and more productive.저자 Bill Kenower
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People deal with death and loss all the time. Yet writing requires us to tap into something eternal within ourselves, something undying that is always seeking expression.저자 Bill Kenower
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It shouldn’t be hard to be yourself. What else could you possibly be? Yet writing, and the arts in general, have taught me like nothing else that being myself requires as much trust as anything I’ve ever done.저자 Bill Kenower
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Sometimes our stories don’t meet our readers expectations of what a story is supposed to be. That’s okay. Our job is always to meet our own expectation. It’s all we can do anyway.저자 Bill Kenower
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Whatever we think about other writers, we think about ourselves. Never call an author whose work you don’t enjoy “bad.” It’s only a matter of time before you look at your own stories and believe they stink and that you have no talent.저자 Bill Kenower
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Getting feedback from writing groups, beta readers, agents, and editors is just fine. But once the story or book is finished, it’s okay not to listen to criticism. It’s time to move on, and hopefully hear from the readers who liked what you’ve done.저자 Bill Kenower
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Sometimes in life it can feel like our choices don’t matter. But writing teaches us that all our choices matter, the big ones and the small ones. Those decisions we make are the focus for our creative power.저자 Bill Kenower
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Writing is all about asking questions and waiting for answers. But we don’t want to ask the wrong questions, the ones to which we only want one answer, like: Am I any good?저자 Bill Kenower
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Writing has taught me like nothing else that what matters most in life can’t be given to me or taken from me.저자 Bill Kenower
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