Ongoing Mastery Podcast with Kirsten Rourke
Click this image to hear the podcast episode.
I had the great pleasure of learning from presenting and speaking coach Kirsten Rourke for an episode of her podcast, Ongoing Mastery. (Podcast website, Spotify, Apple Podcasts)
How Can I Be My Best Guest?
I love being a guest on podcasts, and I wanted to get some tips on how I can get better at it. My goals are to be as easy as possible for podcasters to work with, and to show up ready to have genuine conversations.
Listen to the episode here: How can I be a better podcast guest? Coaching with Sarah Atlee, Improvisational Quilter.
You can also listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
For the full audio-visual experience, check it out on YouTube.
Read the transcript here.
From the show notes:
In this week's episode of Ongoing Mastery: Presenting & Speaking, Kirsten gives Sarah Atlee tips for a smoother experience as a podcast guest. Once your lighting is all set and you’re making eye contact with the camera, think about what might go wrong and be prepared with alternatives, just in case. They also discover that they’re both fans of online role-playing games!
Key take-aways:
Have a genuine conversation, don’t just deliver your planned talking points
Know how your material intersects with the podcast’s audience
Consider having a QR code for your website, etc, rather than sharing a long web address
Thank you, Kirsten!
Kirsten Rourke gave me such wonderful advice that will bring me value for years to come. Her clear, succinct tips on how to be a better speaker and storyteller are helping me to expand my audience and move my business to the next level. Thank you for your fabulous conversation!
Connect with Kirsten Rourke, presenting and speaking coach, at her website, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.
Unleash Your Inner Goddess Podcast: Ep 30 with Sarah Atlee
I’m delighted to share with you my guest episode of the Unleash Your Inner Goddess podcast! Sarah Joyce Hindle’s podcast is truly inspiring, especially for those who are building confidence, and coming to embody their truest self.
Sarah interviewed me for Episode 30: Creativity, Joy & Taking New Paths:
Today I talk to Sarah Atlee, a professional artist who specialises in custom-made quilts. However Sarah didn't always quilt, she pivoted away from being a professional painter and followed her heart.
We talk about the pull and push of wanting to try something different but identifying as what you do for a living and feeling unable to move away from that (Ie "I am a teacher and I trained for this, therefore I can't pivot be an XYZ").
Having been a seamstress myself, we talk about how bespoke work is often undervalued. We also touch on charging appropriately for your services.
And for anyone with a chronic illness - We talk about how we work with our illnesses, not against them.
Give it a listen, and if you enjoyed it, please subscribe, rate and review the Unleash Your Inner Goddess podcast on your platform of choice. Thanks!
The Fold: Better.
This first appeared in the May edition of my newsletter, The Fold. Want to get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up here, and be sure to check your email and spam folders for the confirmation.
We interrupt this newsletter to announce that Sarah Atlee is now accepting orders for custom-made quilts!
This is the first time in a long time that I've been available for commissions. I'm really excited about making quilts for collectors, aka folks like you! If you have any questions, or would like to take your next step down the quilted path, please get in touch! sarah@sarahatlee.com
Invest in joy today. Click here to start your custom-made quilt.
Back to The Fold.
I'd like to thank you for joining me on this path. Writing an email newsletter hasn't always been easy for me, but this time around, I'm loving it. I get to share stories with you that matter to me, and you have been so generous in your reception. So pour yourself a hot cuppa and pull up a chair. There's pie.
Now, I'm going to ask you to indulge me, because I am having the most First World Problem ever.
I don't love folding laundry. People know this about me, including my musical friend Paris In Stereo. But I love having clean clothes. So. I learned that you can take laundry to a cleaner's and they'll - get this - wash it, dry it, FOLD IT, and give it back to you. (For a fee.) I don't indulge in this service all the time, but during a busy week, it's a huge help.
I like things folded the Konmari way. The service doesn't fold laundry the Konmari way.
So, do I spend time re-folding my laundry so it's more pleasing to put away? And does this cancel out the convenience of using the service? Or do I accept the folded laundry as-is and live with the daily irritant of my clothes not looking as nice when they're put away? And who even cares? Besides me?
Side note: Before I started The Fold, I asked my Facebook friends to name any associations they had with the word "fold." Angie LaPaglia said,
"I think about laundry. when all the towels are folded and stacked like soft terry cloth soldiers waiting for duty. I think about the act of folding my children’s clothes when they were little, how close to them I felt. I think about everything being folded and put in its place. everything is where it belongs. everything is in order. everyone is tucked in. everyone is safe. everything’s gonna be ok."
Laundry is a small problem that makes a big difference.
I get why we focus on small problems. They’re solvable. Controllable. Can I solve (huge problem affecting every living thing)? Not today, and not alone. Can I fold this t-shirt into its Optimum Form Factor? Watch me. Boom.
I have a challenge for you: Solve a small problem.
Identify something that irritates you, but that you’ve been living with anyway because it’s “too small” to spend energy fixing.
Replace or upgrade a tool that’s worn out.
Discard something that doesn’t fit any more.
Clean that one thing that doesn't usually get cleaned.
Set a boundary, with yourself or with someone else.
These two books will give you some great ideas: Set Boundaries, Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawwab / The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi
Please drop me a line and let me know what you fixed! I'm always open to ideas for small improvements.
There's a great recipe coming up, but first, I'd like to introduce you to Basic Split.
Basic Split
Deconstructed garments and other cotton fabrics, machine pieced and quilted by Sarah Atlee.
60 x 43 inches, 2020.
$1,135 Click here to purchase.
Basic Split is, in its own way, a series of small solved problems. The "problem" I set for myself was: take a rectangle, split it, insert a smaller rectangle. Repeat until the quilt is done.
Already have a crush on Basic Split? Wanna make it official? Click here to bring this quilt into your life.
As promised, here's a small improvement that's doing me a world of good:
Stupid Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup
Inspired by the cooking episode of How To ADHD (the salsa chicken starts at 8:59)
In a slow cooker or stovetop soup pot, add:
1 quart of broth
1 jar of salsa
1 packet of taco seasoning
Any amount of chicken in any state (just be mindful of what “bite size” is for you)
Brands don’t matter.
Add any/all of the following:
Extra herbs & spices to taste
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can beans
Potatoes, squash, greens, carrots, celery, onion, in either cooked or raw state (use up your leftovers!)
½ cup uncooked rice
Level 2: Roast the chicken and/or veggies before adding to the soup.
Level 3: Make your own taco seasoning.
Simmer until all the parts are cooked through. Then add 1 can of cream style corn. Wait until it gets hot again, then serve.
Toppings!
(Add these when the soup is being served, not when storing in the fridge/freezer.)
Chopped fresh cilantro
Chopped chives or scallions
Avocado
Shredded cheese
Sour cream or Greek style yogurt
Crunched up tortilla chips
Lime wedges
Makes great leftovers, and freezes well.
Bonus for those who read this far:
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You can also find me at Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitch.
Then Again Podcast Links
Many many warm fuzzy thanks to the folks at the Northeast Georgia History Center for having me on their podcast, Then Again! Episode 84 is called Patchworks of the Past & Present. You can find this episode on Then Again’s website, and also on Spotify (direct link here). I’m sure you can find it lots of other places, too. And while you’re at it, leave them a positive review!
Several times during our conversation, I told Marie I’d send her a link to this and that, so if you’re looking for those links, you’re in the right place! Enjoy.
Sarah's socials: Facebook, Instagram, Twitch
Cerulean Gallery in Amarillo and Dallas, TX
Great YouTube channels for beginning quilters: The Crafty Gemini, Just Get It Done Quilts
Gees Bend Quilters and the Souls Grown Deep Foundation
What is 'modern quilting'? (I'm not actually a huge fan of this organization, but this page does have a good explanation.)
Books I love:
The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters by Sherri Lynn Wood
Rosie Lee Tompkins: A Retrospective (The BAMPFA is currently taking orders for the next printing of the catalog.)
A Piece of My Soul: Quilts By Black Arkansans by Cuesta Benberry (1923-2007)
Godharis (quilts from Western India): This is the exhibition I saw at the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, NE: Collecting and Recollecting
Thanks again to Marie, Libba, and all the folks at the Northeast Georgia History Center! I encourage you to listen to their podcast, Then Again (not just the episode I’m in) for a wonderful, conversational look at history from all angles.
Why You and I Are Here Right Now
Austin Kleon said that Lawrence Wechsler said, “The world keeps showing me these pictures.”
Things are changing, as they always do.
I’m not talking about all of us launching political blogs. I’m talking about reigniting our independent spaces once again. Turning up the volume on our individual voices and real-life stories, sharing our values…creating an alternative to the mass media (now social media) messages and memes that keep floating to the top.
Tavi Gevinson, creator of Rookie, says farewell - for now. There is far too much of note here to summarize in a block quote, so please take time to read the whole thing. Here’s Jason Kottke’s take.
Social media: It’s fun until it isn’t.
Facebook’s tipping point of bad behavior?
Julia Carrie Wong, senior technology reporter for The Guardian, on Twitter:
But this Soros thing is different. This is no passive failure. It’s a malevolent action taken against groups who criticize Facebook for things that Facebook admits it has failed at. It takes advantage of and contributes to the most poisonous aspects of our public discourse.
What does Facebook consider its single biggest threat?
According to an email written by exec Sam Lessin in 2012 addressed to Zuckerberg, it's not one rival site or app — it's lots of them.
"The number one threat to Facebook is not another scale social network, it is the fracturing of information / death by a thousand small vertical apps which are loosely integrated together," he wrote.
Another way to look at it: Facebook’s biggest threat is a diversity of experience using the Internet. Facebook’s biggest threat is anything that isn’t Facebook. What if Facebook’s biggest threat was people taking a walk?
And the primary reason I’m typing this on this page right now:
Sayonara Tumblr. Tumblr has decided to ban all adult content. Including a bunch of stuff that isn’t adult content. Was I on Tumblr for the pr0n? Who cares? I was on Tumblr for the free expression. Tumblr was a safe space to talk about things I can’t publicly discuss elsewhere. But now it’s being made safe for the children. (sarcasm mine)
Tumblr's Porn Ban Reveals Who Controls What We See Online
Tumblr's Porn-Detecting AI Has One Job—and It's Bad at It
All about Tumblr adult ban, alternative platforms, and more (updated as new info arises)
The adult content ban on Tumblr (and elsewhere) disproportionately affects sexual/gender nonconformity? SHOCKER (again, sarcasm mine)
What these “pictures” are saying to me: It’s time to take back control of our content. Re-embrace the decentralized web. As Amanda Palmer puts it, We are the media. I did quit Tumblr. I quit Twitter. I am not quitting Instagram or Facebook (not right now, anyway). Those sites are still powerful communication tools for me. We’ll see…
Patreon is working like gangbusters, particularly as a direct line between myself and the people who want to support what I do. I’ll use it until it no longer serves that function.
And I have sarahatlee.com. This is my house. I will now commence to posting whatever I choose. I don’t care if it makes sense. I don’t care if it’s on brand. I don’t care if you “like” it.
Vaya con carne!
xoxo s