Featuring: Ashlee Gadd
Create Anyway arrives on Tuesday
Today, I’m thrilled to share an interview with Ashlee Gadd, the founder of Coffee + Crumbs. Her new book, Create Anyway, releases on Tuesday and it is the work I wish I had in my hands 13 years ago when I was about to welcome my first child into the world. Ashlee has dedicated the last ten years of her career to nurturing her own creativity in the margins of motherhood and making space for other women to do the same.
You’ve spent your career with Coffee + Crumbs serving mothers with stories about motherhood. Is your upcoming book Create Anyway a pivot from that work or an extension of it?
I think it would probably be most accurate to say Create Anyway is a culmination of that work. Coffee + Crumbs is the living, breathing epitome of mothers creating in the margins. I’ve been a mom for ten years, and I’ve been running C+C almost just as long. This book is, more or less, everything I’ve learned about motherhood and creativity in the past decade.
How did you know Create Anyway needed to become a book instead of something featured on your website or the Coffee + Crumbs podcast?
This might sound crazy, but I think any artist will understand what I’m about to say. Create Anyway fell into my brain fully formed. Have you ever been pelted over the head with a flurry of ideas out of thin air? As if God himself is downloading an idea straight into your brain? That’s what happened to me one day in the shower. I got out, threw on a bathrobe, grabbed a notebook and scribbled down everything I could remember. When I was done, I took pictures of my notes and texted them to my best friend. She responded within seconds, and told me what I already knew: “Ashlee, that’s a book. That’s your book.”
Shortly thereafter, God flung open every door for it to come to fruition. I believe Create Anyway was always meant to be a book. I really just followed the breadcrumbs.
What’s something you’ve learned from mothering that has carried over to your writing life? Or vice versa?
The first word that comes to mind is simply surrender. The older and more independent my children grow, the harder it is to release them out into this big, scary world. I want to keep them close, wrapped in bubble wrap, right here under this roof where I can keep them safe. And yet—this is the work of parenting. We pray. We trust. We let go. Rinse, repeat. Writing often feels the same. Sometimes I’d like to keep my writing wrapped in bubble wrap, safe and secure in my Google drive where no one can see it, or misunderstand it, or attack it. Every time I release my writing into the world, it’s an act of faith, an act of trust, an act of surrender.
You recently started a Substack on top of Coffee + Crumbs and your personal blog. How has that impacted your writing?
Well, my Instagram existential crisis led me to Substack, and now I love Substack so much, I’m having an existential crisis with my blog. (It’s me, hi. I’m the problem, it’s me.) Generally speaking—I truly believe every writer needs a writing “home.” I’ve kept a blog since 2009, and have always placed a high value on personal writing, even in the midst of running Coffee + Crumbs or taking on other writing projects. I love having an outlet that’s just for me, where I can play and experiment and write consistently. My friend Callie refers to blogging as “practicing piano scales”—and that’s what it’s been for me.
I’ve been on Substack less than a year, and I’m surprised at how much I love it. I’ve already kicked my shoes off and put my feet up on the coffee table. I love the people. I love how no-frills everything is. Between my personal blog, my monthly newsletter, social media, and writing for Coffee + Crumbs, I am definitely feeling a desire to consolidate and simplify. Substack feels like the best option, and I anticipate pivoting most of my creative energy there in the months to come.
What is one thing you hope women carry away from reading your work in general and specifically Create Anyway?
I hope women carry away a reignited fire in their belly for the creative gifts God has given them to steward. I hope they feel the Holy Spirit at their back, nudging them forward. I hope they feel brave and capable, filled with a renewed sense of energy and purpose. And I really hope they walk away from this book believing, down to their bones, that motherhood and creativity are not at odds with one another, but in fact, can actually help inspire and sustain one another. (Sorry that was more than one thing!)
If you got to choose two companion books for Create Anyway, books that work well in tandem with your own, what would they be?
Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson and Let There Be Art by Rachel Marie Kang.
Who are the writers that inspire you?
I have never read anyone who can capture (honestly and humorously!) what it means to be human better than Anne Lamott. Her depictions of grace have moved me to tears countless times. I am never sick of her. My copies of Bird by Bird and Traveling Mercies are underlined and highlighted and tattered. I also love the late Brian Doyle. Nobody writes sentences quite like him.
I hope Ashlee’s words feel like a commissioning for you to follow the Spirit and cultivate your own creative work. Follow her and Coffee + Crumbs on Substack and go order your own copy of her book. It will arrive in your mailbox this week!
*all photography is by Ashlee Gadd.
I love the answer to the third question. Such a great analogy!