Why do artists often feel like misfits, oddballs, wanderers? Could it be that we have forgotten that we belong in the borderlands, living a life filled with an inner flame, as poet Carl Sandburg said, that "the fireborn are at home in fire?"

This is an adaptation of a talk I gave at The Breath and The Clay conference in March 2021. This is a conference for people exploring the intersection of art and faith, and is also the host of the Makers & Mystics podcast (check it out!). Though this talk was given to an audience in a faith context, I believe that artists of any spiritual persuasion will receive something valuable here.

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Vesperisms: The Art of Thinking for Yourself is the podcast to help you make sense of your place in this crazy world by reclaiming an artistic worldview. Everything around us is trying to push us into boxes, but that's not how artists' minds work. Let's get off that detour and back on the main road to thinking for ourselves: as artists.

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My newest books, A Cloud of Outrageous Blue and A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice, can be found at any bookseller—I recommend your local indie bookstore, who would love your support.

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Follow me on Instagram @vesperillustration, and support Vesperisms on Patreon!

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Music for Vesperisms is provided by Ben + Vesper.