Nicole Gulotta
Nicole Gulotta is the creator of EatThisPoem.com, which pairs poetry with recipes. She's also written for food magazine Life & Thyme and is the author of Wild Words, an invitation to explore the intersection of your writing practice with everything else in your busy life.
Tell us a bit about your background.
I started my career in public affairs, then spent a decade in the nonprofit sector before becoming a content editor at a food start-up. My first blog launched in 2008 (the same year I won a poetry chapbook contest), and I created EatThisPoem.com in 2012, which pairs poetry with recipes. It wasn’t long before an acquisitions editor emailed me asking if I’d thought about developing the concept into a cookbook.
What does a normal day look like for you as a writer?
The most energetic part of my day tends to be the hours between 9 a.m. to noon, so after my son heads off to school I try to focus on my creative projects in the morning. When I look at the clock and realize it’s almost lunch time, I know it’s been a good writing day. I also have a tea ritual that helps me focus—while leaves steep I get my desk set up by lighting a candle, grabbing any books or notebooks I need, and bringing over my computer.
After lunch I turn my attention to freelance work, and the afternoon is for family time, reading, and prepping dinner. I try not to be online in the evenings if I can help it. Most nights, I fall asleep in bed with a book in my hands.
What inspired you to write Wild Words?
The initial spark for Wild Words grew out of my postpartum experience. Although I’d already written one book, I found myself at a creative crossroads and needed to figure out a way forward now that my life had changed so drastically.
At its core, Wild Words is an invitation to establish a new relationship with your creativity—one that works with the ebbs and flows of life’s seasons rather than focusing outward on what others are doing, or feeling like you’re always behind. Wherever you are right now is OK.
Where do you make the bulk of your income as a writer? Is it a mix?
When my family and I moved cross-country a year ago, I left my full-time position as a content editor and transitioned to a part-time freelance role, which serves as my consistent income right now.
This arrangement frees me up to focus on personal writing (like books and essays), and I also create occasional online courses and offer yoga nidra meditations as well. Income from those projects is much less reliable, so I see those activities as more experimental at this point and count on my freelance job as the bread and butter.
What's one common misconception about your work that drives you nuts?
Some people assume that if you’re not sitting at a desk typing, you’re not working. I’ve had coworkers underestimate how quickly a project can get done because they don’t realize that writing anything—from a blog post to a promotional email—typically involves outlining, researching, writing, thinking, writing some more, and editing. The finished piece doesn’t just materialize out of thin air! It takes a lot of brain power.
If you had to give one piece of advice to writers, what would it be?
Finding time to write is the biggest challenge I hear from fellow writers. We all have constraints on our creativity, and I’ve found the solution lies in making choices about how to spend the time you do have.
It might look like giving up Netflix at night so you can write your novel, or saying no to lunches with friends so you can focus on a book proposal. I also recommend viewing your day job as a partner in your creativity, not an obstacle. In most cases, it empowers you to pursue creative writing without pressure, which can be a real gift.
