Podcast 22: Creativity! Listen to Rosanne Cash, Save Your String, Fight Drift, and a Lesson from the Writers' Room. | Gretchen Rubin                                [Skip to content](#content)   [ ![](https://staging.gretchenrubin.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/gretchenrubin-logo-768x344.png) ](https://staging.gretchenrubin.com)

    - July 22, 2015

# Podcast 22: Creativity! Listen to Rosanne Cash, Save Your String, Fight Drift, and a Lesson from the Writers’ Room.

   Happier with Gretchen Rubin

[Listen OnSpotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/7h2kIDmECmivLR7H5lrz2j)[Listen OnSOUNDCLOUD](https://soundcloud.com/panoply/happier-with-gretchen-rubin-creative-habits-with-guest-rosanne-cash/s-JaCkb%20)[Listen OnPandora](http://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=39863192)

Ep. 22: Creative Habits with Guest Rosanne Cash

![Ep. 22: Creative Habits with Guest Rosanne Cash](https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/48375200-34f7-11f1-8af6-6794ffa4243a/image/f255fc2790d879c623f0beb2f1ec2fbc.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress)

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        <a class="elementor-toggle-title" tabindex="0">EPISODE NOTES</a>

It’s time for the next installment of “[**Happier with Gretchen Rubin**](https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/happier-with-gretchen-rubin/id969519520?mt=2&ls=1)[**.**](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/happier-with-gretchen-rubin/id969519520?mt=2)”

This week, we have a theme! **Creativity**.

#### **Update**

Elizabeth and I, and our families, were recently in Kansas City together, to celebrate our mother’s birthday. We shot a **quick little video to say hi to listeners**. Check it out [**here**](https://youtu.be/mF4o_CvCr9U).

#### **Try This at Home**

Save string — which is a phrase from journalism that means, find ways to save your little bits of ideas. To read more about choreographer Twyla Tharp’s process, look in The [Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743235274/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0743235274&linkCode=as2&tag=thehappproj-20&linkId=ZB3GYAWBTUALSUQQ). Woody Allen discusses his method saving string in this [Wall Street Journal interview](http://www.wsj.com/articles/an-interview-with-woody-allen-1436371690).

Here’s a photo of Elizabeth’s podcast notebook (string not pictured).

![Podcast Notebook Elizabeth](https://staging.gretchenrubin.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/PodcastNotebookElizabeth-e1662999222991-253x300.jpg)

Do you “save string?” What do you save, and how do you save it? Fabric scraps, art supplies, recipes, quotations, ideas for a garden, ideas for April Fool’s Day pranks…let us know.

#### **Interview**

Our guest is my friend, the brilliant singer, song-writer, and author, [Rosanne Cash](http://rosannecash.com/). She’s a Grammy-winning singer and composer who has recorded 15 albums and won countless awards.

[![Processed with VSCOcam with g3 preset](https://staging.gretchenrubin.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/podcastRosanneCashStudio.jpg)](https://staging.gretchenrubin.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/podcastRosanneCashStudio.jpg)

As we discuss, she wrote a terrific memoir, [**Composed**](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143119397/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0143119397&linkCode=as2&tag=thehappproj-20&linkId=GPEBSEL3ZUORIDWQ)[,](http://rosannecash.com/music/the-river-and-the-thread/) which I read years before I met her, and loved. Elizabeth also loved it.

Her latest album, [The River &amp; The Thread](http://rosannecash.com/music/the-river-and-the-thread/)[,](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FZRMIYY/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00FZRMIYY&linkCode=as2&tag=thehappproj-20&linkId=FBGF7MQZ46X7XMSB) a collaboration with her husband, producer, and co-writer [John Leventhal, ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Leventhal)won three Grammy awards.

It was so much fun to talk to her! I was just sorry that Elizabeth was in L.A. and couldn’t join us in person.

The song Rosanne talks about in the interview is [**When the Master Calls the Roll**](http://rosannecash.com/music/the-river-and-the-thread/).

Now you’re probably dying to see Rosanne perform in person. In September, you can see her in **Nashville** at the **Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum**. Info [**here**](http://rosannecash.com/rosanne-selected-as-2015-artist-in-residence-at-country-music-hall-of-fame-and-museum/). Or if, like me, you’re in the **New York City** area, you can see her at **Carnegie Hall**. Info [**here**](http://www.carnegiehall.org/cash/).

#### **Gretchen’s Demerit**

Here’s the link to the video of the [**5×15 talk I gave on** “**drift**“](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3BJFoPq9Jc&list=PL4CE5FBC20455278B&index=38) and a post I wrote about [**drift**](https://staging.gretchenrubin.com/articles/quiz-are-you-drifting-2/). I’ve saved the string–but I haven’t turned it into anything (yet).

#### **Elizabeth’s Gold Star**

Elizabeth gives a gold star to [**Jenna Bans**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenna_Bans), the creator of [**The Family**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_%282016_TV_series%29), the TV show that Elizabeth writes for. (Trailer for the show [**here**](http://abc.go.com/shows/the-family/video/VDKA0_7ksg9v0r).) Jenna Bans gets a gold star for building a great creative atmosphere in the writers’ room.

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# Like what you see? Explore more about this topic.

- [Creativity](https://staging.gretchenrubin.com/secondary_tag/creativity/), [Reading](https://staging.gretchenrubin.com/secondary_tag/reading/), [Relationships](https://staging.gretchenrubin.com/secondary_tag/relationships/), [Television](https://staging.gretchenrubin.com/secondary_tag/television/)

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