Chelsea Bieker & Kimberly King Parsons: Trust Yourself and Your Creative Vision

Chelsea Bieker and Kimberly King Parsons will convince you to trust yourself and your creative vision.

Talented authors and friends Chelsea and Kimberly want you to crack open your creative process and tune into something deeper and more sustaining. They share what they’ve each learned about honing your craft, quieting the noise, and being comfortable with the difficult parts of creating. Watch this talk if you are ready for actionable advice and an empowering pep talk from two writing powerhouses!

You can watch the video of their talk on CreativeMornings.com. It was given at CreativeMornings/Portland, a free monthly community event.

More about Chelsea & Kimberly:
Chelsea Bieker is the author of the debut novel GODSHOT which was longlisted for the Center For Fiction’s First Novel Prize, named a Barnes and Noble Pick of the Month, and was a national indie bestseller. Her story collection, HEARTBROKE won the California Book Award and was a New York Times “Best California Book of 2022” and an NPR Best Book of the Year. Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review, Granta, The Cut, Wall Street Journal, McSweeney’s, and others. She is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Writers’ Award, as well as residencies from MacDowell and Tin House. Raised in Hawai’i and California, she now lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two children. Her newest novel, MADWOMAN is forthcoming from Little, Brown on September 3rd, 2024 and from Oneworld in the UK. She writes about creative practice at her Substack, “Make Up Your Life.” You can find more at

Kimberly King Parsons is the author of the national bestselling novel We Were the Universe, a Dakota Johnson Book Club pick the New York Times calls “a profound, gutsy tale of grief’s dismantling power.” Parsons’s story collection, Black Light, was longlisted for the National Book Award and the Story Prize. A recipient of fellowships from Yaddo and Columbia University, Parsons won the 2020 National Magazine Award for “Foxes,” a story published in The Paris Review. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her partner and children.

Creation of this podcast wouldn't have been possible without the support of:
- A 2024 grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council
- Annual event support from local partner Wacom
- Production by Johnny Subia and Weird Wonderful
- The 2024 event volunteer team: Kaitlin Carpenter, Chamisa Kellogg, Charli Beck, Christopher Diego, Ivan Lima, Joan Stewart, Kaveer Rai, Laura Mark, Laura Nickelhoff, Lucy Nobles, Sarah Nordby, Sumeet Singh, Tyler Nordby and Vinnie Balistreri