Welcome to Nobody Told Me.

I'm Laura Owens.

And I'm Jan Black.

We are so happy to welcome bestselling poet and author Maggie Smith back to the show. In 2020, her book

Keep Moving, Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change became a breakout bestseller in the midst

of the pandemic. Maggie's powerful collection of quotes and essays on facing life's challenges

with creativity, courage, and resilience provided inspiration and insight

to people around the world who were experiencing one of the toughest times in their lives.

And now Maggie has developed an interactive workbook to guide readers on their own journeys

toward growth during times of grief and uncertainty. It's called Keep Moving the Journal.

Maggie, we thank you so much for joining us once again. Oh, it's so good to be back. Thank you.

Tell us how Keep Moving the Journal came about. You know, it came about, honestly, back when we

decided to make the book, which really came about from reader

feedback, I was posting these quotes on my social media and people asked for a book. And for

every person who asked for a book to gift, someone would also say, you know, this would make

a really good guided journal. I would love to have a place to sort

of expand on these quotes or think about the ways that they apply to me and my own experience.

And so when we were developing the initial book, that was something in the back of my mind

because I had a feeling people would probably be using, even just keep moving the book in that way.

And so when the opportunity came to do the journal, I thought, no, this is perfect, because I think

people have been sticking Post-it notes in the book and flagging it and maybe scribbling in the margins.

And this is the, you know, the journal is something

...