In this interview, Savala discusses the one book she thinks everyone should read, opting for ‘good enough’ instead of over-optimizing, how volunteering for Obama’s 2007 campaign unexpectedly changed her career...
You guys had such great chemistry during the interview!! (Listed didn’t read.)
I especially loved this question, Jana: “What did that look like when it came to the broader question of putting together an essay collection? Were there any cornerstone pieces you built everything else around?” 💝
Here’s why it stood out to me: that part of the creative process so often gets skipped in interviews. Hearing it explored like that felt really refreshing. And honestly, hella encouraging!!!
It made me think: who’s to say some of my own long journal notes couldn’t graduate into essays, and then go on to PhD into a book? 😉
That line about nothing blooming in every season, and your refusal to force momentum when life is clearly asking for rest, feels like such a needed counterspell to the way so many ambitious women have been trained to treat their bodies like factories. The way you keep choosing “whole over good,” and defining success as time to work rather than external metrics, lands especially deeply for those of us who have over‑optimized, over‑shrunk, or over‑performed ourselves into templates that were never built with our full selves in mind.
Underneath it I hear a woman willing to walk away from roles, marriages, and even whole careers rather than keep cleaving herself in two—and that kind of integrity feels like the clearest model of ambition we have: letting writing, justice work, and motherhood orbit around a self that is allowed to stay **whole**, not just good.
Congrats, @Amanda A. — you’ve been selected as one of our giveaway winners! 🎉 Please have a peek at your Substack DMs
Ahhh!! Thank you!! I’ve been gobbling up her interviews- cannot wait to read!! ❤️🔥
Of course!! So, so happy to hear 💛💛
You guys had such great chemistry during the interview!! (Listed didn’t read.)
I especially loved this question, Jana: “What did that look like when it came to the broader question of putting together an essay collection? Were there any cornerstone pieces you built everything else around?” 💝
Here’s why it stood out to me: that part of the creative process so often gets skipped in interviews. Hearing it explored like that felt really refreshing. And honestly, hella encouraging!!!
It made me think: who’s to say some of my own long journal notes couldn’t graduate into essays, and then go on to PhD into a book? 😉
Yes those long journal notes can absolutely become essays! They are like dough — you can shape the and work them! So glad you enjoyed this convo. ❤️✨
That line about nothing blooming in every season, and your refusal to force momentum when life is clearly asking for rest, feels like such a needed counterspell to the way so many ambitious women have been trained to treat their bodies like factories. The way you keep choosing “whole over good,” and defining success as time to work rather than external metrics, lands especially deeply for those of us who have over‑optimized, over‑shrunk, or over‑performed ourselves into templates that were never built with our full selves in mind.
Underneath it I hear a woman willing to walk away from roles, marriages, and even whole careers rather than keep cleaving herself in two—and that kind of integrity feels like the clearest model of ambition we have: letting writing, justice work, and motherhood orbit around a self that is allowed to stay **whole**, not just good.