The Resilient Creative is about sustaining yourself as a creative person day-to-day.
The audio and written posts in this blog are designed to help us:
synthesize what happens in our lives and start to see a different pattern than what has been prescribed.
remember to take advice, sure, but not to settle for dogma or easy answers. Instead, to observe and add and combine. In so doing, to grow in life and on the page.
move through the world with awareness and look at things in a different way.
appreciate aspects of life others might take for granted, and learn to embody resilience instead of practicing it.
Paid subscribers get:
Creative resilience circles once a season—to share your creative struggles, joys, and get support in creative community
Audio visualizations with a writing prompt to slow down so you can process information and have more room to create.
Guidance to help you grow as a person so you can grow as a writer.
If you cannot afford a paid subscription but want to access a post, please let me know. I will grant you a year for free with no questions asked.
Who am I?
I was a high school dropout who went on to find purpose through writing, which led me to earn a BA in English from Otterbein University and an MFA from Bennington College. I worked multiple jobs for a decade to pay down educational debts and better understand what I did/did not want from my short journey here. All the while, I wrote. I explored. I came to conclusions and questioned conclusions. I began to study personal leadership.
At heart, I am a philosopher and unable to buy into too much dogma across any scale. But I also believe that writing has offered me something mystical and that creativity can tap potentials in humans that go beyond what we often see. Writing, to me, is like the reverberation of an elephant stomp or the rooted system of trees, a way of passing messages, like nutrients, to each other.
I am the author of We Arrive Uninvited (2023, Steel Toe Books Prose Winner), Chaos Magic (2025, Kallisto Gaia Press, Joshua Tree Prize Winner), The Glass City, and At Work (2027, forthcoming from Cornerstone UWSP). My shorter work has won awards, including the San Miguel de Allende Award in Nonfiction, the CutBank Montana Award for the Essay, and the Flash Fiction Award. You can find many of my stories and essays here.
After teaching creative writing for over a decade, I began coaching writers 1:1 and offering idea-to-publication services through Unleash Creatives, a holistic arts organization I founded and co-own. I teach leadership and practice what I share in both business and volunteer efforts. I aim to practice the same curiosity and personal inquiry in my writing and what I share.
“Jen Knox is a fearless writer. She can describe a Toledo community decimated by apocalyptic drought, a bakery in Nice during a terrorist attack, a surreal museum of living statues, and make every one of these things feel as real and intimate as your favorite worn-in flannel shirt. Acutely alert to the smallest moments that reveal character, her stories can give you a whole life in a few short paragraphs, laid bare in all its sorrow, glory and restless longing. She can work dialogue, twist a plot, make you laugh out loud, and then break your heart.” —Sheila Black, author of Iron, Ardent
"A talented writer exhibiting her intuition, Knox understands that our greatest fear is loneliness … she gifts us with myriad ways to find a cure." —Tara Lynn Masih, author of How We Disappear
"Jen’s feedback on my writing has been instrumental in propelling me forward and believing in my voice. She has helped me find my strengths and encouraged me to press further into the terrain of writing. This is the first time in my life where I feel confident to say, I’m a writer!" —Writing Circle Participant
