Mona Shomali Highlights: Author, Visual Artist, and Youth Educator on Why Dreaming Has to Come First

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In this highlights episode, Creatives Processing host Sarah Mulligan Williams pulls three moments from her conversation with Mona Shomali — author, visual artist, and director of a Youth Environmental Leadership Program. Between each clip, Sarah shares her own perspective on the creative process and connects Mona's insights to her approach to building authentic, human-centered creative work. This episode covers what it actually takes to get a book into the world on your own terms, why dreaming has to come before doing, and what technology and Western isolation are quietly costing us — creatively and as humans. Featured Highlights 1. The 180 Nos — What 180 rejections did to Mona's sense of self, how one conversation helped her reframe it, and why building your own publishing infrastructure isn't settling — it's strategy 2. Before Reality Shuts You Down — Why dreaming has to come first, what Mona's youth program has taught her about keeping creative possibility alive, and the danger of closing the window before it's even open 3. Too Afraid to Be Human — What phoneless activities and indigenous community structures reveal about Western isolation, why no one dances anymore, and why showing up imperfectly is both a creative and a human necessity About the Guest: Mona Shomali is an author, visual artist, and director of a Berkeley-based youth environmental leadership program. She spent a decade teaching International Relations at three New York universities, where she led courses on Indigenous human rights in the Amazon, resource conflicts in the developing world, and international environmental governance — and took students to live with the Makushi people in Guyana. Her debut novel, Water Mamas: A Novel of Climate, Spirituality, and Indigenous Human Rights, follows a UN environmental scientist navigating a clash between a proposed geoengineering project and the indigenous communities whose land — and spirits — would be affected. It's a book that reads like a thriller and teaches like a course. The cover is Mona's own painting — a work she envisioned before the novel was even finished. Get Water Mamas on ⁠Bookshop.org⁠ [https://bookshop.org/p/books/water-mamas-a-novel-of-climate-spirituality-and-indigenous-human-rights-mona-shomali/d9fa96d3d16e0ea1?ean=9798218838676&next=t] or ⁠Amazon⁠ [https://www.amazon.com/Water-Mamas-Climate-Spirituality-Indigenous/dp/B0FR3LRTFV/]. Also available through the IngramSpark catalog — request it at any independent bookstore near you. Connect with Mona Shomali Website: www.monashomali.com [www.monashomali.com] Substack: monashomali.substack.com [monashomali.substack.com] Instagram: @monashomali_ [https://www.instagram.com/monashomali_] Connect with Creatives Processing: * Instagram: @creativesprocessing [https://www.instagram.com/creativesprocessing] * Email: creativesprocessing AT wordofmouthcreative DOT co About Word of Mouth, the creative studio behind Creatives Processing: * Strategic creative direction, brand development, and design for mission-driven organizations—always through the lens of humanizing the creative process * Partner with Sarah to create authentic brand experiences that honor both strategic goals and human connection * wordofmouthcreative.co⁠ [http://wordofmouthcreative.co/] Subscribe to Creatives Processing to hear more conversations with creative professionals about their processes, challenges, and what it really takes to build sustainable creative careers. If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and send to a friend! Credits Edited by Cai Indermaur [https://cai-indermaur.com/] Music by John Michael Rouchell [https://www.hereintheblueroom.com/about]

Mona Shomali on Writing ‘Water Mamas’, Self-Publishing, and Keeping Creative Possibility Alive

Mona Shomali spent years as a professor of International Relations teaching courses on Indigenous human rights, resource conflicts, and environmental governance — and she had a book's worth of material to show for it. The problem was, nobody wanted to read it. In this conversation, Mona shares how she transformed a dense, unreadable nonfiction manuscript into Water Mamas, her debut climate fiction novel. We get into the five-year editorial journey, what it took to survive 180 rejections, and the collaborators who made self-publishing not just possible but excellent. We explore how her background as a visual artist shapes the way she writes — including the painting that became the book's cover. And we dig into what her work with youth has taught her about keeping the dreaming alive before reality shuts it down, and what technology and Western isolation are quietly costing us. About the Guest: Mona Shomali is a visual artist, author, and director of a Berkeley-based youth environmental leadership program. She spent a decade teaching International Relations at three New York universities, where she led courses on Indigenous human rights in the Amazon, resource conflicts in the developing world, and international environmental governance — and took students to live with the Makushi people in Guyana. Her debut novel, Water Mamas: A Novel of Climate, Spirituality, and Indigenous Human Rights, follows a UN environmental scientist navigating a clash between a proposed geoengineering project and the indigenous communities whose land — and spirits — would be affected. It's a book that reads like a thriller and teaches like a course. The cover is Mona's own painting — a work she envisioned before the novel was even finished. Episode Highlights * From art major to Amazon obsession: how an environmental studies class changed everything * The pivot from nonfiction to fiction — merging the academic mind with the creative one * The painting on the cover: Death in the Forest, the Yanomami, and why the trees are bleeding * 180 rejections, one botched yes, and the Reddit thread that pointed toward self-publishing * Building a creative team you love: editor Dana, book designer April, and what great collaboration actually looks like * The IngramSpark strategy that got Water Mamas into Barnes & Noble, the Strand, and indie bookstores nationwide * What Mona can control in a painting that she can't control in prose — and vice versa * Working with young people who haven't reached the place where reality shuts them down — and what that does for her own creativity * What success looks like now: contentment, not benchmarks Connect with Mona Shomali Get Water Mamas at ⁠Bookshop.org⁠ [https://bookshop.org/p/books/water-mamas-a-novel-of-climate-spirituality-and-indigenous-human-rights-mona-shomali/d9fa96d3d16e0ea1?ean=9798218838676&next=t], ⁠Amazon⁠ [https://www.amazon.com/Water-Mamas-Climate-Spirituality-Indigenous/dp/B0FR3LRTFV/], or request it at your local independent bookstore. Website: monashomali.com [https://www.monashomali.com] Substack: monashomali.substack.com [https://monashomali.substack.com] Instagram: @monashomali_ [https://www.instagram.com/monashomali_] Connect with Creatives Processing: * Instagram: @creativesprocessing [https://www.instagram.com/creativesprocessing] * Email: creativesprocessing AT wordofmouthcreative DOT co About Word of Mouth, the creative studio behind Creatives Processing: * Strategic creative direction, brand development, and design for mission-driven organizations—always through the lens of humanizing the creative process * Partner with Sarah to create authentic brand experiences that honor both strategic goals and human connection * wordofmouthcreative.co⁠ [http://wordofmouthcreative.co] Subscribe to Creatives Processing to hear more conversations with creative professionals about their processes, challenges, and what it really takes to build sustainable creative careers. If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and send to a friend! Credits: Edited by Cai Indermaur [https://cai-indermaur.com/]. Music by John Michael Rouchell [https://www.hereintheblueroom.com/about]

7. april 20261 h 55 min

Mona Shomali Highlights: Author, Visual Artist, and Youth Educator on Why Dreaming Has to Come First

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