Welcome to Twice 5 Miles Radio. I’m your host, James Navé.

Today’s conversation unfolds in a sunlit adobe room in Taos, New Mexico, where writer Rebecca Jarmas, also known by her pen name Alice W Meadows, joins me to explore the deep intersection of creativity, community, and resilience.

Rebecca shares her journey from a successful career in finance into the uncertain, demanding, and ultimately liberating world of writing. At the heart of our conversation is her lifelong experience with migraine disease—an often invisible, debilitating condition that has shaped both her life and her work. Out of that challenge, she’s created a children’s book designed to help young readers understand and communicate what they’re going through—something she never had as a child.

We talk about the power of writing as medicine, the role of community in overcoming creative paralysis, and how vulnerability becomes a gateway to authentic expression. Rebecca also opens up about starting a Substack, finding her voice later in life, and learning how to quiet the inner critic long enough to let the imagination speak.

This is a conversation about honoring the dreams we made as children, finding courage in the face of chronic struggle, and discovering that sometimes the very thing that holds us back becomes the source of our greatest creative offering.

Narrative. Authority. Voice. Ease. Four elements shape everything you do.

Welcome to Twice 5 Miles Radio. I'm your host, James Navé.

In this solo episode, I explore the living framework of narrative, authority, voice, and ease—not as abstract ideas, but as practical forces shaping how we move through the world. From a two-day drive out of Asheville to a quiet morning on a sun porch in Saint Louis, I track how small strategic choices create either stress or ease in real time.

Along the way, I reflect on storytelling as a lived experience, not just something performed on stage. I look at writing through dictation, the publishing world through Planet Money, and the reality of building creative work without chasing scale or spectacle.

This episode moves through travel, intuition, community radio, and the deeper question: why do we tell stories at all?

At its core, this is about learning to trust your own narrative, stand in your authority, recognize your voice, and allow ease to emerge—even in uncertain conditions.

Run of Show — Your Life Is the Narrative—Now What Do You Do With It?

00:00 — Opening: Storytelling vs Living Your Story
Moving from stage storytelling to life as narrative

03:00 — The Framework
Narrative, Authority, Voice, Ease explained

07:00 — Voice and Ease
Voice as identity
Ease as the result of alignment

11:00 — Life as Narrative
Every choice shapes the story
Control vs improvisation

15:00 — When Life Gets Hard
Illness, struggle, and delayed ease

19:00 — Strategy and Ego
Blind spots
Choosing better options

23:00 — The Drive Example
Asheville to Saint Louis
Two narratives: stress vs ease

27:00 — Choosing Ease
Route decision
Slowing down vs rushing

31:00 — Ease in Action
Avoiding stress and speeding
Presence and environment

34:00 — Rest and Rhythm
Sleeping in the car
Repeating successful patterns

37:00 — Intuition
Truck stop decision
Listening to internal signals

40:00 — Turning Story into Writing
Dictation vs writing
Speaking to create text

43:00 — Planet Money and Publishing
How books get made
Audience, scale, and authority

47:00 — Scale and Reality
Numbers matter
Knowing your range

50:00 — Why I Do This Work
Imaginative Storm
Helping people express their voice

53:00 — Living Your Narrative
Identity, daily life, poetic awareness

55:00 — Closing + Poems
Final reflections
Ogden Nash

Welcome to Twice 5 Miles Radio. I’m your host, James Navé. Today I’m going solo—reflecting on time, memory, and the places that shape us. From spring mornings in western North Carolina to long walks in the south of France, this episode moves through poetry, travel, and friendships that hold across decades.

At the center is Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas—a poem I memorized years ago that continues to echo through my life. Along the way, I reconnect with an old friend in Paris and reflect on the song Those Were the Days.

This is a meditation on aging, creativity, and what remains—ending with an original poem and an invitation to consider your own creative life.