Cody Cook-Parrott is a writer, artist, and movement practitioner who builds simple structures that help artists make work.
Their focus is attention, creative ecosystems, and research—so your practice becomes a scaffolding to grow steadily—online and off.
Find your way back to the simple joy of making
You’re in a hinge moment. Starting over, mid-shift, or returning to the page after a long season of integration. Curious about sustainable systems, you want a practice that honors both the personal and the political—something that holds your values, not just your output.
Maybe you’re carrying too many ideas at once, feeling like you should be doing more while the days slip by, working alone longer than you’d like. You’re looking for kind structure and real accountability, a room that cheers small wins and nudges you to finish, and a way back to the simple joy of making. I’d love to help you take the next step: back to your creative center and forward to what comes next.
Guiding values & principles
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Slow is how we hear what the work wants. Fewer tabs, more pages—nervous-system-friendly schedules, prompts, and timers that bring focus back.
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Templates, check-ins, and clear containers provide shape; you set the pace and boundaries. The goal is always momentum without burnout.
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Progress is easier with witnesses. We build small, kind rooms where accountability feels like care and tiny wins count.
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Come as you are: camera optional, neurodivergent-friendly, low-pressure participation, with dedicated affinity space for BIPOC writers in spaces like Landscapes and scholarship spots in Quilt Class. No explaining your context just to belong.
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We favor repeatable rhythms over heroic sprints. One hour, weekly, stacked over time becomes a body of work you can hold.
Looking for an official bio?
Cody Cook-Parrott writes a weekly newsletter and hosts the podcast Common Shapes. They also facilitate a weekly writing group called Landscapes and teach classes about writing, quilting, and creative practice. Through 1:1 hosting and advising, Cody supports artists with creative visioning.
They are the author of The Practice of Attention (forthcoming with Sounds True, March 2026) as well as How to Not Always Be Working and Getting to Center. They also self-published books about their projects Personal Practice and Friendship Village.
Their work has been featured in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Dance Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. Cody has a BFA in Dance from the University of Michigan and is an MFA candidate at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University.
Press
Podcast Interviews
the twelfth house : cody cook-parrott on being seen and self-actualizing via your sacred work
the pop-up pod : i didn’t do any taxes from 2015 until last year. why? the money was there the whole time
quilt buzz : episode 58: cody cook-parrott
the good dirt podcast : practice or performance? artistic expression, slow living, and the role of social media
needy podcast with mara glatzel : leaving social media and returning to center
the wintering sessions with katherine may : cody cook-parrott on journeying to the center
the best advice show : putting down the think with cody cook-parrott
queery with cameron esposito : cody cook-parrott
let it out podcast with katie dalebout : getting to center and being in process: cody cook-parrott returns
share the load with mia schachter : cody cook-parrott on burnout
living in this queer body podcast : cody cook-parrott on learning the body again and again, and more all the time
real talk radio with nic antionette : cody cook-parrott on making and breaking commitments
the tiffany han show : getting to center with cody cook-parrott
unknowing : “in process” with cody cook-parrott
well-aware : Cody Cook-Parrott on rhythms, sobriety, expertise, anxiety, and being live
ciis public programs : cody cook-parrott: creativity and radical self-care
hurry slowly with jocelyn k. glei : the digital self, reinvention, and coming out of the chrysalis with cody cook-parrott
honing in with kate henry : frameworks for community and creativity with cody cook-parrott
social media escape club : cody cook-parrott says “marketing is a creative practice”
scratch that: parenting & reparenting off script : reparenting, money discomfort, and social media exits with cody cook-parrott
off the grid : when leaving social media doesn't solve your problems — with cody cook-parrott
do you ever feel like? : everything is a dance with cody cook-parrott
everything belongs with madison morrigan : social media sovereignty with cody cook-parrott
copy poetics : landscapes, prayers, and other ordinary magic (with cody cook-parrott)
hidden parts : in session with cody: hidden parts and creative work
let it out with katie dalebout : best lesson on love?
Press Features
autostraddle : getting to an imperfect, queer center with cody cook-parrott
dance magazine : these dancers prove there’s no one right way to do social media
southwest contemporary : getting to center: a worthy offering
bust magazine : Cody Cook-Parrott helps us return to self-care in “getting to center”
the creative independent : on how to be productive without burning out
new york times magazine : how to dance alone
vanity fair : in the age of quarantine, the world dance alone together
dance magazine : what we can all learn from improvising every day
new york times : a graveyard? she’s danced there. just check instagram
pride source : queer quilting as art, protest and connection: from the AIDS memorial quilt to the generation-linking pieces we treasure
ximena vengoechea : cody cook-parrot on social media, sobriety, and redefining work
Contact Info
General Inquiries
Press Inquiries
To request media or desk copies of my forthcoming book The Practice of Attention, please contact Mike Onorato at: Mike.Onorato.contractor@macmillan.com
“Attention is the beginning of devotion.”
―Mary Oliver