Continuing from last time: more on comparison, and how it's actually a way to reject ourselves, even if we don't know it. Perfectionism factors into that process, too, creating an ugly soup of not-good-enoughness. The good news: you CAN do something about it. Details within! Want more help? Check out my Creative Tune-Up, which is… Continue reading Creative Pep Talk #14: Comparison and Self-Rejection
Paul "PB" Bessenbacher Musician Paul Bessenbacher, known to his friends and fans as PB, lives a genuine optimism best summed up in his signature statement: “It’s gonna be great.” PB has followed the flow of that sentiment from an undergraduate degree that let him experiment with every genre he could find, to learning recording engineering… Continue reading It’s Gonna Be Great with Paul “PB” Bessenbacher
A story about comparison and how it robs us not only of our creative joy but also distorts our sense of ourselves. Did you know you can watch this episode on YouTube? If you knew how much time drafting experimentation, especially the failures, screaming cursing, heartbreak and desperation went into creating the Mona Lisa, would… Continue reading Creative Pep Talk #13: A Story About Comparison
Dr. Ryan Martin None of us gets through the day without encountering anger somewhere, be it at work, at home, on the road, or even inside ourselves. Ryan Martin is a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay, and he specializes in anger. He’s written a book, Why We Get Mad:… Continue reading Anger and Curiosity with Dr. Ryan Martin
"We can do hard things," as the saying goes—but we can also make it way harder to do those things than we have to. Hear how I learned this lesson and how you can make it easier to do the tough things on your list in this episode. He knew we could do it. And… Continue reading Creative Pep Talk #12: How Hard Is It?
Sarah Fine Urban fantasy author Sarah Fine, who writes psychological thrillers as SF Kosa, is a clinical psychologist as well as a novelist. As a result, she has a lot to say about the amateur psychology and observational skills writers tend to possess, as well as what she will and won’t do in portraying aspects… Continue reading Psychology and Writing with Sarah Fine
Failure visits us all—and I've been thinking about it a lot lately. Failing doesn't have to be the end, and it definitely doesn't reflect our worth. It's actually a really important part of the creative process (and of growing/learning in general), so maybe we should start embracing it rather than fearing it. All failure means… Continue reading Creative Pep Talk #11: Failure
Eddie Louise Eddie Louise, writer of the Sage and Savant audio drama podcast, has lived one of the most fascinating creative journeys I’ve ever heard. She has followed her curiosity from the libraries of Wyoming to undergraduate studies in Edinburgh and back to California, and absolutely none of it has happened in the way anyone… Continue reading Coming Out of the Cave with Eddie Louise
If you're feeling stuck and don't know how to get moving again, this is the episode for you! There's a simple way to get your momentum back, and it's probably not what you expect. (It may even feel kind of insulting… but it works!) Break it down. Break it down so small that you know… Continue reading Creative Pep Talk #10: Tiny Steps
Kathryn Malek Kathryn Malek is an actor, writer, and coach. Kathryn started focusing on acting and writing as a young adult, studying with apprentices of Lee Strasberg before taking the leap into playwriting. We talked about those early experiences, the ways acting is viewed in our society as performers on demand or as people who… Continue reading The Empathy of Art with Kathryn Malek