Create Out Loud With Jennifer Louden

Annie Murphy Paul is one of the most interesting and acclaimed scientist writers working today, and her most recent book, The Extended Mind, may just fundamentally shift your relationship with your creativity and your brain forever. The Extended Mind is all about how our minds are not brain bound and by understanding all the ways we can - and must! - extend our minds, we can learn to work with the...

How often do we sit down to face the blank page or canvas, only to get crippled by the paralyzing critic: "You can't do this, you're not good enough....WHY BOTHER?" What if, instead, you told yourself, "keep going, you've got this, your voice matters." This is the self-compassionate approach to creativity, and it's essential to your success. But some days, you need more. That’s where Kristen Neff’...

From the outside, Grace Harry looked like she was living a dream life. A top executive at Def Jam records, married to Usher, hobnobbing with some of the world's most powerful voices in arts and culture, Grace was a powerhouse of creative collaboration and making music happen. But she wasn't happy. Deep down, she wasn't listening to her desires. Gracereinvented her life, leaving behind much of what...

Elizabeth Hargrave is one of the world's most respected tabletop game designers, and her bestselling, award-winning board game "Wingspan" came out of a simple desire: she was tired of playing games that wasn't about trolls, castles, and zombies. So guess what? She created her own, and it's about ornithology. Yep, birds. There is so much to learn about this act of defiance. If we yearn for somethin...

Have you ever been told to "everything happens for a reason" or "things will get better in time" when something truly awful has happened to you? Singer/songwriter and author of How to Lose Everything Christa Couture can relate. Christa has an advanced degree in loss: the loss of her leg to cancer as a child, the lost of two children in their infancy, the loss of a marriage, and temporarily, her vo...

Do you feel like it's too late for your creative desires? For Angeline Boulley, her first major creative success came in her mid-50s, with her debut novel The Firekeeper's Daughter. In addition to debuting at #1 on the New York Times, being optioned by the Obama's for a Netflix TV adaptation, and being chosen for Reese Witherspoon's book club, the novel is celebrated for its honest and multi-layer...

Morgan Harper Nichols wears many creative hats beautifully - poet, author, musician, self-taught illustrator, and entrepreneur. And like most of my guests, she has walked a wild and twisty road to find her current creative success. After struggling as a touring musician and freelancer, Morgan channeled her "hitting the bottom" moment into illustrated poetry that was an immediate surprise hit with...

What would it take for you to turn down an offer from JJ Abrams (you know the guy who created Lost among other block-busters)? Ask Meg LeFavue, the Oscar-nominated writer of Inside Out, who had to do just that after committing to her creative calling to become a screenwriter. Meg LeFauve and her frequent writing partner and podcast co-host Lorien McKenna get extremely candid about the challenges a...

Anne-Laure Le Cunff is an entrepreneur, and an ex-Googler turned neuroscience student who is leading the conversation around creative anxiety, mental wellness in our modern age, the delicate balance between productivity and creativity, and how we can use technology to make the world better. In today's amazing conversation, we talk releasing ourselves from the pressure or time anxiety, how to align...

If anyone understands "creative Rock Bottom," it's Award-winning singer-songwriter Rissi Palmer. After a top-charting, well-received debut album, Rissi entered a vicious court battle with her label, leading her to bankruptcy. After the heartbreak of seeing her own music video playing in the record store at the mall across from the retail store where she was working, Rissi knew it was time to take...

Anne Lamott is one of our most celebrated creative and spiritual leaders, and for good reason. With 9 bestselling fiction and non-fiction books, including Bird By Bird which many celebrated creatives consider the best book about writing ever written, Anne's one of the wisest teachers about the creative life and definitely one of the funniest. In this episode, Anne offers you prayer, honesty, and i...

Do you have an inner-voice begging you to tap into your creativity, yearning to create, and for years, you've been telling it no? Or maybe creativity IS a part of your life and livelihood, and you still get scared, you still get stuck. Whoever you are, it's time for YOU to Create Out Loud. Welcome to Create Out Loud: Conversations w/ Creative People, hosted by bestselling author and creativity men...