Follow Your Curiosity: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Creativity.

I recently sat down with my dear friend, author Cindy Lynn Speer, to talk about perfectionism and how it seeps into us through the culture in insidious ways we don't even recognize—and how it affects us in similarly sneaky ways. We also talked about how making bad art can help us undo those lessons and free us from the voices of the inner critics that have been installed in our heads so we can loo...

What if the question of your creativity is more about how you define the term than whether or not you have any? I explain in this short episode. The second round of my Make Bad Art course starts on January 20! If you think you might be defining yourself out of your creativity, MBA is a great place to recalibrate that definition and come home to yourself. We had a fabulous time time in the first ro...

Les Watson’s passion for and expertise in self-management and productivity comes from over 30 years of experience as a trainer, speaker, facilitator, and coach in self-management, motivation, and communication. He is the author of Get Back An Hour In Every Day and facilitates the acclaimed Creating Success Program. Les talks with me about identifying your tendency and how it can cause trouble as y...

My guests today are Lisa McMullin and Alfie Shaw, both of whom write for Big Finish Productions, creators of audio dramas ranging from established series like Doctor Who, Sherlock Holmes, and Dark Shadows to original dramas featuring the Air Transport Auxiliary from World War II and Marcus Tullius Cicero in Ancient Rome. Lisa started her career as a drama teacher before moving into dramatic writin...

When the world is falling apart around you, it's not just okay to take care of yourself—it's necessary. I'll tell you why in this short episode. Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! Could you leave a review?  It's really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks! The first round of my Make Bad Art course is underway and we are having a fabulous time, with momen...

Freelance writer Amy Weinland Daughters mostly wrote about college football until she decided to try her hand at, in her words, “a hilarious time travel novel.” That novel, You Cannot Mess This Up: A True Story That Never Happened, turned out to be a catharsis, giving her a whole new look at her childhood and her family. It’s gone on to win the Silver Winner for Humor in the 2019 Foreword INDIES a...

Story lover Lucinda Sage-Midgorden and I met here on Follow Your Curiosity last year. We got together this past week for a short conversation for her Patreon about why you should think about making bad art and embracing anti-perfectionism. What does that mean (and not mean), and how might it change your life? For that matter, how are we defining perfectionism—it’s often not what we expect it to be...

What happens when you make bad art? Sometimes you get really good art by accident! Here's a real-life story of a time when that happened to Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat, and why you should consider Making Bad Art yourself. Source for this story. Want to come Make Bad Art of your own, and lose perfectionism and harsh self-judgment in the process? Join us starting November 4, 2024! You don't have...

Four years ago, artist and art therapist Darcy Wade joined me to talk about her own journey with art and creativity, including how her discovery of expressive arts brought her back from a period of disconnection with her creative side and helped her recovery from addiction. Darcy has since moved from North Carolina to Colorado, where she’s now undertaking fundraising efforts to help folks back hom...

I recently had a chance to get a very different perspective on something I dearly love doing—by not doing it. I thought it would be torture. I was wrong. I tell you what I discovered in this short episode. Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! My Make Bad Art course starts on November 4! Are you tired of contorting yourself to meet others’ expectations? D...

My guest this week is Dr. David Weill, the former director of the Center for Advanced Lung Disease and Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant Program at Stanford University Medical Center. He’s currently the principal of the Weill Consulting Group, which focuses on improving the delivery of pulmonary, ICU, and transplant care. He’s also the author of the new novel, All That Really Matters, which follows h...

In Western culture, we don't often think of creativity as something controlled, but the truth is, there's a place for chaos and control in our creative process. In this slightly-longer-than-usual pep talk, I give a couple examples of the push-pull of chaos and control, and how they can both be helpful—and detrimental—to our creative work, and why it's worth experimenting with a little more of one...

Paul Pape is an artist, designer, and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in the creative industry. He’s created thousands of personalized products for clients worldwide as well as companies such as Disney, Universal, and Nickelodeon. In recent years, he’s shifted to empowering creatives, companies and corporations, sharing his expertise and insights to help them embrace innovation, reve...

In August, I talked about reading War and Peace over the course of this year at a pace of roughly one chapter a day—the value of small steps in practice. Since then, I’ve noticed a little more about what happens to your project—and to you—when you take those consistent small steps, and I’m here to tell you about it in this short episode. Could you leave a review?  It's really easy, and it helps SO...

When you hear the words “children’s chorus,” you probably think of a pretty straightforward group of kids making music. If you’re in Wilmington, Delaware, you have good reason to think of a whole lot more. Wilmington Children’s Chorus Executive Director Lianna Magerr and Artistic Director Kimberly Doucette join me to talk about how they’ve gone beyond the rehearsal room to create an organization t...

Simple, but not always easy: the key to progress or success is just to keep going. I'll tell you why in this short episode. Simon Haisell's year-long War and Peace read can be found here . Could you leave a review?  It's really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks! Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!

Actor, activist, musician, and artist Michael Broussard joined me back in 2021 to talk about his one-man show, Ask a Sex Abuse Survivor, and what he’s learned about destigmatizing trauma abuse through art. A few months ago, he mentioned to me that he’s been focusing on pulling the rug out from under himself artistically. He’s back today to talk about just what that means and how it’s actually been...

Sometimes your creativity can be like a clogged pipe. I'll give you one way to keep it flowing in this short episode. Sign up for one of this month's Unconventional Inspiration Circles here , and invite a friend!   Could you leave a review?  It's really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks! Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!

Journalist Warren Berger, who has written for publications such as the New York Times, Wired magazine, and Fast Company, has a question for you. In fact, he has a lot. He’s literally written the book on questions (three of them, to be exact), and recently updated his book, A MORE BEAUTIFUL QUESTION, for its tenth anniversary. Warren joins me to talk about why questions are important—even more impo...

Sometimes life, and the world around us, gets to be too much. I hereby give you permission to take a break when that happens. Sign up for one of this month's Unconventional Inspiration Circles here , and invite a friend!   Could you leave a review?  It's really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks! Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!

Judith Turner-Yamamoto, an award-winning author hailing from a mill town in rural North Carolina, began her writing journey as an art historian, learning to appraise and describe what moved her. Her debut novel LOVING THE DEAD AND GONE, a Mariel Hemingway Book Club pick, is the 2023 Independent Publisher Book Awards Gold Medalist in Southern Regional Fiction and was shortlisted for the 2023 Eric H...

A lot of creative work happens in solitude, but it doesn't have to be that way. Community can be one of your greatest creative tools--I explain why in this short episode, and issue an invitation as well! Sign up for one of this month's Creative Community sessions here , and invite a friend!   Could you leave a review?  It's really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks! Want more tips? Check out this...

My guest this week is Steve Cole, a bestselling children’s author of more than 200 books.  Those books cover many styles and children’s genres, with titles including the Astrosaurs and Young Bond ranges, Go to Sleep or I Let Loose the Leopard, and most recently, Drowning in my Bedroom. Steve is also the creative consultant for BBC Books' Doctor Who list, as well as project editing and writing titl...

Too often, in our creative lives (and everywhere else), we think we have to go it alone. It's okay, though, to ask for help, and I tell you why in this short episode.   Could you leave a review?  It's really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks! Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! Read this week's post: Get in Trouble   If you'd like to: Engage with your...

My guest this week is Simon Guerrier, a writer and producer who has written numerous books related to Doctor Who, produced five documentaries for BBC radio, and more than 70 audio plays for Big Finish Productions, as well as comics and short stories. He also chairs the Books Committee for the Writers' Guild of Great Britain. Simon talks with me about how he got his start in writing and producing—i...