Follow Your Curiosity: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Creativity.

Is whatever's holding you back from your creative call really enough reason to give up? Not likely. Here's why you really should do it anyway. Ben Folds agrees with me: take a listen . What are the six biggest creative beliefs that are screwing up your process? Find out here ! I'd love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com , or contact...

My guest this week is Tom Colgan, editorial director at Berkley Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Tom has spent more than 35 years championing such authors as Tom Clancy, Mark Graeney, and Janet Evanovich. We talk about how he got his start as an editor, what editors do and don’t do (you may be surprised!), how the creative process is different for everyone, and why, despite coming up wit...

If you've been waiting to feel motivated to do your creative work, you may be surprised to learn that you're actually doing things backwards. (If you haven't listened to the Pep Talk about "Five Minutes," I suggest you listen to it in conjunction with this one!) Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! Get stuff DONE at my free Creative Check-In/Parallel Uni...

It’s no secret that a lot of creative people absolutely love doing their creative work, but seize up at the idea of selling it. I invited Annie P. Ruggles, also known simply as Annie P., to the podcast to share why selling doesn’t have to be evil, and how to get around our fears and worries involving selling creative work. Annie, a former theater kid, now runs the Non-Sleazy Sales Academy, which a...

Once you've wrangled with the truth, what do you DO with it? (Spoiler: don't ignore it.) Please leave a review and in it, tell us about a time when you listened to your wisdom!  Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! Get stuff DONE at my free Creative Check-In/Parallel Universe Time session. Learn more and register here . Feeling stuck in your creative pro...

Hillary Webb describes herself as a cultural anthropologist, author, and mixed-media storyteller with a focus on theater anthropology and cross-cultural perspectives on human consciousness. It’s a mix that covers a lot of territory, both literally and figuratively. Hillary has traveled the world for research on shamanism and consciousness, and has even managed to stumble into the world of stand-up...

Do you recognize and respect the truth? Or is your relationship with it a little different? Spoiler: It may not be what you think it is!  Please leave a review and in it, tell us about a time when you realized you were trying to outwit the truth!  Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! Get stuff DONE at my free Creative Check-In/Parallel Universe Time sess...

Linda King caught the travel bug at an early age. She also grew up in a family of writers. After working in the travel and banking industries—and discovering that there was an appetite for her travel advice—she started The Smart Travelista: a website and series of travel books to help people travel wisely and save money doing it. Linda tells me more about that journey and about her more recent for...

A pep talk AND an invitation: How Parallel Universe Time can help you get past procrastination and get things done. If you're intrigued, you're invited to join us for scheduled PUT sessions that will help you make progress and energize your creative process. Register here  for the Zoom link and to be kept informed of new PUT session times. Questions? Contact me at nancy@fycuriosity.com Want more t...

What if I told you your creative blocks are totally normal? There's nothing wrong with you.  Please leave a review and in it, tell us about a time when you realized you were actually totally normal, and how that felt! Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! Get stuff DONE at my free Creative Check-In/Parallel Universe Time session. Learn more and register h...

Gael Wood started her career as a massage therapist, opening her own day spa and eventually starting her own online business. While that business has taken different forms throughout the years, she’s always found a creative groove in what she does, be it through creating the perfect spa ambience, writing her own marketing materials, or authoring her own books. Along the way, she’s also out togethe...

Why you might want to be open to the possibility of being wildly wrong (or even just slightly wrong) about everything from your new creative project to interpersonal dynamics. Please leave a review and in it, tell us about a time when you were wrong and it turned out well anyway! Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! Get stuff DONE at my free Creative Che...

When the Covid pandemic started, all of us had to find new ways to keep busy. Shanti Hershenson, who was 12 at the time, decided to start taking writing seriously. Now 14, Shanti has not only written a remarkable 15 books, she’s done the work to self-publish and get those books into several independent bookstores. Shanti talks with me about why she didn’t tell anyone she had started writing, how h...

If you're not doing what you want to do because you think you're not ready or don't have what you need, might I very gently and lovingly suggest that you're wrong? Please leave a review and in it, let us know what YOU are starting, from right where you are! Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! Get stuff DONE at my free Creative Check-In/Parallel Universe...

My guest this week is actor Colin Spaull, who began acting as a child and is still going strong. His early appearances include the role of Pip in Great Expectations and Peter in Heidi, and since then he’s been in everything from Coronation Street to Doctor Who. Colin talks with me about acting school, why he prefers theatre to television, his experience on The Murder Game, which had no script, and...

What can you do in five minutes? A LOT more than you think. Don't believe me? Let me explain--and then give it a try yourself! Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! Get stuff DONE at my free Creative Check-In/Parallel Universe Time session. Register here . Join us for my monthly Gratitude and Wonder call (also free!) here . Feeling stuck in your creative...

Kevin Roth began to play the dulcimer in 1972 at the old age of thirteen, and at sixteen recorded his first album for Folkways / Smithsonian Folkways Records, which immediately launched him into international fame. More recently, a cancer diagnosis he was not expected to survive caused him to reevaluate his life and choose to survive and thrive. Kevin now teaches the techniques he used to make big...

Are you the last item on your own list? If so, you're not alone—we all fall into this trap. Did you know it could be tamping down your joy and your creative process? Listen for the simple solution! Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! Get stuff DONE at my free Creative Check-In/Parallel Universe Time session. Register here . Feeling stuck in your creativ...

Dieter Randolph started his career in the “family business” of ministry. He’s since left that field, and has taken on a wide variety of jobs, from car sales to working for Google. These days, he’s a writer, speaker, coach, teacher, and podcaster. Along the way, he’s refined his ideas of what it means to live a meaningful life, including what leads us in the direction of meaning and how we get thro...

Following up from last time: how my nephew's piano recital went, and what we can all learn from how he handled the unexpected. As always, I love to hear your thoughts about what you've heard. Leave a review and tell me about a time when laughter saved you. Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! Get stuff DONE at my free Creative Check-In/Parallel Universe...

Desiree Adaway, founder and principal of the Adaway Group, is one of the nation’s preeminent diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant-facilitators with over 25 years of experience creating, leading, and managing international multicultural teams in 40 countries through major organizational change. She also leads the annual Whiteness at Work program, which I took in 2020. When she sent an email...

What I learned from helping my 9-year-old nephew learn "Hey Jude" for his piano recital—both from the process of working with him, and from the song itself. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review ! But in it, share your favorite Beatles lyrics with us so we can all check them out. (Your favorite song will do, too, if that's easier!) Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my p...

My guest today is John Noltner, a writer and photographer whose project, A Peace of My Mind, has produced three books, the latest of which is Portraits of Peace: Searching for Hope in a Divided America. John’s freelance photography career took him all over the world for a variety of national magazines, but the 2008 recession, along with his increasing awareness of the growing divide in American so...

Small and crappy can be the key to creative success. In this episode, I tell you why *and* give you a fun exercise to give it a try. Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! Get stuff DONE at my free Creative Check-In/Parallel Universe Time session. Register here . Feeling stuck in your creative process? Or wondering how to start having a creative process at...

Actor, photographer, and filmmaker Jon Davey has appeared in 50 episodes of Doctor Who since its revival in 2005, as a variety of monsters including Cybermen, Daleks, Ood, and Judoon. He’s also done behind-the-camera work on a variety of projects, including quite a few music videos for Radiohead. He joins me to talk about how he came to those roles, as well as what it’s like to meet fans at a conv...