Create Out Loud With Jennifer Louden
By Jennifer Louden
Hosted by bestselling creative entrepreneur Jennifer Louden, Create Out Loud is a weekly show featuring conversations with creative people about the nitty-gritty of everyday creative life: like how to establish rituals and routines, how to navigate envy, and even how to MAKE MONEY. Yes, even the awkward stuff.
So tune in with us every week because it's time for YOU to Create Out Loud!
Create Out Loud With Jennifer LoudenApr 13, 2021
36 | Transform Your Work Into A Conversation Starter w/ Celeste Headlee
How many Opera singers/wellness experts/radio broadcaster/racial reconciliation thought leaders do you know? You'll meet one today: the remarkable Celeste Headlee. Celeste is a 3-time bestselling author, including of her most recent book Speaking of Race: Why Everybody Needs to Talk About Racism — And How To Do It, who specializes in studying, articulating, and teaching about the complicated nuance of human conversation. Whether that's professionally, creatively, or even culturally, I promise that Celeste will fundamentally shift the way we view human communication. She will blow your mind.
1:40 - Why Celeste has had conversations about race thrust upon her all her life
2:49 - Celeste's signature themes throughout her diverse career
4:29 - How she gets people back in touch with their base humanity
5:42 - How she balances different “modes” of work: self-help, reporting, speaking, singing, etc.
8:34 - The importance of staying present, and how music has TRAINED Celeste to be super present
11:50 - The actual definition of conversation
13:14 - What are we missing in the essence of conversation? What are our ethical obligations in conversation?
17:30 - If conversations make us feel good, why do we avoid them?
23:17 - Why accepting racial biases is the quickest way to grow out of them
25:20 - How can we begin to overcome our biases?
27:14 - How American gospel music demonstrates our unconscious biases
28:30 - Why it’s important not to shame people while they’re learning about race
35:06 - What to do when you make a mistake when it comes to race
41:44 - How Celeste’s Ted Talk opened doors in her career. (Don’t miss what she has to say about her speaker’s fees!)
44:45 - How making more money allowed her to express more of herself
46:23 - What Celeste’s book Do Nothing taught me about productivity culture and the Industrial Revolution
47:50 - The ridiculousness of “time is money”
49:00 - The shadow of being passionate about your work
Get a copy of Celeste’s books here:
Speaking of Race: Why Everybody Needs to Talk About Racism — And How To Do It
Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving
Visit jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
35 | Practical Strategies For Knowing YOU Are Enough
Comparison is the thief of joy. It may be a cliché, but it is profoundly true, especially when it comes to our creativity. Ask yourself now: when will YOU actually feel like you're "enough" when it comes to your work. When you win a regional award? A Pulitzer prize? An Oscar? Stop waiting for your pat on the back. Pat your own back.
Today, we discuss:
:35 - Why we "despair" when we compare
2:05 - Understanding and normalizing "the gap" of creativity
4:51 - Understanding "conditions of enoughness"
8:48 - Engage In Facts
9:09 - Establish A Creativity "Container"
11:13 - Determine whether or not this fits in your life
12:19 - CELEBRATE Your Creative Achievements
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will: help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing, falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s), and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
34 | How To Honor The Classics But Forge A New Path In Our Creativity w/ Maria Tatar
One of the most important evolutions in creative history is the emergence of a female voice. Despite cultural sociologists of old focusing on men, Maria is among a number of important voices who can recognize that we can both acknowledge, even honor those historic works, but invite the female voice to break them apart. Do you ever feel overly constricted by ancient, patriarchal models of storytelling? Then THIS is the episode for you. Maria and Jen also discuss:
10:14 - How to avoid culturally repressive tropes in our art.
12:14 - Why was Maria drawn to fairy tales.
16:45 - How to respect the old while still exploring the new in our art.
21:32 - Valuing curiosity in ourselves and our children
24:18 - How storytelling gives us life
27:10 - How promote female models of storytelling while avoiding a gender binary
30:09 - Maria’s writing process
32:55 - Maria’s complicated relationship with Joseph Campbell
36:56 - How Maria collaborates with her students.
39:13 - Finding the bravery to take risks in our creative work.
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will: help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing, falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s), and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
33 | Giving Yourself Permission To Return To Old Projects
The pressure to have to create, to write everyday, to make our creativity a "job" is relentless. But what if we gave ourselves SPACE to pick up a project and put it back down? What if we didn't feel shame when because we have to take a break from our work. If you've been in the creative pressure cooker lately, THIS episode is for you.
Thanks to Podchaser: gl8o4U4IdQiuyy4n4ZvF
32 | Infusing Our Life Experience (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly) Into Our Work w/ Ruth Ozeki
3:00 - Inquiry-based creativity and writing.
7:12 - Allowing vulnerability and curious to guide our work
11:16 - Exploring self-trust.
16:14 - Understanding our readers interpret and create work.
20:21 - The profound power of storytelling.
30:31 - “Knowing your ruts.”
38:54 - Process and discipline.
31 | Marketing Strategies To Reach Your Audience Directly w/ Catherine Babb-Muguira
When we think of "self-help" we typically think of cheery, bohemian women talking about astrology and crystals, but what if we told you that Edgar Allen Poe - you know, the tragic alcoholic literary genius - was one of America's most valuable self-help voices? Today, we chat Catherine Babb-Muguira about her process of falling in love with Mr. Poe, and he pulled her out of her own dark hole. Drawing deeply on his works and life, she takes the familiar image of Poe in a new and surprising direction in this darkly inspiring self-help book. Despite what you might think, Edgar Allan Poe is the perfect person to teach you to say "Nevermore, problems!" and show you how to use all the terrible situations, tough breaks, bad luck, and even your darkest emotions in novel and creative ways to make a name for yourself and carve out your own unique, notorious place in the world. Jen and Catherine also discuss:
:40 - Addressing the dark side of self help.
6:03 - Trust your creative instincts because you never know where things will take you.
9:09 - The process teaches how to write the book.
12:43 - Is it FUN? A great litmus test for creativity.
16:21 - Don’t be afraid to write for an audience.
20:23 - Leveraging a famous subject to find your audience.
29:40 - Embracing and accepting feelings of validity around publication.
30 | Giving Yourself Permission To "Do You" In Your Creativity
So often, we get caught up in the idea of who we should be as a creative. I should be a best selling author...I should be an award winning filmmaker...I should be giving my Nobel-prize winning speech. But what about who we already ARE? Even the greats wrestle questions of creativity identity and imposter syndrome, but remember, at the end of the day, YOU are your own greatest create superhero. Learn how to embrace yourself fully as you dive into the creative pool.
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
29 | Navigating Creative Partnerships with Crystal Egli and Parker McMullen Bushman
Crystal and Parker are some of the most exciting voices in the world of female-founded tech startups, and their brilliance lies beyond their product. The two of them have sharply navigated the very white and very male world of tech by following their north star - business that focuses on diversity, ethics, and inclusivity. Like their own business philosophy, their company Inclusive Journeys is focusing on inclusivity by developing a digital green book to rate business on their ability to accommodate people of all races, genders, orientations, and abilities. Today, we also discuss
2:03 - Why Crystal Took Up Hunting
6:02 - How Crystal feels about being called a snowflake
12:32 - The nuts and bolts of how the app works
16:51 - Racial hurdles that Crystal and Parker faced as founders.
18:48 - Why shame is an ineffective motivator for moving forward.
28:29 - The mechanics of a creative partnership.
31:34 - The value of hiring an assistant.
To support their GoFundMe, check out: https://www.gofundme.com/f/digital-green-book-website
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
Fulfilling Our Personal Responsibility To Create w/ Beth Pickens
Beth Pickens is one of the most practical and grounded creative coaches working today. Though she herself doesn't identify as particularly creative, Beth CHAMPIONS creative instincts and argues that when creative people don't fulfill their inner-need to create, their health, well-being, and general productivity will suffer. Need a boost? THIS is the episode for you. Jen and Beth also discuss...
1:00 - Taking a STAND for your art.
2:39 - Creating art isn't optional, it's essential for your health.
4:00 - Separating the practice from your profession.
12:36 - Avoiding burnout.
21:43 - Art CHANGES people.
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
27 | How To Avoid Toxic Comparison In Our Creative Life w/ Keri Smith
Though her work centers on wild, uninhibited creative acts, Keri Smith is a self-proclaimed introvert. The hugely popular bestselling author Wreck This Journal is the first to admit that our creative needs to be a sacred choice, an intentional process that we commit to, despite the voices around us (and in our head), telling us not to. Keri and Jen get vulnerable as they discuss the gap between their public and private personas, and the very real looming specter of burnout that challenges every creative. They also discuss:
1:27 - Book as a sacred object
5:32 - The value of rituals and reptition.
9:47 - The myths around social media
16:53 - Random chance encounters with your creativity.
21:42 - Toxic comparisons with others.
27:46: How to remove the ego and focus on how JOHN CAGE influenced Keri’s work.
32:42: Why Keri doesn't read reviews
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
🦃 Happy Thanksgiving From Create Out Loud! 🦃
If you're looking to find more gratitude in your creative life, today's episode is for you!
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
26 | How To Market Yourself As A Creative w/ Toya Gavin
For better or worse, so much of the creative life relies on marketing, which can feel icky. But for Toya Gavin, who has brilliantly built her life coaching business through her own ingenious marketing strategies, it doesn't have to feel icky. Instead, it can feel social, constructive, and even beneficial for those who deserve to hear about your endeavors. Though Jen and Toya might both struggle with that instinct to want to be the invisible creative, today's creator economy just doesn't support that, and instead, we should CREATE OUT LOUD!
Toya and Jen Also Discuss:
:22 - Taking a stand for black and brown women in business.
9:16 - How language fails us when we seek to explain outsider status.
12:42 - Fostering intristic motivation for our work.
20:28 - How identity helps or hurts as creativity
24:50 - The Four essential benchmarks for running your own bussiness.
27:30 - How to market your creativity.
31:57 - Using our own network to sell our creativity.
36:42 - How To Trust Yourself in the room.
43:01 - The viability of creating your own business.
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
25 | How To Make Personal Experiences Universal For Your Audience
Laura Davis is the author of six non-fiction books, which have been translated into 11 languages and sold more than 1.8 million copies, that focus primarily on healing, recovery, and the beautiful scars that the challenges of our lives leave behind. In the course of her long career as a communicator, she has been a columnist, a talk show host, and a radio news reporter.
Laura’ new book and first memoir, new book, and first memoir, The Burning Light of Two Stars, tells the story of her dramatic and tumultuous relationship with her mother from the time of my birth until her death from a much more dramatic, intimate, and personal point of view.
On today’s show, Jen and Laura discuss
5:08 - Why Laura had to return to therapy to write this book.
10:13 - How to learn NEW creative skills: “our learning edge.”
13:33 - How to write about our family members.
19:17 - How to write about what we can’t remember
28:45 - How to make a living as a creative
29:53 - Finding the right publisher for your material
35:11 - How to face the (sometimes grueling) importance of marketing
39:59 - How to market to your “ideal audience.”
How To Make Personal Experiences Universal For Your Audience
READ THE FIRST FIVE CHAPTERS HERE!: https://lauradavis.net/the-burning-light-of-two-stars/
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
24 | Why Bother To Create At All?
"Why Bother" was the central question of Jen's last book, and so of course, it had to show up on the podcast! But today we go deep: why bother to create, at all? If you've faced creative failure, despair, or you feel like you're facing insurmountable cynicism, it may feel exhausting and impossible to create. Or even worse, it may feel pointless. And trust me, we get it.
BUT, there are still a million reasons why the beautiful act of creation is often our way out, and we discuss those reasons today.
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
23 | Optimizing Your Creativity By Creating A Safe Space
It's hard enough to feel like "our best selves" when we're creating, but here's a little secret no one tells you: we won't, unless we foster a safe space and sacred space around our work! What does that REALLY mean? Tune in to find out.
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
22 | The Essential Need For Wonder In Our Creativity w/ Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of the New York Times best-selling illustrated collection of nature essays and Kirkus Prize finalist, WORLD OF WONDERS: IN PRAISE OF FIREFLIES, WHALE SHARKS, & OTHER ASTONISHMENTS (2020, Milkweed Editions), which was chosen as Barnes and Noble’s Book of the Year. She has four previous poetry collections, and her writing appears twice in the Best American Poetry Series, The New York Times Magazine, ESPN, Ploughshares, American Poetry Review, and Tin House.
On today's show, Jen and Aimee connect over their passion for the natural world, and the unavoidable truth the clock is ticking on that environment. But for both Jen and Aimee, creativity, open-heartedness, and WONDER provide a foundation of hope and could truly change they way we see our own lives, and more importantly, the whole world. In addition, they also discuss:
4:14 - Aimee's experiences with a lack of representation in pop culture and art growing up.
11:14 - Confronting the all-common question of: "How dare you want this?"
13:51 - Aimee's decision to abandon pre-med in favor of the arts.
18:07 - How to avoid becoming a brand.
22:16 - Aimee's turbulent publishing journey.
24:02 - Aimee on "negotiating the line between the color of my skin and the outdoors."
29:13 - Making wonder a habit.
32:11 - The difference between writing poems and essays.
40:34 - Why a lack of wonder makes the world more dangerous.
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
21 | Oliver Burkeman On Accepting and Embracing Creative Limitations
Oliver Burkeman is an award-winning thought leader and the author of 4 bestselling books about time, happiness, and strategies for living our best lives. His new book, Four Thousand Weeks, is about making the most of our radically finite lives in a world of impossible demands, relentless distraction and political insanity (and 'productivity techniques' that mainly just make everyone feel busier).
On today's show, Jen and Oliver connect over their complicated relationship with the term "self-help," discuss how we can maximize our creative time, and explore how understanding our own limits can make us feel limitless in our creativity. They also discuss:
2:47 - How Oliver avoids nihilism in his approach to time management.
6:15 - How to settle into our work and our creativity.
7:18 - How to give ourselves permission to evolve as creatives.
11:02 - How to establish creative parameters around our material
16:48 - How do we accept ourselves as creatives?
21:08 - How to avoid boxing ourselves into a creative identity.
27:31 - How actively being present helps our creativity.
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
Season 2 Announcement and Trailer!
Hey Creatives!
We are SO excited to be launching season 2 of Create Out Loud and our first episode drops this Tuesday with NYT Bestselling Author Oliver Burkeman. We have TONS of incredible conversations in the can, and we promise a season that's bigger, better, and bolder as we continue to create out loud!
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
20 | Jen's Biggest "A-Ha" Creativity Breakthroughs From Season 1
As much as YOU feel like you've learned a lot from season 1 of Create Out Loud, I promise you, Jen has learned JUST as much. In this very special episode, Jen's producer Jeff asks her some of HIS burning questions about Jen's biggest creative breakthroughs, and we through it back to some amazing moments with Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Rissi Palmer, and Angeline Boulley.
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
19 | Poet Kate Baer On Using Your Critics To Fuel Your Art
Bestselling poet Kate Baer has a beautifully truthful relationship with motherhood, with social media, with internet trolls, and with being a woman. It's wrestling with all of this that inspires her poetry, poetry women love (and some men are threatened by) because she tells the truth.
Listen to how Kate uses her life, and her critics, to know her truth and develop her craft. It's incredibly brave. Among other topics, Jen and Kate also discuss:
- How social media complicates creativity but also lead partially to Kate's new poetry book
- Why "a-ha moments" may be a myth
- How to not get a trapped in a certain medium
- What lead her to write her newest book (hint: it wasn't what I thought!)
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
18 | Ashley Sumner On Letting Roadblocks fuel rather than derail Your Creativity
Shedding identities has been at the center of Ashley Sumner's creative journey and her company Quilt, and a good thing as she had to change her company's entire mission at the start of the pandemic.
Ashley is the founder of a social media community Quilt dedicate to connection and self-care, creating a unique bridge between Jen's early work and Ashley's company Quilt. Jen and Ashley are both passionate about using story and connection to help women face the climate crisis without being crushed by despair.
Jen and Ashley also discuss:
- How to follow your signature themes
- What it means to shed an identity and why it's been crucial for Ashely
- How to quiet our souls to listen to our desires even when we are freaked out
- How Ashley's biggest professional setback led her to Quilt
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
17 | Poet Maggie Smith: How To Be Honest In Your Creativity
For bestselling poet and author Maggie Smith, sometimes the secret behind making her poetry interesting, unexpected, and surprising comes to "making it weirder." Maggie's unapologetic, unabashed approach to her work is the reason her work has been read by everyone from Meryl Streep to Dr. Jill Biden.
Maggie hits on something essential about successful creativity. How do we be truly honest in our work? Sometimes it means admitting that we DON'T want to write every day. Sometimes it means making sure you don't miss that therapy appointment. Being honest with yourself is the only way you can be certain to be honest in your work.
In this interview, Maggie and Jen also discuss:
- What if feels like to have written a poem that goes viral when there is a mass shooting or other horror
- How to incorporate our everyday experiences into our writing
- The art of paying attention
- How to unlock a good metaphor
- How Maggie navigated her divorce in public and how it became her best-selling book Keep Moving
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
16 | Novelist Laurie Frankel: Can you Love Putting your Work out As Much As Creating It?
Isn't it wonderful to hear widely celebrated NYT's best-selling novelists talk about shitty first drafts? Laurie's acclaimed new bestseller One Two Three "wrote hard," for her, and that's OK! For Laurie, the joy comes in the process, whether it's easy, hard, smooth, bumpy, or annoying - that complicated cocktail is what makes the creative process beautiful.
And Laurie gets candid about the other side: PUBLISHING. Sometimes "Creating Out Loud," isn't our first instinct, but it's all apart of what we do as artists. In this conversation, Jen and Laurie also discuss:
- Laurie's passion for creative inclusion
- Fiction v. non-fiction storytelling
- The "Prestige" of "literature v. fiction"
- How and why we should study our craft
- Navigating the world of a transgender child
- Being a story savant
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
15 | Poet Tamkio Beyer On Creative Play And Freedom
Tamiko Beyer's acclaimed poetry collection Last Days, was assembled from a collection of poetry written over the course of decade, which speaks to Tamiko's sense of open-minded freedom and patience when it comes to work. For Tamiko, the creative process is all about leaving space for play and imagination. By relieving the pressure and intensity of "generating a product" when it comes to our work, we actually create more space to tell the truth and generate our best, most authentic work.
In this conversation, we also discuss:
- How creative playfulness can enact social change
- How capitalism has corrupted the creative process
- How to re-think book launches
- Craft advice for writing poetry
- How Tamiko's multi-language household informs her work
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
14 | Maggie Shipstead: The Creative Freedom To Get It Wrong... and Right!
Maggie Shipstead is an NYT-Bestselling author of three novels - Seating Arrangements, Astonish Me, and Great Circle (on many best-of lists for 2021) and her work has won a laundry list of awards. She's also written essays and travel articles like her piece for Modern Love. And like all of us, Maggie has to begin again, face the blank page, and watch projects die.
Maggie's newest novel "Great Circle" follows pilot Marian Graves who will take to the sky and circumnavigate the globe at all costs - and isn't that so much like the creative process?
In this interview, we discuss:
- How to make choices in our creative work
- Enjoying the experience of creating
- What tools and software Maggie uses to write
- The "money" conversation
- The places Maggie loves to write
- How Maggie's travels have inspired her work
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
13 | Susan Piver: Open Your Heart To Your Creative Yearnings
All of us get caught up in the shoulds and I can't of our creative life, but Susan Piver has learned, through decades of meditation and practice, to disregard these inner voices. Susan regards all of her creative endeavors as art projects, a chance to get her hands in the clay of creativity and create something beautiful. Susan has learned to open her heart to the creative yearnings and she's passionate about helping other creatives approach their own work with the same level of curiosity and generosity.
In this episode, we also discuss:
- How to remove ourselves from the expectations of our audience
- How we can use our creativity to teach others
- Why sometimes it's the right thing to hide from others
- How to give ourselves permission to evolve our creative tastes and passions
-How Susan creates while dealing with chronic pain
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
12 | Lisa Cron: Using Story To Elevate Your Creativity And Change The World
Lisa cron is tired of staying quiet. As a bestselling author and widely celebrated story coach, Lisa has worked as a story consultant for decades with best-selling authors, major Hollywood studios, and taught at NYU and UCLA. And now, she's raising her story voice to help us all.
Lisa's philosophies around story are deeply researched truths. She knows that understanding the mechanics of storytelling will help us become the best creatives we can be, but will also help us change the world, by elevating our critical thinking and learning to decode the false stories that culture and the patriarchy try to snare us with.
We also discuss:
- How signature themes define our source material
- How to find the courage to tell our truth in our art and activism
- Why facts don't change minds
- the science behind effective story-telling
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
11 | Annie Murphy Paul: Optimize Your Mind, Body, and Space for Peak Creativity
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 challenges of modern life that are so thinking heavy in entirely new ways. Hints: it's good to fidget! The spaces you work in affect how you think! Your brain needs nature. And so much more.
In this episode, we discuss:
- The myth of our "brain" being our "mind."
- How movement and space affect the way we think
- How to optimize our creativity with practical strategies
- Why grit and the growth mindset aren't enough
- Why our brain is NOT a computer
Get a copy of Annie's book here!: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FKB3V5S/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
10 | Kirstin Neff: Why Fierce Self-Compassion Is Essential For Your Creative Life And Our World
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’s work on fierce self-compassion comes in. Kristin Neff is the pioneer researcher of self-compassion and she has spent the last years studying how women can combine fierceness with self-compassion, which many of us have been in-cultured to reject. Listen in as we talk about:
- What fierce self-compassion is and what it isn’t
- How it can help your creative process and your social justice work in the world
- Why accepting all of ourselves is important for the creative process
- The difference between "self-compassion" and "being nice"
- The physiological upside to fierce self-compassion
- What to do when you aren’t creating regularly
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
9 | Grace Harry: Why Joy Is Essential For Creativity
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 made her well-known and paid the bills, and she makes her living as a "Joy Strategist." It may sound "woo-woo," but after talking to Grace, you will see how creating intention around what brings us joy is essential.
In this episode, we also discuss:
- How connecting to our childhood can give us a barometer for our creative future
- How to connect to our inner desires and inner dialogue
- Why we need to “feel it to heal it”
- How our spiritual life connects to our creative life.
- How to transform victim power into creative power
- How to transform people-pleasing
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
8 | Elizbeth Hargrave: Turn Your Yearnings Into Creativity
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 something, chances are, MANY people do too. Elizabeth has since published three games and she's built a beautiful community around her work.
We also discussed:
- Why creating board games is inherently vulnerable (and what we can learn from that)
- Why all notes are valuable if we search for "the note under the note"
- How we can use our creative passions to champion social justice
- How to champion minority voices in your creative field
Enjoy The Show!
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
7 | Christa Couture: Transforming Trauma Into Creative Inspiration
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 voice to thyroid cancer. How she could possibly be creative after such life-shattering tragedy? That's what we explore in this grace-filled conversation.
We also discussed:
- How to take the leap into our work when we're feeling blocked.
- How Christa turned her amputation into art
- Christa's philosophies on "person-first" language around disability
- Her brief stint in film school
- How she channels her indigenous roots into her creative and spiritual life
Christa's book HOW TO LOSE EVERYTHING can be found anywhere books are sold:
https://www.amazon.com/How-Lose-Everything-Children-Marriage-ebook/dp/B08G4ZSWWT#:~:text=Amazon%20Book%20Clubs-,How%20to%20Lose%20Everything%3A%20A%20Memoir%20about%20Losing%20My%20Children,and%20My%20Voice%20Kindle%20Edition&text=Christa%20Couture%20has%20come%20to,a%20powerful%20and%20wise%20emotion
Check Out My Creativity Ebook!:
https://jenniferlouden.com/desire/
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
6 | Angeline Boulley: Finding Self-Trust In Your Creativity & Journey
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-layered portrayal of modern indigenous life.
How did Angeline become such a literary lightning rod, especially at an age where many may given up? She trusted herself. She trusted her artistic voice, the long journey it took, and never let "time anxiety" get the best of her. Instead, she trusted herself to create the art that would be born when it was ready.
If you're feeling stuck, or like it's too late, or you are too old, or are anyway wondering "why bother?" This is the conversation for you!
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
5 | Morgan Harper Nichols: Knowing, Embracing, & Honoring Your Audience
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 girls and young women. Even though it wasn't her "immediate plan" for her creative life, she listened to what was happening, followed it, built on it, and is now one of Instagram's most popular illustrated creators.
Morgan's work resonates strongly with adolescent girls - so why was her immediate reaction to turn away from that audiencece? And when did Morgan start to earn a great living and support her family? We cover that and lots more!
But what's most delightful about this episode is Morgan's heart. Get ready to fall in love with how Morgan Harper Nichols creates out loud!
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
4 | Pixar Story Experts On Saying Yes To Your Creative Calling
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 and essential importance of committing to your artistic path and sticking with it.
Listen in as we discuss questions around creative time management, balancing multiple creative projects, when and how to send out drafts of your work, how to take notes, and why failure is an essential part of the creative process.
I hope you'll get as much out of this conversation as I did. What these tenacious creators said changed my view of writing and creating in a big wonderful way!
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
3 | Anne-Laure Le Cunff: Releasing Creative Anxiety
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 our creative desires with our professional goals, and yes, even how to make money as a creative.
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
2 | Rissi Palmer: Be Your Own Creative Gatekeeper & Save YOURSELF
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 matters into her own hands. Rissi committed to creating out loud on her OWN terms.
Now Rissi is one of country music's most important voices, not only with her music, but her activism in the community. Her partnership with Apple Music lifts BIPOC voices in the music community through her radio show "Color Me Country." I hope Rissi will inspire you to choose yourself lie she did me.
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
1 | Anne Lamott: Prayers, Love and Generosity for Your Creativity
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 ideas on how to change the channel from the critic to the creator. She shares that creative expression is one of the most generous acts we can offer to both ourselves and the people around us. It's not just valuable, it's essential.
I hope this conversation inspires you to create out loud!
Thanks for tuning into Create Out Loud! If you liked today's episode, PLEASE leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, and you can email us with feedback or topic suggestions at CreateOutLouden@gmail.com.
We'll see you next TUESDAY w/ award-winning singer-songwriter and host of Color Me Country Rissi Palmer.
Visit https://jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit/ to get instant access to a collection of audios that will:
- help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
- falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
- and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.
Trailer: Create Out Loud
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 mentor Jennifer Louden. Every week, Jen will be chatting with some of the world's most interesting, thoughtful, quirky, and successful creatives about their process. We'll talk about elements like craft and routine, but we'll EVEN get into the awkward nitty-gritty questions, like how to make money.
Every week, we'll be featuring award-winning novelists like Anne Lamott, to Oscar-nominated screenwriters like Meg LeFauve, to musicians like award-winning country singer Rissi Palmer, but the unifying thread tying ALL of our guests is the vow that they've made to Create Out Loud!
Our first episode drops on April 13th featuring award-winning novelist Anne Lamott, so make sure you're subscribed.