Create Out Loud With Jennifer Louden

Practical Ways To Increase Your Creative Productivity with Sam Bennett

In addition to being an actress, improviser, and best-selling author, Sam Bennett is a highly respected creative coach whose business, The Organized Artist, has inspired thousands to channel their creative urges into RESULTS.  
Sam is the author of ‘Get it Done’ From Procrastination to Creative Genius in 15 minutes a day, a wonderful book for creatives on how to be more CREATIVE, CONSISTENT, SUSTAINABLE and SANE. 
The beauty of Sam's work is that she's her number one customer - as a wildly creative but easily-unmoored creative herself, Sam created this philosophy to help herself, and by extension, she's helped so many. 
On today's show, Sam and Jen discuss:
Why you might be a terrible judge of your own work
How not to get stuck just because you’ve made a decision
Performing isn’t just for actors and how acting allows Sam to use 100% of herself
How ‘the prison of desire’ can stop you from growing and experiencing new things
How to push through the "groan zone" that accompanies every creative project
How and why creative productivity can boost our self-esteem
The difference between our lives and our "lifestyle."
The secret ingredient to knowing whether or not a creative project is "worth it."
 
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.

43 | Find The Courage To Be Honest In Your Creativity with Heather Havrilesky

Has your work ever been greeted by a firestorm of furiously polarized tweets, both in fierce support and rampant opposition to what you have to say? In addition to being scathingly funny, bitingly honest, and sharply observant, author, essayist, and humorist Heather Havrilesky's work has always been provocative. And her latest memoir, Foreverland: On the Divine Tedium of Marriage does not disappoint.
 
By writing honestly (and hilariously) about motherhood, marriage, and the contemporary female experience, Heather has amassed passionate supporters (Jen among them), in addition to nasty critics. But at the end of the day, shouldn't that be our chief aim as artists? In this episode, Jen and Heather unpack HOW creatives can truly get to the root of honesty in our work, so we too can inspire our audience.
 
How Heather handles negativity and misreading of her work
Sometimes the beauty of writing is learning how you feel on the page
Writing honestly to accept what you’re made of
Readers can see through everything so you’re better off being honest
How the editorial process of her latest memoir helped her grow closer to her husband
Why Jen was afraid to ask Heather to be on the podcast
How self-acceptance feeds your creativity
The form and structure of Foreverland, and how it shifted from a collection of essays to a narrative experience
How Heather has navigated her career and why she feels like she’s just starting to take her writing more seriously, 25+ years in
Taking an experimental approach to writing and learning as she goes
Writing about and for women with more and more madness and freedom over time
Can you stand behind your work? 
Comparing yourself to people you admire and professional envy
 
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.

42 | Jen Louden: Easy Ways To Start, Stick With, and Finish Your Creative Projects

One of the questions I’m asked often is, ‘how do I stick with a project?’ followed closely by, ‘how do I know when a project is done?’ We want to see our creative endeavors through to completion, but it’s not always easy to do or be done. This is particularly true if a project has hit the skids or we’ve lost our way in the mushy middle or it’s a big damn  project that takes a honking long time. 
 
Seeing your creative endeavors through to a conclusion (notice I did not write THE conclusion), is about asking the right questions…
 
What do I want out of this? 
What financial impact will this project have on me? 
If I died doing this, would I be satisfied? 
What is finished for me?
 
These types of questions can help us ground ourselves before we dive in, and not fall into extremes of isolation, apathy, or frustration.
 
Sit down, buckle up, and grab a journal, because this solo episode is brimming with tips to help you create out loud and know when you have. We also cover...
 
Why my book Why Bother? took 10 years to write
Knowing what you’re looking for in doing a project 
Why creative work sometimes gets harder the more experienced you are
How to stay motivated throughout your project and avoid common demotivating factors
The subtle dangers of easy access to learning 
The power of embracing frustration and confusion
How to know when you’re finished with a project when you want to keep working on it
How to define what finished looks like -- what is “good enough” for you?
 
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.

41 | How Sue Monk Kidd Listens to her Soul (And You Can Too)

Sue Monk Kidd is one of the world's most beloved writers, occupying a rare intersection of critical and commercial success writers dream of. 
 
Perhaps most recognized for her #1 New York Times Bestsellers, The Secret Life of Bees, which went on to become the basis for a blockbuster movie, and The Invention of Wings, her earlier works, When the Heart Waits, an autobiographical account of a spiritual awakening, and Dance of the Dissident Daughter, a memoir that explores feminist theology, were groundbreaking for millions of seekers too.
 
And yet, she's still willing to acknowledge how hard it is to start a new project. Sue says that every time she sits down to start a new project, she feels like a beginner. Fortunately, she listens to her soul and her craft, and together, they get here there.
 
Jen and Sue also discuss:
 
How Sue consistently taps into what women are feeling and experiencing
Recurring themes throughout her body of work
How writing memoir helped her find courage and freed her to write fiction
How she pivoted in her spiritual life but maintained her creative beacons
Writing as an act of courage that serves your soul
Why Sue believes our salvation is in our imagination
The importance of writing what you deeply care about 
Creativity as playing with what you love 
The two questions to ask yourself when starting a novel
Using imagery and collages as part of the writing process 
Why Sue still feels like a beginner 
How she dealt with the staggering success of The Secret Life of Bees
How perfectionism stymies writing
Method and mystery, beginning the writing process, and writing rituals
Doing research for historical fiction
What Sue would say to her younger self
Reflecting on her spiritual path
The importance of the simplicity of being
Creating as a spiritual act, writing as prayer
Transitioning between projects
The tension and energy that goes into writing a book
Get a copy of Sue's books here:
 
The Secret Life of Bees
AmazonBookshop
 
The Invention of Wings
AmazonBookshop
 
When the Heart Waits
AmazonBookshop
 
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.

40 | Find And Hone Your Creative Voice w/ Lisa Congdon

Have you seen those beautiful, colorful bottles of Method Soap at Target? They're most likely the work of today's guest, Lisa Congdon, who is one of the world's most recognizable graphic designers, a fine artist, and an illustrator who creates for clients such as Amazon, Comme des Garcons, Crate & Barrel, REI, and MoMA. 
 
She’s also the author of ten books, including Art Inc: The Essential Guide to Building Your Career as an Artist, and Find Your Artistic Voice: The Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic, the host of The Lisa Congdon Sessions podcast, and she teaches on the faculty of Northwest College of Art. 
 
But you might be surprised to learn Lisa didn't discover her true passion for design until her 30s, and at that point, she assumed it was too late to make it her career. Little did she know she had an entire journey of discovery ahead of her, and so much of that had to do with finding her voice. 
 
0:42 - Why we tell ourselves we’re too old to be creative
1:40 - How imposter syndrome intensified when her career blew up
6:30 - Learning to stand in your creative power
7:00 - How Lisa manages to handle the various aspects of her career and life that bring her joy
12:18 - How to surround yourself with a great creative team
17:15 - Gauging whether or not to say yes to a creative opportunity
21:15 - Listening to your gut
22:43 - Knowing how much to charge for creative services
28:43 - The complicated nature of social media
33:33 - The elements of artistic voice
39:27 - Remembering that we hit multiple impasses in our creative work and that’s not a problem  
44:48 - Working with the pressure to produce
48:15 - Developing grit in your creative life through physical challenges 
 
Get a copy of Lisa’s books here:
 
Art Inc: The Essential Guide to Building Your Career as an Artist
Amazon
Bookshop
 
Find Your Artistic Voice: The Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic
Amazon
Bookshop
 
Visit Lisa’s shop and world: https://lisacongdon.com/
 
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.

39 | Yes, You Can Make Your Creativity A Business w/Pamela Slim

Pamela Slim is a dynamic beloved thought leader and has been in the trenches with creative businesses for decades. Her breakout book Escape From Cubicle Nation hit the scene in 2009, and since then she’s launched many creative projects, including founding a beloved brick-and-mortar small business incubator, The Main Street Learning Lab at K’é, and two more books, Body of Work, and her latest The Widest Net.  Get Pam's free workbook: https://pamelaslim.com/the-widest-net/
If you want to connect with customers but the idea of building an empire makes you queasy, you will adore this episode. We cover so many practical ways to build a values-based creative business including:
How Pamela has allowed herself to keep learning, growing, and changing by following the work itself, even though her first book Escape From Cubicle Nation was quite sticky
How she sees herself as an author practitioner
The branding and audience building price creatives have to play when making pivots
How justice, inclusivity, and equity are baked into everything she does and shape her creative choices
The complex dynamic of her identity and really understanding the appropriate role to play in community building and issues of human rights and justice
Her willingness to take on complexity and hard topics in her work
How her latest book The Widest Net uses community building as a framework for finding an audience or customers for a business
The creative process as putting pieces of a puzzle together
Struggling through the creative process when writing The Widest Net and how she overcame writer’s block
Why she wanted to bring The Widest Net framework out into the world as an alternative to all the empire-building, crush it, smash it, look at me, hustle, influencer stuff, which can be harmful and play into white supremacy culture and the patriarchy
The harm people experience when searching for a singular life purpose and how she uses the metaphor of finding roots as an alternative
The guidance in being drawn toward things that evoke a strong emotional reaction, paying attention to clues for where you might want to contribute through your creative energy
The power in focusing on how and who you’re going to serve
How introverts can build relationships while staying true to their natural wiring
A deep dive into what it means to build a business ecosystem and how
Ways to get support in building your business ecosystem
How her book launch strategy has changed from book to book
The heartbreak of evolving your business, changing relationships, and the emotional skills required to navigate it all
Why Pamela is learning about crypto and NFTs while recognizing the disturbing components  
 
Get a copy of Pamela’s book here:
Escape From Cubicle Nation
Amazon
Bookshop
 
Body of Work
Amazon
Bookshop
 
The Widest Net
Amazon
Bookshop
Or get a free copy here: https://pamelaslim.com/the-widest-net/
 
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.

38 | Practical Ways To Get ”Unstuck” In Your Creativity w/Kim Hermanson

Creativity psychologist Kim Hermanson almost died in her 20s. After a brutal near-death, head-on collision, Kim was laid-out in the ICU when a nurse whispered for her to "imagine herself floating on a cloud," and she immediately felt the pain and trauma of the horrific ordeal leave her body. This completely shifted Kim's understanding of the power of our brains and completely shifted her path.
Since that experience, Kim has become a highly respected thought leader in the world of creativity psychology. Primarily, Kim's research and coaching are centered on METAPHOR, and how considering our work within that paradigm can completely open up our understanding of what we make, and more importantly, why we make it. Kim's work is interesting, provocative, and challenging, but I encourage you to open your mind and your heart, because it may fundamentally shift the way you see your creative life! 
2:33 - Accessing another way, shifting into a different way of being
4:20 - How a near death experience pushed Kim towards a creative path
8:23 - Finding metaphor by following what shows up
10:20 - How fascination led Kim to confidently follow her yearnings, even when it was hard
12:38 - Feeling our way through the world with metaphor as a deeper way of knowing
17:10 - How spirituality and a connection to the divine factors into our creative endeavors
19:00 - How science, in a way, backs up what spirituality reveals about creativity
20:45 - The depth, richness, and wisdom of the images and metaphors that speak to us throughout our lives
23:00 - Using metaphor to get unstuck by feeling into it
25:31 - We can only think what we already know, which can be limiting
27:35 - Hallucinogenic drugs and alternative ways of knowing 
28:30 - Working with form and structure in the creative
32:10 - How to work with non ordinary intelligence through metaphor
33:00 - The remembrance that you are not stuck because there is a whole other space available to us
33:55 - Practical ways to work through creative blocks by accessing metaphor 
42:40 - Using metaphor to tune back into a sense of self and a sense of wholeness
45:00 - The deep agency of creative work
47:00 - Embracing your full self, including your nerdiness 
 
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.

37 | Navigating Rejection In Your Creativity w/Devi Lockwood

Whether it's on the page, on the canvas, or on the screen, the essence of creativity has always been storytelling. And if anyone understands the power of Storytelling, it's Devi Lockwood, who traveled the world on her bike, documenting the stories of everyday people whose lives have been affected by the increasingly problematic issue of climate change. That journey became a bestselling book: 1001 Voices on Climate Change. Learn how Devi fused her passions for social justice and creativity, "stumbled" upon her project, and learned to embrace the unknown in her quest for fulfillment. Jen and Devi also discuss:
 
3:30 - How Devi's torn ASL transformed into her "unexpectedly beautiful" passion for cycling.
 
8:58 - Why our approach to climate change activism is completely wrong.
 
14:42 - How to mobilize your creativity for social change.
 
19:22 - How Devi "hitched rides" on 7 boats through Asia and Oceiana to write her book
 
22:44 - How Devi bounced back from 40 book proposal rejections. 
 
30:16 - How Devi discovered the structure for the book.
 
33:04 - How YOU can get published in the New York Times?
 
38:23 - Using the "3 Second Rule" to assess strangers.
 
Purchase Devi's Book!: https://www.amazon.com/001-Voices-Climate-Change-Displacement/dp/1982146710
 
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.

Housekeeping Announcement!

Hey Create Out Loud fan! A little peak behind the curtain - we're doing some maintenance with our podcast feed, so we're doing a little test announcement to make sure we're keeping the train on the tracks! As all of you know as creatives, change is a good thing, but sometimes requires a little bit of re-orienting when we pivot. No action required on your end. In the meantime, thanks for being a Create Out Loud fan, and stay tuned for this Tuesday's amazing episode with climate change activist and bestselling author Devi Lockwood!

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
Amazon
Bookshop
Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving
Amazon
Bookshop
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.
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Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jennifer-louden/support