Follow Your Curiosity: You didn’t lose your creative spark. You were taught to leave it behind.

What if the very thing you're trying to avoid—making a mistake—was actually the signal that it was finally time to rest?

 

In this week's conversation, I'm talking with artist Jackie Haynes. We talk about why the rigid discipline of adulthood often makes us fear the very "rinsing" of our skills that leads to new growth. From her more than seventeen years building an indestructible costume business in Manchester to her "handbrake turn" into a PhD in experimental art, Jackie shares why making mistakes is a fundamental part of the creative medicine we all need.

 

It’s an invitation to stop overthinking your way to a creative solution and start finding the creative oxygen that lets you breathe again.

 

I’m Nancy Norbeck, and I’m your Messy Muse Mentor. I help people feel alive again through curiosity and play.

 

In this episode, we discuss:

• The Mistake Rule: Why Jackie only allowed herself to stop working once she messed up—and how it saved her from burnout.
• The Handbrake Turn: Why closing a successful business to pursue art was an act of self-trust, not failure.
• Merz Pies: How Jackie uses local landscapes and found objects to tell stories through experimental art.
• The Power of Play: Why Jackie’s 800-costume inventory is now a hands-on archive for community research and curiosity.

Ready to send your inner critic to summer camp for an hour? We get together once a month for a relaxed, co-working-style session where you can work on whatever you want—without any pressure to do it "right." We send the shoulds and inner critics off to summer camp where they're kept busy rather than getting in our way. Join the Creativity Circle. 

 

Episode breakdown:

 

0:00 Introduction

1:33 A Creative Kid & The Orange Elephants

4:11 The "Mistake Rule": Working until it breaks

6:40 Starting the Costume Business in Pre-Digital Manchester

11:31 The Yellow Pages Advantage

15:24 Building an Indestructible Inventory

25:54 Digital Revolution vs. Accidental Discovery

33:38 The Handbrake Turn: Closing the Shop for an MA

38:54 What is an Art Practice-Based PhD?

45:41 Merz Pies and the Spirit of Kurt Schwitters

55:09 Making the Examiners Work for It (The Humor Section)

1:03:57 The Costumes as a Community Resource

 

Want more? Here are handy playlists with all my previous interviews with guests in visual arts.

Check out the full show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join us for the Follow Your Curiosity Creativity Circle.

Please leave a review for this episode—it’s really easy and will only take a minute, and it really helps me reach new listeners. Thanks!

If you enjoyed our conversation, I hope you’ll share it with a friend.

Have you ever tried to force yourself into a new habit through sheer willpower, only to end up exhausted and paralyzed a week later?

 

In this week's Report from the Creative Closet, I'm exploring the High Expectations Trap. We talk about the deep-seated cultural belief that change only happens through hard work and discipline—and how that belief actually triggers our internal surveillance system to shut us down. From the "Puritanical Trap" of the American work ethic to the reason we need to stop treating our lives like a performance review, we look at how to rebuild trust through permission and play.

 

It’s an invitation to stop overthinking your way to a "better version" of yourself and start returning to the creative capacity you were born with.

I’m Nancy Norbeck, and I’m your Messy Muse Mentor. I help people feel alive again through curiosity and play.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The Discipline Fallacy: Why high pressure is actually the enemy of the pursuit of excellence.
• Internal Surveillance: Why your inner critic needs a vacation to a local summer camp ropes course.
• Restorative CreativityTM: How to trade "Transformation Theater" for a genuine return to yourself.
• The Luke Skywalker Principle: Why the biggest changes always start with tiny, quiet experiments.

Ready to send your inner critic to summer camp for an hour? We get together once a month for a relaxed, co-working-style session where you can work on whatever you want—without any pressure to do it "right." We send the shoulds and inner critics off to summer camp where they're kept busy rather than getting in our way. Join the Creativity Circle. 

When was the last time you actually met you? Not the role you perform for your family, your job, or your community, but the version of you that exists when no one else is watching?

 

In this week's conversation, I'm talking with playwright and actress Anne Odeke. We talk about why the rigid discipline of adulthood often acts like a clamshell that keeps our real selves hidden and how to find the medicine that helps us open back up. From the accidental path to teaching in flip-flops to her history-making play, Princess Essex, at Shakespeare's Globe, Anne shares why being seen—truly seen—is a fundamental human need.

 

It’s an invitation to stop overthinking your way to a creative solution and start finding the creative oxygen that lets you breathe again.

 

I’m Nancy Norbeck, and I’m your Messy Muse Mentor. I help people feel alive again through curiosity and play.

 

In this episode, we discuss:

• The Clamshell Effect: Why we walk around closed off and how to stay open to your own creative aliveness.
• Jumping into the Fire: Why the sense of discovery is more important than the end result.
• Princess Essex: The true story of a woman who pretended to be a princess just to be seen for a day.
• Creative Oxygen: Why finding what makes you feel human is a necessity, not a luxury.

Ready to send your inner critic to summer camp for an hour? We get together once a month for a relaxed, co-working-style session where you can work on whatever you want—without any pressure to do it "right." We send the shoulds and inner critics off to summer camp where they're kept busy rather than getting in our way. Join the Creativity Circle.

 

Episode breakdown:

 

0:00 Introduction

0:38 From Teaching to Shakespeare’s Globe

1:52 Storytelling as a Family Nature

6:35 The Drama Teacher Who Led with Care

11:52 Stumbling into a Teaching Career

15:33 The "Yes, And" of Life: Jumping into the Fire

23:59 The Nudge that Led to Drama School

27:18 Mountview Training as Medicine for the Soul

30:17 The Clamshell: Staying Open to Everything

41:05 First Day at Shakespeare’s Globe

46:38 The Origin of Princess Essex

51:29 An Accidental Conversation at the Globe

58:42 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

1:10:54 Find Your Oxygen: Reclaiming Creativity

 

Want more? Here are handy playlists with all my previous interviews with guests in writing and theatre.

Check out the full show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join us for the Follow Your Curiosity Creativity Circle.

Please leave a review for this episode—it’s really easy and will only take a minute, and it really helps me reach new listeners. Thanks!

If you enjoyed our conversation, I hope you’ll share it with a friend.

Have you ever had a brilliant "Aha!" moment about your own behavior, only to find yourself repeating the same pattern just a few days later?

 

In this week's Report from the Creative Closet, I'm looking at the Insight Trap. We talk about why understanding your patterns isn't enough to actually change them—and why your brain is often "too well-trained" to stop self-monitoring just because you noticed it. From the neural grooves that keep us stuck in performative adulthood to the fear of flying without a net during play, we explore how to rebuild trust through messy, low-stakes repetition.

It’s an invitation to stop overthinking your way to a solution and start returning to the creative spontaneity you were born with.

 

I’m Nancy Norbeck, and I’m your Messy Muse Mentor. I help people feel alive again through curiosity and play.

 

In this episode, we discuss:

• The Insight Trap: Why patterns don't disappear just because we finally see them.
• Automatic Self-Monitoring: Why years of scanning for approval become a default "groove" in your brain.
• The Netless Flight: Why open-ended play feels terrifying to adults used to performing specific roles.
• Repetition vs. Analysis: Why small repetitions matter more than joining another chapter of Overthinkers Anonymous.

Ready to send your inner critic to summer camp for an hour? We get together once a month for a relaxed, co-working-style session where you can work on whatever you want—without any pressure to do it "right." We send the shoulds and inner critics off to summer camp where they're kept busy rather than getting in our way. Join the Creativity Circle.

This episode discusses sensitive subjects, including psychiatric abuse, false memories, psychiatric over-medication, and mental health struggles involving self-harm.

 

What happens when a culture’s collective fear is weaponized against the very people seeking help?

 

In this week's conversation, I’m talking with my friend and author Jamie Lyn Weaver. Jamie’s new memoir, Locked in the Psych Ward, chronicles her survival during the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. She was kept in a locked ward for four years, heavily medicated, and coached into "recovering" memories of horrific events that never occurred.

 

Jamie discusses the audacity it took to finally put her story on paper and how the writing process itself became her path back to aliveness. We explore the role of "retractors" in healing and why her story is a vital warning for the world we live in today.

 

I’m Nancy Norbeck, and I’m your Messy Muse Mentor. I help people feel alive again through curiosity and play.

 

In this episode, we discuss:

• The Anatomy of a Panic: How psychiatric "experts" used leading questions and hypnosis to manufacture a crisis.
• The Witness Effect: Why having a safe, non-judgmental witness is the most powerful tool for creative and personal recovery.
• True vs. Not True: The mental struggle of surviving a ward that functioned like a cult.
• Creative Resilience: How Jamie moved from a childhood belief that she wasn't creative to writing a prize-winning memoir.

Ready to send your inner critic to summer camp for an hour and just enjoy some creative company? We get together once a month for a relaxed, co-working-style session where you can work on whatever you want—without any pressure to do it "right." We send the shoulds and inner critics off to summer camp where they're kept busy rather than getting in our way.

Join the Creativity Circle.

 

Episode breakdown:

 

0:00 About this episode, and content warning

1:05 Introducing Jamie Lyn Weaver: Surviving the Satanic Panic

2:50 The award-winning art Jamie forgot she made

5:53 Inside the Locked Ward: Why Jamie refused art therapy

8:42 The "Braun" Ward: 4 years of false memories and forced meds

12:56 The lack of advocacy and the "insurance game"

15:19 Dungeons & Dragons, Heavy Metal, and the 80s Panic

19:11 From intuitive writing to a completed memoir

24:15 The 100 Moments: Using structure to process the impossible

28:16 Finding the right coach: The power of being witnessed

32:58 "The police will meet you at the bottom of the stairs"

36:52 The "Feeling Wheel" and finding words for trauma

41:50 The "Apothecary" Reality: Surviving over-medication

46:33 Why being a "retractor" is a long road to aliveness

51:43 Jamie’s warning for the modern world

 

Want more? Here are handy playlists with all my previous interviews with guests in writing.

Check out the full show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join us for the Follow Your Curiosity Creativity Circle.

Please leave a review for this episode—it’s really easy and will only take a minute, and it really helps me reach new listeners. Thanks!

If you enjoyed our conversation, I hope you’ll share it with a friend.

Have you ever looked at your life and realized that while everything is "okay" on paper, you feel like you're just playing a role?

 

In this week's Report from the Creative Closet, I'm diving into the Performance Trap. We talk about why the modern world is obsessed with optimization and metrics—and how that obsession is actually stripping us of our humanity. From the "proceduralization" of our communities to the internalized pressure to be "endlessly capable," we look at how to reclaim our spontaneity.

 

It’s an invitation to stop treating your life like a performance review and start returning to the creative capacity you were born with.

 

I’m Nancy Norbeck, and I’m your Messy Muse Mentor. I help people feel alive again through curiosity and play.

 

In this episode, we discuss:

• Dehumanizing Systems: Why HOAs and automated phone lines are designed to block human connection.
• The Self-Monitoring Trap: Why "metricking" your sleep and hobbies creates more exhaustion, not less.
• Trusting Your Instincts: How to stop letting external algorithms (and internal critics) drive your decisions.
• The Power of Play: Why we are starving for spaces where we don't have to be "good enough" to belong.

Ready to send your inner critic to summer camp for an hour? We get together once a month for a relaxed, co-working-style session where you can work on whatever you want—without any pressure to do it "right." We send the shoulds and inner critics off to summer camp where they're kept busy rather than getting in our way. Join the Creativity Circle.

What happens when you realize the very things meant to connect us are actually stealing your creative spark?

 

This week, we conclude our special 30th-anniversary archive release with actor Paul McGann. Originally recorded in 2020, this conversation remains a vital guide for anyone trying to navigate a creative life without losing their humanity to the digital machine.

 

Paul shares his prolific journey into audio drama with Big Finish, his reflections on the different regenerations of the Doctor, and the fascinating reasons he decided to walk away from social media entirely. From his "favorite" role in Our Mutual Friend to the "theatre of the mind," Paul offers a masterclass in staying true to your own creative fingerprint.

 

I’m Nancy Norbeck, and I’m your Messy Muse Mentor. I help people feel alive again through creativity, curiosity, and play.

 

In this episode, we discuss:

• The Digital De-assimilation: Why Paul decided he didn't want to be the "kind of person" social media was making him.
• The Power of Audio: Why working in the "theatre of the mind" is qualitatively different and physically freeing.
• Richard E. Grant: A look at their rare on-screen reunion and the power of natural enthusiasm.
• The Next Story: Why for a professional actor, the most important role is always the one that’s coming next.

Ready to send your inner critic to summer camp for an hour? Join the Creativity Circle.

 

Episode breakdown:

 

0:00 Part 2: Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the TV Movie

1:40 Digital recording & the "wooden rabbit hutches" of Big Finish

4:15 Working fast: How to record a script in 6 hours

10:20 Dropping the extraneous: Learning while doing

12:56 Why Paul never watches or listens to his own work

17:15 Revisiting old roles like "holiday snaps"

19:11 Reunited with Richard E. Grant in Always Crashing in the Same Car

28:30 Stepping into Tom Baker’s shoes for Shada

36:52 Jodie Whittaker: "She cracked it instantly"

40:10 Matt Smith: The "beautiful skinny 12-year-old" alien

46:33 The 1996 audition: Why Phil Segal couldn't tell the brothers apart

51:00 Eugene Wrayburn: The role that "fitted" perfectly

1:09:10 "Are you on Twitter?" (The 2020 Social Media context)

1:15:45 The Jaron Lanier lesson: 10 arguments for deleting your accounts

1:20:20 How social media makes you a person you don't want to be

1:24:45 Richard E. Grant: A master class in natural enthusiasm

 

Want more? Here are handy playlists with all my previous interviews with guests in theatre and  Doctor Who.

Check out the full show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join us for the Follow Your Curiosity Creativity Circle.

Please leave a review for this episode—it’s really easy and will only take a minute, and it really helps me reach new listeners. Thanks!

If you enjoyed our conversation, I hope you’ll share it with a friend.

Have you ever told yourself you don’t have a creative bone in your body?

 

This week, we’re looking at why that belief is a trap—and why it’s almost certainly a lie you were taught to believe. In this Report from the Creative Closet, I explore why we’ve narrowed the definition of creativity so far that we’ve lost sight of our own resourcefulness, adaptation, and meaning-making.

 

It’s an invitation to stop treating creativity like a talent show and start seeing it as the life force that helps you feel human again. We discuss why you don’t need a plan or a portfolio to be creative—you just need the courage to be messy.

 

I’m Nancy Norbeck, and I’m your Messy Muse Mentor. I help people feel alive again through curiosity and play.

 

In this episode, we discuss:

• The "Creative Bone" Myth: Why your school experiences didn't give you the full picture of your potential.
• Broadening the definition: How the way you solve problems and navigate uncertainty is a deeply creative act.
• Evaluation vs. Exploration: Why performative art makes us disconnect and how to find your way back.
• The Aliveness Factor: Why creativity isn't about "fixing" yourself, but returning to the truth of who you are.

Ready to send your inner critic to summer camp for an hour? We get together once a month for a relaxed, co-working-style session where you can work on whatever you want—without any pressure to do it "right." We send the shoulds and inner critics off to summer camp where they're kept busy rather than getting in our way. Join the Creativity Circle.

What happens when the "masterpiece" you expected turns out to be just the beginning of a very different journey?

 

In this first part of a special release from the archives, I’m sharing the beginning of my landmark conversation with the legendary Paul McGann. Recorded in May 2020 and originally released in August 2020, this was Paul’s first-ever podcast interview. While he has hosted many shows since then, this remains the definitive look at the moment he first "went down the rabbit hole" to discuss his life and career with a fan.

 

To coincide with the 30th anniversary of the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie, Paul shares the story of his childhood Olympic dreams, his "acting family" business, and the "indifference" of show business. We talk about why the fans are the true custodians of the TARDIS and why stories are sometimes the only thing that can save our morale and tip the scales toward kindness.

 

I’m Nancy Norbeck, and I’m your Messy Muse Mentor. I help people feel alive again through creativity, curiosity, and play.

 

In this episode, we discuss:

• The 2020 Perspective: A snapshot of creative survival recorded in May 2020 during the first months of the pandemic.
• The Failed Athlete: Why Paul’s first ambition wasn't the stage, and how he navigated the "brutality" of not making the cut.
• The RADA Turning Point: How a "confused kid" who nearly joined the Navy found his way to the Royal Academy.
• The Custodians of History: Why the fans, not the actors, are the ones who truly look after the Doctor's legacy.

Ready to send your inner critic to summer camp for an hour and just enjoy some creative company? We get together once a month for a relaxed, co-working-style session where you can work on whatever you want—without any pressure to do it "right." Join the Creativity Circle.

 

Episode breakdown:

 

0:00 Introduction

1:26 Paul's first-ever podcast interview (Recorded May 2020)

3:24 The Liverpool "acting family" business

5:20 Childhood Olympic dreams and the "brutality" of sport

10:15 Auditioning for RADA and being a "confused kid"

13:38 Sharing an agent with three brothers

19:46 2020 Lockdown: Sanity, cycling, and simple things

23:02 Rehearsing with the brothers for a West End hit

33:14 Bruce Robinson's advice: "Just take the next thing"

39:05 From convention skeptic to fan family

45:46 The 1996 Pilot and the 5-year Vancouver plan

54:32 The Power of Stories: Fables, mythologies, and morale

58:30 Reclaiming kindness: Lessons from the Doctor

1:13:58 Keeping the secret: The "Night of the Doctor" return

 

Want more? Here are handy playlists with all my previous interviews with guests in theatre and  Doctor Who.

Check out the full show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join us for the Follow Your Curiosity Creativity Circle.

Please leave a review for this episode—it’s really easy and will only take a minute, and it really helps me reach new listeners. Thanks!

If you enjoyed our conversation, I hope you’ll share it with a friend.

What if the very thing you think is "childish" is actually the life skill you need most right now?

 

In this "Report from the Creative Closet," I’m looking at the fear of uncertainty that keeps so many adults stuck. We discuss why we’ve become so uncomfortable with open-endedness and why we feel like we need a manual for everything—even for taking a break.

 

I share the "Obsolete Child" philosophy, the reality of the "Imagination Lab," and why reclaiming your sense of play is the fastest way to break the cycle of perfectionism. This isn't about making "art"—it's about remembering how to be a person who is willing to try, fail, and stay curious.

 

I’m Nancy Norbeck, and I’m your Messy Muse Mentor. I help people feel alive again through creativity, curiosity, and play.

 

In this episode, I discuss:

• The Adulting Bind: Why we can't do things well because we won't try until we're already perfect.
• The Instruction Obsession: What a 3-week break taught me about the difference between adults and children.
• Adaptability vs. Rules: Why "play" is actually the highest form of problem-solving and resilience.
• The Power of Permission: How to give yourself the green light to move outside the boxes you've built.

Ready to send your inner critic to summer camp for an hour? We get together once a month for a relaxed, co-working-style session where you can work on whatever you want—without any pressure to do it "right." We send the shoulds and inner critics off to summer camp where they're kept busy rather than getting in our way. Join the Creativity Circle.