Follow Your Curiosity

Becoming the Eighth Doctor with Paul McGann, Part 1

This week—this month!—I have the honor and pleasure of talking with actor Paul McGann. He started his career in the West End, moving to TV with the BBC’s Monocled Mutineer, and to film with the cult classic Withnail and I. His credits also include Horatio Hornblower, Luther, and the Dickens adaptation Our Mutual Friend, and he’s narrated numerous documentaries. All that said, he’s probably best known as the Eighth Doctor from Doctor Who.

In the first of two episodes, Paul and I talk about how his elder brother, Joe, steered him to drama school, the advice he was given early on, and, of course, how he came to be the Eighth Doctor—and what that role has taught him about himself, fandom, and the power of stories to influence our lives.  

Check out the show notes and links at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation about this episode on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

Inspiration and Originality with Cindy Lynn Speer

Novelist Cindy Lynn Speer is one of my dearest writing friends. We met online years ago, and instantly bonded over our love of language and writing. We've never sat down and actually had a face-to-face conversation about writing, though—until now.

Cindy Lynn is the author of five novels and a short story collection. We talk about how she got started with writing, what she's done in the publishing world along the way to getting her own books into print, the myths and realities of our ideas around what's original and what isn't, who ideas "belong" to, and a lot more. Cindy's new book, The Key to All Things, is available on July 25th.

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

 

Navigating Your Inner Wilderness with Darcy Wade

Darcy Wade is an expressive arts therapist who knows what it's like to be derailed from her creative dream. As you’ll hear, one simple incident in high school destroyed her artistic identity, leaving her adrift through college. A chance interaction brought her back to herself and got her on the expressive arts path. If you’ve never heard of expressive arts, don’t worry—she has you covered as we talk about her early life as an artist, how she was thrown from that path and how she got back on it, and how wilderness and expressive arts therapy can bring us back to ourselves.

Check out Darcy's art and links in the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

Running Away to Join the Circus with Ryan Ward

I couldn't resist this title for this episode, because it's true: Ryan Ward really did run away to join the circus. While that might sound silly, Ryan is wise beyond his years, having survived a deeply toxic relationship (which he discusses here), and reinvented himself, from changing his name to moving clear across the country to work as a circus performer and teacher. We talk not only about Ryan's history with the circus, but also about what he’s learned from his journey—how he interacts with his world, how he handles fear, and perhaps most importantly, how he determines what works for him and what doesn’t in relationships of all kinds, and how he handles the things that don’t serve him well. We also talk about what we're learning from this pandemic, and how it may catalyze change personally as well as globally.

Ryan's is a story of concentrated personal growth, especially in terms of the importance of taking care of ourselves first, and the wisdom and courage that come out of that growth. There's a lot to think about in this conversation.

Check out the show notes and links at fycuriosity.com!, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

The Power of Creative Constraints with Zoha Abbas

Zoha Abbas started her career as an advertising copywriter, and she’s here today to tell us how she got there, what it was like working for an ad agency (including the ups and downs of working with clients), and how she decided to take what she’d learned and help mere mortals figure out the best ways for them to market their businesses (as opposed to the ways everyone else says you have to do it).

We talk about everything from how creativity can be beaten out of us, the power of standing up for ourselves, how working in advertising both helps you develop a thick skin but also wears you down, and ways to get the word out about your next project without driving yourself crazy.

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

Some Thoughts on Recent Events

You'd have to be living in a very deep, very dark cave right now to have managed not to hear about the death of George Floyd and the protests that have been happening across the country in response. A lot of people are making statements in response to these events, some better than others.

I wanted to take a moment to share my own observations, including where I'm coming from and where I hope we're all heading (with a little help from Trevor Noah's amazing "Born a Crime"). I'd really love to find a way for us all to come closer together rather than ending up farther apart.

You can find the resources I mention in my Instagram bio.

You Never Know Until You Try with Alex Rudy

Alex Rudy started out drawing, and recording his own comic book audios, before taking a video production workshop in high school that led him to acting. While he took a few so-called detours along the way, everything he was curious about has factored into his creative life in one way or another, from being a wedding videographer to writing those childhood scripts, to using his drawing skills to bring his screenplay to life. Alex also has a podcast, The Artist Matters, where, like me, he interviews creative people. Alex is living proof that all you need to make things happen is start taking steps toward them.

Check out the full show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

Learning by Doing with Desiree Argentina

Desiree Argentina does a little bit of everything—in addition to being a school counselor, she's a writer, a travel blogger, a film production assistant, a podcaster, and even runs a cat rescue. Several of these are things she's learned by doing them, finding people to mentor her rather than studying up beforehand, which has given her experience and community right off the bat. Desiree has a lot to say about not letting perfectionism get in your way, exploring what you're interested in, following your energy when choosing what to work on, the value of travel, and a lot more.

Check out the full show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

Good Grammar with Curtis Honeycutt

If you're like a lot of people, you'll see this headline and want to run screaming, but I want to promise you that this week's conversation is anything but terrifying. Curtis Honeycutt, award-winning author of the Grammar Guy column that appears in more than 30 newspapers nationwide, has made it his mission to make grammar accessible and meaningful, not the stuff of high school nightmares. His book, Good Grammar is the Life of the Party, is a guidebook for the wary as well as the knowledgeable, and I think it's safe to call it the funniest grammar guide you'll ever read.

Curtis and I discuss everything from Noah Webster's influence on American spelling, what "style" is (and the AP vs. Chicago Manual controversy), where religious fundamentalism and grammar meet, why Curtis and I disagree on this next comma, and more in this interview. Good Grammar is the Life of the Party is available on May 1.

Check out the show notes to find out how to connect with Curtis, the Alot, and more. Join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!

Living an Intuitive Life with Kelly Abanda

Kelly Abanda's journey sounds like a movie: a woman takes a risk, leaves her "good" job to travel the world for three months, and comes back three years later. Along the way, she makes unexpected connections, stumbles into opportunities, and oh, yeah—survives a few close scrapes. Kelly's a big believer in following the intuitive impulses that led her on this journey. Not only do we talk about her adventures abroad, we also talk about why people think they're not creative, and how giving up control can be a good thing. She also tells us how to get in touch with that intuition.

Kelly's latest intuitive endeavor is to help people adjust to the Covid-19 world of working from home. Check the show notes at fycuriosity.com for links to that project and more, and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram! You can rate and review the show here. Thanks!