Follow Your Curiosity

CPT #60: It’s Okay to Quit

We're told all the time that "winners never quit, and quitters never win." That "advice" can get you in all sorts of trouble. I explain why in this short episode.

Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!

Get the 6 Creative Beliefs that Are Screwing You Up, plus biweekly updates on what's going on in my world (including upcoming events) for free!

I'd love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Post.news, Spoutible, and Mastodon!

Wired for Story with Lucinda Sage-Midgorden

Lucinda Sage-Midgorden has been a story lover since she and her family watched TV and movies together. Her father taught her how to find the deeper layers of a story. This love prompted her to pursue a double major in Religious Studies and Theatre and Speech, a MA in Theatre Arts, and finally a MAEd so she could share her love of stories with her students. Now retired, Lucinda writes her weekly blog, Sage Woman Chronicles, is working on her second novel, manages her online course, "Saving the World One Story at a Time", and produces the bi-weekly podcast, Story-Power.

Lucinda talks with me about the overlap between religion and theater, how story can broaden our understanding of others and help us learn emotional intelligence, how she came to create her online course, and even shares some classic books and movies that are still relevant today.

Episode breakdown:

[00:05:05] Reading fiction helped Lucinda love literature.

[00:08:33] Religious studies to theater.

[00:15:06] Emotional intelligence.

[00:19:18] Father's emotional intelligence led to success.

[00:27:23] From teaching to writing a book, blog, novel, podcast, and online course.

[00:37:12] Language, colors, and stories shape us.

[00:42:58] Acting class teaches medical students empathy skills.

[00:50:44] Movie and book recommendations: awakening journeys and making a difference.

 

Please leave a review and in it, tell us about a time when a story was important to you.

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

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Post.news, Spoutible, and Mastodon! And if you're feeling stuck in your own creative process, get the 6 Creative Beliefs that Are Screwing You Up, plus biweekly updates on what's going on in my world (including upcoming events), all for free!

Creative Pep Talk #59: ”Should”

Creative work, and in fact, most of life, works better when we're good to ourselves, even if that seems counterintuitive. I'll tell you why in this short episode.

Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!

Get the 6 Creative Beliefs that Are Screwing You Up, plus biweekly updates on what's going on in my world (including upcoming events) for free!

I'd love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Post.news, Spoutible, and Mastodon!

”Is There Life Outside the Box?” with Peter Davison

I’m absolutely thrilled to be talking this week with actor Peter Davison, star of All Creatures Great and Small, Doctor Who, At Home with the Braithwaites, West End musicals like Spamalot and Gypsy, and much more. He’s also the author of a delightful memoir, Is There Life Outside the Box: An Actor Despairs, and Doctor Who fans also know him as the creator of the 50th anniversary special, The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot. Peter talks with me about many of those things, plus how he came to write his book, the "rise of the nerds," and more. 

Episode breakdown:

[00:01:10] Childhood creativity, music, becoming an actor.

[00:10:08] Taking on Doctor Who, and being unsure how to approach the character.

[00:17:03] Doctor Who, and playing unpleasant characters well.

[00:24:54] All Creatures Great and Small and the lessons learned from Robert Hardy.

[00:35:18] Actors fear of being replaced, and the difference between US and UK actors.

[00:42:13] Acting as the best job.

[00:50:28] Writing his memoir.

[00:55:34] The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.

[01:03:07] Doctor Who fandom and the "rise of the nerd."

Please leave a review and in it, tell us about a time when a story was important to you.

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

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com (I have some really cool extras over there for you!), and join the conversation on Post.news, Spoutible, and Mastodon! And if you're feeling stuck in your own creative process, get the 6 Creative Beliefs that Are Screwing You Up, plus biweekly updates on what's going on in my world (including upcoming events), all for free!

Creative Pep Talk #58: Do Nothing

It may sound counterintuitive, but doing nothing can be really good for you. (If you just felt your whole body relax at the mere thought, that's a sign!) I'll tell you why in this short episode.

Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!

Get the 6 Creative Beliefs that Are Screwing You Up, plus biweekly updates on what's going on in my world (including upcoming events) for free!

I'd love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Post.news, Spoutible, and Mastodon!

Drama and Storytelling with Elizabeth Morton

Author Elizabeth (Eliza) Morton was an actress before she started writing, and has always loved the power of stories. She’s also part of an acting family—she’s married to Doctor Who’s Peter Davison and step-mother-in-law of the show’s David Tennant, and sometimes wonders if she started writing romantic sagas as an escape from all the science fiction in the house. Liz joins me to talk about acting and drama school, transitioning into writing, how her drama background influences her fiction writing, whether artificial intelligence can replace human writers, her new novel, and more.

Please leave a review and in it, tell us about a time when a story was important to you.

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

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Post.news, Spoutible, and Mastodon! And if you're feeling stuck in your own creative process, get the 6 Creative Beliefs that Are Screwing You Up, plus biweekly updates on what's going on in my world (including upcoming events), all for free!

Creative Pep Talk #57: Being Like Everyone Else

It's so easy to want to be like everyone else, but is it really a good idea? 

Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!

Get the 6 Creative Beliefs that Are Screwing You Up, plus biweekly updates on what's going on in my world (including upcoming events) for free!

I'd love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Post.news, Spoutible, and Mastodon!

”Limiting” Creativity with Nick Morrison

Today’s guest, Nick Morrison, is a guitarist, teacher, author, and composer whose work you’ve probably heard in productions from Warner Bros, Universal Studios, Sony, MTV, ABC, NBC, HGTV, and HBO. Nick talks with me about how musicians can make money making music beyond performing and teaching and how writing music for TV and movie productions works. We also talk about why structure and limitation enhance our creativity, how the time he spent in Japan influenced his creative process, and more.

Please leave a review and in it, tell us about a time when structure or limitations made being creative easier for you.

Want more? Here's a handy playlist with all my previous interviews with guests in music!

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Post.news, Spoutible, and Mastodon! And if you're feeling stuck in your own creative process, get the 6 Creative Beliefs that Are Screwing You Up, plus biweekly updates on what's going on in my world (including upcoming events) for free!

 

Creative Pep Talk #56: Kick It Old School

Every so often, do something the old-fashioned way. I'll tell you why (and how I came to this discovery) in this short episode.

Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!

Get the 6 Creative Beliefs that Are Screwing You Up, plus biweekly updates on what's going on in my world (including upcoming events) for free!

I'd love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Post.news, Spoutible, and Mastodon!

Rediscovering the Human with Kate Powers

My guest today is Kate Powers, a lifelong theatre kid who became an off-Broadway and regional theatre director. Her list of credits is long, but I wanted to talk to Kate about the unusual home she’s found for her work: maximum security prisons. Kate is the founding artistic director of the Redeeming Time Project, which uses Shakespeare to effect positive change for the incarcerated and the formerly incarcerated. She has been a facilitator with Rehabilitation Through the Arts (www.rta-arts.org) at Sing Sing Correctional Facility since 2009. 

Kate tells me how she discovered this work, how she runs her program, and the transformative effect of combining Shakespeare—famous for his depictions of all facets of human nature—with a prison population. I’m not gonna lie to you—I had goosebumps for most of this interview, and I think you might, too. If you do, I hope you’ll consider donating to help these programs transform lives—you’ll find a list of links in the show notes.

Please leave a review of the show, and in it, tell us about a time when theater transformed a part of your life.

Want more? Here's a handy playlist with all my previous interviews with guests in theatre!

Join the conversation on Post.news, Spoutible, and Mastodon! And if you're feeling stuck in your own creative process, get the 6 Creative Beliefs that Are Screwing You Up, plus biweekly updates on what's going on in my world (including upcoming events) for free!