Tag

Creativity

Creativity, Non Fiction, Personal Development, Psychology

SEP 23: Bridgit Dengel Gaspard on How to Get to The Final 8th

September 23, 2020

Why do so many of us stop short of completing our goals, even when we’ve worked really hard to get 7/8 of the way there? Bridgit Dengel Gaspard terms this phenomenon The Final 8th and  shares insights into the many reasons we don’t make it to the finish line.

We discuss what Bridgit means by our inner selves, how to tap into them, and why they often have competing motives. She highlights how to identify symptoms of inner selves that don’t communicate verbally, such as headaches and insomnia. And how our core beliefs can sabotage our efforts.

Author of The Final 8th: Enlist Your Inner Selves to Accomplish Your Goals, Bridgit Dengel Gaspard is a therapist, coach, and master facilitator of voice dialogue. She’s led workshops for the Omega Institue, the National Association of Social Workers, the Actors Fund, and others. A former performer and comic, Bridgit has a practice in New York and specializes in creativity blocks, transitions, and being stuck short of the finish line.

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Creativity, Non Fiction, Personal Development, Psychology

SEP 09: The Power of Daily Practice with Dr. Eric Maisel

September 9, 2020

Many people thought they’d have time to tackle their personal projects during the pandemic. But few have. If working at home, juggling childcare, joblessness, fear, or uncertainty has you on hold, Dr. Eric Maisel, is the perfect expert to help. He’s devoted his career to the psychology of creativity, living with purpose, and getting the important things done.

We discuss what Dr. Maisel means by daily practice, and it’s probably not what you think. We explore the psychological and practical benefits of daily practice; discuss some of the 20 elements he identifies to make your practice successful. And how to overcome challenges. Eric also shares his interpretation of what’s really going on with procrastination … and it’s linked to anxiety.

Eric Maisel, PhD, is the author of more than 50 books in the areas of critical psychology, writing, creativity, and the creative life. He’s a former psychotherapist and current creativity coach. His new book is The Power of Daily Practice: How Creative and Performing Artists (and Everyone Else) Can Finally Meet Their Goals. 

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Fiction, Writers on Writing

JUL 01: The Lost and Found Bookshop with Susan Wiggs

July 1, 2020

If you had to start over, what would you do, and who would you be?  Returning guest Susan Wiggs explores that question along with the meaning of happiness, trust, and faith in oneself in The Lost and Found Bookshop.

Susan shares her thoughts on artistic expression, how she develops her stories and characters, and the responsibility she feels an author has in portraying characters outside their own ethnic background.  She also reveals how she persevered through an incredibly tough period early in her career.

Susan Wigg’s novels have appeared in the #1 spot on the New York Times Bestseller List, and have been translated into more than 20 languages and 30 countries.  Her recent novel, The Apple Orchard, is currently being made into a film, and The Lakeshore Chronicles has been optioned for adaptation into a series.

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Arts, Creativity, Non Fiction

MAR 18: 5 Steps to Freeing the Creative Within with Diana Rowan

March 18, 2020

If you’ve ever told yourself you’re not creative, you’re wrong. Everyone — regardless of age, job, situation — has creativity within them says today’s guest, creative alchemist and author Diana Rowan.  Her new book The Bright Way: Five Steps to Freeing the Creative Within provides inspiration and action steps to help you find your purpose and live more creatively.

We discuss creative practices, why it’s important to embrace mistakes, how solitude is necessary, and why creativity and connection are synonymous. We also share Diana’s 5 steps,  and why fulfillment is an essential ingredient of sustainable creativity.

Diana Rowan is the founder the Bright Way Guild a virtual learning environment for a global community of creatives. Diana’s a musician and composer, performing and teaching in the San Francisco area and around the world.

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Fiction, Writers on Writing

JAN 15: The Body Outside the Kremlin with James L. May

January 15, 2020

For our Writers On Writing Series, James L. May, author of The Body Outside The Kremlin joins us with what Publisher’s Weekly calls a “richly evocative first novel…gripping…thriller deserves high marks…for historical detail about a prison that served as a key link in the gulag chain.”

We discuss the history of the White Sea Solovetsky Islands and Russia’s renowned concentration camp. How and why this sparked the location and set the scene for his murder mystery. His favorite scenes to write. Most surprising research. What James knows now, that he wish he’d understood when he began writing his book. Does his work as a reviewer inform or hinder his own creativity? And is it worth doing an MFA in Creative Writing?

James L. May’s short fiction has appeared in Tigertail, and he reviews fiction for The Florida Book Review, Gulf Stream Literary Magazine, and New Orleans Review.

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Career, Environment, Self-help

OCT 14: National Geographic’s Night Sky Guy, Keep Going with Austin Kleon, & Dr. Tammy Nelson’s When You’re the One Who Cheats

October 11, 2019

So when the going gets tough, what do the tough do?  They Keep Going!  Creativity expert Austin Kleon returns with his latest book to share ways to stay creative in good times and bad.

Find out why this “writer who draws” describes himself as a mongrel, and how that benefits his work. Why he says life is for art, and not other way around. How burnout can strike even if you love what you do. And, the big question, can you separate the art from the man, and the man from the art?

Austin Kleon’s New York Times bestselling books include Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work.

Are you a stargazer? Andrew Fazekas is. So much so, that his passion for stargazing developed into a star-studded career, earning him the alias “The Night Sky Guy”.

Today, he shares fun science facts, such as what causes the elusive “green flash” at sunset. And sheds light on his partnership with National Geographic to take the world’s first open-air, augmented-reality planetarium, to a global audience.  Exciting times in Backyard Guide to the Night Sky.

A science writer, speaker, and broadcaster Andrew Fazekas writes the StarStruck for National Geographic, and is the author of Star Trek: The Official Guide to Our Universe.

Ending today’s show, if you’ve ever been cheated on, you might find it confusing when the cheater claims they are also confused. You may not even believe them–but according to sex therapist Dr. Tammy Nelson, they’re probably telling the truth.

Dr. Nelson returns to Conversations Live to help unravel confusion on both sides of the cheating situation.  She’ll offer tips on how to stop cheating if you’re the guilty party, and ways to move forward in When You’re the One Who Cheats: 10 Things You Need to Know.

Tammy Nelson, PhD is a sex and relationship expert, international speaker, author, and licensed psychotherapist. She has 30 years of experience working with individuals and couples, and you can catch our earlier conversation on The New Monogamy here.

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Humor, Non Fiction, Personal Development

SEP 03: Ken Jennings’ Planet Funny & Allen Gannett’s The Creative Curve

August 22, 2018

From Jeopardy! champion and  New York Times bestselling author Ken Jennings comes a history of humor.  From fart jokes on clay Sumerian tablets all the way up to the latest Twitter gags and Facebook memes, Planet Funny: How Comedy Took Over Our Culture tells the story of how comedy came to rule the modern world.

Since his record-breaking Jeopardy! streak, Ken has become a best-selling author and has appeared in numerous ads.  He is a frequent speaker at college campuses and corporate events.

Later, it helps to be creative to be considered a genius, but you don’t have to be a genius to be creative.  In The Creative Curve: How to Develop the Right Idea, at the Right Time, author Allen Gannett disproves the notion that creativity is limited to the brilliant few who possess a certain gift, showing how anyone is capable of turning their genius idea into reality.

Allen is the founder and CEO of TrackMaven, a software analytics firm whose clients have included Microsoft, Marriott, Saks Fifth Avenue, Home Depot, Aetna, Honda, and GE.  He has been on the “30 Under 30” lists for both Inc. and Forbes.

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Humor, Non Fiction, Personal Development

JUN 25: Ken Jennings’ Planet Funny & Allen Gannett’s The Creative Curve

June 10, 2018

From Jeopardy! champion and  New York Times bestselling author Ken Jennings comes a history of humor.  From fart jokes on clay Sumerian tablets all the way up to the latest Twitter gags and Facebook memes, Planet Funny: How Comedy Took Over Our Culture tells the story of how comedy came to rule the modern world.

Since his record-breaking Jeopardy! streak, Ken has become a best-selling author and has appeared in numerous ads.  He is a frequent speaker at college campuses and corporate events.

Later, it helps to be creative to be considered a genius, but you don’t have to be a genius to be creative.  In The Creative Curve: How to Develop the Right Idea, at the Right Time, author Allen Gannett disproves the notion that creativity is limited to the brilliant few who possess a certain gift, showing how anyone is capable of turning their genius idea into reality.

Allen is the founder and CEO of TrackMaven, a software analytics firm whose clients have included Microsoft, Marriott, Saks Fifth Avenue, Home Depot, Aetna, Honda, and GE.  He has been on the “30 Under 30” lists for both Inc. and Forbes.

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Memoir, Personal Development, Self-help, Writers on Writing

JAN 08: A Life in Novels with Kathleen Hill & Life is a Musical with Tim Federle

January 5, 2018

When books come to you at the just the right time, they can change your life.Kathleen Hill’s new memoir, She Read to Us in the Late Afternoons: A Life in Novels, explores defining moments of a life illuminated by novels.

Kathleen is a noted author who teaches in the MFA program at Sarah Lawrence College.  Her first two books have received critical acclaim and her stories have appeared in numerous collections.

Everything Tim Federle knows about life he learned from doing theater – think Don’t Sweat the Small Stuffwith Jazz Hands. Life is Like a Musical: How to Live, Love, and Lead Like a Star is designed for anyone who wants to find and live by their own song, whatever that means to them.

Tim is a Broadway dancer-turned-author who won awards for his Young Adult books and pun-tastic cocktail novels, and works with Fox Animation in developing new projects.

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Memoir, Personal Development, Self-help, Writers on Writing

OCT 23: A Life in Novels with Kathleen Hill & Life is a Musical with Tim Ferdele

September 23, 2017

When books come to you at the just the right time, they can change your life. Kathleen Hill’s new memoir, She Read to Us in the Late Afternoons: A Life in Novels, explores defining moments of a life illuminated by novels.

Kathleen is a noted author who teaches in the MFA program at Sarah Lawrence College.  Her first two books have received critical acclaim and her stories have appeared in numerous collections.

Everything Tim Federle knows about life he learned from doing theater – think Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff with Jazz Hands. Life is Like a Musical: How to Live, Love, and Lead Like a Star is designed for anyone who wants to find and live by their own song, whatever that means to them.

Tim is a Broadway dancer-turned-author who won awards for his Young Adult books and pun-tastic cocktail novels, and works with Fox Animation in developing new projects.

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