February 23, 2025 • 20 mins
The episode offers a refreshing perspective on creativity by challenging artists to think outside the box and make fun a core component of their artistic journey. Timothy references Mike Brennan's workbook, which serves as a guide for integrating fun into daily practices. He articulates how the act of play not only enhances one's creative output but also helps to alleviate the pressures often associated with artistic endeavors. The conversation flows seamlessly between practical tips, such as starting a costume contest or hosting an interactive sing-along, and deeper reflections on the role of audience engagement in the creative process. Timothy emphasizes the significance of understanding one’s audience and tailoring creative experiences to foster enjoyment and participation. The discussion culminates in a series of thought-provoking questions meant to inspire listeners to reflect on their own creative habits and the joy they derive from their artistic pursuits.
Takeaways:
- Making fun a habit is crucial for enhancing creativity and overcoming the inner critic.
- Engaging with your audience in unexpected ways can significantly enhance their experience.
- Incorporating playful elements, like dance parties or costume contests, can make art more enjoyable.
- Understanding who your audience is can help tailor your creative process effectively.
- Don't be afraid to fail; some of the best successes come from mistakes.
- Interactive and fun elements in creative work can help break monotony and inspire others.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Savannah Bananas
- Pod Match
- Podcast Beacon
Making Fun A Habit Series
30 days to add fun to your creative practice. I will be going through Mike Brennan's Make Fun A Habit workbook and help you make fun a habit. I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike on my other podcast Find A Podcast About and talking about his podcast Creative Chats. This workbook leads you through steps to rekindle the fun in your life and get you into a space where you are your most creative. This is a 30-day book and I will tackle each day as if it were a week and provide insights on how to use his ideas in your creative practice. Each chapter is broken up with a short story, questions to ponder, action items, and tips.
Assignment
Questions
- How can you incorporate some of the Savanah bananas creativity into you own life and work?
- Who is your audience or fans?
- What would it look like if you put your fans first?
Action Items
- Make a costume contest
- Have a sing along
- Have a dance party
- Have a talent show
Tips
- Be creative and innovative
- Have fun
- Be interactive
- Don't be afraid to fail
How do I get such great guests?
PodMatch I use Podmatch to get the best guests on the show. Check out PodMatch if you want to guest on other podcasts or if you have a podcast and...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Create Art Podcast Commentary.
Go bananas.
Hello, friend.
This is Timothy Keem O'Brien,your head instigator for Create Art
podcast, where I bring my over30 years of experience in the arts
and educational world to helpyou tame your inner critic and create
(00:27):
more than you consume.
So welcome back, friends.
Now, if you've been with mefor any bit of time here, you know
that we're continuing on withour Making Fun a Habit series.
And that's 30 days to add funto your creative practice.
And that's what this episodeis about.
(00:48):
Now, what is the Making FunHabit series?
Well, I actually got tointerview Mike Brennan from the Make
Fun A Habit workbook and alsoCreative Chats podcast.
And I interviewed him on myother podcast, Find a Podcast about,
and I picked up this book ofhis and it's a 30 day workbook, essentially,
(01:15):
where he'll tell a littlestory about something and then he'll
ask some questions that youcan ponder for yourself, give you
some action items, and thengive you some tips on doing just
what the book says, Making Funa habit.
And I think when we make fun ahabit in our creative process, it
(01:36):
helps us out tremendously.
And who really teaches thiskind of stuff?
Who teaches you how to have fun?
Kids, maybe.
But this book really goes tothe heart of our creative processes
and I think it helps us outwith a lot of our qualms about inspiration.
I'm not feeling inspired, I'mnot feeling moved.
(01:58):
Well, it helps you get out ofyour comfort zone and really get
out there into the world.
So what I'm doing with thisbook is I'm taking every day as an
episode for this podcast.
Right now we are on day 20,which the title of the chapter is
called Go Bananas.
And I like where he's goingwith this chapter.
(02:22):
This is probably one of myfavorite chapters in the entire book,
to tell you the truth.
So he starts out the chapterby talking about the Savannah Bananas
baseball team.
And they're a team in Savannahthat really makes baseball fun.
They really change everythingthat you would think about baseball
(02:43):
and throw it on its head.
And they're not afraid to trynew things with it.
It's not your typical baseball game.
I actually found them onsocial media, on Instagram and TikTok,
and before I even read thischapter, I found them that way.
And oh my God, they makebaseball so much fun.
(03:06):
And if we think aboutbaseball, baseball can be a long,
drawn out, boring game and socan our creative processes.
So why not find ways to makeit fun?
And you know, how do you do that?
Well, definitely.
This chapter is for you.
So Mike talks about his firsttime seeing a Savannah Bananas baseball
(03:29):
game and how he became a fanof it really quick.
And one of his recommendationsis if you can go see a Savannah Bananas
baseball game.
Savannah Bananas is notsponsoring this episode.
Maybe they should.
But he highly recommends goingand seeing that because you've never
seen baseball like this before.
And it's everything involvedin it is so much fun and is so interactive.
(03:53):
And that's basically the gistof this episode is, you know, having
fun and making it interactive.
So let's start with his questions.
First question up is to dealwith Savannah Bananas.
So you'd need to go look themup if you haven't experienced them.
But he asked, how can youincorporate some of these Savannah
(04:13):
Bananas creativity in your ownlife and work?
And I think turning things ontheir head, you know, turning things
that seem to be very boring.
You know, when you're sittingin a baseball game and you know,
between innings or betweenbatters, there's some music going
on.
But you know, what wouldhappen if, you know, people suddenly
(04:34):
broke out into dance, youknow, with their theme songs?
You know, what if I, you know,suddenly broke out in the dance with
my theme song for this show?
It would probably be, youknow, a nice slow dance and I'd have
to get my wife involved and.
Yeah, although I think more ofmy theme song for this show is more
(04:56):
of a NPR coffee on a Sundaymorning, which is usually when I
record these shows with my cupof coffee.
So.
But you know, how can Iincorporate that into my practice?
Well, by going out of thenorm, by just doing something completely
different.
I recently attended a poetryreading on Friday night, which is
(05:19):
what I usually do.
And one of the poems Idelivered with my back to the audience
and I was facing the back wallof the, of the room and I just delivered
it to the back wall.
Now, did it go over?
Well, it was okay.
You know, I was doing a lot ofself deprecating humor with it, but.
(05:40):
But you know, it changedthings up for a bit.
So I was happy with that.
You know, it wasn't the sameold, same old.
Here I am sitting in a chair,talking to a microphone.
You know, I turned my back onthe audience, stood up and delivered
that poem right to a wall.
And it was different.
It worked.
It reminded me of howimportant the audience is.
(06:05):
Was it as powerful as one ofmy other pieces?
No, but it reminded me how toconnect with that audience.
Next question is, who is youraudience or fans and that is something
as artists that we really needto know.
You know, who is our audience?
Who are we making this for?
Yes, we're making it for ourselves.
(06:25):
And at the end of theseepisodes, I always say, you know,
go make art for somebody youlove yourself.
But there's also the otherpeople that are out there that may
want to take a look at it, maybe inspired or moved by it.
So we got really think aboutwho our audience is.
My audience is you.
You know, you're sitting therelistening to a podcast, you're obviously
(06:47):
interested in art, or you'reusing me as, using this podcast to
help you go to sleep with mydroning voice.
Whatever it is, you're myaudience, you're my fans, you're
the people listening to me.
So I already know who myaudience is.
I'm talking to them.
You know, I'm talking to you.
You're my audience.
(07:08):
Do you know who your audience is?
So we can't change thingsunless we know who we're changing
things for.
All right, the last questionis, what would it look like to put
your fans first?
And I always try to put myfans first for myself with everything
that I do.
(07:29):
You know, there's a fewprojects that I'm thinking about
starting up and working on andone of them is, oh my gosh, not another
podcast, Tim.
But yeah, it's anotherpodcast, you know, telling my story,
my journey with Ms.
And my first thought is, who'sgoing to listen to this?
And what is their, what istheir perception of this going to
(07:52):
be?
And you know what?
I don't want it to be, youknow, I don't want it to be a sympathy
kind of thing.
I just want it to be, hey,this is what I went through, what
I'm going through now, andthis is my thoughts of me going through
it.
So kind of like a publicjournal, if you will.
So that's, that's how I put myaudience first and that's how I put
(08:15):
my fans first.
I want to know or I want tothink about what's going to benefit
them.
Is this going to be good for them?
Is it just self serving for me?
If it's self serving for me,then I'll just keep it here in my
man cave and be done with it.
But if it's gonna helpsomebody else out, then I have, I
feel I have an obligation togo ahead and do it.
Alright, so next up is theaction items.
(08:37):
And first one is make acostume contest.
You know, I'm not too sure Ican do A costume contest for a podcast
maybe could.
But maybe I do a costume forwhen I read poetry.
Or maybe I get into a costumewhen I'm doing a painting or when
I'm writing a piece.
(08:58):
You know, just put onsomething that I normally wouldn't
wear and try to findsomething, you know, the most outrageous
thing that I could wear whiledoing my art.
Why not?
That would be kind of cool towatch, I think.
Anyways, next up is Nextaction item is to have a sing along.
(09:19):
I enjoy singing Frank Sinatrasongs in the morning when I went
into work.
That would be the first thingthat I would do when I got into work
is I would start singing FrankSinatra songs and some people would
join in, some people wouldgroan and some people would just
go, please stay at home.
So maybe having a sing alongis something that is going to relate
(09:40):
to you with your audience.
Maybe you're a poet and you'renot getting the response necessarily
that you're looking for or wanting.
Or maybe you're just wantingto try to change things up a bit,
then do it in a song, youknow, or have a point where your
audience can yell out a linethat's easy to.
(10:01):
I do that actually with one ofmy pieces.
I tell them, you know, beforeI read the piece, I'm gonna point
at you and you're gonna yellout freebird.
And getting that audienceparticipation in there.
Really, you know, a lot ofpeople don't.
A lot of people are sittingthere reading their poetry with their
nose in their book, not evenlooking at the audience.
And me, I know the poem pretty well.
(10:21):
I can glance down at it.
But I like to look at myaudience while I do it too, and kind
of gauge the room and seewho's getting it and who needs more.
Next action item is have adance party.
Okay, well, we're gonna goback with the poetry thing.
So I remember one time I did apiece and there was a line kind of
(10:46):
towards the end that I was chanting.
It was piece about being incustomer service.
And, you know, I'd had theselines that I chant and repeat and
I actually, you know, jumpedoff the stage and started going through
the audience with it.
There's nothing that says youcan't do that.
I mean, I think I'll try itwith, with the piece next Friday
(11:12):
and, you know, come back toyou and let you know how it went.
But, you know, why not have adance party, you know, while you're
in the middle of an artgallery or while you're doing a dance
show.
I Don't know, maybe you're,you know, sitting there playing guitar.
You know, bust out the guitar.
You know, bust out the dancemoves while you're playing guitar.
(11:34):
You know, join.
Join your audience with that.
The last thing is how the lastaction item is have a talent show.
And that would be, you know,collaborating with other artists
to join you in whatever yourdiscipline is.
Maybe you're a poet that readsyour stuff on Friday nights like
I do, and you invite others toshare their talents.
(11:56):
You invite others to paint apiece while you're doing poetry,
or somebody to play musicunderneath your poetry, or somebody
to do interpretive dance toyour poem.
Something along those lines,shake it up a little bit, you know,
have some fun with it.
You never know what's going tocome out.
(12:18):
All right, now we're going todive into the tips that he gives
us.
He has four tips.
The first one is be creativeand innovative.
So I'm already talking to artists.
I'm already talking tocreative types.
So come on, folks, be creativewith it.
Just, you know, think aboutyour process, think about what you're
doing, and think about, hey,how can I, you know, throw that on
its head a little bit?
(12:38):
How can I change it up alittle bit?
That'll make it more excitingfor you and maybe even more exciting
for your audience.
You know, they're not gettingthe typical poetry reading where
it's, you know, oh, let's bequiet while the poet talks and then
applaud politely afterwards.
No, no, change it up a minute.
You know, in the middle ofyour piece, jump into the middle
(13:02):
of the audience and, you know,start a fight with somebody.
Don't start a fight withsomebody, but, you know, jump in
the middle of your audience orjump into a dance routine and then
jump back on stage.
See if that works for you.
The next tip is to have fun.
That's the title of the book,isn't it?
You know, making fun a habit.
Come on.
But whatever you do, make itfun for you.
(13:24):
Make it enjoyable for you.
Don't just do it to do it andthen go, oh, man, I've got to change
everything up again every week.
If it's fun, don't do it.
You know, when this podcastisn't fun, I'm not going to do it.
I enjoy doing this podcast.
I enjoy talking with you aboutthese things.
And, you know, I know you'regetting something out of it because
(13:45):
you keep on coming back weekafter week.
So definitely have fun withwhatever you decide to shake up your
art with.
The next tip is to be interactive.
There's a reason why I callyou my friend.
There's a reason why I talk toyou as if you were one person.
Because one person at a timeis downloading this podcast and listening
(14:07):
to it.
So I'm not talking to 150 people.
I'm talking to one person at a time.
Unless you all are gettinginto a big room and know each other,
in which case you need to, youknow, let me know about that.
But you're listening to thison your own, either in your car,
or maybe you're outsideshoveling, or you have it on in the
(14:30):
background.
You are listening.
You know, maybe your spouse isthere, maybe your kids are there,
but you're not, you know,sitting in a big auditorium, like,
if you're going to go see amovie or a player, something like
that, usually there by yourself.
So that's why I refer to youas you in the singular.
And that's the way I feel mostcomfortable doing this.
(14:54):
And that's the way I can reachout to you.
Because, yes, I am talking toyou, person that is listening to
this podcast.
Yeah, you.
Yeah.
So stop picking your nose, please.
Okay?
Have some respect.
I'll stop picking mine, too, then.
The last tip is, don't beafraid to fail.
Failure is just a part oflife, okay?
(15:18):
We're gonna have flops.
We're gonna have stuff thatgoes over like a lead balloon.
That's okay.
I mean, some of my bestfailures have been some of my actually
greatest successes.
You know, some of my mistakeshave been like, wow, hey, that actually
turned out pretty good.
At least it's something, youknow, if you make a mistake, if you
fail, at least you've donesomething instead of just sat there
(15:40):
and did absolutely nothing.
Some of my poems are absolute stinkers.
I absolutely hate them.
But you know what?
I wrote them, and that makesme feel good.
I created something.
I put something into theworld, so that's at least something.
All right, well, that is allwe have for this episode, and I hope
(16:03):
you got something out of it.
I know I certainly did.
I got a lot of chucklesreading about the Savannah Bananas
and thinking about them.
And if you got something outof it, feel free to reach out to
me.
Timothy at Create Art Podcastis my email address on the website.
I also do have a survey there,so you can let me know what you think
(16:24):
about the show, what you liketo see more of, less of.
It's called the 2024 survey.
I'm sorry, I know it's 2025.
I will get that fixed andchanged up one of these days before
2026, I promise you.
But there, you know, if youfill out that survey, first and foremost,
thank you for doing that.
Secondly, it helps me makethis a better show for you and be
(16:47):
more interactive with you,which is, you know, one of the things
of this episode to be interactive.
So I'm trying to interact with you.
Feel free to interact with me.
I really appreciate that.
Now, speaking about sharing,you know, sharing shows and whatnot,
I run another podcast calledFind a Podcast about.
You can find it atfindapodcast about xyz and there
(17:10):
I help you outsmart thealgorithm and find your next binge
worthy podcast.
Check it out and you can thankme later for your next favorite podcast.
To listen to some of theaffiliates I have with the show here
are Pod Match and that's how Iget great guests.
With Pod Match you can go inas a host of a podcast or if you
(17:34):
have something to say onpodcast, you're looking for a way
to expand your influence.
You can definitely check out podmatch.
I have my link in the shownote there it is my affiliate link.
So I do get a little bit of acommission if you join, but that's
how I get the great gueststhat I get on this show.
And yes, I do receive a littlebit of compensation for that, but
I wouldn't put it out to youif I didn't believe in it.
(17:57):
So give Pod Match Aluxi.
This podcast is also anaffiliate of Podcast Beacon.
If you're a podcast host andyou want to, you know, go to the
grocery store or to aconvention or whatnot and want an
easy way to share yourpodcast, Podcast Beacon is the way
to go.
You can get key fobs, you canget wrist bracelets, any of that
(18:23):
kind of stuff with your logoon that.
And all a person has to do isto wave their phone over your bracelet
or your key fob and I'll taketheir phone right to your website.
So give that a shot foryourself as well to spread your influence.
And lastly is the create anart podcast newsletter.
(18:45):
That's where I put out anewsletter for you in your email.
So that way you can get recapsof the show that I put out of the
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there.
Little ideas for you to createdifferent projects for yourself.
You can find it at TimothyTimothy Brian B r I e n.substack.com
(19:11):
or just click on the link inthe show notes and go ahead and subscribe.
And this podcast is part ofthe TKB Podcast Studio.
At TKB Podcast Studio, I helpyou lead through the noise with quiet
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Take a look at all theservices that I do provide to help
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(19:33):
TKB podcaststudios@tkbpodcaststudio.com all
right, that's all I have foryou here today.
I'm going to get on with therest of my day.
I hope you get on with therest of your day.
So I want you to go out there,there tame that inner critic.
Create more than you consume.
(19:56):
Go out there, create some artfor somebody you love.
Eat a banana while you're at it.
You need that potassium.
Create some art for somebodyyou love.
Yourself.
I'll talk to you next time.
Create Art Podcast Commentary.
Go bananas.
Hello, friend.
This is Timothy Keem O'Brien,your head instigator for Create Art
podcast, where I bring my over30 years of experience in the arts
and educational world to helpyou tame your inner critic and create
(00:27):
more than you consume.
So welcome back, friends.
Now, if you've been with mefor any bit of time here, you know
that we're continuing on withour Making Fun a Habit series.
And that's 30 days to add funto your creative practice.
And that's what this episodeis about.
(00:48):
Now, what is the Making FunHabit series?
Well, I actually got tointerview Mike Brennan from the Make
Fun A Habit workbook and alsoCreative Chats podcast.
And I interviewed him on myother podcast, Find a Podcast about,
and I picked up this book ofhis and it's a 30 day workbook, essentially,
(01:15):
where he'll tell a littlestory about something and then he'll
ask some questions that youcan ponder for yourself, give you
some action items, and thengive you some tips on doing just
what the book says, Making Funa habit.
And I think when we make fun ahabit in our creative process, it
(01:36):
helps us out tremendously.
And who really teaches thiskind of stuff?
Who teaches you how to have fun?
Kids, maybe.
But this book really goes tothe heart of our creative processes
and I think it helps us outwith a lot of our qualms about inspiration.
I'm not feeling inspired, I'mnot feeling moved.
(01:58):
Well, it helps you get out ofyour comfort zone and really get
out there into the world.
So what I'm doing with thisbook is I'm taking every day as an
episode for this podcast.
Right now we are on day 20,which the title of the chapter is
called Go Bananas.
And I like where he's goingwith this chapter.
(02:22):
This is probably one of myfavorite chapters in the entire book,
to tell you the truth.
So he starts out the chapterby talking about the Savannah Bananas
baseball team.
And they're a team in Savannahthat really makes baseball fun.
They really change everythingthat you would think about baseball
(02:43):
and throw it on its head.
And they're not afraid to trynew things with it.
It's not your typical baseball game.
I actually found them onsocial media, on Instagram and TikTok,
and before I even read thischapter, I found them that way.
And oh my God, they makebaseball so much fun.
(03:06):
And if we think aboutbaseball, baseball can be a long,
drawn out, boring game and socan our creative processes.
So why not find ways to makeit fun?
And you know, how do you do that?
Well, definitely.
This chapter is for you.
So Mike talks about his firsttime seeing a Savannah Bananas baseball
(03:29):
game and how he became a fanof it really quick.
And one of his recommendationsis if you can go see a Savannah Bananas
baseball game.
Savannah Bananas is notsponsoring this episode.
Maybe they should.
But he highly recommends goingand seeing that because you've never
seen baseball like this before.
And it's everything involvedin it is so much fun and is so interactive.
(03:53):
And that's basically the gistof this episode is, you know, having
fun and making it interactive.
So let's start with his questions.
First question up is to dealwith Savannah Bananas.
So you'd need to go look themup if you haven't experienced them.
But he asked, how can youincorporate some of these Savannah
(04:13):
Bananas creativity in your ownlife and work?
And I think turning things ontheir head, you know, turning things
that seem to be very boring.
You know, when you're sittingin a baseball game and you know,
between innings or betweenbatters, there's some music going
on.
But you know, what wouldhappen if, you know, people suddenly
(04:34):
broke out into dance, youknow, with their theme songs?
You know, what if I, you know,suddenly broke out in the dance with
my theme song for this show?
It would probably be, youknow, a nice slow dance and I'd have
to get my wife involved and.
Yeah, although I think more ofmy theme song for this show is more
(04:56):
of a NPR coffee on a Sundaymorning, which is usually when I
record these shows with my cupof coffee.
So.
But you know, how can Iincorporate that into my practice?
Well, by going out of thenorm, by just doing something completely
different.
I recently attended a poetryreading on Friday night, which is
(05:19):
what I usually do.
And one of the poems Idelivered with my back to the audience
and I was facing the back wallof the, of the room and I just delivered
it to the back wall.
Now, did it go over?
Well, it was okay.
You know, I was doing a lot ofself deprecating humor with it, but.
(05:40):
But you know, it changedthings up for a bit.
So I was happy with that.
You know, it wasn't the sameold, same old.
Here I am sitting in a chair,talking to a microphone.
You know, I turned my back onthe audience, stood up and delivered
that poem right to a wall.
And it was different.
It worked.
It reminded me of howimportant the audience is.
(06:05):
Was it as powerful as one ofmy other pieces?
No, but it reminded me how toconnect with that audience.
Next question is, who is youraudience or fans and that is something
as artists that we really needto know.
You know, who is our audience?
Who are we making this for?
Yes, we're making it for ourselves.
(06:25):
And at the end of theseepisodes, I always say, you know,
go make art for somebody youlove yourself.
But there's also the otherpeople that are out there that may
want to take a look at it, maybe inspired or moved by it.
So we got really think aboutwho our audience is.
My audience is you.
You know, you're sitting therelistening to a podcast, you're obviously
(06:47):
interested in art, or you'reusing me as, using this podcast to
help you go to sleep with mydroning voice.
Whatever it is, you're myaudience, you're my fans, you're
the people listening to me.
So I already know who myaudience is.
I'm talking to them.
You know, I'm talking to you.
You're my audience.
(07:08):
Do you know who your audience is?
So we can't change thingsunless we know who we're changing
things for.
All right, the last questionis, what would it look like to put
your fans first?
And I always try to put myfans first for myself with everything
that I do.
(07:29):
You know, there's a fewprojects that I'm thinking about
starting up and working on andone of them is, oh my gosh, not another
podcast, Tim.
But yeah, it's anotherpodcast, you know, telling my story,
my journey with Ms.
And my first thought is, who'sgoing to listen to this?
And what is their, what istheir perception of this going to
(07:52):
be?
And you know what?
I don't want it to be, youknow, I don't want it to be a sympathy
kind of thing.
I just want it to be, hey,this is what I went through, what
I'm going through now, andthis is my thoughts of me going through
it.
So kind of like a publicjournal, if you will.
So that's, that's how I put myaudience first and that's how I put
(08:15):
my fans first.
I want to know or I want tothink about what's going to benefit
them.
Is this going to be good for them?
Is it just self serving for me?
If it's self serving for me,then I'll just keep it here in my
man cave and be done with it.
But if it's gonna helpsomebody else out, then I have, I
feel I have an obligation togo ahead and do it.
Alright, so next up is theaction items.
(08:37):
And first one is make acostume contest.
You know, I'm not too sure Ican do A costume contest for a podcast
maybe could.
But maybe I do a costume forwhen I read poetry.
Or maybe I get into a costumewhen I'm doing a painting or when
I'm writing a piece.
(08:58):
You know, just put onsomething that I normally wouldn't
wear and try to findsomething, you know, the most outrageous
thing that I could wear whiledoing my art.
Why not?
That would be kind of cool towatch, I think.
Anyways, next up is Nextaction item is to have a sing along.
(09:19):
I enjoy singing Frank Sinatrasongs in the morning when I went
into work.
That would be the first thingthat I would do when I got into work
is I would start singing FrankSinatra songs and some people would
join in, some people wouldgroan and some people would just
go, please stay at home.
So maybe having a sing alongis something that is going to relate
(09:40):
to you with your audience.
Maybe you're a poet and you'renot getting the response necessarily
that you're looking for or wanting.
Or maybe you're just wantingto try to change things up a bit,
then do it in a song, youknow, or have a point where your
audience can yell out a linethat's easy to.
(10:01):
I do that actually with one ofmy pieces.
I tell them, you know, beforeI read the piece, I'm gonna point
at you and you're gonna yellout freebird.
And getting that audienceparticipation in there.
Really, you know, a lot ofpeople don't.
A lot of people are sittingthere reading their poetry with their
nose in their book, not evenlooking at the audience.
And me, I know the poem pretty well.
(10:21):
I can glance down at it.
But I like to look at myaudience while I do it too, and kind
of gauge the room and seewho's getting it and who needs more.
Next action item is have adance party.
Okay, well, we're gonna goback with the poetry thing.
So I remember one time I did apiece and there was a line kind of
(10:46):
towards the end that I was chanting.
It was piece about being incustomer service.
And, you know, I'd had theselines that I chant and repeat and
I actually, you know, jumpedoff the stage and started going through
the audience with it.
There's nothing that says youcan't do that.
I mean, I think I'll try itwith, with the piece next Friday
(11:12):
and, you know, come back toyou and let you know how it went.
But, you know, why not have adance party, you know, while you're
in the middle of an artgallery or while you're doing a dance
show.
I Don't know, maybe you're,you know, sitting there playing guitar.
You know, bust out the guitar.
You know, bust out the dancemoves while you're playing guitar.
(11:34):
You know, join.
Join your audience with that.
The last thing is how the lastaction item is have a talent show.
And that would be, you know,collaborating with other artists
to join you in whatever yourdiscipline is.
Maybe you're a poet that readsyour stuff on Friday nights like
I do, and you invite others toshare their talents.
(11:56):
You invite others to paint apiece while you're doing poetry,
or somebody to play musicunderneath your poetry, or somebody
to do interpretive dance toyour poem.
Something along those lines,shake it up a little bit, you know,
have some fun with it.
You never know what's going tocome out.
(12:18):
All right, now we're going todive into the tips that he gives
us.
He has four tips.
The first one is be creativeand innovative.
So I'm already talking to artists.
I'm already talking tocreative types.
So come on, folks, be creativewith it.
Just, you know, think aboutyour process, think about what you're
doing, and think about, hey,how can I, you know, throw that on
its head a little bit?
(12:38):
How can I change it up alittle bit?
That'll make it more excitingfor you and maybe even more exciting
for your audience.
You know, they're not gettingthe typical poetry reading where
it's, you know, oh, let's bequiet while the poet talks and then
applaud politely afterwards.
No, no, change it up a minute.
You know, in the middle ofyour piece, jump into the middle
(13:02):
of the audience and, you know,start a fight with somebody.
Don't start a fight withsomebody, but, you know, jump in
the middle of your audience orjump into a dance routine and then
jump back on stage.
See if that works for you.
The next tip is to have fun.
That's the title of the book,isn't it?
You know, making fun a habit.
Come on.
But whatever you do, make itfun for you.
(13:24):
Make it enjoyable for you.
Don't just do it to do it andthen go, oh, man, I've got to change
everything up again every week.
If it's fun, don't do it.
You know, when this podcastisn't fun, I'm not going to do it.
I enjoy doing this podcast.
I enjoy talking with you aboutthese things.
And, you know, I know you'regetting something out of it because
(13:45):
you keep on coming back weekafter week.
So definitely have fun withwhatever you decide to shake up your
art with.
The next tip is to be interactive.
There's a reason why I callyou my friend.
There's a reason why I talk toyou as if you were one person.
Because one person at a timeis downloading this podcast and listening
(14:07):
to it.
So I'm not talking to 150 people.
I'm talking to one person at a time.
Unless you all are gettinginto a big room and know each other,
in which case you need to, youknow, let me know about that.
But you're listening to thison your own, either in your car,
or maybe you're outsideshoveling, or you have it on in the
(14:30):
background.
You are listening.
You know, maybe your spouse isthere, maybe your kids are there,
but you're not, you know,sitting in a big auditorium, like,
if you're going to go see amovie or a player, something like
that, usually there by yourself.
So that's why I refer to youas you in the singular.
And that's the way I feel mostcomfortable doing this.
(14:54):
And that's the way I can reachout to you.
Because, yes, I am talking toyou, person that is listening to
this podcast.
Yeah, you.
Yeah.
So stop picking your nose, please.
Okay?
Have some respect.
I'll stop picking mine, too, then.
The last tip is, don't beafraid to fail.
Failure is just a part oflife, okay?
(15:18):
We're gonna have flops.
We're gonna have stuff thatgoes over like a lead balloon.
That's okay.
I mean, some of my bestfailures have been some of my actually
greatest successes.
You know, some of my mistakeshave been like, wow, hey, that actually
turned out pretty good.
At least it's something, youknow, if you make a mistake, if you
fail, at least you've donesomething instead of just sat there
(15:40):
and did absolutely nothing.
Some of my poems are absolute stinkers.
I absolutely hate them.
But you know what?
I wrote them, and that makesme feel good.
I created something.
I put something into theworld, so that's at least something.
All right, well, that is allwe have for this episode, and I hope
(16:03):
you got something out of it.
I know I certainly did.
I got a lot of chucklesreading about the Savannah Bananas
and thinking about them.
And if you got something outof it, feel free to reach out to
me.
Timothy at Create Art Podcastis my email address on the website.
I also do have a survey there,so you can let me know what you think
(16:24):
about the show, what you liketo see more of, less of.
It's called the 2024 survey.
I'm sorry, I know it's 2025.
I will get that fixed andchanged up one of these days before
2026, I promise you.
But there, you know, if youfill out that survey, first and foremost,
thank you for doing that.
Secondly, it helps me makethis a better show for you and be
(16:47):
more interactive with you,which is, you know, one of the things
of this episode to be interactive.
So I'm trying to interact with you.
Feel free to interact with me.
I really appreciate that.
Now, speaking about sharing,you know, sharing shows and whatnot,
I run another podcast calledFind a Podcast about.
You can find it atfindapodcast about xyz and there
(17:10):
I help you outsmart thealgorithm and find your next binge
worthy podcast.
Check it out and you can thankme later for your next favorite podcast.
To listen to some of theaffiliates I have with the show here
are Pod Match and that's how Iget great guests.
With Pod Match you can go inas a host of a podcast or if you
(17:34):
have something to say onpodcast, you're looking for a way
to expand your influence.
You can definitely check out podmatch.
I have my link in the shownote there it is my affiliate link.
So I do get a little bit of acommission if you join, but that's
how I get the great gueststhat I get on this show.
And yes, I do receive a littlebit of compensation for that, but
I wouldn't put it out to youif I didn't believe in it.
(17:57):
So give Pod Match Aluxi.
This podcast is also anaffiliate of Podcast Beacon.
If you're a podcast host andyou want to, you know, go to the
grocery store or to aconvention or whatnot and want an
easy way to share yourpodcast, Podcast Beacon is the way
to go.
You can get key fobs, you canget wrist bracelets, any of that
(18:23):
kind of stuff with your logoon that.
And all a person has to do isto wave their phone over your bracelet
or your key fob and I'll taketheir phone right to your website.
So give that a shot foryourself as well to spread your influence.
And lastly is the create anart podcast newsletter.
(18:45):
That's where I put out anewsletter for you in your email.
So that way you can get recapsof the show that I put out of the
episodes that I put out andother things that I like to put in
there.
Little ideas for you to createdifferent projects for yourself.
You can find it at TimothyTimothy Brian B r I e n.substack.com
(19:11):
or just click on the link inthe show notes and go ahead and subscribe.
And this podcast is part ofthe TKB Podcast Studio.
At TKB Podcast Studio, I helpyou lead through the noise with quiet
professionalism.
Take a look at all theservices that I do provide to help
you get your podcast up and running.
(19:33):
TKB podcaststudios@tkbpodcaststudio.com all
right, that's all I have foryou here today.
I'm going to get on with therest of my day.
I hope you get on with therest of your day.
So I want you to go out there,there tame that inner critic.
Create more than you consume.
(19:56):
Go out there, create some artfor somebody you love.
Eat a banana while you're at it.
You need that potassium.
Create some art for somebodyyou love.
Yourself.
I'll talk to you next time.
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