Follow Your Curiosity

Actress and writer Lizzie Hopley was born in Liverpool and trained at RADA. As an actress, she has worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Globe Theatre and recent screen work includes Black Doves and upcoming feature film Fackham Hall. As a writer, her radio sitcom Green won Pozzitive TV’s Funny Dot Comp 2021 and TV series Bloody Betty is currently in development. She has written and appeared in over 90 Big Finish audio ...

You've almost certainly heard the advice to "Fake it till you make it." It's good advice—some of the time. We don't talk about when it's best to avoid it, and that's what I'm talking about in this very short episode.

I teach women how to reignite their lost creative spark. If you’ve been tearing up when you encounter other people’s art because you’ve lost touch with your own, let's talk. 

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Since her first published novel, Time of the Dark, in 1982, Barbara Hambly has touched most of the bases in genre fiction, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, media tie-ins, graphic novels, screenplays, murder mysteries, and Saturday morning cartoons. Her work has been nominated for numerous Locus Awards, and her novel Those Who Hunt the Night won for Best Horror Novel in 1989. She’s also an avid martial artis...

What do you tell yourself when things get hard? Here's a short take on a different perspective to help keep you on track.

I teach women how to reignite their lost creative spark. If you’ve been tearing up when you encounter other people’s art because you’ve lost touch with your own, let's talk. 

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

Terise Lang is a certified life, health, and wellness coach with a lifelong interest in and love of all things creative. She joins me today for a wide-ranging discussion of the power of creativity, including the way she uses creativity in her work, how our creativity is so often socialized out of us in the name of more conformity, our tendency to define creativity too narrowly and then decide that we don’t have it, th...

Over the years, I've come to the often frustrating conclusion that we know more than we think we do. I tell you why in this short episode.

I teach women how to reignite their lost creative spark. If you’ve been tearing up when you encounter other people’s art because you’ve lost touch with your own, we should talk.

Want more tips? Check out all my previous Creative Pep Talks in this playist!

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Writer, teacher, and humanitarian aid worker Alex Poppe joined me last year to talk about her journey from acting to teaching to writing, and how her experiences abroad influenced her journey. She returns to the show today to talk about her new memoir, Breakfast Wine, which chronicles her time teaching in Iraq. We also talk about what we each learned from living abroad at different ages and for different amounts of ti...

Here's a super-short story: something a friend said to me once that's stuck with me, and why I think it might help you keep some needed perspective on yourself and your creative efforts.

I teach women how to reignite their lost creative spark. If you’ve been tearing up when you encounter other people’s art because you’ve lost touch with your own, we should talk.

Want more tips? Check out all my previous Creative Pep T...

Jocelyn Hastie spent 30 years as an accountant before the combination of a stage 4 cancer diagnosis and a sudden job loss forced a radical turn, leading her to work full-time with horses as a way to foster leadership skills and personal growth. She joins me to talk about why it’s not fair to judge accountancy as boring, how bad management and leadership happens (including her own realization that she was a bad manager...

It's counterintuitive, but sometimes limitations are your best friend, especially when you're doing something creative. I explain why in this super-short episode.

Listen to my conversation with Nick Morrison here.

I teach women how to reignite their lost creative spark. If you’ve been tearing up when you encounter other people’s art because you’ve lost touch with your own, we should talk.

Want more tips? Check out all my previous C...

My guest today is Josh Mendoza, an award-winning filmmaker known for his post-apocalyptic feature film, What Still Remains. His debut novel, Shadow of the Eternal Watcher, which combines sci-if and film noir, was released in January. Josh joins me to talk about his start in creative writing and his move into film, the similarities and differences in writing fiction and film, the necessity of learning through failure, ...

Building on my conversation with Amber Petty last week: I look at how and why you should celebrate your accomplishments in this short episode.

I teach women how to reignite their lost creative spark. If you’ve been tearing up when you encounter other people’s art because you’ve lost touch with your own, we should talk.

Want more tips? Check out all my previous Creative Pep Talks in this playist!

Could you leave a review? It's rea...

Amber Petty helps creatives get bylines and build audiences. She's written for the New York Times, Parade, Bustle, and others, and her clients have been published in outlets like the New Yorker, Washington Post, New York Times and many more. Amber talks with me about how she moved from teaching singing to teaching freelancing, how easy it is to downplay our accomplishments when we really should give ourselves credit f...

This might be the most functionally important pep talk ever—and you may even know it already! It bears repeating, though, and I tell you why in this super-short episode.

I teach women how to reignite their lost creative spark. If you’ve been tearing up when you encounter other people’s art because you’ve lost touch with your own, let's talk. 

Want more tips? Check out all my previous Creative Pep Talks in this playist!

Could you ...

Andrew Darlow is a New Jersey-based photographer, inventor, author, and digital workflow coach. For over 25 years he has helped people preserve, protect and back up their irreplaceable photos, videos and other digital files. His photography, tips and reviews have appeared in many publications and media outlets, including: People magazine, Animal Planet, Reader’s Digest and Professional Photographer Magazine. He is the author of fo...

What's your truth? Do you know? You might not—we're often not taught how to tell what's true for us, and instead, we're told what should be true for us. So why should we care, and how do we find out? I'll give you some suggestions in this short episode.

I teach women how to reignite their lost creative spark. If you’ve been tearing up when you encounter other people’s art because you’ve lost touch with your own, let's talk. 

Want...

Amy L. Bernstein is a multi-genre novelist, award-winning journalist, speechwriter, playwright, poet, and nonfiction book coach. Her new book is Wrangling the Doubt Monster: Fighting Fears, Finding Inspiration. Amy teaches a variety of writing workshops and is a frequent guest on podcasts to discuss writing, publishing, and creativity. Amy joins me to talk about the difference between writing for hire and writing fo...

Sometimes we don't act on ideas because we're convinced we can't sustain them long-term. Here's why you should take a chance—and how taking the leap on creative pep talks worked out for me. 🎉 Spoiler: This is pep talk ONE HUNDRED!!! 🎉

I teach women how to reignite their lost creative spark. If you’ve been tearing up when you encounter other people’s art because you’ve lost touch with your own, let's talk. 

Want more tips? Check...

My guest today is Wendi Gordon, a mental and spiritual health writer, speaker, and coach. Wendi writes for various digital media outlets, including her own “Changing Lives” newsletter, where she shares her mental and spiritual health struggles and the resources and practices that have helped her change her life to help others change theirs. Wendi talks with me about how she chose to become a pastor, the art of writing...