When stress becomes burnout, our personal, professional, and creative lives pay the price. 

Fear is primal. It's an instinct that is there to keep us alive, but it often won't let us thrive. Why do we often fear success? Why do we not take often even the "safe bet," much less the big gamble? How do we learn to manage, and even learn to harness fear and anxiety?

Believe it or not, coffee shops may offer more than just free WiFi.

Is there benefit to creatives for getting out into public places? It turns out, for most of us, the answer is yes. At least sometimes.

I haven't touched on it here lately, but there are a few important movements in the Gen AI landscape this week. We're seeing leaps forward in Gen AI video quality, which raises more concerns about deep fakes.

More importantly, we are starting to see the various lawsuits work through the court system with much of the Sarah Silverman case which include Chris Golden and Richard Kadrey, plus many others have a number of the complaints dismissed, but open to refile. Other cases from creators are being pushed to consolidate according to the "First Case" rule.

The Times case looks to have more possibilities based on the terms of the case, but all in all, I think we're seeing the direction of the courts and how these platforms have been trained.

Lucienne Diver (LucienneDiver.com) is an agent with the Knight Agency(KnightAgency.net), and a young adult and adult novelist. We do a deep dive into how you find and connect with an agent, the query process, what an agent does, and how to find a good one. We also discuss avoiding the scams in the business.

Then we shift into what it's like to be an agent and an author!

We all love to be recognized for our work, especially nominations, much less winning an award for our work. But when are the awards legitimate? There are a lot of scams out there. And what happens when even some of the biggest awards in the business come into question?

Learning is a lifelong process, or at least should be. The act of learning helps mental health and mental acuity, creates personal and professional opportunities, and encourages creativity.

This week we talk about the benefits and struggles of learning to learn, and some tips for how you can learn to learn!

It's tax time 2024!

Money works differently in a business than it does for your personal finances, and tax time is when you get to see a lot of the differences. Whether you are a freelancer, have a side business running, or it's your full time creative business, you have to deal with the second certainty of life.

Join me for a quick primer as you go into tax season, and some ways to help you prepare for this year, and beyond.

Ada Lovelace is a pioneer in computing, having worked with Charles Babbage and having innovated on his mathematical calculations engine to propose new and innovative uses, including creating music. We take  a look at Ada Lovelace, and how her parents greatly influenced her, and ultimately set her up to influence the world. A case for STEAM is showing how despite her mother's attempt to shield her from anything of the arts, how they shaped her approach to the world.

January 1 is Public Domain Day in that ever year this is when thousands of works Copyrights expire and enter the public domain. This year, it was Mickey Mouse's turn. Being that Disney has been a significant influence on Copyright Law and extending out Copyright dates, it's worth taking a look at what this means for the Mouse, how trademarks are still in play, what other famous works entered the PD. and what does this mean for creators?