The Creative Life Show

When Kathryn Nicolai decided to launch a podcast Nothing Much Happens: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, she didn't plan much fuss or fanfare. After all, she was a yoga teacher, not a writer. Since she was a small child, she'd told herself bedtime stories to get to sleep, and that's what she was sharing with other people to help them doze off. 'A little creative project, that's all', she thought.

13 episodes later, it had been listened to over a million times. That's an extraordinary number for any new podcast, never mind a little indie one from someone with very little public profile.

There are some terrific lessons in our conversation. Kathryn's just launching her second series of Nothing Much Happens, and we talk about how she's approached it. We get into exactly how she writes and records, and how she's gone from almost no social media presence to having a community of fans who can't get enough. We also talk about Kathryn's journey of discovering herself as a writer, and how it's already become central to her daily life.

She recalls: "My brother sent me a text a couple of weeks after I launched and he said, why does your voice make me cry? And I said, I don't know, but I cry when I read them sometimes. And it's just that feeling of being in that really open, vulnerable emotional space that just opens the floodgates for me."

I learn about aphantasia for the first time, which Kathryn has: a condition where she doesn't visualise pictures in her head. We talk about how she brings the senses and emotions in her stories so powerfully to life, in tales where, literally, nothing else much happens.

Whether you've got a niggling dream you'd like to bring to life, have an urge to launch a podcast yourself, or just want to know that anything really is possible, this is such a great listen.

Find out more at creativelifeshow.com.

Click to view: show page on Awesound

When Kathryn Nicolai decided to launch a podcast Nothing Much Happens: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, she didn't plan without much fuss or fanfare. After all, she was a yoga teacher, not a writer. Since she was a small child, she'd told herself bedtime stories to get to sleep, and that's what she was sharing with other people to help them doze off. 'A little creative project, that's all', she thought.

13 episodes later, it had been listened to over a million times. That's an extraordinary number for any new podcast, never mind a little indie one from someone with very little public profile.

There are some terrific lessons in our conversation. Kathryn's just launching her second series of Nothing Much Happens, and we talk about how she's approached it. We get into exactly how she writes and records, and how she's gone from almost no social media presence to having a community of fans who can't get enough. We also talk about Kathryn's journey of discovering herself as a writer, and how it's already become central to her daily life.

She recalls: "My brother sent me a text a couple of weeks after I launched and he said, why does, why does your voice make me cry? And I said, I don't know, but I cry when I read them sometimes. And it's just that feeling of being in that really open, vulnerable emotional space that just opens the floodgates for me."

I learn about aphantasia for the first time, which Kathryn has: a condition where she doesn't visualise pictures in her head. We talk about how she brings the senses and emotions in her stories so powerfully to life, in tales where, literally, nothing else much happens.

Whether you've got a niggling dream you'd like to bring to life, have an urge to launch a podcast yourself, or just want to know that anything really is possible, this is such a great listen.

Find out more at creativelifeshow.com.

Click to view: show page on Awesound

How do you create when the world seems to be full of destruction and pain? How do you keep going when there are so many distractions? Today I talk to the wonderful Anna Kunnecke about the stories we tell ourselves and how we can turn them to our benefit.

We talk about showing up 'as a grown-up' even when we just want to hide. We also contemplate the challenge of finding time for our dream when we have a life full of other demands. How should we prioritise our creative work when we have clients who need us, sick kids, bills to be paid, and a million injustices are calling us? How do we create beauty in our lives, no matter what else is happening?

Anna's approach is human, vulnerable and full of both pain and joy. But it's also full of practical ideas and ways of turning our stories and our lives round in small, practical, joyful ways.

Click to view: show page on Awesound

Newsweek named him as one of 15 people who make America great and he was Obama's first appointment to the National Council of the Arts. Yet Aaron Dworkin was just a violin undergraduate with no money or connections when he had the idea for The Sphinx Organisation, to transform representation in classical music. He talks about how hundreds of rejections never dented his determination, and the piece of mail that changed everything.

You’ll be fired up and inspired by:

* Why music practice was the the perfect preparation for taking on a huge, challenging project

* The huge role that mentors play in his life, and how he finds them

* The significance of partnerships rather than sponsors (and this is SO valuable, not matter what you want to launch)

* How to get people to give you money (“Who has more money than the president of the World Bank?”)

* Performance poetry and his latest science fiction novel

We also talk about how he keeps his outsider position and uses it to keep challenging and making change. Feeling powerless? This is a great listen if you’re not sure how to get heard for something that REALLY matters to you.

Click to view: show page on Awesound

Marsha Shandur was living as she'd dreamed of for nearly 15 years: a job as a successful radio DJ, a life full of live gigs and music, on the brink of the big time. But there was something missing. (Whisper it: she was getting bored).

So she took off. She moved continent, with no plan and no job. And that's how she started her journey that's led to her business as a much-loved storytelling coach, in demand by private clients and events to help them build trust and connection, and make it FUN.

Marsha and I have have a blast talking about:

* The beginnings of True Stories Live (with just 3 people in the audience) and her brand YesYesMarsha

* The difference between your zone of excellence and your zone of genius - and how to find yours.

* Why talented creative people get stuck: finding themselves doing highly competitive jobs that should be fun, but aren't - and what Marsha did to get out of it

* The SINGLE biggest mistake that most people make telling their stories (and this is so easy to change in your own)

* How to to get started with a story that's compelling, relevant and fun, even if you're feeling as interesting as a white bread sandwich, or as overwhelmed as a kitten in a wool-basket

Marsha is SUCH fun, and full of practical, useful tips on how to make your story work for you, to get you the creative life you really want.

Click to view: show page on Awesound

Monica Michelle had a thriving, six-figure photography business which she loved. She adored the families, the kids, the women who she did boudoir photos for, as well as the events and the travel she was in demand for.

She'd had to give on a career as a dancer, but that was ok. But now, her body started going wrong. Gradually she had to start reducing what she did, as every part of her became weaker and more painful.

Then, the diagnosis. And a period of deep introspection and wondering what on earth to do with the energy and creativity that had always driven her.

If you're expecting a sad episode, don't! Monica is joyously positive, and the host of a fast-growing and successful podcast, an author and illustrator. This is a brilliant lesson in how to reinvent yourself, and find new outlets for your creativity, no matter what life throws at you.

Click to view: show page on Awesound

Senior ad man, and CEO of one of Britain's leading design companies, or bestselling author and photographer? Roger Mavity is both, and joins me to debunk some creativity myths, mischief making in the toilets (literally), and taking no nonsense from clients. (Ever tempted to take on work from a client who's not respecting you? Listen now!)

Roger demonstrates brilliantly the different sides that creative people can have, simultaneously. Maverick or master, productive or procrastinating? All of it, together.

Click to view: show page on Awesound

Mia Michaels, multiple Emmy-winning choreographer is best known for her appearances as judge and choreographer on So You Think You Can Dance and the Broadway show Neverland, and she's worked all round the world with stars from Madonna to Prince. She joins me to talk about the greatest creative challenge she's ever faced: now. Instead of climbing the next mountain with guts and determination, as she always has done, she's pausing, listening and waiting to what's ready to be born. We also talk about the importance of fear, the 'vortex of craziness' that uncertainty brings, and what brought her to write her first book: 'a guide for exceptional, excellent misfits'.

Click to view: show page on Awesound

'A writer who is not writing is a danger to herself', says Michaela Chung. She's the creator of the hugely popular website IntrovertSpring, author of two books and in-demand expert on how to thrive as an introvert. She joins Joanna Pieters to talk about her own creative and writing life.

Michaela shares how a creative crisis led to growing her website from 5 thousand visitors per month to 19 thousand, in just 30 days. It's a process she still repeats every time she feels blocked, bored or frustrated - which, she says, still happens regularly.

We also talk about the overlap between introversion and creativity, balancing our inner artist with our inner manager, and what happens when we stop feeding the 'writing dogs' inside us.

Get the full notes at creativelifeshow.com

Click to view: show page on Awesound

Sophie Sabbage lived and breathed books as a child: they healed her and made sense of her life. And yet it took decades and the diganosis of a terminal illness that made her finally sit down and write. The result was The Cancer Whisperer, a bestselling book that was translated into 11 languages and transformed her life.

And yet there was another book waiting: one that she'd promised her teacher and mentor to write as he was dying, ten years before. Lifeshocks is 'her greatest creative work', and yet she had to overcome myriad deep-seated fears that stopped her writing.

This is a great listen if you've ever felt intimidated by what you want to create, felt that you're somehow not good enough, or simply felt that you haven't yet found what you're called to create.

Find the full show notes and The Creative's Distraction Buster at creativelifeshow.com

Click to view: show page on Awesound