Creativity Miniseries: The Toolkit

Hello, hello! This is Danielle Ireland and I'm sitting here with Emily Sutherland and you are listening to the Toolkit episode in the Creativity Mini Series on Don't Cut Your Own Bangs. That was a mouthful. Thank you. Thank you. we're doing a little separate intro because emily and i this wasn't the plan but it turned out to be really beautiful and it just sort of evolved naturally but rather than having a you know a very hard kind of like clip and begin

We just started recording and having a conversation and it evolved into the episode. So the first... 15 minutes or so. It's not going to be a traditional like, welcome, boop, here's the topic. You're going to hear us chatting about creativity and art and our own processes.

But I assure you that it will evolve into the toolkit itself, which is what this episode is titled and what it's for. But also, if you want to skip ahead and you're like, just get me to the tools. I never want to slow down your enthusiasm. You can just skip ahead. That's what the little...

fast forward button in a podcast is for. So you can skip ahead if you choose. But I really loved the conversation we ended up having and I decided I wanted to keep it. So this is the proper intro. Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening. And now here's the episode.

I'm just kind of playing around while you were what? I did this for 20 years for a company that, you know, we started a website that had zero members and it was like a, there was a free side with concert schedules and things like that but there was a paid side where it was like behind the scenes stories interviews with the artists all this stuff and

Thousands of people joined this website and I was the only content writer for it. So I know how to communicate with the masses in ways that they connect with because they were paying money to be part of this community in which I was basically bringing the artists to them.

telling the stories about what how this or that tour went or what new things coming out or whatever but making it personal so i know i have the skill set to do that yeah but for whatever reason i just talk myself out of the fact that i have something to say about it that people haven't heard before You're reminding me of a time when I was like first wanting to declare basically to like LinkedIn in the world that I wanted to do public speaking and presentations and things like that.

I remember spending, oh gosh, I don't know how much time. I went to a coffee shop because I thought that's what young professionals did. They took a computer to a coffee shop. Oh, 100%. And tippity typed in what I was trying to take.

the presentation that i essentially had and the content i had and felt and try to like i was trying to basically google search corporate jargon acronyms and trying to figure out how i could sell how the benefit of what i do would help them earn and or save more money and or retain people right when the truth was That was me getting in that business's business. Yes. That's actually not my business, is not my area of expertise. And I think also, too, the thing that I didn't realize was

By doing somebody else's business, I was owning a solution that I didn't have any control over. I had no influence or ability to really have impact. I realized that I was taking on the responsibility of an outcome that, one, I couldn't really control and that I didn't want to own. And so I got clear on what is it that I, and I did this actually for my therapy practice too, what

And this could actually roll in great into the toolkit in a way. We'll find a way to pull it all together. But I remember a therapist I was actually seeing at the time said, what do you want to be responsible for in the therapy room? And I didn't realize as a recovering codependent that I probably had like a good boilerplate statement of like, to establish a you know healthy rapport and create safety like whatever i had to do to pass the exams but under that context what i

was also probably running a program that was like, well, I want my client to like me. I want my client to think that I'm smart. I want my client to think that I'm good at this. And I want them to feel better and give me the credit for that. And again, it was not top of mind. And I wouldn't have admitted to it then. And I can admit to it now because that's not true for me now. So I've got some safety and distance. That's huge.

But I think asking the question of what do you want to own and why do you want to do this? It just helped me kind of zero in on, oh, What I can influence or what I feel like I've got good impact on is like if someone signs up for a workshop, I can hopefully make it not a terrible 30 to 90 minute experience for them. I know how to make.

heavier content approachable and digestible i also think i'm kind of entertaining and charming so it's not going to feel dry or boring but like those were elements i'm like i have impact here so i don't know what they're going to take But I also know that I can drill in the same point. 10 different ways from 10 different perspectives and they'll walk away at least understanding this thing.

So those became more action. I felt more empowered going in because I knew what I was doing. And not that I didn't know what I was doing as a therapist, but I knew what I was going in that room to do. Right. You were clear on your... objectives and your strengths and all that stuff you know and even to loop it into the book and this whole creativity miniseries that we've done as we're starting to kind of we're crescendoing into our our toolkit

But I think the work became alive when I knew what it was. Right. And it's like the momentum.

and my confidence to talk about it continues to grow the clearer the project is right and so when there's a lack of clarity maybe lack of clarity is not the right way of saying it but maybe when there's when there's some hesitance or shrinking or contracting or that sort of like butterfly in the stomach nervousness of uncertainty I think that uncertainty is calling in a need for clarity there's something that needs to be clarified right that's good yeah that's really good yeah

We can talk about that because I have thoughts. Let's do it. Here's the thing. Whether it's a business, whether it's a project, what you would view as a creative project, or you're coming to a new idea or product you're developing or seminar that you're creating that type of thing experience for anybody

you have to come into it with the combination of like what do people need but also what is the thing that makes me want to do this that puts my own unique spin on it. If your seminar or my retreat or anything like that was going to be just like somebody else's why would we do it and I do think that bringing experience bringing a comfort level with just playing with an idea there's a lot that for me is unknown when I step into it but like you said a minute ago when we were just talking it

calling out for clarity when you're like what if i did it this way or this doesn't feel like me what how could i make it more me i do think that there is a lot of unknown territory that we walk into and we realize that We need to differentiate from just what everybody else is doing. That's why people open businesses every day because they bring something to the table that's not identical to the business next to them.

but that uniqueness you tell yourself in fear or imposter syndrome or whatever that it it's not gonna make a difference or it It's too different. People aren't ready for it. And I just think Even me right now, trying new things. It's so important to continue to come back to what unique story I have, whatever experiences I have that can help somebody else who's already in a different space or a different business or whatever.

want to interact with me or my idea or my business you know what I mean I do hearing you say there's something about the word original and you said original and differentiate I guess I'm not marketing this podcast to be a business expert or a business coach. So just take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt or take it however you want to take it. Sure. Sure. You can listen. You can decide.

I think that sort of lateral scan of comparison of, okay, who's next to me? Who's doing the same thing? Who's got this over there? There's already things like that. And I think that originality... in the pursuit of being original, I think sometimes we can betray ourselves. 100%. I think that, or I should even say I feel, I feel more safe in the presence of a coach, a teacher. Or I feel more.

safe even viewing a film because you know you're going to invest some time watching a movie and you can kind of tell just from the beginning like how established is the world and you know are they overusing the protagonist's first name to make sure we don't forget it like are they not giving us credit like those little cues but I think authenticity like Amy Schumer does what Amy Schumer does better than anyone else because it's

her voice like I was listening to Chelsea Handler she's promoting this new book that she just released and I just love some of the things that she can say The truth through her own filter is so unique to her that if I said those exact words, people would probably think terrible things because it's just, it's not my tone, it's not my tenor, it's not how I move through the world. But I love that about her, but it's authentically her.

And again, I'm not a business coach, but what stops me or gets me in the way? If I'm trying to figure out the business plan before I understand the heart of it, It's almost like reversing the order. It's not that those things don't matter or they're not important. It's if I try to get those types of nuts and bolts in place and then try to fit my heart in there.

you know my husband just gave me a great analogy yesterday he was he was like it's like if you had a jar and you have large stones pebbles and sand and if you put the large stones in first the big things that matter most to you and then you pour in the smaller pebbles they're going to find ways to make space and then you'll even find a place for the sand to settle. But if you pour all the pebbles in and the sand in, you're going to find that there won't be room for your big rock.

yes like they're gonna either kind of be bunched up on the top or even kind of like fall out yeah and so making the stable space for the things that matter most to you and then grounding all the other things that also matter but maybe don't matter as much to you Like for me, if it's not heart driven.

it's not that i don't like money i'm not a fool y'all okay money is great money is awesome but if i if the decisions i make are driven by that first they usually either drive anxiety comparison they run out of steam or i lose interest But the heart-fueled things, I love. Those give me endless energy. It's like rocket fuel.

I'm a little less concerned with the outcome because I've gained so much. And then all the other things that could come from it too, like, oh, well, this would be really fun if this also made money. Right. But I'm not, that's not the drive. Some people are driven by that and they crush it because that's authentically them. I'm only speaking for myself.

But again, I don't think you're listening to Don't Cut Your Own Bangs if you're trying to give business advice. So I'm just assuming. Right. But the things that cut through the noise.

are the things that are authentic you know so I think you're giving an idea the very best chance it has when it's coming from that deep place inside you and what you just explained with the jar and all the pieces and parts that you could try to squeeze into it that is the perfect illustration of why so many people burn out

in a business that they started because they thought it was the thing to do and it wasn't really creating space for the things that mean the most to them or felt authentic to them it was just like well this will make my previous generations proud or this is what i think is my only option or But I think what we have to find and I think people who are aging are actually

really good at this because you just don't have the energy for stuff that drains you anymore and you know people call it a midlife crisis it's probably just a midlife awakening to who you even are you know and i think as people get older sometimes

they're more clear on hey you know what I want to start painting again or I want to start painting for the first time or I want to lean into this part of myself that I didn't think fit into my jar before but it really needed to because i got so tired and drained yeah god it reminds me of The gift of hindsight, if you can look through the lens of compassion, is you can just see yourself at a different time, like whether it's last week or...

10 years ago but I'm having a moment like that right now where I'm remembering I was sitting in a workshop just like an eager fresh little I had my freshly printed diploma and I was starting in a private practice and I went to a workshop with other fellow speaker entrepreneur people and it was about creating.

basically like what did you want your position to be what how are you going to carve out what your what's your niche what are you going to talk about what's going to make you unique and stand out and it was a absolutely it was a great workshop it was just I was putting the car before the horse. i was more like i was putting the cart before the heart in a way because i didn't i wasn't clear on my why yeah that even rhymed i just had a moment with that before the art

Okay, well, so maybe that needs to be, that'll be a new book 2.0 or I'll find, yeah, I need to find something to do with that. That's really good. We're going to save that. Thank you. I remember I created this whole thing because I went first from the perspective of what does the world need from me?

And I was like, well, everyone's having a hard time with social media. That'll be my unique position. How to reduce anxiety with social media. And it sounded good. It was catchy. It had all the right buzzwords. And I could also mark it to fear, like the three things not to do, like all the things that grab your attention when you're scrolling. Sure. And it was so boring for me. Maybe boring is not the right word, but I just found the behaviors.

that I thought were procrastination or self-sabotage, I now recognize like, oh, it just wasn't heart. there was no it wasn't hurtful yes that wasn't the thing that you were most passionate about no i thought i was being like a good student of business and being successful but i also i don't begrudge doing that because i think doing it wrong

And I'm using air quotes with wrong or right, I don't want to judge, but doing it wrong a bunch of times did eventually help me land on whatever that form of right is. I think what you're describing is the path to success, is figuring stuff out. And just side note. I met you and heard you speak for the first time when you were doing that. And if that was the only thing that came out of it, I'm really glad you did it. Oh, that's so... I didn't even know that. I was in a Mekin.

yes and you were speaking and i was so excited to hear you speak and it was so good like to me that was a really relevant thing to present at a weekend it's like how am i interacting with social media it makes you think stop and be mindful about it so nothing's wasted oh man you just made me sweat oh my gosh that is here it comes oh that what a fun see hindsight through my lens and hindsight through another lens we never see ourselves clearly we don't that might be the only thing

none of us know and we may never know and then oh god well so this was lovely if you stuck with us for the first roughly 15 minutes or so I was warming up into this conversation about the creativity toolkit. We are going to get to the tools. i promise you we both have lists and handouts in front of us we're going to break them down for you and it's going to be great but also it's sometimes it's nice to put tools into context so i think we kind of framed a lovely context and i think it would be

Otherwise it would just be an audio format of us bulleting things. Yeah, I do think Sometimes when you're warming up and you just talk about what's on top of mind there can be a little bit of magic in there that maybe somebody needs out there so I think that's kind of what happened.

Warm up with an actual conversation about something because you never know what you're going to get. That's the first tool. So warming up, that makes me think of, I'm going to give a shout out to a woman named Betsy Murphy. She has a great sub stack. she writes from the heart she creates journal prompts like a daily she doesn't call them journal prompts she calls them writing prompts but if you're looking for another tool and resource to help lift

some writing and creativity for you. She shared a clip where John Mayer was being interviewed on a podcast and how like basically almost all of his songs start with just like a little riff that's a warm-up he's just warming up with his instrument he's warming up with his space he's warming up in the studio and then just something catches his ear in a way and he just kind of plays with it

so yeah i think that there's so many examples that probably validate exactly with that point i love that me too and i'm a massive fan of John Mayer's music. Same. I'm really glad to hear that. I can go to a show. It can be on in the background. It's always, it's just always pleasant. He's a good storyteller. Absolutely.

If you've been enjoying this time with Emily Sutherland and myself, I want you to know that there are still ways that you can connect and collaborate with her and continue to learn from all of the wisdom she has in a more in-depth and personal way. We have another upcoming event, Storytelling for Business. It's April 4th, and this is great if you're a solopreneur, part of a marketing team, or a presenter, and you want to take your storytelling to the next level in the workplace.

Later in the year on May 9th, there is another really special event called Nurturing Your Creative Self. This is for anybody who used to lose time when they were coloring as a kid or loves to just mix new ingredient combinations together in a bowl and see what you can bake. However creativity manifests for you, it doesn't have to be writing, but this event does give you the opportunity to reacquaint yourself with your creativity.

and hopefully reignite a spark. So if you need help, support, you need a community, and you don't want to figure this out alone, you don't have to. Check out the link in the show notes, and you can have all the detailed, in-depth information and can sign up there. the creativity toolkit so we've tried breaking it down in a couple of different ways so there's a process toolkit like the actual big picture process and then electronic tools

And then we even have physical tools like things that you hold in your hand. Would you like to start with process? Where would you like to start? Process. So what I have in process is a few different little notes. and I call it a tool because it seems like a tool for me write it down when you feel it like put the cart before the heart or before the art that is something i wrote down because i was like oh there's something

sparkly in that right and sometimes you never know when those little blurbs are going to come out and maybe you don't have a pen and paper with you all the time i think jerry seinfeld like there's a few people who very famously always keep something to write with and on on their person if that's not you If you listen to the creativity miniseries, I spoke.

my book into a voice memo or sometimes initially i didn't even think about writing it down i just spoke it to emily so even just like speaking it aloud to another human can help you not feel solely responsible Yes. For that spark of an idea, but write it down when you feel it. I think too, in the middle of the night, you can either

get a brilliant idea that you're not going to remember in the morning. Or it can be bad pizza and you think it's a good idea, but regardless, you need to write it down. I usually try to keep something and a pen by the bed. Yeah. Because if there is something that I need to capture, I can decide later whether it's bad pizza or good.

writing you know but i'm not gonna know in the middle of the night probably it's gonna feel like genius in the middle of the night but regardless i do think it's important to have something in reach all the time because as you turn on the faucet for ideas then they flow. And so once you start realizing that you're ready for them, they bless you and come to you.

Yeah, that's another way of thinking about warming up too. So there's almost like the more granular warm up like we were talking about in the context of warming up to do a podcast. But there's also, I feel like I have been warming up. there's like I no longer feel as like stiff like I'm dusting off the cobwebs of engaging with my creativity because I've been more present with this book for the last six months or so so it's almost like

I'm warming up to a new habit. And then there's also the more nuclear present tense warm up. But to your point, it's like once you start engaging with it more regularly, more things are just going to come. Yes. yeah give yourself the freedom To not feel like you have to.

Be panic-stricken like, there's an idea, I can't forget it. So yeah, write it down when you feel it, when you hear it, when you see it, however your ideas come to you. And then be ready for the idea. For me, what that looked like was wanting. And that sounds so silly, but it's kind of like you feel the hunger before you think about what you want to eat or even where you want to go. So it's like being ready for the idea. I'm not hungry now. I know I will be.

And I have a fridge full of food. I'm very blessed in that way. So like I'm ready for my hunger. So it's like.

fill the fridge yeah yeah yeah like i've heard elizabeth gilbert talk about like she creates creativity traps for herself so she has an area in her home that always has like a notebook and pencil an area that always has her paints out so it's not something she has to think about it's just if she walks by and it catches her eye she just goes and just kind of does something with it my version of being ready for the idea was my walking that was a big one and just kind of that

excited anticipation it's like when you know you have a vacation planned months down the road occasionally you're going to think about oh yeah i need to get the rental car oh i should probably like thinking about it creating some safe distance from it can also help you be ready for the idea. Absolutely. I also put don't share it right away. What do you think about that? I think it depends. If I don't share it I'll talk myself out of it.

Oh, that's good. But there's a lot of vulnerability with that because the reason I don't share it is because I'm not sure if it's a great idea or not. So you might think I'm silly or dumb or like, oh my gosh, you know, I can't believe she had that idea. That's so weird.

but at the same time we have ideas for a reason so it's like is this an idea for me that i need to work through something or an idea maybe i just need to get out in my garden and dig through dirt and maybe that's just for me or maybe my family is going to want this food and you know

it translates to any area of creativity but when you share it with somebody or know that you might share it with somebody I think helps you take it seriously instead of just being like, man, that's silly to go dig in the dirt or to pick up my pants or write this lyric. that somebody may never sing. Maybe as I'm thinking of this more, I think for me, I was thinking more in the context of being discerning about what to share, when to share, and who to share it with. So like what, when, and who.

Sometimes I'll get like a spark of something. Or something that just feels really exciting. And then if I go to my husband while we're trying to feed the kids. Or like we just put the kids down and we're tired. And I still have a little bit of this bubbling enthusiasm and he's just finished a day and we're both covered in whatever pasta sauce or whatever. And I'm like, Hey, what do you think of blank? I'll probably be met with.

Cool. And not because he doesn't love me, not because he doesn't care, not because that's not a great idea. So I think it's I have made that lapse in awareness.

number of times or maybe I've shared it with a friend who kind of maybe they're like a straight shooter and they're gonna like give me an edit when it's still a brand new idea i'm not ready for an edit yet right i maybe need a cheerleader right like when i came to you i didn't know what i would be met with but the idea was solid enough with me that i was like i think i have something do you see something

And now, I think I could with confidence now, if I had a spark of an idea, text it to you, do you think this is anything? But I think that that's because we've developed more of a relationship than we have before so it might even be maybe it's not a blanket statement don't share it but maybe it think about when it's at its most tender stage who are your tender people yeah that's really good and then like when you're ready for it to kind of be chipped away

who are the people that can do that respectfully and kindly and safely. Yeah. But still do it. Absolutely. And on this side of the idea, the other side of the idea, when somebody comes to you and they have a little baby idea, I do think it is important to... understand that ideas are tender and that you don't go right in if you see an edit right away maybe don't start with that you know because i do think that especially with people we're close to a spouse or whatever

We do tend to be really honest about things, and I know that I've done that with my husband's ideas. He'll say, you know, I'm thinking of an idea for an event. He's a wonderful event planner, and he's very good at all the details and figuring it out. Sometimes I'll be like isn't that place really expensive or some dumb thing like that instead of like really meeting his idea with a an openness to say wow

That would be really cool. I know you have a lot to work out to make it happen, but I like the idea. Because who knows? We all know that every great idea starts as a, I don't know if it's a great idea. And then we step on the stones until we're at a different place with it. I do think that as the receiver of an idea, it is a little tender baby. We have to remember that. That's sweet and that's nice to think of it from both sides because yeah.

I have absolutely taken the bludgeoning tool to some of my husband's sweet, tender ideas. So it's good to have that humility and recognize it. It goes both ways. I wrote journal as another process tool for me. Your reference creativity is like a faucet and letting the water flow. And I think whether it's writing or... Whatever your process is, it could be sketching, it could be humming, it could be whatever it is.

to actively participate in a process that doesn't require an outcome or a deadline, that there isn't, you're just letting the water drain a little. And I find that that helps me. stay a little bit more in that flow, that creative flow, but not, here's another way of thinking about it, because this process is intimate. There's an account that I follow online, I'm trying to think of the name, like Vanessa and Alexander.

She's a sex therapist and her husband, they create content together about like sex and intimacy and committed relationships. And it's really, they do really, really great stuff. But they talked about something called the bristle response. and it's It's an interaction where every time your partner touches you, the other person kind of bristles, flinches, or lifts their shoulders or tightens or contracts.

It's generally a response that develops when every time your spouse touches you, you think they're trying to initiate something. And so the way to move through that was

to allow for and create touch that feels good to both of you consistently. It's not about not touching or getting super heady in your mind but like holding hands snuggling like reintroducing touch more frequently in a way that's not always leading to an outcome sure or that you don't associate with leading to an outcome and so i think for me in this instance Journaling is a way that I can every day show up or nearly every day show up.

I've written some words on a page, but it may not be a newsletter. It may not be for a book. It doesn't have to be for an outcome. That way when I do show up with it, I don't have this bristle response. Okay, I gotta get my ideas going. And you're speaking to something that is true of creativity because I've really been leaning into that part of me for a long time. Decades and decades. I used to think that the more that I wrote, the more that I would write out of ideas.

the more you write the more you see that there is to be written and the deeper that you're able to go and it's like putting your feet in the ocean and letting the water you're like i'm in the ocean and you don't realize that the more you step into the ocean bigger it feels and get.

and all of a sudden you're swimming in this eternity of water that you didn't really know how it felt to be in that until you started with the little bit on the shore you know and I do think that creativity is very much like that it's very fluid and it's very immersive once you learn to trust the process.

And so process as a toolkit, as we're talking about that, trust that ideas come to you because either they want to live or they're trying to bring their friend ideas to you so that you can really immerse yourself in creativity and that way if one idea doesn't work You're not like, well, that was my only idea. I am a terrible person. I am not a good creator because I had one bad idea. But maybe you have a hundred ideas with potential. Yeah.

and I do think that the more I live the longer I live the more I'm like you know what if I have an idea I'm just gonna start taking steps and see if it's anything and if somebody else Sounds like it, you know, hey, yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Then maybe I'll take another step. And then I realized, you know, there are all these other ideas out here. So I do think it is very much like a faucet and you're not going to run out of ideas if you start down the road with one.

gosh i never really even thought of that but that i could absolutely see that especially if you have done something that maybe has achieved some degree of success and you're like oh god was that my one was that my one hit you know absolutely i worked with artists for 20 years and one of the most brilliant artists that i knew he but he was a child prodigy and he did this epic project and I

did a review on it and an interview with him about it and later he told me it was like you've got that project and it was like a soundtrack of our life and it combined classical music and gospel and hymns and all these different kinds of music and So I talked to him about it and he was like, yeah, but I don't know if I'll ever do anything that good again. Everybody wants to write that album where you're just like, I can't do any better than that. But he's glad he did it. He doesn't regret.

You know, of course it might be the best idea you ever have But then maybe it's not. Maybe you'll go on and have an even better idea that appeals to a whole different group of people. Yeah. It just goes back to, I think, the heart. If you're doing it for praise or acceptance or accolades, which my God, who does not want those things?

I mean, of course, but I think as long as you maintain some level of a personal sense of why it matters to you, the outcome, it's like great if it's this, it's okay if it's not.

erica badu i'm referencing an interview that someone was quoting her so this is like a quote of a quote of a quote she was speaking to this other artist who was i guess asking her about like how do you make things that appeal to people how do you get the people who are listening to your art or looking at your art to understand like I want them to understand and her response was I cook what I like to eat and I serve it and then

what they choose to take in that's not my business true there was just something about that i cook what i like to eat it was a much more simple and succinct way of saying it keep cooking what you like to eat I want to shift a little bit into some nuts and bolts. I know you've got a handout in front of you that's beautiful. And you're teaching me about the technology pretty much in real time. So I'm going to let you take the helm. What are some of your favorite electronic tools?

First and foremost, Scrivener is a manuscript software that a friend of mine recommended. He was like, I'm hearing about the Scrivener. I wonder if you've ever, do you know anything about it? And I went searching, you know, to see what are the reviews. I was like oh I think this is going to help me write my first book and he told me this just as I was beginning to compile.

stories and notes and things for auntie and for the first book that she and i wrote together it was called the secret lies within and it was a traumatic story so i had a lot of resources to gain i had a lot of

interviews and research and things that I needed to keep together. Scrivener helped me keep all of these notes, all of our conversations, audio recordings urls in one place and right at the same time so i could split my screen and i could have all of the research in front of me our conversations all the tools at a click but I can be writing in the manuscript draft and it kept it all organized and my mind is not linear it doesn't just line things up so even when I'm writing something

like a recipe i was writing a recipe last night i'm writing something and then i have to go back and like add carrots of like you know because my mind just doesn't naturally just line things up linearly So Scrivener is great because it's a really inexpensive one-time download and they will upgrade it for free if they have updates or anything like that.

and it is such for me a great tool not only for the writing process and keep it organized but also then you can compile all of your chapters and things you can create a table of contents and it automatically puts in the page numbers and like knows where things are it's amazing time-stamping tool you can put it out into drafts and you compile it into manuscripts that are format and form

Sending out a publication, you know, like if you want a traditional or hybrid publisher usually you need to send sort of a proposal. You have to format the manuscript in a certain way for those purposes. And this automatically does all of that for you and shows you, oh, you need a table of contents, you need a title page.

And those are things that not everybody knows when they're writing the book. Right. You're just jumping into the idea. And I'll just say, I didn't use that. I used Google Docs for my little, my little Chili's book. wrestling a walrus but having heard this i'm definitely i'm gonna get it and and also emily has an affiliate link for you that will be linked in the show notes and i promise this whole thing wasn't one long ad for Scrivener and the affiliate link. However, it's like, why not? Why not?

right use it oh my gosh I was sending people to this before I even know they had an affiliate link. And one time, I set an intention in the new year one time to say, you know, if there are relationships that I need to forge with people that I already... refer people to or use and this was just one of those things I was like I wonder if Scrivener has an affiliate link because I'm sending people there anyway you know I didn't care

But it really is one of the most powerful tools I've ever started using. And we've talked a little bit about how I'm gently wading into the screenwriting world. It also has screenwriting software built in so we can choose format. It also is good for research papers and has formatted templates for all of that stuff. There's a little learning curve, okay? There are some videos that they provide, many videos that they provide on how to do things, how to compile, how to do this.

so that you can get the most out of it. And honestly, I haven't even watched them all. I got enough to function for what I need to do, but it's all there if I'm like, oh, I don't know how to do this one thing. or i'm having trouble compiling you know i can always go back to their tutorials because they're all built in

So learning this technology may be your form of preparation or it could be some perspiration. I know sometimes when I approach new technology, I get a little sweaty. But also, it's like all that to say these are tools and it's like...

It's like that expression that, you know, if all you have is a hammer, everything you see is a nail. The tool is most useful when it's applied, when it's needed. So like if you're just a baby bird and you haven't left the nest and you're just trying to hold on to this like... little wisp of an idea that's okay but if Scrivener excites you or if understanding how something like that works gives you more confidence to jump into an idea wherever you jump in I mean that's the beauty of

You never know when inspiration is going to strike. You never know when the idea is going to come. So maybe you start preparing before you even have the inspired idea. Maybe that's what invites it in. For me, overcoming the hurdle of technology kind of reminds me, oh, I'm better at stuff than I give myself credit for. Oh, calm down, internal critic. So wherever you are in the process, just know that these tools are there.

They're not going anywhere. This is just one example. Google Docs was a tool for me. I wrote my first children's book using Google Docs. so just know that is an option too is it the most efficient sounds like it's not for a children's size manuscript though you know don't work yeah and no no judgment i'm not judging i'm just saying that that was a tool voice memo apps i love voice memo apps because what i have realized is i love writing in a particular way but i wouldn't call myself

The way that Emily is a writer. I love telling stories and I have a lyrical way of telling stories that's really pleasing to my ear. I think I'm a pretty strong communicator. But there are people who understand the English language and the punctuation and editing in a way that's like on a deeper, richer level.

for me the voice memo app helps me get out of my head to get the heart of whatever message i'm trying to convey and either the voice memo app or even most phones now have a talk to text function that's brilliant because you can just ramble, ramble, ramble, and then copy and paste that into Scrivener or onto a Google Doc wherever you choose. And then you have, I mean, it might be misspelled and...

You know, a lot of FFFT, KKKKs, like, you know, they don't get the word, right? But then you're not starting with a blank page. You have the wisp of an idea already and you're not trying to chisel it into stone. Because I think that's so much of what keeps me from maybe... just starting to write a first draft.

I feel like, well, I don't want that to live out there. I want only the good version to live out there. But there's something about speaking it out that makes it feel non-threatening to me. I love that. I have worked with a number of clients who wanted to write a book. And they never touched a computer because they told me the story and I did all that part for them. And I do think you get so much life and so much vibrancy from hearing someone say the story out loud.

If they're not used to capturing their own voice in writing, it can get lost. And so I love writing with people who will let me interview them and then I can take that. Talk to tech.

and transcribe it or companies and online platforms will do that for you really inexpensively if you do that for yourself it was such a great way to really capture somebody's voice but also then to clean it up because we don't write exactly how we talk but what you're saying about getting that heart getting that personality and your unique voice that is such a strong way to do it you know and to start with that I have a client right now

I'm coaching her through her book, and she doesn't even own a working laptop. And she's using the Notes app in her phone and sending that to me, and I'm putting it in a description for her, you know. So it's like whatever you have at the time you have it, that's enough. Use what you have to start where you're at. Also, do too.

i quite literally before we started recording this podcast i got some new equipment i was trying to set it up i didn't realize until maybe 45 minutes before we pressed record i was half set up and i didn't have two mics running through running through which we need because there's two of us here and so I had a little moment I wouldn't call panic but just a little like drop of dread in my gut like oh no but thankfully There's YouTube and what a great resource. I learned how to use a power drill.

lord help my husband was like I am going to be drilling the shit out of... I'm just like, I want this hung up, this hung up. But anyway, I watched a YouTube video on how to anchor and measuring and all the things. I have very successfully hung many items in our home.

currently because of youtube i'm learning all kinds of gardening right now this is the time of year where i start putting things in and i'm just like how do you not kill your eggplant in indiana in the spring youtube video boom it's kind of like when i have clients who are struggling with anxiety i'm like don't go to google google's not your therapist they're not your doctor however

For a creative person, when you're trying to figure out a how-to, don't diagnose. Don't go to the internet for diagnosing. Oh, no. But if you're like, how do I open Scrivener? How do I self-publish a book? There's lots and lots and lots and lots of resources there, which leading to self-publishing. Do you want to talk a little bit about IngramSpark? Which that word... Sounds funny in my ear, so I'm going to spell it out I-N-G-R-A-M-S-P-A-R-K.

self publishers can upload your art and your text files to be printed on demand. It's an on-demand printing platform. And many hybrid and traditional publishers will send it to Ingram. They just have professionals to do all the behind the scenes stuff, which is why often you'll pay a hybrid publishing team to do all the things.

But you can go straight to Ingram yourself. It's just going to take a little bit more prep work and knowledge. Again, YouTube is very helpful and IngramSpark can distribute. and print on demand so that all you do is you upload your files from there and there is a resource guide on Ingram as far as stuff.

how do I format my files and that could fall into the perspiration that we talked about before as well because you're like trying to make sure that you're whoever's doing your cover art and you know the inside pages you have to have certain dimensions and they have tools on the IngramSpark website where you can figure out okay how much would it cost me to create this in an 8x10 book versus a 5x9 book. There's all the dimensions that determine how many pages long it is and those types of things.

They have guides and charts and pricing. You can play with the pricing calculators and stuff like that on there to figure out what your files need to look like. And once you decide on a dimension, and it will tell you okay if you're having a full color title or i mean a cover and black and white

interior pages this is how much it will be and you just kind of have to play with that but it will in essence guide you through the self-publishing process and get it on amazon and get it on online platforms for book retailers so my children's book and soon to be your children's book, Wrestling with a Walrus, will be in BarnesandNoble.com, even if the store doesn't have space for all of the books that people write.

It's still on their website. It will still be on their website if you go through IngramSpark and you approve that you want them to do that. They do have a printing fee and a shipping fee for whatever you decide to print and order for yourself.

but that depends on how fast you want it and all the stuff you know there are variables there but there's not currently at the time of this recording there's not an upload fee and all you're paying for if you want to have an artist or an author booth at the local author fair or just on your website or anything like that. You're just paying for the book. as they're printed so you can order one and see how it looks which I recommend doing order one see how it looks make sure

all is as you want it to be and then if it is you go in and order however many you want for your book table or whatever. It's a very very nice platform because it gives a lot of power to authors. when emily and i first met for breakfast months ago that initial meet when i was like i think i have an idea she gave me the ingram spark breakdown just like she did and it was equal parts oh my god

I can do anything. It's like, if I can push past the sweatiness, I can do anything. It was equal parts empowering and terrifying because I'm quickly approaching this process. And it's making me feel some feelings, sweaty feelings. But all that to say, if you want to do it, it can be done. Yes. There's a lock for every key. And yeah, you can totally figure this out. I hope that this space is a good place of encouragement for you in that process.

Discomfort doesn't mean it's dangerous, and doubt doesn't mean don't do it, and you just may need some support, and that's what this is for. For sure. Speaking of support, I want to add another resource too is community. It's listed in the show notes and there's an ad for it in the episode, these workshops that Emily created.

But I just want to also invite that too. It's like sometimes you just need to know that you're not alone in doing it. You know, I got very lucky that I got to connect with Emily. But I have kind of toggled together this community that supports me in the process of making this book. It's like four people kind of in my corner that are just there. And I think the benefit of going to a workshop like Emily creates is that...

you're going to build that community you just you go to those places you're working on creativity it's an intimate thing and you're gonna walk away with somebody in your corner and new valuable information so i just want to say like wherever you're listening you know if you're in the indianapolis area please go to the show notes and check out her upcoming workshops this year but if you're outside of that then I really want to encourage you to just do a cursory search because there are

There are other Emily's and Me's doing our own versions of this in other parts of the world, too, and try to find them. Yes. I also want to throw out something that has happened since we talked. After the storytelling retreat that I did in February, I noticed everybody saying, how can we stay in touch? And this happens at the end of every event that I've ever done because people do need support. They're ready to go home and embark on.

this project or the idea that that sparked and they're like, I don't know how I'll do this without support. So I did start on Substack something just simply called storytelling community. It's free. I don't have any paywalls at this point because I just want people to feel that they have a place to go and say, hey, has anybody ever used IngramSpark or Kindle Direct Publishing is another one. What are the pros and cons?

And probably somebody, especially over time, you know, I mean, I'm monitoring it, so I'll bite on those questions. But also, as more people come, more experiences are shared, and we can sort of just... like you're saying you know just throw out ideas or just know that each other is there or we can even just say hey my inner critic is really loud today and everybody's gonna be like oh my gosh i'm so sorry you know we're sending you love yeah so yeah not only are there

in-person communities but there's online communities and so last but not least I want to end this tools conversation And you can't tell because you can't see me yet. Video episodes are actually in the works. That's a little Easter egg. But I am holding my favorite pen. and i think talking about tools is important to talk about nuts and bolts tools the sharpie pen the fine tip sharpie pen in black is the best pen in the world

I will go to the mat for anyone who says otherwise. We might have to go to the mat. Oh, no. Oh, no. Emily, is this going to be our first fight? It might be. What's your favorite pen? The Pilot G2. Oh, no. It's just so great. And they come in all colors. I have purple and pink and turquoise and green and blue and black. And I just love every single one of them. Burgundy, the Pilot G2. Okay, well, I will, I'll consider it. Okay, I'll just, I am so partial.

The sound that this pen makes on the paper, it's so smooth and buttery. It doesn't have the like... so the other pens and also I think because the way I write I write fast i don't have to press very hard because it's just there's just so much pigment in that tip it's just so great But, you know... It's good to have variety and so on that.

And don't worry, Sharpie pen's not a sponsor, although maybe they should be. Maybe they should be. A dual sponsorship. I don't know who owns both companies, but maybe a merger is necessary for us. That's fabulous. But yes, if you have a favorite pen, That's the tool that you want to have in abundance. like if you have your favorite chapstick or your like emotional support water bottle it's like for your creativity traps or for keeping things near

Have something you want to write with and something you want to write on. So true. Oh yeah, the Pilot G2 Emily's Faves. She wrote it in our shared note, so I see the Pilot G2 pen. And read the rest of the line. Emily's Faves in multiple colors. In multiple colors. That's very important. So that's interesting. I only use black and she likes multiple colors. So this really is a choose your own tool. Another favorite of mine is Big Magic. The book Big Magic.

bird by bird and the artist way those are three books that's like after this podcast wraps and you're like i want to dive more into the how and how do i do and how do i get in touch with and all the different layers of everything we talked about Those three books, I would just order them, go to your local bookstore, go to your library, Big Magic, Bird by Bird, The Artist's Way. I like writing on notepads when I have big ideas.

But I also like to journal and a little note and like a little journal. I also have a journal that I sell. It's always linked in the show notes. It's talked about just about every episode of this podcast. It's not new, but it's... Really helpful for anybody who's wanting to do some emotional excavating and doesn't want to look at a blank page in that process. It's a great tool for that. I love it. It's called Treasured.

But when I'm working on big ideas, particularly like podcasts or a broad story, I like a big sheet. And so I use the same notepads that I use for my therapy clients for their note and record keeping. But that's me. I love me some rifle paper company little notebooks because I'm left-handed and they don't have spiral on the left.

side it's about sensory experience for me so i have all these little ones they look they're thinner but which is good because i like to start journals more than i like to use the whole thing like you know i've started many journals and these are thinner

but they're always pretty i always feel like writing in them and i don't feel like i'm ruining a whole fat journal if i start one and kind of go halfway through it and then be like oh i need to start a new journal about this other project i'm doing yes One thing I stopped doing is I turned my idea notebook and my journal into the same so that I wasn't juggling multiple notebooks. Because I was almost making a process that was meant to make my life easier.

harder but that's just a very specific to me thing so everything it goes in one and it's actually a really good idea well thanks it's a tool you can use if you choose i just rhymed again well i feel spent on ideas. Is there anything else that you feel like any more juice left to squeeze Emily before we wrap this up? We live in the day of the internet, you know, where you can find one another and ask each other questions, and I think there is a lot of power in just knowing that we're out here.

and that we're cheering for your ideas and that there are tools for even the most beginning beginners to find your way to make your idea live. There are ways to make almost any idea live in the world we live in, and there's a way to find out how to do it. So the connection is huge, I think. that's so good and I will say because we're doing this on the podcast

I think I wouldn't have felt the confidence in myself to approach a platform like IngramSpark. I almost did one of those like intermediary. sort of supported self-publishing places that I would have paid probably somewhere between $25 and $3,500 for them to basically do what I'm going to do sweating in front of a computer by myself.

And there's nothing wrong with that too, by the way. But I think confidence, I think, comes after you do something challenging. A lot of times we try to reverse engineer that order as I want to feel confident and comfortable before I begin. And I felt confident in my ability to figure it out because I have approached technology with this podcast so many times and come out on the other side and figured it out.

So sometimes the thing that gives you confidence may not be directly the thing you want to work on or do. But I have evidence that technology has scared me. And I sat down and I slowed down and I breathed deep and I didn't over-caffeinate and I figured it out. So I have confidence that I will be able to do that because I've done that before in other contexts. So just take that last little anecdote. I hope you enjoyed the toolkit.

It was a much more robust episode actually than I thought it was going to be, but it was really lovely. What a great way to kind of bookend. the whole creativity miniseries and I'm sure we're going to have Emily back. Oh man, this has been really fun. Thank you for letting me talk about my favorite thing. My pleasure. This was an absolute joy and a gift. And gosh, the best things that share is just like the gift that keeps on giving.

I'm going to wrap up here, and I hope everybody listening hops on over to the show notes, check out the affiliate links, links to things that we referenced in that episode, as well as the upcoming workshop. Wherever you're listening, wherever you are in your creative process, keep going because we want your art. And thanks for listening.