In the wild, chaotic world of 2025, we tend to think we have to pay attention to EVERYTHING. Here's why you might want to challenge that belief. If you're ready to reconnect with your creativity, join me on July 24 and 31, 2025, at 1pm ET as I lead the Pink Lady Posse Power Hour in a gentle hour of reconnection and rediscovery of your creative spirit. It's free! Register here . You can attend one or both sessions, though the second will build on the first. Want more tips? Check out all my previo...
Jul 23, 2025•5 min•Ep. 300
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 adventures including Dark Shadows and Doctor Who , and her Doctor...
Jul 16, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 299
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 . Want more tips? Check out all my previous Creative Pep Talks in this playlist ! Could you leave a review ? I...
Jul 09, 2025•4 min•Ep. 298
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 artist. Barbara joins me to talk about marital arts and how they influence her writ...
Jul 02, 2025•57 min•Ep. 297
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! Could you leave a review ? It's really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks! If you'd like to stay up to date on things like m...
Jun 25, 2025•5 min•Ep. 296
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, the hidden creativity in fields like software engineering and cooking, how manage...
Jun 15, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 295
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 ! Could you leave a review ? It's really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks! If you'd like to stay up to d...
Jun 11, 2025•7 min•Ep. 294
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 time, the special magic of teaching teens and young adults, and the way the arts ...
Jun 04, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 293
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 Talks in this playist ! Could you leave a review ? It's really easy, and it help...
May 28, 2025•5 min•Ep. 292
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), what we lose when we forget the lessons of the natural world and our roots i...
May 21, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 291
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 Creative Pep Talks in this playist ! Could you leave a review ? I...
May 14, 2025•4 min•Ep. 290
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, the democratization of creative pursuits like filmmaking, and more. Episode b...
May 07, 2025•57 min•Ep. 289
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 really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks! If you'd like to stay up ...
Apr 30, 2025•5 min•Ep. 288
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 for them, how to take feedback, and more. Episode breakdown: 00:00 Introduct...
Apr 23, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 287
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 leave a review ? It's really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks! If...
Apr 16, 2025•4 min•Ep. 286
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 four award-winning books, including his newest book: Focus and Fil...
Apr 09, 2025•59 min•Ep. 285
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 more tips? Check out all my previous Creative Pep Talks in this pla...
Apr 02, 2025•8 min•Ep. 284
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 for yourself, the pros and cons of MFA programs, how deadlines can work for or agai...
Mar 26, 2025•58 min•Ep. 283
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 out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! Could yo...
Mar 19, 2025•6 min•Ep. 282
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 in a church environment, including having a weekly prompt and having to delive...
Mar 12, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 281
Why should you start trusting yourself, and how do you start doing it more? I answer these questions in this super short episode. Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! Could you leave a review? It's really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks! If you'd like to stay up to date on things like my courses and also get podcast and event updates, and my latest musings, subscribe to The Spark !...
Mar 05, 2025•5 min•Ep. 280
Jennae Cecelia is a best-selling author and poet known for her poetry books, Uncaged Wallflower , The Sun Will Rise and So Will We , and Healing for No One But Me . Her mission as an author is to comfort and encourage people. In addition to writing, she is focused on helping other authors learn how to successfully put their writing out into the world. Jennae joins me to talk about how she got her start with poetry, including her family’s reaction to the idea of poetry as a career; the unexpected...
Feb 26, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 279
I'm just back from this year's Gallifrey One Doctor Who convention, and it's reminded me of the importance of being brave. How? Why? I'll tell you in this short episode. Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! Could you leave a review? It's really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks! If you'd like to stay up to date on things like my courses and also get podcast and event updates, and my latest musings, subscribe to The Spark !...
Feb 19, 2025•7 min•Ep. 278
Horror author Mark Morris has written and edited around fifty novels, novellas, short story collections and anthologies. His script work includes audio dramas for Doctor Who and a Doctor Who spinoff series, Jago & Litefoot , and the Hammer Chillers series. His most recent work includes a new novel, That Which Stands Outside , and a 30th anniversary short story collection, Warts And All . Mark’s work has won numerous awards, including two British Fantasy Awards, and two New York Festival Radi...
Feb 12, 2025•58 min•Ep. 277
It's incredibly counterintuitive, and can even be difficult, but one of the most important things you can do when the world is falling apart is have fun. I explain why in this super short episode. Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! Could you leave a review? It's really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks! If you'd like to stay up to date on things like my courses and also get podcast and event updates, subscribe to The Spark !...
Feb 05, 2025•5 min•Ep. 276
Photographer and author Autumn Carolynn’s relationship with wanderlust started early in her life, with a semester abroad in England. From there, she’s held a variety of travel-related positions, including flight attendant and travel agent, and all of them have allowed her to pursue photography around the globe. During the pandemic, she combined her photography with her travel stories, and the result is “Traveling in Wonder: A Photographer’s Tales of Wanderlust,” which encourages readers to embra...
Jan 29, 2025•59 min•Ep. 275
When there are a lot of things you could work on, which one do you choose? My answer is always the same, and very simple, though it's not always obvious or easy to follow thanks to the way a lot of us are taught: follow your energy! I explain why—and why ignoring the call of that energy can undermine us over time—in this short episode. Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! Could you leave a review? It's really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks! If you'...
Jan 22, 2025•6 min•Ep. 274
Robert Constant works in higher education fundraising by day, but his side passion is writing children’s books. He is the published author of two children’s books, Hey Tuskegee! and Hello Grandma!, both of which have spent time on Amazon’s bestsellers lists for their category. Robert talks with me about how your creative dream may change your life—and it may change someone else’s, too; that you don’t have enough energy because you’re not doing your creativity, not the other way around; and the f...
Jan 15, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 273
I recently sat down with my dear friend, author Cindy Lynn Speer, to talk about perfectionism and how it seeps into us through the culture in insidious ways we don't even recognize—and how it affects us in similarly sneaky ways. We also talked about how making bad art can help us undo those lessons and free us from the voices of the inner critics that have been installed in our heads so we can loosen up, create more freely and have more fun in our lives. Join us for Make Bad Art starting on Janu...
Jan 13, 2025•55 min•Ep. 272
What if the question of your creativity is more about how you define the term than whether or not you have any? I explain in this short episode. The second round of my Make Bad Art course starts on January 20! If you think you might be defining yourself out of your creativity, MBA is a great place to recalibrate that definition and come home to yourself. We had a fabulous time time in the first round, with moments of creative insight and inspiration all over the place! Learn more and sign up her...
Jan 08, 2025•8 min•Ep. 271
