Podcast

Have you ever had a spiritual awakening that opened your eyes to a new or deeper creative practice?

My friend Kim Roberts did. Her long-time yoga practice opened her eyes to the deeper dimensions of life, eventually leading her to Paris, where she started painting.

Kim is multifaceted, sharing her gifts as a yoga practitioner and instructor, psychotherapist, coach, artist, and writer with the world.

She joins me on Stumbling Toward Genius today to share how her many daily practices feed into one another, as well as:

• Her art-making process and how she opens herself up to express what’s inside
• From Paris to the San Luis Valley, how place inspires her work
• The one thing that holds her back and how she is facing her fears

Plus, we talk about her book, Toward a Secret Sky: Creating Your Own Modern Pilgrimage, and she shares a glimpse into her new online program that offers women the practical tools to navigate any life transition with confidence, courage, and grace.

Did you enjoy hearing about Kim’s artist origin story in Paris? I really believe many people find their creativity in Paris.

My creative life continues to be sculpted by this amazing city and I would love to share that with you.

If you have wanted to connect with your creative self for a long time or believe you are being called to a deeper level of writing, join me for Write Your Heart Out in Paris.  There are only three spots left!

How do you know when it is the right time to write and publish your book? And then, how do you find the courage to step back from a project that you’ve poured your heart into so you can create a larger body of work?

Today, you’ll hear a conversation with my friend, Heather Stimmler about the highly acclaimed Secrets of Paris website and newsletter. A labor of love, Secrets of Paris has been a trusted reference for alternative news, original feature stories, useful sightseeing advice, reviews and recommendations. She has been sharing insider information about Paris for visitors and residents for over twenty years.

Now Heather is sinking her teeth into her next challenge—writing the book about Paris tourism that has long been in her heart. She’ll share why she’s finding writing her book to be such a challenge and, and how she’s finding her way.

Listen in to hear:

• How Heather’s writing dreams have changed over the years and how she has taken the invitations from the universe and made them hers.
• Her step out of her writing comfort zone that went viral and how that’s helped push her forward
• How the Secrets of Paris has evolved and why she still has so much to say about the City of Lights after ‌all these years
• How she’s learning to let ‌go and make room for the new

Plus the small steps action plan that’s helping her move forward.

Want more of Paris?

I’ve been leading workshops in Paris since 2005. My Paris historical novel and many of my writing projects have been inspired by my time there.

Now, I bring my writer and writer’s coach out to lead an inimitable and life-changing writing workshop.

WRITE YOUR HEART OUT IN PARIS is designed for writers who want more for and from their writing. Find out more HERE.

Also this autumn in Paris is the fun and delightful Paris Sketchbook. I’ve invited four of my favorite sketchbook keepers to lead an inimitable creative adventure. All the details are here. 

Sometimes we get stuck thinking that someone else’s way should work for us, then we get frustrated when it doesn’t.

Today, on Stumbling Toward Genius, I talk with my friend Cory Huff about how he is navigating his creativity his way.

Cory Huff is Chief Marketing Officer at Productive Flourishing, founder at The Abundant Artist, and serial fiction writer. His background also includes acting in classical theater and narrative storytelling. He’s been existing at the intersection of business and creativity for 15 years.

In this episode, we talk with Cory about his own creative pursuits like acting and novel-writing. He also shares why he is passionate about helping artists recognize and elevate their potential through The Abundant Artist. You’ll also hear:

• How an anonymous benefactor set him on the path to where he is today
• What success means for an artist
• Why Cory decided to publish his fiction without expectations
• How he balances his business with his creative work
• How to be successful in your creative life on your terms

Plus, we will talk about his ADHD diagnosis. Cory walks us through strategies he uses to maintain his productivity so he can publish novels, short stories, and other writing while also maintaining his business.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

The Abundant Artist

Productive Flourishing

How to Sell Your Art Online

An Argument of Fairies

The Abundant Artist on Instagram

The Abundant Artist on Facebook

How to ADHD

The Smart but Scattered Guide to Success: How to Use Your Brain’s Executive Skills to Keep Up, Stay Calm, and Get Organized at Work and at Home

Daily Rituals: How Artists Work

Pippen

Do you have an unfinished project you’ve been working on for months, years, or maybe even decades? You know, the one you keep putting on the back burner for “some” day. But that day never seems to come?

Today, we’re talking with Charlie Gilkey, author of the book Start Finishing about what happens to us when we don’t finish the projects we start, and how we can “start finishing.”

Charlie Gilkey helps people start finishing the stuff that matters. He’s the founder of Productive Flourishing, author of the book Start Finishing (2019) and The Small Business Lifecycle (2012), and host of the Productive Flourishing podcast. Before starting Productive Flourishing, Charlie worked as a Joint Force Military Logistics Coordinator while simultaneously pursuing a PhD in Philosophy. He lives with his wife, Angela, in Portland, Oregon.

I’m excited to share our conversation with you. Charlie has been a tremendous influence in my life and on my creativity. Listen to hear the insight Charlie shared with me a few years ago that challenged me to think differently about the days of the week and dare to try something new.

Charlie says, “It’s really hard to go and look at this other thing that no one is asking for except your inner self and prioritize it.”

And yet, through his planners, books, and coming Momentum app (coming soon) he’s found a way to help people finish the projects that matter most.

Listen as he shares:

• Why we’re all asking the wrong questions when it comes to our projects and how to ask the right ones
• The secret to planning your creative time to get the best energy
• The value of focusing on fewer things—how hustle culture, grinding, and head trash are keeping us from finishing and how to align your (limited) time, energy, and attention towards the things that matter most.
• Why not everything is meant to be finished

Plus he’ll tell us more about the Momentum app and his new book, Workways coming in 2023.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Productive Flourishing

Momentum App — Coming in June

Start Finishing: How to Go from Idea to Done

Have you ever heard someone say something that felt like a dart to your heart?

My guest on the show today, Krissy Shields, had just such an experience when she heard Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams speak about racism at Camp Good Life Project a few years ago. That moment became a catalyst for change in her and led her to host a peer group called Brave Circle.

Krissy Shields is a wellness expert and the founder of Maha Mama, empowering families with accessible yoga, nutrition and mindfulness. She has taught in yoga trainings all around the US plus in homeless shelters, prisons and public schools, weaving in her passion for social justice, advocating for maternal health and anti-racism. She lives in NY on the unceded land of the Munsee Lenape with her family.

Our conversation inspired me, and I can’t wait to share this episode with you so you can learn more about Krissy, the Brave Circle peer groups, as well as:

• What being in relationship really means and how to find new ways to better support people from different cultural backgrounds
• The difference between a safe space and a brave space and how to initiate daring intimacy
• What she’s learned from her stumbles — she’ll take us behind the curtain to share how she remains curious, creative, and committed

Plus, she’ll introduce us to her new yearlong gardening program GROW! At The Good Place, a year long program on her farm to teach city kids about the process of seed to sprout to nourishment, where they can gain an appreciation of food and the wilds of nature.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Maha Mama

GLP – Camp GLP

The Sum of Us

Rev. angel Kyodo Williams

12 Years A Slave

Me and White Supremacy: How to Recognise Your Privilege, Combat Racism and Change the World

The Lost words

Aviva ROM

Who are you writing for? ⁠Who counts in determining what we create?

Sometimes we get bogged down by the idea of what our audience, peers, or the people in our lives will think of our creative pursuits. That can lead to a muddying of the waters of the creative process.

In this episode, Dallas shares how she broke through those barriers to write the books that were in her heart. Listen as she walks us through:

• How she learned to write for herself to leverage her creativity.
• The life events that inspired each of her books, and how the therapeutic power of writing helped carry her through grief
• How a decade working on the just-released Thanks, Carissa, For Ruining My Life reflects her growth as a person
• Plus the life changes that have helped her reframe her view of her writing time and ignited a new passion for investing in her creative pursuits

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Amy Bender
Gretchen Rubin
Sara Barelis
InstagramDallasWoodburn.com
Facebook Book Breakthrough Community
Thanks, Carissa, for Ruining My Life
The Best Week That Never Happened

What happens when you lose your mojo by making the stuff you are told to make instead of what you want to make?

Today, we’re sitting down with Koosje Koene to talk about how burnout in her photography business led her to a series of dull “cubicle” jobs. It was then that she started spending all of her free time soaking in her creative pursuits and drawing each day. Now she teaches others how to develop their own creative practice.

Listen as she walks us through:

● Why draw? How sketching challenges us to step out of our comfort zone
● What sketching has in common with cooking and how both practices are more about why than how
● The trick to lowering the stakes so you can get off the creative roller coaster, create your own sketchbook practice, and even have fun

Plus, in the video, she shares some of her favorite sketches with us.

Join us September 27 – October 2 for a life-changing workshop: Paris Sketchbook

Mentioned in this episode

Koosje’s Website

Sketchbook Skool

Koosje’s YouTube

Koosje’s Patreon

Draw Tip Tuesday YouTube playlist 

The Beauty in the Mundane

Inktober

Susan Colon

Sabine Wisman

Jane LaFazio

Hahnemühle Nostalgie series

The episode is also posted on my YouTube channel.

Why do you read books? We might read all kinds of books, but not have an intention for our time spent with that author. What if you read books more intentionally? Nicholas Hutchison of Bookthinkers spends his days reading books with the aim of learning, growing and applying what he’s learned right away.

I love that idea, but personally don’t have systems in place for turning bookish inspiration into action. I asked Nicholas how he manages the ideas he reads about and turns them into changes in his life. We also talked about the challenges he’s facing finishing writing his own book, his morning routines and their effects on his productivity, and much more bookish fun.

Tune in to give your bookish self a treat and hear more about how to make your reading time more effective.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Bookthinkers

Instagram

Quora

Permission to Glow – Kristoffer Carter

Art and Business of Online Writing – Nicolas Cole

Compound Effect – Darren Hardy

Rich Dad, Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosaki

Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill

Built to Serve – Evan Carmichael

Robert Green

Ryan Holiday

Own the Day , Own Your Life – Aubrey Marcus

Peter Drucker

You might have the dream of writing a book. Maybe you have more than one book idea. If you’re like me, you have an abundance of ideas. One of the biggest ways we stumble in our creative work is not choosing at all. This keeps us on the sidelines of our dreams.

In this solo episode of Stumbling Toward Genius, you will hear a few ways to look at how to choose among your brilliant ideas. I will share some perspectives that will hopefully help with any creative decision, not just choosing which book to write. I’ll also talk about the book I am currently writing and how I made the decision to write this now and not earlier.

Be sure to check below for my choosing checklist to help with your creative decisions.

Mentioned in this episode

Checklist for choosing among your creative projects.

Write Your Book Coaching Group

Write A Manifesto for Your Book

The Busy Woman’s Guide to Writing a World-Changing Book 

Atelier

Focus Group survey to help me with my current book

Have you tried writing a book but have gotten stuck when it comes to organizing and structuring it?

Most of us come to write a non-fiction book with a lot of ideas. We have so much material. How to keep various drafts organized? What to do with scraps and bits of writing we have here and there? Then, how does it all go together? What belongs in the book? What’s tangential? What goes where? You can see how madness can quickly descend. When we are disorganized and uncertain, it’s a sure cocktail to foment writing insecurity. Helplessness takes over and we abandon our book writing. Don’t do it!

In this solo episode, I will share two of the main stumbles that stop people from writing their non-fiction books or memoirs.

A caveat, there is so much to say about this, so I am just sharing a few approaches that may help you. Also, each book is its own thing and has its own voice, shape, and agenda. There is no one-size-fits-all. I love helping my clients shape their ideas in world-changing books in my customized coaching.

Mentioned in this episode:

Diane von Furstenberg’s Own It

Bibliophile, An Illustrated Miscellany by Jane Mount

Nick Bantock’s Griffin and Sabine stories, illustrated serial novels

Adam J Kurtz

Drawing is thinking / Milton Glaser ; introduction by Judith Thurman

We are each other’s harvest: celebrating African American farmers, land, and legacy

Why we cook: women on food, identity, and connection

Karen Wright is an executive coach and founder of Parachute Executive Coaching in Toronto, Canada. She’s a single mother, shares Cynthia’s passion for Paris, and can’t wait to dust off her passport, hopefully soon.

When life pushes you into leadership situations you don’t want to be in, you could be called an Accidental Alpha. Karen Wright is an executive coach who found herself in charge of her life in ways she hadn’t planned. She coined the term Accidental Alpha Woman and discovered that many of her friends were in the position of taking on things they didn’t sign up for. After struggling with being an accidental alpha, Karen brought her coaching skills to help her navigate life and work. An author of The Complete Executive, she knew the power of putting your ideas into book form. She also knows that even when life throws us stuff we don’t want to deal with, we are always playing a role in that scenario. So she wrote The Accidental Alpha, sharing her Receive framework.

In this episode, Karen shares her Receive framework. This is super helpful if you are a person who has trouble receiving help, support, accolades, or anything.

Mentioned in the show

The Accidental Alpha Woman

Karen Wright

The Complete Executive

Difference between complex and complicated TEDx talk 

Are you like me, always wanting to tweak and revise things? I love designing. In this episode of Stumbling Toward Genius, I try a new format. You’ll hear a few more personal stories from me from my studio and life. I share these so you know I’m not sitting on the sidelines with everything all figured out. I am in the creative zone with you, figuring it out as I go!

Here’s how it often goes. We have an idea for a book. It can grow inside us for years. We love this idea and we cherish it. Our idea expands and morphs and gives us a sense of having something precious. But I believe our ideas have a shelf life. Our talents are not Twinkies with no expiration date. I also believe that making our ideas real is way more satisfying than holding onto them, cherishing the sense of possibility.

In this episode, I’ll share some of the common pitfalls that keep us at the starting gate of a book or any other project. You’ll hear about the new book I am writing and how I am going through all these pitfalls even though this is my 9th book. And, I’ll give you strategies that help me and my clients get past the obstacles that we stumble over when we get started with a project.

Also in this episode, you’ll hear about a major creative win I had last month and my unexpected response when it came to fruition. (Plus how I coped with that weird reaction!)

I also share how I am getting more reading time into my life and how this is making me feel more me. Plus, how I get through self-guided classes where there is no accountability from the teacher.

Mentioned in this episode

Atelier

Why It’s So Hard to Finish Our Projects 

Write Your Book Coaching Group

The Busy Woman’s Guide to Writing a World-Changing Book 

Poets & Writers magazine

iPad Artist with Sketchbook Skool

Pam Slim seeks to connect people as communities. Through our work together, we can build the kind of world we want to inhabit. Her latest book, The Widest Net, shows business owners how to connect within communities instead of speaking from afar to audiences. In this episode, Pam shares what’s at the core of her work and how even though this book felt so right, it was a challenge to write.

Mentioned in this episode:

David Moldawer

Hiro Boga

Michael Bungay Stanier

Main Street Learning Lab K’eh

Darryl Slim

Dorie Clark

What are your plans for your creativity next year? Perhaps you have a project in mind and can’t wait to get started. That’s me!

Or maybe you don’t know what you want to work on. There are possible projects. Your friends have clear goals. But you don’t know what you want to do.

In this episode of Stumbling Toward Genius I will share a perspective on how to focus your creative time so you feel satisfied and on track no matter what happens. It’s both broad and specific, and I think you’ll love it.

If you’re like me, you tend to be ‘all over the place’ with your ideas and possibilities. The Creative Edge gives us a broad yet specific focus. It makes it easy to choose projects that give us a sense of momentum and progress.