Before I started the Live Creative Now podcast, for about a year I co-hosted a podcast with Cory Huff of The Abundant Artist (aff).
That podcast was called Creative Insurgents, and you can still find all the episodes we published archived here on Cory’s site.
Unlike Live Creative Now, Creative Insurgents was a 100% interview podcast. Some of those conversations are real gems, and they deserve to reach a wider audience. So with Cory’s blessing I’ll be republishing them here from time to time.
(Full confession: this serves the double purpose of exposing these conversations to new listeners, while also liberating some of my time to keep working on my forthcoming book — hurrah! Launch day is only 61 days away — yikes!)
In this episode (Creative Insurgents #11), we speak with poet and creative coach Mark McGuinness, author of the books Motivation for Creative People: How to Stay Creative While Gaining Money, Fame, and Reputation and Resilience: Facing Down Rejection and Criticism on the Road to Success (aff).
Note that this episode was recorded back in the Spring of 2014, so the time-specific info you’ll hear is no longer relevant.
Show Notes
9:20 Introducing Mark McGuinness, poet, coach for creatives and entrepreneurs, founder of LateralAction.com, author of Resilience: Facing Down Rejection and Criticism On the Road to Success.
10:32 Cory jumps in and “fanboys”
10:15 Mark’s secrets of productivity/creativity (which are one and the same).
13:19 “You’re either doing it, or you know you’re making excuses not to do it,” and the keys to overcoming resistance.
15:20 “The uncomfortable comfort zone.”
15:49 The story of how Mark came to write his book.
18:10 Cory on the realities of facing rejection as an actor.
20:00 How to deal with rejection when it’s a regular part of your creative work.
20:30 “We take a length of gut from our bellies and serve it up… then the bourgeousie get their knives out.” -Gustave Flaubert. “It should hurt!” -Mark McGuinness.
21:50 Why some criticisms hurt more than others. (And what to do about it.)
25:40 The importance of making the time, and doing creative work first, and reactive work second.
31:00 The secret behind William Carlos Williams’ very short poems. (“The form following the function of the doctor’s bag.”
Resources In this Episode
Creative Insurgents podcast archives
Opt in to get an Insider-only backstage view while I finish writing, illustrating, and publishing my book, The Creative Sandbox Way (working title).
Apply to be on my Launch Team, and get a free advance review PDF of the book, your name mentioned in the acknowledgements, and more.
Find Mark McGuinness at LateralAction.com
Find Mark’s poetry and thoughts on poets at MarkMcGuinness.com
Mark’s books (Amazon affiliate links):
Motivation for Creative People: How to Stay Creative While Gaining Money, Fame, and Reputation
Resilience: Facing Down Rejection and Criticism on the Road to Success
Thanks for Listening!
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Now go get creating!
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