Creatively Complicated

We did it! We made it to the end of our first season of Creatively Complicated and we're celebrating with a short and sweet episode about creative things that inspire us. We agreed on 5 categories and each came up with our own answers to what gets us thinking, creating, or appreciating.  Thanks for tuning in so far and join us again in mid-January for season two!  Summer's picks: -Comical: "Das Leben ist kein Ponyhof"   -Unexpected: Salted egg yolk shrimp -Cultural: Indie magazines: Fare https://www.faremag.com/; -Eaten, https://www.eatenmagazine.com/;  Dill https://dillmagazine.com/; Eighty Degrees https://www.readeighty.com/ -Serious: Over-tourism -Guilty Pleasure: Miss Culinary, https://mydramalist.com/39749-miss-culinary  Steph's picks: -Comical: Communist Christmas (not Communist Kitty, whoops) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NKHJ64qRR8 -Unexpected: Nadav Drukker : “London based theoretical physicist and experimental potter. My art fuses those two sides of me.”https://www.instagram.com/nadavdrukker/ -Cultural: street signs: https://twitter.com/stephfuccio/status/1204060943367335936 -Serious: Persepolis (movie) NOT Persephone (I suck with names right now. Sight head injury a few weeks ago, mentioned in an ep, blah blah blah).  Persepolis (movie based on a graphic novel) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PXHeKuBzPY -Guilty Pleasure: Billy Joel BEST SONG EVA (New York accent in spelling intentional): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuFScoO4tb0 Music: And a big thank you to Alex of Kwick Lights (https://kwick-lights.de/de) for recording our snazzy new intro/outro jingles! Thanks also to Lena of Lena On The Move (https://lenaonthemove.com/) for the sound idea and pulling this together for us! Check out Alex and Lena's Nuremberg-based band, Off The Grid, at https://www.instagram.com/offthegrid.music/  Contact us:  Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Twitter: Creatively Complicated Podcast, @stephandsummer Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/summeroutside Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China): https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio This episode was created with: Steph and Summer’s microphones Samson Q2U  Auphonic, free online leveling software We see each other (and our various facial expressions) on the remote video software, Zoom. This is also our back up audio file.  We are now recording our own tracks with Audacity and then Summer is doing two track editing on them.

We fell deep into a rabbit hole in this episode as we pondered the differences between writing and podcasting, as well as what it means to compare ourselves to others in our creative space(s). Both of us seem to think that podcasting feels lighter and "easier" than writing, but why?  Gatekeepers, community, cultural reverence are all covered in this packed conversation—as evidenced by the fact that this episode is nearly 17 minutes longer than our intention. Oops. Quotes: “We can look at somebody else who appears to be at the same level as us; maybe in terms of experience, quality of work, whatever the case may be. And if it seems like they’re getting something more or better than we are, the reality is that we don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes with them.” -Summer “I find it (podcasting) a lot easier of a product because people aren’t as nit picky with audio as writers are with playing with language.” -Steph on word play tolerance in writing versus speaking “I think when you bring money into it and there is a limited opportunity, there is competition.” -Summer on hiring one writer for a task “Although writing wasn’t thought of as a profession that would lead to a high paying job; we did study literature, we did read from books, libraries were revered. There was a respect for the written word but there wasn’t necessarily a respect for the spoken word.” -Steph on the  respect given to both ways of communicating growing up (writing versus speaking) Music: And a big thank you to Alex of Kwick Lights (https://kwick-lights.de/de) for recording our snazzy new intro/outro jingles! Thanks also to Lena of Lena On The Move (https://lenaonthemove.com/) for the sound idea and pulling this together for us! Check out Alex and Lena's Nuremberg-based band, Off The Grid, at https://www.instagram.com/offthegrid.music/   Contact us:  Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Twitter: Creatively Complicated Podcast, @stephandsummer Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/summeroutside Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China): https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio This episode was created with: Steph and Summer’s microphones Samson Q2U  Auphonic, free online leveling software We see each other (and our various facial expressions) on the remote video software, Zoom. This is also our back up audio file.  We are now recording our own tracks with Audacity and then Summer is doing two track editing on them.

If only sourcing good ideas were as simple as walking down to the Amazing Ideas Emporium and loading up a basket of suitably fulfilling, challenging, and hopefully money-making creative visions. But it’s not.  So how do we “get” ideas? And how long do they stay fresh? Should we push through with an idea just because it was strong for a moment OR learn to let them go if the energy behind it fades?  Quotes: “Messiness is an inherent part of creativity.” -Summer “Acknowledging the messy, admitting the messy, working around the messy, I am comfortable with those. It kinda has to get messy to get done.” -Steph  “We are protective of those concepts, when we have a new idea that we’ve started. Is this protection of our idea or of ourselves?” -Summer “I used to feel very confined by notebooks. If something wasn’t working or I couldn’t find a place for it to exist in the world or I just got really sick of working on it I would literally burn it.” -Steph Music: And a big thank you to Alex of Kwick Lights (https://kwick-lights.de/de) for recording our snazzy new intro/outro jingles! Thanks also to Lena of Lena On The Move (https://lenaonthemove.com/) for the sound idea and pulling this together for us! Check out Alex and Lena's Nuremberg-based band, Off The Grid, at https://www.instagram.com/offthegrid.music/  Contact us:  Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Twitter: Creatively Complicated Podcast, @stephandsummer Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/summeroutside Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China): https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio This episode was created with: Steph and Summer’s microphones Samson Q2U  Auphonic, free online leveling software We see each other (and our various facial expressions) on the remote video software, Zoom. This is also our back up audio file.  We are now recording our own tracks with Audacity and then Summer is doing two track editing on them.

Do life changes help or hurt the creative process? We have decided to create some geographical disruptions to help us investigate this quandary. Well, not really, but let's pretend that we are doing this for science anyway. Steph will be in Germany for at least the first 3 months of 2020 AND Summer is visiting Japan for 2 weeks around then as well! Hooray for swapping regions madness!  Don’t worry, our first season of Creatively Complicated will continue through 13 December but this week we're having a chat about what it's like when life interrupts our creative projects. Are "forced" breaks good or bad for our creativity? Should we scramble to compensate for missed productivity or just relax and go with the flow? Spoiler alert: The outcome of this discussion was more positive than we anticipated.  Links: Steph’s YouTube channel closure video (that she forgot to post for hours): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHwdOwwPapY  Quotes: “The more I add things to the Germany to do list, the more I put the list aside and work on the podcast. I have been in straight avoidance mode for at least a week now.” -Steph “I think it’s good to take a break sometimes. I am that big person on savoring anticipation. I enjoy the act of putting it off.”-Summer Music: And a big thank you to Alex of Kwick Lights (https://kwick-lights.de/de) for recording our snazzy new intro/outro jingles! Thanks also to Lena of Lena On The Move (https://lenaonthemove.com/) for the sound idea and pulling this together for us! Check out Alex and Lena's Nuremberg-based band, Off The Grid, at https://www.instagram.com/offthegrid.music/   Contact us:  Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Twitter: Creatively Complicated Podcast, @stephandsummer Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/summeroutside Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China): https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio This episode was created with: Steph and Summer’s microphones Samson Q2U  Auphonic, free online leveling software Remote video software, Zoom

Why do we create? Often, our motivation is money, entertainment or guilt because we feel like we “should" be doing something. Despite a long list of topics to discuss in our last episode on creative feedback, we both thought the episode felt unnatural and directionless. You might not have picked up on that because Summer saved us with her editing prowess by creating a narrative arch before we published the episode. Stephanie, known globally for her occasional bouts of brilliance, quickly realized that the ladies were lacking the reason WHY they were talking about feedback in the first place. We accidentally on purpose continue this discussion in today’s episode by trying once and again to answer this motivational question on an episode AND show level. Do our answers make sense? (That’s not a rhetorical question, we really want to know!)  Links:  None, we are deeply in our own heads in this ep Words we want to exist: IRV : in real voice (as opposed to online or recorded voices. Kinda like IRL, in real life but specific to voices) Polypodomous: working on multiple podcasts instead of just one (monopodpmous?) Quotes: “Let’s get meta on the meta…” -Steph on the accidental link between last week and this week’s episodes “If the why is intrinsic and you don’t necessarily have a direction that’s still enough of a why to keep going.”-Summer Music: And a big thank you to Alex of Kwick Lights (https://kwick-lights.de/de) for recording our snazzy new intro/outro jingles! Thanks also to Lena of Lena On The Move (https://lenaonthemove.com/) for the sound idea and pulling this together for us! Check out Alex and Lena's Nuremberg-based band, Off The Grid, at https://www.instagram.com/offthegrid.music/  Contact us:  Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Twitter: Creatively Complicated Podcast, @stephandsummer Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/summeroutside Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China): https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio This episode was created with: Steph and Summer’s microphones Samson Q2U  Auphonic, free online leveling software Remote video software, Zoom

Love it or hate it, feedback is an inevitable component of the creative process when you choose to release your work into the wild. This week, Steph and Summer get meta with their thoughts on the whys, whens, and hows of receiving and giving creative feedback.  We ultimately discover that there seems to be a value tier when it comes to feedback and, big sorry to friends and family, but as it turns out, you guys are at the bottom of the pile. Cheers!  If you're feeling inspired to offer feedback after listening to us talk for half an hour about feedback, pop on over to Podchaser and leave us your thoughts: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/creatively-complicated-866546  Links:  -Episode with Nicole: https://creativelycomplicated.libsyn.com/ep-14-creativity-roundtable-with-nicole   Quotes:   “I hear these stories but I feel like they are Sasquatched or something. I don’t quite get  why you wouldn’t wanna know everybody that has the same interests in the world” -Steph    (in response to where the discomfort with feedback exists)  “...the anticipation that someone won’t like the work or that bad feedback is coming.”-Summer Music: And a big thank you to Alex of Kwick Lights (https://kwick-lights.de/de) for recording our snazzy new intro/outro jingles! Thanks also to Lena of Lena On The Move (https://lenaonthemove.com/) for the sound idea and pulling this together for us! Check out Alex and Lena's Nuremberg-based band, Off The Grid, at https://www.instagram.com/offthegrid.music/    Contact us:  Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Twitter: Creatively Complicated Podcast, @stephandsummer Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/summeroutside Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China): https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio This episode was created with: Steph and Summer’s microphones Samson Q2U  Auphonic, free online leveling software Remote video software, Zoom

Do you find yourself creatively diverse? Have you accumulated many creative passion projects over the years only to have people call them your “little projects?” Well, this is the episode for you then because Summer and I have had about as much as we can take of the monocreative expectation in current day society.  Links:  -Creativity School with Grace Chon, episode 40, with D’Ana Joi Spencer https://www.creativityschoolpodcast.com/blog/2019/10/08/dana-joi -Regen Racing Podcast: https://www.regenracingpodcast.com/ Quotes: “For me sometimes I get really excited about something and I keep it internally. I sit there on the couch twitching a little bit with excitement because I am really into the history of Chinese tea or something that week.”  -Summer “The dream scenario is to be somehow funded with complete creative freedom so that I can offload the parts of it that I don’t like and do the other things that I do like in addition to it that feed into it.” -Stephanie  Music: And a big thank you to Alex of Kwick Lights (https://kwick-lights.de/de) for recording our snazzy new intro/outro jingles! Thanks also to Lena of Lena On The Move (https://lenaonthemove.com/) for the sound idea and pulling this together for us! Check out Alex and Lena's Nuremberg-based band, Off The Grid, at https://www.instagram.com/offthegrid.music/  Contact us:  Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Twitter: Creatively Complicated Podcast, @stephandsummer Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/summeroutside Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China): https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio This episode was created with: Steph and Summer’s microphones Samson Q2U  Auphonic, free online leveling software Remote video software, Zoom

Does your creative process change depending what project you are working on? To “research” this we three podgoddesses drove down the creative highway with the top down, the music up and the wind in our hair. Wait, three? Yup, we are joined this week by the most methodical, articulate and humorous person we podknow, Expat Cast Podcast Host Nicole Palazzo. Going meta was our goal so we chatted about when to start, pivot and stop creative projects. Surprisingly Summer and Nicole had an interesting shared experience with writing versus podcasting while I was just plain messy in all creative endeavors. What can I say, we got down with our bad selves and it was cathartic, as usual.   Guest Info: Nicole Palazzo of the Expat Cast Podcast (thanks Nicole!) -Twitter: @TheExpatCast -Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theexpatcast/ -Expat Cast, Nicole’s Podcast: https://theexpatcast.podbean.com/ -Nicole’ solo episode about her expat story: https://theexpatcast.podbean.com/e/my-expat-story-with-your-host-nicole/ Quotes: "A good comparison is relationships. No one meets and gets together on their anniversary date. Typically their anniversary date is either when they decided this is officially a thing or they retroactively decided.” -Nicole “I think it’s okay sometimes to wait  until you actually have enough out there to go ahead and promote....where they can see some consistency, that there’s a developing voice. Not just for the sake of the creative process but also with the hope of gaining and retaining an audience.” -Summer “All the other stuff I’ve done was very start and stop, I was either doing it or I was not doing it and it didn’t really change a lot while I was doing it. It was that thing or it was nothing.” -Steph Links:  (in order) Mostly shameless plugs of our podcast episodes with each other! Sooooo, you have a lot of listening to do now, okay?  -Summer on Nicole’s Expat Cast  podcast: https://theexpatcast.podbean.com/?s=Summer -Steph on Nicole’s Expat Cast podcast: https://theexpatcast.podbean.com/?s=stephanie -Nicole on the Geopat’s podcast:  https://geopats.podbean.com/e/nicole-palazzo-expat-cast-schadenfreude/  and -Geopats Podcast episode where Nicole, Tatjana and I geek out about the book, Schadenfreude, A Love Story by Rebecca Shuman. https://geopats.podbean.com/e/nicole-palazzo-expat-cast-schadenfreude/ -Summer on Steph’s Geopat’s podcast: https://geopats.podbean.com/e/ep-17-two-podcasting-geopats-discuss-the-global-soul-by-pico-iyer/ and  https://geopats.podbean.com/e/ep-75-summer-rylander-the-most-productive-procrastinator-in-expatland/   Music: And a big thank you to Alex of Kwick Lights (https://kwick-lights.de/de) for recording our snazzy new intro/outro jingles! Thanks also to Lena of Lena On The Move (https://lenaonthemove.com/) for the sound idea and pulling this together for us! Check out Alex and Lena's Nuremberg-based band, Off The Grid, at https://www.instagram.com/offthegrid.music/  Contact us:  Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Twitter: Creatively Complicated Podcast, @stephandsummer Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/summeroutside Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China): https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio This episode was created with: Steph and Summer’s microphones Samson Q2U  Auphonic, free online leveling software Remote video software, Zoom

Has one tweak to your workflow ever made the world of a difference in your creative process? This is exactly where Summer and Steph are standing in timeblockingland. Festering was not working so we added a pinch of numbifying (quantifying) yeast to our creative workflow and brewed to our heart’s content. This ultimately hatched some pretty awesome new timeblocking plans and the creative foam floatith over (too much?). Our creativity is all the better for it so hurrah to numbifying and mixing metaphors.  Links:  (in order) -NoNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month): https://www.nanowrimo.org/ -NaPodPoMo (National Podcast Post Month): http://napodpomo.org/ Quotes: “It’s kinda crazy how when you’ve decided to just sit down and do something and actually do it, then wow, you can get something done.” -Summer “I’ve been kinda Swiss holing my schedule and I’ve noticed...I wanna be there for 4-5 hours so I need to reblock my time.” -Steph “I’m either dicking around online or I can use that time constructively.” -Summer “So you went to a numbyfying place…” -Steph Music: And a big thank you to Alex of Kwick Lights (https://kwick-lights.de/de) for recording our snazzy new intro/outro jingles! Thanks also to Lena of Lena On The Move (https://lenaonthemove.com/) for the sound idea and pulling this together for us! Check out Alex and Lena's Nuremberg-based band, Off The Grid, at https://www.instagram.com/offthegrid.music/  Contact us:  Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Twitter: Creatively Complicated Podcast, @stephandsummer Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/summeroutside Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China): https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio This episode was created with: Steph and Summer’s microphones Samson Q2U  Auphonic, free online leveling software Remote video software, Zoom

It appears that we have been in a creative incubation period for the past 11 episodes. This episode could very well mark a shift in our creative turmoil,especially for Summer. Yup, we are thrilled to bring you our first creative breakthrough since starting this podcast. Summer had a massive creative productivity moment of truth recently that we can’t wait to tell you about. It involves a splash of time management, a pinch of paprika and a large cup of hyperawareness. This recipe metaphor is a not so subtle way to tease you into popping in your earbuds to hear the change in her voice. The parallel nature of our job, language and time management lives have reached a new level and it’s called scrumpdillyicious.  Links:  (in order) -UnF*ck Your Brain Podcast : https://unfuckyourbrain.com/podcasts/ -Pomodoro Method: https://www.themuse.com/advice/take-it-from-someone-who-hates-productivity-hacksthe-pomodoro-technique-actually-works Quotes: “The temptation of reaching my phone when I am working on something and it gets a little hard and my brain thinks it needs the release of a break ” -Summer “It’s about finding out what works for you at that time and then doing that until things change and then finding a new thing that works for you at that time. There is a constant shift …” -Steph “I actually need some discipline in my creative life” -Summer “There is something about numbers and about quantifying things. That nagging feeling about needing to do more goes away.There is a forgiveness of not doing everything when I do that one thing.” -Steph Questions for our next week future selves: Summer: Have you completed two of your writing time blocks since last Wed?  Steph: Have you figured out a podwork-job hunting time schedule?  Music: And a big thank you to Alex of Kwick Lights (https://kwick-lights.de/de) for recording our snazzy new intro/outro jingles! Thanks also to Lena of Lena On The Move (https://lenaonthemove.com/) for the sound idea and pulling this together for us! Check out Alex and Lena's Nuremberg-based band, Off The Grid, at https://www.instagram.com/offthegrid.music/  Contact us:  Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Twitter: Creatively Complicated Podcast, @stephandsummer Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/summeroutside Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China): https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio This episode was created with: Steph and Summer’s microphones Samson Q2U  Auphonic, free online leveling software Remote video software, Zoom

We admit our privileged perspective on the wacky things we are seeing in the job market, 100%. But in a soap box moment it feels like those of us that can say NO to this kind of work all the time bullshit should do so to force employers to stop asking people to do it. (stepping off the soapbox) But in reality, we both want jobs that provide a basic income but don’t zap our creative energy for our heart projects. Yes, many of you call them passion projects, I know that, but passion feels too fleeting to me right now, a time in my life when I am not willing to pack up my creative life again for a full time paycheck. I know that we have talked about juggling day jobs and our creative projects before but it felt like we needed a space to unpack it in all of its agonizing details. And details there are. Like the time (errr, last month) when Steph hired someone to rewrite her resume/CV. Don’t worry, this is not a bitchfest, although that might be a fun separate episode, eh Summer? Instead, we check in on my (Steph’s) current job hunt as well as spend some time in Summer’s ideal jobland as we try to etch out what is in the realm of possibility and what is purely a day dream.  Links:  (in order) -Fiverr, where Steph found her CV writer and many other skilled freelancers like people to work on her podcast logos and other services over the years: https://www.fiverr.com/ -Workcationing Podcast: https://workationing.com/podcast-episodes/ Quotes: “Can you believe that in my 20’s I thought that if I didn’t have a day job, I would not know what to do with my time and I would be bored.” -Steph “It’s like an onion and you can only peel those layers one at a time and you’re not going to know what happens until you’re sitting in the midst of that company.” -Summer “...you have to look into the mirror and say how is my day job serving me?” -Summer  “We’re wet wipes.” -Steph   Music: And a big thank you to Alex of Kwick Lights (https://kwick-lights.de/de) for recording our snazzy new intro/outro jingles! Thanks also to Lena of Lena On The Move (https://lenaonthemove.com/) for the sound idea and pulling this together for us! Check out Alex and Lena's Nuremberg-based band, Off The Grid, at https://www.instagram.com/offthegrid.music/  Contact us:  Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Twitter: Creatively Complicated Podcast, @stephandsummer Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/summeroutside Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China): https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio This episode was created with: Steph and Summer’s microphones Samson Q2U  Auphonic, free online leveling software Remote video software, Zoom

I just went back in time and counted: Summer and I shared over 20 Whats App voice messages after listening to the Bittersweet Life Podcast episode on creativity. We had already started Creatively Complicated and hadn’t thought much about guests because, well, that’s kind of like two people on a first date talking about kid names. Even so, I think we both knew that if and when we did start interviewing people, Katy and Tiffany would be at the top of the wish list. So here we are, in guesting heaven. Welcome, the free coffee and chocolates are on the left.  And on the right are our guests, Katy Sewall and Tiffany Parks, the two creative goddesses that host the Bittersweet Life Podcast. They are childhood friends who met again in Rome, Italy about 5 years ago and started this project together. Separately, they are Katy, an NPR radio personality with heaps of experience and training with a strong vein of story rebellion and curiosity to want more from audio. And Tiffany, an Author with theatre and opera experience that are reflected in the gentleness of her storytelling. Together in the Bittersweet Life Podcast they capture the nuances of Rome, expat life and the connections that make personal passion projects like this rewarding and difficult simultaneously. It is hard to tease out the different slices of life they cover in their podcast and that is what makes it so scrumptious. It is, in fact, like a good dish where you think you can identify the ingredients but they blend together so well in that particular combination of temperature, texture and quantity that you dare not try. Dare not, just listen : http://www.thebittersweetlife.net/ This episode is part of the vulnerability interview series on Creatively Complicated. The first interview was a few weeks ago with Jessica Kupferman of She Podcasts   Bittersweet Podcast Info: Bittersweet Life Podcast info: Website: http://www.thebittersweetlife.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BitterSweetPod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bittersweetlifepodcast/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/thebittersweetlifepodcast/ Tiffany’s Info: Website: https://www.tiffany-parks.com/ Midnight In The Piazza (book): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35068664-midnight-in-the-piazza Katy’s Info: Twitter: https://twitter.com/KatySewall?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Bonus: Tiffany and Katy’s 200th episode life event (Love the part where Tiffany reads from the book, about 7:50 into the video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRtQgD_WxnY Links:  (in order) -Bittersweet Life Podcast, episode 252 Creativity -Crow story : article: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31604026, Bittersweet Life, ep 51, http://thebittersweetlife.net/episode-51-crows , Follow up ep 61: http://thebittersweetlife.net/episode-67-crow-gifts, - Death, Sex and Money,Anna Sale, https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/deathsexmoney -Why Won’t You Date Me? Podcast, Nicole Byer: https://headgum.com/why-wont-you-date-me Quotes: “Try to picture a person that you’ll be vulnerable in front of and try to forget that your parents are listening or watching.” Katy, tips for new vulnerable creatives “I didn’t think about it but Katy was trained to think about it.” -Tiffany, on her being recognized by a Listener “When you do something crazy like that and the entire Internet rips it off, it’s disheartening.” -Katy, on her Crow photo on the Bittersweet Life socials going viral “Podcasting is a tiny bit more vulnerable because there isn’t a boss person ……….” Tiffany on the freedom of podcasting  “It’s a thing that passes by like a car.” -Katy, on the lack of feedback (or lack thereof) in podcasting And a big thank you to Alex of Kwick Lights (https://kwick-lights.de/de) for recording our snazzy new intro/outro jingles! Thanks also to Lena of Lena On The Move (https://lenaonthemove.com/) for the sound idea and pulling this together for us! Check out Alex and Lena's Nuremberg-based band, Off The Grid, at https://www.instagram.com/offthegrid.music/  CONTACT US:  Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/summeroutside Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China): https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio This episode was created with:   Steph and Summer’s microphones Samson Q2U  Auphonic, free online leveling software Remote video software, Zoom    

Authenticity and honesty are traits that I am reading about more and more as a new(er) trend in social media effectiveness. Podcasting was actually built on these traits and this  is why we (Summer and I) knew that 6 years podcasting veteran Jessica Kupferman would be a fantastic guest for this new creative vulnerability interview series: she is 100% her. And who that her is is inspiring, funny and community oriented.  In fact, Summer and I are both parts of her She Podcasts community. This is a women’s podcasting Facebook group that also has a podcast and starting this year, a conference. In the She Podcasts podcast, her savvy marketing posts and her other podcast, Brilliant Observations, with John Bukenas and Melissa Brilliant, she is 100% exposed, vocally and soul-ly (if that isn’t a word, it should be). Jessica’s authenticity and honesty is grounding, especially because it is not easy to retain when you know people are listening. Coming to your earbuds Sept 20th:  This is the first of two interview episodes in September. We are exploring creative vulnerability with these two guest interviews with creative people we adore. This conversation with Jess is the first creative vulnerability conversation and on September 20th, we are pleased to share a conversation that Summer and I had with Katy and Tiffany from the Bittersweet Life Podcast. We ask the same questions that we asked Jessica but get some very different answers. It was such a treat to record and we think your ears are going to thank you for listening.   Publication note: Steph overzealously published this September 6th episode a week early. Whoops. THIS is how excited Jess, She Podcasts and their conference got her. So, the next episode will be out the 3rd Fri of Sept.  Jessica’s Info: She Podcasts Conference: https://www.shepodcasts.live/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jesskupferman/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jesskupferman Twitter: https://twitter.com/JessKupferman Links:  (in order) She Podcasts Conference: https://www.shepodcasts.live/ Quotes: Her rule for sharing online: “Share don’t horrify.” Jess How she creatively protects herself: “A year later I posted about the moment I found out (that my daughter was dead). After talking to the police officer I was screaming into my pillow. There is some part of my soul that is still doing that. But that doesn’t mean that as I am doing it I pull up Facebook. Being in the moment is a little too raw. I think being reflective is more powerful.” -Jess Her advice to Podcasters about being vulnerable: “It’s kinda like falling in love. Vulnerability is usually a lot about mistakes, hurt and failure. You don’t want to lay that all on an audience all at once anyway. You have to take it step by step as if you are dating your audience and that they are dating you. You take it one step at a time until you are comfortable being heard and being seen. It’s kinda the same as love.” -Jess     And a big thank you to Alex of Kwick Lights (https://kwick-lights.de/de) for recording our snazzy new intro/outro jingles! Thanks also to Lena of Lena On The Move (https://lenaonthemove.com/) for the sound idea and pulling this together for us! Check out Alex and Lena's Nuremberg-based band, Off The Grid, at https://www.instagram.com/offthegrid.music/  CONTACT US:  Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/summeroutside Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China): https://linktr.ee/stephfuccio This episode was created with:   Steph and Summer’s microphones Samson Q2U  Auphonic, free online leveling software Remote video software, Zoom

In August we are spelunking through our creative input and output in a two part episode. In the previous episode, episode 7 we stumbled around in a dark creative cave, trying to figure out how to turn our creative flashlights on (creative flow), finding what what spotlight was best (quality), and which tunnel to follow (audience feedback). We started with the question: How do you know if you are moving forward and what does that even mean? And went wherever our creative pitch forks took us.  In this episode we are following that damn light and find it, if I may say, illuminating. We find accountability metrics on the walls (blog newsletters), comfort in our cave companions (Co-Hosts) and take solace in the realization that just taking one step after another will get us somewhere (a finished product). Surely just standing in a corner of the cave is not going to get us anywhere so step, step, step we go.  Links:  (in order) -Faith Mariah, Blogging breakthroughs newsletter,goal outline  -Stay Creating Podcast, https://staycreating.com/ Quotes: “If you are never making mistakes, how do you know that you are trying hard enough to make progress?” -Summer “It’s like the cat eats the creative tail bullshit.” -Stephanie ----- And a big thank you to Alex of Kwick Lights (https://kwick-lights.de/de) for recording our snazzy new intro/outro jingles! Thanks also to Lena of Lena On The Move (https://lenaonthemove.com/) for the sound idea and pulling this together for us! Check out Alex and Lena's Nuremberg-based band, Off The Grid, at https://www.instagram.com/offthegrid.music/  CONTACT US:  Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/summeroutside Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China):  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephfuccio/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephfuccio Website: https://stephfuccio.com/ This episode was created with:   Steph and Summer’s microphones Samson Q2U  Auphonic, free online leveling software Remote video software, Zoom

In August we are spelunking through our creative input and output in a two part episode. This episode is where we are stumbling around in a dark creative cave, trying to figure out how to turn on our creative flashlights (creative flow), find out what spotlight is best (quality), and which tunnel to follow (audience feedback). Was that analogy a step too far (pun intended)? Maybe. But it feels like a lot of this creative talking out of things is such a new skill. Personally, I (Steph) have only really talked to myself about most of these things my entire creative life, so there is a lot of finding my creative vocals in terminology and definity (if that isn’t a word, it should be!) We started with the question... How do you know if you are moving forward and what does that even mean? ...and went wherever our creative pitch forks took us. In the next episode, coming out the 3rd Friday in August, we approach the light at the end of the tunnel (final product). But wait, is it the outside (success) OR is it another creative spelunker also looking for the exit (recognition and the right audience). Rabbit Holes: Steph:  -Mobile phone options (font size, notifications, font type) -Audible options with saving audio clips for “Upheaval” by Jared Diamond https://www.audible.com/pd/Upheaval-Audiobook/1980024987 Summer:  Pico Iyer’s Twitter account, https://twitter.com/PicoIyer “Everything important takes place somewhere between the grubbiness of deals and the unreality of ideals” from Pico’s Twitter posts   (Bookish Expats episode where Summer and I talk about his book “The Global Soul” https://bookishexpats.podbean.com/e/ep-17-two-podcasting-geopats-discuss-the-global-soul-by-pico-iyer/) Links: -Blinkist, book summary app, https://www.blinkist.com/ Quotes: “It’s striking me right now that it’s the opposite of photos, when I look at photos from 5 or 10 years ago, I think holy cow, I did not know I looked like that. I actually look a lot better than now.  Whereas with the creative process it feels like it’s the opposite, where you don’t know how bad you are but you’re confident in moving forward because you think it’s good but it actually was probably crap.” -Steph “If you look at  your creative work from 5 years ago and you cringe a little bit, does that mean that you are closing your own gap?”   Summer And a big thank you to Alex of Kwick Lights (https://kwick-lights.de/de) for recording our snazzy new intro/outro jingles! Thanks also to Lena of Lena On The Move (https://lenaonthemove.com/) for the sound idea and pulling this together for us! Check out Alex and Lena's Nuremberg-based band, Off The Grid, at https://www.instagram.com/offthegrid.music/  CONTACT US:  Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/summeroutside Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China):  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephfuccio/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephfuccio Website: https://stephfuccio.weebly.com/ This episode was created with:  Steph and Summer’s microphones Samson Q2U  Remote video software, Zoom Auphonic, free online leveling software 

Many people say that working on your creative project every day is the only way to achieve success but is it realistic for us to write every day, create podcasting content every day, etc? In this episode we grapple with this consistency conundrum in our creative process. To be honest, I (Steph) have been working on my podcasts nearly every day for over two years.This consistency was initially fueled largely by a strong desire to have conversations about geeky, niche topics BUT was rejected by gatekeepers in various media over the past 20 year from sharing with large audiences (magazines, book editors, etc).    On the other side of the consistent fence is Summer. She wants some of Steph’s consistency in her own writing endeavors but is struggling with deciding what to write about. Steph wants to relax and slow down and Summer wants more writing consistency and to gain output momentum. So basically, the creative grass is always greener.  And a big thank you to Alex of Kwick Lights (https://kwick-lights.de/de) for recording our snazzy new intro/outro jingles! Thanks also to Lena of Lena On The Move (https://lenaonthemove.com/) for the sound idea and putting this together for us! Check out Alex and Lena's Nuremberg-based band, Off The Grid, at https://www.instagram.com/offthegrid.music/  Rabbit Holes: Summer: hotels in Barcelona Steph: GTD: Get Things Done system Helpful video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCswMsONkwY&t=88s Links: -The Creative Curve by Allen Gannett, https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/37509591 -Bullet journals: https://www.google.com/search?q=bullet+journal&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiajbStuZ3jAhUE_GEKHbt9C0EQsAR6BAgCEAE&biw=1242&bih=582 Quotes: “When is your inner passion not enough to keep going with it?” -Summer “I got much more careful when it was other people’s souls that I was playing with in audio form.” -Steph CONTACT US:  Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/summeroutside Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China):  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephfuccio/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephfuccio Website (3 other podcasts cause I am a crazy person!): https://stephfuccio.weebly.com/ This episode was created with: Steph and Summer’s microphones Samson Q2U  Auphonic, free online leveling software Remote video software, Zoom

Swedish cheese, Chinese fiction, and letting go dance a pretty mean tango in this episode. Yes, most tangos are done with only two people but this two-person tango idea you just had is exactly the kind of boxing in that we are addressing in this conversation. A flashback to the book “Shanghai Baby” starts off our rant about the tolerance people have of boxing in creativity and creative people. On the positive side of this box, Summer got a wave of letting go of a project relief after seeing her Swedish cheese article in print. Conversely, Steph is still grieving over the death of the original project that was the basis for her Virtual Expats podcast nearly a year after that segment was discontinued. How do we know when to let go of a project? Does stopping before reaching whatever we originally thought was the project goal make any of these efforts a complete loss? Why don’t we have a word like “sunk cost” for a creative project's changing and often temperamental lifespan?         Rabbit Holes: -Blogging Breakthroughs with Faith Mariah (Podcast):  https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/blogging-breakthroughs-with-faith-mariah-oZ_h49SlgJG/ -Kolache (food): https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/kolache/ Creative terminology/ideas to emerge from this episode:  -podhole: a podcast listening rabbit hole -creative self pressure -creatively constipated: not able to get the creativity out   Links -Shanghai Baby by Zhou Weihui (book) -Summer’s cheese article in Culture Magazine, “Discovering Cheese and Tradition in the Swedish North” -Stockholm Cheese Festival; https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/blog/swedish-cheese-festival - Sunk cost; https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sunkcost.asp QUOTES: “When we start something we don’t necessarily know where it’s going or how long it’s going to take to get there.” -Summer “Creating goals is not the bad thing, making ourselves stick to all of them is probably where the downfall is.” -Stephanie “It’s hard to avoid feeling like its a failure to walk away from it even if you accomplish something great out of it.” -Summer “...cause I remember the pain of wanting it to be what I set it out to be what I set it out to be when I first started.” -Steph CONTACT US:  Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/summeroutside Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China):  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephfuccio/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephfuccio Website (3 other podcasts cause I am a crazy person!): https://stephfuccio.weebly.com/

In this episode Summer and Steph are both on European soil. Summer is at home in Nuremberg, Germany and Steph is traveling in Lake Como, Italy. This travel sparks a discussion about how when we travel a significant distance AND to a different enough culture, our brains can disconnect and let go. This release can (at least for these two expats) create space for creativity to flow through us and even create a brain frenzy of ideas.   Creative terminology/ideas to emerge from this episode: -”visa job”: the job that you keep to have paperwork to live legally in a host country BUT is not necessarily something you’re passionate in -”brain frenzy”: energy that is a mix of excitement, anticipation and relief when you step away from your daily life. Your body relaxes so your brain goes crazy with fun ideas. -”podconfidence” ; owning our podcast selves instead of saying “I am just ….” Example: I am just doing a podcast about creativity. And finally, a request from these two expats: When someone you know leaves to go live abroad, instead of saying: ”wherever you go, there you are” please say “I will miss you”. It’s way more supportive. Thanks. -Summer and Steph LINKS -Summer’s new mic: Samson Q2U -Shiny new object syndrome: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/288370 -Lake Como: https://www.lakecomo.is/ Lake Garda : https://www.ytravelblog.com/things-to-do-at-lake-garda-italy/ -”Parsley and Coriander” by Antonella Moretti -Summer’s interview with Zack on the Expat Chit Chat Podcast -Summer’s interview with Nicole on the Expat Cast Podcast -”Geopat” term from Virtual Expat Podcast explanation -”Over There” WWII song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6hRDS3LvQQ -Expat Cast episode on work documents in Germany (BINDERS!) QUOTES: “I like everything about the city and the way I felt when I was there.” Summer "When I step on a train, my brain goes wild and all of the things I didn't think I was thinking about comes out."-Steph CONTACT US: Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/summeroutside Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China): Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephfuccio/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephfuccio Website (3 other podcasts cause I am a crazy person!): https://stephfuccio.weebly.com/  

Welcome to the Creatively Complicated podcast, where we dive into the messiness of our creativity. Summer and Stephanie are two Americans living abroad in two different countries: Germany and China. We met via podcasting so it made sense for us to start a podcast to talk through our creative ponderings. This podcast is about as far as one can go from an advice podcast, it is more of a process through the deep, murky waters of our own creative struggles.   In this episode we take a step back and try to notice patterns in our own creative struggles, uncovering both disturbing and comforting truths about our creativity. For both of us, the creative juices flow when we are doing mundane tasks not related to our own passion projects. What is wrong with us? Is it the lack of creative pressure or the act of being productive that makes this happen? Summer questions why she can’t replicate this mundanity to create artificial deadlines for her blog. Burnt out 3 podcast producing Steph wonders why 90 minute interviews do not exhaust her but writing a 4 sentence summary in the podcast show notes takes over an hour to write. And collectively we struggle to put copying, stealing and completely new creating something on a cline. And more so, we wonder why we need to map this out at all. Maybe it’s something like this: __A.__B.__C.___D.__E. A. stolen  B. mostly copied  C. partly copied D. inspired by E. 100% original Creative terminology/ideas to emerge from this episode: “The creative window” (Steph) “You were my root vegetable” (Steph) LINKS Stephen King’s book: “On Writing” : https://amzn.to/2LlqmgK Summer’s local park photo from IG: http://bit.ly/2LhKuAq “Steal Like An Artist” : http://bit.ly/2Vjx5g5 “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert :  https://nyti.ms/2Y1NQck (Creativity comes in seasons idea) CONTACT US: Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/ Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China): Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephfuccio/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephfuccio Website (3 other podcasts cause I am a crazy person!): https://stephfuccio.weebly.com/

Welcome to the Creatively Complicated podcast, where we dive into the messiness of our creativity. Summer and Stephanie are two Americans living abroad in two different countries: Germany and China. In this episode we get very creatively meta. Rabbit holes take us down a technology and terminology time warp. Then a quote from  Ira Glass of This American Life podcast sheds light on what makes the beginning of a creative project difficult. Spoiler: it is the gap between what your taste wants of the project and what you can actually do at the beginning. This leads the way to us working through how exactly we know when we are getting better at something, if we should apologize for our known initial shortcomings and if it's better to dive into a project or take it slow and methodical. All kinds of comparisons to language learning, writing and communication methods gets involved in this discussion.  Terms: "Farsickness" - Fernweh in German "Discovery writer"-a writer who learns what they want to say by writing (as opposed to writing to say something)  Links: -The Creative Gap (Ira Glass):  in written format: http://bit.ly/2WpbNKf in video format: https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/29/ira-glass-success-daniel-sax/ -Better Podcasting, a podcast on podcasting that rocks Steph's world -Ignorance Was Bliss Podcast, (note: Steph said the name was Ignorance Is Bliss, sorry Kate) . This podcast is as raw and honest as a podcast can get. Kate, you are truly amazing! Quotes: "....it's trying to be good." -Ira Glass (its referring to the creative project) "If you're a good, curious creator, you want to continue to learn and improve." -Summer  "Academia is my bitch." -Steph (and yes, she knows full well she will regret highlighting this later.) Contact us:  Creatively Complicated (in Internetland): Email: creativelycomplicatedpodcast@gmail.com Summer (in Germany):   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summeroutside/ Blog: https://eatsomethinggosomewhere.com/ Stephanie: (in China): Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephfuccio/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephfuccio Website (3 other podcasts cause I am a crazy person!): https://stephfuccio.weebly.com/