Claim OwnershipStepping Off Now: Lessons in the Art and Craft of Creativity
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© 2024 Stepping Off Now: Lessons in the Art and Craft of Creativity
Description
Stepping Off Now is a podcast about how to live your creative best life. I’m Kendra, a social scientist and writer. I spent decades feeling creatively unfulfilled while I pursued conventional life goals, culminating in severe burnout that took years to recover from. This podcast chronicles my journey in real time as I find my way home to my essential creative self. I discuss topics like harnessing the intuitive creative process, using creativity to manage mental health, and sorting through all the external pressures and expectations to figure out what YOU really want. My hope is that you’ll find inspiration and solace here. You are not alone, and you are stronger and wiser than you know! You can find out more by visiting my website, kendrapatterson.com.
156 Episodes
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In this episode I discuss my recent diagnosis of being neurodivergent, including why I pursued a formal diagnosis, what it entails, and its relationship to creativity and my art.
With novel #1 winding its way toward publication (hopefully), I have officially begun work on novel #2...and I've realized I will have to approach writing it in an entirely different way. Not only that, I'm going to have to use a technique I have utterly failed at in the past: preplanning the plot. Simply put, I suck at plot. It was the last thing to fall into place in novel #1. In this episode I contemplate why the things we suck at could actually be special talents in disguise, and how we c...
I'm not really sure how to summarize this episode, y'all...but you'll want to listen!Contact me
Sometimes it can be difficult to see how our own societies and cultures influence us. I have this trick I use to help reveal some of those hidden influences that I call the OG Society Thought Experiment. I imagine how a small pre-capitalist "original society" would have functioned and compare that to my modern capitalist society. Today I use this thought experiment to explore different ways to frame how and why we share our art with the world.Contact me
In this episode I take stock of where I am in my creative journey as I contemplate what lies beyond the dreams we hold for ourselves. Are dreams holding us back? Do they ultimately make our lives less happy and satisfying?W.H. Auden's poem, The More Loving One Contact me
Notice: The Kishōtenketsu Workshop I am doing with Andy Mort is coming up next week! You can find more info and sign up a this link. In this episode I discuss two women I've learned about recently who are lights in the dark for me. They inspire me to keep going through tough times, and to not lose hope. Table tennis phenom Zhiying Zeng, who is making her Olympic debut in Paris this summer at the age of 58, reminds me that it's worth it to try for a dream a second time around. And singer...
I recently discovered a notebook filled with poetry I wrote thirty (!) years ago, and in one fell swoop it reconfigured my understanding of myself as an artist. In this episode I contemplate the threads that define who we are as artists that weave their way through our lifelong body of work (creative or otherwise). And I read one of those thirty-year-old poems (eep)!Find out more about my Kishotenketsu workshop partner, Andy MortFind me on InstagramContact me
In summer I like to mix it up on this podcast, so I decided to share some of my short stories. "The Trash House" is a women-centered retooling of the Japanese Kitsune (fox) folklore. Enjoy!
1Last episode I discussed the "conflict free" Japanese Kishotenketsu storytelling framework as a gentler alternative to the Western-style Hero's Journey. In this one I contrast the two as lenses through which we can interpret our creative lives. The Hero's Journey, though it may make for compelling entertainment, can be toxic when used as a way of understanding our own progress and successes. The Kishotenketsu lens provides a more realistic and less competitive perspective that suits those of ...
I'm dealing with some personal life stuff right now and so dug into my Patreon archive for an episode for you all today! In this one I discuss the Japanese (and more broadly Asian) narrative structure called Kishotenketsu. This is generally seen as being a low-conflict or even conflict-free form of narrative, and it's a balm to the soul for those of us who have highly sensitive nervous systems. I compare Kishotenketsu to the typical Western Hero's Journey/three-act narrative structure using t...
Last week I made the trek down to Tampa to attend a writer's conference and live pitch my novel to two agents! This type of experience can be overwhelming for creatives who are highly sensitive or have other types of sensory processing conditions--or for those who struggle with anxiety and/or mental health challenges. In this episode I discuss all the special accommodations I made for myself so that I was able to get through it successfully, plus how I am dealing with the emotional afte...
Rejection sensitivity is one of the primary challenges neurodiverse and highly sensitive creatives face in reaching for their dreams. It can cause us to isolate, not seek out opportunities to share or showcase our work, or even keep us from doing creative work in the first place. If we do put ourselves out there, we risk severe mental health consequences when we experience real or perceived rejection, even of the mild kind (and rejection is inevitable on any creative journey!) How can we purs...
This episode begins with an update on my preparations for the writers' conference I'm attending in Tampa on April 12. You can skip ahead to the 10:36 mark for the topical discussion.We're often counseled to follow our own vision or intuition in our creative work, but what does that actually look like in practice? How do you do it? In this episode I discuss a new lens that I'm finding useful right now: you follow what's alive. You'll hear about when following our internal impulses and rejectin...
At loooooooong last, I am (nearly! almost!) ready to start querying my novel to agents, so I decided it was the right time to do an update episode on where things stand and my plans going forward. I touch on topics such as what it feels like to be done, preparing for querying, and finding opportunities for professionalization as a prospective author.Writing Day Conference info (Tampa & Orlando)Jane Friedman classesMary Kole resources
Most timelines of the creative process depict it as linear and progressive, an "up and to the right" trajectory (like on a graph). But what I am finding in the final stretch of writing my novel, though, that this phase is entirely different from every part of the process that came before. Nothing about how I'm working as I struggle toward that finish line is like my ordinary creative practice, and I've had to alter both my approach and mindset. It truly is extra-ordinary (in the sense of bein...
My sister is a competitive cyclist, and we enjoy discussing the similarities between athletic practice and creative practice. The other day she was telling me about how she and the cyclists she coaches recognize, treat, and recover from physical injuries. It made me wonder: can creatives and artists suffer from injuries, too? If so, how do we recognize when we have one, and how do we treat it? What can a sports analogy teach us about our need as creatives and artists to rest and recover?Here ...
I credit my creative practice with helping me recover from my life-altering burnout at the end of my PhD. I've maintained from the beginning (and often talked about in this podcast) that creative work should feel good most of the time. For many years I've been gentle and compassionate with myself in both my creative practice and life, never pushing too hard and taking breaks of days or even weeks when I began to feel overwhelmed by anxiety. This is what helped me build a sustainable, fulfilli...
Have you ever noticed that successful artists' backstories often sound like destined paths or hero's journeys? Learning how to tell your own mythologized origin story is an essential tool for any artist. Listen to this episode to find out why and how to do it.I am indebted to the podcast episode Infamous: Taylor Swift Before She Was Famous Part I for much of the information about Taylor Swift's early life. Please give it and its companion Part II a listen!Find out more about the writing progr...
I am a lifelong magical thinker, but in recent years have rejected it in favor of a more realistic (read: pessimistic/cynical haha) perspective. This holiday season, though, I have decided that I will once again let myself believe in magic. But am I ready to indulge in magical thinking in a responsible way? To find out, I compare my magical thinking or lack thereof during my two experiences of finishing a novel: one twenty years ago and one this year. In the first case, I used magical thinkin...
There's no question that setting and achieving goals is beneficial...right? But what about when it's not? Creativity requires us to become adept at allowing ourselves to be swept off course. In this episode I discuss why we struggle so much to deviate from plan, why this can harm our creative process, and why we may want to consider taking radical steps to connect with our intuitive creative mind.
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Hi Kendra, I have been listening to your podcast for the past couple of years. There are so many things I appreciate about you and your work and this episode I thought highlighted so much of that: your honesty, the care you have for others and your listeners, and your ability to accept things even when it's hard to do. Thank you for role modeling the act of honoring your needs by taking breaks, and resting. As someone who has chronic health conditions as well, I am reminded of how key this really is. I am celebrating you and your next steps with your novel. Thank you for being you ❤️
The honesty and insight in each of these podcasts is so refreshing and helpful. Highly recommended!
YESSS!!! Thank you for opening my eyes to societal burnout. This feels so true.