35: Lean Into Your Creative Genius

Let's talk about it: what exactly is generative AI? How does it produce its output? And, most importantly, can AI be creative?

Twitter is (still) going down in a blaze of...well, not glory. Its demise has been a blow to many creative people, so let's talk about what to do in the wake of any social media platform's decline.

Tempest's first book, Ruby Finley vs. the Interstellar Invasion, has been published! In this episode, she shares her experience writing and publishing a middle-grade book, from the first picture game to finding an agent to books hitting the shelves of a bookstore near you.

Does a spiritual practice play a part in your creative process? Do you have any rituals to help you create? Tempest and Aleen share their thoughts, feelings, history with spirituality, & current spiritual practices (or, in Aleen's case, attempt at creating ritual) and how they relate to their creativity.

Whitney "Strix" Beltrán joins Tempest and Aleen to talk about her unintuitive journey to becoming a narrative director in the video games industry. Sometimes we take the road we've always intended to go down; sometimes we're led on a path we never could have imagined.

It's easy to get bogged down in the notion that you've waited too long to start a new creative pursuit, but Tempest and Aleen are here to tell you that it is never too late to try something new.

Why, after two years without a new episode, is Originality back? That's what Tempest and Aleen are here to tell you about this month! One of the most important things we can do as creators is learning from our experiences and tweaking our processes, so we're sharing what we learned from the first iteration of Originality and what we're doing differently this time around.

It can be really hard to put yourself out there when you don't feel like you know everything on a topic. This month, Tempest, Aleen, and guest Quinn Rose talk about strategies for overcoming that feeling so you can get started.

2020 is here! What did you achieve in the 2010s? Tempest and Aleen talk about why they dislike this question, and interrogate what "achievement" really means. They go on to discuss how they're reframing what an accomplishment looks and feels like, and their creative goals for 2020.

This week, Rosemary Orchard joins Aleen and Tempest to talk about the writing process. They discuss productivity topics like getting over barriers to creativity, not holding yourself to impossible standards, and establishing a writing ritual that works for you. Also, perhaps a writer’s most important question: do you trust strangers to watch your stuff in coffee shops?