The Autonomous Creative: Recent Episodes
Jessica Abel
What does it take to become a successful writer or artist? Go behind the scenes with amazing professional creatives in a wide variety of fields to find out what, exactly, it took for them to be able to quit the day job and build a creative career fully committed to the work they're most passionate about.
As a creative yourself, you know that whenever two artists or writers get together, inevitably the conversation turns to, “No, but seriously, how do you do it?”
This show is that conversation. And you’re invited.
“My goal isn’t to win the hours. I want to be present.” — Shelley Evans
When a “good career” starts to feel like a bad relationship, walking away is just the start. After you escape the grind, you realize the grind is YOU, and the work has just begun. Shelley and Matt share how crisis-mode and productivity hacks kept them reactive—and what changed when they chose a self‑sustaining creative practice over the fool’s gold of trying to do it all, all at once.
In this open, honest discussion, we look at why mainstream productivity culture fails creative people—and what actually works instead.
Shelley describes realizing her Hollywood career was akin to an “abusive spouse”. After she chose to step away to write her novel, her biggest achievement wasn’t logging more hours, it was moving from punishing deadlines to presence, using “marbles in a jar” to measure engaged time and pulling the Creative Focus Workshop “ripcord” to recenter herself when she got off track.
Matt shares how 100-hour weeks in tech and spinning in endless “preparation” felt productive but in fact kept him from writing. When he (finally!) chose a single project, he created steadiness and progress he could trust.
We talk about “finish and ship” as the foundation of art as communication, why the Motion AI calendar that postponed lunch until April is the clearest sign yet that productivity hacking is a dead end, and how short, ten‑minute sessions beat perfectionism because you discover better questions once you’re in motion.
If you’re stuck in reactive mode, or drowning in “optimizing,” this conversation gives you simple, human practices to return to your work and keep going.
- Why “crisis‑competence” isn’t a creative practice
- The exact moment Shelley realized the Hollywood grind was “an abusive spouse,”
- How “marbles in a jar” beats self‑punishment when you’re stuck
- When to pull the ripcord and return to Creative Focus
- “Finish and ship” as the completion of an act of creative communication
- The fine line between useful tooling/worldbuilding and sophisticated procrastination
- “I teach productivity, but I hate ‘productivity’” — e.g. the Motion AI calendar that tried to schedule lunch in April.
- The value of ten‑minute sessions over painstaking perfection
Your Next StepIf you’re ready to swap punishment for presence with your creative work, and actually finish, watch the free Creative Engine workshop. Master the 4 simple steps to finishing your dream creative projects!
GuestsShelley Evans is a screenwriter and teacher (Harvard Extension School) whose credits include ABC, CBS, Showtime, USA, Hallmark, and Lifetime. She’s now focused on her novel and on building a sustainable, presence‑based creative practice.
Matt Griffin is a writer, adjunct professor (NYU IDM/ITP), conference producer (NarraScope 2025), consultant, 3D printing and biofabrication expert (MakerBot/Ultimaker). He’s currently writing an interactive novel for Choice of Games.
Links and resources* The Creative Focus Workshop (CFW) * The Creative Engine class: 4 Simple Steps to Finish Your Dream Creative Projects (Live Oct 9; replay after) * Choice of Games
What happens when you follow your curiosity down an unexpected rabbit hole…and it leads to massive business success? Marie Poulin started as a freelance designer, but her obsession with systems thinking and digital organization evolved into something much bigger. In this candid conversation, she reveals how a side project teaching Notion exploded into a thriving business, and the hard choices and major pivots it took to get there. For anyone who's ever wondered if their niche fascination could become their whole career, this is a must-listen episode.
More from the episode* The lucky break that taught Marie everything about running a creative business * “Just because you can doesn't mean you should”: How Marie learned to stop being everything to everyone * “What have I done?”: How Marie navigated the shock of transitioning from client work to course creation * The unexpected way Marie still leans on the Ideal Week calendar that went viral in 2017 * The super-simple “living room strategy” Marie used to sell her course before she built a thing * The surprising connection Marie makes between permaculture and business systems * The hidden danger of building a business around someone else's software (and Marie's clever strategy to future-proof her work) * Why being multi-passionate can be a superpower—if you know how to harness it
About Marie PoulinMarie Poulin is a designer, systems thinker, and co-founder of Oki Doki. She's the creator of Notion Mastery, a course and community that helps entrepreneurs and small teams build sustainable, customized systems for work and life. Through her work, Marie helps people rethink how they work, from workflow to knowledge management, focusing on building more human and neurodivergent-friendly ways of organizing digital lives.
Connect with Marie Poulin* Find Marie on Blue Sky @MariePoulin * YouTube: @mariepoulin * Website: notionmastery.com * Company website: weareokidoki.com
What happens to your business when you take an extended break from social media? Will it fall apart? Wither on the vine?
What if the answer is…not much?
Meg Casebolt is an SEO expert and the founder of Love at First Search, an agency that helps online businesses get found in search results, and to turn new readers into leads, subscribers and sales.
Meg’s business used to be super active on social media, until a few years ago when she took a 100-day social media break. Kind of by accident. That’s when Meg discovered that even though social media had been taking up a ton of her time, it wasn’t contributing much to her sales.
In this episode, we discuss Meg’s new book, Social Slowdown, which examines the intersection of entrepreneurship, social media, and mental health, and explore creative new ways to engage with your audience and find clients without relying on social media.
More from the episode* Meg explains the difference between social media and SEO. (As well as answering the question, what is SEO, actually?) * Brownies vs. Painkillers: How to determine what problem your work solves. * The pro and cons of using social media for your marketing. * How to set healthy boundaries around your social media usage. * What are some effective networking strategies for introverts?
About GuestMeg Casebolt is a digital marketing strategist, SEO specialist, boy mom, productivity nerd, and bibliophile. Meg’s been helping business owners create beautiful, search-friendly websites and strategic content for the past 6 years.
Connect with Guesthttps://loveatfirstsearch.com/
Additional Linkshttps://www.socialslowdown.com/
Social Slowdown: Take a social media break,... by Casebolt, Meg (amazon.com)
For full transcripts, show notes, and more episodes, head to https://jessicaabel.com/acpod/
Do you struggle to figure out how to price your work so that it’s actually profitable for you…and then to actually say that price out loud, without mumbling or undercutting yourself?
Do you find yourself rushing to offer a discount BEFORE anyone even asks?
On this episode, I’m joined by Rauni Higson, one of Britain’s leading silversmiths. When I first met Rauni, she was chronically undercharging for her work, experiencing major feast or famine cycles, and generally running herself ragged teaching and taking on low-end work.
Discover how Rauni learned to price her work for a profit, and effectively communicate the value of her work to clients without feeling like she had to put on airs. And how that higher pricing helped her break the cycle of needing to fill her income gap by taking on tons of other low-margin work.
More from the episode* How pricing your work goes beyond numbers, and plays a crucial role in helping people truly appreciate your work * How having the words to talk about your work unlocks your ability to have fun connecting with clients * The key differences between selling a product-based offer vs. a service offer * Why we should “stay out of other people's wallets,” and what ethical practice and consent during the sales process looks like * The power of networking with fellow creatives and nurturing relationships with past clients * How to say “no” to commissions…for any reason
About GuestRauni Higson is one of Britain’s leading silversmiths. Originally trained in Finland, her studio is located in the dramatic landscape of Snowdonia, a rich backdrop of mountainous crags and rugged coastline that inform her work. All her pieces are made by hand and by hammer, using her contemporary interpretation of traditional skills.
Connect with GuestHome - Rauni Higson
Additional LinksJessica Abel on Creative Mornings
How to find (and actually talk to) your ideal clients, with Sarah Marie Lacy - Jessica Abel
For full transcripts, show notes, and more episodes, head to https://jessicaabel.com/acpod/
Samantha Clark is an award-winning artist and lauded author who recently transitioned from an academic career to creative coaching. After a year of hitting her income goals and filling her roster with clients, Sam hit a revenue ceiling.
Sam realized she needed to earn more—a lot more. Especially if she wanted to build up her savings and plan for retirement. But she didn’t know how to increase her revenue without increasing her workload.
On this episode, Sam and I explore strategies for escaping an income plateau, why doubling down on your marketing efforts won't solve your revenue problem, and how to address pricing and imposter syndrome.
More from the episode How thinking small can set you up for tons of work, and not enough income. * What actually* happens when you raise your prices. * The one key technique that can reduce the time you put in with each client (and preserve quality) while ALSO making sales easier. * The marketing asset you don’t know you need that not only makes sales smoother but also helps you get over internal resistance to raising your prices. * Why creatives are uniquely suited for designing and running their own business (and for enjoying it!)
About Samantha ClarkSamantha Clark is an award-winning visual artist of 30 years’ experience, a published author with a PhD in Creative Writing, and a university-level educator for over 25 years.
Connect with Samantha Clarkhttp://www.samanthaclark.net
Additional Linkshttps://kellydiels.com/blog/
https://jessicaabel.com/podcast/find-your-ideal-clients-with-sarah-lacy/
For full transcripts, show notes, and more episodes, head to https://jessicaabel.com/acpod/
If you struggle to finish projects that feel incredibly important to you… well, clearly you’re not alone in that. In this episode of the Autonomous Creative, we discuss how a neurodiversity-positive framework can help you identify what tools you need to move from intention to action, and how to guard your capacity so that you have what you require to follow through.
On this episode, we're talking about neurodiversity. If you have a brain that doesn’t work the way it seems like everyone else’s does, or at least the way people tell you it’s expected to, that can be challenging. But can it also be a source of strength?
I’m joined by Emily Zilber, a curator with twenty years of professional experience in art museums and cultural organizations. Emily was diagnosed with ADHD in her late 30s, and now brings strengths-based, neurodiversity-informed coaching skills to artists, creatives, and cultural workers. Join us as we explore the different frameworks for understanding neurodiversity, how it impacts creative life and business, and the importance of understanding one’s brain’s unique needs.
More from the episode * What is a “neurodiversity-affirming framework” and how can it be more useful than a “disorder model”? * Does laziness exist? If not, what the hell is it? * How developing self-trust is a key part of the puzzle * What is “pre-deciding” and how does it help with getting things done? * How pricing your work appropriately ties into doing better work and having a better life * How to look at pursuing goals as an experiment and why that might be key for solving big problems.
About Guest Through Avid Gaze Coaching & Consulting, Emily Zilber offers support and strategy for artists, creatives, and cultural workers. She brings twenty years of professional experience as a curator, educator, and writer in art museums, cultural organizations, and higher education to her work with clients, as well formal training in strengths-based, neurodiversity-informed coaching skills.
Connect with Guest www.avidgaze.com
Additional Links Laziness Does Not Exist
5 steps to Creative Focus, in sickness and in health
Descript
For full transcripts, show notes, and more episodes, head to https://jessicaabel.com/acpod/
Gabriela Pereira, my friend and the founder of DIY MFA, interviews me about creative flow. I share my strategies for building focus and reducing decision fatigue, and we do a major deep dive into one of my favorite topics: how to end the never-ending cycle of burnout and design a sustainable creative career.
More from the episode * Tips for transforming your creative practice into a habit you don't have to think about * What are your “circles of control”? How can acknowledging them help ease your overwhelm and give you more agency? * How hustle culture negatively impacts creatives and leads to cycles of burnout * The number one thing you need to consider when designing a sustainable creative career * We explore alternative paths to making a living as an author, and business models that harness your unique toolkit and experience
About Gabriela Pereira Gabriela Pereira is a writer, teacher, and self-proclaimed word nerd who wants to challenge the status quo of higher education. As the founder and instigator of DIYMFA.com, her mission is to empower writers to take an entrepreneurial approach to their education and professional growth. Gabriela earned her MFA in creative writing from The New School and teaches at national conferences, local workshops, and online. She is also the host of DIY MFA Radio, a popular podcast where she interviews bestselling authors and offers short audio master classes. Her book DIY MFA: Write with Focus, Read with Purpose, Build Your Community is out now from Writer’s Digest Books.
Connect with Gabriela DIYMFA.com
Additional Links Hustle Culture is a Scam. Here's How You Really Reach Creative Career Success.
For full transcripts, show notes, and more episodes, head to https://jessicaabel.com/acpod/
When painter Sarah Marie Lacy decided to double down on portrait commissions as her primary source of income, she was severely undercharging for her work, but had no idea what her prices should be, or who would possibly pay those much-higher prices.
Now? Sarah has a six-month waiting list, regularly rubs elbows with CEOs and ambassadors, and is a member of the most exclusive club in Ottawa. In this super-actionable conversation, Sarah and I explore the series of steps she took to more than triple her prices and to start building relationships with her ideal clients.
More from the episode * How to get invited to fancy parties * What is the “croissant technique” for networking? * Practical tips for starting conversations with potential clients * How to feel confident charging what your work is worth * The power of having a strong value proposition * How to deal with the gap you may feel between the social world of your clients and your own
About Sarah Lacy Sarah Lacy is an artist, portrait painter and teacher who is endlessly fascinated by the human body in all of its intricacy, subtlety, grace and vulnerability.
Connect with Sarah Lacy https://sarahmarielacy.com
https://www.instagram.com/smlacy
For full transcripts, show notes, and more episodes, head to https://jessicaabel.com/acpod/
On this episode, I’m joined by award-winning documentary filmmaker Henry Thong for a conversation about courage before confidence. Henry’s entire career is arguably based on his willingness to get out there before he’s “ready.”
He began his freelance career right out of high school, skipping film school altogether. He moved from Australia to NY, without a back-up plan, and parlayed his personal success into a full-time job as a filmmaker for ConvertKit. Henry has a ton of personal insight to share about how to be more courageous with your work, and why regularly taking imperfect action is the key to developing your creative business.
More from the episode* How to turn pushback into motivation * Why NOT having a back-up plan might be your best bet * How “expensive” mistakes can lead to stronger decisions going forward * How to balance paid and personal work, and the surprising value of creative “hobbies” * Strategies for dealing with the fear of putting yourself out there * How to turn your stress and anxiety into excitement
This episode comes from the Creative Business Design Lab, a live monthly conversation I lead with other creative business owners where we dig in and focus on a single topic, sharing strategy and solving problems.
Join us live for the next session of the Creative Business Design Lab!
🧪Click here to RSVP🧪
AboutHenry ThongHenry Thong is an internationally-recognized documentary filmmaker. His original series Makers Who Inspire has amassed over 1.85 million views, and has been recognized and awarded in America, Australia, Europe and Africa. Henry has also worked with like-minded brands and produced film and video content in Australia, Singapore and the United States for the likes of ConvertKit, Bright Trip, Adam Liaw, and ABC Australia. As a dedicated documentarian, Henry believes the world is an interesting enough place without having to create new ones. He has an avid interest in the creative process and is passionate about telling the stories of artists.
Connect with Henryhttps://www.youtube.com/c/henrythong
https://www.instagram.com/henryzw/
http://www.twitter.com/henryzw
https://www.facebook.com/HenryThongFilm/
Additional LinksMakers Who Inspire
https://creatorsessions.convertkit.com/with/henry-thong
https://instagram.com/ckcreatorsessions
https://youtube.com/convertkit
For full transcripts, show notes, and more episodes, head to https://jessicaabel.com/acpod/
On this episode, I’m joined by fellow business strategist and courage coach, Shawn Fink, for a wide-ranging and empathetic conversation about the ****math you need to take control of your creative business. Shawn explains the importance of releasing your fears around business math, and having the courage to achieve your revenue goals. And I reveal how simple math can help you diagnose and close an income gap, design your business, and set yourself up for success. We know business math can be scary, especially for creatives, but we’ve got you covered.
More from the episode* What’s your “enough” number, and why is knowing it essential to building sustainable creative business? * How does scarcity contribute to cyclical burnout, and what can you do instead? * Shawn breaks down her five keys to being courageous, and shares a weekly ritual you can use to establish agency over your numbers and finances. * How understanding the value of what you do, and finding your “zone of genius”, can help you meet your income goals. * We answer questions from the audience on budgeting, filing your taxes as a creative business owner, and inexpensive marketing tactics to build your audience.
About GuestShawn Fink is a Brave Business Coach for wholehearted entrepreneurs who are ready to upgrade your confidence, your cash and your commitments to doing good in this world. She works with CEOs and Founders by offering private, personalized business and visibility strategy, support and accountability and fierce courage coaching and capacity planning so you follow through on your Brave Yes Vision and Intentions.
Connect with Guesthttps://shawnfink.com
Additional LinksYou Need a Budget
“Am I a failure for not making enough money with my creative work?”
Weekly Financial Wellbeing Check-in
For full transcripts, show notes, and more episodes, head to https://jessicaabel.com/acpod/
“Self-actualization is not more importantthan feeding yourself.”
In this episode, Tara McMullin helps us understand why solving for your needs first is essential to running any creative business (with your humanity intact).
Tara is a writer, podcaster, and producer who used to be a business strategist (among many other things). But in late 2021, she pivoted to focus on her creative work. On this episode, we discuss Tara’s debut book, What Works: A Comprehensive Framework To Change The Way We Approach Goal Setting. Plus: how and why she left her successful coaching and membership business to be a writer.
More from the episode* What’s the Passion Paradigm, and how does belief in passion-driven work contribute to labor exploitation? * How the starving artist myth functions more like religious belief than you might expect, and what effect that has. * How acknowledging your limitations is actually the key to feeling more capable than ever. * How did an adult diagnosis of autism, and the emotional labor required to support her clients, play into Tara’s pivot? * What leads to chronic under-commitment, and how can we become less tied to validation and achievement?
About Tara McMullinTara McMullin is a writer, podcaster, and producer. For over 13 years, she has studied small business owners—how they live, how they work, what influences them, and what they hope for the future. She’s the host of What Works, a podcast about navigating the 21st-century economy with your humanity intact.
Tara is also co-founder of YellowHouse.Media, a boutique podcast production company. Her work has been featured in Fast Company, The Startup, The Muse, and The Huffington Post. Her first book, What Works: A Comprehensive Framework To Change The Way We Approach Goal Setting, will be released in November.
Connect with Tarahttps://explorewhatworks.com/
https://www.whatworkspodcast.com/
Additional LinksAlways On: The Hidden Labor We Do Every Day
Seven Simple Business Models
For full transcripts, show notes, and more episodes, head to https://jessicaabel.com/acpod/
Sarah Von Bargen was a highly productive blogger for 14 years, showed up constantly on Instagram, and had years of success on Pinterest.
Sarah also ran several online courses where she helped thousands of people learn to make small, but significant changes to improve their lives.
Using a strategic approach to happiness, Sarah recently mapped out a huge transformation in her own life, pivoting from online internet personality to digital marketing consultant.
On this episode, I’ll dig into what inspired Sarah’s pivot, her methodology for designing a sustainable life, and how she implemented those changes.
More from this episode…
- Sarah describes how she became a public internet personality, what it’s like, and why she opted for a more private life.
- Sarah shares her thoughts on social media, and why using it as part of your business model can contribute to burnout.
- How did Sarah reverse engineer her life based on her needs, and when did she first start getting intentional about her happiness?
- Why Sarah says she’s giving herself “permission for my career to be the least interesting thing that I’m doing.”
- Sarah’s “Good Enough” timer, and how she stops herself from falling into the trap of perfectionism.
About Sarah
Sarah Von Bargen has consulted, strategized, and ghostwritten for hundreds of companies, bloggers, and entrepreneurs. Her clients include fashion labels, authors, life coaches, photographers, restaurants, psychologists, interior designers, and people who wouldn’t want you to know they have a ghostwriter. She’s written three ebooks, an e-course, produced and sold four calendars, and has a literary agent and an app in the works.
Connect with Sarah
Yes and Yes
https://instagram.com/yesandyesblog
https://www.pinterest.com/yesandyesblog
https://www.facebook.com/yesandyesblog
Additional links
How To Figure Out What Makes You Happy (so you can do more of it)
The Glorious Freedom Of ‘Good Enough’ + How To Find It
For full transcripts, show notes, and more episodes, head to https://jessicaabel.com/acpod/
NYT bestselling author Oliver Burkeman has more than a decade of experience discussing topics like productivity, procrastination, and anxiety in his column for The Guardian newspaper, This Column Will Change Your Life. On this episode, Oliver talks about his game-changing new book, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management For Mortals, his career path, how he came into the role of productivity expert, and the freedom of what he calls “a limit-embracing attitude.”
More from the episode* What are the added challenges of doing what you love professionally, in terms of productivity? * The importance of stopping, and how patience can help you reach the finish line more consistently. * Oliver describes his own system for finishing creative projects, and what productivity looks like for him. * Why learning to tolerate discomfort is essential to developing a healthier relationship with time and productivity. * Where do most people go wrong with time-management and productivity tools, and what can they do instead?
Connect with Oliver BurkemanOliver Burkeman’s bi-monthly newsletter: https://www.oliverburkeman.com/the-imperfectionist
https://www.oliverburkeman.com/
https://twitter.com/oliverburkeman
Additional LinksWant to get things done? Stop thinking, start doing | Oliver Burkeman - The Guardian
Why it pays to cut yourself some slack | Oliver Burkeman - The Guardian
Your new superpower: NOT trying to do everything | Jessica Abel
Endless to-do list? Here’s how not to waste your life | Oliver Burkeman - FT
For full transcripts, show notes, and more episodes, head to https://jessicaabel.com/acpod/
Austin Kleon is the New York Times bestselling author of a trilogy of books about creativity in the digital age: Steal Like An Artist, Show Your Work!, and Keep Going. Before all of that, he'd been a librarian, a web designer, and an advertising copywriter. Discover Austin’s path to becoming a famous author, how he successfully navigated that pivot, and the vast web of influences that inspire his creative work and daily life.
More from the episode…
- Austin describes the “catalytic moment” he met cartoonist Lynda Berry, and how it transformed his creative practice.
- Why obscurity, especially at the beginning of your creative career, can actually be a positive thing.
- How does working in public view continue to feed his creative process?
- What is Austin’s “perpetual motion machine” for producing new material, and how did he discover it?
- When do you know if a creative work is finished? Is it ever?
About Austin Kleon
Austin Kleon is the New York Times bestselling author of a trilogy of illustrated books about creativity in the digital age: Steal Like An Artist, Show Your Work!, and Keep Going. He’s also the author of Newspaper Blackout, a collection of poems made by redacting the newspaper with a permanent marker. His books have been translated into dozens of languages and have sold over a million copies worldwide. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and sons.
Connect with Austin
https://austinkleon.com
twitter.com/austinkleon
instagram.com/austinkleon
Links from the episode
The comedy of survival
Quiet: The power of introverts a world that won’t stop talking
Alison Bechdel is an award-winning cartoonist best known for her long-running comic strip, Dykes to Watch Out For, and her autobiographical graphic novel-turned-play, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Discover the inspiration behind Alison’s most recent book, The Secret to to Superhuman Strength, how she’s learning to create healthy relationships with both her work and the humans in her life, and the impact of scarcity on her creative output.
More from the episode
- When and why did Alison decide to commit herself to becoming a comic?
- Alison explains how Dykes to Watch Out For got its start, and why she eventually decided to end the strip.
- What was it like trying to get published as a queer female comic in the 90’s?
- How Alison confronted her self-punishing work cycle, and learned to accept her limitations.
- How did winning at MacArthur Fellowship affect her expectations for herself, financially and creatively?
- Alison talks about writing autobiographically as a means of processing grief.
Connect with Alison www.alisonbechdel.com
https://dykestowatchoutfor.com/
https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-secret-to-superhuman-strength-alison-bechdel/15412143
https://twitter.com/alisonbechdel
https://www.instagram.com/alisonbechdel/
Additional Links https://jessicaabel.com/visual-scripting-using-indesign-to-write-comics/
https://jessicaabel.com/scrivener-for-fiction-comics/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/12/books/review/the-secret-to-superhuman-strength-alison-bechdel.html
Breaking into a creative field, whether you choose to be self-employed or not, can really leave you feeling like you're up the creek without a paddle. Who are you supposed to talk to, and when? Also, where do you find them? What are you supposed to do in the meantime until things...happen? And once you start doing that thing, how you do know when to stop?
We talked about it all at this panel discussion I moderated with three dynamic young artists, Brendan Keen, Mariel Capanna, and Brittany Bennett, about navigating the difficult transition from school to the working world. Each of them is following a unique path, and has tons to share about what they did wrong...and right!
About our guests
Brendan Keen https://www.brendankeenstudio.com/
Brendan Keen is an artist and fabricator currently based in West Philadelphia. He was a transfer student at PAFA, where he majored in sculpture. He graduated with a BFA 2012, and was awarded the William Emlen Cresson Memorial Travel scholarship, which meant he stayed a fifth year at PAFA and received a certificate in 2013.
When he finished school, he joined the West Philadelphia-based arts collaborative studio and workshop, the Philadelphia Traction Company. Along with the other artists at Traction, he exhibited his sculpture and collaborative works in Philadelphia and San Francisco.
For the past eight years Brendan has worked full time as a self-employed Artist and fabricator, creating sculptural installations for public and private clients, including the Logan hotel, the W hotel, the Discovery Center, and private residences.
In between jobs, Brendan travels whenever possible, including across Western Europe and around Iceland via bicycle, and most recently across the U.S. in a DIY sprinter camper van.
Mariel Capanna https://marielcapanna.com/
Mariel Capanna is a fine artist specializing in fresco who graduated with a BFA from PAFA 2012, and she was awarded the William Emlen Cresson Memorial Travel scholarship, which means she spent an extra year at PAFA and was awarded a certificate in 2013.
She received her MFA from Yale School of Art in 2020. She attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2017.
She’s exhibited many places, including Adams and Ollman (Portland), Central Park (Los Angeles), Gross McCleaf Gallery (Philadelphia), and Good Weather (North Little Rock), COOP (Nashville) and at the Bowtie Project (Los Angeles).
And has been the recipient of numerous residencies and fellowships (in addition to the Cresson): the 2019 Robert Schoelkopf Memorial Traveling Fellowship Recipient, the 2018 Haverford College VCAM Philadelphia Artist-in-Residence, a 2016 Tacony LAB Artist-in-Residence, a 2014 Independence Foundation Visual Arts Fellow, the Guapamacátaro Arts & Ecology Residency and The Mountain School of Art in 2016.
Mariel currently serves as a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Studio Art at Williams College, and a Fresco Instructor at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.
Her ongoing project Little Stone, Open Home, with Good Weather is a long-term and perpetually changing fresco in a single-car garage in North Little Rock, Arkansas.
Brittany Bennett https://bennettbc.wixsite.com/rad-river
https://www.streamstudioschop.com/
https://www.brittanycbennett.com/
Brittany Bennett is a medical illustrator who graduated from the joint PAFA/PENN program in 2014. At PAFA, Brittany focused on academic oil painting and graphite drawing. Her work from this time is the result of meticulous observation of textures in nature and a celebration of details.
After graduating, she completed a graduate program for Medical and Biological Illustration at Johns Hopkins.
She currently works at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where half her week is in Stream Studios servicing the hospital network at large, and the other half she runs RIVER: a medical illustration service just for the Radiology Department.
She is an artist with training in biology, anatomy, and visual communication who creates didactic illustrations and other visual aids. Brittany works with medical professionals at CHOP to produce patient education materials, figures for scientific literature, illustrated surgical training guides, 3D anatomical models, and more.
Gene Luen Yang is a prolific cartoonist whose personal work is deeply rooted in the Chinese-American experience. He’s best known for his original graphic novel American Born Chinese, and his work with franchise stories such as Superman and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Hear how Gene went from being a computer engineer and high school teacher to full-time cartoonist and recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant.
More from the episode
- How did the success of American Born Chinese change the trajectory of his career?
- Gene opens up about quitting his day job: “It felt like breaking up with somebody.”
- What do coding and comics have in common? And how did teaching help Gene become a better writer?
- The difference in how he approaches licensed vs. creator-owned work, and the benefits of doing both.
- Gene talks about the importance of learning to finish, and the anxious voice inside his head that keeps him on track.
- How he juggles working on multiple projects at once with being a husband and parent.
About Gene Luen Yang
Gene Luen Yang writes, and sometimes draws, comic books and graphic novels. As the Library of Congress’ fifth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, he advocates for the importance of reading, especially reading diversely. American Born Chinese, his first graphic novel from First Second Books, was a National Book Award finalist, as well as the winner of the Printz Award and an Eisner Award.
His two-volume graphic novel Boxers & Saints won the L.A. Times Book Prize and was a National Book Award Finalist. His other works include Secret Coders (with Mike Holmes), The Shadow Hero (with Sonny Liew), Superman from DC Comics (with various artists), and the Avatar: The Last Airbender series from Dark Horse Comics (with Gurihiru).
In 2016, he was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. His most recent books are Dragon Hoops from First Second Books and Superman Smashes the Klan from DC Comics.
Connect with Gene Luen Yang
https://geneyang.com/
https://www.ted.com/speakers/gene_yang
https://twitter.com/geneluenyang?lang=en
https://www.facebook.com/cartoonistgeneluenyang
https://www.instagram.com/geneluenyang/
Additional links
Visual Scripting: using InDesign to write comics
Tomm Moore is an award-winning animator and director, and the co-founder of Cartoon Saloon animation studio in Kilkenny, Ireland. His notable work includes Wolfwalkers, Song of the Sea, and the Secret of Kells, a trilogy of films based on Irish folklore. Discover how Tomm and his partners built Cartoon Saloon from scratch, without any prior business knowledge, in the small city where they grew up.
More from the episode * Why learning to run a business meant graduating from the school of “mend and make do.” * How parenthood changed Tomm’s outlook on his professional career, and inspired his films. * The importance of soft skills like self-reflection and emotional intelligence when starting a business. * Tomm describes the moment he decided not to give up on Cartoon Saloon and “get a real job.” * What goes into making an Oscar-nominated film, and why does Tomm compare it to writing a haiku? * Tomm explains why he decided to stay in his hometown (Kilkenny, Ireland), and how it paid off.
About Tomm Moore Over Cartoon Saloon’s history, Tomm has worked as Director, Art Director, Storyboarder, Animator and Illustrator across a range of the studio's projects. Tomm has directed 3 universally successful feature films: The Secret of Kells in 2010 and the spiritual follow-up, Song of the Sea in 2015, and Wolfwalkers in 2020. All three were nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards.
His latest feature film Wolfwalkers which he co-directed with Ross Stewart received several prominent critics awards including LAFCA Award and NYFCC Award as well as nominations for a Golden Globe and a Bafta and wins in several categories including Best Director and Best Independent Feature at the 2021 Annie Awards. He is currently working as a producer across several of Cartoon Saloon’s new film and series projects as well as refocusing on his personal art training.
Additional links The Blog of Kells
Cartoon Saloon
Wolfwalkers trailer
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Josh O’Neill is a comics writer and editor, and co-owner of the Philadelphia-based publishing company, Beehive Books. Using Kickstarter, Josh and his business partner Maëlle Doliveux, publish books and literary objects too risky for traditional publishers. Josh shares what inspired him to pursue publishing, and how crowdfunding allows Beehive to create art that’s for and by their community.
More from the episode
- Josh explains how he went from working in a local video store to running a publishing company.
- The pros and cons of crowdfunding, and why traditional publishers are risk-averse.
- How a community of local artists inspires and sustains Beehive.
- Josh talks about starting over after shutting down his first business, Locust Moon Comics.
- The importance of creating a healthy work environment and being a good boss to yourself.
- Why the world needs business owners with the same “wild-eyed creativity” as traditional artists.
About Beehive Books
Beehive Books is a small press imprint founded by artist and designer Maëlle Doliveux and writer and editor Josh O'Neill, formerly of Locust Moon Press. They are a boutique company committed to producing book art editions of distinctive literary and pictorial works with singular design sensibilities, the highest production values, and a special emphasis on comics and graphic art.
Additional links:
Beehive Books
Challenging the dominant culture: intent vs. interpretation with Ronald Wimberly
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In 2016, Jenna Weiss-Berman quit her job and decided to launch her own podcast company a month before her first child was born. It was an almost immediate success, and Pineapple Street Studios never took an outside investment. Jenna explains what prompted her risky career leap, and how she taught herself to run a business—on her own terms.
More from the episode…
- Jenna explains how she got her start in the podcasting industry (and how you can too).
- When does work become overwork, and is it always a bad thing?
- The pros and cons of refusing to accept outside investments.
- Jenna reveals the “startupy” mistake Pineapple Street made in the beginning.
- Can running a business be creatively satisfying?
- What makes a successful podcast, and how do you stand out among millions?
About Jenna Weiss-Berman
Jenna is the co-founder of Pineapple Street Studios. After almost a decade working in public radio on such shows as The Moth and StoryCorps, Jenna started the podcast department at BuzzFeed and created Another Round and Women of the Hour with Lena Dunham. She currently sits on the advisory board of The Moth.
Additional links:
Pineapple Street Studios
The 11th
9/12
Back Issue
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At only twenty-seven, our guest Shannon Wright has already had one helluva career.
Shannon’s work has been featured by outlets like NPR, The Nib, and the New York Times. She’s illustrated several successful children’s books, and her debut graphic novel, Twins, a collaboration with Varian Johnson, was released in 2020.
In this interview, Shannon breaks down how she got to where she is today, describing the different support systems and mentors that helped her along the way. She talks about her mission to pay it forward and be a guide for other young illustrators.
Shannon also describes the pressure she feels to brand herself and constantly produce content in order to stay relevant, a feeling many creatives can relate to. She explains how she learned to embrace all aspects of her personhood, and not focus solely on the work.
In a similar vein, Shannon opens up about being pigeonholed, particularly as a Black creator whose work frequently focuses on social justice issues, and the importance of saying no to work that doesn’t support her mental health or is at odds with her intuition.
More from the episode…
- Shannon explains how she generates most of her income as a full-time freelancer, and what she hopes her workload looks like in the future.
- Shannon talks about the motive behind her the “Super Condensed Zine: Portfolios, Websites, Pitching & Agents!” and why it’s important to empower other creators.
- “You don’t have to say yes to every opportunity that comes your way just because it’s there” — Shannon talks about how she handled the sudden interest in her work during the summer of 2020.
- What was the big mistake Shannon thought would get her permanently exiled from publishing, and why wasn’t it half as bad as she thought?
- Shannon reflects on a time when her dedication to the work drove her to isolation, and what it took for her to finally see the light.
- How did Shannon restructure her work days, and build habits that encouraged her to rest and recharge?
- A conversation about Shannon’s family reveals ways non-artists in your life can support you, even if your work is a mystery to them.
More from Shannon Wright
Shannon Wright is an illustrator and cartoonist based out of Richmond, Virginia. Some of her clients include The Guardian, TIME Magazine, The Nib, NY Times, Mother Jones, NPR, Google and Scholastic. She’s illustrated several successful children’s books, and her debut graphic novel, Twins, a collaboration with Varian Johnson, was released in 2020.
She also teaches at her alma mater, VCU.
Connect with Shannon Wright
https://shannon-wright.com/
TWINS: https://shop.scholastic.com/teachers-ecommerce/teacher/books/twins-9781338236132.html
https://twitter.com/shannondrewthis
https://www.instagram.com/shannondrewthis/
https://shannondrewthis.tumblr.com/
https://ko-fi.com/shannonwright
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“Why not put your best stuff in front of the biggest room?”
On this episode, I’m joined by writer, marketer, teacher, and Creative Focus Workshop alumni, Sonia Simone.
Sonia goes into detail about her two major career pivots, including how she went from “fan-girl” to founding partner at Rainmaker Digital, formerly CopyBlogger Media. She describes the moment she realized she was “burnt to a crisp”, after years of stretching herself too thin, and her decision to focus on her own business, Remarkable Communication.
Sonia talks about her compassionate, human-centered approach to marketing, and her mission to help creative pros craft marketing content that doesn’t make them cringe. Plus, Sonia shares how she gained visibility for her personal work by embracing her geekiness (and being a little extra).
More from this episode… * Sonia describes feeling like a “square peg” at her corporate marketing job, and the drunk Twitter DM that transformed her career. * As a founding partner at Copyblogger, Sonia invented her own job. What caused her to invent one that was completely unsustainable? * Sonia shares how she divides her time between client work and other creative pursuits, and why it’s important for her to keep them separate. * Sonia talks about being an early user of the internet, and how bloggers eventually came to terms with content marketing: “There was a group of people saying you could use this internet thing to find clients without just being a villain.” * Why so many talented writers hate the work they do for themselves, and what should be at the core your marketing. * “So much of coaching is just holding up a mirror and saying, ‘This is how I see you.’” — How Sonia helps her clients harness what makes them unique. * We discuss the tendency of creatives to forget the depth of their experience, and the usefulness of reflecting on past work. * Why Sonia believes, “If you can find one or two new clients of a month you’re in great shape…As long as you’re charging enough.”
More from Sonia Simone Sonia Simone was a founding partner of Copyblogger Media and is the owner of Remarkable Communication. She's a longtime veteran of social media, having started out in online community in 1989. She's worked for many years in marketing communication, both with startups and established corporate environments.
Sonia led the editorial direction on the Copyblogger blog, as well as developing the content and email strategies that supported the company's software and e-learning lines of business. She sold her interest in Copyblogger in 2019.
Today, Sonia helps content writers get more writing done at a higher quality standard with her new project, Creative Fierce. She also has a free report on becoming more productive, which you can grab at UnlockYourWords.com
Connect with Sonia Simone: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soniasimone/
https://www.remarkable-communication.com
http://twitter.com/soniasimone
https://copyblogger.com/author/sonia-simone/
Additional Links Katamari Damacy
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In this episode, I’m joined by contemporary painter and printmaker Didier William. Didier’s incredible work explores the diasporan experience, as well as what it was like to grow up gay in a conservative Haitian community.
Over the past five years, Didier has had massive success in the contemporary art world. In this interview, we discuss his personal parameters for success, how he protects the sanctity of his creative work in the face of needing to make a living, and how he balances the ecosystem of his home and work life (especially since he and his husband welcomed a new baby!).
We also discuss the pressure that comes from belonging to an underrepresented community in the context of marketing and production. Plus, why it’s important to be mindful of “what the work can do, and what the work can’t do” when it comes to social activism.
More from the episode... * Didier on defining success: “I spent a long time trying to sort of approach something that feels balanced, where the studio life, and the life outside of the studio, are in conversation.” * How did finishing grad school at the start of the Great Recession affect Didier’s outlook on success? * We discuss market forces, and the importance of protecting the sanctity of your creative practice, even as you earn a living. * How becoming a teacher set his creative practice free. * How and why Didier tries “to make sure that whatever I do during the day reserves the best of me for the people I go home to in the evening, my husband and my daughter.” * Why, despite all of the cultural romanticizing, creating art is a type of labor (and why that fact demands that we prioritize self care) * The importance of building thoughtful relationships with other creators out of a desire for connection and collaboration, rather than just “networking.” * Didier describes how his artistic practice evolved to include printmaking, and how it underpins the message he wants to convey in his work. * Didier shares the advice that helps him get started every day in the studio: “Always have something in progress.”
More from Didier William: Didier William is a painter/printmaker, originally from Port-au-Prince Haiti, whose epic collage/print/painting works, among many things, explore aspects of the Haitian diasporan experience, as well as attempting “to get closer to a truth that makes sense for black and brown people.”
I met Didier within weeks of arriving in Pennsylvania when we both began work at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He was the chair of the MFA program at the time and I was the chair of the new illustration program.
Didier earned his BFA in painting from The Maryland Institute College of Art, an MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University, School of Art, and is currently Assistant Professor of Expanded Print at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.
Connect with Didier
instagram: @dueyart
http://didierwilliam.com
Links
Saidiya Hartman - “Lose Your Mother”
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“You have to protect that time because no one's going to protect it for you, and no one's going to give it to you. Only you can give it to you.”
On this episode, I’m joined by my long-time friend, novelist Myla Goldberg.
In 2000, Myla found breakout success with her best selling debut novel, Bee Season. Myla walks me through the novel’s journey — how it landed in the hands of a literary agent’s assistant and went on to become a major motion picture.
We also discuss the importance of self-discipline, which Myla has in spades. Where does it come from, and is it really necessary if you want to become a successful novelist?
Finally, Myla explains the difference between nurturing her readership and building a client list for her private writing workshops, and how she does both without using social media.
More from the episode...
- How did the massive success of Bee Season warp Myla’s expectations for the future, and what was the key pivot she had to make years later?
- Myla describes her regimented routine for balancing writing, teaching, being a parent and partner, and the importance of setting boundaries around her creative time.
- Why Myla compares her creative cycle to that of a 17-year cicada.
- The illusion of instant success: “You don't really see all the painful hours and days and years it took to get to that level of mastery.”
- Myla talks about the importance of putting yourself out there, and how she deals with rejections from publishers and potential clients.
- The three benefits of an MFA degree, and why Myla has no regrets about not getting one.
- Myla explains how having an income source separate from her writing has given her more artistic freedom.
More from our guest
Myla Goldberg is a bestselling novelist whose books have been named finalists for the National Book Critics’ Circle award, the Carnegie Medal, the Hemingway Foundation/PEN award, the NYPL Young Lions award, and the Barnes & Noble Discover award. She writes and teaches in Brooklyn. Myla is best known for her debut novel, Bee Season, a breakout success that was eventually adapted into a major Hollywood film starring Richard Gere. You may have also heard about: Feast Your Eyes, The False Friend, and Wickett’s Remedy.
Connect with Myla Goldberg
https://mylagoldberg.com/
https://twitter.com/mylagoldberg
https://www.instagram.com/myla_goldberg/?hl=en
Additional Links
“Song for Myla Goldberg” by The Decemberists
Creative Writing Bootcamp on Skillshare
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On this episode of the Autonomous Creative, I’m joined by metalsmith, Victoria Lansford. Victoria specializes in old world metalsmithing techniques, like Russian Filigree and Eastern Repoussé, and passes these skills onto others through her many workshops and videos.
Victoria calls creative problem solving her ‘ultimate superpower’, and she’s hardly exaggerating. Whether she’s developing new ways to teach during a global pandemic, or redesigning her studio to be ergonomically friendly, Victoria has a knack for finding clever workarounds.
During our conversation, Victoria shares the source of her superpower, and how being adaptable has been the backbone of her career and creative practice. We also discuss the highs and lows of being multi-passionate, including how to manage Idea Debt when there’s just so much you want to do.
More from the episode...
- Victoria debunks the “impossible, improbable, ridiculous” career model she was taught in art school, and shares what worked for her instead.
- Victoria reveals how she turned 2020 into one of her most financially successful years, and why she’ll never return to in-person teaching.
- Victoria opens up about dealing with chronic pain in a physically demanding field. What steps has she taken to prioritize self-care?
- How did Victoria’s website help her land an incredible commission doing large-scale metalwork on a bespoke super yacht?
- “I moved past the sense of rejection and said ‘this is freedom’” — Why Victoria chooses to focus on making art she loves, and not only what sells.
- Why does Victoria hate the ‘J-word’?
- “Good metalsmiths are people, not who don't make mistakes, but who learn how to fix their mistakes.” — How creative problem solving became Victoria’s ultimate superpower.
- Victoria offers advice for aspiring metalsmiths: “Sometimes you just have to make a whole bunch of work that isn't amazing.”
More from our guest: Victoria Lansford is a sculptor, metalsmith, Russian filigree and Eastern repoussé and chasing expert, illuminator, and calligrapher (a veritable polymath). Her work ranges from small, precious jewelry pieces to a 5-foot by 7-foot copper relief on a bespoke super yacht. She created the metals program and served as head of the Metalsmithing Department at Spruill Center for the Arts, Atlanta, was an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Metalwerx, Inc. Through her sold out workshops, videos, books, articles, and apps, she has mentored other creatives around the world. Her newest major project is the ground breaking, animated ebook and print book Giving Voice.
Connect with Victoria Lansford: https://victorialansford.com
https://victorialansford.com/workshops/
facebook.com/VictoriaLansford
instagram.com/victorialansfordartwork
https://twitter.com/vlansford
Additional Links: https://victorialansford.com/firing-my-boss/
https://userblogs.ganoksin.com/metalwerx/2018/06/28/arist-bio-victoria-lansford/
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On this episode of The Autonomous Creative, I sit down for a super fun conversation with Ronald Wimberly. Ronald is best known for his graphic novel Prince of Cats, which is currently being developed as a film by Legendary Entertainment. His other works include a giant tabloid journal and art magazine on identity and visual culture, LAAB, Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm, Black History In Its Own Words, and his critically acclaimed webcomic, Gratuitous Ninja (which is currently being Kickstarted and published by Beehive Books as a 600-page accordion-folded concertina!).
I first met Ronald Wimberly in 2007, and shortly after we came together to work on my book, Trish Trash. We have had many long, in depth conversations over the years, and I can always count on them turning out hilarious, challenging, and never boring.
This one is no exception.
We explore some of Ronald’s most popular work and its influences, including other artists, cultures, and his personal identity. Ronald compares the many references in his work to sampling, and explains why he believes it leads to deeper, more engaging art.
We also discuss the discrepancies between the artist’s intent, and the audience’s interpretation. How much does it actually matter? Is it better, healthier even, to look away?
More from the episode... * Ronald breaks down some of the references in his graphic novel, Prince of Cats, which he describes as the B-side to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. * “One of the lessons about being an artist that I've learned over these years is you put stuff out, you mean things, sometimes it's inconsequential to what people get from it” — Why Ronald thinks focusing too heavily on how his work is perceived is unhealthy. * Ronald reminiscences on New York in the 80’s, newsstands, and being introduced to the world of comics. * We discuss the early influences on Ronald’s work, such as Japanese pop culture and Jordan Crane’s Non, and examine the value of tracing these influences. * Ronald talks about meeting fellow comic, Evan Dorkin, author of Milk & Cheese, and the joke it took him ten years to understand. * “You and the world that you live in has created this.” — How dominant culture and aesthetics feed into each other, from hex codes to Marvel movies. * What does Ronald mean when he talks about “doing the least possible reproduction of pernicious ideas that are embedded in aesthetics”? * “I always liked the collector cards from Marvel more than the comics...It’s an exploded world.” — How does building context enrich a work of art? * Ronald explains the intention behind his tabloid newspaper, LAAB, and how it compares to work he’s done in the past.
More from Ronald Wimberly
Ronald Wimberly is a comic artist best known for Black History In Its Own Words and Prince of Cats, an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set in NYC in the 80s, which he's now developing as a film with Legendary Entertainment. He's got several other major projects in the works as well, like his giant tabloid journal and art magazine on identity and visual culture, LAAB, plus more comics and more movies.
Guy is BUSY.
Ronald and I even collaborated once on a comic called "The Beautiful Ones", and he was my inspiration for a well-loved blog post about whether it's a "HELL YEAH" or no.
Connect with Ronald Wimberly
https://ronaldwimberly.com/
Additional links “Lighten Up”
“Being-in-the-Room Privilege: Elite Capture and Epistemic Deference” - Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò
“Deep Fried Frenz” by MF DOOM
GRATUITOUS NINJA: A Stealth Epic by Ronald Wimberly - Kickstarter campaign
GratNin on WEBTOON
Beehive Books
LAAB Magazine - Digital edition via Beehive Books
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Are you in a healthy relationship with your business? With your creative practice?
Or is it unrequited love?
On this episode of The Autonomous Creative, I talk to psychologist, author and business therapist, Nicole Lewis-Keeber.
As a business therapist, Nicole uses her eighteen years of experience as a clinical social worker to help small businesses owners and entrepreneurs break the cycles of abuse they’ve established in their working lives.
It’s not only about running a business — or doing the creative work! — you love, but setting it up to love you back.
We also discuss different types of trauma, how to identify them, and the importance of establishing boundaries in any healthy relationship. Plus, what causes money trauma and how can you get out from under it?
Finally, Nicole shares her refreshing perspective on the inner critic, which I previously wrote about in a blog post called, “How to Silence Your Inner Critic: Embrace it.”
For Nicole, the best way to handle the inner critic isn’t to “overcome,” “conquer,” or “master” it, but to approach it with compassion and patience. Maybe even let it sit in the backseat? It might have something important to tell you.
Learn more about embracing your inner critic here.
More from the episode... * How did Nicole recognize - and end - the ‘abusive relationship dynamic’ she had accidentally created with her business? * Why are boundaries around time and money so important for our mental health? * Nicole identifies what ‘big-T’ and ‘small-t’ trauma look like, and how they can lead to behavior patterns that negatively impact our work. * The number one reason ‘changing your mindset’ doesn’t work when dealing with a trauma response: “The inner critic is going to call bullshit on it.” * “You’re going to find a little bit of wisdom about something that needs to be healed.” — Why Nicole recommends recruiting your inner critic, rather than exiling it. * The importance of recognizing unsupportive systems, in the past and present, and how they affect you: “You can stop gaslighting yourself.” * What’s the relationship between money and trauma? * Nicole breaks down the steps for creating an ‘emotional stability plan’ that can help make your work less triggering.
More from our guest Nicole Lewis-Keeber is a business therapist and mindset coach who works with entrepreneurs to create and nurture healthy relationships with their businesses. She's a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a Masters in Social Work and a rich experience of working as a therapist.
She's certified in Brené Brown’s The Daring Way™ and Dare To Lead™ methodologies. Her biggest, most important work is in combining therapeutic processes with business coaching to help entrepreneurs build emotionally sustainable, financially stable businesses.
Connect with Nicole Lewis-Keeber https://nicole.lewis-keeber.com/
https://www.instagram.com/nicole.lewiskeeber/?hl=en
Additional Links How to Love Your Business: Stop Recreating Trauma and Have a Businesss You Love- And That Loves You Back
Do No Harm Waitlist
Love Your Business Course
Trauma & Entrepreneurship Assessment
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Julia DeWitt spent most of 2020 at a Zen Buddhist monastery and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in social work.
So...why is she on the Autonomous Creative?
Because for the prior eight years, she had an incredibly successful career in podcasting.
I met Julia in 2012, while she was l interning at “Snap Judgement,” and I was working on my book, Out on the Wire.
In this episode, Julia walks me through the last eight years, filling in the blanks on how she rocketed from intern to senior producer.
And most interestingly, why she decided to leave it all behind. Though Julia ultimately pivoted away from creative work, her quest to prioritize the work most meaningful to her is familiar.
We discuss the challenges of walking away from a career — and identity — you’ve invested so much energy in, and Julia explains why she considers her past work a necessary “honing.”
We also examine how outside forces influence art, whether it’s pressure from the market or feedback from editors and collaborators. When should you make compromises and when should stand your ground?
More from the episode...
- In the early days of her podcasting career, how did Julia go from an eager outsider to producer at one of the hottest podcasts? How did she find the courage to put herself out there and make connections?
- Julia shares some the conflicts arise when telling other people’s stories when producing stories for podcasts like "Snap Judgement."
- Julia tells the hilarious story behind her infamous anonymous phone chat story "The Superchat," and what it taught her about being clear with her personal boundaries that feeds into her relationships and work today.
- We discuss how external forces affect creative work. Are they innately problematic? How can you stay true to your vision while finding market success?
- After building a hugely success career, when and why did Julia realize her career in podcasting was no longer fulfilling?
- "I became interested in more parts of my life than my career." — How sobriety and Zen Buddhism prompted Julia’s massive career pivot.
- What is the underlying thread that connects Julia’s passion for storytelling with her new career path in social work?
- Julia looks back on her career in podcasting: "Those things are exactly what needed to happen so that I can understand this next career move.”
- We get real about the personal toll of career pivots, including how to cope when your identity is deeply rooted in past work.
Additional links:
The Superchat: https://podcasts.apple.com/is/podcast/the-superchat/id84389707?i=1000237939720
Rocky: https://www.npr.org/2015/09/18/441446074/rocky
Lefty Disco: https://www.thirdcoastfestival.org/feature/lefty-disco
Out on the Wire: https://jessicaabel.com/out-on-the-wire/
The Autonomous Creative is brought to you by Authentic Visibility: marketing for creatives who (think they) hate marketing. Learn more here!
What does it actually take to find 1000 True Fans?
Seriously, where are they hiding?
Your work is amazing.
You’re constantly promoting on social media.
You already know that your creative business isn’t bringing in the kind of money you need...especially in a reasonable time frame.
So, why is that?
Finding a thousand people willing to spend $100 on your one-of-a-kind work should be easy. I mean, you probably have more followers than that on Instagram, or at least it’s easy to imagine finding them.
But for some reason, your creative business is barely paying the bills, let alone bringing in six-figures. Something isn’t adding up.
"Whatever you're doing now that isn't working...It isn't going to magically start working."
In this episode, Matt and I do a lot of debunking.
We get specific about the flaws in the popular 1000 True Fans theory. Where and why does this seemingly straightforward model break down?
We also unpack the false assumption that mass-marketing is the only way to build a sustainable business.
It’s not. It’s an exhausting, full-time job, and chances are, you already have one of those.
We explore the fallacy that social media is built to help us get the word out about our work. On the contrary, we look at how it’s constructed to take advantage of your free labor, and basically never let you out of its claws.
Finally, we explore what does work — not a one-size-fits-all model, but strategies designed to meet and respect your needs.]
About Matt Madden: Matt Madden is a cartoonist, teacher, and translator known for his playful experiments with comics form, a practice that led Ed Park of The New York Times to dub him, “the stuntman-philosopher of American comics.” His most recent graphic novel, Ex Libris, came out from Uncivilized Books to rave reviews at the end of 2021.
His best-known book is 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style, his comics adaptation of Raymond Queneau’s Exercises in Style. His other recent works include the comic books Drawn Onward and Bridge. He has been living in Philadelphia since 2016. Follow Matt on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
More from this episode...
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Jessica and Matt examine the obvious, and the hidden flaws in the 1000 True Fans theory.
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What are conversion rates and how can knowing yours help you set realistic marketing goals?
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Jessica breaks down the daunting math behind growing a large customer base.
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How to bend the math in your favor by raising your pricing and adjusting your offer.
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One reason independent creatives struggle with marketing: "Nobody’s talking about how much of a job it is.”
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“The job of the algorithm is to keep people on the platform...It's not to help you build your business.” — Why promoting your work on social media can feel frustrating and ineffective.
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What are some practical options for creating a sustainable business, without relying on mass-marketing or becoming an influencer?
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Why all the creative work you've done in the past still matters, even after making a pivot.
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Jessica announces the Incubator, her brand new coaching program designed to help creatives build a business around their needs.
Get access to the Income Clarity Calculator, and get real about your numbers!
Additional links:
Income Clarity Calculator
1000 True Fans + One Elephant in the Room
“Social Media = Sharecropping?” by Regina Anaejionu
Connect with Matt Madden: https://twitter.com/mmaddencomics
https://www.facebook.com/mmaddencomics
https://instagram.com/mmaddencomics
https://mattmadden.com/
https://uncivilizedbooks.com/ex-libris-a-comic-by-matt-madden/
The Autonomous Creative is brought to you by Authentic Visibility: marketing for creatives who (think they) hate marketing. Learn more here!
I’ve been thinking and talking a lot with creative people about how they make a living, how they struggle with money, and what they might do differently to bring in a reasonable income.
It comes up in virtually every coaching call.
I talk about it with friends.
I ask people rude questions about it on this podcast!
...and it’s a subject of conversation around the dinner table pretty often—my husband, Matt Madden, is ALSO a cartoonist, so yeah. We talk about it a lot!
So I invited Matt on the show today to talk about specifically what goes sideways when you try to lean on MORE — doing more, making more, working more — to fill the gap.
What’s the first thing that pops to mind when you’re paying bills, or contemplating a big household expense, or saying no to yet another fun outing with friends? Your brain goes, wow, I need to make more money!
If you’re like most creative people, it’s something like, “I need to find another income stream.” Get a gig, or another job, or more clients, or pitch a book, or post on social media and try to sell more, or...all of the above.
Sounds like a solid plan, basically. Any of those things could lead to some money.
But when all of them together don’t lead to enough money, it’s time to ask, why does all this activity lead to diminishing returns, and what can I do differently?
(I’ve also written a new blog post where I break down how income plateaus happen, and how to take a totally different approach to solving the income gap between “some money” and enough money...without just doing MORE. You can acccess it here: https://bit.ly/3fJpSNY)
About Matt Madden: Matt Madden is a cartoonist, teacher, and translator known for his playful experiments with comics form, a practice that led Ed Park of The New York Times to dub him, “the stuntman-philosopher of American comics.” His most recent graphic novel, Ex Libris, came out from Uncivilized Books to rave reviews at the end of 2021.
His best-known book is 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style, his comics adaptation of Raymond Queneau’s Exercises in Style. His other recent works include the comic books Drawn Onward and Bridge. He has been living in Philadelphia since 2016. Follow Matt on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
More from the episode...
- Jessica shares two truths that can help creatives earn more money, while minimizing burn out and avoiding plateaus.
- Avoid the “make more” trap: "Doing more does not lead to more money. It might even lead to less."
- Some money vs. enough money and why understanding the difference is so important.
- What triggers Matt's "I need to make more money" moment?
- How do societal pressures box in creatives and limit their potential for success?
- "Every system is perfectly designed to get you the results it's currently getting" — Why many creatives struggle to reach their financial goals.
- “I was so burnt out and so sick of working the way I was working, I was ready to change how I was" - Jessica's first step toward coaching and escaping the endless grind.
- The first step to building a new system: "Start with reality.”
- Jessica and Matt share how they manage their time and money as a creative couple.
- Jessica introduces the Incubator, her new coaching program designed to help creatives build a business that meets their needs.
Connect with Matt Madden: https://twitter.com/mmaddencomics
https://www.facebook.com/mmaddencomics
https://instagram.com/mmaddencomics
https://mattmadden.com/
https://uncivilizedbooks.com/ex-libris-a-comic-by-matt-madden/
Additional Links https://jessicaabel.com/increase-creative-income/ The Autonomous Creative is brought to you by Authentic Visibility: marketing for creatives who (think they) hate marketing. Learn more here!
Cartoonist and publisher Spike Trotman publishes books she considers “strange and amazing.” Her company Iron Circus specializes in “underrepresented voices, underrepresented themes, stuff that has not got a big audience quite frankly or a lot of people catering to it right now.”
Sounds like a recipe for struggle.
Yet they’re KILLING it. “For the first time in my career, it feels limitless. It feels like I have so many possibilities.”
Spike is a Kickstarter All-Star champ, and Iron Circus has gone from self-publishing her webcomic collection to putting out up to 15 books a year, riding a wave of pandemic-fueled popularity into new ventures (animation) and big plans for more growth.
Spike does everything her own DIY way and is making it work (and then some), so give this fun episode a listen and find out why you’re better off better off making pineapple-anchovy pizza.
Top takeaways:
Despite reasonable competition for the hardest-working publisher and loving her work, Spike’s got hit with major burnout. feeling overwhelmed: "The answer isn't to work harder. The answer is to take a break."
The importance of delegating tasks and asking people for help. You don't have to (and shouldn't) do it all.
More from the episode...
- How the pandemic affected comics publishing (spoiler alert: 40% GROWTH.)
- Spike's struggle to shift her mindset from DIY indie comic to business owner: "I was still in that headspace where no one can do it correctly but me."
- The ins and outs of Kickstarter, including how the platform has evolved since Spike's first campaign in 2009.
- What is Spike's "cheese pizza" theory of mainstream media? And why are anchovies so awesome?
- "You do not have to be a New York Times best seller to make a living." — Why it only takes a thousand true fans.
- How sometimes, small indie creators can do better than mainstream authors. "There's still room for functioning independently."
- "We love our erotica and we love the people who make it." — How Iron Circus nurtures (one of) its niche audience(s).
- Spike describes her first vacation in over 10 years.
- The value of intentionally reserving some elements of life to be non-monetized in avoiding burnout.
- Balancing business and the need to be creative, Spike shares her low-stress method for making her own comics even while running an active publishing company.
- The value of NOT learning to do everything yourself...learning to accept help and delegating tasks within her small business: “I remember with crystal clarity the day I decided, oh wait, maybe it would be more efficient to hire someone who's been doing this for 20 years, than try and teach myself an entirely new system and do it myself.”
More from Spike Trotman
C. Spike Trotman is a cartoonist and publisher. She started an imprint called Iron Circus to self-publish her own webcomic Templar, AZ back in the late aughts, and then built that little publishing effort into the largest indie comics publisher in the Midwest!
Trotman is also known for the webcomics Lucas and Odessa (with Meg Gandy), Sparkneedle (with Matt Sherridan), and Blikada.
Iron Circus now publishes a slate of a dozen or more new books every year. They're even getting into the animation game with a short by Tracy J. Butler's Lackadaisy that Iron Circus just Kickstarted for $330,000.
Spike is also incredibly generous in helping younger and less-established creators figure out how to make this all work (check out her eBook, Let's Kickstart a Comic).
Connect with Spike Trotman
https://ironcircus.com
https://twitter.com/Iron_Spike
https://twitter.com/ironcircuscomix
https://facebook.com/ironcircuscomics
instagram @ironcircus
pillowfort @iron_spike
Additional Links
https://law-arts.org
https://mynoise.net
The Autonomous Creative is brought to you by Authentic Visibility: marketing for creatives who (think they) hate marketing. Learn more here!
Cartoonist and graphic recorder Lisa Frühbeis has made bold moves that have led to an incredibly rapid career trajectory in the last few years, starting with pitching a comic strip to a newspaper straight out of school...and then parlaying the end of that strip into a book deal, and then much more.
But Lisa isn't bold because she's free from fear. Far from it. Although she long felt a strong pull to become a professional artist, she was held back by an intense fear of the financial instability that comes along with that path.
What helped her overcome that fear and do the thing?
Lisa learned to use some strategic tools, not to stuff down and ignore her feelings and needs, but rather to leverage them to make decisions in the full confidence that she's doing the right thing.
And those deeply-rooted decisions are what make it possible for Lisa to, for example, renegotiate a with an international cultural agency to support her dream personal project.
What are these amazing tools?
Negotiation, a weighted priority matrix (?! Hang tight: We explain all), and...
Envy?
Yep.
Lisa's story reveals that the secret to taking big leaps and inventing new paths to success isn't freezing your soul and becoming an art-making automaton, but on the contrary, using passion, inspiration, and even negative emotions as guides and anchors to what really matters, and what to do next.
More from the episode...
- "I was scared to do art. My mother is a single mother and she always reminded me that it's very important, especially as woman, to be able to make money." - How Lisa found her artistic voice and overcame her scarcity mindset.
- Why does Lisa believe "envy is underrated" and what did paying attention to what she envied reveal about her career path?
- Instead of saying yes to unfulfilling work, Lisa explains how she uses a decision matrix to chose projects that honor her values.
- Lisa defines her criteria for accepting new projects, and explains how knowing your values can make you a more confident negotiator.
- "I was always feeling like I was playing chess, but not knowing what the rules were" — Why Lisa believes learning to negotiate is the best financial investment any artist can make.
- How did Lisa convince a powerful cultural institute to adopt her passion project?
- The prestigious award Lisa's project almost didn't qualify for and the importance of being persistent.
- Lisa shares an epiphany that transformed her career: "The only thing she has that you don't have is courage."
More from Lisa Frühbeis: Lisa Frühbeis is a comic artist and author. Her first book, the feminist comic strip collection "Busengewunder", appeared at Carlsen Bonnier in 2020 and won several awards. Her current webcomic "a fraction of time", about a single mother who works in the creative field, is available on tapas. She also teaches illustration at university and works as a graphic recorder (live drawing of word-image protocols) for sustainable companies. Lisa has been a voluntary board member of many associations, including the German Illustrators' Association, which she also represented as the German representative in the European umbrella organization EIF.
Connect with Lisa Frühbeis
https://lisa-fruehbeis.squarespace.com
https://instagram.com/lisa.earlybite
https://facebook.com/lisa.fruhbeis
Additional Links
https://tapas.io/series/A-Fraction-of-Time/info
The Autonomous Creative is brought to you by Authentic Visibility: marketing for creatives who (think they) hate marketing. Learn more here!
Martha Rich is commercial and fine artist who took a long and circuitous route through many day jobs (Workman's comp insurance. Hotel front desk clerk. Repo woman?) to pivot to an art career at the age of 37.
Now Martha makes a full-time living as an artist making work that brings her joy.
Her secret to building an absolutely custom autonomous creative life?
When bad things happened in her life (and they did, with regularity) instead of curling into a defensive crouch, she saw opportunities to rethink her assumptions about how her life "should" look, and instead take big leaps into new ways of living and working.
Over and over, Martha took a flyer on something untested. She took risks that others would find really scary.
Every time she landed on her feet in some new place, and it taught her to trust herself.
Successfully navigating so many life pivots, she came to trust that she can and will continue to land on her feet.
Acting with courage before confidence taught Martha that optimism is a good plan.
More from this episode... * Martha describes her escape from cubicle land and finding her creative calling: "It was a miracle... finding what you're supposed to do. Not everybody gets to do that." * When following society's rules didn't work out for Martha, she made her own: "Once you take the first big risk, then it's a little bit easier to take another one." * “Every bad thing that’s happened to me has been a blessing.” — Why Martha returned to school at thirty-seven, and how it launched her art career. * What are the benefits of a rigorous art education, particularly for older adults? * Part of Martha's story is about the relationships she built with mentors and creative influences, including the Clayton Brothers and Esther Pearl Watson. * "Networking is the one thing that has kept my career going" — How to make a living as an artist even if you're "no Leonardo da Vinci." * Martha shares her strategies for attracting clients, including the project that helped her sell more than three hundred paintings. * A self-described commercial and fine artist, Martha explains the difference between the two and how it affects her creative process. * The secret to transforming your art career: "Make some dumb stuff.”
More from Martha Rich
Martha Rich lived the typical, suburban life - until she followed her husband to Los Angeles where, just short of a picket fence and 2.5 children her average American life unraveled. To cope with divorce, fate lead her to a class taught by painters and brothers Rob and Christian Clayton. They persuaded her to quit the pantyhose, corporate world, leave her human resources job at Universal Studios behind and become an artist full-time. She graduated with honors from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and got her MFA in Painting from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Her commercial clients include Blue Q, Fringe Studio, Mincing Mockingbird, Chronicle Books, Green Thumb Industries, Penn Gazette, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Penguin UK, McSweeney’s, Portland Mercury, Village Voice, Bon Appetit, San Francisco Chronicle, Henry Holt Publishers, and Country Music TV to name just a few.
Her work is featured in the Beck video “Girl” and a book about her sketchbooks,
Sketchbook Expressionism, was published by Murphy Design. In 2019, Chronicle Books published her book, The Furious Notebook, Release Your Rage, Use Your Anger for Good and Chill the Heck Out.
Rich’s artwork has been shown in galleries throughout the U.S. and internationally.
She is currently living in her hometown of Philadelphia and teaches classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.
Connect with Martha Rich
https://instagram.com/martharich63
https://instagram.com/martharichworld
Additional Links
www.mincingmockingbird.com/collections/martha-rich-word-bubbles
https://www.jenvaughnart.com/portfolio/martha-rich/
https://cargocollective.com/martharich
The Autonomous Creative is brought to you by Authentic Visibility: marketing for creatives who (think they) hate marketing. Learn more here!
"What theories about myself and my creativity am I willing to test? Am I willing to fail?"
Sarah Firth is an awesome cartoonist and graphic recorder, among many other things.
Sarah takes a bit of a mad scientist approach to her creative life. She embraces experimentation and testing to try to discover new ways to organize her life around her creative interests, always looking to answer the question: "How much value can I bring to something? And then also how much time can I buy back?"
This openness to experimentation has helped Sarah build a more anti-fragile, flexible, stable, sustainable—and enjoyable!—creative life.
Sarah has followed her curiosity to make life-changing pivots in the face of adversity, including the surprisingly positive aftermath of a traumatic car accident that derailed her post-college professional plans, and learning to use her neurodivergence as a filter, and even a sort of superpower.
More from the episode...
- "Identity is utility" - How to embrace your personal identity without pigeonholing yourself.
- We discuss the benefits of being multi-passionate: "Having range as a person is actually really powerful and makes you anti-fragile. It makes you flexible. It makes you come up with creative solutions, mix things in from different industries together to innovate."
- How can multi-passionate people make the most of their diverse skills on a resume and in the workforce? Hint: "You don't have to show all your cards."
- From driving trucks to graphic recorder, Sarah explains what she looks for in a career: "How much value can I bring to something? And then also how much time can I buy back?"
- After a traumatic car accident upended her life, Sarah embraced comics as "graphic medicine." What happens when life crashes into your intentions?
- Sarah shares her experience of neurodivergence and physical disability, including how she meets challenges in ways that are empowering.
- "People are like houseplants and we all have different needs." - Why discovering what works for you is so important.
- Why is Sarah cautious of the classic adage 'trust yourself'?
- Sarah offers tips for preventing social media burn out and dealing with hate online.
More about Sarah Firth
Sarah Firth is one of the foremost practitioners of the art of graphic recording, and that's not all (or even most): she's also an Eisner Award-winning nonfiction cartoonist who takes on many of the most important issues of the day, including climate change, Covid, #metoo, and art-making with a disability. Her work has been published by ABRAMS Books, ABC Arts, Frankie Magazine, kuš!,Graphic Mundi, Penn State University Press, Penguin Random House, Picador, Allen & Unwin, The Nib, Black Inc, and Routledge. She's currently working on her first full-length book of visual essays, supported by a Creators Fund program grant.
Connect with Sarah Firth
https://www.facebook.com/SarahTheFirthCreativeServices/
https://twitter.com/sarahthefirth
https://www.instagram.com/sarahthefirth/
http://www.sarahthefirth.com/
Additional Links
http://www.sarahthefirth.com/shopsarahthefirth/graphic-recording-quick-skills-a-free-mini-course
https://assemblepapers.com.au/2021/02/03/unexpectedly-thriving/
http://www.sarahthefirth.com/shopsarahthefirth/untangle-your-brain-and-think-on-the-page
The Autonomous Creative is brought to you by Authentic Visibility: marketing for creatives who (think they) hate marketing. Learn more here!
Tom Hart is a cartoonist, and he’s the founder and executive director of a comics school, The Sequential Artists Workshop. His 2016 memoir, Rosalie Lightning, debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list.
Tom offers amazing, valuable insights about the path to creative career success—and that what “success” looks like must be self-defined, always. For Tom, that means freedom is number one. When he has creative autonomy, he’s happy.
Tom spoke about the invisible bargains we make to have a life lived in alignment with our ideals and creative goals. He asked: What are we willing to live with? How much fear? How much shame? How much financial precarity?
We talked about why “shame” comes into it, and how to get over it.
And we talked about why financial precarity isn’t a prerequisite for creative autonomy and freedom. To get that message out, we all need to be talking more openly and clearly about what’s happening behind closed doors, in creatives’ lives.
More from the episode…
- “Success is…can I make things that mean something to me and can I help people make things that mean something to them and that isn’t just feeding a commercial engine?” – Why Tom believes success is more than just churning out work.
- How has the desire to be seen impacted Tom’s creative process?
- We discuss Tom’s memoir, Rosalie Lightning, and how his unique creative practice gave him the tools to process grief.
- For years, Tom believed he needed multiple sources of income. Why has he decided to focus his revenue stream?
- Tom reflects on an encounter that helped him let go of financial shame: “If a lawyer is saying the same thing I’m saying, then I just might as well stay an artist.”
- “Nobody was happy and everybody worked all the time…and that’s the hole I’m always trying to plug.” – To what extend does scarcity fuel artistic ambition?
- Tom describes the awakening that inspired him to found the Sequential Artists Workshop: “Some people like my books, but they’re not going to pay the bills. There are other creative things I can do that can pay the bills.”
- Sometimes, pursing your creative vision is a matter of bargaining: “I didn’t realize that having a high-paying job in advertising doing work for Sony and McDonald’s was making a living from your art.”
- Why is money a taboo conversation, even between friends, and what’s the benefit of speaking up?
- Tom reminds us: “Nothing is scary about art.”
More from Tom Hart: Tom Hart is a cartoonist and the Executive Director of The Sequential Artists Workshop, a school and arts organization in Gainesville, Florida.
He was a core instructor at New York City’s School of Visual Arts for 10 years, teaching cartooning to undergraduates, working adults and teens alike.
His 2016 memoir, Rosalie Lightning debuted at #1 on the NY Times Bestseller List and has been featured on many end of year Best-Of lists.
He is the creator of the Hutch Owen series of graphic novels and books, and has been nominated for all the major industry awards.
He was an early recipient of a Xeric Grant for self-publishing cartoonists, and has been on many best-of lists in the Comics Journal and other comix publications. He has been called “One of the great underrated cartoonists of our time” by Eddie Campbell and “One of my favorite cartoonists of the decade” by Scott McCloud. His daily Hutch Owen comic strip ran for 2 years in newspapers in New York and Boston, and his strip “Ali’s House”, co-created with Margo Dabaie was picked up by King Features Syndicate.
Connect with Tom Hart
Tom Hart on Twitter
https://www.instagram.com/hutchowen/
https://www.facebook.com/hutchowen
http://www.tomhart.net/
Additional Links
The Sequential Artists Workshop on Twitter
https://www.sequentialartistsworkshop.org/
https://www.instagram.com/comicsworkshop/
https://www.facebook.com/sequentialartistsworkshop
The Autonomous Creative is brought to you by Authentic Visibility: marketing for creatives who (think they) hate marketing. Learn more here!
The only thing more challenging than using frenetic DIY self-publishing to springboard a career in children's books might be running a commercial salmon fishery on the Alaskan tundra from a cabin with no electricity, no toilet, and four kids. That's why I was so excited to talk to Robbi Behr and Matthew Swanson, the illustrator-author-married-with-4-kids duo.
Robbi illustrates, Matthew writes, and together they make picture books for kids and adults.
Robbi and Matthew are a whirlwind of creative action, and their story is just a crazy tale of inventing a creative life that allows them to make the work that's 100% most aligned with who they are and what they value.
They started on this path when Matthew got his "most withering rejection", which slammed the door on how they thought their lives would play out.
They turned even this painful setback into an opportunity, so it's no surprise that their approach to life has opened the door to amazing lucky breaks.
In this interview, we talk about the value of the right kind of day job, how to develop a unique and authentic brand, and why you should definitely NOT try to marry Robbi Behr.
More from the episode...
- Robbi and Matthew joke about the rejection that inspired their creative partnership: "I applied to six graduate schools and I got seven letter of rejection. The University of Minnesota rejected me twice on consecutive Mondays."
- The two ways you can respond to life's challenges, according to Matthew: "You can have power of conviction behind a story and try everything you can to make that version of the story come true. Or you can pick a thread and follow the thread and let the thread itself be the driving force and see what story materializes."
- "We live a perfectly comfortable life while being full-time creatives and I just have this other thing on top of it that pays the bills." — Why Matthew still has a day job, despite their success making books.
- The chance encounter that led to Robbi and Matthew's first commercially published book and what it takes to make your own luck.
- How "leaping at the first possibility" led to Robbi and Matthew's biggest mistake, and what they could have done differently.
- Robbi and Matthew discuss developing their unique brand and why authenticity is so important: "I think if you're very deliberate and purposeful upfront about what you will and will not create and you stick to it, then you're more likely at the end where it starts to become more of a business or a profession or a money-generating mechanism for you and others to still be doing what you love."
- What are the benefits of commercial publishing, and why are Robbi and Matthew excited about returning to self-publishing one day?
- Robbi and Matthew consider their creative differences an asset. What makes their partnership productive and how do they resolve conflict?
- Alaskan salmon fishing: the forty-year tradition begun by Robbi's father that Matthew describes as "indescribably unpleasant and yet it's magical."
- A question about fate reveals how Robbi and Matthew met.
More from our guests: Robbi is an illustrator/printmaker/commercial salmon fisherwoman with a BA from Williams College and an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Matthew is a writer/art director/blues harmonica player who has so far failed in every attempt to be swashbuckling.
Robbi illustrates. Matthew writes. Together they make picture books for kids and adults. They’re also married. And they do all this with four kids.
They’ve published books including Everywhere Wonder, The Real McCoys, Babies Ruin Everything, and more than 70+ self-published books before breaking into commercial press!
Next up for this duo? They're converting a 24 foot school bus into a tiny home that they'll be living in with their four kids (and a puppy!) while they travel for a year and give away 50,000 free books to high-poverty schools! They're currently fundraising for this project, and you can learn more about it here.
Plus, check out “The Daily Minute” — a series of daily videos exactly a minute long (there’s a timer and everything) that purport to be about their creative process, but often include marital antics, funny things that have happened to them, cameos by their kids, and lots of cheese balls on either Instagram or Facebook.
Connect with Robbi Behr and Matthew Swanson
robbiandmatthew.com
instagram @robbi.and.matthew
twitter @drawingrobbi
twitter @writingmatthew
facebook.com/robbiandmatthew
https://ie.gofundme.com/f/robbi-matthews-busload-of-books-tour
Additional Links
idiotsbooks.com
bobbledybooks.com
https://www.crowdcast.io/e/acpod-robbi-and-matthew
The Autonomous Creative is brought to you by Authentic Visibility: marketing for creatives who (think they) hate marketing. Learn more here!
In this interview, Alexander and I talk a lot about money, and specifically, about how asking for money and negotiating for what you want and need is a key piece of building a healthy relationship with your work and career.
We also talked about the myth of the solitary artist, and the reality: that community and relationships are key to not just success, but survival.
Finally, Alexander is the source of an incredibly pivotal insight for me: that caring for your creative process IS self-care, and when you allow yourself the margin to take care of your work process, it benefits not only your body and mental health (and that of your family and loved ones) but the work itself.
More from the episode...
- The importance of collective action in securing the rights of authors.
- The role of community in creative career-building. How is writing "a community project"?
- What is the "golden thread" and how does it help creators build relationships with their followers?
- The word "networking" sounds "weirdly clinical" to Alexander— why at some point he figured out that's what he was doing, and that it was a key to his success. What's a better way to look at this fraught term?
- Alexander breaks down why writers should always ask for more money: "Sometimes people are like, how come the Queen of the Night took you so long? And it's like, well, I did waste a lot of time writing essays for $150."
- What was in the folder writer Denis Johnson (Jesus's Son) labeled "answers"?
- Instead of running himself into the ground because he's eager to please, Alexander lays out his process to not overschedule himself.
- How earning with your work can help you make more work, in a literal as well as an emotional sense: "It won me ...a typewriter that I then used to write for a long time. And that typewriter became a talisman at a time that I needed a talisman. I wrote this typewriter into existence. I'm now using it to write more stories."
- "Don't be so grateful that you let yourself down." —What Alexander would tell his younger self if he could.
- Why it's so important to trust yourself and recognizing when self-doubt is holding you back from pursuing your creative goals.
- Alexander lays out several important pieces of advice to novice pro writers, including "There's no reason to think that just because you're an unknown writer you can't somehow get a decent fee for your work."
More from our guest: Alexander Chee is the author of the novels Edinburgh, The Queen of the Night, and the essay collection How To Write An Autobiographical Novel as well as many short stories and essays. He is a contributing editor at The New Republic, an editor at large at VQR, and a critic-at-large for The Los Angeles Times. He currently teaches creative nonfiction and fiction at Dartmouth College.
Connect with Alexander Chee
alexanderchee.net
twitter @alexanderchee
instagram @cheemobile
facebook.com/alexanderchee
https://alexanderchee.medium.com/
querent.substack.com
Additional links
authorsguild.org
https://thesewaneereview.com/articles/the-autobiography-of-my-novel
https://alexanderchee.medium.com/your-questions-answered-how-have-you-overcome-writers-block-fc5525bab1cb
https://www.crowdcast.io/e/acpod-alexander-chee
The Autonomous Creative is brought to you by Authentic Visibility: marketing for creatives who (think they) hate marketing. Learn more here!