The Creating Pros Podcast

Cleveland was home to Superman's creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. To celebrate Superman's 85th anniversary, locations all over Cleveland are hosting talks and events from September through November 2. Co-director Valentino Zullo joins me to talk about Superman’s Cleveland, and event for everyone: comics fans, families, scholars, history buffs, and all lovers of the culture of the greater Cleveland area.
 
He is also co-director of Superman's Cleveland, a city-wide Superman Celebration, American Editor of the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, co-editor of Rust Belt Studies, and has written articles on comics and psychoanalysis for various journals.
 
Valentino Zullo is Assistant Professor of English, the Anisfield-Wolf Fellow, and a member of the Rust Belt Humanities Lab at Ursuline College. He is the co-director of the Get Graphic program at the Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library where he was the Scholar-in-Residence. He is also co-director of Superman's Cleveland, a city-wide Superman Celebration, American Editor of the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, co-editor of Rust Belt Studies, and has written articles on comics and psychoanalysis for various journals including The Journal of Popular Culture, INKS: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, and American Imago:  Psychoanalysis and the Human Sciences.  

This week I chat with Anne D. Bartolucci, Ph.D. about the relationship between sleep, productivity, and creativity. We also talk about the relationship and connection between our creative selves, professional, and personal lives.
 
You can find out more about Anne, and her alter ego Cecelia Dominic at:
Practice: https://sleepyintheatl.com
Fiction: https://ceciliadominic.com
Psych Up Academy: https://psychupacademy.com
Better Sleep for the Overachiever: https://overachieverbook.com
Check out the quiz and upcoming workshop:  “What kind of procrastinator are you?”  https://bit.ly/podcast-procrastinator

Sponsored by BGSU's Department of Popular Culture, the Browne Popular Culture Library, and School of Cultural and Critical Studies, the Spider-Man in Popular Cultured Conference is an academic and fan celebration of an iconic character from the comics, TV, film, gaming, and more. Join Dr. Charles Anthony Coletta and Dr. Matthew A. Donahue from the Department of Popular Culture, and Tyne. R. Lowe archivist of the Browne Popular Culture Library to discuss Ray Browne's founding of the academic study of Pop Culture in the United States, and an overview of the international presenters coming to celebrate, discuss, and debate the cultural significance of Spider-Man and his impact upon comics, mass media, and our society at large.

Last week I talked about self-censorship. This week I look at the meaning of creative work, and how is can affect not only the creator, but the fans and consumers as well.

Self-censorship comes in a lot of forms, and for a lot of reasons. Fear of how your ideas will be received, of ridicule, and rejection. Will you be 'cancelled.' Have you been told it's something you shouldn't write about? What are the costs of self-censorship, and how do you decide what's right for you? 

All of us are called on to be creative at work, at home, school, organizations, and every facet of our lives. But being A Creative is more a way of living and being. A way of looking at and approaching what we do. What does generative AI technology mean to being creative? How do we continue to be Creatives in this world?

Time is the answer to the universe. We only get so much of it, and never really know how much that is. How do we use it? What's important to us? How do we set the boundaries to make sure we put aside time for what is important to us?

Often, we think of gatekeeping being the process by which people are kept away from centers of power and influence to prevent the average person from reaching some goal. Agents and editors are the age old gatekeepers of publishing and entertainment. In my experience, it's more about making sure you and your product are ready to be considered at that next level, and that you're delivering what they're looking for.
Now we see it as just slang for sitting on information or ideas.
Have we lost sight of the job of the gatekeepers, and with the changes in the business, do we still need them? How do we need them to change?

Funding a project can be hard, we look at self funding, crowd funding, but what about one that has fueled the arts for centuries? What are grants, and are they really free money?

What is risk? What does it mean to running a creative business? A creative life? How do you manage and mitigate it?
This week is all about understanding what risk really is, and how to handle it!