The Creating Pros Podcast

Creative businesses, like all businesses, runs by the numbers. Rachel E. Carr (RachelECarr.com) is an accountant and auditor by day, and an author by night. She joins me this week to talk about accounting, royalties, taxes, budgets, and the benefits of creativity in your professional life. 
 
 

This week is a short, but important one.
 
Have clarity and intention in what you say, and do.

I recently taught a workshop at DragonCon 2023 on side hustles. With a full room, we ran through the fundamentals of a business, starting your ideas, and ideas around marketing. A common factor to all of these is the question, 'What's your why?'
The reason you look to go into business, especially starting creative ones, often is your motivation behind the work. Join me for a deeper conversation on how your why is one of the most important questions.

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?