S2 Ep.1 Approaching Creativity 2022

Approaching Creativity 2022 - Transcript

[JAMIE] I am so glad that we've decided to double our budget for this season.

[KARLI] Oh, yeah!

[JAMIE] I feel like really now we have the room and the space to push this podcast into the next level. [chuckles]

[KARLI] Absolutely. I mean, it took so much effort to adjust all of those line items to really, like get it nailed in last year. But this year, we just had the freedom, we have the freedom to do like—the sky's the limit.

[JAMIE] Yeah, I mean, we can take on even more interns to handle things. All that—that doubling of funds. We can ... I'm thinking billboard, I think a billboard is probably the best way to market in 2022.

[KARLI] I like that, I like that.

[JAMIE] Just a single billboard.

[KARLI] Yeah, well, and [chuckles] the billboard will be made out of cardboard, obviously, with Sharpie, and it will be just down the road from my corner market.

[JAMIE] What do you, what do you mean? I thought we had—

[KARLI] Well when—you when you double zeros, It's still zero.

[LAUGHTER]

[JAMIE] I've never been that good at math. [both laugh] It’s gonna be a good season.

[KARLI] Oh, isn't it though? I can feel it.

[JAMIE] Well, you just have to manifest that energy. [laughs] I believe people when they say that, but anytime I use the term manifest, it is purely in a facetious … [laughs]

[KARLI] I can hear, can hear the snark dripping off of your voice. You can't take yourself seriously when you say that word.

[JAMIE] I can't take myself seriously. 

[KARLI] It's a good thing. Nobody takes you seriously. 

[JAMIE] That's how I prefer it. 

[KARLI] I know.

[JAMIE] Low expectations. 

[INTRODUCTION MUSIC PLAYS]

[JAMIE] Welcome to The Act Break, where we're talking about all things story. 

[KARLI] Take a break from your creative endeavors and hang out with us.

[JAMIE] Have a little simulated human interaction.

[KARLI] Because internet friends totally count. 

[INTRO MUSIC FADES]

[JAMIE] Hey, Karli.

[KARLI] Hi, Jamie. Welcome back. 

[JAMIE] Thanks.

[KARLI] It's been so long since I've seen your face.

[JAMIE] I know. We’ve—we've very specifically been in complete isolation from each other. 

[KARLI] Mhmm.

[JAMIE] The last time we saw each other was during the recording of the last episode.

[KARLI] Yeah, definitely haven't seen each other for months and months. I feel so deprived.

[JAMIE] I feel like there's a line for anybody who doesn't understand [both laughing] the "yes, and" quality that we're going for that like we're not just lying. We're joking. Where is the line between a lie and a bit?

[LAUGHTER]

[KARLI] It is— [laughs]

[JAMIE] [laughing] It’s it is comedic. Because when I talk dog doesn't bark, the second Carly opens her mouth her dog barks.

[DOG BARKS IN THE BACKGROUND]

[KARLI] My dogs do not want me to share my opinion. And I feel personally offended by that.

[JAMIE] I've recently hired your dog as one of our interns.

[KARLI] What are you paying him in, peanut butter?

[JAMIE] He's an intern, he's getting paid in  experience. He's going to put it on his doggy resume [Karli chuckles] for when he ditches you guys goes off to Hollywood. If anybody's gonna make it from The Act Break podcast, it'll probably be Karli's dog. [both laugh] We need to hire an assistant for our intern, the dog, to really build up his social media presence.

[KARLI] Absolutely. Every dog intern needs a social media manager.

[JAMIE] Yeah, we should probably call and get whoever's doing Butters'. Whoever's doing Butters' social media is doing a good job.

[KARLI] Yeah, that's on point for sure. 

[JAMIE] We'll put in a call. That's where the budget's going this year, people. 

[KARLI] I love it.

[JAMIE] Welcome to Season Two of The Act Break. Now thirty minutes or less, or your podcast is free! We had to cut some stuff down, because life is life. And—but most of our episodes will probably still be over thirty minutes.

[KARLI] But we're aiming for a little closer to that mark. We'll see how it goes. [laughing]

[JAMIE] We have a lot of guests lined up that I'm already telling myself. I'm not cutting us off at thirty minutes. Because ...

[KARLI] Yeah.

[JAMIE] I want to hear what these people have to say. [chuckles]

[KARLI] Absolutely.

[JAMIE] Our episodes will be a little bit shorter. But we have a lot of awesome people coming up. You can expect a new episode every Thursday, pretty much until we let you know otherwise. 

[KARLI] Yeah! 

[JAMIE] And the reason we started the podcast is kind of more prevalent than ever and that is that sometimes you just need a break and you need to not feel alone and you need to last with other human beings. That is why we are here and that's what we want to do in season two. So who are we, that we're trying to do this, in case you're new. My name is Jamie. Some of you might recognize me as Sci-Fi Oh My, which is my social media handle. I am a science fiction and speculative fiction author who spent the last seven years getting to know the craft. I've finished five manuscripts, most of which are currently in various stages of editing. I've learned a lot over the last seven years. I am zero percent an expert in my field. [chuckles] But I do love talking about stories. I've met a lot of kindred souls. And that's basically what's brought me here today. Hence, I'm here. [both chuckle] I said I'm here twice, but I'm really here guys. I'm right here.

[KARLI] “I'm so there …” [laughs]

[JAMIE] “I'm so there, it's insane.”

[KARLI] And I am Karli, writer of dark fantasy and speculative fiction, you can find me @karliwritesthings on social media. I have been blowing hot and cold with writing since 2016. I've written three novels, all in various stages of editing, and have started and stopped more drafts of novels than I care to count. Okay, so maybe it's the exact number of novels that I've actually finished, but who's counting. And I also write the occasional short fiction piece, also rarely to see the red pen. During the course of my writing journeys, I have met a lot of the same very cool people, which is why we are here, making this podcast; to create this veritable water cooler situation where we can all hang out together and talk about the thing that we enjoy the most. Storytelling.

[JAMIE] Yes. So we have a couple of things that we want to talk about today. In regards to, you know, our whole approach to this thing we're gonna call 2022. I've been told it's a whole new year.

[KARLI] It's an arbitrary thing. I think, though.

[JAMIE] I really do think that because, years aren’t real. Let’s talk about our approaches. How are you approaching your creative endeavors, this—this 2022? Or what's like, the [laughing] concept of how you're approaching it?

[KARLI] My nebulous goal, plan—plan of a goal for this year, is to be more intentional with my career, moving forward. And in order to do that, I have to actually edit the things that I write. Who knew ... that you can't just write the thing and then just let it sit on your shelf and assume that people will absorb it by osmosis. 

[LAUGHTER]

[JAMIE] Okay, so you're pretty much going to be focusing on a lot of editing.

[KARLI] A lot of editing this year, I really need to get my work into the hands of my fantastic critique partners and writing group. And that is not going to happen if I don't actually edit.

[JAMIE] Yeah, it's hard editing is the absolute worst. So like ...

[KARLI] I don't mind it in theory, until I actually start it.

[JAMIE] I don't mind anything in theory.

[LAUGHTER]

[KARLI] Okay, okay. All right. How about you—enough about me—let’s hear about you. And your plans for this. This—this creative approach … thing?

[JAMIE] I yeah, I would say more of like an approach than a plan because I, pretty much since last November, last NaNo ... I've been like, I need to step back and decide what I’m—what I want to do. I need to like, look at what projects I have and how much I have left to finish and then make some sort of course of action that I can undertake. And then I'll just start getting stuff done. And like, every month, no matter how much—I mean, it's been a while and [chuckling] no magical plan has revealed itself to me. Strangely enough. [Karli laughs]

[KARLI] You mean the idea elves have not come and left presents ...

[JAMIE] I mean ...

[KARLI] For you, on your desk? In the form of a plan?

[JAMIE] In theory, it's all done. [Jamie laughs]

[KARLI] You know, what, how dare you? How dare you?

[JAMIE] For a long time, I've been trying to write a new manuscript every year. And that got me into a situation where I have too much, and I've said that before on the podcast. So now, the first half of this year is focusing on editing and getting three of those manuscripts to a point where I can give them to other people, and kind of forget about them for a while, clear them from my mental cue, so that I have room for new ideas. But like I was just stacking stuff on top of each other. And then like, it's that we’re—we're in different places, but we are in a similar place where we have a whole bunch of stuff, but we have to edit that stuff to get it to a point where it's worth anything. [laughing] Yeah, so I'm planning to edit. On the, on the new writing side, I'm going to focus a little bit more on shorter fiction, as—as far as approach goes, I'm also not locking myself into: I have to achieve these goals by the end of the year, or I have somehow failed. Because I have a personal life as well. And a lot of responsibilities and other stuff, just as we all do outside of our like, our—our want to be writers and published. 

[KARLI] Yeah. 

[JAMIE] So I'm like very ... much kinder to myself this year already. This is a whole different mindset of what I expect to achieve, and what I consider ... what I consider success for the year. To summarize, my approach is such that I really should do all those things on my list I've been putting off doing, [both chuckle] but I should be gentle with myself despite it. It was, it was really a button seat issue for me last year, where I'm like, I really did just need to like sit down and do the work. But I was not in a place where I had the capacity to do that. So I didn't. But now I am feeling like I am in that place. So I have to do it. [laughs]

[KARLI] Likewise.

[JAMIE] I would really like for you to take a journey with me all the way back to the start of the time when deciding to pursue writing.

[KARLI] Once upon a time, there were two naive young women.

[LAUGHTER]

[JAMIE] For me that year was 2015. For you, I think it was yeah, about the same.

[KARLI] 2016 for me. 

[JAMIE] Yeah, close enough. Years aren't real! [Karli laughs] And what we expected, like when you're when you think like, I'm gonna do this, like you have an idea of what you think is gonna happen compared to our expectations now.

[KARLI] Oh yeah.

[JAMIE] After like, kind of being a little more steeped in it, like we're real strong at this point. In the in the slog.

[KARLI] In the thick of it.

[JAMIE] Yeah. How did you—what did you think it was gonna look like, trajectory wise?

[KARLI] I mean, when I first got started, I didn't really have, I didn't have a plan. I wasn't like, I'm going to do these things. And then this is how this is gonna happen. It was like a—you write a book, and then you get an agent. And then somebody buys your book, and they publish it like, but I didn't spend a ton of time thinking about that. I was like, [silly voice] I’m just gonna write this book. [regular voice] And I just spewed words out on the page and figured that somehow it would turn into a fully formed book by magic. [both chuckle] Then as I started going, and I realized that was going to be a lot more work than that. Even still, I was like, oh, yeah, by the time I'm thirty-four, which is what I am now, let's just get real honest about the ages and won't make people do math. I don't think I can do math from what the age that I was then. And like, it's, I can't subtract from [laughing] thirty-four. [both laugh] Cuz I am that bad at math. By the time I'm thirty-four I'll totally have you know, four books published and maybe even be a New York Times bestseller; if you're going to dream, might as well dream big. The reality obviously is much more challenging. The landscape has changed. And my—my landscape—my personal landscape has changed. [Jamie laughs] Everything is different.

[JAMIE] Do you want to have said my personal landscape? [both laughing] I mean, that's up to you. But if you want you can have another take of that.

[LAUGHTER]

[KARLI] Oh, what should I rewind to?

[JAMIE] [laughing] I have no idea.

[KARLI] [laughing] Maybe we just leave that. Okay. Now, obviously, things are different. My perspective is different. I definitely am just looking at what's the next thing that I can handle. And that is editing. 

[JAMIE] Yeah. 

[KARLI] And one day I hope to still be published but my ideas for that are way different. Like I don't feel the need to have it go a certain way; a certain timeline or even a specific approach to how something gets published. I just am never going to get published if I don't edit the dang thing.

[JAMIE] The first hurdle—well the second hurdle. [both chuckle] Everybody’s always concerned about the first hurdle. But there's one right after it. 

[KARLI] Yeah. 

[JAMIE] Yeah, I decided, I'm like I do. I love stories, I want to tell stories. I similarly, I was like, I'll write this book, and then like, edit this book. And then I guess I have to query and then I'll get an agent, and then an agent will sell it. And then boom, I've done it. 

[KARLI] I have arrived.

[JAMIE] Yeah. At the at the time, I was twenty-seven. And I thought, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty—three years? That is plenty of time to write a book, edit it, find an agent and become a published author. Published by thirty. That's my goal. And that didn't didn't quite work out exactly that way. I'm no longer worried about being published by thirty. Because I'm no thirty ... two? I don't ... how old am I? I can't remember. [Karli laughs]

[KARLI] Are you asking me? [laughs]

[JAMIE] Years ain't real.

[KARLI] What is real, then? It seems like anything, just you're using that a very convenient excuse. [laughs]

[JAMIE] Nothing is real. This is all a simulation. 

[KARLI] It's the Matrix.

[JAMIE] We're just, it's alien overlords doing experiments on us.

[KARLI] “There is no spoon.” 

[JAMIE] That's very true. But I yeah, so I was like, I think—I’m like, [silly voice] “I think it's really reasonable to be like, published by thirty.” [normal voice] And you know what, in hindsight, that might have been true if I had had more hustle. But the other part is, that idea and concept has so many things that you have no control over, you have no control over if an agent is going to like your stuff. That's like something I took from Atomic Habits, where they're like, having a goal of getting an agent is ridiculous, because you cannot control that you can get an agent. Having a goal of sending X amount of queries. That's something you can control. 

[KARLI] Yeah. 

[JAMIE] And that was something I didn't think about when I started was there's a difference between things I have control over and things that like you just kind of have to get lucky sometimes. Sure, if you have more hustle, you're going to increase your likelihood of getting lucky. 

[KARLI] Yeah. [chuckles]

[JAMIE] As opposed to now. I'm whatever age [both chuckle]. Over thirty, not published. But I—you know, I've learned so much more big thing to note is the landscape of publishing has changed dramatically from when we started writing to now. What they're looking, for what's selling. Well, well, what's selling and what they're looking for is changing constantly. But even just like the number of people looking, there's so many factors. That's like a whole different topic. Now, I am much the same, where I'm like, just looking at the things that I can control. And the next step that I need to do. It's nice to think about a big picture, but doesn't really do me any good if I'm not doing the things I need to do on a daily basis. Until I edit, until I make something polished, until I have a story worth publishing,  I'm kind of—I’m kind of in limbo. I can't be successful until I do the work. I do think that it's good to have that youthful enthusiasm in the beginning. It really is a big factor in like driving your—your dream, your goal and because, you know if we knew all the ins and outs that we know now then we probably ... or I mean, I know I would probably be like, ehh, it sounds like a lot of work. Yeah. But youthful naivete and [Jamie chuckles] and enthusiasm are actually a big asset in some regards.

[KARLI] Yeah. You got to have that new writer gumption. Otherwise, yeah, you wouldn't, you wouldn't get over the hurdle of finishing your first novel. But you know, there's more steps than that. And we’ve—we've matured in our understanding of the perspective but without that initial excited, blind faith leap, we wouldn't be where we are now. And I really, I mean, while I do wish that I had the drive to push myself a little harder in the past. I like where I'm at now. I've learned so much. I've met some amazing people. And it's made me a better writer. I just need to keep going; then taking the next step.

[JAMIE] Absolutely. Even though we don't have the youthful enthusiasm, we do—I still wanted to talk about how we plan to, or at least attempt. We plan to attempt. An attempted plan. To have positivity with your creativity, when it's hard, when things are hard. Like, and let's be real things are hard. But art has always existed and often thrives in harder times. And so when you don't have the energy to create, it's okay not to create, I feel like that's something I really learned last year. Sometimes you just got to like, be easier on yourself, take a nap. [chuckles]

[KARLI] Take two naps. [chuckles]

[JAMIE] Drink some water, melt down, but then like ...

[KARLI] Then get back up there. And remember that art matters, your art matters. And there's a reason why we do this.

[JAMIE] It can feel like hard to work sometimes. But one of the things that compels me to work is usually some sort of short film. Because art can be so transformative, that I'm like, oh, this is why like, this is why we make art. And not every piece of art or thing you create needs to be. But it's just kind of like that inspiring spark that kind of keeps things going. You never know how what you produce is going to affect somebody else. And in that way, art's just important. And so I'm trying to be a little bit more positive when it comes to like, even if I'm creating [laughing] dumpster fire stories, [Karli laughs] that’s gonna be ... that's gonna have to be okay, for now. [laughs]

[KARLI] Yeah, we often forget that. Even though our art may not be, you know," the next great American novel" that's going to transform people's lives or anything like that. Our humor, our perspective, our story can influence somebody, even if it's just to influence them to laugh. 

[JAMIE] Yeah. 

[KARLI] And in times like this, like, who doesn't need to laugh? Like everybody needs the opportunity to take a moment and remember that there are good things too. And art is an amazing way to do that. Even if it's not this really epic piece of art. If it's just this casual, fun thing that makes people have a good time, and helps them disconnect from the reality of the stress of life. And so remembering that, even if the only person that it's for is us.

[JAMIE] Yeah, well said. 

[KARLI] Thank you. [Jamie laughs]

[JAMIE] You're like "I'm so amazing."

[KARLI] [making incoherent "pompous" sounds]

[JAMIE] And James is giving me the wrap it up sign anyway. So it is time for our new segment, Karli.

[KARLI] Oh! Yeah. So we figure if you've stuck with us this long, you are dying to hear our two cents. So we are calling this portion, Two Cent Recommendations. Today's rec is Arcane, an adult animated action series based on the league of legends video game. You do not have to have played the video game or know anything about it in order for you to watch and enjoy it because I have never played and I loved it. The world building, the storytelling, the characters, are all phenomenal. But the animation is the most gorgeous animation I've ever seen. Mind blown. It took them six years to complete it. So a lot of work went into this show. And it was so good. I'm clearly obsessed. So you can find it on Netflix. Go watch it. Then, come and talk to me about it, please, because I want to talk all about it.

[JAMIE] I know I still haven't watched it. I've heard a lot of good things.

[KARLI] You got to do it. 

[JAMIE] I know. Well, thanks for hanging out with us. You can find us on Instagram @theactbreak_podcast. Uh, links to all of our old backlogs of episodes are in the description there. Or you can go to scifiohmy.com and click on podcast. [talking out of the side of her mouth] Because we don't have a podcast website yet because as we mentioned, our budget is zero. [normal voice] But since you're listening to this podcast probably on Apple or Spotify right now, feel free to hit like, follow or subscribe or, you know, write a review but only if it's a good review. 

[LAUGHTER] 

[KARLI] Those are the ones we like.

[JAMIE] Yeah, I mean if you're gonna write a bad review, but make sure you write it on somebody else’s podcast. 

[LAUGHTER]

[KARLI] Don't do that either! 

[JAMIE] Whatever. Don't ever tell people how to live their life, Karli.

[KARLI] Listen, you keep your bad reviews yourself.

[LAUGHTER]

[JAMIE] No, absolutely. Nobody wants that. Thanks for listening. We'll be back next Thursday.

[KARLI] Bye, internet friends!