Your Creativity Playbook:

Tips & Inspiration for Your Creative Life

This quick episode is allll about giving you a sneak preview of the amazing creators and tips inside my free e-book, How To Live Your Most Creative Life. I put this together to inspire you, help you break through blocks and stuck places, and get a little motivation to add small creative moments to your everyday life.

I quickly tell you a bit about each of our contributors (who are all past or future podcast guests here!) and the creative strategy they offer in the guide.

Listen to the episode, then grab your free copy right away!

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Transcript

welcome to the what dreamers do podcast. i’m your host carla govan and appalachian musician flatfoot dancer, mama creative and dreamer from kentucky. i’m on a mission to inspire others to realize their dreams and live their most creative lives. grab your mason jar full of sweet tea or something a little stronger, and pull up a chair, because it’s time to get your dream off.

that’s what dreamers do. hey there dreamers, i hope you’re having a great week, i’m coming at you on the go recording this on my phone because it is my son’s spring break. and we are out and about having fun today. i’ll be back with you next week with a regular episode. but this week, i wanted to take a moment to tell you about the new creative resource that i and some of my fellow artists have prepared for you, i’m really excited about it. and it’s something that you can get for absolutely free. and it’s just because i wanted to help people live more creative lives, because i believe that the world would be a better place the world will be a better place when we are all using our creative gifts to the best effect possible in our lives at whatever that means to us. so i got together with some of my previous podcast guests, some of my upcoming guests and we have put together short, actionable tips that you can actually do in your everyday life. these are not elaborate or something that’s unachievable. these are things that we all do to help us get in the groove, get in the flow, or just get a little bit done that day so that we can feel like we have paid a little bit of attention to our muse and to our creativity. so if you’re already like carla, say, no more i want this, please give it to me, all you have to do is go to www dot carleigh gov.com forward slash creativity. and it’s ready for you to download right now if you go to that address. but for those of you that would like to hear a little more about it, i’m just going to sort of go down a list of who’s in it and something about the tip that they are offering. obviously, since this is my podcast, i start out with some of my tips for getting past the perfectionism, or the obstacles that keep us from starting to have a daily creativity practice and mine focuses on just kind of taking action even when you don’t feel ready. but obviously, what was exciting to me was to receive all of the information and suggestions from these brilliant friends that i have who have been gracious enough to agree to be on my podcast. so the first person that you’ll find in this guide is kentucky author, silas house. he is a literary treasure for our sight. he’s written six novels, several plays, and i’ve been fortunate enough to call him my friend and to collaborate with him on some projects. his creativity strategy, shares with you some of the little things that he incorporates into his everyday routine that inspire him and keep him going creatively. so i know you’ll love reading styluses creative rituals. the next guest, who appears in the book is andrew bailey, a fourth generation herbalist from rural eastern kentucky, who has written several scholarly papers is writing a book has his own school of herbalism and a clinical herbal practice in lexington. he’s really awesome to get to know and there’s a couple podcasts where he has already appeared. but his suggestion his creative tip has to do with how his connection to nature and to the wild creatures that live in nature, inspire him and give him motivation in his everyday practices. i’m trying to get through all these quickly. so the next person that you’ll find a tip from is miss bobby kahn, who was originally from morehead, kentucky, but now makes her home in berea. she is an author with a memoir that was published by little a and a new novel coming out in the fall of this year. she is a force of nature. and she’s an author and a speaker both. so her tip has to do with how she gets unstuck when she’s sitting there staring at her screen trying to come up with inspiration to write what she does to get past that so i know you’ll enjoy that one. the next podcast guests that you encounter in his creativity guide also makes his home in berea, although he is originally from whitfield, virginia. it’s mr. sam gleaves, who’s a multi instrumentalist and award winning songwriter and also a professor at berea college teaching traditional me music and instruments there. and his creative strategy has to do with remembering to play. so i’ll say no more about that. but i think you’ll really enjoy what he has to say. up next is

a yoga teacher and writer from eastern kentucky. she is also a force of nature. i just have so much admiration for all of these creative people that have contributed to this guide. kelly, hansel hayward has a book she has done radio journalism, a lot of different forms of journalism. she has multiple certifications in yoga, and she has an incredibly inspiring instagram account. it just makes me want to honor my body and use it to its fullest when i look at her beautiful photos and her beautiful yoga practice that she shares with people. and her creative strategy has to do with finding the why behind your motivation for why you’re doing, what you’re doing and how that helps you sustain a practice with all of the ups and downs of life. we are also joined in this amazing book by willie jones. the third who is basically jazz royalty is a drummer from new york city. i met him because he married one of my dear friends from my hometown, but he is a musician’s musician. he has his own record label. he is very active in the jazz community. both honoring the elders performing a lot of concerts putting together different ensembles, he’s toured with some powerhouses he’s been he’s played extensively with wynton marsalis, he’s played on this night show. he’s done all kinds of things. and he’s really amazing. and his creativity tip has to do with consistency and independence. so i know you want to hear what willie has to say. another guest that joins us is our own deer and shelby, who makes her home in clay county, kentucky. i would be easier to say what a man doesn’t do than to list all the things she does, but i’ll try. she’s a playwright. she’s a columnist. she’s a storyteller. she’s a children’s book actor. she is quite an actress and a record tour and she is so funny and warm and genuine and sharp as a tack. so her very humorous creativity strategy has to do with how she tricks herself into getting things done when she knows that she’s got something that she wants to create. and like everything else, she writes, it’s a delightful little vignette. i am thrilled to feature in the book and upcoming on the podcast, miss zooey t doll jones. she also makes her home in new york city but i know her from growing up in whitesburg, kentucky. she is the pr director for jazz at lincoln center. so she works with some incredible people and she’s also a guest lecturer at julliard, so she knows her stuff. and her creativity tip has to do with the kinds of people and the environment that you surround yourself with, and how that influences you as a creator. the next person in our creativity book is jason cole howard. he is the editor of the appalachian review, a literary quarterly that’s based at berea college. he is also the author of few honest words, which is a book of essays that explore how the land and culture of kentucky have shaped american music. he’s also amazing i know i use that word a lot, but it really applies to all these people. his creativity tip has to do kind of like zhu ease with how he manipulates or introduces certain types of things and situations into his environment when he’s in a creative period. and how that helps him to keep himself in a creative mindset. and i particularly enjoyed his i know that you’ll want to sign up and read this for yourself. i’m just looking through it. it’s also very beautiful. it’s beautifully laid out. my talented friend from canada, sydney eve did the design and layout work for it. so it’s always more enjoyable to read something that has a beautiful visual layout. so the next creative in the collection is miss teresa tomb of lexington, kentucky. she’s the founder of mega dance studio. she’s an amazing choreographer and participates in a number of ensembles in lexington. she also is the originator of the thriller parade, which happens around halloween every year in lexington and it’s a monstrous no pun intended event that everybody loves. it’s a beloved institution here in lexington. it would hurt her creativity strategy is specifically rated related to dance and how she

prepares when she’s getting ready to do some choreography. and also it has to do with working around your limitations, knowing your limitations, and your challenges and knowing how to work with yourself to get past those things, those challenges that we all have. i’m really thrilled also to highlight a dancer that i collaborate with a lot. she’ll be on an upcoming episode of the podcast and her name is paulina vasquez. she lives in lexington, kentucky, and she’s a dancer in the ballet folklorico tradition of mexico. she is originally from omaha, nebraska, but she’s mexican american and learned all of these incredible dance traditions from different mexican states when she was growing up there. she’s also a musician and an activist. she’s in the band slip hill. and i’m always inspired by the causes that she champions and just the way she lives her life and expresses her values. her creativity strategy has to do with disconnecting ourselves from capitalistic ideas of productiveness and tapping into our inner sense of being in order to create from a more authentic place. so i also really appreciated her perspective. i could not have written a book like this, or i can’t say i wrote this book, but i couldn’t have assembled a collection like this, without including my sweetheart, jani bozos, who is a musician, educator and visionary, originally from eastern kentucky, who is a number of ensembles, obviously, he’s in ensembles with me cornbread and tortillas and chordify string band. he’s in a band apple latin, and he has his own project called kentucky soul. he has done a lot of wonderful humanitarian and visionary work throughout the course of his life. and his music also has those themes, his creativity strategy, i know you’re gonna want to check it out, because it all is about connecting with your soul, and how to get into that creative flow, when you have something new that you’re trying to create. and it’s a whole process, i can’t really i couldn’t break it down for you here, but you’re gonna want to download this guide so you can get his it’s almost like a little meditative practice. and in fact, there are three of those in this guide, because i guess because i hang out with really spiritual people who are into that sort of thing. so if you’re into that sort of thing, you definitely want to head in sign up for the guide. again, it’s www dot karlik over.com forward slash creativity.

so the next person that you’ll encounter is one of my spiritual mentors, who also makes her home in lexington, kentucky. her name is oceana. k, robin, scott manna. she is an artist in so many realms, but one of her highest art forms, in my opinion, is her spiritual healing sessions. she’s amazing. if you go to her as a client, the way she weaves together all these different modalities and helps you connect with or tap into whatever it is you need in that moment for healing. but that’s another story. she does rituals and ceremonies in lexington and she travels to do these two, she is regarded as a queen mother in her spiritual tradition, and she’s a precious person. but she shares a creativity technique that’s also a meditation that has to do with connecting with your own sacred space and ways that you can tap into that deep, deep will of creativity that all humans have inside us. and that is all of our birth rights. so you’re going to want to check that one out. you are also going to want to check out the strategy shared by mr. frank x walker, who is former kentucky poet laureate, one of the founders of the appalachian poets. he is currently a professor in the department of english, and african american and africana studies program at the university of kentucky. so, he also has a long list of accolades. i can’t even include them all here, but his creativity strategy has to do with finding dedicated time and seeking the support you need to give yourself a creative practice so you can read more about that one. we also have the fabulous deep chica sairam, who appears in our guide she is a spiritual mentor and a priestess, and has so much to say she it’s almost hard to keep up with her when she’s talking. if you haven’t heard her on the last episode of this podcast, the most recent episode before this one. i was just holding on for dear life because she’s just spouting spiritual wisdom is just as fast as a microphone can record it and i really love hanging out with her. i know that you’ll love listening to her if you haven’t checked it out yet, but she included a very extensive meditation in this guidebook, this creativity guide book that you can really take some time and spend some time with and connect with your creativity on a deeper level. so those are the people who are in this guidebook, they’re going to be on upcoming shows, a few of them have already been on past shows. and i just feel privileged not only to know all these people, and that they’re all willing to be on this podcast, but also just, i feel privileged to be able to read more about their processes, i feel privileged that they’ve shared them with us. because to me, i’m one of those people who i don’t want somebody to explain to me how to do something, i want to just see examples of how other people are doing it, if that makes sense. you know, if somebody teaches me a process, if i’m trying to learn something online, i could watch the tutorial video about how to do it. yeah, sometimes you have to know how to do those things. but then, when i see the finished products of the things i’m trying to create, that’s what really makes it click for me. and that’s what’s so beautiful about this guide. it just it’s kind of giving you a glimpse of these people who have achieved great things who have been prolific and productive, and created beautiful things in the world, and you look at them. and not only do you get to see what their process is, and how you might apply that process into your own life. but you also get to see, these people are just like me, oh, i could do that. i can see how i can incorporate that into my life. so i hope and wish sincerely that this creativity guide will be a blessing to you. i wish for you that you can connect with a deep wellspring of your own creativity in whatever form it takes in your life. because we’re all creators. we are all creative. and the more we connect with that, the more it benefits us and the world around us. so go check out the guide www.karlova.com forward slash creativity and then let me know what you think. send me a message on instagram or carla carla covid.com. i would love to know what tip resonated with you or just hear your feedback. this was a labor of love. and i hope it brings joy into your creative practice. so keep creating because that’s what dreamers do.

thank you so much for joining me this week. if you want to make sure you never miss an episode. please hit subscribe wherever you’re listening now. or visit my website to get on my email list at www dot karla grover.com. when you sign up, you’ll instantly receive my milton mama digital care package, a bundle of music and videos to help you wring every drop of yeehaw out of life. you’ll even find a dance lesson as well as my granny’s cornbread recipe with new goodies being added all the time. i’ll see you next thursday on the wet dreamers do podcast