Episode Notes

Ginger and Jonathan discuss the interior struggles and rewards that go along with your creative practice. We discuss Ginger's transformative residency at MASS MoCA and the nature of frustration and breaking through. Toss in the lyrical concept of Begeisterung (be-spirited-ness), the use of metaphor to examine the world, curiosity and processing your world through the lens of creative practice and you're in for a laugh-a-minute thrill ride. Just make sure your coffee is in a spill-proof mug.

Links

• About Writing: Seven Essays, Four Letters, & Five Interviews by Samuel R. Delany
• Review of Jeff VanderMeer's Wonderbook over at Tor.com
• Emily Dickinson at the Poetry Foundation
• Open archive of Emily Dickinson's work (sign up required, but it's free)
• "The Thoreau of the Suburbs," article by Diana Saverin in The Atlantic. A fascinating, in-depth look at how Annie Dillard came to write Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.

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Episode Notes

What does it mean to be in the "flow state" or "in the zone"? Probably the most common application is in the context of sports, but it's something we all experience and it's an important part of our creative practice. Ginger and Jonathan talk about our experiences with flow state and how we get there. We discuss its benefits and why we want more of it, as well as detour to investigate those things to which flow connects us.

1. An overview of the flow state: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190204-how-to-find-your-flow-state-to-be-peak-creative
2. More reading on flow and its benefits (among other things): https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-flow-2794768 
3. Anne Lamott on The Tim Ferriss podcast: https://tim.blog/2021/07/09/anne-lamott/ 
4. Written Summary of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: https://theartofliving.com/flow-mihaly-csikszentmihalyi/
5. Video summary of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h6IMYRoCZw 
6. More Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi: https://positivepsychology.com/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-father-of-flow/ 

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Episode Notes

Part 2 of Why We Create digs in to the yin to process's yang: product. Try as we might, we can't ignore product altogether in our creative practice, nor should we! In this episode we explore what product can mean outside of the standard definition of a marketable thing. We talk about bringing a childlike wonder to what we make instead of our cranky old inner critic or the cranky old outer critics. And we tip our buckled hat to those Puritans yet again.

Links:

• Eric Maisel on Duality (highly recommend his book Coaching the Artist Within this excerpt is from) - https://books.google.com/books?id=SLaBa5OtBA8C&lpg=PA59&ots=MqHg7cFjdr&dq=eric%20maisel%20duality&pg=PA56#v=onepage&q=eric%20maisel%20duality&f=false
• Why It's Important to Finish Your Shit, by Chuck Wendig (as you can tell, there will be profanity in this blog post, but rest assured it's wielded in the name of creative goodness!) - http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2014/11/26/why-its-important-to-finish-your-shit/
• Celebrating the Small Wins - https://extension.umn.edu/two-you-video-series/celebrate-small-stuff

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Episode Notes:

Ginger and Jonathan talk about the daunting task of facing the blank canvas/page/unmolded clay/etc. and whether we are really creating something from nothing. Talk veers into the quasi-metaphysical and things get weird... Wait, no. We discuss the difference between the physical blank page and all the stuff we bring to each project. We do not revisit the world's largest ball of emotional twine, but maybe we should.

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Episode Notes:

Jonathan takes you on a magical journey of how he developed his creative practice, the obstacles he faced (including the ones he created himself) and what has sustained him through the years. This episode is kind of like a case study of what we presented in Episode 4, Creativity on Your Own Terms.

Visit us online at... http://creativedoubleshot.online.

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Episode Notes:

There is no right way to go about building and sustaining a creative practice. Whether it's ten minutes at lunch or three hours on the weekend, working out of the garage or in the woods, the practice that works best with your specific life is going to be the most effective. Ginger and Jonathan delve into some of the limitations our lives place on our ability to create and offer some tips on how to work around those limitations. Along the way we take some side quests into figuring out your why to help you understand the reason you even want to make your creative practice work in the first place.

Links to books mentioned: Jen Sincero: You Are A Badass® How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780762447695 Elizabeth Gilbert: Big Magic - https://www.elizabethgilbert.com/books/big-magic/ Julia Cameron: The Artist's Way - https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781585421466 Stephen Pressfield: The War of Art - https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781936891023

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Episode Notes:

Ginger talks about how her creative practice has roots in the woods by her house and the natural world. We take a meandering journey -- through no fault of Ginger's -- following Ginger's path from exploring an interest in visual art to developing the full-blown practice and career she has today. As per the usual, we digress, we laugh and we explore creativity.

Link: Developing Your Creative Practice: Tips from Brian Eno - https://99u.adobe.com/articles/7034/developing-your-creative-practice-tips-from-brian-eno

Episode Notes:

Ginger and Jonathan discuss the myths of who gets to be called a “real” creative, everything from tortured geniuses to fame to education. We go down six or seven tangential rabbit holes all of which provide pearls of unparalleled wisdom or at least some useful/entertaining tidbits. We talk about ways to overcome those myths or at the very least get perspective on those and how to know if you are, in fact, a real creative. What happens next will astound you.

Links:

1. The Price of Everything - https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/the-price-of-everything
2. The tortured artist is a dangerous myth - https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/world-mental-health-day-tortured-artist-dangerous-myth-pain-art-depression-suicide-a8576971.html
3. Own Your Title: Why It’s Time to Call Yourself an Artist - https://www.creativelive.com/blog/say-youre-an-artist-own-your-title/

Episode Notes:

Ginger and Jonathan Danz, a couple of creatives (creative couple?) push the Creative DoubleShot podcast out of the garage into the sunlight for the first time and fire it up. The Creative Doubleshot (never mind that we call it the Art Garden podcast, that was a long time ago) is all about helping listeners like you discover your own creative life on your own terms. Ginger and Jonathan discuss what qualifies as creativity and the importance of creativity in our lives. They drop hints about content for future episodes and dish a little bit about themselves. CAUTION: There may some rambling as we work out the kinks. We marked this explicit because Jonathan sometimes can't help but going blue from time to time. Mostly it's clean.