The Spark File with Susan Blackwell and Laura Camien
Susan Blackwell and Laura Camien
Your one stop shop for creative ideas and inspiration. Sign up for our newsletter HERE. Each week on The Spark File podcast, Susan Blackwell and Laura Camien reach into their spark files and share stories, ideas and fascinations to ignite your imagination. Obsessed with creativity, Blackwell and Camien also talk with artists and makers, movers and shakers who have taken the spark of inspiration and fanned it into a flame. Hear from inspiring creatives like Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sara Bareilles, Eric Stonestreet, Jonathan Groff, Julianne Moore and Bart Freundlich, Zachary Quinto, Leslie Odom Jr, Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Billy Eichner, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Karen Olivo, Sutton Foster, Michael R. Jackson and many more about their passions and their failures, their inspirations and their aspirations. Refill your creative fish pond with new ideas and fresh perspectives. Listen, then take it and make it! Learn more at thesparkfile.com.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Aug 16, 2021 • 1h 8min
Makers: John Ellison Conlee: Great Conversation and a Cup of Joe
This week, Susan and Laura take a deep dive with Tony-award nominee (and Creativity Coaching Client) John Ellison Conlee, and discuss the creation of a life in addition to a career. Plus, in this very special episode, The Spark File debuts a short story written and read by John Ellison Conlee himself - Cup of Joe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 9, 2021 • 1h 20min
Creativity Sparks: Imposter Syndrome
On this episode of The Spark File, Susan and Laura examine that deep seated fear that you're just not as good / worthy / capable as others think you are. Imposter Syndrome. Check out this episode and you just might find ways to let go of those coping mechanisms and start to believe in your own abilities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 2, 2021 • 1h 13min
Creativity Sparks: The Mind of Jill Bolte Taylor, Pt 2: Electric Boogaloo
This week, Susan and Laura, still super sparked by the life-changing whole brain approach of Jill Bolte Taylor, take an even deeper dive into her work, applying her philosophies to our creativity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 26, 2021 • 1h 17min
Creativity Sparks: Lincoln in the Bardo
This week, Susan and Laura share sparks inspired by the bestseller Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. This exploration of grief led to a greater understanding of Mary Todd Lincoln, perhaps some tolerance and acceptance regarding her mental health, and introduced us to the phenomenal story of Elizabeth Keckly, former enslaved person who became a business owner and personal modiste to the First Lady. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 19, 2021 • 1h 28min
Creativity Sparks: The Brain of Jill Bolte Taylor
This week on The Spark File, Susan and Laura discuss The Brain of Jill Bolte Taylor - one hell of a managed mind! The woman who taught us to "Please take responsibility for the energy you bring into this space" is the source of this weeks creativity spark.Tune in to hear Dr. Bolte Taylor's story (as shared in her book My Stroke of Insight) and how we can all gain from her learnings (as shared in her book Whole Brain Living).If you've ever felt yourself battling between left brain and right brain, now you'll know why. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 12, 2021 • 58min
Creativity Sparks: For Love of the Game
This week, Susan and Laura serve up a single spark -- a spark 30 years in the making! Learn about the little card game that could - Canasta - and how it rose to fame, despite the Bridge Club establishment trying to keep it down! Friends and Foes, Joy and Pain, Triumph and Defeat intermingle at the card table. Plus a bonus mini-spark - did you know the Olympics once contained a competition for the ARTS?!? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 5, 2021 • 1h 40min
Creativity Sparks: Performance Anxiety
This week, Susan shares a spark so vast, we give it all our attention - Performance Anxiety. If you've ever felt tormented by fear, panic or anxiety related to your chosen profession, please do not miss this episode! Susan and Laura go deep into the prevalance of performance anxiety, what it feels like, who experiences it, and potential solutions to keep it at bay so that you can go on shining your light with ease. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 28, 2021 • 1h 48min
Creativity Sparks: Highly Sensitive People + The Art of Gathering
This week, Susan and Laura dig into the realities of living as a Highly Sensitive Person and/or an Empath (and how to know for sure if you are one!), Plus, Priya Parker's life-changing approach to bringing people together in The Art of Gathering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 21, 2021 • 1h 19min
Creativity Sparks: The Best Advice You've Ever Received + The Sixth Stage
This week, Susan and Laura take a spin through some of the best advice they've ever received (including "don't pickle it!") plus, the very encouraging signs that people everywhere are entering the sixth stage of grief - finding meaning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 14, 2021 • 1h 49min
Creativity Sparks: Write Like Your Parents Are Dead + God Save The Queen
Wanting to write about your lived experience, but worried about how the other key players in your life might react? This week, Susan and Laura offer up various ways you can approach it so that your creativity is free flowing and feelings don't get hurt. Plus, recent events stirred up some questions about the monarchy, so we unpack what it is and why it is. You can't tell the history of the world without the history of the various monarchies - warts and all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
