Join the conversation with one of the most decorated American distance runner Lauren Fleshman as we discuss the mission that drove her to write her NYT's bestselling memoir Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World. We talk about how to write when you have a big story to tell, how to write when depressed, and why it's okay to move on from something that has been your calling. Enjoy!   Episode resources:  Find out how to work with me here. I'd love you to join me on one of my Retreats or Writing Intensives. My book, Why Bother: Discover the Desire for What’s Next, is a great resource for learning to create out loud.  Your feedback is so important to me! You can leave a review on Apple podcasts, or email me at jen@jenniferlouden.com

Jen recently shared in a solo episode that she's been working her way through burnout and in this episode, she shares her new project and how she approached it in a new way to refind her spark. Is it possible to change our patterns and create out loud without burnout? Let's find out.   Episode resources:  Find out how to work with me here. I'd love you to join me on one of my Retreats or Writing Intensives. My book, Why Bother: Discover the Desire for What’s Next, is a great resource for learning to create out loud.  Your feedback is so important to me! You can leave a review on Apple podcasts, or email me at jen@jenniferlouden.com

Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, discusses finding your audacious spark and making a difference in the world. Topics include transitioning after leading a successful organization, writing a new book, and embracing your unique path to success.

In this bonus episode of Create out Loud, I explore burnout, the power of quitting, and how your desires are allowed to change - in fact, they must be allowed to morph and grow with you or you will fall into Why Bother.   Many of us were raised to believe if you start a project, you have to finish it or you are a failure. But that isn't true! But how to know when to quit, when to change your focus?   I'll explore that and more in this short but juicy episode with lots of personal updates including what's happening with my creative life.   Episode resources:  Find out how to work with me here. I'd love you to join me on one of my Retreats or Writing Intensives. My book, Why Bother: Discover the Desire for What’s Next, is a great resource for learning to create out loud.  Your feedback is so important to me! You can leave a review on Apple podcasts, or email me at jen@jenniferlouden.com

In this last episode of season 2 of Create Out Loud, I share with you some tips for creating out loud, making your thing, finding your desire to create, putting pen to paper (and brush to canvas)...    Listen to the episode to learn:    What it means to give yourself permission to be seen as a creator  Why quantity over quality can help you produce better work  My top tip for picking a project up again when it’s been forgotten  How to be uncomfortable with uncertainty  How to create a daily habit without becoming prisoner to it  Why forgetting about talent is one of the best things you can do for your creative work Why you are not your work and why you need to remember that    This was one of my favorite solo episodes to record, because I got to share with you the tips for creating out loud that I usually only share during one-on-one coaching or on retreats.    Episode resources:  My book, Why Bother: Discover the Desire for What’s Next, is a great resource for learning to create out loud.  Your feedback is so important to me! I’d love to bring back Create Out Loud for a third season, but I need your feedback about what you’d like to hear on the new season. You can leave a review on Apple podcasts, or email me at jen@jenniferlouden.com

Does the thought of the climate crisis decimating our world fill you with thoughts of doom and gloom…  Thoughts like:  No matter what I do it doesn’t matter…  Why bother with ANY of my desires if there won’t be a world to live in?...  I’m powerless in the face of large corporations that continue to ignore their impact on the planet so they can profit…  Take a deep breath. And another one.  In this episode of Create Out Loud, I talk about one of the topics that moved me to write my book, Why Bother? Discover the Desire for What’s Next – climate change. Climate crisis. Climate emergency.  Instead of stopping the conversation with “we’re doomed”, I’m challenging you in this episode to think about what you can do, as someone who creates. How can you use your creativity, and your desire to amplify the message, provide support to climate scientists, and spread the message of hope. Because without hope, we give up, and if we give up on trying to solve this problem then we are 100% doomed.  Do I know if hoping and creating will cause global change?  No. But I know what the immense cost of doing nothing is.  Listen to the episode to learn:  Why you don’t need to be a climate scientist to talk about climate change  How you can leverage your creativity to make a difference  Why thinking about global impact will keep you stuck… instead, think about community impact  Why we need to make the problem smaller and ourselves bigger    Resources:  A lot of my thinking about climate change is informed by A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety by Sarah Jacquette RayGet your copy here: Amazon | Bookshop Check out the first chapter of my book, Why Bother: Discover the Desire for What’s Next right here

This episode is all about how seeking wonder can help you bother again and embracing the natural fallow period after you finish a big project. I’m joined by Andrea Scher, author of Wonder Seeker: 52 Ways to Wake up Your Creativity and Find Your Joy, to talk about how to fill up your creative well when its run dry..  We talk about the power of mixing up your routines to try something new – going for a walk and finding a new plant, taking pictures, going to a new restaurant – as a way of sparking creativity and finding desire.  Our brains react in fear to trying new things, to hanging out in the liminal space of venturing into the unknown, but it’s when we put ourselves in those spaces that we grow.  We also talk about how the pressure to monetize our creativity keeps us stuck not creating. Instead, what would it look like if you created without the expectation of making money, or “being creative”, or even getting better at what you create? What would it look like if you created for creativity’s sake?  Listen to the episode to learn:  How to seek wonder in your everyday life How to find ambition and creativity as you age Why just being there in life is enough How to bother when it seems like your life is falling apart What Andrea and I’s superpowers are  Check out these resources:  Andrea’s podcast The Creative Superheroes, and look for me in a recent episode!  Andrea’s book Wonder Seeker: 52 Ways to Wake up Your Creativity and Find Your Joy - Get your copy here: Amazon | Bookshop Unbound by Kasia Urbaniak

Not everyone listening to this podcast wants to make money by being creative, but a larger number of people believe that they CAN’T make money from creative pursuits. That is NOT true!   I’m joined by the author of The Middle Finger Project and Meat and Hair, Ash Ambirge, to give a big ol’ middle finger to the idea that you can’t make money by being creative.    We talk about how important it is to devote time to your happiness, how to manage multiple streams of creative income, and just how important it is to believe that you can make money by being creative.    Ash Ambirge runs three businesses that she built herself, and is currently curating a fourth. How did she do it? Ash has ALWAYS had an entrepreneurial spirit, and in today's episode, Jen and Ash discuss how being creative shares a lot in common with running a business.   Listen to the episode to learn:    How Ash is able to devote two whole days to happiness, not work  How to ignore your itty bitty shitty committee telling you that you can’t make money by being creative  How Ash is dedicated to giving the middle finger to imposter syndrome  Why getting started in your business doesn’t have to be complicated  Just how effective a simple newsletter can be How important it is to create a system to sell your work    Episode resources:    Ash Ambirge’s latest book, The Middle Finger ProjectGet your copy here: Amazon | Bookshop Ash has two amazing newsletters that I highly recommend joiningMeat and Hair, a creative writing newsletter The Middle Finger newsletter for tips on making money online Wynter, a nifty tool to see test how your messaging is landing ConvertKit, an email marketing tool best for deliverability and segmentation Buzzsumo, a tool that shows you what high-quality content looks like  Zapier, a productivity platform that connects all of your apps

Do you spend thousands on marketing, or hours researching trendy new marketing strategies… and it doesn’t move the needle forward?  Then this episode of Create Out Loud is for you.  In this episode, Jen Louden talks about the importance of ecosystem marketing.  It’s all about finding out where your people are, and communicating with them there.  Not to sell anything. Just to connect.  Are you…. sweating just thinking about that? Are you thinking “that’s not me! I don’t do all that social media stuff?”  Or do you just desperately wish your book could market itself (don’t we all)? Reaching out and connecting with people can be terrifying, but when we do it IT WORKS.  In this solo episode, Jen talks through why ecosystems are so important and how they can be nourishing instead of scary.  Listen to the episode to learn more about:  What ecosystem marketing is  Why relying solely on traditional marketing is giving up control  Why YOU are the only one who can build and connect your ecosystems  How being in relationship and connection with your audience can make you a stronger writer How connecting with others doesn’t have to mean relying on technology or social media  Episode Resources:  Check out the Create Out Loud episode with Pam Slim about her book The Widest Net.  Buy The Widest Net by Pamela Slim Here’s a great newsletter about making money from creative pursuits. It’s a bit bro-y, so take the good parts and leave the rest. Need an extra push to get started on your non-fiction book? Check out this free resource.

We can be remarkably uncomfortable discussing money, but what if we shifted our relationship with the topic by instead recognizing how money can facilitate freedom, power, and creative potential? This is Paco’s mission. As a creative, author, consultant, and coach, Paco is passionate about empowering people, particularly those who identify as women, to step into their power.    On today’s show, Jen and Paco discuss:   How business instincts can be artistic, creative, and fulfilling How to make it as independent contractor How to figure out how much you’re “worth” when finding clients What it means to schedule financial “time” Shifting your mindset towards your business to focus on problem solving   You will love Paco’s ideas and even more, her comforting truth-telling vibe!   Paco de Leon is an author, illustrator, musician. She is the founder of The Hell Yeah Group, a financial firm dedicated to inspiring creatives to engage with their personal and business finances and Hell Yeah, Bookkeeping, a bookkeeping agency for creative businesses. Her career experiences in banking, business consulting, financial planning, and wealth management have informed her financial philosophies.    She is a TED speaker and her work has been published or featured in The New York Times, Bloomberg, Vice, TIME, on other publications, and on NPR. She lives in Los Angeles with her wife.   https://www.amazon.com/Finance-People-Getting-Grip-Finances/dp/0143136259   https://thehellyeahgroup.com/   https://www.ted.com/talks/paco_de_leon_the_secret_to_being_a_successful_freelancer?language=en   LINK TO VIDEO: https://youtu.be/3oS5Sh-NFsg