Common Shapes

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Latest Episodes:

A Common Shapes Hello 👋 Mar 20, 2024

Show notes

Hello Common Shapes listeners. 🔸 I wanted to pop in with a little mini-episode to check in between seasons and share a few updates. Take a few minutes to hear why I changed my name and how you can join us in Flexible Office this spring. 🔹

Flexible Office has evolved into my ongoing writing group for all genres Landscapes. Learn more and join the waitlist right here.

LINKS

Get the Creative Ideation Portal
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Find all these links & more at codycookparrott.com/commonshapes

If you'd like to support the show, please send it to a friend, leave a 5-star rating & review, and download the Creative Ideation Portal.

Cultivating Creative Seasons with Jacqueline Suskin Dec 06, 2023

Show notes

This week on Common Shapes podcast, I’m deep in conversation with poet, teacher, and my dear friend, Jacqueline Suskin.

Jacqueline is a poet and educator who has been teaching workshops, writing books, hosting retreats and creating spontaneous poetry around the world since 2009. She’s published eight books, and her most recent one, A Year In Practice, was just released with Sounds True press.

Together we talk about seasonal practices, radically reconnecting with the Earth, Fern Gully, writing multiple books, having multiple calendars, and choosing to remember.

Tune in to learn about—

The radical nature of connecting to the Earth’s cycles
How to tap into seasonal rhythms
Jacqueline’s daily & weekly planning practices
What’s our work & what’s not our work
How to hold nuance in your writing

Links

Visit Jacqueline’s website
Order Jacqueline’s new book, A Year in Practice
Subscribe to Jacqueline’s Substack newsletter
Get the Creative Ideation Portal
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Find all these links & more at codycookparrott.com/commonshapes

If you'd like to support the show, please send it to a friend, leave a 5-star rating & review, and download the Creative Ideation Portal.

How to Tell the Truth with Fariha Róisín Nov 29, 2023

Show notes

This week on Common Shapes podcast, I’m joined by my dear friend Fariha Róisín for a conversation at the intersections of writing, politics, care, and liberation.

Fariha is a multi-disciplinary artist born in Ontario, Canada and raised in Sydney, Australia. As a Muslim queer Bangladeshi, she is interested in the margins, liminality, otherness, and the mercurial nature of being. She’s the author of five books and writes the Substack newsletter, How to Cure a Ghost.

In this episode, Fariha shares her experience telling the truth amidst propaganda and channeling righteous rage into writing. She explains how she approaches writing about Palestine during the genocide in Gaza and how she embeds the depth of her feelings and beliefs in her work.

Tune in to hear about—

Feeling the responsibility to speak out
Fariha’s process for working on two books at once
Pouring your feelings into your writing
Demystifying spiritual practice
The importance of surrender
Where the personal meets the political
How Fariha writes her weekly newsletter

Links

Visit Fariha’s website
Order Survival Takes a Wild Imagination
Subscribe to Fariha’s Substack newsletter
Follow Fariha on Instagram
Mentioned in the episode: James Baldwin, Mother Country Radicals
Get the Creative Ideation Portal
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Find all these links & more at codycookparrott.com/commonshapes

If you'd like to support the show, please send it to a friend, leave a 5-star rating & review, and download the Creative Ideation Portal.

The Importance of the Personal Essay Nov 22, 2023

Show notes

I’ve been writing personal essays for over a decade, and I believe that my personal essay practice allowed me to leave social media.

So in today’s episode, I share how I blend the personal, the poetic, and the political in my writing. And I unpack how that supports me in speaking up and sharing my work without shying away from what’s happening in the world.
I hope this episode inspires you to share your writing with the people. Tune in to learn about—

The importance of your life story
How to share your political values
Facing fear when we don’t know what to say
Being willing to get it wrong
Why you should choose a container for your writing
How personal essays can help you leave social media

Links

Get the Creative Ideation Portal
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Sign up for Writing the Personal
Mentioned in the episode — Body Work by Melissa Febos, 69herbs, Sister Spinster, Lukaza’s Substack, Fariha’s Substack, Friendship Village book, Bear Hebert, Off the Grid podcast, Ayana Zaire Cotton Substack
Find all these links & more at codycookparrott.com/commonshapes

If you'd like to support the show, please send it to a friend, leave a 5-star rating & review, and download the Creative Ideation Portal.

Leaving Instagram or Exiting the Portal of the Validation Loop Nov 15, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to season two of Common Shapes! Since last season, I took a big step in my life and logged out of Instagram for good.

So in this episode, I’m going to share why I left and how I did it. Not from a place of knowing-it-all, but by asking the question, “what does it actually mean to be done with social media?”

I hope this episode inspires you to take supportive steps that are right for you. Tune in to learn about—

What it’s like to leave Instagram
The portal of the validation loop
A big business success moment since leaving
Is Substack social media?
Weaving the personal, poetic & political

Links

Get the Creative Ideation Portal
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Sign up for my Skillshare class, Success on Substack
Listen to Off the Grid podcast — especially the 5-step Plan to Leave Social Media & this conversation with Melissa Word
Find all these links & more at codycookparrott.com/commonshapes

If you'd like to support the show, please send it to a friend, leave a 5-star rating & review, and download the Creative Ideation Portal.

Embracing Your Everchanging Job Description Jul 20, 2023

Show notes

Making this podcast brought me into a business ecosystem crisis. Very little of my output changed, but my inner understanding of my work needed to shift.
So in today’s episode, I’m sharing how my job description has changed since I launched this show. And I’m exploring how shifting your job description can transform your relationship to your work.
Tune in to learn about—

How to discover what you’re devoted to
What are the themes of your job
What is not your job
How to write your job description
Aligning your job with your values & interests
What’s next for Common Shapes podcast

Links

Get my mini-workshop Your Everchanging Job
Book a Creative Advising Sessions
Get the Creative Ideation Portal
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Find all these links & more at codycookparrott.com/commonshapes

🔶 Interested in finding out more about placing an ad? I'm not placing ads in Common Shapes at this time, but you can purchase a classified ad in my newsletter right here.

If you'd like to support the show, please send it to a friend, leave a 5-star rating & review, and download the Creative Ideation Portal.

Creating Your Offer Ecosystem Jul 12, 2023

Show notes

Your offer ecosystem is how your creative offerings branch out of your artistry, fit together in the world, increase your income, and expand your reach.
In this episode, I share how I’ve crafted my offer ecosystem over the past decade, and I tell you the stories of how a few of my offers have evolved and even ended.
Tune in to learn about—

What an offer ecosystem is
My favorite ways to get ideas for your offer ecosystem
How to choose a container for an offer
Why one-on-one work can be a great place to start
Charging for your offerings

Links

Learn more about Teaching As A Practice
Get the Creative Ideation Portal
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Find all these links & more at codycookparrott.com/commonshapes

If you'd like to support the show, please send it to a friend, leave a 5-star rating & review, and download the Creative Ideation Portal.

5 Reasons the World Needs Your Online Class Jul 05, 2023

Show notes

Teaching online classes is how I’ve made the majority of my income since 2017. And it is a great joy of my career to have had such amazing, invested, weird, inspirational students.

In this episode, I’m going to share my approach to creating an online class by walking us through how I teach my class A Quilt Is Something Human.
I hope that this inspires you to become the teacher that you are meant to be.
Grab a pen & paper, then tune in to learn about—

How to decide what to teach
Reasons to teach online
Pricing your online class
5 reasons the world needs your online class
Some of my favorite tech for selling online classes

Links

Learn more about Teaching As A Practice
Get the Creative Ideation Portal
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Learn about Melissa Word’s class Grief Threads
Find all these links & more at codycookparrott.com/commonshapes

If you'd like to support the show, please send it to a friend, leave a 5-star rating & review, and download the Creative Ideation Portal.

How to Commit to the Life of an Artist with Sky Fusco Jun 28, 2023

Show notes

This week on Common Shapes podcast, I’m joined by my internet friend Sky Fusco to discuss dedicating your life to art.

Sky is an artist, writer, deep thinker, question asker and truth teller. Her practice consists of writing her Substack newsletter and making drawings.

Together we talk about our daily list practice, creating a gallery show, the challenges of pricing your work, and what it means to be a full-time artist.

Tune in to learn about—

The List aka Project Miracle
Making art & having art shows
Pricing your work
Newsletters & Substack
How to get started as a self-employed artist

Links

If you'd like to support the show, please send it to a friend, leave a 5-star rating & review, and download the Creative Ideation Portal.

6 Tools for When You Don’t Know What To Do Next Jun 21, 2023

Show notes

I think the great fear of most creative people is that we’ll run out of ideas and not know what to do next.

I come up against this time and time again in my own work, so I’ve developed a series of practices for releasing fear, removing blocks, returning to center, and discovering what’s next.

Tune in to this episode to learn my six favorite tools for when I don’t know what to do, including—