Creative Pep Talk

Latest Episodes:

527 - Visual Journaling: Generate Ideas, Mindfulness and Creative Voice with Samantha Dion Baker Oct 22, 2025

Show notes

Stay pepped ALL NEXT YEAR with our 2026 Calendar: creativepeptalk.etsy.com

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Visual journaling can unlock your creativity, but it can also enhance your life. If you are struggling to tune into your everyday life and find inspiration there, this is the episode for you!

Samantha Dion Baker has written the book on this! Well 3 books on this!! So much goodness in this episode!

SHOW NOTES:

Samantha Dion Baker
https://www.sdionbaker.com
https://samanthadionbaker.substack.com

Draw Your Adventures
https://www.sdionbaker.com/books

Producer / Editor: Sophie Miller http://sophiemiller.co
Audio Editing / Sound Design: Conner Jones http://pendingbeautiful.co
Soundtrack / Theme Song: Yoni Wolf / WHY? http://whywithaquestionmark.com

SPONSORS:
SQUARESPACE
Head to https://www.squarespace.com/PEPTALK to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code PEPTALK

526 - Your Niche is Hiding in The Last Place You’d Look Oct 15, 2025

Show notes

Feeling lost on the creative journey? Download our 7 step Creative Career Path Handbooklet for FREE by signing up to our newsletter: http://andyjpizza.substack.com

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Find your niche. Stand out from the competition. Find your unique selling point.

Easier said than done. Right? In this episode we explore where your creative edge might be hiding and how to strategically think about your place within the creative markets you find yourself in.

SHOW NOTES:

Get the Creative Career Path Handbook by signing up to the newsletter: andyjpizza.substack.com

Producer / Editor: Sophie Miller http://sophiemiller.co
Audio Editing / Sound Design: Conner Jones http://pendingbeautiful.co
Soundtrack / Theme Song: Yoni Wolf / WHY? http://whywithaquestionmark.com

SPONSORS:
SQUARESPACE
Head to https://www.squarespace.com/PEPTALK to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code PEPTALK

525 - The Prerequisite to Connecting with Potential Fans Oct 08, 2025

Show notes

Feeling lost on the creative journey? Download our 7 step Creative Career Path Handbooklet for FREE by signing up to our newsletter: http://andyjpizza.substack.com

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Do you feel like the stuff you’re putting out is white noise in an already noisy world?

In this episode we explore what you need to cut through and connect with the hearts of your potential fans.

SHOW NOTES
Study: “Seeing your life story as a Hero's Journey increases meaning in life”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36972106/

The Awakened Brain
https://www.lisamillerphd.com

Primal Intelligence
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/740110/primal-intelligence-by-angus-fletcher/

Producer / Editor: Sophie Miller http://sophiemiller.co
Audio Editing / Sound Design: Conner Jones http://pendingbeautiful.co
Soundtrack / Theme Song: Yoni Wolf / WHY? http://whywithaquestionmark.com

524 - How to Know Whether to Push On or Give Up Oct 01, 2025

Show notes

Feeling lost on the creative journey? Download our 7 step Creative Career Path Handbooklet for FREE by signing up to our newsletter: http://andyjpizza.substack.com

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Does this sound familiar? You find a new thing. You’re certain this is THE thing. It all makes sense! You get started with tons of energy… but then you hit a wall. It all feels wrong. You bail. Find a new thing and the loop starts all over.

If you can relate. This episode is for you!!!

Stick until the end for a checklist that can help you decide whether to stick to the path or give up the thing you’re currently working on!

SHOW NOTES:

Eustress the Good Stress
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/be-the-sun-not-the-salt/202408/eustress-the-good-stress

Eustress vs Distress
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/eustress-vs-distress

Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
https://www.aaspa.org/products/flow-the-psychology-of-optimal-experience

Producer / Editor: Sophie Miller http://sophiemiller.co
Audio Editing / Sound Design: Conner Jones http://pendingbeautiful.co
Soundtrack / Theme Song: Yoni Wolf / WHY? http://whywithaquestionmark.com

SPONSORS:
SQUARESPACE
Head to https://www.squarespace.com/PEPTALK to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code PEPTALK

523 - The Power of Finding Your Attention Aperture, Neurotype and School of Thought Sep 24, 2025

Show notes

Feeling lost on the creative journey? Download our 7 step Creative Career Path Handbooklet for FREE by signing up to our newsletter: http://andyjpizza.substack.com

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This episode contains three small things that made a huge difference in my creative practice!

Tune in if you know you need a creative boost, but you’re not EXACTLY sure what it is you need because this is like THREE mini episodes in ONE.

SHOW NOTES:

Strengthsfinder Assessment:
https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/254033/strengthsfinder.aspx

Producer / Editor: Sophie Miller http://sophiemiller.co
Audio Editing / Sound Design: Conner Jones http://pendingbeautiful.co
Soundtrack / Theme Song: Yoni Wolf / WHY? http://whywithaquestionmark.com

SPONSORS:
SQUARESPACE
Head to https://www.squarespace.com/PEPTALK to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code PEPTALK

522 - The Unexpected Thing that Suddenly Unlocked My Creative Brain Sep 17, 2025

Show notes

Feeling lost on the creative journey? Download our 7 step Creative Career Path Handbooklet for FREE by signing up to our newsletter: http://andyjpizza.substack.com

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If you’re a creative type, you probably don’t quite fit into the systems you were born into. This can be VERY DIFFICULT. There’s a lot of pressure for folks like us to beat ourselves up into a shape that fits society.

In this episode, I want to share the number 1 thing that changed my life as a creative person, and resources that can help you adopt this shift too!!

SHOW NOTES:
Right Side Out Series
andyjpizza.com/rso

No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz, PhD
https://ifs-institute.com/nobadparts

Good Inside by Dr. Becky
https://www.goodinside.com/book/
Simulacra and Simulation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation

Producer / Editor: Sophie Miller http://sophiemiller.co
Audio Editing / Sound Design: Conner Jones http://pendingbeautiful.co
Soundtrack / Theme Song: Yoni Wolf / WHY? http://whywithaquestionmark.com

SPONSORS:
SQUARESPACE
Head to https://www.squarespace.com/PEPTALK to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code PEPTALK

CPT Presents: Origin Stories - Dan Taberski on Hysterical Sep 15, 2025

Show notes

Sharing a new podcast from Campside Media called Origin Stories, about the creative process and the craft of writing and reporting. Each episode drills down on a single work. What inspired it? How was it created, and why? What kind of challenges and hurdles cropped up along the way? And above all, what can the rest of us learn from the guest’s creative process?

In this episode, Matt talks to Dan Taberski about his podcast “Hysterical,” which centers on a strange illness that afflicted a group of girls in the New York town of LeRoy. Dan discusses his reporting and outlining approach and the importance of treating subjects (and their stories) with care and respect. You can listen to more episodes of Origin Stories at https://link.mgln.ai/creativepeptalk

521 - How to Quit Worrying About Other’s Opinions & Finally Create What You Want Sep 10, 2025

Show notes

Feeling lost on the creative journey? Download our 7 step Creative Career Path Handbooklet for FREE by signing up to our newsletter: http://andyjpizza.substack.com

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Are you so worried about other people’s opinions you don’t make or share anything?

Need a tool for finding the thing you’re so passionate about that you’ll finally have the courage to put yourself out there?

If so, this episode is for you!

We all wish we could quit caring so much about what other’s think, but what if it’s a hopeless cause? In this episode we examine how caring about others might actually unlock the boldness we need to finally put our deepest selves into our work and rise above our imagined critics!

SHOW NOTES:

Angus Fletcher - Primal Intelligence
https://www.angusfletcher.co

Producer / Editor: Sophie Miller http://sophiemiller.co
Audio Editing / Sound Design: Conner Jones http://pendingbeautiful.co
Soundtrack / Theme Song: Yoni Wolf / WHY? http://whywithaquestionmark.com

SPONSORS:
SQUARESPACE
Head to https://www.squarespace.com/PEPTALK to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code PEPTALK

520 - Does Creating Feel Hollow Right Now? How to Unlock New Fire Sep 03, 2025

Show notes

Feeling lost on the creative journey? Download our 7 step Creative Career Path Handbooklet for FREE by signing up to our newsletter: http://andyjpizza.substack.com

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This episode is for you if:

- The chaos of the world is making creative work feel meaningless
- Need to remember why making creative work is your passion
- You need a dose of art that makes you remember what life is about

SHOW NOTES:
Producer / Editor: Sophie Miller http://sophiemiller.co
Audio Editing / Sound Design: Conner Jones http://pendingbeautiful.co
Soundtrack / Theme Song: Yoni Wolf / WHY? http://whywithaquestionmark.com

SPONSORS:
SQUARESPACE
Head to https://www.squarespace.com/PEPTALK to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code PEPTALK

519 - Access Imagination and Intuition that Ai Can’t Touch with Angus Fletcher PhD Aug 27, 2025

Show notes

This episode is for you if you need:

- To tap into your intuition and imagination in a deeper way than ever before

- A boost of hope for your creative future and the future of human creativity

- To hear two creativity nerds getting EXTREMELY excited about art, story and human potential!!!

Pretty much everyday you are told that AI is coming for your job, but NOT TODAY, because today we talk with Angus Fletcher PhD.

Angus is an expert in story AND neuroscience, and in this episode, we will dive into Fletcher’s research that will show you how to access your “Primal Intelligence” AKA something AI cannot do!!

Angus Fletch has a PhD in Literature from Yale studying Shakespeare and a BS in neuroscience from the University of Michigan. This unique blend of story and science makes him one of the most fascinating people I have ever met and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED this conversation!

I HIGHLY recommend you pick up Angus' new book “Primal Intelligence:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/740110/primal-intelligence-by-angus-fletcher/

Learn more about Angus Fletcher here: https://www.angusfletcher.co

SHOW NOTES:

Producer / Editor: Sophie Miller http://sophiemiller.co
Audio Editing / Sound Design: Conner Jones http://pendingbeautiful.co
Soundtrack / Theme Song: Yoni Wolf / WHY? http://whywithaquestionmark.com

SPONSORS:
SQUARESPACE
Head to https://www.squarespace.com/PEPTALK to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code PEPTALK

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