Creative Pep Talk

Latest Episodes:

509 - Hack Motivation to Begin AND Finish Well + Unlock Creative Self with These Questions Jun 11, 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.

---This episode is for you if you are:

1 - A beginner trying to make a splash
2 - A seasoned creative who needs to try something new
3 - Stuck and uninspired and lost the love of making stuff

We are all beginners at some point and we become beginners again and again at different aspects of our creative journey repeatedly. With times rapidly changing, this has never been more true. In this Q&A episode of the show, we explore how to begin well, but also, maybe more importantly how to end and finish projects well.

This is a fan favorite type Q&A “Ask Dr. Pizza” episode :)

SHOW NOTES:

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

508 - The Real Magic of Finding Your Creative Voice with Brian Selznick Jun 04, 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.

---

How do truly embed yourself into your work?

Today on the show, we have a creative master who has done this at the highest level. In this episode, Caldecott winning author illustrator Brian Selznick joins me to discuss his new book “Run Away with Me”.

We deconstruct the elements that make this book both a quintessential piece of work for Selznick, and also an evolution of his creative voice.

If you want to develop a deeper sense of yourself in the work and find your place amongst the timeline of your creative hero's. This episode is for you!

SHOW NOTES:

Brian Selznick
https://brianselznick.com
https://www.runawaywithmethebook.com

Maurice Sendak
https://www.mauricesendak.com

A Page is a Door by Remy Charlip
https://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/remy_essay.htm

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

507 - How to Find Your Secret Creative Powers May 28, 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.

---
Do you feel like the competition is so steep you don’t have a chance? Do you ever look around online and think “why should I even bother? I am not even close to this level of talent!” If so, this episode is for you. Stop trying to be super and tap into your true edge: your secret creative powers! Let’s talk about how to find them!

SHOW NOTES:

506 - The Career Defining Breakthrough I Found in Scary Slow Times May 21, 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.

---
When times are hectic and industries freeze, it can feel like creative progress is impossible. In times like these, rather than bang your head up against the same wall over and over again, you can see this external block as a sign that it’s time to shift your focus and ways of being. In this episode I share one of the most essential breakthroughs in my creative practice that happened during some of the slowest and scariest moments of my creative journey.

SHOW NOTES:

Lisa Miller PhD The Awakened Brain
https://www.lisamillerphd.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

505 - How Demystifying Your Craft can Enhance the Magic with Maggie Smith May 14, 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.

---

This was an INCREDIBLE CHAT. I left so pepped.

If you are overwhelmed by the blank page, scared to try and fail, or feel the pressure to exist in a vacuum, this episode is for you!

In this episode, Poet Maggie Smith is back with her brilliant new book “Dear Writer: Pep Talks and Practical Advice for the Creative Life”. I LOVED this book and this chat JUST AS MUCH. This episode is CHOCKED FULL of creative insights from Maggie and her new book, you are going to love it!

SHOW NOTES:

Maggie Smith
https://maggiesmithpoet.com/book/dear-writer/

Good Bones
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/89897/good-bones

Dear Writer: Pep Talks and Practical Advice for the Creative Life
https://maggiesmithpoet.com/book/dear-writer/

Katherine Fahey
http://www.thecrankiefactory.com/115034631.html

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

504 - Reduce Overwhelm and Unlock More Creative Work with This May 07, 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 here: andyjpizza.substack.com

---

Are you overwhelmed pretty much no matter what you do? Are you overwhelmed by long to do lists? Short ones? Complex and simple ones? In this episode I will share a recent shift that has made a big impact on me that resulted in me feeling less overwhelmed and more able to be creatively productive.

SHOW NOTES:

John Cleese on Creativity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvKeu46jgwo

Cal Newport https://calnewport.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

503 - Embrace Change and Reclaim Belonging with Morgan Harper Nichols Apr 30, 2025

Show notes

Feel like things have changed or are always changing?

Do you find yourself changing yourself to fit?

Where do you really want to be?

In this episode I am joined by artist and author, Morgan Harper Nichols. We discuss envisioning a future for yourself that you actually want to go towards and how to find the right creative home within all the possibilities.

https://morganharpernichols.com

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

SHOW NOTES:

Co-Writing / Editing: 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

502 - How to Beat the Analysis Paralysis of "The Right Path" Apr 23, 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 here: andyjpizza.substack.com

If you THINK more about making stuff than actually making stuff, this episode is for you! I tell a story that helped me realize that going the right way is overrated and what to do instead.

SHOW NOTES:

Co-Writing / Editing: Sophie Miller http://sophiemiller.co

Audio Editing / Sound Design: Conner Jones http://pendingbeautiful.co

Soundtrack / Theme Song: Yoni Wolf / WHY? http://whywithaquestionmark.com

War of Art by Stephen Pressfield

https://stevenpressfield.com/books/the-war-of-art/

Cal Newport Deep Work

https://calnewport.com/writing/

Christopher Vogler The Writers Journey

https://mwp.com/product/writers-journey-25th-anniversary-edition-mythic-structure-writers/

Brian McDonald Invisible Ink

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/invisible-ink-stewart-stern/1146054340

SPONSORS:

SQUARESPACE

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

501 - How To Create Gentle Habits with Sophie Yanow Apr 16, 2025

Show notes

How do you develop discipline as an artist?

Can you hack your behavior and form creative habits?

What tips or tricks could help you to create more often AND more confidently?

In this episode I'm joined by Eisner Award winning cartoonist Sophie Yanow. Sophie has so much insight on this topic and found great value in creating what she calls a 'Gentle Comics Habit'. We talk starting, stacking and bundling habits and what it all achieved.

If you'd like to join in, use the hashtag #gentlecomicshabit !

Discuss this episode, share creative wins and obstacles at our next monthly meetup! Join this month’s Creative Pep Rally by supporting the show on Substack or Patreon:

andyjpizza.substack.com

https://www.patreon.com/c/creativepeptalk

Photo credit: Michael Worful

SHOW NOTES:

Co-Writing / Editing: Sophie Miller http://sophiemiller.co

Audio Editing / Sound Design: Conner Jones http://pendingbeautiful.co

Soundtrack / Theme Song: Yoni Wolf / WHY? http://whywithaquestionmark.com

https://www.sophieyanow.com/

https://www.instagram.com/sophieyanow

GABRIELLE BELL https://gabriellebell.com/

JAMES CLEAR https://jamesclear.com/habits

BJ FOGG https://tinyhabits.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

500 - 5 Steps from ADHD Serial Quitter to Podcaster with 500 Episodes Apr 09, 2025

Show notes

Discuss this episode, share creative wins and obstacles at our next monthly meetup! Join this month’s Creative Pep Rally by supporting the show on Substack or Patreon:

andyjpizza.substack.com

https://www.patreon.com/c/creativepeptalk

If you’re like me, you have more trouble with following through with ideas than you do coming up with new ideas. I am a serial quitter. I have ADHD and I am often working on 5 things at once. BUT. In this episode I want to share 5 things that have helped me stay consistent long enough to make 500 episodes of the same podcast, publish over 10 books and work with clients like X-Box, Nickelodeon and Apple over the past 15 years.

This episode ends with a CALL TO ADVENTURE called “MAKE SUM-THING OF YOURSELF”. This action is something you can do in an instant, that in my experience INSTANTLY increases your ability to follow through and achieve what you set out to achieve.

SHOW NOTES:

Co-Writing / Editing: Sophie Miller http://sophiemiller.co

Audio Editing / Sound Design: Conner Jones http://pendingbeautiful.co

Soundtrack / Theme Song: Yoni Wolf / WHY? http://whywithaquestionmark.com

Susan David - Emotional Agility

https://www.susandavid.com/book/

Steven Pressfield - The War of Art

https://stevenpressfield.com/books/the-war-of-art/

Julian Glander on Creative Pep Talk

https://www.creativepeptalk.com/474-the-obstacle-is-the-swagway-with-julian-glander/

Sophie Yanow

https://www.sophieyanow.com