Shining Your Creative Light

Here’s a summary of the key takeaways from this episode!

In this week’s episode, we discuss the idea of “shining the light” on your creative work.What do we mean by “shining the light”? In The Spark File Community, we think of the creative cycle in three steps: generating sparks, fanning the flames of creativity, and shining the light on your creative work. This step involves inviting others to share in your work. This might be requesting feedback, inviting folks to a reading, submitting to a festival, or promoting the sale of your work - anything that extends your work beyond your safe and comfortable realm.

This week, we tackle the most common reasons why people struggle to shine the light—and, we take a look at our recent cohort of llumineers, who did a whole lot of light shining in their recent capstone presentations. Our goal is to make sure that every artist has a choice about whether or not they want to share their work, and if they choose to do so, support them as they learn how to share it in a way that generates excitement.

As always—whether you’re generating those sparks, fanning the flames, or shining that light—however you’re doing it, you’re doing it right! Dive back into Season 5 and bask in the warm glow of The Spark File.

Transcript

The Spark File Podcast Transcript 
Season 5, Episode 2: Shining Your Creative Light

Susan Blackwell
Welcome to The Spark File, where we believe that everyone is creative, but smart creative people don't go it alone.

Laura Camien
I'm Laura Camien.

Susan Blackwell
And I'm Susan Blackwell, and we are creativity coaches who help people clarify and accomplish their creative goals.

Laura Camien
Know that just by listening to this podcast, you are joining a warm and wonderful clan of creatives.

Susan Blackwell
But hold the phone. You may be asking yourself, what exactly is a Spark File?

Laura Camien
Well, a spark file is a place where you consistently collect all of your inspirations and all of your fascinations. And every episode we are going to reach into our spark files and exchange some sparks. From time to time, we're going to talk to some folks who spark us too.

Susan Blackwell
And your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take some of those sparks of inspiration and make something of your own. So without further ado, let's open up the Spark file.

Laura Camien
The Spark File.

Susan Blackwell
Oh, Laura Camien, I'm still basking in the glow of podcasting again, and I love it so much.

Laura Camien
We're podcasting! We're getting to sit and talk and chit chat and, you know, expand our minds a little bit.

Susan Blackwell
P-P-P-P-Podcasting.

Laura Camien
Get sparked.

Susan Blackwell
Yes, let's expand our minds.

Laura Camien
I love that.

Susan Blackwell
And I'm gonna—'m going to pull you right into it. Recently, we hosted the Capstone event for our Illume cohort, our 23/24 Illume cohort here in New York City.

Laura Camien
Mm.

Susan Blackwell
And it was so beautiful. Those Illumineers—we thought about calling them Illuminaties, but like Laura Camien said, already taken. So those Illumineers went up on that stage, and one by one, they just knocked it out of the mother fucking park.

Laura Camien
Yeah.

Susan Blackwell
They shared their work. They asked for what they were looking for in terms of collaborators and co-conspirators. And it was really bold. And I was speaking with one of our clients, Hannah Marie Marcus, and she was saying, what a marvel it is to see people doing that.

Laura Camien
Absolutely. The courage, the bravery. They are truly living. They are living.

Susan Blackwell
Yes, they are living. So my spark today is all about shining your light. And there was a song that you might've learned, Laura Camien, when you were a little, little… Maybe you were in a church basement.

Laura Camien
Oh, church camp.

Susan Blackwell
I don't know, but do you know this song— church camp. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.

Laura Camien
Oh, yes, I do. I'm gonna let it shine.

Susan Blackwell
This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. Oh, don't put it under a bushel basket…You know the rest of the song. So, according to Wikipedia, This Little Light of ine is an African-American song from the 1920s, though the origins and authorship of this song are not 100% clear, which I thought was very interesting. There's a lot of speculation about who actually wrote the song. It wasn't that long ago, but, um–

Laura Camien
Wow.

Susan Blackwell
Not clear. So maybe in the public domain, in case you want to cover it. It has been published with a set of hand movements to be used for the instruction of children.

Susan Blackwell
So that's if you're, as I was, singing that, you were like, hey, my thumb is wiggling and then I'm putting my other hand over it.

Laura Camien
Uh-huh, uh-huh.

Susan Blackwell
That's probably why. It has also been adapted as a freedom song that helped steady civil rights protesters' nerves as abusive police officers threatened to beat them, or worse. It's been sung in Sunday schools. It's been sung in prison yards. It has been recorded by the folk singer Hoyt Axton and the British rappers LZ7. And Meghan Markle and Prince Harry chose to end their wedding in May of 2018 with a version of the iconic song sung by a gospel choir.

Laura Camien
I did not realize that. Boy, my voice just went up like 14 octaves, but I didn't realize that.


Susan Blackwell
As she was getting into the carriage as they were departing the ceremony, there was a big gospel choir singing, This Little Light of Mine.

Laura Camien
I remember the choir and I thought it was beautiful, but I had totally forgotten it was that song.

Susan Blackwell
It is that song.

04:26.54
Laura Camien
That song!

04:29.15
Susan Blackwell
She's got legs. Yes, yes. So why am I sparked by the song and the concept of shining your light?

Laura Camien
Mm hmm.

Susan Blackwell
Let's back it up.

Laura Camien
OK.

Susan Blackwell
So in the spark file, we talk a lot about the spark cycle of creativity.

Laura Camien
Yep.

Susan Blackwell
In case you've not heard us talk about it, after years of various creative projects in a variety of configurations and collaborations, it seems to us that every creative idea that reaches maturity flows through this cycle. You've got generating sparks, you've got fanning your creative flames, and you've got shining your creative light. Now it may not always be in that order, but I want to talk you through it chronologically in its most basic form, starting with generating sparks. Listening to this podcast: you are in the spark generation phase. When you are in this part of the creative process, you are consciously generating ideas, you are listening, you are actively seeking, you are leaning into things that fascinate you. So, that is generating sparks. Next up we have fanning those creative flames. In this part of the creative process—this is, as Larry the cable guy would say about getting her done–this is where the real making occurs. You are doing the work and being able to fan those flames is how you realize the idea and make it a reality and finally we have the part of the creative process that we call shining the light. This is about sharing out, and it may be sharing your idea that you want to make, or literally it could be sharing what you've already made.

Laura Camien
Mm hmm.

Susan Blackwell
It's about how and when you talk about your work, it's about how you generate excitement about your work, and sometimes it's actually about sharing that work.

Laura Camien
Yeah.

Susan Blackwell
So that's the spark cycle of creativity in a nutshell, generating sparks, fanning those flames, and shining that light. Laura, is there any of you would add to that?

Laura Camien
Just that, you know, the more we work with that, the more I really truly believe in it.

Susan Blackwell
Yes.

Laura Camien
I think about like the the Blaze of it all, the fanning the flames and how, uh, challenging it can be to simply–like, imagine tending a fire overnight. That's your job. And a million things can make it go out. And it is your job to keep that idea alive. And then the shining of the light–how many people we know stop right before this phase because the idea of it is terrifying for a lot of people?

Susan Blackwell
You have read my mind, Laura Camien.

Laura Camien
Oh, baby, tell me about it.

Susan Blackwell
We are creatives and we have worked with so many creatives. And it has been our observation that shining the light is one of the toughest, riskiest parts of the creative process. So many people want to hide their creative light under that bushel basket.

Laura Camien
Yes. Or they want someone else to come along. They want that knight in shining armor that's going to come along and shine their light for them so that they don't have to.

Susan Blackwell
Yes. Yes!

Laura Camien
It's like, please God, can anybody market this or promote this besides me?

Susan Blackwell
Yes.

07:39.58
Laura Camien
Yeah.

Susan Blackwell
So for my spark today, I want to share some of the common reasons why people struggle with shining their light, and also share a few ways we might process through those blocks and impediments.

Laura Camien
I am here for this, Susan.

Susan Blackwell
So here are some of the reasons people don't want to shine that light. And as I share these, Laura and listeners, I just want you to gut check yourself and see if any of these speak to you, if any of these are your go-tos. So here we go.

Laura Camien
Okay.

08:07.99
Susan Blackwell
Fear of judgment. People may be afraid of being criticized or laughed at.

Laura Camien
Check.

Susan Blackwell
And sometimes this is born, people have good evidence for this. It is born out of prior experience or observations.

Laura Camien
Yeah.

Susan Blackwell
I think about sweet Matt Vogel, who plays Kermit the Frog, being, you know, booed at his talent show. when he did a puppet show and how that put him off puppets for decades.

Laura Camien
Yep.

Laura Camien
For decades.

Susan Blackwell
Yeah. 

Laura Camien
Fear of rejection, absolutely.

Susan Blackwell
Fear of Judgement: People may be afraid of being ostracized or shunned, and this is an evolutionary behavior. People may have evolved to avoid speaking out in ways that could lead to exclusion or ridicule.

Laura Camien
Oh! Yes.

Susan Blackwell
Which leads me to my next one, mortal fear.

Laura Camien
Yes.

Susan Blackwell
In modern times, in certain parts of the world, creatives fear for their personal safety, depending on what they want to express.

Laura Camien
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yes.

Susan Blackwell
Fear of failure. People may be afraid of not getting the desired outcome.

Laura Camien
Yes. Uh-huh.

Susan Blackwell
This one was interesting to me because I don't think I have this, but I can imagine people who do. Fear of being one-upped or bested. People may feel competitive when sharing their creative work and they're afraid of being bested by someone else. That they're not going to be “the best” at the thing. And I thought that was interesting. It's not me, but I thought it was interesting.

Laura Camien
Yeah, yeah.

09:52.51
Susan Blackwell
People may worry that if they share their work, their brilliant ideas may be stolen.

Laura Camien
Oh, that's a classic.

Susan Blackwell
Classic.

Laura Camien
It's a classic.

Susan Blackwell
Yeah, I got that.

Laura Camien
It's hiding it under the bush.

Susan Blackwell
Yeah, that way nobody can get it.

Laura Camien
Yeah, that's right. So you will always have a top secret fantastic idea that stays with you to the grave.

Susan Blackwell
Yeah! People may lack confidence in their ideas or their abilities, and they're afraid that their work isn't good enough.

Laura Camien
Yep.

Susan Blackwell
People fear hurting others. They may be afraid that sharing their work will hurt their others, themselves, their audience.

Laura Camien
Yes. Yep.

Susan Blackwell
I've heard this. This is interesting, and I've heard it more and more in recent years. People are afraid that by sharing their work, they are taking up space and or opportunities that might be best used by others.

Laura Camien
That's interesting! And complex.

Susan Blackwell
Yeah. Yes, it is.

Laura Camien
Yes. Yeah.

Susan Blackwell
People sometimes fear that their work– it's not just that they aren't ready, but that their work is not ready so that it's sort of like—

Laura Camien
Oh, sure. We can live there for a long time.

Susan Blackwell
Oh, we can live in a lot of these places for a long time. And I'm curious, Laura Camien–I know that you are a very forward-footed creative. but even with that, are any of these go-tos for you or do you want to add to the list?

Laura Camien
Um, I think one that I've gotten over more, it's not that it's not there, but um in recent years I've gotten over it a little bit more—but, I think that that first one, the fear of other people's opinions…I was stopped by, not strangers opinions, but people close to me who, who I now can see had their own fears of, what if they share their work. And so it was a little bit of like gasp! You're gonna put that out there? You're gonna do that? You're gonna share that? And I was like—it caused me to sort of crawl inside myself and be like, ah, should I not? Maybe, maybe I shouldn't. Maybe I should keep this to myself. Um But now I see, you know, now I see what was at play. But yeah, that was big.

Susan Blackwell
Does that ever, does it still, does it ever getcha or are you like, I'm good?

Laura Camien
I think I'm doing pretty good with it now. But can I say, Suze, there was one, um was it shame? Was there like a number around three or four? Was there one that was about shame? Oh, no, it was about rejection. It was about rejection.

Susan Blackwell
Yeah, fear of rejection.

Laura Camien
Can I tell you a quick story?

Susan Blackwell
That's yep. Yes.

Laura Camien
Just–I'm going to make it quick, I promise you. But you mentioned the Illume Showcase.

Susan Blackwell
Yeah.

Laura Camien
And, you know, all of our clients did an incredible job shining their light. But you and I were like, Oh, yeah, don't forget, we have–we need to shine our light as well. We are hosting this event and we need to, you know, tee it all up for everybody. And, and so as that day got closer, I was confronted with just garden variety, you know, insecurities and stuff. And I would be like, Oh, I see you. I got you. No worries. Moving through it. And two days before the event, I had a dream. It was so vivid. It was so shame-filled. It had to do with rejection.

Susan Blackwell
Oh wow.

Laura Camien
And I woke up in a start and my body was flooded with the actual feelings of rejection. And I thought, Oh my God, what it—I felt, I laid in bed for a minute, just like, ugh! I feel horrible.

Susan Blackwell
Oh.

Laura Camien
And then I recognized it. I was like, Oh, I know what this is. This is that part of my brain that is saying, what are you doing? You may get rejected. You're about to put yourself out there. Have you forgotten what rejection feels like? It feels like this, and it feels pretty crappy, and maybe you should pull back. We're trying to keep you safe. And Susan, like a flash, my feet hit the floor, and I pattered out to the living room, and I was like Wes, you won't believe what just happened. And I told him about the dream. And I was like, I was able to recognize in that moment, that my brain was trying to protect me.

Susan Blackwell
Yeah.

Laura Camien
But it, it reminded me of those feelings of rejection, and the fears of rejection. So thank you for letting me take that little—


Susan Blackwell
I love how as you—and I hope the same for myself and for all the listeners—as you have developed as a human as and as a creative that you can recognize that so much more quicky and just dispatch it that. You're like, I know you!

Laura Camien
It was thrilling. I was thrilled with how quickly that happened.

14:50.81
Susan Blackwell
Yeah. That is a new neural pathway or, you know, know yeah.

Laura Camien
Yeah, it felt that way. It actually felt that way. That was like here, a totally new door that I went through in 30 seconds flat. And yes, I hope that for all of our listeners and all of our clients as well.

Susan Blackwell
Fantastic. I just wanna share a few tools to process through some of, in case any of y'all related to any of the things on that list, here's a few ideas around the shining of the light. And just a quick caveat, I wanna remind you that you don't have to share any of your creativity with anyone ever.

Laura Camien
Yeah.

Susan Blackwell
Whether or not you share is entirely and completely up to you. But since you're listening to this podcast, I'm going to take a guess that there is at least a small part, if not a large part of you, that would very much like to share your work. So let's talk about how we can navigate all these things that can stop us from freely shining our light.

Laura Camien
Suze, I have to ask you before you before you tell us these things, do any of those resonate for you?

Susan Blackwell
Oh my god, Laura. Yes. Yes.

Laura Camien
Short answer, yes.

Susan Blackwell
Yeah. Short answer is yes.

Laura Camien
Okay, just checking. Yeah.

Susan Blackwell
And it depends. Sometimes it's situational. For instance, I've written because I write so much for my own life, I've written things that I'm like, Oh my God, I hope that this doesn't completely nuke my relationship with my parents.

Laura Camien
Mm hmm.

Susan Blackwell
I hope that you know–things like that.

Laura Camien
Yeah, yes.

Susan Blackwell
All the greatest hits. The answer is yes. So, so when planning a party, we ask, who, what, when, where, and why, right? When you're making the invitation, you're like, who's this for?

Laura Camien
That's also good journalism.

Susan Blackwell
What do I, it's, oh, there you go.

Laura Camien
You know, those are the five questions of journalism 101.

Susan Blackwell
Well, in addition to party planning and journalism, when preparing to share our creativity, we might do well to ask why, what, when, who, and how.

Laura Camien
Oh.

Susan Blackwell
So first up, when you prepare to share the light, you should understand why you are sharing your work. There are no bad answers here, by the way. All reasons are valid. We just want you to begin thinking about your own desires, your motivation, and your purpose. So for instance, I'm very clear that my purpose in life, and in my creative work, is to free myself and anyone who wants to come along for the ride. I'm all about it. And almost everything that I do in this lifetime is about that too.

Laura Camien
Mm hmm. Aligns. Yep.

Susan Blackwell
And that clarity really helps me get past some of those fears.

Laura Camien
Yeah, yeah.

Susan Blackwell
Next up, ask yourself about what you want to share. Again, you don't have to share everything with everyone. You don't have to share your entire Spark file and every thought and every insecurity you have. If something feels too private, too new, too raw, you are entirely empowered to keep some of those things for yourself before yourself in your inner circle, right?

Laura Camien
Mm hmm.

Susan Blackwell
So ask yourself about what you are sharing.

Laura Camien
That's right.

Susan Blackwell
Did you want to say something?

Laura Camien
No, I think you're coming to it because it's a big one. I think it might be next.

Susan Blackwell
The next consideration is when do you share? It might be a good time to share if your instincts tell you that you're on to something, even if it isn't complete yet.

Laura Camien
Uh huh.

Susan Blackwell
Or if you have enough confidence in it that you're certain that no feedback is going to deter you from continuing on. If so, oh, Laura—What were you going to say?

Laura Camien
Ooh, that's a biggie. Well, just that, like if you feel strong enough, like if you imagine again to go back to the flame metaphor, if you feel like your flame is strong enough that a gust of wind is not going to take it out, that's a good question to ask yourself before you go putting it in front of someone else whose, you know, exhale might knock you out of the game

Susan Blackwell
Yes, and you have teed me up perfectly, Laura, because if you have that confidence that you are ready to share, you might want to think about who you are sharing it with.

Laura Camien
Yeah, baby.

Susan Blackwell
Yes, things can get really dicey when we look for what we consider professional feedback from people who are not qualified to give it.

Laura Camien
Yes. Yes.

Susan Blackwell
They don't know

Laura Camien
Amen.

Susan Blackwell
They're not–they don't know how to talk about work in a way that empowers artists.

Laura Camien
Amen.

Susan Blackwell
And things can get dicey when we seek feedback from other industry professionals who have their own agendas for the project. Now, Laura just said something when she was talking about which fears are go-tos for you, and you said that there have been times when you have gotten, you know, blown off course by people, and later you realized that you were like, oh, it's because they had either an agenda or their own fears.

Laura Camien
Yeah. That's right. Their own insecurities. Like you have to, um, you have to recognize when something is yours and something is not yours and be able to say, Oh, I hear what you're saying. That sounds like a weighted blanket. You are lying underneath, but I don't have to put it on.

Susan Blackwell
Yeah, yeah. I don't have to borrow your fears or your agenda.

Laura Camien
Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

Susan Blackwell
Our goal is always for ourselves and for you to seek the right kind of feedback from the right people at the right time. that is, yeah, I know that sounds tricky, but it is completely doable.

Laura Camien
It really is. Yeah.

20:49.83
Susan Blackwell
Finally, how do we share that work? Ultimately, getting useful feedback comes down to your ability to be clear about what you need and asking for it, rather than the general, hey, everybody, what did you think?

Laura Camien
ah!

Susan Blackwell
Setting clear parameters for the feedback you're looking for, stating them from the outset. For example, if you said, I'm working on the character arc for my lead in the script, can you keep an eye on that as you read it and let me know if it had emotional impact for you? Or even something specific like, or even something like, I've lost sight of my enthusiasm for this project— can you just remind me what's wonderful about it?

Laura Camien
Yes, yes.

Susan Blackwell
Yes. So just being specific about what your needs are.

Laura Camien
Absolutely. And I think we're trained as, as people pleasers, um to to sort of prove,  like I can take any feedback, whatever you got.

Susan Blackwell
Yeah.

Laura Camien
And it is actually working against your best interest to do that. It is very empowering to say, here's what I'm looking for.

Susan Blackwell
Yes.

Laura Camien
Here's what I actually need right now. Later, I'll ask your thoughts on this, that, and the other thing. But that's not this moment.

Susan Blackwell
Yeah.

Laura Camien
It's so empowering.

Susan Blackwell
We really do. We want you to share your light. We want you to seek out feedback. To Laura's point, we just want to empower you in that process and we want you to be as deliberate, intentional, and thoughtful about it as possible. Even if you are super clear on all these aspects of shining your light, it can still be incredibly vulnerable. So be gentle with yourself, trust your intuition, know that you will still feel some fear and that is normal. And, you know, on this podcast, we have learned from our conversations with prolific and uber successful makers, the fear never goes away.

Laura Camien
That's right.

Susan Blackwell
We only get better at managing it and moving forward anyway.

Laura Camien
Yes.

Susan Blackwell
Eventually your creative confidence is going to grow strong by mastering your favorite navigational techniques. You will begin to fear less. And although you still feel vulnerable, you are going to be empowered to create more and to learn to follow your own North Star when creating.

Laura Camien
Oh, I love it.

Susan Blackwell
Building up that confidence is going to require bravery and courage. Nelson Mandela said, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” Or if John Wayne is more your cup of tea, “Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway.” Or If music is more your jam, remember those civil rights protesters and freedom singers steadying their nerves with “This little light of mine. I'm gonna let it shine!”

Laura Camien
I'm gonna let it shine.

Susan Blackwell
That's right, Laura Camien. Don't put it under a bushel basket. You've got to let it shine. Listen, I guess that's it!

Laura Camien
Yes! Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I love this spark, Susan Blackwell. I love this spark. This is so, so key for people to remember like these are skills you can learn. These are muscles you can build like any other muscle.

Susan Blackwell
Yes. Yes. Yeah.

Laura Camien
And you can learn to trust yourself that you can tolerate whether, you know, what comes at you as criticism or what comes at you, what  feels like rejection. You, you can tolerate it.

Susan Blackwell
Yeah.

Laura Camien
You're going to survive.

Susan Blackwell
Yeah, you are a strong creative conduit and it's all tolerable.

Laura Camien
And it's all tolerable.

Susan Blackwell
Oh, thanks Laura Camien!

Laura Camien
Thank you. Thank you, Susan.

Susan Blackwell
Hey, This episode of The Spark File was made on the lands of the Lenape and the Mohican people. And as always, we hope this put another bunch of sparks in your file.  Listen, if there is a spark you'd like us to explore, or if you'd like to learn more about how to coach with us to accomplish your creative goals, email us at getcreativeat@ thesparkfile.com. Or you can reach us through our website, thesparkfile . com

Laura Camien
We will even happily take your feedback, but you know the price of admission. First, you need to share a creative risk that you've taken recently.

Susan Blackwell
You can follow us on social @ thesparkfile and be sure to subscribe, rate, and five star review this very podcast. Believe us when we tell you it really helps other listeners to find us. Also, if you like this podcast, we hope you'll share it with people that you love.

Laura Camien
Mm hmm.

Susan Blackwell
And if you didn't like it, take that opinion, put a bushel basket over it. Why don'tcha?

Laura Camien
If something lights you up and gets your creative sparks flying, we are writing you a forever permission slip to make that thing that's been knocking at your door. It's your turn to take that spark and fan it into a flame.

Susan Blackwell
You know, you got to take 

Laura Camien
And make it!