Explore every episode of the podcast Unpublished

We had so much fun recording a very fancy in person episode with THE Martha Beck and Rowan Mangan!

How 'bout those production values?

Don't forget Amie's new book, We Need Your Art is out now in Hardcover, Audio, and E-book

In today's episode we discuss:

The amazing power of creativity to banish anxiety

How art and community building creates ripples that extend far beyond our personal practice and help the whole world

Why society is so afraid of art and artists

And so much more!

If you want more chats from Rowan and Martha, you can listen to them on the hilarious and wise Bewildered podcast. You can also follow Bewildered on Instagram.

We will be dropping by Bewildered soon so make sure you're following them to get the Amie and James episode!

Martha is on Instagram @themarthabeck

And Rowan at @rowanmangan

If you want to dive deeper into all things Martha Beck, you can check out her linktree, but you should really read her new book, Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life's Purpose! We absolutely loved it.

Join us as we remind you how important it is to celebrate your own art (coz no one's gonna do it for you!).

Fully raw ep today. No music (sorry to our composer/intro creator Matilda Eyre) I ran out of time.

The Collective is open for 5 days only!

WNYA is our now everywhere

00:00 Introduction and First Impressions of New York City01:20 The Inspired Collective Membership03:57 Challenges with Book Launch Planning05:32 Grassroots Book Events and Community Support06:17 Reflections on the Publishing Industry (oh-oh!)13:23 Celebrating the Book's Success19:30 We love our agents!20:51 Iconic New York Moments24:19 The Importance of Celebration29:36 (More) Publishing Industry Frustrations36:51 Gratitude and Farewell

BOOK OUT THIS WEEK

BOOK OUT THIS WEEK

BOOK OUT THIS WEEK

BUY BOOK BUY BOOK BUY BOOK

00:00 Introduction and Holiday Hat00:30 Book Tour and Podcast Plans03:05 The Importance of Art04:05 Creative Blocks and Overcoming Them12:00 Role of Patience in Creativity25:31 Art reset challenge26:10 Rice Cakes26:44 Book Promotion and Blurbs33:18 Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing36:24 Expectations for the Book43:15 Podcast Reflections and Upcoming Events

BOOK TOUR INFO

USA EAST COAST

The BookMark Shoppe Brooklyn 11th March 2025 7pm - BUY TICKETS HERE

Head House Books, Philly, 13th March 2025 6:30pm - BUY TICKETS HERE

Taylor Co Books, Brooklyn, 14th March 2025 7:30pm - BUY TICKETS HERE (just scroll down the home page!)

Morocco Bound Bookshop", 25th March - BUY TICKETS HERE

Scheltema, 5th April, 2pm - BUY TICKETS HERE!

I am going to be all up and about your business. Please stay tuned.

UNITED KINGDOMAMSTERDAMBERLIN, SYDNEY AND MELBOURNE!

00:00 Introduction 02:13 Housekeeping and Upcoming Events03:39 25 Things to Avoid 03:45 Obsessing Over Details04:57 The Pitfalls of Excessive Research09:09 Setting Unrealistic Goals10:16 Managing Expectations and Pressure15:40 The Importance of Planning16:48 Guarding Your Creative Time19:31 Sharing Ideas and Seeking Validation22:38 Avoiding Comparisons and Judgments28:32 Over-Education and Procrastination31:30 Finding Your Own Rhythm33:23 The Importance of Consistency35:16 Navigating Critique and Feedback39:14 Embracing the Challenges of Writing46:28 Balancing Creativity and Well-being50:38 Avoiding Distractions and Staying Focused58:01 The Growth Mindset in Writing01:00:26 Wrapping Up and Final Thoughts

USA EAST COAST

The BookMark Shoppe Brooklyn 11th March 2025 7pm - BUY TICKETS HERE

Head House Books, Philly, 13th March 2025 6:30pm - BUY TICKETS HERE

Taylor Co Books, Brooklyn, 14th March 2025 7:30pm - BUY TICKETS HERE (just scroll down the home page!)

UNITED KINGDOM & AMSTERDAM

Morocco Bound Bookshop", 25th March - BUY TICKETS HERE

Scheltema, 5th April, 2pm - BUY TICKETS HERE!

BERLIN TBA

Today we're talking to the boys! Or, given our audience demographics, we're talking to the girls and gender non conforming folks about the boys...

Buy We Need Your Art here and be our best friend forever!

00:00 Introduction and Preamble00:47 Discussing Men and Creativity00:49 Housekeeping and Personal Updates03:13 How we're trying to be less tired07:10 Book Launch and Pre-orders12:12 The Importance of Men's Art27:37 The Gendered Nature of Art and Craft27:48 Men's Role in Art: Historical Context29:13 The Struggle of Monetizing Art for men and women32:33 Cultural Influences on Art Monetisation 33:33 The Australian Male and Creativity35:10 Encouraging Men to Embrace Art40:53 Breaking Gender Norms Through Art50:13 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

TOUR DATES

BROOKLYN event at the Bookmark Shoppe on the 11th of March ( I refuse to bow to the ludicrous American style of writing the date)

PHILLY Event at Head House books on the 13th

BROOKLYN event at Taylor & Co on the 14th (scroll down home page and you'll find it!)

Note those dates are actually different to the ones I've been talking about... misread an email!

Save the date for LONDON: 25th of March at Morocco Bound

And the 27th of March at the Marlow Book shop (our local!)

Save the date for Amsterdam: April 5th, 2-3pm at Scheltema

Yes I kept Amie's preamble in on purpose because I thought it was funny!

Today we're talking about locking in, getting stuff done, and thriving as creatives. Expect a discussion about how to treat ourselves and our bodies well, not striving for perfection, and how to go from small steps to big goals.

TOUR THINGS:

We have LOCKED IN two bookshops in Brooklyn in the evenings of the 11th and 13th of March, so if you're in the NYC area, please save those dates. Plus we'll be in Philly on the 12th also in book stores. More to come as well as official links to the events.

We'll be hitting the UK hard after getting home on the 18th. So expect AT LEAST a London event and an event in the South Oxfordshire/Buckinghamshire area.

Berlin will be something between the 31st of March and the 3rd of April. Amsterdam probably either the 4th or the 5th of April.

Sydney and Melbourne will happen some time between the 9th and the 23rd of April.

Sorry we can't give you more info. We are organising most of this ourselves and there are lots of balls in the air as we have to liase with each book shop individually.

We are excited though!

00:00 Introduction and Podcast Setup02:24 Book Tour Announcements03:54 Locking In and Productivity23:26 The Myth of the Perfect Day29:53 The Illusion of Freedom for Successful Creatives30:56 Balancing Offers and Autonomy31:24 Media Consumption and Influences35:51 The Level System for Creative Productivity38:07 Maintaining Creative Identity43:38 Navigating Different Levels of Productivity47:55 The Challenges of Professional Creativity52:45 Wrapping Up and Future Plans

We talk about ambition! How ambitious are we? Is it good to be ambitious? Is it HEALTHY to be ambitious?

Inspired by Amie's substack post.

We Need Your Art pre-order giveaway is now live! A chance to win a custom canvas love note when you submit your pre-order receipt here!

00:00 Introduction: Ambition and the Hustle 00:26 Recording Struggles and Podcast Delays 01:25 Guilt and Ambition: A Personal Reflection 02:08 The Toxicity of Ambition in Society 03:30 Money and Ambition: A Complex Relationship 05:19 Hustle Culture: Is It Still Relevant? 06:40 Historical Perspectives on Work and Leisure 12:23 Personal Ambitions and Creative Drive 18:21 Navigating Life as a Neurodiverse Individual

20:07 Facing the Fear of Misalignment 20:24 Struggles with Traditional Employment 20:58 Discovering Autism and Its Impact 21:46 Systematizing Ambition 22:47 Healthy Ambition and Personal Growth 23:39 Ambition in the Context of Capitalism 24:37 Community and Connection 25:21 Exploring Vulnerability and Teaching 30:13 Balancing Personal and Structural Ambition 36:04 Podcast Updates and Housekeeping

MORE AUDIENCE QUESTIONS PLS

00:00 Welcome to the Unpublished Podcast 01:16 Audience Questions Introduction 03:34 Multidisciplinary Creativity 16:18 Self-Publishing Insights 24:30 The Emotional Side of Money for Artists 28:56 Financial Stress and Relationships 29:24 The Myth of Pure Art 31:21 Collective Members' Questions 32:05 Balancing Work and Rest 35:43 Supporting Each Other's Strengths 42:09 The Importance of Shitty Art 53:27 Final Thoughts and Upcoming Events

Pre-order Amie's book here!

We don't want jobs, we want to make art! You can read Amie's viral substack article here and pre-order WNYA here.

00:00 Introduction and Podcast Captain Hat

01:22 Discussing the Viral Essay on Not Wanting a Job

01:59 The Taboo of Not Wanting a Job

03:09 Capitalism and Meaningless Work

05:36 Artists and the Value of Work

15:21 Anti-Work Movement and Personal Reflections

18:44 Outsourcing Drudgery and Job Satisfaction

28:33 Middle-Class Jobs and Psychological Impact

30:08 Navigating New Territory: Vulnerability in Work Discussions

30:40 Viral Post Impact: Emotional and Psychological Strain

32:13 Criticism and Personal Reflections

33:42 Privilege and Its Role in the Conversation

39:03 Systemic Issues vs. Personal Empowerment

46:31 The Future of Work in the Age of AI

51:44 The Value of Education and University Degrees

54:31 Empowering Artists: A Call to Action

55:34 Book Launch and Community Engagement

59:03 Final Thoughts and Gratitude

WTF why is the video so bright after I export it? Y'all, video is hard!

Don't Forget to pre-order We Need Your Art, out 11th of March in e-book, audiobook, and hardback! Martha Beck, you cannot lie said this about it:

"This book is desperately needed medicine for our hearts, our lives, and our culture. I will read it over and over until its many truths sink into every one of my cells. If you have ever felt the slightest impulse to create anything, I urge you to do the same. Well researched, beautifully written, and powerfully healing, WE NEED YOUR ART is not only a great read, but a manifesto for our personal and collective freedom. Thank you, Amie McNee!"

Timestamps for the ep:

Join us as we predict creative trends for 2025! It's all speculation and probably going to be wrong... but we had fun.

Unfortunately, the video didn't work, but we will try again next week.

00:00 Welcome to the Unpublished Podcast 01:46 Why You Should Be Hopeful for 2025 01:57 The Importance of Hope in Creativity 02:41 Challenges and Pessimism in the Creative Community 06:30 Predictions and Hopes for Creatives in 2025 07:46 Building Personal Connections with Your Audience 08:05 The Rise of Micro Communities 15:48 Curating Media Consumption 20:01 The Value of Free Content 25:12 Podcast Production Costs and Realities 27:27 Competing with Industry Giants 28:53 Artists and Business 31:14 Class Consciousness Among Artists 34:00 The AI Dilemma for Artists 41:38 The Future of Human Art 52:09 The Importance of Art for Wellbeing 56:02 Final Thoughts and Housekeeping

Pre-order We Need Your Art Today and we will love you forever!

Let's go!!! Lachlan and Lachlina here getting ready to Lock In for 2025. Or are we? Come with us!

James did the mix/audio for the first time in two years. Let us know if you have any notes!

00:00 Welcome to the 2025 Intentions Podcast 00:45 Introducing the Captaincy System 01:59 Goals vs. Intentions 02:46 Balancing Freedom and Structure 03:28 The Unique Approach of Artists 04:43 Setting Realistic Goals 06:58 Navigating Uncertainty 09:55 The Importance of Consistency 15:44 Taking the Podcast Seriously 22:55 Setting Kind Goals 32:02 Reflecting on Past Goals 33:26 Reflecting on Past Goals 33:45 Achievements and Challenges in 2017 35:03 Goals for 2022 and Beyond 39:13 Setting Intentions for the Year 39:47 James' Fitness and Writing Goals 40:56 Discussing Control and Goals 48:24 Amie’s Intentions and Goals 49:46 Building Community and Creative Goals 57:41 Fostering Patience and Trust 59:27 Wrapping Up and Looking Forward

Pre-order We Need Your Art now and we will be your best friend!

We're back from 3 months of family and work travel and ready to pod... just in time for the holidays...

Join us for a 15 minute cozy catchup and a little 15 minute rant about why perfect people are boring.

Preorder Amie's guide to creative living

Sign up to Amie's substack

And James'

We finished our joint novel!

We take you behind the scenes of the on and off year and a half long project. Topics:

Writing to delight each other

The importance of planning

The number one mistake we noticed in each other's writing

Dealing with conflict

And much more!

Today we're talking about money! Specifically, our own finances.

Revenue streams

Emergency funds

Retirement saving

Book advances

Taxes

And other extremely interesting things...

Amie's book, We Need Your Art, is available for pre-order. This is super important to the success of the book! Pre-order numbers directly impact how much support publishers and booksellers will give to a book. If you buy one thing from us in your lifetime, this is the one!

Amie has made a list of artist archetypes to help you all figure out your strengths and weaknesses as artists.

We go through the archetypes and discuss each one.

Kind of like enneagram/Myers Briggs/astrology specifically for artists!

You can read more about it on Amie's substack!

Still two days to sign up to the Inspired Collective!

Welcome back!

We're talking about: small steps and achievable goals; fostering scrappiness; behaving like an athlete; and much more!

Topic discussion begins at 4:42

The Inspired Collective

We Need Your Art Book

James' substack

Amie's substack

We interrupt Creativity 101 for a special episode! Help us prepare for Amie's guest appearance on a big podcast.

Also, I'm writing this from the future AFTER the podcast recording happened. It went really well thank you for asking. I sat in on the whole thing and Amie killed it. For some reason, she speaks much better when she's talking to someone who isn't her husband (swirly eye emoji).

Hey! You can pre-order Amie's book now! Links are HERE!

We're coming back to a topic we talk about a lot on the podcast, Perfectionism. This time, though, we're going back to basics. What is perfectionism? What are the most common ways it shows up our lives? Why is bad? And what can we do about it?

Amie was right, no cover reveal yet... But you should come to our live course: Selling Without Selling Out

Most artists will procrastinate. That's just a fact. It's something people have dealt with in the past and will continue to deal with in the future.

Where it becomes a problem, though, is when it holds you back from being the sort of person you want to be.

We look at some common tools and techniques to help you cut through procrastination and make art with more ease and regularity.

Also discussed towards the end: procrastination for Neurodivergent creatives!

Join us for our Creativity 101 series where we go back to foundational principles for being happier, more rested, and more productive artists. We'll be doing a 10 episode series starting here with Journaling.

Journaling is the foundational methodology for all our teaching. In all our courses, books, and online classes we always include journaling prompts. It helps you ask yourself important questions, and find your own wisdom which you can use to overcome blocks and problems.

If you're interested in learning more, you can get a free copy of Amie's Journaling Compendium when you sign up for her newsletter on substack.

I know a lot of you want to know a little more about how our partnership works. This week, we're answering heaps of listener questions all about our relationship!

How do we deal with conflict?

What're our attachment styles?

How do we help each other when one of us is upset or disregulated?

Our views on couple's therapy.

And much more!

James has a new substack post that talks more about our relationship and how we balance it.

Today we're talking about people who think making art is only for the special few, who think you need double decker doctorates or generational talent if you want to create. We're talking about why they're WRONG!

You can find links to buy Amie's books (which she'll never have done enough research for to satisfy some people) here

Honestly guys, I have no idea what we said in this one. We recorded it over three weeks ago! Hope it's good... Let me know!

We have a summer sale on for the next week! 50% off all our courses.

Q and A episode today people!

We're answering YOUR questions:

Do we want kids?

Is Fan Fiction a good way to practice writing?

What do we do when we fall of out love with our art?

And more!

We will be in an aeroplane in the sky when this goes out so hopefully it works!

You can join our San Francisco workshop digitally via A Writing Room! The session will be recorded so you can watch the replay too!

We're in a little bit of slump at the moment. How do we deal with it?

It's normal to not always feel motivated and enthusiastic with your work. We share what we've been struggling with lately, common reasons creatives get into slumps, imposter syndrome/the pain of leveling up and feeling like you aren't fully ready for that next level.

We also give you an update on our MUSCLES!

Did you want to come to come to one of Amie's live workshops but don't live in California? Our hosts, A Writing Room, are offering a livestream of the San Francisco event on June 1st! Replay included.

Today we're responding to a series of articles that have gone viral over the last couple of weeks. They're all about the publishing industry, and whether or not it's dying out.

Included: how big is the market for books? Is it growing or shrinking? Are publishers profitable? Is it even worth writing books anymore? What about indie books, self-publishing, e-books, and audio? What do publishers get right and what do they get wrong.

James says the C word twice and apologises to all the Americans for being Australian.

Main sources:

No One Buys Books by Elle Griffin

People Buy Books, Publishing Is Thriving, and Substack Will Never Replace Books, by Brooke Warner which also links to several other great pieces. The one we used most heavily was:

Yes, People Do Buy Books, by Lincolm Michel

Failure is non negotiable. So how can learn and grow from our failures?

We share some of our failures, what they taught us, how we dealt with them at the time, and what we think of them now.

Included: dealing with rejection from gatekeepers, why failure should excite us, letting ourselves be upset, and more!

There are still tickets to both of our US workshops!

Another spice one provoked by some online discourse.

Is it wrong to make money from our art? Does making art with the intention to sell it sully it?

It's a strong no from us. Listen to learn why!

Don't forget we have two workshops in California coming up.

LA on the 25th of May

San Francisco on the 1st of June

Both are going to be 5 hours long (including a lunch break), with teaching, QandA, journaling, and a chance to mingle with other artists.

Cheapest tickets start at $50.

Back to our favourite punching bag: Perfectionism.

We talk about how perfectionism leads to stagnancy, stunts your growth as a creative, and ultimately leads to worse art.

LA and San Francisco artists (or anyone who wants to travel there!), we are coming to your city!

LA workshop: 25th of March

San Fran workshop: 1st of June

Pricing is on a sliding scale to accomodate different budgets.

Learn more here

Join us on a walk and talk as we play a little game of Would You Rather, artist edition!

We would love for you to check out Amie's fiction.

Her witchy tudor novel, Regrettably, I Am About to Cause Trouble, and her Sexy medieval romp, The Rules Upheld by No One are available in audio, e-book, and print on most major platforms.

This is one of our favourite ever conversations! Emma Couette, six novels in the last five years. All while holding down a full time job.

We talk about how she juggles a 9-5 job with this sort of release schedule, doing her own promo, fighting for her novels, finding good people to give feedback, making difficult choices about how to allocate resources to creative projects, and much more!

We learned so much about the Indie publishing space and came away with heaps of things we want to action.

We reached out to Emma and asked her on the podcast because we are blown away by how she fights for her writing. How diligent she is. How much care she puts into her promotion and her social presence (@emmacouetteauthor).

Here are links to Emma's novels, please support her:

Silent Night purchase link: https://www.books2read.com/guildtrilogybookone

Summer's Revenge purchase link: https://www.books2read.com/summersrevenge

Winter's Wrath purchase link: https://www.books2read.com/winterswrath

Emma's website: ⁠https://www.emmacouetteauthor.com⁠

Emma is @emmacouetteauthor on Insta, Tiktok, and Threads.

Welcome Amie's sister Kirsty to the show! At 29 years old, Kirsty is the founder and director of Made Home, a Sydney based home transition company, with fifteen employees and dozens of customers!

We spend a lot of time trying to get to the bottom of why Amie and Kirsty both became Entrepreneurs and what exactly it was about their childhood that made them bounce off traditional work.

We also discuss the challenges of more traditional businesses versus creative businesseses, how motherhood has changed Kirsty's relationship with work, and much more!

First off, friends, audio continues to betray us at every turn. We had multiple glitches again this week so, if James suddenly starts talking about the Patriarchy seemingly mid-sentence, we apologise for the non sequitur. I think things mostly make sense though? Let us know.

So, what's the episode about? Amie has an arch nemesis, and that arch nemesis is a man called Hubs who goes by the social media handle @Hubs.life (not normalise the 9-5 as we mistakenly say in the ep). Hubs doe not know Amie. Amie has never met Hubs. But Hubs made the mistake of making a series of reels and tiktoks urging his followers to "normalise the 9-5".

We talk about why we in fact do not need to do this (spoiler, because it is already incredibly normalised).

If you soldier through the "life update" section at the 2/3s mark, we go on to discuss our tips for those of you trying to create around your job (which we also have a full podcast episode on).

Xoxo Amie and James

P.s. Amie's novels are going gangbusters at the moment! Regrettably, I am About to Cause Trouble is flying off the proverbial shelf largely thanks to a massive shoutout from Emmi.Reads. If you've read Regrettably, we'd love if you could review it on goodreads, to get it higher in that sweet book nerd algo, or on the non-Amazon affiliated Story Graph. Remember it is both free on Youtube, and included in a Spotify Premium membership.

REAL PODCAST STARTS AT ABOUT 07:00, everything before that is bullshit chat.

We talk you through how we like to plan out projects (or don't). Sit with us in a sort of ASMR, fly on the wall type way as we plan what we want to work on for the rest of the year.

We try to give our chaotic lives a loose structure. Which doesn't always work.

Expect: pros and cons of planning, what we think of ultra long term planning, how we choose projects to work on, finding our rhythm, and more rambles!

Guess what! We are offering two free, hour long masterclasses for anyone who's ever wanted to check out our live teaching. Sign up here.

Today we have Creative, Performance Coach, Mentor and good friend Sion Cousins on the podcast.

An incredibly important episode for Creatives who have big dreams. In this episode we talk about what gets in the way between us and our goals. James gets his own mini coaching session, we talk about when I first started instagram, and lots lots more.

Our Rhode mics did not work (name dropping because I am pissed) so please bare with the audio!

Sions information:

You can work one on one with Sion, just email him and you can set up a free call!

Website: https://www.sondervail.com/home

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sondervail/

It's time to reclaim our creative power, and Augustine leads the way. An incredible conversation around putting up boundaries with gatekeepers and creative institutions, how to embrace your multi-disciplinary magic, and how to bring about all your creative dreams

Website: nfinitethreat.comCreative Mentorship page: nfinitethreat.com/creative-coachingCharlie and the Cloud Kingdom: https://www.amazon.com/Charlies-Adventures-Cloud-Kingdom-Adeventures/dp/B0BQ3WBD5Z/ref=sr_1_1?crid=MY3Q7HW4A9UE&keywords=charlie%27s+adventures+the+cloud+kingdom&qid=1673045241&sprefix=charlies+adventures+the+cloud+kingdom%2Caps%2C126&sr=8-1Social Media: Instagram: @nfinitethreat
Other Link: Leenadria Books: https://cupcakepink.com/shop

Today Amie and James detail the journey of getting a publishing deal! Who approached who? How did it feel? How long did it take? And much more.

Thank you for all your questions! Today we have the first Q&A ep in a while.

We talk about Amie's experience losing 30,000 followers, our work spaces, how we balance being business partners and romantic partners, why James hasn't self-published his writing yet, and much more!

Apologies but I accidentally cut out the beginning of a question: "Why did you lose 30,000 followers." We stumbled a little bit over the first 10 seconds and I wanted to fix it up... but as you know, I have next to no experience editing an audio file! So I F'd it. Whoops!

Please excuse the new mics! Let James know if you have any tips for the Rode wireless IIs at support@amiemcnee.com.

The interview with amazing self-pubbed fantasy authors James wanted to share.

Our Live masterclass on January 13th

Are you Australian? We're doing a live masterclass in Sydney on the 27th of January!

This topic is back after a break in 2022 for some reason...

We talk about all the "things" that brought us delight in 2023. TV shows, tech, books, and free things too!

If you like those rambly episodes where we overshare about our persona life, you'll enjoy this one.

Don't forget, you can get a free copy of Amie's Journaling Compendium when you sign up to our newsletter (where we also share random things we've been enjoying each week).

Today we're talking about the myth that artists need to be unhappy in order to create great art. Amie made a post on Instagram the other day which saw some hot debates in the comments! Join us as we unpack it.

Please check out Amie's latest video on Youtube: Impatient for creative success? Watch this video.

Amie's writing the description today because James burnt his hand on the oven. Today, we talk about being a creative on social media. We discuss the boundaries I have around it, how I try to keep a healthy relationship with being online, how I built my platform, and much more. We'll probably do more episodes on this, as it's a big topic and we have lots more to say. You can find a sample of Amie's audiobooks on her website along with links to spotify.

We made lists! Join us as we discus our hastily thrown together lists of top 5 tips we would give to other creatives.

We also have a short section at the beginning where we discuss the state of podcasting and talk about how we see our own podcast, and specifically, what we think about ads on podcasts. If you aren't interested in that, you can skip to about 8 minute mark!

You can email James with you thoughts at support@amiemcnee.com

We have a Black Friday sale on our website! 40% off everything between Wednesday 22nd of November to Monday the 27th! Honestly, we are always super confused about when American based holidays are so apologise if those dates are weird...

How much of success is predictable? Are there actions we can take to guarantee it? The answers? Not much and probably no. Creative fields are usually complex and involve too many variables to put any success down to definitive factors. That being said, there are some things we can to do better prepare for the randomness of life and our careers.

Join us as we try to talk through the complicated topic of randomness and what it means for creatives.

Topics discusses: black swans, the survivorship bias, the problems with predicting complex events, why publishing is a fairly low risk business (from a capitalist/business owner's perspective not a writer's), why randomness can be a good thing, embracing and preparing for randomness, and much more!

James was a little unhappy with his performance in this one so please let us know what you think (dm us on unpublished or leave a voice message through spotify)!

We send out a weekly email with what we've been reading, watching, thinking, and doing. It's really short, only a few hundred words. Even better, if you sign up to our newsletter you get a free copy of Amie's Journaling Compendium! Please join us here.

We have the fantastic Seth Haddon back for the first ever repeat interview of the podcast!

Seth has come a long way since we spoke a year ago. He's been through the trenches of traditional publishing and is ready to share his insiders view with you! This one is interesting even for non-writers who want to understand what it's like to be a working artist who still isn't quite full-time but is on the way!

We discuss: the pressure of following up work that exceeded expectations, what it's like to be out on submission as an agented author, working on personal projects when you already have books under contract, the importance of social media to writers today, how we can push back against AI encroachment in the arts (including putting clauses in your contracts), and much more!

⁠Buy his latest book, Reborn.⁠ In the words of his viral Tiktok: Accidental marriage. Between two men. From warring countries. MAGIC. FATE. PAST LIVES!

If you like High-Fantasy with MM romance, Seth is the author for you. Please follow him on Instagram and tiktok where you can see how amazing he is at SELLING HIS ART!

You can also support him on Patreon where he shares behind the scenes content, writing snipets, updates, original art, as well as free writing samples.

First of all, please enjoy the full, extended version of our new intro by the very talented Matilda Eyre. We talk a little bit about it at the end of the episode. Suffice to say, we love what Matilda has come up with and feel like it really captures the spirit of the show. Would love to hear what you think! Today we're talking about how to get more creative stuff done without feeling really tired! This is something we've both struggled with for a long time but have found some success with lately. We discuss, knowing your own rhythm and needs, why or why not you might want to increase your output, how annoying hustle culture is, and much more! We also give a big life update and talk about what we've been up to for the past month or so! Please support Matilda on Spotify and Youtube!

In another solo episode, Amie takes you through her notes app. What bizarre things has Amie jotted down in the past few months?

We look at what she's working on in therapy, self regulation, stagnation as a creative, notes for her books, feeling shy and much much weirder stuff.

Today is an unusual episode! James is on a sabbatical and Amie takes the wheel - will the mic quality be good? Who knows? Amie can't pay attention to those things, especially with one of her great creative idols, Seth Godin, on the pod. Amie came to this conversation with one question: Seth what would you say to creatives who feel like their art is frivolous and unneeded in a world full of pain? Seth, of course, has an answer that rings with so much truth and poignancy.

This is one of those episodes where we'll be working through an issue in real time. Join us as we try to understand how artists progress their skills, how long it might take to get better as an artist, plateaus, and why you're often progressing faster than you think.

Credit to James Clear for the concept of non-linear improvement (I can't remember if we actually name dropped him in the episode). We highly recommend his book, Atomic Habits.

Our Write Your F***ing Book course is on sale now! Don't forget, if you sign up before September 9th, you can submit any additional questions you have to us and we'll post our answer to the course page as a video.

We are so excited to have recorded our first IN PERSON guest recording ever for today's episode. I want to give a little warning too about the sound. Since we only have two mics, we had to share! The audio might be a little choppy in places but I think it holds up.

We were so pleased to have father-daughter bakers, Kitty and Al Tait from the ORANGE BAKERY, around our kitchen table.

Kitty and Al are the authors of the award winning cookbook and memoir, Breadsong, where they not only share their amazing recipes, but also tell the incredibly moving story of how the creative act of baking completely changed their lives. Their story is so moving and I can't wait for you to hear them walk you through some of it in their own words.

We talk about: the life changing magic of baking, going into business with your Dad at 14, pivoting when something that is working on the surface isn't serving you, 20 year plans, and so much more!

I'm also very sorry it's such a short episode when we could have easily chatted to them for hours. They very generously gave us an hour and a half window, but I (James) ate up half of it talking about how good Australian coffee is before we started recording!

You can find Kitty on instagram and the Orange Bakery website here.