Drive Traffic to your Site with Epic New Podcast: The Fizzle Show

The guys at ThinkTraffic and Fizzle, Corbett Barr, Caleb Wojcik and Chase Reeves, have created a new podcast called The Fizzle Show about creating epic content for your website, blog or online business that drives traffic to your site.

I've been following ThinkTraffic for awhile now and really appreciate the way they share their knowledge with their audience. The content is easy to read, inspiring and a lot of fun. I like to retweet their posts and I've used a few of their techniques to a greater or lesser degree of success.

I'm excited about this podcast format because I do a LOT of commuting as an actor, writer, director and educator. One of my favorite thinking times is while driving down one of the various "9s" in the Hudson Valley on my way to where I'm working. Being able to listen to The Fizzle Show guys discuss ways to build an online business by creating amazing content is going to be a huge plus for me on my journey to LLC (Living Life Creatively).

On this first podcast (there will be one each day this week, so make sure you subscribe!) they are focusing on finding your voice. This is a really important topic for bloggers and online businesses, but also for any creative endeavor like acting, writing, painting, etc. Your voice, according to the guys, is related to self-actualization - being able to see yourself how other people see you.

Writing outside of your bounds will make you sound inauthentic. Realizing for yourself that, "I can only write what I can write," can be a huge game changer. Being honest and open about your actual, authentic experience can be a big part of finding your voice. If you make your thing about discovery and learning, rather than being an "expert" it's more human, more honest and more real.

That's what my focus is here at You, LLC. The discoveries we can make together to live an authentic and creative life. Asking the questions: What does authentic and creative mean to me? How do we achieve Living Life Creatively? 

The Fizzle Show podcast is really well done and filled with great ideas about finding your voice that I don't want to give away here, including 5 Signs that You Aren't Being Yourself. I highly recommend giving them a listen if you are looking to build an online business, drive more traffic to your blog or just trying to live a more creative, nurturing, uplifting and fulfilling life. Check them out now and if you leave them a review with a question on iTunes, they will try to answer the question in the podcast.

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Favorite quotes: "We all like to be snuggled." "I feel like you haven't found your voice on finding your voice." "How to kick your watered-down self in the ass."

Stephen Pressfield "The critical fact to remember is that the writer's voice is artificial. It's an act of artifice crafted by the professional to achieve a specific effect in a work of imagination. It's not the "real" writer's voice and if you try to find your own, you'll drive yourself crazy, because YOU don't really exist and I don't either, no matter how convincingly that anybody tells us that we do or how much we choose to believe it."

Apps and Coffee

One of the great things about blogging is that you get to do it anywhere. For awhile I was using my iPhone to enter posts directly into the Blogger app, but I've found that it crashed too often for my comfort, so I'm taking a break from the app until they make some updates that address this issue. I'm tired of crying into my coffee while I try to remember all of the great things I had just written. (P.S. I've re-downloaded the Blogger app since they recently updated and it seems to be working just fine now! Thank you Blogger. June 2, 2013)

Now I'll just grab any old laptop, pop into a local Starbucks and write away for awhile between classes or on my way to an audition, casting session or meeting. I'm there right now and I wanted to do a post about one of my new favorite things - the Starbucks app on my iPhone.  It helps me LLC by allowing me to get my drinks quickly and get back to blogging, so I thought I'd share it here. (P.S. I also like peeing here, too, @LenaDunham @jtLOL and @MichelleMalkin. What's the BIG DEAL?)

I was resistant at first. I didn't get it. My Starbucks card is on my phone? Standing in line at a Starbucks one day, I saw someone else swipe their phone in front of the scanner and walk away, drink in hand. Meanwhile, I fumbled with my wallet, tried finding my credit card, dropped change on the floor, crumpled up my receipt and tried to put my card back in my wallet and my wallet back in my pocket as I tried to carry my hot coffee, spilling it on myself and the floor before I was able to get back to my seat. First world problems, right? But I'll tell you what, this app is pretty cool.

I downloaded the app to try it, then had trouble putting money on the card. After a few unsuccessful tries, it worked! The first time I used it, I was nervous. I felt like a little kid standing in the lunch line for the first time, not knowing how much change I had to pay the lunch lady and worried that she'd yell at me. But when I swiped my phone, ding, I was done and back to my laptop with no fumbling with my wallet, no dropping of change and no dripping of my coffee.

What I didn't know about the app is that you get lots of cool rewards for using it. Free apps, games, music downloads and refills. Once you reach the GREEN level, you get free refills on your coffee drinks. I won't go into all of the details about the policy here, but a great blog called Mo' Money explains it all very clearly. Mo' Money is great money saving blog and it seems like Liz is definitely LLC'ing! Please follow her on Twitter, too.

One of the coolest free apps I want to talk about this week is the 8mm Vintage Camera app. This app really makes your video looks like it was shot with an 8mm film camera. It was used in an Oscar-winning film by Malik Bendjelloul called Searching for Sugar Man. Here's a great article on Mashable about the film: http://mashable.com/2013/02/24/iphone-app-8mm/
The filters on this app are amazing. You can shoot video that looks like it is from the 20's, the 60's, the 70's, awesome washed out color looks like Peta, Sakura, XPro and an astonishing Black and White filter called Noir. You can even add in the sound of the movie projector or shoot silently like we used to.

My Dad had an 8mm camera back in the 70's and I still have some of the old film reels. We used to fire up the projector and show them to friends when they would come to visit. My favorite story about our 8mm films is when my younger brother threatened to show a film of me taking a bath to his friends when they came over. I sneaked into the film box and switched my reel with one of him using the potty for the first time. I wasn't there, but apparently he loaded up the film to show it and when it came on with him going to the bathroom, he screamed and ran out of the room! Funny memory. Here's a short 8mm film I made on my iPhone with this amazing app by Nexvio.

If you're looking to capture that nostalgic look and feel of 8mm film, I highly recommend this app. You can definitely LLC with this one! Send me some links to your videos and I'll share them in another post. Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @WaynePyle.

Oh, and if you like to support Kickstarter projects, check out THE CABIN SISTERS with Zosia and Clara Mamet @CabinSisters. Zosia and I were in the film Rhymes with Banana and Zosia is also on @GirlsHBO with @LenaDunham.

How to be More Creative NOW

First, a quick quiz to see if you're creative. Follow the instructions carefully!

1. Put the pointer and middle fingers of your right hand on the underside of your left wrist right under the pad of the thumb. Do you feel your pulse? If you're not sure, try question two.
2. Place your right hand over your heart (located on the left side of your body). Do you feel your heart beating? Still not sure? Proceed to question three.
3. Place your left hand in front of your mouth and nose. Breathe. Do you feel air hitting your hand?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, congratulations! You ARE creative because you are still alive. You may not feel creative or be as creative as you'd like to be but we'll address that in a second.

If you answered "no" to any of the above, please stop reading this blog and seek medical attention immediately.

 
A lot of us don't feel creative because we have this mistaken idea that creativity means pursuing some kind of arts related activity. Even though the arts can definitely improve your creative thinking you don't have to be a writer, artist or musician to be creative.

Some of us have this expectation that our creativity has to somehow match or exceed someone we hold as our creative "ideal". Some us worry that we took a few minutes out our day one time a few years ago to be creative and we never finished the creative task we started, so we must somehow be flawed because creativity didn't come to us instantly. Some us are afraid that making room for creativity in our lives will somehow disappoint us. Some of us are just plain afraid.

Here are few simple exercises to be more creative NOW:

Don't forget to BREATHE. 

What happens when we don't breathe? We die. 

The same thing happens when we pursue a creative endeavor and we don't breathe deeply because of fear or anxiety. Shallow breaths cause us to starve our brains of oxygen and send more to our limbs so that we can take flight or stand and fight. 

When you are doing something creative you might want to have your brain working at full power. So remember to take deep breaths as you work. Resist the urge to run away and breathe through it. You'll find that you'll be able to complete your task more easily if you bring your attention back to your breath every now and then. 

Right NOW inhale deeply and hold your breath for three seconds. Now exhale and as you do, let your shoulders drop just a little bit lower that they were before. Instant relaxation that you CREATED. See, you are already a little more creative just by creating relaxation.

Practice VISUALIZATION. Do this right now. Look around the room you are in. Pick something that is in the room with you right now: a chair, your child, the meal you are eating. Breathe deeply and exhale. 

After reading the instructions, close your eyes. With your eyes closed, try to see what you picked in three different ways. 

Could the chair be a different color, a different size, a different design? Could your child be dressed differently, have longer or shorter hair, be taller, older, shorter, younger? Could your meal be larger, smaller, a different color? 

Now think of a way that you could interact differently with the object you picked. Could you use the chair in different ways, other than sitting? Could your child be doing some other activity that could enhance their creativity? Could your meal be created some other way? (Like this 3D printed pizza?) 

Now see your chosen object in a different setting. Put the chair on the moon, in an igloo or a beer hall. See your child at the zoo, on a train, at the beach. See your meal at a fancy restaurant or a French cafe. 

Now have that object offer up a unique perspective. Maybe the chair can give you an idea for a new blog. Maybe your child might tell you about an idea for a class you could teach. Maybe your meal helps you invent a 3D printer for pizza. (Oh, that's already been done!) 

If you were able to do this exercise easily, you are definitely creative. If not you may need a bit more practice or you may just be resisting the exercise. I teach my actors in my acting classes that whatever we resist, persists. When you realize you are resisting and accept it, a lot of times the resistance will disappear! Try it. You might be amazed.

If your resistance is being caused by negative self-talk try this: Get out a pad or paper and some pens or pencils or crayons and draw what your negative voice looks like. Give him or her or it a lot of detail. Now draw your idea of a pure creative spirit, the one you'd like to have. If you like, draw a scene where that character defeats the negative voice with pure creativity. Sometimes picturing what the negative voices look like takes some of their power away. Some people crumple up the negative voice drawings and throw them out, burn them ceremoniously or turn them into something useful. Discover for yourself what works best for you. 

You might find that you found enjoyment in the doing of some of these exercises. Finding the joy in the process of creativity is one of the strongest motivators for becoming more creative. I highly recommend it! Keep LLC'ing everyone...

 

Get Your Next Big Idea Today

Great inventors, authors, creators seem to use a "super-conscious" ability to create that all of us have the power to tap into. Most of us get tons of ideas throughout the day and say, "Hmmm, that's a great idea. I'll wait until next week to work on it." Then we go on our way, dealing with our day to day lives and never quite get to work on those ideas that we all naturally have the ability to tap into.

I think one of the main differences between us and the geniuses is that the geniuses seem to trust and believe in the value of their insights, while most of us say to ourselves (I'm especially good at this), "That's just my idea. I'm not a genius or a this or a that (insert name of what you want to be someday)." Then we smack ourselves on the forehead when that great idea for a product or a play or a film or a web business shows up in our lives and someone else is getting enjoyment out of and profiting from it.

So, I was asking myself, "What is creativity? How do we get ideas and how do we then ACT on them?" As I was stumbling around on the internet, searching for an answer I came across this exciting web series called Everything is a Remix by Kirby Ferguson.

His basic idea is that a lot of what we call creativity is actually a combination or editing of existing materials to produce something new. "Of the ten highest grossing films per year from the last ten years, 74 out of 100 are either sequels or remakes of earlier films or adaptations of comic books, video games, books, and so on. Transforming the old into the new... is Hollywood's greatest talent." This is all covered in Everything is a Remix Part 2.

One of my favorite videos Kirby has made is one showing Quentin Tarantino's eclectic and extensive borrowing from already existing films to make his own. It's called  Kill Bill Extended Look and if you're a fan, it's a must see!

After we come up with the ideas, the next step is to trust yourself, and take one small action to bring the remixed idea into the world. Don't just keep it in your head or stored in Evernote or let it float around in the ether for someone else to create for us. Be decisive and clear and act on the idea and you just may find that the universe will begin to make amazing things happen.

Keep LLC'ing people! I'll have some more cool things to share next time.

Creative Sparks at Midnight

The SPARKS of creativity

I'd like to share my campfire with you this evening. I would also like to encourage all of you to take some time, create a fire, sit back and stare into the dancing flames. (If you don't have access to a backyard or campfire, fire one up on your computer on YouTube or use Netflix, it's almost as good.)

As you sit by those dancing flames, something may just spark in your imagination. Write it down, or text yourself, or type it into your laptop and then let it go. Check on it the next day or the next week and see if it leads you anywhere. Then let me know how it goes!

As I sit here warming my toes, (and trying to keep the fire from going out) the thoughts that came to mind tonight were about what a great day of LLC (Living Life Creatively) I had today.

I finished my grades for one of the colleges and turned them in. I worked on my lines for FULLY COMMITTED which I'll be performing in very soon in Binghamton, NY (more on that later). I called one of the playwrights for the 10 Minute Play Festival with the Half Moon Theatre Company which is coming up this weekend and cleared some things up about the script. I got called in and auditioned for a feature film that is shooting in the Hudson Valley in a few weeks and I went to a tech rehearsal for the 10 Minute Play Festival where we set sound levels and blocked entrances and exits. Whew!

The audition for the feature was one of my favorite kinds of auditions (remember audition means to hear). You come in and talk to the director and producer. They get to know you, ask a few questions, you tell them what you've done and where you're from and then you leave. I love meeting filmmakers and creative people and I almost always enjoy talking with them, even if I don't "get the part". I've realized from my many years of doing this that worrying about an audition after you've done it makes the process not really worth it. What's the fun of auditioning for two minutes and then worrying for a week? (toxic thoughts...dump them!)

I try as much as I humanly can to focus on making a connection to the people and to the work and then moving on to the next project. Joy has come back into my life as a result of pursuing this way of working and I highly recommend it.

After the audition, I went to the tech rehearsal. We worked for hours, for free, to try to get the sound and light cues and entrances and exits just right. Why? Because it matters. Beginnings and endings matter. Making great theatre means making strong choices.

We were all engaged fully and when that happens there is an energy in the room that can be felt and used. We didn't get everything perfect, but we got to where we needed to be to give our audience a chance to get something from each of the 10 minute plays by our brilliant playwrights.

At the end of the night, I checked the old iPhone and received a lovely email from one of my students who had done an NPR type of profile piece on me for her Radio Journalism class this past semester. I think it turned out quite well and I'm going to post the link to it here.

She did a really nice job of reporting and letting what happened in class and during our interviews shape the piece. The ending is a funny "staged" bit that she came up with and we improvised around. If you have a few minutes, take a listen. Just click on the Soundcloud image and it'll take you there.

Click this icon, then press PLAY

Have a very creative night around your own campfires. Toast some marshmallows, drink some wine, play the guitar (or didgeridioo, like me). Enjoy Living Life Creatively!

You, LLC

As you may have noticed, I'm changing the name (and focus) of this blog to YOU, LLC (You, Living Life Creatively).

After my last post about the importance of creativity as an opposing force to destruction, I realized that while, yes, I am an actor and those experiences are important to me, I'm also a human being who is interested in how to live a more creative, nurturing, uplifting and fulfilled life in all areas of my life. I'd also like to share that interest with others.

Instead of focusing on just one aspect of creativity that I'm involved with - being an actor - I'm going to explore many different aspects of the creative life: writing, art, film making, teaching, cooking, being a parent, husband, partner, friend; all of those areas of our lives that can be made better by applying creativity and creative solutions to them and then seeing what happens.

I like the idea of taking a legal term, LLC (Limited Liability Company) and turning into something of a mantra YOU, LLC (You, Living Life Creatively). I like the idea of a life lived creatively with boldness, freedom and expression as a priority. I like the idea that the members of this LLC will learn new ways to think about old problems, discover old ideas that can be applied to new problems and hopefully have a lot of fun doing it. Oh yeah, I also just like IDEAS.

Thanks for reading! I'm looking forward to our journey together.

Wayne Pyle, LLC