The episode offers a refreshing perspective on creativity by challenging artists to think outside the box and make fun a core component of their artistic journey. Timothy references Mike Brennan's workbook, which serves as a guide for integrating fun into daily practices. He articulates how the act of play not only enhances one's creative output but also helps to alleviate the pressures often associated with artistic endeavors. The conversation flows seamlessly between practical tips, such as starting a costume contest or hosting an interactive sing-along, and deeper reflections on the role of audience engagement in the creative process. Timothy emphasizes the significance of understanding one’s audience and tailoring creative experiences to foster enjoyment and participation. The discussion culminates in a series of thought-provoking questions meant to inspire listeners to reflect on their own creative habits and the joy they derive from their artistic pursuits.

Takeaways:

• Making fun a habit is crucial for enhancing creativity and overcoming the inner critic.
• Engaging with your audience in unexpected ways can significantly enhance their experience.
• Incorporating playful elements, like dance parties or costume contests, can make art more enjoyable.
• Understanding who your audience is can help tailor your creative process effectively.
• Don't be afraid to fail; some of the best successes come from mistakes.
• Interactive and fun elements in creative work can help break monotony and inspire others.

Links referenced in this episode:

• findapodcastabout.xyz
• tkbpodcaststudio.com
• timothykeemobrien.substack.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Savannah Bananas
• Pod Match
• Podcast Beacon

Making Fun A Habit Series

30 days to add fun to your creative practice. I will be going through Mike Brennan's Make Fun A Habit workbook and help you make fun a habit. I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike on my other podcast Find A Podcast About and talking about his podcast Creative Chats. This workbook leads you through steps to rekindle the fun in your life and get you into a space where you are your most creative. This is a 30-day book and I will tackle each day as if it were a week and provide insights on how to use his ideas in your creative practice. Each chapter is broken up with a short story, questions to ponder, action items, and tips.

Assignment

Questions

1. How can you incorporate some of the Savanah bananas creativity into you own life and work?
2. Who is your audience or fans?
3. What would it look like if you put your fans first?

Action Items

1. Make a costume contest
2. Have a sing along
3. Have a dance party
4. Have a talent show

Tips

1. Be creative and innovative
2. Have fun
3. Be interactive
4. Don't be afraid to fail

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To reach out to me, email timothy@createartpodcast.com I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.

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Create Art Podcast Commentary.

Go bananas.

Hello, friend.

This is Timothy Keem O'Brien, your head instigator for Create Art podcast, where I bring my over 30 years of experience in the arts and educational world to help you tame your inner critic and create more than you consume.

So welcome back, friends.

Now, if you've been with me for any bit of time here, you know that we're continuing on with our Making Fun a Habit series.

And that's 30 days to add fun to your creative practice.

And that's what this episode is about.

Now, what is the Making Fun Habit series?

Well, I actually got to interview Mike Brennan from the Make Fun A Habit workbook and also Creative Chats podcast.

And I interviewed him on my other podcast, Find a Podcast about, and I picked up this book of his and it's a 30 day workbook, essentially, where he'll tell a little story about something and then he'll ask some questions that you can ponder for yourself, give you some action items, and then give you some tips on doing just what the book says, Making Fun a habit.

And I think when we make fun a habit in our creative process, it helps us out tremendously.

And who really teaches this kind of stuff?

Who teaches you how to have fun?

Kids, maybe.

But this book really goes to the heart of our creative processes and I think it helps us out with a lot of our qualms about inspiration.

I'm not feeling inspired, I'm not feeling moved.

Well, it helps you get out of your comfort zone and really get out there into the world.

So what I'm doing with this book is I'm taking every day as an episode for this podcast.

Right now we are on day 20, which the title of the chapter is called Go Bananas.

And I like where he's going with this chapter.

This is probably one of my favorite chapters in the entire book, to tell you the truth.

So he starts out the chapter by talking about the Savannah Bananas baseball team.

And they're a team in Savannah that really makes baseball fun.

They really change everything that you would think about baseball and throw it on its head.

And they're not afraid to try new things with it.

It's not your typical baseball game.

I actually found them on social media, on Instagram and TikTok, and before I even read this chapter, I found them that way.

And oh my God, they make baseball so much fun.

And if we think about baseball, baseball can be a long, drawn out, boring game and so can our creative processes.

So why not find ways to make it fun?

And you know, how do you do that?

Well, definitely.

This chapter is for you.

So Mike talks about his first time seeing a Savannah Bananas baseball game and how he became a fan of it really quick.

And one of his recommendations is if you can go see a Savannah Bananas baseball game.

Savannah Bananas is not sponsoring this episode.

Maybe they should.

But he highly recommends going and seeing that because you've never seen baseball like this before.

And it's everything involved in it is so much fun and is so interactive.

And that's basically the gist of this episode is, you know, having fun and making it interactive.

So let's start with his questions.

First question up is to deal with Savannah Bananas.

So you'd need to go look them up if you haven't experienced them.

But he asked, how can you incorporate some of these Savannah Bananas creativity in your own life and work?

And I think turning things on their head, you know, turning things that seem to be very boring.

You know, when you're sitting in a baseball game and you know, between innings or between batters, there's some music going on.

But you know, what would happen if, you know, people suddenly broke out into dance, you know, with their theme songs?

You know, what if I, you know, suddenly broke out in the dance with my theme song for this show?

It would probably be, you know, a nice slow dance and I'd have to get my wife involved and.

Yeah, although I think more of my theme song for this show is more of a NPR coffee on a Sunday morning, which is usually when I record these shows with my cup of coffee.

So.

But you know, how can I incorporate that into my practice?

Well, by going out of the norm, by just doing something completely different.

I recently attended a poetry reading on Friday night, which is what I usually do.

And one of the poems I delivered with my back to the audience and I was facing the back wall of the, of the room and I just delivered it to the back wall.

Now, did it go over?

Well, it was okay.

You know, I was doing a lot of self deprecating humor with it, but.

But you know, it changed things up for a bit.

So I was happy with that.

You know, it wasn't the same old, same old.

Here I am sitting in a chair, talking to a microphone.

You know, I turned my back on the audience, stood up and delivered that poem right to a wall.

And it was different.

It worked.

It reminded me of how important the audience is.

Was it as powerful as one of my other pieces?

No, but it reminded me how to connect with that audience.

Next question is, who is your audience or fans and that is something as artists that we really need to know.

You know, who is our audience?

Who are we making this for?

Yes, we're making it for ourselves.

And at the end of these episodes, I always say, you know, go make art for somebody you love yourself.

But there's also the other people that are out there that may want to take a look at it, may be inspired or moved by it.

So we got really think about who our audience is.

My audience is you.

You know, you're sitting there listening to a podcast, you're obviously interested in art, or you're using me as, using this podcast to help you go to sleep with my droning voice.

Whatever it is, you're my audience, you're my fans, you're the people listening to me.

So I already know who my audience is.

I'm talking to them.

You know, I'm talking to you.

You're my audience.

Do you know who your audience is?

So we can't change things unless we know who we're changing things for.

All right, the last question is, what would it look like to put your fans first?

And I always try to put my fans first for myself with everything that I do.

You know, there's a few projects that I'm thinking about starting up and working on and one of them is, oh my gosh, not another podcast, Tim.

But yeah, it's another podcast, you know, telling my story, my journey with Ms.

And my first thought is, who's going to listen to this?

And what is their, what is their perception of this going to be?

And you know what?

I don't want it to be, you know, I don't want it to be a sympathy kind of thing.

I just want it to be, hey, this is what I went through, what I'm going through now, and this is my thoughts of me going through it.

So kind of like a public journal, if you will.

So that's, that's how I put my audience first and that's how I put my fans first.

I want to know or I want to think about what's going to benefit them.

Is this going to be good for them?

Is it just self serving for me?

If it's self serving for me, then I'll just keep it here in my man cave and be done with it.

But if it's gonna help somebody else out, then I have, I feel I have an obligation to go ahead and do it.

Alright, so next up is the action items.

And first one is make a costume contest.

You know, I'm not too sure I can do A costume contest for a podcast maybe could.

But maybe I do a costume for when I read poetry.

Or maybe I get into a costume when I'm doing a painting or when I'm writing a piece.

You know, just put on something that I normally wouldn't wear and try to find something, you know, the most outrageous thing that I could wear while doing my art.

Why not?

That would be kind of cool to watch, I think.

Anyways, next up is Next action item is to have a sing along.

I enjoy singing Frank Sinatra songs in the morning when I went into work.

That would be the first thing that I would do when I got into work is I would start singing Frank Sinatra songs and some people would join in, some people would groan and some people would just go, please stay at home.

So maybe having a sing along is something that is going to relate to you with your audience.

Maybe you're a poet and you're not getting the response necessarily that you're looking for or wanting.

Or maybe you're just wanting to try to change things up a bit, then do it in a song, you know, or have a point where your audience can yell out a line that's easy to.

I do that actually with one of my pieces.

I tell them, you know, before I read the piece, I'm gonna point at you and you're gonna yell out freebird.

And getting that audience participation in there.

Really, you know, a lot of people don't.

A lot of people are sitting there reading their poetry with their nose in their book, not even looking at the audience.

And me, I know the poem pretty well.

I can glance down at it.

But I like to look at my audience while I do it too, and kind of gauge the room and see who's getting it and who needs more.

Next action item is have a dance party.

Okay, well, we're gonna go back with the poetry thing.

So I remember one time I did a piece and there was a line kind of towards the end that I was chanting.

It was piece about being in customer service.

And, you know, I'd had these lines that I chant and repeat and I actually, you know, jumped off the stage and started going through the audience with it.

There's nothing that says you can't do that.

I mean, I think I'll try it with, with the piece next Friday and, you know, come back to you and let you know how it went.

But, you know, why not have a dance party, you know, while you're in the middle of an art gallery or while you're doing a dance show.

I Don't know, maybe you're, you know, sitting there playing guitar.

You know, bust out the guitar.

You know, bust out the dance moves while you're playing guitar.

You know, join.

Join your audience with that.

The last thing is how the last action item is have a talent show.

And that would be, you know, collaborating with other artists to join you in whatever your discipline is.

Maybe you're a poet that reads your stuff on Friday nights like I do, and you invite others to share their talents.

You invite others to paint a piece while you're doing poetry, or somebody to play music underneath your poetry, or somebody to do interpretive dance to your poem.

Something along those lines, shake it up a little bit, you know, have some fun with it.

You never know what's going to come out.

All right, now we're going to dive into the tips that he gives us.

He has four tips.

The first one is be creative and innovative.

So I'm already talking to artists.

I'm already talking to creative types.

So come on, folks, be creative with it.

Just, you know, think about your process, think about what you're doing, and think about, hey, how can I, you know, throw that on its head a little bit?

How can I change it up a little bit?

That'll make it more exciting for you and maybe even more exciting for your audience.

You know, they're not getting the typical poetry reading where it's, you know, oh, let's be quiet while the poet talks and then applaud politely afterwards.

No, no, change it up a minute.

You know, in the middle of your piece, jump into the middle of the audience and, you know, start a fight with somebody.

Don't start a fight with somebody, but, you know, jump in the middle of your audience or jump into a dance routine and then jump back on stage.

See if that works for you.

The next tip is to have fun.

That's the title of the book, isn't it?

You know, making fun a habit.

Come on.

But whatever you do, make it fun for you.

Make it enjoyable for you.

Don't just do it to do it and then go, oh, man, I've got to change everything up again every week.

If it's fun, don't do it.

You know, when this podcast isn't fun, I'm not going to do it.

I enjoy doing this podcast.

I enjoy talking with you about these things.

And, you know, I know you're getting something out of it because you keep on coming back week after week.

So definitely have fun with whatever you decide to shake up your art with.

The next tip is to be interactive.

There's a reason why I call you my friend.

There's a reason why I talk to you as if you were one person.

Because one person at a time is downloading this podcast and listening to it.

So I'm not talking to 150 people.

I'm talking to one person at a time.

Unless you all are getting into a big room and know each other, in which case you need to, you know, let me know about that.

But you're listening to this on your own, either in your car, or maybe you're outside shoveling, or you have it on in the background.

You are listening.

You know, maybe your spouse is there, maybe your kids are there, but you're not, you know, sitting in a big auditorium, like, if you're going to go see a movie or a player, something like that, usually there by yourself.

So that's why I refer to you as you in the singular.

And that's the way I feel most comfortable doing this.

And that's the way I can reach out to you.

Because, yes, I am talking to you, person that is listening to this podcast.

Yeah, you.

Yeah.

So stop picking your nose, please.

Okay?

Have some respect.

I'll stop picking mine, too, then.

The last tip is, don't be afraid to fail.

Failure is just a part of life, okay?

We're gonna have flops.

We're gonna have stuff that goes over like a lead balloon.

That's okay.

I mean, some of my best failures have been some of my actually greatest successes.

You know, some of my mistakes have been like, wow, hey, that actually turned out pretty good.

At least it's something, you know, if you make a mistake, if you fail, at least you've done something instead of just sat there and did absolutely nothing.

Some of my poems are absolute stinkers.

I absolutely hate them.

But you know what?

I wrote them, and that makes me feel good.

I created something.

I put something into the world, so that's at least something.

All right, well, that is all we have for this episode, and I hope you got something out of it.

I know I certainly did.

I got a lot of chuckles reading about the Savannah Bananas and thinking about them.

And if you got something out of it, feel free to reach out to me.

Timothy at Create Art Podcast is my email address on the website.

I also do have a survey there, so you can let me know what you think about the show, what you like to see more of, less of.

But there, you know, if you fill out that survey, first and foremost, thank you for doing that.

Secondly, it helps me make this a better show for you and be more interactive with you, which is, you know, one of the things of this episode to be interactive.

So I'm trying to interact with you.

Feel free to interact with me.

I really appreciate that.

Now, speaking about sharing, you know, sharing shows and whatnot, I run another podcast called Find a Podcast about.

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TKB podcast studios@tkbpodcaststudio.com all right, that's all I have for you here today.

I'm going to get on with the rest of my day.

I hope you get on with the rest of your day.

So I want you to go out there, there tame that inner critic.

Create more than you consume.

Go out there, create some art for somebody you love.

Eat a banana while you're at it.

You need that potassium.

Create some art for somebody you love.

Yourself.

I'll talk to you next time.