Podcasts about heroine

What makes a character so compelling that readers will forgive almost anything about the plot? How do you move beyond vague flaws and generic descriptions to create people who feel pulled from real life? In this solo episode, I share 15 actionable tips for writing deep characters, curated from past interviews on the podcast. In the intro, thoughts from London Book Fair [Instagram reel @jfpennauthor; Publishing Perspectives; Audible; Spotify]; Insights from a 7-figure author business [BookBub]. This show is supported by my Patrons. Join my Community and get articles, discounts, and extra audio and video tutorials on writing craft, author business, and AI tools, at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn This episode has been created from previous episodes of The Creative Penn Podcast, curated by Joanna Penn, as well as chapters from How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Book. Links to the individual episodes are included in the transcript below. In this episode: Master the ‘Believe, Care, Invest' trifecta, how to hook readers on the very first page Define the Dramatic Question: Who is your character when the chips are down? Absolute specificity. Why “she's controlling” isn't good enough Understand the Heroine's Journey, strength through connection, not solo action Use ‘Metaphor Families' to anchor dialogue and give every character a distinctive voice Find the Diagnostic Detail, the moments that prove a character is real Writing pain onto the page without writing memoir Write diverse characters as real people, not stereotypes or plot devices Give your protagonist a morally neutral ‘hero' status. Compelling beats likeable. Build vibrant side characters for series longevity and spin-off potential Use voice as a rhythmic tool Link character and plot until they're inseparable Why discovery writers can write out of order and still build deep character Find the sensory details that make characters live and breathe More help with how to write fiction here, or in my book, How to Write a Novel. Writing Characters: 15 Tips for Writing Deep Character in Your Fiction In today's episode, I'm sharing fifteen tips for writing deep characters, synthesised from some of the most insightful interviews on The Creative Penn Podcast over the past few years, combined with what I've learned across more than forty books of my own. I'll be referencing episodes with Matt Bird, Will Storr, Gail Carriger, Barbara Nickless, and Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer. I'll also draw on my own book, How to Write a Novel, which covers these fundamentals in detail. Whether you're writing your first novel or your fiftieth, whether you're a plotter or a discovery writer like me, these tips will help you create characters that readers believe in, care about, and invest in—and keep coming back for more. Let's get into it. 1. Master the ‘Believe, Care, Invest' Trifecta When I spoke with Matt Bird on episode 624, he laid out the three things you need to achieve on the very first page of your book or in the first ten minutes of a film. He calls it “Believe, Care, and Invest.” First, the reader must believe the character is a real person, somehow proving they are not a cardboard imitation of a human being, not just a generic type walking through a generic plot. Second, the reader must care about the character's circumstances. And third, the reader must invest in the character's ability to solve the story's central problem. Matt used The Hunger Games as his primary example, and it's brilliant. On the very first page, we believe Katniss's voice. Suzanne Collins writes in first person with a staccato rhythm—lots of periods, short declarative sentences—that immediately grounds us in a survivalist mentality. We care because Katniss is starving. She's protecting her little sister. And we invest because she is out there bow hunting, which Matt pointed out is one of the most badass things a character can do. She even kills a lynx two pages in and sells the pelt. We invest in her resourcefulness and grit before the plot has even begun. Matt was very clear that this has nothing to do with the character being “likable.” He said his subtitle, Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love, doesn't mean the character has to be a good person. He described “hero” as both gender-neutral and morally neutral. A hero can be totally evil or totally good. What matters is that we believe, care, and invest. He demonstrated this beautifully by breaking down the first ten minutes of WeCrashed, where the characters of Adam and Rebekah Neumann are absolutely not likable, but we are completely hooked. Adam steals his neighbour's Chinese food through a carefully orchestrated con involving an imaginary beer. It's not admirable behaviour, but the tradecraft involved, as Matt put it—using a term from spy movies—makes us invest in him. We see a character trying to solve the big problem of his life, which is that he's poor and wants to be rich, and we want to see if he can pull it off. Actionable step: Go to the first page of your current work in progress. Does it achieve all three? Does the reader believe this is a real person with a distinctive voice? Do they care about the character's circumstances? And do they invest in the character's ability to handle what's coming? If even one of those three is missing, that's your revision priority. 2. Define the Dramatic Question: Who Are They Really? Will Storr, author of The Science of Storytelling, came on episode 490 and gave one of the most powerful frameworks I've ever heard for character-driven fiction. He explained that the human brain evolved language primarily to swap social information—in other words, to gossip. We are wired to monitor other people, to ask the question: who is this person when the chips are down? That's what Will calls the Dramatic Question, and it's what he believes lies at the heart of all compelling storytelling. It's not a question about plot. It's a question about the character's soul. And every scene in your novel should force the character to answer it. His example of Lawrence of Arabia is unforgettable. The Dramatic Question for the entire film is: who are you, Lawrence? Are you ordinary or are you extraordinary? At the beginning, Lawrence is a cocky, rebellious young soldier who believes his rebelliousness makes him superior. Every iconic scene in that three-hour film tests that belief. Sometimes Lawrence acts as though he truly is extraordinary—leading the Arabs into battle, being hailed as a god—and sometimes the world strips him bare and he sees himself as ordinary. Because it's a tragedy, he never overcomes his flaw. He doubles down on his belief that he's extraordinary until he becomes monstrous, culminating in that iconic scene where he lifts a bloody dagger and sees his own reflection with horror. Will also used Jaws to demonstrate how this works in a pure action thriller. Brody's dramatic question is simple: are you going to be old Brody who is terrified of the water, or new Brody who can overcome that fear? Every scene where the shark appears is really asking that question. And the last moment of the film isn't the shark blowing up. It's Brody swimming back through the water, saying he used to be scared of the water and he can't imagine why. Actionable step: Write down the Dramatic Question for your protagonist in a single sentence. Is it “Are you ordinary or extraordinary?” or “Are you brave enough to love again?” or “Will you sacrifice your principles for survival?” If you can't answer this with specificity, your character might still be a sketch rather than a person. 3. Get rid of Vague Flaws, and use Absolute Specificity This was one of Will Storr's most important points. He said that vague thinking about characters is really the enemy. When he teaches workshops and asks writers to describe their character's flaw, most of them say something like “they're very controlling.” And Will's response is: that's not good enough. Everyone is controlling. How are they controlling? What's the specific mechanism? He gave the example of a profile he read of Theresa May during the UK's Brexit chaos. Someone who knew her said that Theresa May's problem was that she always thinks she's the only adult in every room she goes into. Will said that stopped him in his tracks because it's so precise. If you define a character with that level of specificity, you can take them and put them in any genre, any situation—a spaceship, a Victorian drawing room, a school playground—and you will know exactly how they're going to behave. The same applies to Arthur Miller's Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, as Will described it: a man who believes absolutely in capitalistic success and the idea that when you die, you're going to be weighed on a scale, just as God weighs you for sin, but now you're weighed for success. That's not a vague flaw. That's a worldview you can drop into any story and watch it combust. Will made another counterintuitive point that I found really valuable: writers often think that piling on multiple traits will create a complex character, but the opposite is true. Starting with one highly specific flaw and running it through the demands of a relentless plot is what generates complexity. You end up with a far more nuanced, original character than if you'd started with a laundry list of vague attributes. Actionable step: Take your protagonist's flaw and pressure-test it. Is it specific enough that you could place this character in any situation and predict their behaviour? If you're stuck at “she's stubborn” or “he's insecure,” keep pushing. What kind of stubborn? What kind of insecure? Find the diagnostic sentence—the Theresa May level of precision. 4. Understand the Heroine's Journey: Strength Through Connection Gail Carriger came on episode 550 to discuss her nonfiction book, The Heroine's Journey, and it completely reframed how I think about some of my own fiction. Gail explained that the core difference between the Hero's Journey and the Heroine's Journey comes down to how strength and victory are defined. The Hero's Journey is about strength through solo action. The hero must be continually isolated to get stronger. He goes out of civilisation, faces strife alone, and achieves victory through physical prowess and self-actualisation. The Heroine's Journey is the opposite. The heroine achieves her goals by activating a network. She's a delegator, a general. She identifies where she can't do something alone, finds the people who can help, and portions out the work for mutual gain. Gail put it simply: the heroine is very good at asking for help, which our culture tends to devalue but which is actually a powerful form of strength. Crucially, Gail stressed that gender is irrelevant to which journey you're writing. Her go-to examples are striking: the recent Wonder Woman film is practically a beat-for-beat hero's journey—Gilgamesh on screen, as Gail described it. Meanwhile, Harry Potter, both the first book and the series as a whole, is a classic heroine's journey. Harry's power comes from his network—Dumbledore's Army, the Order of the Phoenix, his friendships with Ron and Hermione. He doesn't defeat Voldemort alone. He defeats Voldemort because of love and connection. This distinction has real practical consequences for writers. If you're writing a hero's journey and you hit writer's block, Gail said, the solution is usually to isolate your hero further and pile on more strife. But if you're writing a heroine's journey, the solution is probably to throw a new character into the scene—someone who has advice to offer or a skill the heroine lacks. The actual solutions to writer's block are different depending on which narrative you're writing. As I reflected on my own work, I realised that my ARKANE thriller protagonist, Morgan Sierra, follows a hero's journey—she's a solo operative, a lone wolf like Jack Reacher or James Bond. But my Mapwalker fantasy series follows a heroine's journey, with Sienna and her group of friends working together. I hadn't consciously chosen those paths; the stories led me there. But understanding the framework helps me write more intentionally now. Actionable step: Identify which journey your protagonist is on. Does your character gain strength by being alone (hero) or by building connections (heroine)? This will inform every plot decision you make, from how they face obstacles to how your story ends. 5. Use ‘Metaphor Families' to Anchor Dialogue and Voice One of the most practical techniques Matt Bird shared on episode 624 is the idea of assigning each character a “metaphor family”—a specific well of language that they draw from. This gives each character a distinctive voice that goes beyond accent or dialect. Matt explained how in The Wire, one of the most beloved TV shows of all time, every character has a different metaphor family. What struck him was that Omar, this iconic character, never utters a single curse word in the entire series. His metaphor family is pirate. He talks about parlays, uses language that feels like it belongs in Pirates of the Caribbean, and it creates this incredible ironic counterpoint against his urban setting. It tells us immediately that this is a character who sees himself in a tradition of people that doesn't match his immediate surroundings. Matt also referenced the UK version of The Office, where Gareth works at a paper company but aspires to the military. So all of his language is drawn from a military metaphor family. He doesn't talk about filing and photocopying; he talks about tactics and discipline and being on the front line. This tells us that the character has a life and dreams beyond the immediate scene—and it's the gap between aspiration and reality that makes him both funny and believable. He pointed out that a metaphor family sometimes comes from a character's background, but it's often more interesting when it comes from their aspirations. What does your character want to be? What world do they fantasise about inhabiting? That's where their language should come from. In Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi is a spiritual hermit, but his metaphor family is military. He uses the language of generals and commanders, and that ironic counterpoint is part of what makes him feel so rich. Actionable step: Assign each of your main characters a metaphor family. It could be based on their job, their background, or—more interestingly—their secret aspirations. Then go through your dialogue and make sure each character is consistently drawing from that well of language. If two characters sound the same when you strip away the dialogue tags, this is the fix. 6. Find the Diagnostic Detail: The Diagonal Toast Avoid clichéd character tags—the random scar, the eye patch, the mysterious limp—unless they serve a deep narrative purpose. Matt Bird on episode 624 was very funny about this: he pointed out that Nick Fury, Odin, and eventually Thor all have eye patches in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Eye patches are done, he said. You cannot do eye patches anymore. Instead, look for what I'm calling the “diagonal toast” detail, after a scene Matt described from Captain Marvel. In the film, Captain Marvel is trying to determine whether Nick Fury is who he says he is. She asks him to prove he isn't a shapeshifting alien. Fury shares biographical details—his history, his mother—but then she pushes further and says, name one more thing you couldn't possibly have made up about yourself. And Fury says: if toast is cut diagonally, I can't eat it. Matt said that detail is gold for a writer because it feels pulled from a real life. You can pull it from your own life and gift it to your characters, and the reader can tell it's not manufactured. He gave another example from The Sopranos: Tony Soprano's mother won't answer the phone after dark. The show's creator, David Chase, confirmed on the DVD commentary that this came from his own mother, who genuinely would not answer the phone after dark and couldn't explain why. Matt's practical advice was to keep a journal. Write down the strange, specific things that people do or say. Mine your own life for those hyper-specific details. You just need one per book. In my own writing, I've used this approach. In my ARKANE thrillers, my character Morgan Sierra has always been Angelina Jolie in my mind—specifically Jolie in Lara Croft or Mr and Mrs Smith. And Blake Daniel in my crime thriller series was based on Jesse Williams from Grey's Anatomy. I paste pictures of actors into my Scrivener projects. It helps with visuals, but also with the sense of the character, their energy and physicality. But visual details only take you so far. It's the behavioural quirks—the diagonal toast moments—that make a character feel genuinely alive. That said, physical character tags can work brilliantly when they serve the story. As I discuss in How to Write a Novel, Robert Galbraith's Cormoran Strike is an amputee, and his pain and the physical challenges of his prosthesis are a key part of every story—it's not a cosmetic detail, it's woven into the action and the character's psychology. My character Blake Daniel always wears gloves to cover the scars on his hands, which provides an angle into his wounded past as well as a visual cue for the reader. And of course, Harry Potter's lightning-shaped scar isn't just a mark—it's a direct connection to his nemesis and the mythology of the entire series. The rule of thumb is: if the tag tells us something about the character's interior life or connects to the plot, it's earning its place. If it's just there to make the character visually distinctive, it's probably a crutch. Game of Thrones takes character tags further with the family houses, each with their own mottos and sigils. The Starks say “Winter is coming” and their sigil is a dire wolf. Those aren't just labels—they're worldview made visible. Actionable step: Start a “diagonal toast” notebook. Every time you notice something strange and specific about someone's behaviour—something that feels too real to be made up—write it down. Then gift it to a character who needs more texture. 7. Displace Your Own Trauma into the Work Barbara Nickless shared something deeply personal on episode 732 that fundamentally changed how I think about putting pain onto the page. While starting At First Light, the first book in her Dr. Evan Wilding series, she lost her son to epilepsy—something called SUDEP, Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy. One day he was there, and the next day he was gone. Barbara said that writing helped her cope with the trauma, that doing a deep dive into Old English literature and the Viking Age for the book's research became a lifeline. But here's what's important: she didn't give Dr. Evan Wilding her exact trauma. Evan Wilding is four feet five inches, and Barbara described how he has to walk through a world that won't adjust to him. That's its own form of learning to cope when circumstances are beyond your control. She displaced her genuine grief into the character's different but parallel struggle. When I asked her about the difference between writing for therapy and writing for an audience, she drew on her experience teaching creative writing to veterans through a collaboration between the US Department of Defense and the National Endowment for the Arts. She said she's found that she can pour her heartache into her characters and process it through them, even when writing professionally, and that the genuine emotion is what touches readers. We've all been through our own losses and griefs, so seeing how a character copes can be deeply meaningful. I've always found that putting my own pain onto the page is the most direct way to connect with a reader's soul. My character Morgan Sierra's musings on religion and the supernatural are often my own. Her restlessness, her fascination with the darker edges of faith—those come from me. But her Krav Maga fighting skills and her ability to kill the bad guys are definitely her own. That gap between what's mine and what's hers is where the fiction lives. Barbara also said something on that episode that I wrote down and stuck on my wall. She said the act of producing itself is a balm to the soul. I've been thinking about that ever since. On my own wall, I have “Measure your life by what you create.” Different words, same truth. Actionable step: If you're carrying something heavy—grief, anger, fear, regret—consider how you might displace it into a character's different but emotionally parallel struggle. Don't copy your exact situation; transform it. The emotion will be genuine, and the reader will feel it. 8. Write Diverse Characters as Real People When I spoke with Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer on episode 673—Sarah is Choctaw and a historical fiction author honoured by the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian—she offered a perspective that every fiction writer needs to hear. The key message was to move away from stereotypes. Don't write your American Indian character as the “Wise Guide” who exists solely to dispense mystic wisdom to the white protagonist. Don't limit diverse characters to historical settings, as though they only exist in the past. Place them in normal, contemporary roles. Your spaceship captain, your forensic scientist, your small-town baker—any of them can be American Indian, or Nigerian, or Japanese, and their heritage should be a lived-in part of their identity, not the sole reason they exist in the story. I write international thrillers and dark fantasy, and my fiction is populated with characters from all over the world. I have a multi-cultural family and I've lived in many places and travelled widely, so I've met, worked with, and had relationships with people from different cultures. I find story ideas through travel, and if I set my books in a certain place, then the story is naturally populated with the people who live there. As I discuss in my book, How to Write a Novel, the world is a diverse place, so your fiction needs to be populated with all kinds of people. If I only populated my fiction with characters like me, they would be boring novels. There are many dimensions of difference—race, nationality, sex, age, body type, ability, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, class, culture, education level—and even then, don't assume that similar types of people think the same way. Some authors worry they will make mistakes. We live in a time of outrage, and some authors have been criticised for writing outside their own experience. So is it too dangerous to try? Of course not. The media amplifies outliers, and most authors include diverse characters in every book without causing offence because they work hard to get it right. It's about awareness, research, and intent. Actionable step: Audit the cast of your current work in progress. Have you written a mono-cultural perspective for all of them? If so, consider who could bring a different background, perspective, or set of cultural specifics to the story. Not as a token addition, but as a real person with a real life. 9. Respect Tribal and Cultural Specificity Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer on episode 673 was emphatic about one thing: never treat diverse groups as monolithic. If you're writing a Native American character, you must research the specific nation. Choctaw is not Navajo, just as British is not French. Sarah described the distinct cultural markers of the Choctaw people—the diamond pattern you'll see on traditional shirts and dresses, which represents the diamondback rattlesnake. They have distinct dances and songs. She said that if she saw someone in traditional dress at a distance, she would know whether they were Choctaw based on what they were wearing. She encouraged writers who want to write specifically about a nation to get to know those people. Go to events, go to a powwow, learn about the individual culture. She noted that a big misconception is that American Indians exist only in the past—she stressed that they are still here, still living their cultures, and fiction should reflect that present reality. I took a similar approach when writing Destroyer of Worlds, which is set mostly in India. I read books about Hindu myth, watched documentaries about the sadhus, and had one of my Indian readers from Mumbai check my cultural references. For Risen Gods, set in New Zealand with a young Maori protagonist, I studied books about Maori mythology and fiction by Maori authors, and had a male Maori reader check for cultural issues. Research is simply an act of empathy. The practical takeaway is this: if you're going to include a character from a specific cultural background, do the work. Use specific cultural details rather than generic signifiers. Sarah talked about how even she fell into stereotypes when she was first writing, until her mother pointed them out. If someone from within a culture can fall into those traps, the rest of us certainly can. Do the research, try your best, ask for help, and apologise if you need to. Actionable step: If you're writing a character from a specific culture, identify three to five sensory or behavioural details that are particular to that culture—not the generic version, but the real, researched, lived-in version. Consider hiring a sensitivity reader from that community to check your work. 10. Give Your Protagonist a Morally Neutral ‘Hero' Status Matt Bird was clear about this on episode 624: the word “hero” simply means the protagonist, the person we follow through the story. It's a functional role, not a moral label. We don't have to like them. We don't even have to root for their goals in a moral sense. We just have to find them compelling enough to invest our attention in their problem-solving. Think of Succession, where every member of the Roy family is varying degrees of awful, and yet the show was utterly compelling. Or WeCrashed, where Adam Neumann is a narcissistic con artist, but we can't look away because he's trying to solve the enormous problem of building an empire from nothing, and the tradecraft he employs is fascinating. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, readers must want to spend time with your characters. They don't have to be lovable or even likable—that will depend on your genre and story choices—but they have to be captivating enough that we want to spend time with them. A character who is trying to solve a massive problem will naturally draw investment from the audience, even if we wouldn't want to have tea with them. Will Storr extended this idea by pointing out that the audience will actually root for a character to solve their problem even if the audience doesn't actually want the character's goal to be achieved in the real world. We don't really want more billionaires, but we invested in Adam Neumann's rise because that was the problem the story posed, and our brains are wired to invest in problem-solving. This connects to something deeper: what does your character want, and why? As I explore in How to Write a Novel, desire operates on multiple levels. Take a character like Phil, who joins the military during wartime. On the surface, she wants to serve her country. But she also wants to escape her dead-end town and learn new skills. Deeper still, her father and grandfather served, and by joining up, she hopes to finally earn their respect. And perhaps deepest of all, her father died on a mission under mysterious circumstances, and she wants to find out what happened from the inside. That layering of motivation is what turns a flat character into a three-dimensional one. The audience doesn't need to be told all of this explicitly. It can emerge through action, dialogue, and the choices the character makes under pressure. But you, the writer, need to know it. You need to know what your character really wants deep down, because that desire—more than any external plot device—is what drives the story forward. And your antagonist needs the same depth. They also want something, often diametrically opposed to your protagonist, and they need a reason that makes sense to them. In my ARKANE thriller Tree of Life, my antagonist is the heiress of a Brazilian mining empire who wants to restore the Earth to its original state to atone for the destruction caused by her father's company. She's part of a radical ecological group who believe the only way to restore Nature is to end all human life. It's extreme, but in an era of climate change, it's a motivation readers can understand—even if they disagree with the solution. Actionable step: If you're struggling to make a morally grey character work, make sure their problem is big enough and their methods are specific and interesting enough that we invest in the how, even if we're ambivalent about the what. 11. Build Vibrant Side Characters Gail Carriger made a point on episode 550 that was equal parts craft advice and business strategy. In a Heroine's Journey model, side characters aren't just fodder to be killed off to motivate the hero. They form a network. And because you don't have to kill them—unlike in a hero's journey, where allies are often betrayed or removed so the hero can be further isolated—you can pick up those side characters and give them their own books. Gail said this creates a really voracious reader base. You write one series with vivid side characters, and then readers fall in love with those side characters and want their stories. So you write spin-offs. The romance genre does this brilliantly—think of the Bridgerton books, where each sibling gets their own novel. The side character in one book becomes the protagonist in the next. Barbara Nickless experienced this firsthand with her Dr. Evan Wilding series. She has River Wilding, Evan's adventurous brother, and Diana, the axe-throwing research assistant, and her editor has already expressed interest in a spin-off series with those characters. Barbara described creating characters she wants to spend time with, or characters who give her nightmares but also intrigue her. That's the dual test: are they interesting enough for you to write, and interesting enough for readers to demand more? As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, characters that span series can deepen the reader's relationship with them as you expand their backstory into new plots. Readers will remember the character more than the plot or the book title, and look forward to the next instalment because they want more time with those people. British crime author Angela Marsons described it as readers feeling like returning to her characters is like putting on a pair of old slippers. Actionable step: Look at your supporting cast. Is there a side character who is vivid enough to carry their own story? If not, what could you add—a specific hobby, a distinct voice, a compelling backstory—that would make readers want more of them? 12. Use Voice as a Rhythmic Tool Voice is one of the most important elements of novel writing, and Matt Bird helped me think about it in a technical, mechanical way that I found really useful. He pointed out that the ratio of periods to commas defines a character's internal reality. A staccato rhythm—lots of periods, short sentences—suggests a character who is certain, grounded, or perhaps survivalist and traumatised. Katniss in The Hunger Games has a period-heavy voice. She's in survival mode. She doesn't have time for complexity or qualification. A flowing, comma-heavy style suggests someone more academic, more nuanced, or possibly more scattered and manipulative. The character who qualifies everything, who adds sub-clauses and digressions, is a different kind of person from the character who speaks in declarations. This is something you can actually measure. Pull up a passage of your character's dialogue or internal monologue and count the periods versus the commas. If the rhythm doesn't match who the character is supposed to be, you've found a mismatch you can fix. Sentence length is the heartbeat of your character's persona. And voice extends beyond rhythm to the words themselves. As I discussed in the metaphor families tip, each character should draw from a distinctive well of language. But voice also encompasses their relationship to silence. Some characters talk around the thing they mean; others say it straight. Some are self-deprecating; others are blunt to the point of rudeness. All of these choices are character choices, not just style choices. I find it useful to read my dialogue aloud—and not just to check for naturalness, but to hear whether each character sounds distinct. If you could swap dialogue lines between two characters and nobody would notice, you have a voice problem. One practical test: cover the dialogue tags and see if you can tell who's speaking from the words alone. Actionable step: Choose a key passage from your protagonist's point of view and read it aloud. Does the rhythm match the character? A soldier under fire should not sound like a philosophy professor at a wine tasting. Adjust the ratio of periods to commas until the voice feels right. 13. Link Character and Plot Until They're Inseparable Will Storr made the case on episode 490 that the number one problem he sees in the writing he encounters—in workshops, in submissions, even in published books—is that the characters and the plots are unconnected. There's a story happening, and there are people in it, but the story isn't a product of who those people are. He said a story should be like life. In our lives, the plots are intimately connected to who we are as characters. The goals we pursue, the obstacles we face, the same problems that keep recurring—these are products of our personalities, our flaws, our specific ways of being in the world. His framework is that your plot should be designed specifically to plot against your character. You've got a character with a particular flaw; the plot exists to test that flaw over and over until the character either transforms or doubles down and explodes. Jaws is the perfect example. Brody is afraid of water. A shark shows up in the coastal town he's responsible for protecting. The entire plot is engineered to force him to confront the one thing he cannot face. Will pointed out that the whole plot of Jaws is structured around Brody's flaw. It begins with the shark arriving, the midpoint is when Brody finally gets the courage to go into the water, and the very final scene isn't the shark blowing up—it's Brody swimming back through the water. Even a film that's ninety-eight percent action is, at its core, structured around a character with a character flaw. This is the standard I aspire to in my own work, even in my action-heavy thrillers. The external plot should be a mirror of the internal struggle. When those two are aligned, the story becomes irresistible. Will also made an important point about series fiction, which is where most commercial authors live. I asked him how this works when your character can't be transformed at the end of every book because there has to be a next book. His answer was elegant: you don't cure them. Episodic TV characters like Fleabag or David Brent or Basil Fawlty never truly change—and the fact that they don't change is actually the source of the comedy. But every episode throws a new story event at them that tests and exposes their flaw. You just keep throwing story events at them again and again. That's a soap opera, a sitcom, and a book series. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, character flaws are aspects of personality that affect the person so much that facing and overcoming them becomes central to the plot. In Jaws, the protagonist Brody is afraid of the water, but he has to overcome that flaw to destroy the killer shark and save the town. But remember, your characters should feel like real people, so never define them purely by their flaws. The character addicted to painkillers might also be a brilliant and successful female lawyer who gets up at four in the morning to work out at the gym, likes eighties music, and volunteers at the local dog shelter at weekends. Character wounds are different from flaws. They're formed from life experience and are part of your character's backstory—traumatic events that happened before the events of your novel but shape the character's reactions in the present. In my ARKANE thrillers, Morgan Sierra's husband Elian died in her arms during a military operation. This happened before the series begins, but her memories of it recur when she faces a firefight, and she struggles to find happiness again for fear of losing someone she loves once more. And then there's the perennial advice: show, don't tell. Most writers have heard this so many times that it's easy to nod and then promptly write scenes that tell rather than show. Basically, you need to reveal your character through action and dialogue, rather than explanation. In my thriller Day of the Vikings, Morgan Sierra fights a Neo-Viking in the halls of the British Museum and brings him down with Krav Maga. That fight scene isn't just about showing action. It opens up questions about her backstory, demonstrates character, and moves the plot forward. Telling would be something like: “Morgan was an expert in Krav Maga.” Showing is the reader discovering it through the scene itself. Actionable step: Look at the main plot events of your novel. For each major turning point, ask: does this scene specifically test my protagonist's flaw? If not, can you redesign the scene so that it does? The tighter the connection between character and plot, the more powerful the story. 14. The ‘Maestra' Approach: Write Out of Order If you're a discovery writer like me, you may feel like the deep character work I've been describing sounds more suited to plotters. But Barbara Nickless gave me a beautiful metaphor on episode 732 that reframes it entirely. Barbara described her evolving writing process as being like a maestra standing in front of an orchestra. Sometimes you bring in the horns—a certain theme—and sometimes you bring in the strings—a certain character—and sometimes you turn to the soloist. It's a more organic and jumping-around process than linear writing, and Barbara said she's only recently given herself permission to work this way. When I told her that I use Scrivener to write in scenes out of order and then drag and drop them into a structure later, she was genuinely intrigued. And this is how I've always worked. I'll see the story in my mind like a movie trailer—flashes of the big emotional scenes, the pivotal confrontations, the moments of revelation—and I write those first. I don't know how they hang together until quite late in the process. Then I'll move scenes around, print the whole thing out, and figure out the connective tissue. The point is that discovery writers can absolutely build deep characters. Sometimes writing the big emotional scenes first is how you discover who the character is before you fill in the rest. You don't need a twenty-page character worksheet or a 200-page outline like Jeffery Deaver. You need to be willing to follow the character into the unknown and trust that the structure will emerge. As Barbara said, she writes to know what she's thinking. That's the discovery writer's credo. And I would add: I write to know who my characters are. Actionable step: If you're stuck on your current chapter, skip it. Write the scene that's burning in your imagination, even if it's from the middle or the end. That scene might be the key to unlocking who your character really is. 15. Use Research to Help with Empathy Research shouldn't just be about factual accuracy—it's a tool for finding the sensory details that create empathy. Barbara Nickless described research as almost an excuse to explore things that fascinate her, and I feel exactly the same way. I would go so far as to say that writing is an excuse for me to explore the things that interest me. Barbara and I both travel for our stories. For her Dr. Evan Wilding books, she did deep research into Old English literature and the Viking Age. For my thriller End of Days, I transcribed hours of video from Appalachian snake-handling churches on YouTube to understand the worldview of the worshippers, because my antagonist was brought up in that tradition. I couldn't just make that up. I had to hear their language, feel their conviction, understand why they would hold venomous serpents as an act of faith. Barbara also mentioned getting to Israel and the West Bank for research, and I've been to both places too. Finding that one specific sensory detail—the smell of a particular location, the specific way an expert handles a tool, the sound of a particular kind of music—makes the character's life feel lived-in. It's the difference between a character who is described as living in a place and a character who inhabits it. As I wrote in How to Write a Novel, don't write what you know. Write what you want to learn about. I love research. It's part of why I'm an author in the first place. I take any excuse to dive into a world different from my own. Research using books, films, podcasts, and travel, and focus particularly on sources produced by people from the worldview you want to understand. Actionable step: For your next piece of character research, go beyond reading. Watch a documentary, visit a location, talk to someone who lives the experience. Find one sensory detail—a smell, a sound, a texture—that you couldn't have invented. That detail will make your character feel real. Bonus: Measure Your Life by What You Create In an age of AI and a tsunami of content, your ultimate brand protection is the quality of your human creation. Barbara Nickless said that the act of producing itself is a balm to the soul, and I believe that with every fibre of my being. Don't be afraid to take that step back, like I did with my deadlifting. Take the time to master these deeper craft skills. It might feel like you're slowing down or going backwards by not chasing the latest marketing trend, but it's the only way to step forward into a sustainable, high-quality career. Your characters are your signature. No AI can replicate the specificity of your lived experience, the emotional truth of your displaced trauma, or the sensory details you've gathered from a life of curiosity and travel. Those are yours. Pour them into your characters, and they will resonate for years to come. Actionable Takeaway: Identify the Dramatic Question for your current protagonist. Can you state it in a single sentence with the kind of specificity Will Storr described? Is it as clear as “Are you ordinary or extraordinary?” or “Are you the only adult in the room?” If you can't answer it with that kind of precision, your character might still be a sketch. Give them a diagonal toast moment today. Find the one hyper-specific detail that proves they are not an imitation of life. And then ask yourself: does your plot test your character's flaw in every major scene? If you can align those two things—a precisely defined character and a plot that exists to test them—you will have a story that readers cannot put down. References and Deep Dives The episodes I've referenced today are all available with full transcripts at TheCreativePenn.com: Episode 732 — Facing Fears, and Writing Unique Characters with Barbara Nickless Episode 673 — Writing Choctaw Characters and Diversity in Fiction with Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer Episode 624 — Writing Characters with Matt Bird Episode 550 — The Heroine's Journey with Gail Carriger Episode 490 — How Character Flaws Shape Story with Will Storr Books mentioned: The Secrets of Character: Writing a Hero Anyone Will Love by Matt Bird The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr The Heroine's Journey by Gail Carriger How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Book by Joanna Penn You can find all my books for authors at CreativePennBooks.com and my fiction and memoir at JFPennBooks.com Happy writing! How was this episode created? This episode was initiated created by NotebookLM based on YouTube videos of the episodes linked above from YouTube/TheCreativePenn, plus my text chapters on character from How to Write a Novel. NotebookLM created a blog post from the material and then I expanded it and fact checked it with Claude.ai 4.6 Opus, and then I used my voice clone at ElevenLabs to narrate it. The post Writing Characters: 15 Actionable Tips For Writing Deep Character first appeared on The Creative Penn.

This week, Madigan brings you a REWIND episode from September 23, 2024, in which you;ll learn the story of the woman who organized the Revolutionary Association of Women in Afghanistan, or RAWA, who lived (and died) for the freedom of Afghan women and girls, Meena. I highly recommend reading the book, Meena, Heroine of Afghanistan: The Martyr Who Founded RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, for more information on today's subject. ⁠https://www.amazon.com/Meena-Heroine-Afghanistan-Revolutionary-Association/dp/0312306903⁠ To listen to more, join me on Patreon! ⁠https://www.patreon.com/angryneighborhoodfeminist⁠ Do you have a topic that you want the show to take on?    Email ⁠neighborhoodfeminist@gmail.com⁠ Social media:     Instagram: @angryneighborhoodfeminist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode I share my experience of exploring Iceland and my artist residency at the Akureyri Art Museum.⁠Submit your work to the NYC exhibition I am curating, She in the Tower, with a deadline of April 10: CLICK HEREExperience my FREE masterclass, Awakening the Heroine: aligning energy and action for artistic acclaim, flow, and fortune, by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CLICKING HERE! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for my coaching program, The Luminary Artist Academy, before April 1 for guaranteed inclusion in a NYC May exhibition I am curating, "She in the Tower" Sign up and learn more here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠LUMINARY ARTIST ACADEMY⁠⁠⁠⁠Meet with me for 15 minutes to make sure the program is right for you: ⁠⁠⁠⁠CALENDLY LINK⁠⁠⁠⁠Enter the Creative Heroine podcast contest! Winner gets a podcast interview. To enter, write a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts, screenshot it and send it to me on IG at @thecreativeheroines or email jlibor@jessicalibor.com . Read & subscribe to my substack, Painting the Realm of Forms: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://jessicalibor.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠And join our Discord here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/SB2YY5NrnF⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out all of our courses and coaching: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.thecreativeheroines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠You can explore my art here! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.jessicalibor.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Thanks for listening!!

What if the antidote to stress, overthinking, and constant mental chatter has been quietly walking beside us all along? Today we have a conversation with a master storyteller, consultant to the likes of Pixar, LucasFilms and Disney - Tom Schlesinger, on quieting the noise, returning to the body, and rediscovering joy. All through the lens of how dogs can remind us how to lead our best lives. Chapters00:00 – Intro & Welcome05:02 – Monkey Mind and Mental Chatter07:22 – Storytelling Before Language10:00 – Dogs, Humor, and Emotional Balance14:30 – Remembering Dog Stories Brings Us Home20:18  – Myth, Archetypes, and the Heroine's Journey31:09 – The Power of the Pause32:40 – Presence, Time, and Stress42:50 – Sensory Storytelling and the Body47:20 – Break49:37 – The Silent Evolution01:12:35 – Perfectionism vs Creative Flow01:28:39 – Returning to the Body and the Earth

Are you a healer who has given everything to others until your body gave out? Do you wonder why healing never seems to stick? You might be walking the Heroine's Journey. In this special book launch episode, Dr. Alison DiBarto Goggin—functional medicine physician, shamanic practitioner, and author—shares the spiritual side of healing chronic illness through her new book "Goddess Medicine." What you'll learn: ✨ Why women's healing journeys are spiral, not linear (and what that means for your recovery) ✨ The red thread of Ariadne: how giving away your life force creates chronic depletion ✨ Angrboda's three burnings: surviving betrayal by your body, relationships, and the medical system ✨ Mary Magdalene's teaching: you cannot heal what you abandon ✨ The Egyptian Pylon Path: the full descent into darkness and the gifts waiting on the other side ✨ How to integrate all versions of yourself (the wounded child, the fierce protector, the sovereign woman) Available now on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and paperback at https://a.co/d/0di0l0Ar And come join us in the Goddess Medicine Circle on Facebook for the free guided book course starting March 6th. https://www.facebook.com/groups/goddessmedicinecircle And a chance to win a private shamanic reiki session with me: https://bit.ly/4bUEisV This episode is for women with chronic illness, autoimmunity, medical trauma, MCAS, POTS, thyroid issues, digestive disorders, or anyone recovering from surgery who knows there's more to healing than protocols alone. #ChronicIllnessWarrior #AutoimmuneHealing #WomensHealth #SpiritualHealing #TraumaRecovery #GoddessWisdom #FunctionalMedicine #ShamanicHealing

WOW!!!

Leodora Darlington stopped by our office to chat about her debut novel The Exes, and immediately started spilling secrets. We got into her original (much deadlier) working title, daddy issues, and dating red flags. It's a conversation about rage, relationships, and the monsters we inherit.  Natalie is searching for "the one," but her dating history comes with a body count and lapse of memory. As old secrets claw their way into her new relationship, she's forced to confront what really happened to the men she left behind. Get The Exes at bookofthemonth.com. Learn more about Book of the Month LIVE at bookofthemonth.com/botm-live.  

Plenty to chat about with Barra this morning. The first Derby of the year kicked off at Cockburn, with Elliot Yeo making a triumphant return to the field. The Winter Games have wrapped up with Australia taking home six medals. Barra has all the latest gossip. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kate and Betsy dive into the topic of feminism after an article came out in the New York Times in November 2025 entitled “Are women ruining the workplace?”.  In this episode we seek to understand the real meaning of feminism, the different waves it has gone through, and what the wild woman archetype says about these times. In today's Episode we discuss: The fire that Kate felt after reading this article, and why we've gotten to a point where feminism has become a bad word. The actual definition of feminism, and the history of the feminist movement through 4 different waves. Wisdom from Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes in “Women Who Run with the Wolves” about feminism. Past Episodes that you Might Enjoy:    Episode 179: The Heroine's Journey: Descent to the Goddess Episode 163: Rage As Teacher Episode 148: Reflections on the Wild Woman Archetype and What She Can Teach us In These Divisive Times Episode 135: Mandy Fabian: Fiercely Feminine Film Director Episode 121: A New Feminine Energy is Rising Episode 114: Use Your Voice Today's Episode sponsored by: The Local Hub (https://thelocalhub-ic.com/) Kate Moreland Coaching (https://www.katemorelandcoaching.com/) Dr Yoga Momma (https://dryogamomma.com/) Heartland Yoga (https://heartlandyoga.com/) Want to go on retreat? Want to join Betsy in Costa Rica in May 11-18 2026 at her favorite retreat center to help you connect with your inner healer using yoga, meditation, energy medicine, and creativity?  At this retreat, broadway director Kristin Hanggi is joining to lead on the power of creativity to move us through our collective and personal anxiety.   All the details here!  Here is the episode with Kristin –  154. The Multi-Hyphenate Wonder that is Kristin Hanggi Source

Please enjoy this February 2026 Playlist comprised of 17 new soul songs, that aim to celebrate this powerful and transformative Year of the Fire Horse that is awaiting your conscious and creative participation. Let's be the change that colors more magic and music in the world, adding our unique talents and gifts to the collective conversation and brightening the sentient collective along the way.These soul songs are found in my February 2026 Part 2 video. They sing themes that emerged this month to inspire and fortify you as a divine creative hero/heroine in the Great Return.  Titles include: February Frequencies, Awake To The Great Turning, We Are The Moreness, Living Garden Awakening 1, The Living Garden of Gold, Children of the New Earth, New Earth Is Rising 1, Divine Sparks ~ Living Garden, Invest In Your Sacred Talents, One Small Seed, Remember Who You Are, Garden of Our Design, Be Extraordinary Now, New Earth Is Rising 2, Fire Horse Says Be Extraordinary, Living Garden Awakening 2, and Light of the World. Thank you for joining me, and please share with others who would benefit from these songful messages. Wishing you the peace and happiness of remembering the Fullness of Who You Really Are and embodying the grace of your Timeless Living Light in every soul step!  You can find me on Substack (my main hub now for all of my messages) through these links:https://frequencywriter.com/https://frequencywriter.substack.com/For more information about life/soul coaching with me, or to contact me, please email me: info@frequencywriter.comYou can find me on other Social Media platforms here:X: https://x.com/marie_mohlerFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/wholesoulmasteryYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@colorthemagicRumble.com: https://rumble.com/c/c-353585​​​​Telegram: https://t.me/wholesoulmasteryTruth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@frequencywriter* For educational purposes only.Support the show

We hope you enjoy today's Scripture reading and devotional aimed at motivating you to apply God's word while strengthening your heart and nurturing your soul. Today's Bible reading is Joshua 2. To read along with the podcast, grab a print copy of the devotional at https://www.crossway.org/books/daily-joy-hcj/. Follow us on social media to stay up to date: Instagram Facebook Twitter

"Be glad of your human heart....Pity those who don't feel anything at all.” What if the meteoric rise of the romantasy genre isn't about fae courts and dragon riders—but about our deepest and most human longings? Romantasy has taken the publishing world by storm. While some dismiss these stories as escapist fantasy, we believe their deeper power lies in how they illuminate the human heart. In this series on the alchemy of romantasy, we explore the mythic and psychological currents running through books like A Court of Thorns and Roses and Fourth Wing. Through the lenses of Jung and the Hero's (and Heroine's) Journey, we examine the desire to individuate, to be truly seen, to claim inner sovereignty, to find belonging, security, and freedom—and to join with a soulmate who honors the self we are becoming. Join us as we ask why these stories resonate so profoundly right now, and what they reveal about who we are. References: Books & Series A Court of Thorns and Roses and A Court of Mist and Fury – Sarah J. Maas Fourth Wing – Rebecca Yarros Psychology & Myth Enneagram 4 type Jung & the collective unconscious The Hero's Journey – Joseph Campbell Pop Culture Moana Frozen Monica Lewinsky's podcast  Related Gathering Gold Episodes Escape Hatch Fantasies What Could Have Been You Do Not Have to Be Good Bonus: Books that Changed Us Join us on Patreon for bonus content and virtual gatherings: patreon.com/gatheringgold Some of our recent bonus episodes include: What Sheryl Forgot and Victoria's Experiment | The Slipstream of Time | Give and Receiving - Shudder - Feedback | The Problem with Pedestals | Are Intrusive Thoughts like Stray Cats?

The new Wuthering Heights film is already sparking debate. From saucy costume choices to renewed arguments over what Heathcliff should look like,  raising a bigger question: Why are we still arguing about a novel published nearly 200 years ago? Today in The Bunker, Alex von Tunzelmann is joined by historian, playwright and author Samantha Ellis, How to be a Heroine, to ask: have we all been getting Wuthering Heights wrong this whole time? Buy Samanth's book How To Be A Heroine Or, what I've learned from reading too much through our affiliate bookshop and you'll be helping the podcast by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org's fees help support independent bookshops too. www.patreon.com/bunkercast  Written and presented by Alex von Tunzelmann. Producer: Liam Tait. Audio production: Simon Williams. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Artwork by James Parrett. Managing Editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production.www.podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A Massachusetts native, Dan Boudreau served 25 years on the state's judiciary before retiring in 2004 to focus on mediation and arbitration. He earned a bachelor's degree from Boston College and a law degree from the University of Tulsa College of Law, after which he practiced as a private attorney prior to judicial appointments.His judicial career began in 1979 as a trial judge; he progressed to the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals, where he authored hundreds of opinions for eight years, leading to an appointment by Governor Frank Keating to the Oklahoma Supreme Court as an associate justice, briefly serving as chief justice upon swearing in.Post-retirement, Dan contributed to dispute resolution as a mediator and arbitrator.Listen to Dan tell his story about being a Vista volunteer, how he put a Tulsa minister in jail, and his experience as a state supreme court justice on the podcast and website VoicesOfOklahoma.com.

In this episode, I share the energetic secrets of being taken seriously as an artists, and simple shifts you can make today!Attend the Era Contemporary Rococo inspired exhibition that Emma Grace Hapner has curated, The Secret Show, with exhibition openings on February 5th and 6th! CLICK HERE TO REGISTER TO ATTEND!Experience my FREE masterclass, Awakening the Heroine: aligning energy and action for artistic acclaim, flow, and fortune, by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CLICKING HERE! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for my coaching program, The Luminary Artist Academy, before December 1 for guaranteed inclusion in a NYC May exhibition I am curating, "Heroine." Sign up and learn more here: ⁠⁠⁠LUMINARY ARTIST ACADEMY⁠⁠⁠Meet with me for 15 minutes to make sure the program is right for you: ⁠⁠⁠CALENDLY LINK⁠⁠⁠Enter the Creative Heroine podcast contest! Winner gets a podcast interview. To enter, write a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts, screenshot it and send it to me on IG at @thecreativeheroines or email jlibor@jessicalibor.com . Read & subscribe to my substack, Painting the Realm of Forms: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://jessicalibor.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠And join our Discord here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/SB2YY5NrnF⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for my free upcoming masterclass here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/b95c65c94acc/manifesting-for-artists⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out all of our courses and coaching: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.thecreativeheroines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠You can explore my art here! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.jessicalibor.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Thanks for listening!!

Back in 2008, I wrote a review of The Heroine's Journey on Goodreads. At the time, I was developing Mythellaneous, which was a clown hero's journey, so I was very excited to read this book, which was meant to be a women's version of the famous hero's journey as described by Joseph Campebll. Unfortunately, The Heroine's Journey was disappointing and generally kind of facile and old fashioned. It did not help me in the creation of that show.Over the years, I have noticed likes coming through for this review, more than any other book on my list. To keep reading ⁠⁠Comments on The Heroine's Journey⁠ ⁠⁠visit the Songs for the Struggling Artist blog. This is Episode 483Song: I'm No Heroine⁠Image of some of my myth booksTo support this podcast:Give it 5 stars in Apple Podcasts. Write a nice review!Rate it at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ratethispodcast.com/strugglingartist⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Mailing list: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.emilyrainbowdavis.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook:  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/SongsfortheStrugglingArtist/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Support me on Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.patreon.com/emilyrdavis⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Kofi: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://ko-fi.com/emilyrainbowdavis⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PayPal: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.paypal.me/strugglingartist⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join Substack: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://emilyrainbowdavis.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@erainbowd⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Mastodon - @erainbowd@podvibes.coBlue sky - @erainbowd.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pinterest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Listen to The Dragoning ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and The Defense ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Explicit due to one f**k

The daily news is filled with stories of division, wars, mass shootings, rights getting overturned, political chaos, and so much continuous devastation. What can we do collectively to ease the pain? Our guest today, scholar, philosopher, and researcher Jean Houston, Ph.D., delves into the idea of finding possibility, even during these times of great grief. We have been conditioned to respond to the terrible, but it does not have to be this way. As an icon in the Human Potential movement, Jean shares ideas about how the Renaissance, with its advancements in music, art, poetry, and cosmology,  came after great plagues and times of war, much like the world's situation today. Could we be in a new Renaissance period now? We are once again in a similar time of radical growth, and we have the power within us to see new possibilities and reach mythical potential in our human evolution.   Jean shares stories of her travels and talks about her friendship with scholar Joseph Campbell and how they would have "beautiful fights" which were friendly arguments and deep discussions about mythology and the fate of humanity. Campbell wrote extensively about the "Hero's Journey," while Jean considered the "Heroine's Journey." Part of the problem is that 50% of the human race is not being recognized for women's immense creativity and power. Women's ways are missing. With an emphasis on compassion, cooperation, community, and process rather than product and competition, humane creativity must be celebrated by acknowledging the achievements of women.  She also talks about her fateful meeting of evolutionary philosopher and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin who became one of her mentors when she was much younger. At an early age, they would have profound discussions of time, history, and transformation, as she gained an alternate education of possibilities through their talks. Info: https://www.jeanhouston.com/

*Enjoy a preview of our new My Heroine Journey podcast:We all want the happy ever after, but what if that happy ending you dream of every day isn't actually the ending you want?What if your true happy ever after was something you've never dreamt of?Join today's journey as Megan and Kate discuss:Your core self versus your human self and the difference in their desiresThe truth behind why you want what you wantHow to find the pearl of your true heart's desire in the sea of human confusion The steps to start creating the happy ever after of your dreams Scotland is calling! Join our APRIL 2026 Scotland Fantasy Tour HERE Want to explore the world of SJM with us? Become a PATRON and gain access to our entire Sarah J. Maas series collection! LISTEN to our new My Heroine Journey podcast and follow us here: APPLE / SPOTIFY / WEBSITE

As the British Museum opens Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans, Ben Luke takes a tour of the exhibition with the museum's head of Oceania, Alice Christophe. We also hear about the museum's fresh approach to the stewardship of its collection of Hawaiian objects and materials. In Venice, one of the most famous palazzi on the Grand Canal, the Ca' Dario, is up for sale and we discuss the building, its history and its supposed curse with the founder of The Art Newspaper and former chair of the Venice in Peril charity, Anna Somers Cocks. And this episode's Work of the Week is Bathtub (1961-87), a late work made by Joseph Beuys, cast in bronze after his death in 1986. It is at the centre of a new show of Beuys's work at the Thaddaeus Ropac gallery in London, and I speak to Thaddaeus Ropac about the sculpture and its long journey to completion.Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans, British Museum, London, until 25 May 2026.Joseph Beuys: Bathtub for a Heroine, Thaddaeus Ropac, London, until 21 March. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How was Charles VII, with the help of Joan of Arc, able to fight his way to Reims to be crowned in the ancient seat of French kings? Why was she able to continually defeat the formidable soldiers of England, in battle? And, how was Joan's legendary ascent finally brought shatteringly down, as she fell into the hands of her dreaded English enemies…? Join Tom and Dominic as the discuss the apex of Joan of Arc's many triumphs, her continued war with the English, and the terrible moment that would see her captured, cast in irons, and put on trial for her life… _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Video Editor: Adam Thornton Social Producer: Harry Baldwin Assistant Producer: Aaliyah Akude  Producer: Tabby Syrett Senior Producer: Theo Young-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of Healthy Mind, Healthy Life, host Sayan sits down with author and indie publisher Annabel Youens to challenge the “go it alone” hero narrative and explore the heroine's journey, where healing and success grow through community. This conversation is for anyone feeling burned out by hustle-first stories, navigating a midlife identity shift, or craving a more grounded path to purpose. You will hear how stories shape mental health, why collaboration reduces loneliness, and how self-trust can return when you listen inward. About the Guest: Annabel Youens is the author of the debut speculative novel Thread Traveler and the founder of Sortline Press, publishing transformation stories for women in midlife. She previously spent 25 years in tech entrepreneurship, including an early role at AppBooks.com. Key Takeaways: Notice where the “solo hero” mindset is isolating you Reframe midlife as a second-act doorway, not a breakdown Ask: What did your 17-year-old self want that you postponed Create a daily practice that helps you hear your inner voice Replace “winning” with “collaborating” in one real-life situation How to Connect With the Guest: Website: https://linkly.link/2Ksbq  Substack: Saved by the Spell Book: Thread Traveler (available wherever books are sold) Want to be a guest on Healthy Mind, Healthy Life? DM on PM - Send me a message on PodMatch DM Me Here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/avik Disclaimer: This video is for educational and informational purposes only. The views expressed are the personal opinions of the guest and do not reflect the views of the host or Healthy Mind By Avik™️. We do not intend to harm, defame, or discredit any person, organization, brand, product, country, or profession mentioned. All third-party media used remain the property of their respective owners and are used under fair use for informational purposes. By watching, you acknowledge and accept this disclaimer. Healthy Mind By Avik™️ is a global platform redefining mental health as a necessity, not a luxury. Born during the pandemic, it's become a sanctuary for healing, growth, and mindful living. Hosted by Avik Chakraborty, storyteller, survivor, and wellness advocate. With over 6000+ episodes and 200K+ global listeners, we unite voices, break stigma, and build a world where every story matters.

Happy Friday, Readers! This was our first Hot & Bothered episode published almost a year ago on our Patreon, right after we had finished reading Fourth Wing. (Please forgive our general Violet snarkiness.) We have a handful of others H&B episodes we'll be posting on random Fridays, let us know what you think and if you'd like to see more of these.--------------------------------------The theory: some readers can skim past a bad heroine for a vicarious romance with a shadow daddy, while others may DNF a book if they can't relate to the POV. We suspect this might account for the vast discrepancies in ratings in our beloved genre.What do you think? Can you overlook a Violet to get to a Xaden?

*Enjoy a preview of our new My Heroine Journey podcast:Are you ready for big mindset shifts, but don't know how to get started, let alone make it across the finish line?It's probably because you were never taught the real rules to the inner workings of the unconscious mind. Until now.Back for Part 2 of “Worldbuilding: How Your Mind Writes Your Story,” Megan and Kate are jumping right back into the foundational understandings you need to know to start building your dream kingdom from the inside out, including:The Universal Energetic Law of Focus and how to finally use it in your favor More prime directives of the unconscious mind and how to use them to write a new story A tried and true practice for starting to build the world you want from the inside out Scotland is calling! Join our APRIL 2026 Scotland Fantasy Tour HERE Want to explore the world of SJM with us? Become a PATRON and gain access to our entire Sarah J. Maas series collection! LISTEN to our new My Heroine Journey podcast and follow us here: APPLE / SPOTIFY / WEBSITE

A beloved literary spirit gets a modern reimaging, confronting her past, while carving out a future that is all her own. 

we're buying time for benn and i to get through ccc again so it's a bit of a goofy one this episode: we're covering the 2013 april fools game back alley satsuki. and folks? it's good.next time, we'll be covering all of world conquest zvezda plot. for yuri teatime we're covering something, probably of the devil episode 2.featuring co-hosts Benn Ends (@bennends.itch.io) and fen (@fenic.moe).support the show and get access to bonus episodes: https://www.patreon.com/cryingruleslink to the fate/moon archive new and improved schedule: http://moonarchive.art/schedulesection timestamps:intro - 0:00yuri teatime - 6:50teen apocalypse trilogy - 14:02back alley satsuki - chapter heroine sanctuary - 1:01:02outro - 2:03:25list of non type-moon works referencedgregg araki's teen apocalypse trilogythis episode carries content warnings for discussions of suicide, homophobia, & type-moon new year's stream.email us at cryingrulesactually@gmail.com with questions, comments, and compliments.cover art by Benn Ends, intro music by Benn Ends, remaining music from works covered.

Recorded in Paris at Muse & Heroine's Healing House, Mikaela MacLean (Director of Intuitive Skin Science at LILFOX) sits down with founder and beauty curator Janine Knizia for an insider conversation on skincare rituals, longevity, and next-generation ingredients. Janine shares how her early obsession with INCI lists led from a career in fashion to building Muse & Heroine, curating brands with uncompromising standards, and launching her own skincare line.They cover what it really takes to vet a skincare brand (and why it can take months), the daily rituals Janine refuses to skip, and the growing future of ocean-derived biotechnology, bio-fermented microorganisms, NAD, senescent “zombie cells,” and exosomes. Plus, lessons from the beauty industry, boundaries, integrity, and the personal “why” behind longevity.Stay tuned for an exciting collaboration announcement from Muse & Heroine, LILFOX + Mikaela MacLean...Highlights:How a true beauty curator evaluates brands and why vetting can take 3–6 monthsThe non-negotiable rituals that keep skin resilient: masking, sauna, and AM/PM routinesWhy Janine moved from fashion into wellness and beauty, and her stance against devaluing productsThe longevity conversation inside skincare: telomeres, mitochondria, senescent cellsWhat's next in skincare innovation: bioidentical exosomes and ocean-based ingredientsBoundaries in the beauty industry and choosing founders with integrityDesert island skincare picks, including the "iconic” LILFOX Flower Goo and Janine's Taffy Creme Longevity + biohacking framed as holistic lifestyle (not bro science)Muse & Heroine: website https://museandheroine.com/Instagram: @muse_and_heroine & @janinekniziaskincareLILFOX: @lilfox.beauty 

The end of the year can bring a lot of pressure to reflect, reset, and reinvent yourself all at once. Some people love the fresh-start energy of January, while others feel overwhelmed, resistant, or just plain tired. Wherever you fall on that spectrum, this episode is an invitation to step away from the noise and approach the transition into a new year in a way that actually feels supportive. In this short episode, I talk about why January isn't as powerful as we've been led to believe, why there's no single “right” way to do personal growth, and how you don't need resolutions, routines, or lifestyle overhauls to be worthy of change. I also guide you through a simple end-of-year reflection designed to help you close the year with honesty and move forward with clarity—without pressure or what might feel like performative positivity. In this episode, we explore: Why you don't have to begin the year with resolutions, intentions, or rigid routines in order to grow or change How January is just a date on the calendar, and why meaningful resets can happen at any point in the year The importance of questioning advice that claims there's only one correct way to heal, grow, or live well A simple end-of-year inventory that invites you to reflect on: The wins and moments where you showed up for yourself The lessons you learned about your needs, limits, and patterns The losses, endings, and disappointments that shaped your year  What you're ready to stop carrying forward into the next year Why focusing on how you want to feel can be more grounding than focusing on what you want to accomplish How choosing a few feeling-words for the year ahead can serve as a compass rather than a set of rules As you step into the new year, remember that you're not behind and you don't need to have everything figured out right away. You're allowed to move slowly, do things differently, and begin again whenever it feels right for you. Resources from this episode: Write Your Way Through It starts on January 21st! Come join us at Rythmia in January! The Heroine's Journey by Maureen Murdock Book recommendations: I love a good personal development book, and you do too, right? I've compiled a list of book recommendations, as mentioned in past episodes. Check out these amazing book recommendations here. Happy reading!   MSN is supported by:We love the sponsors that make our show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: andreaowen.com/sponsors/ Episode link: http://andreaowen.com/podcast/709 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

*Enjoy a preview of our new My Heroine Journey podcast:Do you find yourself ready for big change, but don't know why you still feel chained to same old habits, emotions, and beliefs? It's not your fault, you just haven't been taught the real rules to the world we live in.In this first part of their worldbuilding series, Megan and Kate lay down foundational understandings you need to know in order to conquer your world, including:The Universal Energetic Law of Free Will and why it's the key to freedomPrime directives of the unconscious mind and how they are dictating your lifeThe first step to choosing a new path and getting the rules of the world to work in your favor Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Worldbuilding Series!Support the showScotland is calling! Join the Scotland Fantasy Tour HERE Want to explore the world of SJM with us? Become a PATRON and gain access to our entire Sarah J. Maas series collection! LISTEN to our new My Heroine Journey podcast and follow us here: APPLE / SPOTIFY / WEBSITE

In this episode I share how I am setting goals for 2026 in my artistic practice that puts it back in my control, in a way you can do as well!Enter the Era Contemporary exhibition that Emma Grace Hapner is curating, The Secret Show, with a deadline of January 5: ⁠⁠ENTER THE SECRET SHOW⁠⁠Experience my FREE masterclass, Awakening the Heroine: aligning energy and action for artistic acclaim, flow, and fortune, by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CLICKING HERE! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for my coaching program, The Luminary Artist Academy, before December 1 for guaranteed inclusion in a NYC May exhibition I am curating, "Heroine." Sign up and learn more here: ⁠⁠LUMINARY ARTIST ACADEMY⁠⁠Meet with me for 15 minutes to make sure the program is right for you: ⁠⁠CALENDLY LINK⁠⁠Enter the Creative Heroine podcast contest! Winner gets a podcast interview. To enter, write a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts, screenshot it and send it to me on IG at @thecreativeheroines or email jlibor@jessicalibor.com . Read & subscribe to my substack, Painting the Realm of Forms: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://jessicalibor.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠And join our Discord here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/SB2YY5NrnF⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for my free upcoming masterclass here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/b95c65c94acc/manifesting-for-artists⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out all of our courses and coaching: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.thecreativeheroines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠You can explore my art here! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.jessicalibor.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Thanks for listening!!

*Enjoy a preview of our new My Heroine Journey podcast:Do you ever feel tired of living the same old story? Of fighting the same battles, losing to the same villain, never getting your eyes locked onto your happy ending?Are you ready to embody your own inner heroine so you can live the life written in your stars?If you said, “YES!”…Welcome to the journey.In today's episode, clinical hypnotherapists, intuitives, fantasy-storytelling lovers, and sisters, Megan and Kate, dive into:The reason they pivoted to this new pathwayThe importance of understanding neuroscience and Universal Laws in creating what you want The truth about your core heroine self and why you should want to be her NOWTheir own Heroine Code that has time and again helped them create their dream life, heal trauma wounds, and become their most authentic selves to dateSo if you're ready to create your dream life through mindset magic, inspired action, and self-love, then let's get the adventure started!What did YOU think of this week's read?Support the showScotland is calling! Join the Scotland Fantasy Tour HERE Want to explore the world of SJM with us? Become a PATRON and gain access to our entire Sarah J. Maas series collection! LISTEN to our new My Heroine Journey podcast and follow us here: APPLE / SPOTIFY / WEBSITE

It's not science fiction, but it has elements. It's not romance, but it touches the heart. It's not fantasy but don't be surprised if you encounter a werewolf or an elf. It's the new literary craze which is taking the book world by storm, driven by millions of fans on the social media platform TikTok. It's called romantasy.

In this episode, I speak with Jo Gamel, a multi-disciplinary artist based in Philadelphia about the history of the Rococo artistic movement, Versailles, and its surprising impact on Philadelphia, PA. We also discuss Gamel's own work and her inspiration and journey, and the upcoming exhibition The Secret Show.Explore Gamel's work here: https://www.jogamel.com/An her instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/jogamelEnter the Era Contemporary exhibition that Emma Grace Hapner is curating, The Secret Show, with a deadline of January 5: ⁠ENTER THE SECRET SHOW⁠Experience my FREE masterclass, Awakening the Heroine: aligning energy and action for artistic acclaim, flow, and fortune, by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠CLICKING HERE! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for my coaching program, The Luminary Artist Academy, before December 1 for guaranteed inclusion in a NYC May exhibition I am curating, "Heroine." Sign up and learn more here: ⁠LUMINARY ARTIST ACADEMY⁠Meet with me for 15 minutes to make sure the program is right for you: ⁠CALENDLY LINK⁠Enter the Creative Heroine podcast contest! Winner gets a podcast interview. To enter, write a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts, screenshot it and send it to me on IG at @thecreativeheroines or email jlibor@jessicalibor.com . Read & subscribe to my substack, Painting the Realm of Forms: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://jessicalibor.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠And join our Discord here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/SB2YY5NrnF⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for my free upcoming masterclass here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/b95c65c94acc/manifesting-for-artists⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out all of our courses and coaching: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.thecreativeheroines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠You can explore my art here! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.jessicalibor.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Thanks for listening!!

Victoria Carrington Chavez on The Power of Storytelling and HealingIn this episode of 'Women Making Moves,' host Amy Pons interviews the dynamic Victoria Carrington Chavez, a storytelling expert and award-winning entrepreneur.Together, they delve into the intricacies of owning and sharing one's story, the healing power of narrative, and the importance of embracing one's unique journey. Victoria shares her insights on overcoming victimhood and villainization, holding space for complexity, and the balance of love and power.Their conversation also touches on ancestral wounds, sovereignty in entrepreneurship, and the transformative energy shifts happening in the world. Listeners are encouraged to own their story with unapologetic boldness and to find peace and empowerment through storytelling.00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome00:40 The Power of Storytelling01:43 Personal Stories and Healing02:18 Embracing Complexity and Healing03:22 The Journey of Self-Discovery05:34 The Role of Ancestry and Lineage09:09 Releasing and Reclaiming Power13:06 Navigating Emotions and Choices19:17 Understanding Multidimensionality20:24 Understanding Archetypes and Astrology20:41 The Heroine's Journey and Self-Exploration21:41 Corporate Life to Coaching: A Personal Journey22:20 Ancestral Wisdom and Breaking Cycles23:02 Embracing Your Unique Brilliance27:03 The Power of Authenticity on Social Media33:15 Navigating Systemic Changes and Personal Growth35:19 Finding Peace in Times of Change36:26 Connecting and Supporting Each OtherFollow Victoria on Instagram and TikTok @victoriasharesstories; visit her website or book a story pour with V! You can also find her on LinkedIn.Thank you for tuning in to Women Making Moves, be sure to rate and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform and follow along on Instagram and Bluesky. Visit Amy at Unlock the Magic, and follow on Instagram and LinkedIn.Women Making Moves is for personal use only and general information purposes, the show host cannot guarantee the accuracy of any statements from guests or the sufficiency of the information. This show and host is not liable for any personal actions taken.

This is The Prog & Roll Radio Show 0:41 THE BEATLES Hey Bulldog 3:14 Yellow Submarine (1969) THE KINKS Arthur 5:23 Arthur or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire (1969) DAVID BOWIE Velvet Goldmine 3:13 Single B-Side (1975) THE BEATLES Happiness is a Warm Gun 2:43 White Album (1968) Prog & Roll www.Progrock.com 0:24 SCORPIONS Fly People Fly 5:04 Fly to the Rainbow (1974) BLACK SABBATH Snowblind 5:31 Vol. 4 (1972) IRON MAIDEN Quest for Fire 3:42 Piece of Mind (1983) IRON MAIDEN Hallowed Be Thy Name 7:13 The Number of the Beast (1982) Prog & Roll Radio Show with George and Nihal 0:35 GALAHAD Termination 7:15 Empires Never Last (2007) BIG BIG TRAIN Judas Unrepentant 7:17 English Electric (Part One) (2012) ARENA Painted Man 4:41 Contagion (2003) MARILLION Market Square Heroes 3:59 Single A-side (1983) PINK FLOYD The Trial 5:18 The Wall (1979) PROCOL HARUM A Rum Tale 3:24 Grand Hotel (1973) GENESIS Visions of Angels 6:51 Trespass (1970) STRAWBS Shine on Silver Sun 2:47 Hero and Heroine (1974) PINK FLOYD Brain Damage / Eclipse 5:26 The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST The Poet / After the Day 9:35 Barclay James Harvest & Other Short Stories (1971)

In this episode, Julie Dean Richards discusses the concept of the Heroine's Journey, contrasting it with the traditional Hero's Journey. She emphasizes the importance of understanding feminine archetypes and how they relate to women's experiences. Julie shares her personal journey of discovering her connection to Heavenly Mother and how it has transformed her life. The conversation also explores the phases of the Heroine's Journey, the significance of rituals, and the impact of community in supporting women on their paths of self-discovery and empowerment.Julie Dean Richards is on Instagram at: www.instagram.com/astrologicalattorneyHer podcast is Feminine AlchemyHer programs and retreats can be found at www.femininealchemyst.comJoin the In Her Image community at patreon.com/inherimagepodcast

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.What happens when a Regency-era duke accidentally time-travels to 2025 Chicago? In today's episode, Bryn Donovan joins me to talk about Her Time-Traveling Duke — a magically cozy, Chicago-set romcom that blends Regency charm, modern vibes, and a touch of science-meets-spellwork chaos.We chat about Bryn's life as a former greeting-card writer, why the Art Institute of Chicago feels like pure magic, how she built a low-stakes, lightly-magical world, and the romance titles she's loving right now. If you love Bridgerton, cozy fantasy, or romcoms with heart, spice, and smart heroines, this one's for you.

In this episode, I share the mic with Emma Grace Hapner, a NYC based artist and professor exploring feminine mythology in her signature pink paintings.Learn more about Emma Grace Hapner and see her work: CLICK HERE.Enter the Era Contemporary exhibition that Emma Grace Hapner is curating, The Secret Show, with a deadline of January 5: ENTER THE SECRET SHOWExperience my FREE masterclass, Awakening the Heroine: aligning energy and action for artistic acclaim, flow, and fortune, by ⁠⁠⁠⁠CLICKING HERE! ⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for my coaching program, The Luminary Artist Academy, before December 1 for guaranteed inclusion in a NYC May exhibition I am curating, "Heroine." Sign up and learn more here: LUMINARY ARTIST ACADEMYMeet with me for 15 minutes to make sure the program is right for you: CALENDLY LINKEnter the Creative Heroine podcast contest! Winner gets a podcast interview. To enter, write a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts, screenshot it and send it to me on IG at @thecreativeheroines or email jlibor@jessicalibor.com . Until December 1.Read & subscribe to my substack, Painting the Realm of Forms: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://jessicalibor.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠And join our Discord here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/SB2YY5NrnF⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for my free upcoming masterclass here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/b95c65c94acc/manifesting-for-artists⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out all of our courses and coaching: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.thecreativeheroines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠You can explore my art here! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.jessicalibor.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Thanks for listening!!

In this episode of ClickFunnels Radio, hosts Chris Cameron and Tyler Wicks sit down with Sarah Grace Allred, creator of Cash Cow Webinars and expert in psychology-driven marketing that consistently achieves 40%+ live conversion rates. Sarah shares her inspiring journey from filming webinars in her bathroom while her husband was in medical school to building a business rooted in understanding how women buy. She reveals her breakthrough discovery (the difference between the Hero's Journey and the Heroine's Journey) and explains her signature 2X + 10X Promise Framework, which helps marketers connect more authentically with female audiences by leading with achievable wins before revealing greater possibilities. Listeners can expect to learn how to apply gender psychology to marketing, craft emotionally resonant offers, and deliver experiences that drive not only sales but loyalty and word-of-mouth growth. https://victressglobal.comDM me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahgraceallred https://www.instagram.com/sarahgracelive   Get 3 months of ClickFunnels for only $99 at the link below, that's an 83% discount to get started! https://www.clickfunnels.com/cfradio

In this episode, I share strategies and mindset shifts for aligning your art with the high end art world.Experience my FREE masterclass, Awakening the Heroine: aligning energy and action for artistic acclaim, flow, and fortune, by ⁠⁠⁠CLICKING HERE! ⁠⁠⁠Enter the Creative Heroine podcast contest! Winner gets a podcast interview. To enter, write a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts, screenshot it and send it to me on IG at @thecreativeheroines or email jlibor@jessicalibor.com . Until December 1.Read & subscribe to my substack, Painting the Realm of Forms: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://jessicalibor.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠And join our Discord here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/SB2YY5NrnF⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for my free upcoming masterclass here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/b95c65c94acc/manifesting-for-artists⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out all of our courses and coaching: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.thecreativeheroines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠You can explore my art here! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.jessicalibor.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Thanks for listening!!

Do you ever get stuck in loops of overthinking, rumination, or obsessive thoughts that drain your joy and hijack your peace?This episode is for you.In today's solo teaching, Johanna breaks down a simple yet profoundly transformative tool: the Four Questions of Inquiry, inspired by Byron Katie's book, Loving What Is. This approach helps you untangle painful thoughts, soften emotional resistance, and free your nervous system from constant tension.This practice doesn't bypass your faith or your leadership. Instead, it creates mental clarity, emotional spaciousness, and spiritual receptivity, so you can hear God more clearly and move through life with softness, trust, and inner freedom.Johanna explains how inquiry works step-by-step using real examples, including the thought “I'm doing this wrong” and the everyday frustration of “my husband should pick up his socks.” You'll learn how to recognize the hidden thoughts that keep you tense, reactive, and disconnected, and how to release them so you can return to peace, presence, and feminine receptivity.She also shares how this process ties beautifully into the Heroine's Journey (the path of feminine wholeness), helping you move out of resistance, back into embodiment, and deeper into your divine assignment.Why certain thoughts feel “true” even when they're just mental noiseThe 4 Questions of Inquiry and how to use them with any painful thoughtHow to stop fighting reality, and why acceptance is not passivityThe difference between mental resistance and aligned actionHow rumination disconnects you from your feminine flow and presenceWhy inquiry creates emotional space for God's guidanceHow to use turnarounds to expand perspective and relieve sufferingHow inquiry can be used in relationships, marriage, business, and daily lifeHow inquiry supports the Heroine's Journey: wholeness, embodiment, and inner peace“You can be right or you can be at peace. Which one will you choose?”“Our thoughts are not truth — they're stories. Some lead to freedom, some lead to suffering.”“You can't rush inquiry. It's a softening into truth, not a performance.”“The moment you stop fighting reality, you free up enormous energy to receive what God is giving you.”FREE GIFTS

In this episode, I share a unique embodiment challenge to live each day for a week as if you were living your dream life as an artist. Experience my FREE masterclass, Awakening the Heroine: aligning energy and action for artistic acclaim, flow, and fortune, by ⁠⁠CLICKING HERE! ⁠⁠Enter the Creative Heroine podcast contest! Winner gets a podcast interview. To enter, write a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts, screenshot it and send it to me on IG at @thecreativeheroines or email jlibor@jessicalibor.com . Until December 1.Read & subscribe to my substack, Painting the Realm of Forms: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://jessicalibor.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠And join our Discord here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/SB2YY5NrnF⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for my free upcoming masterclass here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/b95c65c94acc/manifesting-for-artists⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out all of our courses and coaching: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.thecreativeheroines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠You can explore my art here! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.jessicalibor.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Thanks for listening!!

The solo discography of Prodigy is all over the place to put it lightly. A great debut, a surprisingly good sophomore and then a stretch of albums that go from love songs to dark, philosophical work with a healthy dose of illuminati talk throughout.TIMESTAMPS:Weekly Music Roundup - (1:20)Charlie:Tara Lilly - Quiet Nights (Early Takes)Treasure Bloom - Garden of HedonAlemeda - But What The Hell Do I Knowrum.gold - Is There Anybody Home? (Part 2)Topic Intro/Ben's Research House - (4:58)H.N.I.C. - (8:47)Return of the Mac - (14:39)H.N.I.C. Pt. 2 - (20:30)H.N.I.C. 3 - (25:00)The Bumpy Johnson Album - (31:20)Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation) - (35:36) The Hegelian Dialectic 2: The Book of Heroine - (42:24) Lighter Note - (52:09) Thanks for listening. Below are the Social accounts for all parties involved.Music - "Pizza And Video Games" by Bonus Points (Thanks to Chillhop Music for the right to use)HHBTN (Twitter & IG) - @HipHopNumbers5E (Twitter & IG) - @The5thElementUKChillHop (Twitter) - @ChillhopdotcomBonus Points (Twitter) - @BonusPoints92Other Podcasts Under The 5EPN:"What's Good?" W/ Charlie TaylorIn Search of SauceBlack Women Watch...5EPN RadioThe Beauty Of Independence

If you hear it will you come? This week we are diving into the psychological question of becoming more. We look at books with characters that answer a call to action, thus becoming more and often something new. As always our conversation goes down many a rabbit hole and leads to places meant to be explored.Send us a textSupport the showConnect with usInstagram: https://bit.ly/ourIGpageTikTok: https://bit.ly/ourTiktokpageIntro and Outro music, Sexy Fashion Beat from Coma-Media

It's been more than 30 years since Philip Pullman began the His Dark Materials series – and now, that story is coming to a close. Pullman's latest book The Rose Field follows the series' heroine Lyra Belacqua as she chases the same mystery she began unraveling as a child. In today's episode, Pullman joins NPR's Scott Detrow for a conversation that touches on organized religion, reimagining Lyra as an adult, and a central concept in the series – Dust.To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookofthedayLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In this episode, I share an actionable and energetic plan for imagining and creating your next level of success as an artist!Experience my FREE masterclass, Awakening the Heroine: aligning energy and action for artistic acclaim, flow, and fortune, by ⁠CLICKING HERE! ⁠Enter the Creative Heroine podcast contest! Winner gets a podcast interview. To enter, write a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts, screenshot it and send it to me on IG at @thecreativeheroines or email jlibor@jessicalibor.com . Until December 1.Read & subscribe to my substack, Painting the Realm of Forms: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://jessicalibor.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠And join our Discord here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/SB2YY5NrnF⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for my free upcoming masterclass here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://mailchi.mp/b95c65c94acc/manifesting-for-artists⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Check out all of our courses and coaching: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.thecreativeheroines.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠You can explore my art here! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.jessicalibor.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Thanks for listening!!

What happens when you no longer want the dream you worked for (capitalism anyone, lol)? When the worked-so-hard-for-thing stops singing back? And can we make the trade for something riskier and more honest—prioritizing resonance over metrics and presence over pace? In this ep, we dare to embrace changes not as failures, but as craft, maturity, and a detangling (rebellion as practice!) from our cultural, colonial conditioning.We also get a surprise visit multi-dimensional house-call from a beloved guide from seasons 1 & 2! An offering is made that doubles as ritual: cutting ties to shame, asking forgiveness, welcoming your spirit home, and helping others along the way.If you've outgrown a plan/a relationship/a situation that once felt perfect, this conversation gives you language, tools, and permission to pivot without apology. Subscribe & share with a friend who's at a crossroads, and leave a review to help more people find the jacuzzi-verse!

On October 8, 2025, the Alliance of Indigenous Nations (A.I.N.) issued a world's 1st Declaration and Ruling as an Internationally Recognized Tribunal declaring all mRNA COVID-19 vaccines biological and technological gene-editing weapons of mass destruction purposefully designed to eradicate all of humanity from earth.  This declaration was served upon the RCMP and National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa by a man named Chief William Denby, was emailed by our host Brad Wozny to President Trump, Vice President Vance, the Inspector General in Washington, and the magnitude for what was brought forward is thanks to the vigilance and fiery spirit of Freda Davis, a member of the Haida clan in the Pacific Northwest, who did not turn a blind eye to the evil.  She and her husband Elvis Davis, a Chief and also a member of the Haida clan, join our host Brad Wozny to share their gut-wrenching tale of tragedy among this sobering triumph to help save our children and stop the slaughter of mankind.  Listen and Share this powerful story... ⚡️Download & Leverage the Historic A.I.N. Tribunal Declaration with Evidence and Ruling at

This week on the Free Birth Society Podcast, I sit down with Miki Agrawal—serial entrepreneur, cultural disruptor, and unapologetic creative force.From opening New York City's first gluten-free, farm-to-table pizza restaurant, to founding THINX, to launching TUSHY and Hiro Diapers, Miki has built a life out of challenging taboos and reimagining the everyday. Together, we explore what it means to know who you are and stay steadfast in that truth—even in the face of cancel culture.Miki shares how she rose above public attack, what female entrepreneurial life has really demanded of her, and why she's so passionate about rethinking the most basic human habits—from ditching toilet paper in favor of water, to creating the first plastic-eating mushroom-spore diaper.This is a conversation about creativity, courage, and the heroine's adventure of living boldly, building fearlessly, and standing firmly in who you are.✨Are you a sovereign birth professional and want to be listed? Or would you like to connect to sovereign birth professionals near you? Visit https://Matribirthdirectory.com✨Donate to the podcast here. If you want to connect with Miki, follow her on Instagram here, and you can find her website here.Find more from Emilee on Instagram, YouTube and the Free Birth Society website.Disclaimer: Free Birth Society, LLC of North Carolina shares personal and educational stories and experiences related to freebirth and holistic care. This content is not medical advice, and we are not a licensed midwifery practice. Testimonials reflect individual experiences; results may vary. For services or scheduling, contact info@freebirthsociety.com. See full disclaimer at freebirthsociety.com/youtubeterms.

Bill rambles about 90's heroine sheik, roller coaster malfunctions, and heli-hogging. Squarespace: Head to www.squarespace.com/BURR for a free trial, and when you’re ready to launch, use OFFER CODE: (BURR) to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Hims: To get simple, online access to personalized, affordable care for ED, Hair Loss, Weight Loss, and more, visit www.Hims.com/BURR

Karen Briscoe is the creator of the transformative "5 Minute Success" concept.  Her books, Real Estate Success in 5 Minutes a Day: Secrets of a Top Agent Revealed, Commit to Get Leads:  66 Day Challenge®, and Consult to Sell:  66 Day Challenge® offer a combination of information and inspiration delivered through memorable stories. Her most recent book, Flip Time / Love Life is a Heroine's Journey tale about loving the life you have while you create and co-create the life of your dreams.  Karen is the host of the “5 Minute Success” podcast, which has ranked #1 on Overcast's most recommended in the business category.  The show has an amazing array of guests who achieve success at a high level.   Karen is also a frequent guest on other podcasts that focus on entrepreneurship, success, and motivation, as well as real estate-related topics.  Karen is the principal owner of the Huckaby Briscoe Conroy Group (HBC) with SERHANT. The HBC Group has been recognized by the Wall Street Journal as one of the 250 Top Realtor® teams in the United States. For over 4 decades, HBC Group has sold thousands of homes valued at over $2 billion.   In this episode, Karen discusses: Success Story of Karen Commit to Get Leads Every business and organization uses leads of some kind. Commit every day to doing something to help build your leads. Consult to Sell Consulting helps people through a process to figure out how you can help solve their pain points.  Connect to Build and Grow Systemization is required to create scale and leverage people, technology, and knowledge that is more sustainable than what you can do yourself.  Success Thinking, Activities, and Vision Affirmations, manifestation, belief, and visions are wonderful and necessary tools - but they are driven by actions taken.  Sweet Spot of Success "If I can do it, you can too. Love the life you have as you create and co-create the life of your dreams."- Karen Briscoe   *5 Minute Success - Listener Giveaway* 7 Day Quick Start Real Estate Success:  5minutesuccess.com/7-day-quick-start  Commit to Get Leads & Consult to Sell 66 Day Calendar:  5minutesuccess.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/commit-to-get-leads-66-day-calendar-v3.pdf  Flip Time:  5minutesuccess.com/ftll-audio-book-resources  Exploratory Session (30 minutes) Coach with Karen:  5minutesuccess.com/work-with-karen   About the Podcast Join host Karen Briscoe each month to learn how you can achieve success at a higher level by investing just 5 minutes a day! Tune in to hear powerful, inspirational success stories and expert insights from entrepreneurs, business owners, industry leaders, and real estate agents that will transform your business and life. Karen shares a-ha moments that have shaped her career and discusses key concepts from her book Real Estate Success in 5 Minutes a Day: Secrets of a Top Agent Revealed. Here's to your success in business and in life!   Connect with Karen Briscoe: Website:  www.5MinuteSuccess.com & https://hbcgroupre.com/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/5minutesuccess/ Facebook Page: @5MinuteSuccess & Karen.Briscoe Instagram:  5_Minute_Success & Karen.Briscoe LinkedIn Page: linkedin.com/in/karenbriscoe & linkedin.com/company/5-minute-press YouTube: Karen Briscoe youtube.com/channel/UCHhcRljOELROCwKKmIsEttQ   5 Minute Success Links  Learn more about Karen's book, Real Estate Success in 5 Minutes a Day Karen also recommends Moira Lethbridge's book "Savvy Woman in 5 Minutes a Day." Subscribe to the 5 Minute Success Podcast   Spread the love and share the secrets of 5 Minute Success with your friends and colleagues!   Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.