Last week, Chelsea Pippin Mizzi introduced us to the idea of shadow work.

This week, we're getting practical.

If you've ever wondered why sharing your writing feels so vulnerable, why play feels "unproductive," or why perfectionism keeps stealing the joy out of creating...this conversation is for you.

Chelsea shares practical ways to begin exploring your own shadow, why making bad art might be one of the healthiest things you can do as a writer, and how curiosity is what unlocks creativity.

We also talk about why you don't have to become an expert in psychology to understand yourself, why writers need a creative practice that exists outside of publishing, and how some of the parts we most want to hide are often the ones that make our work feel most alive.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The biggest fears people have about trying shadow work
• Why play isn't a distraction from your writing
• How to build a creative practice that isn't tied to productivity
• What happens when you're afraid to share your work publicly
• Why making "bad art" is actually a good thing
• The difference between accepting your shadow versus trying to "fix" yourself
• A simple journaling exercise you can try today to begin exploring your own shadow
• Why curiosity is one of the most powerful creative tools you have

About Chelsey:

Chelsey Pippin Mizzi is an author, tarot reader, and wellbeing practitioner supporting writers, artists and small business owners to unblock and unlock creative magic.

Her books include The Tarot Spreads Yearbook - a #1 Amazon bestseller; Tarot for Creativity - runner-up for Best Tarot Book at the 2024 TABI International Caromancy Awards; and most recently, The Shadow Path. Her writing and tarot work have appeared in New York Magazine, Literary Hub, Craft Magazine and other titles.

She also publishes The Shuffle, a bestselling Substack exploring the intersection of spirituality and creativity through weekly journaling sessions, tarot-led interviews with creatives, and regular insights on creative living.

Her Substack: https://theshuffle.substack.com/p/weekly-tarot-journaling

Chelsey's IG: https://www.instagram.com/pipcardstarot/

When you hear the words shadow work, what comes to mind?

For a lot of people, it's trauma. Darkness. Digging up painful memories.

That's not the whole story.

In this episode, I sit down with my dear friend Chelsey Pippin Mizzi to talk about the surprising connection between shadow work and creativity. Chelsey explains how our "shadow" isn't just the parts of ourselves we don't like—it's often the parts we've simply hidden away. Our curiosity. Our voice. Our weirdness. Our creativity.

We talk about why perfectionism keeps so many writers stuck, how writer's block might actually be pointing you toward something important, and why your most authentic work often comes from the parts of yourself you've learned to keep quiet.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What shadow work actually is (and why it's probably not what you think)
• The connection between shadow work and the creative process
• Why writers often hide their most original ideas
• How perfectionism and people-pleasing show up on the page
• The relationship between shadow work and writer's block
• Why authenticity creates stronger stories
• The difference between writing what people want versus writing what you need to say

This is Part One of our conversation!

About Chelsey:

Chelsey Pippin Mizzi is an author, tarot reader, and wellbeing practitioner supporting writers, artists and small business owners to unblock and unlock creative magic.

Her books include The Tarot Spreads Yearbook - a #1 Amazon bestseller; Tarot for Creativity - runner-up for Best Tarot Book at the 2024 TABI International Caromancy Awards; and most recently, The Shadow Path. Her writing and tarot work have appeared in New York Magazine, Literary Hub, Craft Magazine and other titles.

She also publishes The Shuffle, a bestselling Substack exploring the intersection of spirituality and creativity through weekly journaling sessions, tarot-led interviews with creatives, and regular insights on creative living.

You can find Chelsey's Substack here: https://theshuffle.substack.com/p/weekly-tarot-journaling

And her Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/pipcardstarot/

And her podcast, The Shuffle, here: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ihjj08uB6h1NRSlO6iHiI?si=d65ff24be590473d

In this episode, I'm joined by author Hannah Callan to talk about writing in the margins of life, and building an author platform.

We discuss what it looks like to pursue creative dreams while juggling work, family, social media, overwhelm, and all the other responsibilities that come with being a human being.

We also dive into author platform-building and some of the biggest misconceptions writers have about social media. Hannah shares how she built an audience online, how that audience helped her during the querying process, and why building a platform doesn't have to mean living on Instagram 24/7.

We talk about:

• Why writers often have an all-or-nothing mindset around creativity
• The myth of needing huge blocks of uninterrupted time to write
• Building an author platform without losing yourself in the process
• The difference between an audience and a community
• Writing during busy seasons of life
• Working with fragmented creativity instead of fighting it
• Hannah's querying journey, including agent requests that came through social media

If you've ever found yourself thinking, "I'll write when life calms down," this episode is for you.

About Hannah:

Hannah Callan is a jack of many creative trades—she spent ten years working as a graphic designer, ran her own wedding photography business, and received her bachelor's degree in Editing and Publishing. Now she's an agented author with her first novel out on submission to publishers, and a language nerd with linguistics research up for publication with Cambridge University Press. Above all, she believes stories to be one of the most powerful tools we have in passing on the things we've learned and building stronger communities.

Hannah's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hannahcallanwrites/

Hannah's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hannahcallanwrites

Hannah's Newsletter: https://substack.com/@hannahcallanwrites

Hannah's Website: https://www.hannahcallan.com/