A few years ago I discovered online philosopher, Jason Silva. He was making these great bite-sized videos called Shots Of Awe which offered a fresh perspective on life. In them he talks about everything from heartbreak to inspiration, wonder to trauma and more. I loved them but my favourites were always the ones about creativity.
I was hungry for inspiring words. Being a creative can be stressful, uncertain, an emotional rollercoaster and, at times, very lonely. When I sought out these videos I was struggling with my book and acting work had slowed. I felt adrift but though Jason’s videos were a life raft I desperately wanted long-form material that spoke specifically about creativity. However, I couldn’t find any so in typical Osho-style, I decided to create the conversation myself. They say, if you can’t find the product you’re looking for, create it, so that’s what I did.
At the beginning, I was incredibly nervous, thinking who am I to do this? But despite my fears, I felt compelled to carry on.
I advertised the sessions on my socials and one Sunday morning in late December, I started a live stream on what has become one of my favourite subjects – Creativity.
Thankfully, viewers showed up, some I knew, many I didn’t. My first topic was Rejection. Given all creatives face this, it felt like the realest place to start. The conversation flowed and before I knew it, I was getting the sixty minute countdown and was signing off, promising to return the following week with another topic.
I was relieved and delighted with how it had gone and what an uplifting conversation it had been (a far cry from my days on Periscope! If you know, you know!). I could also see how much I had learned from the session.
I continued this weekly commitment for over a year, with the odd break and ended up running 51 sessions, the last being on Inspiration In Isolation at the start of the first UK lockdown.
After, I felt a real sense of achievement and loved the community of creatives that sprung out of it. After a few months, I realised, the conversation didn’t have to be over if I didn’t want it to be and decided to turn it into a podcast.
Initially I planned to just use recordings of the original streams but then I realised it was better to just start again.
And so, over the last six months I’ve been putting together Creative Sauce with Andi Osho, a podcast series about life as a creative. It’ll also feature listener comments and bitesize advice from some amazingly talented folks like Roisin Conaty, Paapa Essiedu, Thaddea Graham and Richard Osman.
I can’t wait to share it with you and hopefully recreate the community from those live stream days!
If you want to check out Creative Sauce, it’s available on all major podcast players such as Apple Podcast, Spotify and Google Podcasts (if I’ve missed one, let me know!).
And if you love it and want to support, head to Patreon to become a friend of the show. Remember to subscribe and review – it makes such a difference and is very, very much appreciated.
My debut novel, Asking For A Friend is out now – order from WHSmith, Amazon, Waterstones or support your local bookshop at Bookshop UK
