Noize PolluZion Podcast

Ep60 Julia Roberts
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[00:00:00] Jasmine Castillo: Today's guest is Julia Roberts of decoding creativity.com. She helps writers learn more about how they think creatively so they can understand their best approach to the age old problem of writer's block. This is useful for all people who approach creativity, especially when their stakes are high. She has a master in science creativity and has learned how to think free and help others do the same.

[00:00:27] Please give a warm welcome to ever. Julia Roberts. I would like to

[00:00:33] apologize in advance for the muddy recording and microphone difficulties.

[00:00:41] Thank you. And welcome, Julia. Um, I am so glad to have you here. And I, like I said, I was, I'm honored to have you as a guest because, um, you know, this is something that I know a lot of people.

[00:00:54] Struggled with, I know they've probably had it in their mind, just rambling around in there somewhere. [00:01:00] Some of the things that they've, they have encountered in their lives and they really want to express it through writing and, and their creativeness, um, creative thought and so forth. So I like to also know a little bit more about you before we get started for the listeners to know who Julia is.

[00:01:18] On the news for like yourself, you you're doing your books. You have, because it three books that you have be published. Mm-hmm , mm-hmm so like that in that aspect, like how did that person get to that point? So I wanted to kind of do the, the leveling, the plane of, uh, that we're all human and we have our journeys and these are normal walks of life.

[00:01:42] People who have beautiful journeys and how they got from there to there. It's just sometimes left out omitted from people, Photoshopping their, you know,

[00:01:54] Julia Roberts: their, uh, their histories, they, their history go back out and erase the struggle, you know, I think, um, [00:02:00] yeah,

[00:02:00] Jasmine Castillo: just very important for us to know that. So,

[00:02:03] Julia Roberts: yeah, I think that's interesting.

[00:02:04] Yeah. Great. Thank you for sharing that. Oh, you're welcome.

[00:02:07] Jasmine Castillo: Thank you. Thank you for. Uh, listening into my, uh, listening to my podcast too. Uh, I felt, feel honored that you actually enjoyed listening to some of my previous guests. And I'm glad that you were able to sign up with me cause, um, it's an honor. It, sometimes I feel like I'm like, am I getting anyone, anyone out there?

[00:02:26] Hello? You know, I feel like an echo is like responding back. Like it's just me talking, but, um, yeah, I love when they have that option where you can look back and. For the wrap of the two, 2021, where they actually showed you how many people actually downloaded your podcast. And I'm like, oh, I always expect you maybe two for the whole year.

[00:02:47] But I got almost a thousand people that downloaded my podcast. So yeah, to me, that's like the first, like first year on. And I'm like, holy cow, and this is all organic. I just like word of mouth, [00:03:00] social media. and, um, I didn't go for those people who do like those iTune managers. Oh, boost your, your listens and stuff like that.

[00:03:09] So I want people to actually enjoy what they listen to and not just be pushed into it. So

[00:03:14] Julia Roberts: mm-hmm, good. Good for you. Cool. Yeah. I used to have a, um, podcast on a thing that was called a workplace. Network. It was part of their health benefits that they could tune into this podcast channel and get, um, mental health.

[00:03:29] Anyway. So I talked about parenting anding. Yeah, it was in relation to my, uh, second book motherhood to otherhood and I did great mom radio. So that was all managed and stuff. That, that was, I don't have any idea how many people listen to, to it. I just, I just did it . I mean, in that, in that case, I got paid, they were having doctors and things like that.

[00:03:50] Oh, okay. Okay. Wow. Wow. Yeah,

[00:03:53] Jasmine Castillo: well that's um, so was that part of, uh, you starting with something and it just kind of rolled up into, [00:04:00] Hey, we want you to be on this radio

[00:04:03] Julia Roberts: yep. You absolutely. Absolutely. You, you do what you wanna do. People see it in the world and it's surprising what kinds of things it turns up mm-hmm but start with doing with what you wanna do, because then the things that come your way are great, you know, are things you want.

[00:04:17] Jasmine Castillo: Exactly. Yeah. And I was like, I didn't anticipate doing a podcast. I'm like, I'm a voiceover artist. Like, why would I wanna think of doing that? So. It's it's just, uh, a little bit, but I was like, I have this experience and it felt like it was just the right thing to do. I'm in the voiceover industry, I'm working with customers who are, who are business owners, who are looking for a voice.

[00:04:43] to, you know, kind of be the, the peacock for their company where they're able to deal with the competition and have a voice behind their commercial, or, um, there's a lot of YouTube creators who wanna have a person who was a narrator. I I've done a couple of those mm-hmm so [00:05:00] they wanted to have something unique and I'm thinking, well, I can't reach every single customer.

[00:05:06] And I just started the industry and I was a DJ. So I'm like, why don't I. Spread my options of working with others who have gone through the same journey as I have, who are struggling with businesses, who, who were previous, who are currently artists or musicians who are, you know, so I just thought that was a kind of an interesting thing.

[00:05:28] It just fell on my lap. So, yeah.

[00:05:31] Julia Roberts: Yeah. I mean, even Hollywood people will say that to you. they had no idea what they were getting involved in. They knew it was cool. They liked it, but they didn't know it was gonna be whatever it was, Harry Potter or, you know, whatever major mm-hmm sleeper hit. You know, people are always surprised by this is why when, uh, my clients say, you know, I, I wonder if it's any good and they do.

[00:05:53] Everybody writes who writes wonders if it's any good. But I say to them, you know, who are you to judge? I mean, it's absolutely arrogant to think, [00:06:00] you know, what the world needs, what your talent. Because it's also tap and stance that you just write what you want. You get it as good as you can get it, you get professional help to edit it.

[00:06:10] You get professional help to get it out in the world. And it has a, it has a life that you obvi you gave it. But after that, it started living, it started just marching along and being itself in the world. And so you really can't tell what it is you're writing and how far it will go or what it'll become, you know, you really, it, it's almost arrogant to assume, you know, your own talent or to that you can tell if you're any good.

[00:06:36] Right. You

[00:06:36] Jasmine Castillo: know, mm-hmm yeah. I've had a couple people who've come across me and say, you know, um, behind the scenes of my videos that I have with my guests, I clip that completely out because it's just like a longwinded story about my past. It all depends. If the, if it's hitting on the subject of the discussion during the, the recording.

[00:06:57] But, um, a lot of people would say, oh my [00:07:00] gosh, you should write a book. My, your life is like, so amazing how it just has so many different levels. You seem so, you know, all this inspiration and I'm like, I don't even know how to begin. There's so many layers of me and how I've literally, I felt like I've gone to the Chrysalis stage, like four or five times.

[00:07:23] Julia Roberts: you know what I mean, Uhhuh. Yeah. But you know, Chrysalis is a really good, uh, metaphor. One of the things that people don't realize about like, oh, like an inch worm or a worm going into the cocoon is they don't just like sprout legs or wings. Like we were talking about earlier. They literally, um, just turn to goo.

[00:07:38] Mm. And then they reform into the butterfly. Right. Mm-hmm so. If you think that, you know, if we think of a Chrysalis in our own lives, we think of like, just wrapping up in a blanket or something, or like just giving up for a day or a week or a year, whatever it is watching a lot of TV, whatever, we're, whatever we think of as a Chrysalis, but you literally have to allow yourself [00:08:00] to go to go.

[00:08:01] And we don't really do that. We really kind of protect ourselves in our current form. Right because we feel like we now we're really gonna lose it if we go to go. And obviously that's a metaphor, but , you're not gonna go to go physically, but you do have to let whoever you are go in the Chrysalis before something new forms.

[00:08:22] And so just, I think a Chrysalis is a really great, uh, metaphor, but I think we underestimate the power of that Chrysalis. There's like this pressure and, you know,

[00:08:32] Jasmine Castillo: exactly. No, no, you're, you're spot on on that. Absolutely. I really wanna hit on the subjects that you had here. Cause I think you said some of the topics you wanted to discuss on was, um, creativity, wishing for creative career and doubting yourself writer's block.

[00:08:50] Oh my gosh. I think I had it like I'm having it now and I'm having it like forever, but. I've always wanted to write a book and I felt like it's gonna be one of those [00:09:00] 2000 pages scenarios. Cause I just have so much to say, but I don't even know where to begin. So like, um, and other things were on how to create with more ease and satisfaction.

[00:09:12] So I have just, I can probably hit off on some of the questions just to get to know a little bit more who Julia Roberts is. So tell us exactly who is Julia Roberts.

[00:09:26] Julia Roberts: Well, we all know the other one, the famous true Robert. So I won't go there. Um, and I won't make that joke. Right. Cause everybody that joke

[00:09:33] Jasmine Castillo: you have a resemblance

[00:09:34] Julia Roberts: for sure.

[00:09:35] Oh, for sure. It's all done with mirrors.

[00:09:38] Jasmine Castillo: yes. Cause the Photoshopping and what we just discussed, like everybody does it. I think I even do it too. Like the extra filter to make my freckles disappear. So yeah.

[00:09:48] Julia Roberts: Can you make me look like Julia Roberts? that's interesting. You never

[00:09:52] Jasmine Castillo: know with all this technology, they can make anybody look.

[00:09:54] I could probably look like, um, Oh my gosh. Uh, one of those models, those [00:10:00] catwalk models, I probably lose about 70 pounds and just look perfect. So now I'm perfect. The way I am.

[00:10:07] Julia Roberts: Yeah. I mean, they like me, but I would've to lose like 30 years. I think 30 years anyway. Um, so you know what, I'm a writer. I've been a writer my whole wide life.

[00:10:18] I mean, I, I just was like writing stories when I was young and my mother left typewriter around for us to write the great American novel. By the time we were whatever 13, but I grew up and I felt like nobody's gonna, I wasn't allowed to. Like the gatekeepers were really strong. And I think a lot of writers feel that way you're not allowed to write.

[00:10:38] Um, or nobody cares about what you wanna say. Mm-hmm um, or you don't have anything important to say it's all, it's all, uh, self-worth kind of dialogue in your head, but supposedly I'm a writer. Uh, I mean, I was trained and brought up to think I was a writer, so, um, I was trying to write. Throughout my twenties and [00:11:00] thirties.

[00:11:00] Um, and I was doing marketing work, which I, I, I worked as a brainstormer for about 25 years where I would just be called in for ideas on any given topic. Um, American express Hines foods, Purina. Um, Avon, I mean, burger king, Kentucky, Fri chicken, diet Coke, like a million clients, a million clients. And they weren't my clients.

[00:11:27] I worked for agencies. So I'd go in, they'd gimme a brief and we'd brainstorm for two hours. What, um, and what I didn't understand about myself was, um, That I'm really an ideator. I mean, I just thought, why does anybody else go into an office after this? My God, you have to take phone calls. This is fun. You know what I mean?

[00:11:44] There's pizza. There's M andm there's Frisbees. I don't understand why, why you guys just keep going off to your offices? Why wouldn't you just stay here like me, you know, I would just stay in the conference room all day long and different people would come in and gimme a brief and we'd just shoot idea.

[00:11:58] But, so we [00:12:00] tend to think that whatever we do well, everybody must do well, like right. Cuz it doesn't cost us a lot. So, um, anyway that I was doing that for a lot of years and I still was trying to write on the side and I was one of those people that, um, everybody knew I was creative, but nobody could figure out why I didn't make progress.

[00:12:17] Hm. I do something great. You know, I have great ideas. Why didn't they come into? Because I was stuck in that ideation phase and that, that strength just got stronger because of my profession. And wasn't until I got my master's in creativity at Buffalo state college, that I started to see creative thinking as this cycle, um, which starts with clarify, I ideate, develop and implement, clarify, I ideate, develop and implement that's the cycle.

[00:12:46] And that cycle is, um, big and small. So you'll do it just to name a chapter, or it'll be the big cycle that it takes to write a book, you know, Clarify idea, develop and implement. Right. But, um, [00:13:00] but for me, my strength was obviously ideation, but what I didn't realize until I was assessed and there are a lot of creativity assessments in the world, uh, the science of creativity is not new.

[00:13:10] It's been around since the sixties and even the fifties. So it's not like this new hot thing. It's just people don't talk about it that much. Mm-hmm anyway, I got assessed and I realized that what I don't do well is clarify. So I just would do an idea cuz I loved it and I loved all my ideas and I wouldn't like clarify what it would take or if, if I could finish it or if I had the help I needed, you know, so a few months later I'd be like, Hmm, onto the next idea because ideas were cheap to me, but I didn't realize how much time I was just not, I was just wasting because I wasn't clarifying my ideas.

[00:13:45] So when I saw. Score, literally like clarify I eight develop, implement, you know, , um, I started to understand that I just needed to, um, adopt clarifying tools Hmm. And use them [00:14:00] and use them when they feel awkward. Use them when I don't think I want to use them anyway, because they pushed me to clarify my ideas and.

[00:14:09] And choose, which is very hard for a big ideator. I hated to choose, but you have to choose. So I started like, instead of just sort of going in a spiral, I started going up, you know, like I built on something and built on something like we were talking about. Yeah. Before, um, you know, you do something like you put a book in the world and other opportunities come to you, you know?

[00:14:30] So, but if you don't put that book in the world, the fact that you had that idea. Does not create a storm. You know what I mean? Nobody really shows up and goes. That was a cool idea. Could I invite you to speak at our thing or, you know, be on our radio show people, um, radio show. That was back when I was on radio show.

[00:14:48] yeah, me too. But, um, so you put a book in the world and you staked, you staked a territory. My first book was, um, one of my first traditionally published book was [00:15:00] motherhood to other. And so that put me on great mom radio, which, um, was a radio show on, uh, in, in, it was called a workplace network. Mm-hmm so it was, they got it on their computers was before the word podcast existed.

[00:15:15] I think they got it on their computers and it was part of their, um, health benefits. They could listen in on. Relationships or cancer or, you know, carpal tunnel syndrome or whatever. And I talked about parenting in the workplace, like, you know, that work life balance. So I would say for me, what I am now is activated because I've figured out how to take these great ideas, figured out which ones will work for me and my life.

[00:15:40] I've also sort of just grown into. Being okay with exactly who I am. Like, I don't have to do anything that doesn't fit who I actually am. I don't have to aspire to something else. I can just fit this person and that'll keep getting, you know, bigger, but mm-hmm so that's who I am. I guess I'm a coach. Um, [00:16:00] I was certified as a coach and then went on to learn about creativity, coaching.

[00:16:04] nice. Nice. Well, I feel like that was like, the coaching kind of gave me peace between the ears. Like I could just settle my mind. Mm-hmm and the creativity coaching kind of gave me this purpose. Like, why do I care about coaching? But then I, the masters came the third and it just gave me this power tool that I felt was worth bringing to writers and using myself.

[00:16:23] So. Oh,

[00:16:24] Jasmine Castillo: wow. Well, I have an additional question after, after I've asked all the other questions, because I think there. Definitely other people who probably have the same ideation, you know, the goals that they have, that they like to do the same thing that you are. Oh, so now I, I think there's another question that I I'm just gonna throw out there because I think this is, um, cuz everything that we, we wanna be, we want to become always starts.

[00:16:51] There's like little seedling planted in our minds as children. So what, besides, you know, [00:17:00] the, I love that the, you have. The little typewriter is everywhere where you can have that. There's almost like a sibling, like a little sprout in your mind and, and idea as, as to what you wanted to be or give you that idea that you be great in something fruitfully available for you in the household.

[00:17:18] But, um, I know everybody doesn't start off to be like, oh, I see a typewriter. I'm gonna be a writer. Um, right. But what that was that something that you had to drive for? Or was there something else that had caught your interest in the process of your journey to becoming. Um, more involved in as a creative writer with your books and your, um, getting the masters in, create creativity and science.

[00:17:45] Um, so there's always, someone starts somewhere. What was that thing that not everybody knows about?

[00:17:53] Julia Roberts: Hmm. To be honest, I was, I can remember watching be witched as a kid. Oh, cool. And friends. Yeah. So [00:18:00] Bewitched had her husband, Darren worked in advertis. And he always had to come up with ideas and sometimes, um, what was her name?

[00:18:08] Samantha would have to help him with ideas cuz he didn't understand women um but I do remember feeling like, you know, I would like to be an advertising copywriter because of that show. And when I went to interview for that in my twenties, it was not really possible cuz it was just so full of itself and masculine and right.

[00:18:28] Which marketing was much more feminine. In terms of who got those jobs and things, because it was, it was the stepchild of advertising, which then shifted in my lifetime marketing, got more dollars. Advertising got fewer dollars, you know, but, but that's how that was. And that's what led me to becoming a brainstormer in terms of, um, and I, you know, I did that a lot of years, it was profitable and good thing for me to do in terms of being a writer.

[00:18:51] I just think I always had, um, maybe it was just pressure from my mom. but, um, you, how you, sometimes you [00:19:00] have a pressure for your parents to do something and it grows up and it, you grow up and it fits and sometimes you grow up and I think about age 28, you think, what the heck am I doing? You know, , why am I, I didn't wanna be a doctor , you know?

[00:19:12] Um, so I think, I, I do think a lot of people reassess it about age 28, where they just. I am on the wrong track or I am so where I wanna be or whatever. So mm-hmm, , I don't know if it was just pressure from her, but I do know I had a lot of story ideas that I wanted to write. So I, to be honest, I wanted to get published that, that little sort of.

[00:19:33] Sliver of fame and validation. I really, um, and that I say sliver, cuz you don't, nobody knows what writers look like or care. Very few writers are actually famous PD, Eastman, James Patterson, very few, you know, mm-hmm um, so it's just that validation maybe too. I think a lot of us create validation of our creativity.

[00:19:53] Yeah.

[00:19:54] Jasmine Castillo: And that's, that's one way of doing it. Um, I know that. Our parents like to live [00:20:00] vicariously through us and always have these hopes and dreams of us becoming, you know, that doctor, that lawyer, that you know, or handling the, the family business after they're gone kind of a scenario. Sure. Mm-hmm so I kind of had a little hit tidbits of those different things that ideas that kind of came across.

[00:20:19] Like I just mentioned. How children are encouraged. I'm saying encouraged softly. Cause I know there's a lot of pressure involved in, in our parents telling their children,

[00:20:31] Julia Roberts: you know, exposure though, too. Yeah. I mean, you know, you see your mom at a computer these days. My mother was an electric typewriter day after day, or you, you know, she's writing stuff.

[00:20:41] It's just, it's also just by, um, example, mm-hmm think of all the. if we looked at a Hollywood, um, like starring list or whatever the IMDB, what percentage of those people had parents in the industry? A lot 80, maybe, you know what I mean? The easiest way to get a part into play is to have a [00:21:00] father who had a part in a play, you know?

[00:21:02] Jasmine Castillo: Exactly. Yeah.

[00:21:03] Julia Roberts: I noticed that a lot. So that's, there's an inherent talent thing that people assume talent is, is inherit. So that's, you know, so that's there and then there's the encouragement. And just bringing down that gate, the gate is high. The, you know, the gatekeepers are high, high, and mighty. So if you, somebody can bring down that gate a little bit, that's a big deal.

[00:21:27] Jasmine Castillo: Oh yeah, it is. Absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah. That's. I will definitely keep that in my pocket of, uh, more additional information that I need to teach my children. Um, cuz I know my son, like you said, he it's an encouragement. He sees me doing voice overing. Yeah. And he actually is like, you know what?

[00:21:45] They have a very high. Level of interest in the voiceover industry that they're looking specifically for kid voiceover artists and I'm, and he does this wonderful, different types of character voices, because I that's how I used to teach him [00:22:00] when I was reading books to him, I would do the voice of the kid and the father and the mother and the duck and whoever who else is in

[00:22:06] Julia Roberts: there that parent, that everybody wishes they had so the parent was like, and then the lady went down the street, you know?

[00:22:13] Yes. it's. Put me to sleep already. I

[00:22:18] Jasmine Castillo: think they had the right idea of like, if I, if I had those voices, they're like, read it again, read it again. I'm like, oh man, what did I do to, to deserve this now should have had that monotone voice when I, when I thought of it. So, yeah. But yeah, for sure. That's um, thank you.

[00:22:35] And, uh, I know that's something that a lot of people are always questioning about, you know, so I know some of the listeners that are listening to this podcast, they are wanting to know. How did these people become from, you know, from zero to hero in other people's eyes and even to themselves as in their, you know, growing and being, having the trial and fail and success your goals.

[00:22:58] So, [00:23:00] uh, but I wanted to also know, like, are, was there any other resources that you, that really helped you on your journey that you can,

[00:23:08] Julia Roberts: as a writer, it really does help to have a day job. I mean, I think people say that. You know, don't quit your day job as, as an insult. But in essence, um, Elizabeth Gilbert, I don't know if you know her, she's the author of big magic, which, and E pray love, but big magic is her book on creativity.

[00:23:24] Hmm. And she says that, um, you know, she would never have expected creativity to support her. She expected to serve. She considers herself a servant of the idea. And I think a lot of people get bitter and or quit on their ideas when they feel like it's supposed to. Make them rich or famous, or even just pay their bills.

[00:23:46] Now that's not to say you cannot make money creatively. I mean, the publishing industry is $8 billion a year. People are making money. Right. Mm-hmm um, but my first book I got in advance, I couldn't have lived on [00:24:00] that advance for a year or anything. It took me more than a year to write it. It's a, it's a zero sum game.

[00:24:05] Right. It's and it, so you don't really, um, very few people make a good living. Writing just books. Some people do. I mean, uh, people are doing it more and more on Amazon, particularly mysteries romance. Ye those books have a genre reader that is loyal and comes back to you. That doesn't mean however that you quit writing or that writing is not worthwhile.

[00:24:30] Most of us, I think, right. To organize our lives, understand ourselves, tell a story or retell a story, or re widget a story from our. Own value system that we need to understand differently. I know I I'm just happier when I write, so I just write, I write most days, uh, and have, have I made money at it? Of course, you know, have I made enough money to live on.

[00:24:54] Don't don't quit your day job. um, you know, yes. Do I think I might ever have a book that [00:25:00] is a blockbuster becomes a movie. Yeah. Quite possibly, but why, how do I know? You know, I'm writing to that end. I'm writing to be as big and amazing as I can be because that's writing is also a stage. It's not just a, a notebook where you widget things, you know, writing is a stage.

[00:25:18] How big can you be on the page? How amazing can you be on the page? How crazy can you be on the page? How much can you let yourself go? All those things factor in to, um, who and why people wanna read your book, you know, mm-hmm so, yeah. Yeah. You never know. And like I said, I, I think it's ultimately arrogant to think, you know?

[00:25:39] Oh yeah. We

[00:25:40] Jasmine Castillo: don't know. I mean, yeah, but like, like everyone wants to have, they, they wanna have that. That blockbuster and anybody can do it. I mean, so I'm so glad that I'm, it's it

[00:25:53] Julia Roberts: meritocracy. It's absolutely a meritocracy, right? Merit. Yeah. It is the story that pulls it forward. It is the characters that [00:26:00] pull it forward.

[00:26:00] Right. Mm-hmm exactly. But when you see a new movie, that's based on a book, it's always by somebody you never heard of, you know, two weeks ago, or four weeks ago was like you had a job and, you know, in an office with a computer, just, you know, and now they've got a big. Yeah. Look at 50 shades of gray. I don't love that book, but that was a self-published book, you know?

[00:26:21] Yeah. Wow. Mm-hmm I don't, you know, and now it's, isn't it eight books. It's certainly three movies, you know? God.

[00:26:28] Jasmine Castillo: Yeah, yeah, no, um, I wouldn't know.

[00:26:32] Julia Roberts: yeah, but yeah. Yeah. That's I mean, I don't love that book, but that's a success story, right? Mm-hmm it found its audience for sure. yeah,

[00:26:41] Jasmine Castillo: this definitely did. Um, cuz I know that when I'm on.

[00:26:44] Amazon, there is a, um, for voiceover artists, there is an ACX that feeds into the Amazon and that's where the voiceovers get jobs. We're doing the audio books of different books, so, oh yeah. So I, yeah, [00:27:00] so that's what I've been doing. I have done kids books. I've done mystery books. Um, I kind of stay away from the erotica side.

[00:27:10] Mm-hmm , that's just my preference because sure. I don't wanna be late.

[00:27:13] Julia Roberts: It's a, it's your personal time and energy. You don't need to put creativity is something that, um, is so personal and so not limited, but yours mm-hmm but you don't have to give it anywhere. You don't wanna give it. There's no reason for you to put your heart and soul into something.

[00:27:29] Corporately, soul sucking. Erotica, you know, these choices are utterly about you and your life force and where you feel like putting your life force. This is why, like, so I said, I got my master's in creativity and everybody I graduated with just even four years prior, four years after cuz it's kind of a tight knit group, nobody was taking that information to private.

[00:27:49] Creators, they were taking it back to corporate creators, you know, like board rooms or brainstorming, or they were taking it to schools and hoping to run their art classes better. But for me, I felt like I [00:28:00] know a lot of people who need this help. This has helped me enormously. So that's why I bring all that to writers.

[00:28:06] It's just as useful to visual thinkers. It's just as useful to musicians, but I know, I think like a writer so I can help them with this, these tools, you know, that's but, um, but I don't know anybody else. Who's taking it to a private group, to a group of individual creators. Yeah. So that's yeah, mm-hmm, ,

[00:28:26] Jasmine Castillo: that is definitely something that I, I would love to know more about because I mean, that's just a whole world, uh, outside of my own little, my little box of ideas and creativity on this side of.

[00:28:38] Dimension here. So, um, but I also just wanted to know as well, like tell me about a time when you created a unique idea or solution, and it was rejected by your colleagues or by the corporations or by, um, like you said, they. The your classroom, if there was an, an instructor or teacher, whichever, [00:29:00] um, that you, you might have had brought your book or ideas to.

[00:29:04] And how do, how were you able to bounce back?

[00:29:06] Julia Roberts: Hmm, well, I mean, book ideas are things that get rejected more often than accepted. So that's a good one right there. Um, and it depends a little bit on how much you've put into that book idea. So with a non-fiction book, you're permitted to just write. outline in a first chapter with your proposal, right?

[00:29:27] Mm-hmm , that's, that's what, that's what publishers expect to see mm-hmm so if it gets rejected at that point, you're not, you're not out that much. Right. I just don't have it in me to outline something it's not, um, how, I think I'm not a real linear thinker that way. So I always have to write the book and then outline from it.

[00:29:48] um, yeah, so by the time I'm bringing something to the four I've written it because there, I don't have it. I don't have that ability to think. I don't know. I have to be immersed and things come out and, you know, then I can go back and say, [00:30:00] oh, that's the, that's the structure. The structure came from me. But, um, at any rate, so I, my first book that I was, um, pitching was motherhood to otherhood and it was rejected a hundred times at least.

[00:30:15] Wow before, you know, somebody before somebody had picked it up. And I remember I was just driving to my sister's and my phone rang. Now this was 2007 or six. Maybe my phone rang in the car and I'm like, And I talked to her and stuff. I pulled over and I'd go to my sister's. I'm like my agent called me on my cell phone.

[00:30:31] It was just like such a Hollywood moment to me, you know, in Maryland. I was, but you know what? I was like, I have an agent and a cell phone was all too much and she wants, you know, she wants to contract my book. So, you know, so that's a, that was a big breakthrough, but I had already put. Letters to at least a hundred agents who didn't have an interest in.

[00:30:56] And there was one group who I really wanted to represent me. [00:31:00] And they wrote me a very long letter saying, keep writing and da, da, but we're gonna pass this time. And I just, I kept going back to them going really, really, you know, with, with new points or whatever. And they were like hard. No, babe, you know,

[00:31:14] Jasmine Castillo: hard pass.

[00:31:17] Julia Roberts: So you just said like, I mean, it was like, oh, I don't know if they don't want no one. Well, because you know, they actually loved it. They just were saying no. Business reasons. Right? So, but so depending on where you are mentally, you can take that as it's good. They've validated it. Or you can take that as I'm rejected.

[00:31:37] Hmm. Both are true. so where do you go from there? What can you embody? The first embodiment is always gonna be I'm rejected. The second embodiment hopefully can be it's good. You know, mm-hmm right. It's

[00:31:53] Jasmine Castillo: just keep pushing anyway. Yeah,

[00:31:55] Julia Roberts: no, for sure. I did write back to them like, like a stalker .

[00:31:59] Jasmine Castillo: Are you [00:32:00] really, really sure?

[00:32:00] Is this your final answer?

[00:32:05] Julia Roberts: they were a big agency. I just felt like it would be a big book if they, if they represented it. Yeah, that made me not be true, but anyway,

[00:32:12] Jasmine Castillo: Well, it's, it's, uh, you know, this company zero, but Julia won, you know, so I mean ,

[00:32:20] Julia Roberts: who knows it did get published. I, you know, I'm onto the next .

[00:32:24] Jasmine Castillo: Right, right. So I, I think this, this question's a little bit, um, I know I just kind of threw it in there, but, um, What does the word innovation mean to you?

[00:32:34] Julia Roberts: Mm, so creativity and innovation seem to be twins mm-hmm , but to me, innovation is a, a word that has to do with a process or, um, an outcome. So to me, innovation is much more about, um, probably business mechanics process, incremental change. Okay. Does that seem true?

[00:32:55] Jasmine Castillo: Yeah, I think it was. And I think that's probably what I wanted to go for was to say, cause [00:33:00] I've been, I've been using the creative analogy here, but I, I wanted, like I said, I just threw that in there for push

[00:33:06] Julia Roberts: push towards innovation.

[00:33:08] To me, creativity is, um, making something that's new and valuable. Mm-hmm, something that's new and valuable in the world is a, is a creative moment. Now you can be creative in a non valuable way. Um, and is that creativity? Yeah, it really is, but, so I think innovation has a, has a price tag attached to it.

[00:33:31] It's it, it, it, it, um, it improves X or Y and creativity is, um, can be far less at, in context. okay. Um, I think when things are creative in the world, there it's very similar to innovation, but I think an individual has a lot of creative moments that have no value to anybody, but maybe their husband or themselves or a baby.

[00:33:56] I mean, you can be very creative with a baby and nobody [00:34:00] cares, but that, that moment cares that moment that the baby cheered up and the baby quit crying, or that the baby learned something about love, you know, whatever that can be a very creative. And, um, it doesn't have a, doesn't have a value attached to it.

[00:34:14] That's that's um, contextualized. It's just your own value. Yeah. Interesting. Interesting. I's gonna go there. Yeah.

[00:34:23] Jasmine Castillo: I love it. I love it. This is, this is where the, the magic happens, I guess. What is the most creative project you have worked on?

[00:34:33] Julia Roberts: I I'm gonna say, um, With all the humility I can muster. I'm not a very humble person, but, um, , uh, myself, mm-hmm, that, just that idea of building who you wanna be protecting, who you wanna be and putting it in the world in a niche that you perceive is the most creative thing you can do.

[00:34:56] Yeah. Yeah. So I wanted to write [00:35:00] a lot. I work with writers four days a week. I'm literally in a writing session for one hour, four days a week. Wow. So I've engineered my entire life around helping writers, but also personally writing. I wanted to be able to write. I was extremely frustrated and, um, I went through three training courses to get there.

[00:35:21] I'm about to go through a fourth, which is really. A publishing marketing keyword kind of course to it. But you see the cycle is you have to build, you have to keep building and you have to keep building, not scattershot, but based on what you really, you have to get back to your values every time. What do you really want personally?

[00:35:42] And that has to be okay with you as a way to earn a living. You know what I mean? Like sure. I should be helping. Homeless or peace on our third, you know? Sure. I should have a greater mission in the world if I were a good person, but a good person, I think gives the world the [00:36:00] gift they have, that is themselves as, as broadly and vulnerably and ablely as their, as they can.

[00:36:06] So just accepting your mission that somehow God gave you or you were born with and putting it out. And continually, um, showing up for it is, is a really the most creative thing you can do. Hmm. Yeah.

[00:36:21] Jasmine Castillo: Thank you very much. Yes. And I know that I also wanted to hit on your organization or your company is called decoding creativity.

[00:36:29] Correct? That is, I should have started that off the first started, but, um, cause I wanted to ask is like, how can you inspire your client's creative side? And I think you probably hit on it, a couple of, of other things, but I don't know if you wanted to throw in just a little sprinkle of extra if you like, um, without, without giving them the secret, the secret recipes, whole ingredients.

[00:36:49] Cause you want them to come to you and I I'm

[00:36:52] Julia Roberts: that's my whole goal. I mean the secret recipe is, is support. So. Uh, you know what I mean? Like, I can tell you how to lose weight. [00:37:00] It's fewer calories and more, more activity. Right? Mm-hmm but that doesn't mean you don't need help to do that. So how do you write you write regularly?

[00:37:09] Like, it doesn't have to be every day, but it's regularly. Um, so you can keep the, the book staged in your head. So that's why you wanna rate regularly. Also you, um, you learn how to shut down the trolls in your mind. Um, yes. And that's, you know, and you, um, understand your own creativity and its, and its value in the world.

[00:37:32] Like how to lean into who you actually are creatively, like your creative thinking style, lean into that. Instead of thinking like me, I could easily think to myself, I'm a terrible clarifier and that could be where I stay the rest of my life. I'm a terrible clarifi. Because I am a terrible clarifier, but does that matter?

[00:37:50] Um, yeah, it matters because I need to address that either by hanging around clarifiers and letting them do my clarifying work or by using clarifying. So [00:38:00] once you identify where you are in the, how you think creatively, you can just pick up tools, just like, like aspirin and it'll help you be who you wanna be creatively.

[00:38:11] So it's, so there is no secret sauce, other. Good constant application of, of, um, it's almost like creative hygiene, you know, .

[00:38:23] Jasmine Castillo: Yes, exactly. That's a good analogy. Thank you for sharing that. Um, as I, I just also, I was looking at your guest form and I wasn't sure. What you referenced in regards to the, you said you go to an actual writing conference or, or workshop once a week.

[00:38:41] I believe you dispatch for an hour.

[00:38:43] Julia Roberts: Uh, does that, I actually have writing hours as part of my, I work. I help people over the long run, so, okay. So that's six months to a year. So we, in the course of that time, it's called the mighty writer's club. Okay. In the course of that time, we meet to write, um, I think right now we're gonna be at five [00:39:00] times a week that are.

[00:39:01] where you can show up and there's people, you know, and you have a little prompt and then you write, it's just, um, a way to get over that resistance to writing. It's a way to structure your day around a time. Uh, it's a way to make progress. If you write an hour a day, you're really gonna make progress on the thing you're writing.

[00:39:20] It's a way to just like, um, tell your kids and your husband and your dog or whatever. This is my writing time. It sets that boundary because there. Other people, you know, uh, I'm busy, you know, exactly. So, um, we show up, we just, I give one prompt for six minutes. We don't read from the prompts because that's not what we're there to do.

[00:39:40] If you really love what you wrote, you can put it in the Facebook group, but we just go from there straight into writing. It's just a warmup. Hmm. So, um, and it's an optional warmup. Some people know what they're gonna do and they just write, you know, they don't do the prompt, they just move. So that, to me, that's what I'm saying before.

[00:39:55] It's like a little bit of creative hygiene it's writing regularly. And then [00:40:00] I, we, that same group has a monthly, um, a bimonthly two times a month meeting where it's either coaching or training. So I'll train on plot structure or a creativity tool or, and then coaching. That's really where the tools come in more when somebody has a problem, I'll lead them through.

[00:40:17] And everybody gains from listening to somebody else. Um, needs because you know, and then, but everybody also gets a little bit of minute to get them out. Wow.

[00:40:26] Jasmine Castillo: Yeah. Thank you. Now, if the listeners are interested in knowing more about Julie and getting into these classes, how are they able to contact you?

[00:40:34] Julia Roberts: So literally that is at go dot.

[00:40:37] Decoding creativity.com mm-hmm slash mighty.

[00:40:42] Jasmine Castillo: Okay. I'll put that into show notes for them as well. So they they're able to go their links

[00:40:46] Julia Roberts: directly. Yeah. That that's like a page where they can read all about it, but they can also just from there, is there a place, if I, if not, I'll put it in like that. They could just email me a question too.

[00:40:56] Mm-hmm yeah. Um, [00:41:00] yeah, in the lower thing, I think it always has a, a way to contact. Right. I think it does in the footer a contact. Right. So they could just ask a question. That kind of thing. Mm-hmm okay, cool. You know, I think people really don't understand the value of writing in their lives because we always value things in dollars and cents.

[00:41:17] And if you just think of it as mental health, if you think of it as a creativity that starts flowing and then it flows in other places in your life, including in your job or in your cooking or in your, how you're raising your kids, creativity, once it's invited. Can't be held by the book you're writing it.

[00:41:35] It starts to be everywhere. Cuz your brain starts enjoying it. If you are right. If you have like what they call writer's block and you can't get yourself to write, don't think what comes next? What should I write? Think to yourself how it feels when you're writing, like literally like that feeling of how it, that, that feeling of what, uh, what Shi and Maha called flow.

[00:41:56] Flow is that time when you're immersed and you lose all sense of [00:42:00] that is kind of like sex for the brain, you know? So if you can remember flow a time when you just were so in it and grateful and writing. You can, your, your brain will want back in, you'll start right away. You know what I'm saying? So instead of going, how am I writing?

[00:42:15] Where am I, what am I supposed to do? Just think, how did it feel last time I wrote and then it'll get, it'll get you right back in. Interesting.

[00:42:22] Jasmine Castillo: Wow. I love that tidbit.

[00:42:24] Julia Roberts: Thank you so much. It's wonderful. It's a really nice talking with you. Yeah, I, I think you've got, I mean, yourself, you're doing such creative things.

[00:42:30] It's really exciting to kind of peek into your story, book, reading with your kids and your, you know, voiceover. Ambitions and what it takes to do that. I mean, you know, I think when people are living their authentic life, it is always intriguing to others just is because it's like, it's like flow. We want in

[00:42:51] Jasmine Castillo: I love that.

[00:42:52] Thank you so much. Yes. Yes. And like I said, I, I, it's been an honor Julia, to have you here as a guest. [00:43:00] And, um, thank you. Thank you. I enjoyed

[00:43:01] Julia Roberts: talking with you. Thank

[00:43:02] Jasmine Castillo: you so much. Yeah, you too, Julia. Have a wonderful weekend. You too.

[00:43:06] Julia Roberts: All right. Bye bye.

[00:43:10] Jasmine Castillo: Thank you for listening to Noize PolluZion podcast. And if you enjoy listening to my podcast, please don't hesitate to give me a five star rating on apple or Spotify.

[00:43:21] Also wanted to give a shout out and thank you so much to all my guest past, present, and future, and stay tuned for the next upcoming episode on Friday.