The Spark File with Susan Blackwell and Laura Camien

What happens after the big creative push? In this episode of The Spark File Podcast, Susan and Laura dive into the all-too-real experience of the creative hangover — that strange, tender, sometimes disorienting crash that can come after a big creative risk, milestone, performance, launch, or emotional lift. One minute you’ve done the brave thing. The next? You’re flattened, fragile, weirdly ashamed, or unable to answer a single email. Inspired by a rich conversation in a recent Coach’s Corner, this episode explores why creative hangovers happen, what they can feel like, and how to care for yourself on the other side. Susan and Laura talk about everything from chemical cascades and nervous system overload to shame spirals, recovery days, processing with a trusted friend, resetting your space, and building a pre- and post-creative care plan. Because making something brave is only part of the process. Recovering with kindness is part of the creative practice too.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do we do with the grief that doesn’t come with a funeral, a clear ending, or even a name? In this tender and powerful episode of The Spark File Podcast, Laura shares a spark about “Ambiguous Grief” — the kind of loss that lives in the in-between. It can show up in a relationship that ended without closure, a loved one who is here physically but no longer fully here, a dream that never quite got to live, or the loss of a future you thought would be yours. Together, Susan and Laura explore what it means to grieve what is unresolved, unseen, or unfinished — and how naming that grief can help us begin to make meaning of it. They also look at the connection between ambiguous grief and creativity, and why so many of us may be carrying sorrow we’ve never been taught how to recognize. If you’ve ever felt the ache of something lost without knowing exactly how to mourn it, this episode is for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when the thing you reach for to soothe yourself starts quietly stealing your time, your attention, and your creative life force? In “Dopamine Reset”, this week’s episode of The Spark File Podcast, Susan shares her deeply personal experience of getting hooked on TikTok during a season of illness and exhaustion — and what helped her find her way back. Using insights from Dr. Anna Lembke’s book, Dopamine Nation, Susan and Laura explore the science of dopamine, the sneaky design of our frictionless modern world, and the very real cost of compulsive overconsumption. They dig into how addiction can show up in surprising forms, why so many of us feel trapped in cycles of craving and numbing, and what a dopamine reset can offer us in return: more presence, more freedom, and more room for the creative work and real life that matter most. If you’ve ever looked up from your phone and thought, Wait… where did my time go? — this one’s for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our latest episode of The Spark File Podcast, Flip the Script, is a dark spark with a bright creative payoff. When Laura has a vivid, unsettling dream she perceives as a warning about allowing strangers into her life, it sends her spiraling into the cultural storytelling we’ve been fed about “charismatic monsters”… and the powerful, necessary work of changing perspective. Using Jessica Knoll’s Bright Young Women as a jumping-off point, Laura and Susan explore what happens when you center the voices that were missing, question the narratives that benefit the powerful, and reimagine the story from the other side. It’s part true-crime cultural critique, part creativity lesson: if you think “every story has already been told,” this episode will remind you that the point of view changes everything. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of The Spark File Podcast, Creating Community is your reminder that creativity doesn’t thrive in a vacuum — it thrives in connection. This week, Susan and Laura talk about why community isn’t just “nice to have”… it’s essential to our mental health, our physical health, and our creative longevity. They dig into the U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory on loneliness, the heartbreak of creative communities that dissolve when the project ends, and the very real barriers that keep us isolated — even when we want connection more than ever. Plus: a tiny masterclass in how to be a villager (yes, including porch popsicles, front-yard coffee, and the radical practice of asking for help). If you’ve been craving your people — this one’s for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if creativity isn’t a lightning bolt… but a mashup? In this episode, Laura shares a Blue Man Group–born concept that can instantly dissolve the “I’m not original enough” spiral: Creation by Recombination—the idea that most innovation comes from connecting existing things in a way no one’s connected them before. From Blue Man Group’s paint-splattering, percussive “existential hang,” to hip hop turning turntables into instruments, to Hamilton remixing history with hip hop and Broadway… we explore how breakthroughs happen when you borrow across fields, redefine a particular ingredient’s job description, and trust your own weird combo of obsessions. If you’ve ever thought “it’s been done before” or “someone has already said it,” this one is your freedom anthem. Because authenticity is invaluable… and your personal mental kaleidoscope is one of a kind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s episode of The Spark File, “I Love You vs. Small Talk,” Laura opens up a BIG spark (100 pounds of topic in a five-pound bag): love—romantic love, friend love, family love, self-love, love of strangers, love of pets… the whole sprawling, life-saving universe of it. Along the way, Susan and Laura tumble into the brave stuff: why “anything other than I love you is small talk” (thank you, Andrea Gibson), why saying it out loud can feel terrifying, and why love’s value doesn’t depend on whether it’s returned. They talk love languages, the quiet power of “remembering” someone, and the nervous-system magic of a simple smile or a tiny moment of connection with a stranger. And then—because this is The Spark File—Laura turns it into creative fuel: love stories are everywhere, have always been everywhere, and will never stop resonating. Whatever kind of love you’re living through (or longing for), it’s source material. It’s an invitation. Listen in for the reminder we all need right now: never be afraid to speak of love. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In “Making for Minnesota,” we’re asking a question that feels both tender and urgently practical: when the world is loud and scary, what can you make? Susan shares what happened after our free workshop Be the Change, But How—and how (per Martha Beck) creativity can interrupt anxiety by flipping a different switch in the brain. From there, we follow the sparks straight into Minnesota: community action in bitter cold, a heartbreaking loss, and a clear call to stop doom-scrolling and start making one thing—one call, one letter, one love note, one hat, one meal, one song, one brave conversation. This episode is part love letter, part resource list, part nervous-system balm—and a reminder that you don’t have to solve everything. You just have to make something. Featuring tools like Five Calls, a brilliant “how to help from outside Minnesota” post by Naomi Kritzer, the Overton Window, protest knitting history, and the kind of small, human neighbor-connection that turns fear into fuel. (Also: yes, we laugh. Because we’re us.) Listen if you need a hand on your shoulder and a gentle nudge: chin up, eyes out—make one thing today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Spark File, we’re cultivating delight with an episode we’re calling “Words We Love.” Susan went spelunking through her massive digital spark file and emerged with a glittering haul: words that crack us up, words that soothe, words that make you feel—dare we say—carbonated. We talk effervescent, herkle-durkle, mudita (the joy we feel for someone else’s good news), glugaveder (window weather), mangata (moon street), and the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows—aka proof that language can be poetry and permission at the same time. Along the way, we remember that the right word can name what’s true, soften what’s hard, and reconnect us to one another—especially in intense times. Your mission: drop your favorite word in the comments (or email us) and let it spark something new. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of The Spark File, Laura and Susan celebrate the art, science, and deep humanity of a good cry. Sparked by poems, personal stories, and a lovingly unofficial “research study,” they explore why tears are not a weakness—but a powerful form of emotional intelligence and creative release. You’ll hear why emotional tears literally help flush stress from the body, how “easy criers” may actually process feelings faster, and why letting emotions stay in motion can bring clarity, calm, and connection. Along the way, we share crowd-sourced cry catalysts (movies, music, moments), the concept of collective effervescence, and tender reminders that you never have to apologize for feeling deeply. This is an episode for sensitive souls, brave creatives, and anyone who’s been told they’re “too much.” Bring tissues. Check our website for playlists and movie references! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices