Cause of Craft: Why We Create

Designer and Writer Megan McCullough joins the show. You’ve already seen her work in at least one place – the Cause of Craft podcast artwork! That’s right, Megan is the talent behind the logo and branding for the show. We discuss why she started doing design work, how collaboration sharpens your skills, and the similarities and differences between novel writing and design.

Full Episode Transcript

Topics Covered:

Similarities and Differences Between Novel Writing and Design

Why Megan Started Studying Design

The Benefits of Collaboration

The Pros and Cons to Designing Your Own Cover Art

How to Present New Ideas to Your Collaborator

Megan’s Lord of the Rings Fan-fiction

Building Writing Confidence When You’re Young

The Value in Your Unpublished Work

What Inspires Megan’s Writing and Design

The Differences Between Academic Study and Learning on the Job

Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone to Learn New Things

The Self-Taught Approach to Learning

Keeping the End Product in Mind

Why Megan Pursues Multiple Crafts

Links:

Megan’s Website: www.meganmccullough.com

Megan’s Design Instagram: @meganmcculloughdesign

Megan’s Book Instagram: @meganmcculloughbooks

Follow Jon on Instagram @jontilton and the show @causeofcraft, there you can find clips and visual companions for every episode.

Designer and Writer Megan McCullough joins the show. You’ve already seen her work in at least one place – the Cause of Craft podcast artwork! That’s right, Megan is the talent behind the logo and branding for the show. We discuss why she started doing design work, how collaboration sharpens your skills, and the similarities and differences between novel writing and design.

Full Episode Transcript

Topics Covered:

Similarities and Differences Between Novel Writing and Design

Why Megan Started Studying Design

The Benefits of Collaboration

The Pros and Cons to Designing Your Own Cover Art

How to Present New Ideas to Your Collaborator

Megan’s Lord of the Rings Fan-fiction

Building Writing Confidence When You’re Young

The Value in Your Unpublished Work

What Inspires Megan’s Writing and Design

The Differences Between Academic Study and Learning on the Job

Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone to Learn New Things

The Self-Taught Approach to Learning

Keeping the End Product in Mind

Why Megan Pursues Multiple Crafts

Links:

Megan’s Website: www.meganmccullough.com

Megan’s Design Instagram: @meganmcculloughdesign

Megan’s Book Instagram: @meganmcculloughbooks

Follow Jon on Instagram @jontilton and the show @causeofcraft, there you can find clips and visual companions for every episode.

Dancer Ethan Fuller joins the show to discuss his rigorous journey performing with New York City Ballet, the difficulties in starting a new career, and the value in teaching others what you know.

Full Episode Transcript

Topics Covered:

A Short History of Ballet

What Makes Ballet Beautiful

Ethan’s Journey to New York City Ballet

What is the Best Interpretation of a Creative Work?

Starting a New Career in Theology

How Teaching Improves Understanding

Links:

Follow Jon on Instagram @jontilton and follow the show @causeofcraft.

Author and Artist Effie Joe Stock joins the show to discuss the value in pursing multiple art forms, using computer-generated fictional languages, the difference between writing and hand-crafted arts, and the process of wood-burning and soap-making.

When I first conceptualized the podcast, I had to make a decision — would I concentrate my interviews on a particular type of creator? Authors? How about writers more broadly? Or would I talk with creators of a wide range of artistic disciplines? A professor of mine once lamented the separation of the academic buildings on campus. The Philosophy building was isolated from the Science building, the Mathematics building was isolated from the Communications department, and so on and so forth. He told me that the best ideas come together when we have deep conversations between disciplines. That always stuck with me and it inspired my choice to interview a wide variety of creators for the podcast. Effie Joe Stock takes this approach in her entire creative process – while her main craft is writing, she is also a painter, wood-burner, soap maker, and musician.

Links:

Episode Transcript

Effie’s Website: www.effiejoestock.com

Pyrography Art Shop: www.craftedinsmoke.com

Buy Effie’s Books, Wood-burned Art, and Soaps: www.effiejoestock.com/shop

Effie’s Instagram: @effie.joe.stock.author

Child of the Dragon Prophecy: Amazon | Signed Copies

Follow Jon on Instagram: @jontilton

Follow Cause of Craft on Instagram: @causeofcraft

www.jontilton.com

www.causeofcraft.com

Topics Covered With Timestamps:

Intro

Artistic Variety is Worthwhile

Connection Between Artistic Disciplines

Playing Musical Instruments

Effie’s Earliest Memories in Music and Writing

Why Effie Continued Writing

Characters Changing with the Author

Writing with an Audience in Mind

Discovery Writing

The Discovery Process in other Art Forms

World Building and Using A.I. to Create Fictional Languages

Creating Cover Art for Your Own Book

Wood-burning and Soap-making

How to Make Goat Milk Soap

How Effie Got Into Wood-burning

The Wood-burning Process

Writing Versus Working with Your Hands

Why Effie Wanted to Publish

Where to Buy Effie’s Book

Outro

About Effie Joe Stock: An avid book lover since she learned to read, Effie has always found home in realms other than earth, preferably with magic, dragons, and adventure. Ever since she wrote a picture book with a friend in the first grade, Effie knew that she wanted to be an author. Her own story continued as she wrote short stories and poetry. Besides working on her endless number of Works In Progress, Effie enjoys working on her small farm of cows, chickens, goats, sheep, rabbits, turkeys, dogs and cats. A dedicated music lover, Effie plays guitar, violin, and piano, along with any other instrument she can get her hands on. Besides expressing her creativity though writing, dance, and art, she also enjoys studying Creation Science, Apologetics, Philosophy, Psychology, and Mathematics.

Author Frazier Alexander joins the podcast to discuss myths from a Christian perspective, his handwritten manuscripts, the influence of Tolkien and Lewis, and what goes into creating an immersive fantasy map. See a full list of timestamped topics and transcript below.

Links:

Frazier’s Website: www.frazieralexander.com

The Lost King: Amazon | Frazier’s Website

Maps of Antaranis

Other Works Mentioned:

The Hero with A Thousand Faces: Amazon | B&N

The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structures for Writers by Christopher Vogler: Amazon | B&N

The Chronicles of Narnia: Amazon | B&N

God in the Dock by C.S. Lewis, including the essay “Myth Become Fact”: Amazon | B&N

The Iliad and The Odyssey: Amazon | B&N

The Prydain Chronicles: Amazon | B&N

Follow Jon on Instagram @jontilton and follow the show @causeofcraft.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you enjoy listening to podcasts.

Topics Covered With Timestamps:

Intro

Frazier’s Early Passion for Story

Myths As Stories You Feel Like You’ve Always Known / Living Myths on the Subconscious

Writing Reiterations of the Same Story

Self-Psychoanalysis and Moving Around as a Kid

Resources for Understanding Mythology for Writers

Mythology from a Christian Perspective

Homer and Lloyd Alexander

Handwriting Manuscripts

Using Freehand to Get out of Creative Ruts

Advantages of Typing and Advantages of Handwriting

Creating Maps for the Story

Planning the Story in Broad Strokes

Playwrights, Theatre, and Understanding Theme

Discussion on Dialogue

Tolkien and Lewis Setting The Bar

What Stands the Test of Time in Writing

Everyone Has A Unique Approach to Writing

Outro

About Frazier Alexander: By the time he was in the first grade, Frazier had fallen in love with The Lord of The Rings movies and the old epics from the 50s and 60s. These inspired him to create his own mythic fantasy stories, all taking place in a connected world. He has spent years creating the history, geography, and linguistics for this invented world. Frazier moved a lot growing up and identified strongly with characters in stories who go on long quests, like Odysseus and Frodo. Those stories gave him hope and he wants his stories to do the same for someone else.

Cinematographer Cailin Yatsko joins the show to discuss her journey into filmmaking, the perks of learning on the job, and how collaboration can teach you something about yourself. Timestamps and full transcript below.

Links:

Cailin’s website: www.cailinyatsko.com

Cailin’s Instagram: @cailinyatsko

Bicephaly Pictures: www.bicephalypictures.com

Bicephaly Pictures Instagram: @bicephaly

Days of Gray:

Trailer

iTunes | Amazon

Website: www.daysofgray.com

Instagram: @daysofgray

Short History of the Long Road:

Trailer

iTunes | Amazon

Website: www.shorthistorylongroad.com

Instagram: @shorthistorylongroad

Follow Jon on Instagram @jontilton and follow the show @causeofcraft. Visit www.causeofcraft.com.

Topics Cover With Timestamps:

Intro

Cailin’s Early Interest in Filmmaking

Undergrad and the Value in a Broad Education

Business Classes and Learning on the Job

Inexperience Can Be Valuable in Just Starting Out

Learning from Other Mediums like Books

Film School

Meeting Ani Simon-Kennedy

Setting the Goal of Making Features

Cailin and Ani’s Creative Process

Collaboration in Filmmaking

Learning About Yourself Through Collaboration

Setting New Challenges for Yourself

The Helpfulness of Restrictions

Releasing During a Pandemic

How to Watch Cailin’s Films

Outro

About Cailin Yatsko: Originally from Arkansas, Cailin Yatsko is a New York City-based narrative and documentary cinematographer. In 2011, she partnered with director Ani Simon-Kennedy to form Bicephaly Pictures, one of just a few female production companies in NYC - producing narrative films, music videos, web series, and commercials. Her commercial cinematography includes award-winning branded and editorial content for clients such as Google, Intel, Condé Nast, Colgate, The New Yorker, The Fader, Vice, and many others in her nine years working in the industry. With director Ani Simon-Kennedy, they have collaborated on two narrative features: Days of Gray and The Short History of the Long Road, which premiered in US Narrative Competition at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and released by FilmRise. She also shot with director Cynthia Lowen (Bully) for the feature documentary Netizens, exposing the proliferation of cyber harassment facing women (2018 Tribeca Film Festival).

In this premiere episode, author M.C. Beeler joins the podcast to discuss what it’s like to dedicate nine years to a project, the benefits of self-publishing, and why it feels so good to have someone read your work. Timestamps and full transcript included below.

Links:

M.C. Beeler’s Website: www.margaretcbeeler.com

M.C. Beeler’s Instagram: @margaretcbeeler

Sacred: Eslura’s Calling: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Signed Copies

The Heart of the Kella Short Story: Amazon

FREE* copy of The Heart of the Kella via M.C. Beeler's Newsletter Subscription

Other works mentioned:

The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Visit www.causeofcraft.com

Follow Jon on Instagram (@jontilton) and follow the show (@causeofcraft).

Topics Covered with Timestamps:

Intro

Working on a Project for 9 Years

Getting Encouragement on Early Drafts

Ben 10 Inspriation

Scenes That Survived Every Draft

The Stories Within Us and The Hero’s Journey

Discovery Writing

Planting Seeds for the Sequels

Connecting a Short Story to Your Novel

Channeling Emotions into Writing

Choosing Self-Publishing

Collaborating with Other Artists

Deciding to Publish

The Value in Having Someone Read Your Book

Where to find M.C. Beeler’s Books

Outro

About M.C. Beeler:

Raised in northern Indiana, Beeler lives in a small city just close enough to be considered part of the Chicago-land area. A student at Marquette University, she is studying business with a concentration in Marketing and Entrepreneurship in hopes to use her skills to not only help herself, but other authors pursue their writing careers.

On the off chance that she isn’t stationed at her writing desk, she can be found glued to whatever Nintendo console she can get her hands on working to sustain her self-proclaimed title of “Pokémon Master.” You might also find her snuggling with her Goldendoodle or hitting the slopes during the winter season (aka her favorite season) either snowboarding or skiing.

Episode transcript: (May contain some errors due to automated AI transcription):

Jon: Welcome to Cause of Craft, I'm your host Jon Tilton. Why do we create? Where do our ideas come from? What does our craft say about us? These are the ideas we explore here on the show, and this week I'm joined by M.C. Beeler, author of Sacred to discuss what it's like to spend nine years on a project, the benefits of self publishing, and why it feels so good to have someone else read your work. Welcome Maggie.

Maggie: Thank you so much for having me.

Jon: Yeah, thanks for coming on. I'm super excited. You must be excited because you have a book out. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Maggie: Yeah, so I'm releasing my first book, next week, it's actually a week from today and today is the recording date so very exciting, i It doesn't feel real quite yet, but I'm sure in a week it will feel real to have a book out I've been, you know, working on it for nine years. So it's finally going to be out there and it's just very exciting.

Jon: Yeah, nine years, that's not like a short amount of time that's a big chunk of your life there. What made you first decide you wanted to write. And this might be a different part of the answer but what kept you working on it for such a long time to see it through to this point.

Maggie: Yeah, so to the question of what made me want to write. Well I feel like, obviously I have the cliche answer that I've always been into writing, but it's actually kind of a funny story so I was on vacation in Florida, and I was 12 So I was kind of, you know, an annoying like preteen whatever, and I was really bored and I kept nagging, my mom about like my boredom, and I wanted some sort of solution so she bought me a notebook and told me, she's like you're creative sit down and write and I was like okay, so I started writing, and at the time I was very into the show, Ben 10, I don't know if you know that show. It was a pretty popular show at the time, and I was very into it so my first draft was to be quite honest, of Ben 10 fan fiction. And it was just very entertaining to write that, and what kept me going over the years is, I think, I sort of realized as I was writing, you know, I shared bits and pieces of what I wrote with my parents and it was very exciting to share something, and hear feedback so I think that sort of feeling really carried me through it is the feeling of like getting some sort of confirmation that what you're doing is like good and worth it and like worthwhile. So I really wanted to like see this project through, though. Over the years, I mean it took me nine years to finish this thing so I wasn't consistently working on it, it was more of like in the back of my head like oh I have this, this book and I kind of want to publish it, but I don't really want to like work on it because it's like a lot of work and I would like, work on it for like a week at a time I like write for like a week straight in, and then I'd put it away for like a month, and then I'd like pull it back out and like, type a couple words and put it away for a while, and it was just this whole like cycle of like working on it and then not working on it and then at a certain point I think I was like, 18, or 17 I was like, I really want to publish this thing, and I want to take the steps to learn how to like publish a book, and I learned and I took the steps, and I finally finished and now it's gonna be out in a week. That answers the question I kind of go long winded there.

Jon: No, it definitely does and I think you answered both parts of it really well in the same kind of the same answer did cover both things and so that's really interesting, you know, both how you got started led into why you kept going. I was, it struck me when you talked about how you put it away and came back to it. Did you find… Have you been able to look back on the times that you were taking it back out to work on it and like what was… was anything particular prompting that or was it more of, oh, I have some extra time I'm going to pull it back out I'm bored, I'm going to pull it back out, or it was it something else that drove you to come back to your manuscript?

Maggie: You know, quite honestly, I don't know I want to say like, I mean, no to get all spiritual on ya, I don't know I feel like I just had something in the back of my head that was like you gotta like do this like this is like something that's really important and will be really important to you and it obviously is it's like kind of my life now, but I don't know I just like, I'd be like sitting around in my room I've like any kind of want to like just work on this thing because like I have it, and like I had shared it with a couple people at the time who told me that it was good and obviously they were lying because it was a first draft and it was really really bad, but their encouragement, kind of like in the back of my head, you know, push me to keep going. And I think that's really important for like people who are like just starting off in the creative industry to really have that like to, like, the confirmation that like what they're doing is worthwhile and like will be worthwhile and I think that's really what like carried me through it, the entire ways that like I had people who were like telling me that what I was doing is worthwhile and what I was doing was good, and that in the back of my head was like, Oh, I'd like me to keep doing this because it's good and it's worthwhile.

Jon: I think anyone who spends that amount of time working on a project like there's something about them that I meant to do this and I think it's funny you mentioned about oh well my friends were lying because it was a first draft. You know, I wouldn't be so sure about that, you know, I've had terrible first drafts, I think, I think most first just are probably terrible for everyone, a lot of house season they are, but there's something that there's something there I think if you have if you're meant to be doing it, and you have some talent, even if you don't know how to bring that talent out of yourself yet. I think people can look at elements of it and you know it requires a friend or family member or someone who has a good eye for seeing incensing what's there behind kind of the mess, and know that there oh there's some

I’m excited to introduce you to Cause of Craft, a podcast about exploring the mysteries of creativity. Every week I’ll interview a different creator about their craft, from writers and painters to musicians and culinary artists.

While each discussion will vary quite a bit, we’ll always aim to dive into the reasons why artists create and how their lives connect with their craft. I can’t wait to share these conversations with you, but in the meantime I’ve put together a sampling of what you can expect from the show. Enjoy.

Visit www.causeofcraft.com

Connect with Jon on Instagram (@jontilton) or on his website: www.jontilton.com