Behind-the-scenes stories of creative lives are often as fascinating and worthwhile as the projects they yield, and can inspire us all. Join me as I find out what creators have learned along the way—and help folks get their creative lives back on track.
All content for Follow Your Curiosity is the property of Nancy Norbeck and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Behind-the-scenes stories of creative lives are often as fascinating and worthwhile as the projects they yield, and can inspire us all. Join me as I find out what creators have learned along the way—and help folks get their creative lives back on track.
How Creativity Helps You Heal: A Memoirist's Journey with Tony Stewart
Follow Your Curiosity
1 hour 2 minutes
3 weeks ago
How Creativity Helps You Heal: A Memoirist's Journey with Tony Stewart
Tony Stewart has made award-winning films for college and universities, written acclaimed software, and now has written his first book. That book, Carrying the Tiger: Living with Cancer, Dying with Grace, Finding Joy while Grieving, tells the story of Tony and his late wife, painter Lynn Kotula, as they navigate her Stage IV cancer diagnosis, treatment, and hospice, and Tony’s journey out of grief. Tony joins me to talk about his original journey from writing to software development, how it felt to return to writing via CaringBridge after Lynn’s diagnosis, the process of writing Carrying the Tiger, the nature of grief, and more.
Episode breakdown:
00:00 Intro02:12 Introducing Tony Stewart03:02 Creative Childhood Experiences08:02 Shakespeare in the Park11:34 Understanding Filmmaking Client Needs17:48 Complex Problems Beyond Machine Solutions19:15 Joy of Reading Book Reviews24:58 Returning to Writing26:39 The Beginning of the Book29:29 Writing Addiction and Motivation32:40 Overview of the Book34:00 Writing in Present Tense38:38 Memoir as Thriller41:31 Structuring the Book42:24 Tony's Memories and Reflections45:51 Creating Realistic Characters48:27 Exploring Grief52:04 Anticipatory Grief56:58 Individuality of Grief Experiences
Want more? Here's a handy playlist with all my previous interviews with guests in writing.
Check out the full show notes (now including transcripts!) at fycuriosity.com, and connect with me and fellow creatives on Substack.
Please leave a review for this episode—it’s really easy and will only take a minute, and it really helps me reach new listeners. Thanks!
If you enjoyed our conversation, I hope you’ll share it with a friend.
Follow Your Curiosity
Behind-the-scenes stories of creative lives are often as fascinating and worthwhile as the projects they yield, and can inspire us all. Join me as I find out what creators have learned along the way—and help folks get their creative lives back on track.
