AOA 099 | Carolyn Elliott Ph.D. | How To Connect Deeply Through Writing

Written by root

December 1, 2015

“I don’t care unless you are willing to show me you are a real human”- Carolyn Elliott

Warning! This is a dangerous episode!

I first met Carolyn Elliott when she came to a talk I gave about podcasting at Hubud here in Bali. We have since worked together on launching her podcast, which will be out in January, called Evil Genius Superconnectors.

It became clear right away that Carolyn is no ordinary woman, as she is the only one I know who will wear red lipstick daily in the tropics. She openly tells people about being into magic, astrology, and her shadowy side. All this, combined with formal training of a Ph.D. in poetry makes her one of the most compelling writers I know.

She is the creator of THRILL, the course on how to write for the social web. I had her on the episode to talk about how we can write in a compelling way in our books, blog posts, and even social media updates. She calls this creating a “Page Turner Persona” – accessing the most human parts (light or dark) of yourself and sharing that fully.

For me this is the edgiest, riskiest episode I have recorded, partly because there are some intense ideas that made me uncomfortable during the interview, partly because there is strong language and swearing, and partly because there is a dense web of ideas here that we are trying to spin into simple thoughts.

If you want to challenge yourself to be the type of writer that people can relate to for generations, that inspires raving fans, and have people thank you for writing what others could not, this is the episode for you.

Carolyn Elliott Art of Adventure

Quotes:

“How to be more engaging is to have a greater tolerance for you own darkness” – Carolyn Elliott

“What cause are you willing to sleep out in the cold for?” – Carolyn Elliott

“I don’t care unless you are willing to show me you are a real human”- Carolyn Elliott

“What characters do I find most interesting and most compelling?”- Carolyn Elliott

“Poetry doesn’t play by the rules of rational discourse”- Carolyn Elliott

“Share you epic heroes journey with us”- Carolyn Elliott

“A burning desire, a challenge, a thirst to prove yourself in some deep quest is an access point for compelling writing”- Carolyn Elliott

“On whose behalf will you be heroic?”- Carolyn Elliott

“Find the altruism deep in your soul”- Carolyn Elliott

What you will learn:

-How to explore your dark side

-How to find characters from books and movies that resonate with you and use them in your writing

-How to share your journey

-How to find your burning desire or mission

-How to find out your deepest altruism

-Examples of celebrities who share their humanity

-How rites of passage are important for men to be able to face challenge and conflict

Continue the Adventure (Resources from this episode):

CarolynGraceElliott.com

AwesomeYourLife

THRILL the complete masterclass on writing for the social web

Awaken Your Genius: A Seven-Step Path to Freeing Your Creativity and Manifesting Your Dreams

If you enjoyed this session of The Art of Adventure Podcast, let Carolyn know by clicking on the link below and sending her a quick shout out on Twitter:

Click here to thank Carolyn on Twitter!

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You might also like these episodes:

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AOA 056 | Michael Margolis | Storytelling For Business

This episode is brought to you by the Travel Wisdom Podcast!

Ladan talks to all sorts of people (check out my episode here) and asks how travel has improved their lives. He’s and interesting dude who has spent about $30k to travel to 80 countries because he believes like I do that travel is an investment into your future.

Go to Travel Wisdom Podcast or find Travel Wisdom in iTunes or Stitcher or your favorite podcasting app. I love listening to the show and you should give it a try – I think you will as well.

Travel Wisdom Podcast Art of Adventure

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3 Comments

  1. Michael

    I would love to hear Carolyn mentor you, and push you to be more honest and vulnerable. She obviously owned you, you should push her back. Ask her harder questions. Keep her focused. I greatly enjoyed listening. Do it harder next time!

    • Jason F Smith

      Great interview, but I agree with what Michael said. Develop the skill of implementing more structure. Here’s the cool thing about that: Carolyn’s message got diluted, not because of her, but because you didn’t provide strong enough riverbanks. BOTH of you would benefit from you providing a better structure. Having said that, it was obviously brilliant and people will be able to listen many times to get more and more out of it.

  2. Cameron Montgomery

    Loved this. I have been following Carolyn’s journey and writing for Bad Witches and I love what she’s doing. Michael’s comment above is so on point, by the way!