Our Five Creative Superpowers: Live with Beth Barany and Gala Russ

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In today’s Live, Gala and I talked about 5 Creativity Superpowers.

I share notes below with questions for you.

Listen to see how Gala and I answered the questions.

Share your answers in the comments.

When you’re in flow, you’re listening for what wants to arrive, and then capturing it before your inner critic can shut it down.

It’s a practice of receptivity plus action:

• show up,

• make space,

• and put words on the page.

Where in your writing life do you most reliably drop into flow? And what conditions help it happen?

Creativity isn’t just “having ideas.”

It’s making hundreds of small choices (words, motivations, stakes, tone) and then committing to one path long enough to see what it can do.

Writers build a powerful decision-making muscle, often without noticing.

What’s one story decision you’ve been stuck on lately, and what are 2–3 options you’re considering?

Writers are natural scenario planners.

We run “what if” experiments safely on the page and discover consequences without real-world risk.

That same skill can help us navigate uncertainty in life and work by exploring multiple futures instead of locking into one fear-story.

What’s a “what if” you’ve been avoiding, and what’s one alternate “what if” that feels more empowering?

In fiction, you can’t wait for perfect clarity.

You draft with partial knowledge and revise as you learn.

In uncertain times, the superpower is choosing your next step with the best information you have, then adjusting as reality gives you feedback.

Where do you feel you’re waiting for certainty before you move.

And what would a “good enough for now” next step look like?

Creativity is the art of unexpected combinations: tropes + genres + settings + your personal lens, other elements, etc. fused into something that feels fresh.

Synthesis turns “seen it before” into “only you could have made this.”

What are two elements you love that you’ve never tried combining in your writing? And what might happen if you did?