Hello, everyone! This is Tonya Dawn Recla, your Super Power Expert, and I’m excited to have with us today a really unique guest in any way. Well, we don’t often get folks like her to the show, although she does have the kind of telltale signs of the Super-Powered world-changer of the integration, and the transformative nature. But she comes from a little bit of a different genre than a lot of our guests. And so I’m excited to have her taken her stand on some of the topics we discuss here. We’re going to be talking today with Maryann Ridini Spencer about communicating spiritual inspiration. And when we talk about communicating spiritual inspiration, we’re not just talking about, talking about it. This woman really embodies kind of the essence of inspiring in a number of different ways, and her story is pretty fascinating. So I’m excited for you to glean from it, kind of what it looks like to walk the walk, talk the talk all of that good stuff that she’s a screenwriter-producer. She just simply delicious living on top of a number of other things to include her amazing novel “Lady in The Window”. So I’m really, really, really excited to welcome to the show today. Maryann Ridini Spencer. Welcome, Maryann.
Hi!
Hello. Thank you for joining us today. It really is delightful. You know, the short time that you and I were able to check together, what I really am impressed about is this kind of clarity of vision that you have and yet the willingness to be open and kind of in the flow with how that inspiration comes through you. I think it’s really powerful.
Our inspirations come from being open.
I think it’s really important to keep yourself open so you can be part of the flow. Because I believe that our inspirations creatively come from being open.
I like that, I think that’s an absolute truth. Well, let’s start in and ask you what are your superpowers?
Well. Creating. I am a content creator. So that incorporates writing screenplays, magazine articles, print or any kind of newspaper magazine print. I also produce television and film projects that I create. And I host content for TV and film and radio. So really, my superpowers it’s as a communicator. And I take content or ideas I get from everywhere. From Art, from reading articles for movies, and I kind of developed my own feelings that I want to share with people or ideas that I feel that are important to convey. And I find ways to do it. It might be a novel, it might be a cookbook, it might be through a blog post, it could be a podcast. All different ways and I think that depending on what you want to say, or what I want to say, I have to find the best for you folks to do that. And so I incorporate all those things.
Yeah that’s one of the things I was really impressed with because I think a lot of times we would like to create our little boxes, so either your screen writer, or your novel writer, fact or fiction, or whatever the case may be, but what you’re talking about is really a holistic approach to, you know, inspiring through communication and communication even sounds really cliche for what you do but there’s you know I’m not sure there’s another word for it, but it’s the expression of, really the expression of spiritual inspiration and it’s many forms.
You know I started my career working as a news producer-writer for CNN working on entertainment news. And during that time, we had extra moments where we could do other things. And so I started doing some freelance magazine. And I did that as a career working on the news and working on different kinds of programs, and I always wanted to make films, I always wanted to write novels, but it was kind of an abstract concept for me. I was doing my day job, and I was trying to figure out how to make my dreams happen. And when I started working in publicity, because it was an easy transition for me to make because of my writing experience. I was offered a job working with some talent, and some TV shows, and I said sure, this sounds good it was a little bit more regular hours than my 24/7 working in TV production. And through that, I was led to people who gave me information about writing screenplays, and I started reading a lot of screenplays because I had to write synopses, I had to figure out PR and marketing plans for different programs and movies that I worked on. So I kind of for many years, I was going around what I really wanted to do, and I had to put it together that I couldn’t just get hired as a producer. I had to create or find the content. And then package it and get the financing. So I started doing that and I started packaging movies. But I was making movies although I did like them. They weren’t really my cup of tea, so I thought the next step was “OK, so how do I make the movies that I really want to make?” And that led me to create more my own projects. It was a process.
So looking back on it you know hindsight is 20 20 right. We can always kind of see the pattern in the growth in retrospect, but what do you tribute in those moments to your clarity of vision and your, no definitely your courage to kind of step into those spaces. Can you attribute that to anything specifically?
I had no choice I knew I had to do something.
I think that what you talk about the courage it’s like I had no choice. Because I knew I had to do something. Once I got to a point where I realized that would be my next step, I had to take, because if I didn’t, I would feel like I was suffocating. Or you know, not doing what I was supposed to do. And I am task oriented, I have to admit it you know I am goal oriented. I like what I know, I love my job actually, I love what I do. But I think not being allowed to be creative was actually detrimental, to my health. So I needed to find expression where I could really get into my creativity. And it took a long time. And it took a while for me to even realize that. And then one day you know, it just popped into play like, “wow, this makes me feel good when I write it makes me feel good”, when I’m creating something that I feel that I want to convey, I just felt there. So it almost, I had to like, talk to myself in a way like “how do I feel about this?” or “why don’t, why do I feel like I’m all cramped up if I’m working for somebody else?” You know. What don’t I like about this project, you know, why am I so stressed out about this. So I had to ask questions and I really had to analyze you know, where I was coming from and also constantly thinking about, “OK how can I do this?” Even with my novel writing. I did a lot of other writing before I got to novel writing, but it was always something that I always wanted to do. And finally, it was through screenwriting that I was able to see OK. Taking some of that format of how I work, and how I mold the story writing a screenplay, is what I use with my novels. But it took me a while to really get that because writing a novel is daunting. The thought of it. Like, should I write it all in one sitting? You know, how am I going to write this? How is it going to come out? This and that, and you can go crazy trying to figure it out. But what I did when I really worked out a roadmap, that made it more doable and the biggest thing I did was saying “you don’t do it all in one sitting.” An hour a day, two hours a day if you have to if you have a day job which I do. And that’s what happened. And then over time you know, a couple of months you have a book.
You know, you do have to go back and edit and things like that, but it’s so, it took me a while to get to that. It’s so simple really when you think about it. An hour to a day.
Well, I think sometimes it’s so funny because we had these like, kind of warring factions inside of us. And one of them is, “oh my gosh it’s so daunting.” but then the other one is like “well doing it just a little bit over time, that’s not very exciting.” You know, that’s not a big bold leap of faith in jumping off the cliff you know. So we have both of those pieces of us, and I think really the folks who, you know, in the time I’ve been doing this show; the ones who show success, are the ones who are able to kind of harness both. It’s like the charioteer, you know, in Turow mythology, it’s like the chair and being able to manage both of those ones you know, chaos and control and guiding them somewhere; and I think you said it earlier, one of the powerful pieces in that, is the goal orientation. And even though for sure that can go really sideways pretty quickly, but if you can kind of put all of it together with the right mixture you know, like our chemically create all of that. It’s a perfect storm if you will, to achieve and to move ahead in a magical way.
Yes, it’s true. And I think you do have to say to yourself, OK, maybe you can’t sit down every day for an hour or two. But let’s say to me I even broke it down further than that. I said, 20 pages a week. OK. Now it could be one day I have a couple of hours, maybe another day I have no time because I have to be on location shoot. Maybe, but as long as I got a certain number of pages, that also was a way to do it. And that’s just, what? It’s like a lot of fun, I have free time!
You’re so funny. You’re so like me, it’s like you play your little games with yourself.
Can also be really it too much sometimes. I have to do this every day. So I may not feel like it. And you know, I really think that if one day you don’t feel like it, you maybe shouldn’t. It’s not good stuff’s not going to come out. But then you have to figure out, “OK, what’s going to make me feel relax?” Well for me, you know, I may light a candle, I may put on some, I always put on music. I put on the music of something that motivates me and inspires me to write about the subject matter I’m working on. And I closed the door. And for example, I may not look at my computer at all. Like if I, I like to write early morning. But then I know myself. That if I check my e-mails or start texting, or looking on Facebook, forget it. I’m lost. Because I’ll be doing that than writing. So I kind of say, “OK, you’re getting up, you’re doing this”, you know, get your coffee or tea or whatever. Turn the music on, lights, and close the door. Just enjoy, and see where it takes you. I have my outline, so I feel comfortable it’s not like I’m going to be staring at a blank page. And that’s a huge thing because you do need an outline. I do, any way to work for me, because I don’t want to go back and pull my hair out figuring how to edit. If you have an outline that you love, and it takes a while to get that. But I think it’s one of the most important steps. Then the writing and the things that happen when you’re writing can be magical.
Find out more about Maryann at maryannridinispencer.com.
To listen to the entire show click on the player above or go to the SuperPower Up! podcast on iTunes.
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