Your brain told you this was going to be a short project. It also told you the outline was basically done, that sleep is optional, and that this time things would be different. Your brain, it turns out, has the self-awareness of a raccoon who just knocked over a trash can — and you keep listening to it anyway, because without it you never start anything. That's the premise of this week's Craft and Chaos, and it only gets more uncomfortably accurate from there.
Pete Wright, Mandy Fabian, Kyle Olson, and Ryan Dalton each confess the lies that get them to work — the necessary fictions every creative runs on, whether or not they'll admit it. Some of those lies are aspirational. Some are borrowed from Terry Pratchett. One of them is genuinely bleak. They also name the imaginary audience living in their heads while they create, which turns out to be a surprisingly revealing question when four people actually answer it honestly.
The back half introduces "Guilty or Not Guilty," where each host confesses a creative rule they violate and then — badly — argues against themselves before the rest of the crew delivers a verdict. The arguments get personal. The analogies get gross. And someone uses the phrase "creative polyamory" in a way that makes everybody uncomfortable. If you have ever told yourself a beautiful, necessary lie in order to make something — and you have — this one's going to land.
Links & Notes
Connect with the ShowSubmit your questions at
craftandchaos.fun — click any episode page and hit the submit button. New episodes drop every two weeks.
- (00:00) - Welcome to Craft and Chaos
- (02:00) - The Creative Roundtable
- (09:50) - The Lies that Get You Out of Bed
- (18:17) - "Sponsor:" COP
- (19:48) - Your Imaginary Avatar
- (36:24) - "Sponsor:" Nostalgia
- (38:41) - Guilty or Not Guilty
What is Craft and Chaos?
A Weird Show for Weirdos Who Make Things
How do you make art when the world feels like it’s on fire?
Welcome to Craft and Chaos, the podcast for creative minds trying to thrive in the madness. Whether you write, paint, build, perform, or daydream ideas that keep you up at night, this show is your companion through the wild ride of making something out of nothing.
Join Misty, Pete, Kyle, and Ryan — a ragtag team of creative types — as they dive into the joy, frustration, and beautiful mess of the artistic process. From the spark of inspiration to the reality of “I actually made this,” they’ll share honest stories, epic wins, total flops, and the weird, wonderful chaos that comes with being possessed by a new idea.
This isn’t just about craft. It’s about surviving the noise, embracing your weird, and making cool stuff anyway.
Wherever the strangest podcasts are found.