Who am I?
My name is Nancy Norbeck. I’m a novelist, singer, actor, and improv enthusiast with a passion for helping people from all walks of life reconnect with their own creative spark. I’m a Master Certified Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach, a SoulCollage® facilitator, and Laughter Yoga leader. I also holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing degree from Goddard College.
I host the Follow Your Curiosity podcast, where I speak to creative souls from all walks of life, from actors to accountants and musicians to mathematicians, about their journeys and what they’ve learned about the creative process along the way. My novel, THE SILVER CHILD, is available on Amazon.
I’m an avid Doctor Who fan, and I love to spoil my two nephews with Mad Libs, the Pink Panther, and trips with a certain Time Lord.
What is The Spark?
“The Spark” is an offshoot of Follow Your Curiosity where I’ll be sharing writing on whatever topics are currently inspiring me. It could be a new poem, or a photo I’ve taken recently and the story behind it.
It could be my thoughts about the latest thing I’ve been watching on TV, or something I observed at a Doctor Who convention.
It may also be further thoughts on a recent FYC podcast interview—or me letting you know that I’ve been on someone else’s podcast.
Substack feels like a place to experiment. It feels like a chance to do what I advocate on the pod (I mean, it’s right there in the name) and follow my own curiosity wherever it might lead me at a given moment.
I can’t promise this trip into my curiosity will be for everyone. I suspect this journey can and will take us anywhere.
I’m also not going to promise that it’ll always be perfect and error-free, because humans are not perfect or error-free, and I don’t want to get caught up in the time, or the energy, it takes to be a perfectionist. It’s not good for us, and it doesn’t lend itself to this format. I’m aiming to get my work out in a reasonable amount of time without making myself crazy over it, and therefore reminding and modeling for others that done is better than perfect.
What I can promise is that I’ll engage with you thoughtfully, welcome your responses, and do my best not to waste your time (or mine).
Why The Spark?
In November 2020, I did a guided meditation. I’d done them before, and I’ve done them since, but this one was different. I don’t know what was different, but in the middle of this meditation I had what I can only call a moment of spiritual…something. I don’t really know what it was.
What I do know is what I saw in that moment: that we are each a tiny spark of the same creative life force that makes us breathe and makes the grass grow. It also connects us all. When we engage that spark, we reconnect with that life force and all it has to offer us.
Trust me when I tell you it was way more exciting than I can make it sound here. It was amazing and life-giving—just like that life force.
In November 2022, I wrote a poem about what matters, and that theme came up again. You’ll be able to read it in the first email you’ll get when you subscribe.
I’m here to fuel my creative spark and, in the process, I hope I’ll help you fuel yours.
Right now, The Spark is free. I have no plans to change that, though I also reserve the right to change my mind. I do, however, gratefully accept donations, which will help make it possible for me to stop paying for podcast hosting out of my own pocket and hire an editor/producer to put FYC episodes together. If you feel so moved, you can contribute here.
