This week on Craft and Chaos, we asked a simple question: how do you keep making things when the world feels like it’s melting into a fine mist of hopelessness, bad headlines, and that one guy in your group chat who just did that one thing with that one person and now won’t shut up about it? Misty takes the hosting reins and invites Pete, Kyle, and Ryan to explore what it means to create during a time when existential dread has gone from a background hum to a full-blown dubstep remix.

We begin with a trip to Phoenix Fan Fusion, where Ryan’s book sold out, Kyle got to unleash his inner Marvel nerd, and apparently Hayden Christensen is still drawing a crowd. Then we dive straight into the emotional lava pit: Pete confesses to skipping the premiere of the short film that got him his first job (because self-doubt is a sneaky bastard), Misty reads poetry that is wonderful surely didn’t come from the pen of someone who claims not to be a poet, and Kyle shares a fan fiction stage script that accidentally found a moment of grace in the middle of a ridiculous showdown involving electric pencil sharpeners. Yes, that sentence was real. Finally, Ryan brings a punk rock script for public reading and it goes about as punk rock as you can imagine it would with... you know... us.

Also: haunted British girls endorse self-help podcasts. There’s a tangent about dressage that spirals out of control. And we all admit that five-star reviews are less about algorithmic reach and more about soothing our delicate, trembling egos.

So if you’re out there wondering whether any of this creative nonsense actually matters—whether your fanfic, your sketchbook, your unfinished novel or weird little voice memo has value—the answer is yes. Because it matters to you. And maybe, just maybe, it will matter to someone else too. Even if it takes them ten years and a random internet stumble to find it.

Go ahead. Make something weird. And for the love of God, review the podcast.

• (00:00) - Welcome to Craft and Chaos
• (03:52) - The Phoenix Fan Fusion Report
• (15:15) - "Sponsor" The Other Orange
• (16:50) - How DO You Make Art When The World is On Fire?
• (39:42) - "Sponsor" Go Help Yourself Podcast!
• (41:49) - The Proudnesses

Rejection. It’s what’s for dinner. And breakfast. And sometimes, if you’re lucky, brunch. In this episode, Ryan, Misty, Kyle, and Pete dive headfirst into the creative gauntlet of being told, in increasingly poetic ways, that their babies are ugly. Kyle kicks things off with a rejection letter so well-crafted it deserves its own rejection from the Pushcart Prize. Misty breaks down the unglamorous labor of being a gatekeeper at Lionsgate, Ryan shares a deeply relatable five-minute sadness rule, and Pete reveals he processes pain through footwear and paper products. As one does.

From there, we launch into the writer’s block TED Talk no one asked for but everyone needs. Ryan makes a compelling case that writer’s block isn’t a real thing—it’s just fear in a trench coat—and the gang explores the odd rituals, inner critics, and coffee shop migrations that accompany the daily quest to get words on a page. There’s talk of NaNoWriMo (RIP), vomit drafts, and why sometimes you just need to write the worst possible version so Future You can come in with a cape and fix it.

Then, like any respectable artistic salon, the episode devolves gloriously into chaotic Mad Libs. First, Misty guides the group through a make-your-own creative process confession. Then Pete unleashes a faux-pretentious artist statement so disturbingly accurate it may have been plagiarized from a Brooklyn gallery wall. It includes polyester, Marco Polo, Aunt Pat’s canning club, and the philosophical meaning of “baby squirrel and rollerblades.”

Plus, you’ll hear two new “Sponsors”—one from the return of The Other Orange and another featuring Gandalf’s Discount Used Automobiles, because of course. If you leave this episode feeling totally normal, congratulations: you’re doing it wrong.

• (00:00) - Welcome to Craft and Chaos
• (02:20) - The Sweet Sound of Rejection
• (20:52) - "Sponsor:" The Other Orange
• (22:41) - My Wily Breadbasket
• (28:28) - Writer's Block
• (45:41) - "Sponsor:" Gandalf's Fine Somewhat Used Discount Vehicles
• (48:30) - ANOTHER Mad Lib

In this episode of Craft and Chaos, the team barrels past the sophomore slump and directly into a full-on identity crisis, complete with pseudonyms, fake sponsors, and a trivia contest where the prize is fractional horse ownership. Kyle Olson hosts Misty Stinnett, Ryan Dalton, and Pete Wright in a wildly meandering conversation about creative resilience, the dangers of scorpions, and why “bookmark” might be the most emotionally accurate verb of 2025. They debate the ethics of banana bread espionage, perform a cold read of a sewage-plant noir mystery written under the influence of neurotoxins, and invent a sponsor who promises not just goods and services, but also existential dread. Somewhere in there, Misty becomes a certified coach, Pete learns about Jeff Bridges’ jazz career, and Ryan achieves his dream of invoking TV’s Patrick Duffy for absolutely no reason at all.

It’s absurd. It’s sincere. It’s exactly what happens when creative people try to talk about their work and end up inventing a shadow organization called The Other Orange. Pancakes are eternal. Footnotes are emotional. And yes, creative survival is still possible—even if your leg is on fire.

Subscribe wherever chaos is allowed. Support the show at https://trustory.fm/join, and we’ll send you the rest of the horse.*

*We will not.

• (00:00) - Welcome to Craft and Chaos
• (00:54) - Introductions... again.
• (05:07) - New Rules: Footnotes and Bookmarks
• (10:52) - SPONSOR: Pancakes
• (13:27) - Misty's Trivia Corner
• (23:24) - *Footnote: What can we learn about TV's Patrick Duffy?
• (26:50) - Storytime with Kyle