Meet Frankie Rollins | Writer, Writing Mentor, and Creativity Coach

We had the good fortune of connecting with Frankie Rollins and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Frankie, what matters most to you?
Creativity is the value of highest order for me. I’ve devoted my life to it, in fact, and created a business with this value at the very center. In a time of planetary distress and constant human fighting, we need creative solutions. So many people resort to violence to express their ideas, but I believe there are better ways in both practical/artistic applications. Creativity is what makes a bridge appear in a space over water. Creativity manifests in books so we can share ways to be human. Creativity harnesses energy to make light. Creativity births dance and screenplays and songs, which we need to balance the difficulties of a life. Creativity is our human wealth, and many people are disassociated from it. We can remind ourselves that there are forces inside each of us that can be harnessed for our own empowerment and for the success and meaningful growth of our societies and planet.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Monsters. Witches. Aliens. Lightning strikes. Women so angry that their limbs fly off. In my fiction, I morph my ordinary, complicated relationships into fairytales. Right now, I’m working on a manuscript titled, THE EMPTY HOUSE: FAIRYTALES FOR DISAPPOINTED WOMEN. I love it because the stories are funny, playful, and observant, but more than that, I’m grateful to it because as I came out of a difficult bunch of post-divorce years (plus a pandemic), creating these stories gave me a way to understand myself and move forward.

Becoming a writer has not been easy. It’s culturally accepted in America that it’s hard to make a living as an artist (despite how much we love entertainment). Along with finances, it’s hard to shake the mindset that you must submit to a billion gatekeepers ready to nay or yay your fresh submissions. But this obstructs the real gift of art, which is the way that it can transform us as we make it and offer our knowledge and chances for transformation to others.

The real gift, I’ve learned, is in the act of making the art. It creates strength, wisdom, curiosity, and develops the self in profound ways, while producing something that didn’t previously exist in the world. Being creative changes us on the inside, the making, the discussing of the making, and the way that attempts to make the artwork more efficient, more clear, more beautiful, more astute, more WHATEVER, alters our brains. Knowing this reveals the sacred quality of the creative acts.

Last year I started a business, the Fifth Brain Collective, to support principles of artistic confidence, tenderness and generosity towards creativity, and mad-flat-out permission for folks to experiment, be creative, follow their instincts. I offer one-on-one coaching, online classes, a book, and a creative membership where people practice trying new writing techniques while discussing the experiences they have while doing so. I was led to the richness of these alchemical discussions in my business by my own relationship with art.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Dear Bestie,

San Diego is one of my favorite places to vacation. One of my favorite things to do is to spend a couple of days on the beaches of La Jolla, looking at rocks and moss and seals and hummingbirds. Then spend one day at the Museum of Contemporary Art, followed by some tacos at Don Carlos Taco Shop on Pearl.
Next, go to Mission Beach, get some coffees and sit on the sand near the pier. After swimming all day, go to one of the nearby bars with a view and chill out.
Spend a low tide at Cabrillo Park, checking out the tidepools and the cliffs, followed by dinner in lively Little Italy, where there are delicious meals and fun people watching to be had.
Another day, go to the San Diego Zoo which isn’t creepy or sad, but beautifully built and populated with amazing critters.
If you have a little more time, get over to Coronado Island. It’s good for beaches and a sense of visiting a place from some other era. It’s a pretty place to wander and shop.
This isn’t even a fraction of the interesting and lovely places to be in San Diego! Go wander!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Through networking, I met a woman in CO, Karen Fournier, who has just begun coaching people through organizing the wild arms of their business, aka taming the octopus. I spent a half day working with her, and she’d read through my coaching sites, socials, book on writing, and came prepared with a full sheet of inventive, thoughtful suggestions tailored to my business, to help me harness my powers and grow my arts collective. She talked me through these patiently and gave me heart, hope, and practical steps to pursue. Her business, Starstream Productions, deserves a big shout out. https://www.starstreamproductions.com/contentconsulting

Website: https://www.fifthbraincollective.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frankierollins_fifthbrain/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankie-rollins-72a77911/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/e.frankierollins/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@fifthbraincollective

Other: Tik tok

@fifthbraincollective

Image Credits
Kevin Monko
Frankie Rollins