Episode 120: Coming out of the creative closet with Michael Isaac Shokrian

Let’s get real honest for a minute: Are you living a double life?

Not in a scandalous way—but creatively. Are you the person who writes in secret before dawn and doesn’t tell your spouse? Who has notebooks full of story ideas hidden in desk drawers?

Who practices "acceptable" career small talk while your heart yearns to discuss character development and plot twists?

If so, you're not alone. And this week's podcast guest proves there's hope for creative closet- dwellers.

Meet Michael Isaac Shokrian—attorney by day, secret novelist by night... for 30 years.

Michael's story fascinated me because it reveals something I suspect many of us experience: the exhausting split between who we are and who we think we're supposed to be.

Here's the thing about hidden writers—they're everywhere:

• The accountant who writes poetry on lunch breaks

• The teacher crafting a memoir during summer vacation

• The doctor with three finished novels in a filing cabinet

• The parent scribbling story ideas while kids are at practice

• The retiree finally admitting they've "always wanted to write"

Michael spent decades as what he calls a "closeted writer"—too ashamed to tell even friends and colleagues about his real passion. His immigrant parents wanted him in business. Society told him writing wasn't "substantial." So he became a lawyer and wrote in the shadows.

But here's what happens when you deny your creative self for too long:

"I think I was really a frustrated lawyer who was sour and angry a lot, unfulfilled," Michael told me. "And I think the only person who knew that really well was my wife."

Sound familiar? That creative energy doesn't just disappear when we ignore it. It festers. It makes us irritable. It creates this low-level dissatisfaction that colors everything else we do.

The turning point came when Michael's wife gave him permission to stop hiding:

She told him to go pursue it—not instead of everything else, but alongside it. And that's when something magical happened: he realized he could structure his time to honor both sides of himself.

His secret? Military-level time management:

• 7:30-10:15 AM: Writing (his creative currency)

• 10:30 AM-4:00 PM: Law practice (paying the bills)

• 4:00-8:00 PM: Family time (staying connected)

• 8:00-10:00 PM: Reading/creative input

"Your time is your currency," he said. "I'm going to spend two hours on this. I'm going to spend four hours on that."

But the real breakthrough came at age 60 when he decided to stop asking for permission to be who he was.

His debut novel "American Playground" is now published. He runs a literary magazine called The Thieving Magpie. He openly calls himself a writer. The creative closet door is wide open.

What I found most moving about Michael's story:

He started The Thieving Magpie to publish his own rejected work—but ended up championing other hidden voices instead. He discovered there's a whole community of talented people who felt shut out of traditional publishing. Writers with day jobs. Artists with mortgages. Poets with practical responsibilities.

People just like you. Just like me.

Here's what Michael's journey teaches us about creative courage:

1. You can't hide who you are forever. That creative identity will keep demanding expression until you honor it.

2. Permission comes from within. Stop waiting for someone else to validate your creative dreams.

3. Time isn't the enemy—priorities are. If it matters to you, you'll find the time. If it doesn't, you'll find excuses.

4. Community matters. Other hidden writers are out there, waiting to connect and support each other.

5. It's never too late. Mic