Read time: 15 minutes
MCC #63 – 07 Jul 2023
Welcome to My Creative Calling!
So you’re stuck for content ideas.
You think your life is boring.
Nobody cares.
So you keep churning out other people’s ideas.
But you feel like a bit of a phony for not doing more of your “own thing”, whatever that means.
Eventually, you grow tired of beating yourself up over this.
You exclaim:
“That’s it. I’m going to try something different. I’m on a mission to find my voice.”
Does that resonate?
Not only am I speaking to you, I am speaking to me.
Today I want to try something different.
I will be your guide in showing you that you can turn mundane everyday life into exciting stories. You can also draw out valuable life lessons for your readers. This helps build your audience of true fans.
So what am I going to do?
More creative writing based on experience. Less relaying other people’s ideas (although I’ll always do some of that).
I’ll demonstrate how you can reflect on your week, dig for insight, and share it through an entertaining story.
Why this sudden turn?
I’ve been speaking with some in my audience (you know who you are) who said they enjoy my content but want to see more “me”.
- What do you believe?
- Sharing others’ insights are great, but what about your insights?
I’m challenging myself this week to bring a kind of raw personal storytelling style. I’m wrestling with:
Can I use creative writing to turn the everyday mundane into an enthralling adventure? And make the reader land in a place they did not expect.
I want to explore a breakthrough I encountered, which will be helpful for you on your creative journey. To help you to unlock that raw, powerful, emotionally moving content that speaks to the human heart. We’re all craving more and more of it in the digital AI age.
So I dunno. Here goes…
An unexpected journey
I’ve had a strange week.
I feel like a different person.
It all started on Sunday night.
But before that, let’s rewind:
The mad rush before the getaway
We had just returned from a lovely weekend away—a belated birthday celebration for me. My wife booked us into a winery accommodation in a beautiful wine region.
As always, I was too busy in the lead-up to going. Stressed, trying to make ends meet. Trying to get ahead on my work.
I think I get that from my dad.
He never liked holidays. Dad always wanted to stay on the farm, working. It’s ingrained into his soul. He’s happiest there.
It’s not that I don’t like holidays, I really do.
But I have this deep love affair with working and can find it hard to switch off and slip away.
I’m sure you have felt this, too, at times when you are in alignment with your work and purpose.
So I was frantically putting the finishing touches on my last newsletter before going to dinner with some school friends.
As always with me, things come down to the wire.
You know that mad rush to the finish line? Why do we always do that to ourselves?
I finished the job and spent a brief moment with my son before cruising off in my car.
I really couldn’t be bothered.
“Man, why do I always do this…”
“You probably won’t see half of these people for another ten years anyway.”
“Don’t you remember that rule? If you wouldn’t say yes to it tomorrow, don’t put it on the calendar in the future.”
This was one of those moments.
I really did not want to go.
Especially given we had the winery trip the next day.
But, like the loyal friend I am, I made my way downhill to the seaside location.
Rekindling old relationships
The venue was a friendly pub just down the road from our old school.
So many memories.
It’s incredible how anticipating an event like this brings a wave of emotion. Those long-lost friends you haven’t seen in years. We spent two years or more living together in a boarding house, coming of age. We have been through some serious shit together.
But then we parted ways. Life got in the way as it does. It was time to grow up, get jobs, start a career, travel the world, find a partner, get married, have kids etc…
You know the drill.
Back to the car trip.
So this wave of emotions, flashbacks and memories flooded my mind. Things I had not thought about in at least 15 years.
I was nervous.
Then some older music from our time randomly played on the car radio.
It brought a smile to my face.
Suddenly I was happier. I became excited.
I arrived at the bar, awkwardly wandering in, not knowing what to expect.
But there was nothing to worry about.
It was just like old times.
We huddled together over drinks, reminiscing on the past and sharing tales of our journeys since.
I distinctly remember asking one guy what he’s been up to, and his response was:
“Jeez, where do I even start?…”
Yep, it had been a long time. And so much had happened — the highs and the lows!
It was like we never left.
I felt a homecoming.
It dawned on me later how we often pass on experiences like this. We don’t want to step outside of our comfort zone.
It would have been easy for me to say no.
But then, I would have missed out on this magical bonding experience.
A haunting inner feeling crept through me, which heightened my emotional state — the next time, not all of us may be there.
Lesson: Keep those old friendships you cherish alive. It’s easy to let them slip. But this is one of the top 5 regrets of the dying.
So why am I telling you this?
Well, it’s setting the scene of my “poetic” weekend.
Another mad rush
The following day was another frantic race out the door.
It always seems like that with kids — a constant revolving balance of order and chaos. Tidiness and mess. Happiness and tears. Energy and exhaustion.
We dropped my son off with the grandparents for the weekend.
He rarely sleeps away from us, so this was something new.
It’s interesting how attached we become to our kids. We spend much of our waking hours in their presence. And when we are not around them, we prepare for their presence — making lunches, doing dishes, folding clothes, and packing toys.
So I felt what I imagined a phantom limb would feel like. He was gone for the weekend, but I could still feel his lingering presence.
Welcome to paradise
We arrived at the beautiful winery — nestled in a valley, surrounded by luscious green fields, gum trees and rolling hills. And the centrepiece was a spectacular lake with several geese going about their business.
The first thing that struck me when I got out of the car was the fresh, clean, cold air. Ahhhhhhh, serenity. I love getting out of the city to the countryside. It holds two of my favourite things: clean air to breathe and clear skies at night where you can see all the stars. Takes me back to my childhood on the farm.
I instantly felt a sense of relief. Just what I needed.
Lesson: Take breaks. If you feel like you don’t have time for a getaway, that’s an indicator you need a good break.
The start of something strange
An eccentric manager greeted us in the hotel reception. This was one of those otherworldly experiences that made my wife, and I wink and laugh to ourselves. Why? We recently finished watching the TV show “The White Lotus”, season 1. And there is an over-the-top, quirky hotel manager with an Australian accent, Armond, who makes for an “interesting” stay. If you’ve seen the show, you know what I mean. If you haven’t, check it out.
My wife kindly asked if we could have a nicer room, given it was my birthday. And what do ya know?
We got upgraded to the best room! The best room in The White Lotus show was the “Pineapple Suite”, which became our room nickname for the rest of our stay.
Lesson: Ask, and you shall receive.
The weirdness continued as we went to the lobby cafe, and my pregnant wife ordered tea before I got to indulge in some wine tasting. I was staring at the ceiling, daydreaming, when a rustling coming up behind caught my attention. A man steaming past in full chef attire. It wasn’t until he was well past me that I recognised this man. But where from?
“Ahh, I remember!”
I once worked with him in days gone by.
I called out, “Hi, Chef!”
My wife burst into laughter! “WTF. You just called that stranger “chef”. What is happening here!”
Do you know that feeling when you feel like a character in a movie set? And strange things are playing out before your eyes? This was that.
Anyway, this calling out to a familiar face paid off. Later at dinner, we received a free dessert and a top-shelf wine.
Lesson: Don’t be afraid to connect with people.
We made our way to the cellar door. We did that silly thing where you set up on one table but then decided to move to another.
“Hmmm, still not quite right.”
You then realise the first table was perfect all along. So we moved back.
My wife had become starving by this point. But my mind had been on the wine list.
Note to self: never stand in the way of a pregnant wife and her demands.
This was the beginning of our next strange experience. Could we order some pregnancy-safe food?
They only have a platter — cured meats, cheese, crackers, fruit and nuts.
Cured meats are a no-no for pregnancy. Cheese is ok if it’s pasteurised.
I don’t think I can do this justice trying to explain it in writing, but there was a real comedic element to how the staff member handled this.
We asked for the platter with no meat. But he couldn’t seem to process this request.
“Can we get just a cheese platter?”
“Well, the platter comes with meat.”
“Ok, well, can you swap the meat out for extra cheese?”
“No, it comes as meat and cheese.”
“Ok, can we just order the meat and cheese platter but don’t put the meat on the platter?”
“Alright, I’ll just give you some extra fruit instead of meat.”
“Thank you.”
Glad we got there in the end.
Things were getting weird. I had not even had a drink yet.
Lesson: Listen to the customer. Make them feel heard and accommodate their requests as best you can.
The power of an image
Later that evening, I experienced a creative breakthrough.
I had started reading a new book, Faith, Hope and Carnage by the musician Nick Cave. The beginning chapters were a stunning exploration of creativity and dealing with tragedy.
I don’t know if it was the red wine or the strange experience leading up to this, but Nick’s story resonated and moved me deeply.
I could feel the subtle trickle of a new river opening up from within my mountainous core.
What was my breakthrough?
Imagery.
Nick spoke to the power of images in writing.
I saw the record as a series of highly visual, connecting images. I actually saw it…
It was a wild recurring hallucination, part horror, part bliss, that somehow embedded itself in my imagination. I’d lie in bed at night and see these images, filing by, one after the other.
Nick Cave
These images became the centrepiece of his new record:
The images were the starting point for the whole thing, and they remained central to the meaning of the record.
Nick Cave
This struck a chord with me, as in my musician days, I had always dreamed of writing a concept record. I loved the power of imagery and themes around a central meaning.
The single radiant image has become more compelling than the narrative itself.
Nick Cave
I started connecting dots in my mind.
For the last few months, I have been binge-listening to lectures from my favourite poet, David Whyte. Through that experience, I started buying poetry books and reading them each night.
I don’t know why I landed down this path, but some inner muse has been leading me.
Nick also spoke about this creative mystery:
You have to operate, at least some of the time, in the world of mystery, beneath the great and terrifying cloud of artistic unknowing.
The creative impulse, to me, is a form of bafflement, and often feels dissonant and unsettling.
It chips away at your own cherished truths about things, pushes against your own sense of what is acceptable.
It’s the guiding force that leads you to where it wants to go. It’s not the other way around. You’re not leading it.
Nick Cave
That was precisely what I was experiencing.
A mysterious force was guiding me to a new form of creative expression. I didn’t even realise I had been taking steps in this direction. But the writing was on the wall now. It clicked.
This immersion experience started to train my eye to be on the lookout for these “images”.
Then I had a light bulb moment:
What if this is a key to writing I had been missing?
Rather than trying to “force” something out of nothing, something I think others will think is cool, why don’t I explore the images that capture my mind?
Poke at them. Explore them. Bring them to life, like Nick Cave and David Whyte did:
I had these wildly vivid images in my mind long before I made Ghosteen.
Then when I started writing at home, other more solid images presented themselves.
Nick Cave
I drifted off to sleep dreaming of creative visions and imagery.
Lesson: The most vulnerable and impactful writing you can do is explore those recurring images in your mind.
A poetic conclusion
So I had this wonderful getaway weekend.
I came back feeling refreshed.
Just what the doctor ordered.
A new man.
And I was extremely chuffed with my breakthroughs.
Why am I telling you all this?
This rewarding experience of stepping outside the daily churn of “busy work” and paying deep attention to the mundane led to another breakthrough.
One I did not see coming.
Late Sunday night, I was lying in bed and could not sleep.
I suddenly felt called to write a few lines down.
What do you mean by lines?
Well… Poetry.
The inner critic chimed in:
“What?”
“You are not a poet.”
“What are you doing? Go to sleep, you idiot.”
And I almost did turn the light off and go to sleep.
I usually have a pen and notepad by my bedside for thoughts, but today I didn’t.
I didn’t want to pull my phone out. That was a massive no-no as all the well-intentioned sleep expert productivity bros keep telling me, “No blue light after 9 pm”.
But then I remembered one of my favourite quotes from Kevin Kelly:
The biggest lie we tell ourselves is, “I don’t need to write this down because I will remember it.”
Kevin Kelly
It hit me. I won’t remember these lines that were calling me.
Tomorrow would be a new day, and they would be lost forever.
No, now was the time to rise to the call of that inner poet.
Capture the goodness pouring out of me.
I knew I was in a strange emotional but creative state after the unforgettable weekend I had just had.
“Strike while the iron’s hot.”
I remembered more of what Nick Cave said:
It requires a certain conviction to trust in a line that is essentially an image, a vision — a leap of faith into the imagined realm.
I’m hoping that the image will lead me somewhere else that will be more revealing or truthful than a more literal line would be.
It’s a matter of faith.
Nick Cave
Have faith. Let’s roll with this intuition.
So I whipped out my phone, turned the screen brightness down, and set to work, jotting down whatever appeared in my mind.
Next thing I had the bones of four poems.
It was such a strange experience, as I had no idea where this was coming from. It was like “the muse” pouring out of me.
When that muse appears, you’ve got to capitalise on it.
It reminds me of Rick Rubin on Lex Fridman’s podcast:
I feel like I am channelling ideas from somewhere else.
I believe we all are, though. I believe we’re vehicles for information, that when it is ready to come through, it comes through, and the people who have good antennas pick up the signal.
But I’m sure you’ve had an experience in your life where you have an idea for something, and you have not acted on it, and eventually, someone else does it, and it’s not because they’re doing it because you had the idea and they stole your idea, it’s because the time has come for that idea, and if you don’t do it, someone is gonna do it.
Rick Rubin
And Steven Pressfield on the Rich Roll podcast:
I never would have thought, if you looked at the book titles of mine, oh that’s coming next… It’s a mystery to me.
So that is the war of going into the unknown and following the muse, or whatever goddess, whatever is coming from another dimension. That song that is playing in your head on the freeway that no one else has heard.
That’s the war. Going and fighting against your own self-sabotage that’s trying to stop you. So that is the coming into who you were already. You already were that. You just didn’t know it. Through these actions, you realise it. Suddenly you’re like, ‘Wow! I had no idea I was going to start a podcast, write a book, or whatever else is out there.
Steven Pressfield
And so, a new chapter:
Matt, the poet.
Matt, the poet… Haha, not sure about that. Makes me laugh.
But seriously, I want to play with this unexpected joy that has popped up and keep writing my little poems each night before I go to bed.
I’ll keep exploring the images, drinking from the source and channelling this muse, the poet.
It seems like it’s coming from somewhere else, not me.
What seems to be said so suddenly, has lived in the body for a long, long time.
David Whyte
And so I better walk the talk of something I preach:
But how?
I don’t want to bombard my list here with unwanted poetry, so I’ll be sharing my poems on my Substack — Poetry & Purpose:
If you’re interested, please subscribe.
I dwell in Possibility,
A fairer House than Prose.
Emily Dickinson
Who knows where this will go? Hopefully, it isn’t another curse of shiny object syndrome. Still, I think it’s important to share what I am already writing and show up authentically in the spirit of “My Creative Calling”.
And I am convinced of the power of poetry to save a life. I’m reminded of this video where Ethan Hawke says:
So you have to ask yourself, do you think human creativity matters?
Well, most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about poetry, right?
They have a life to live, and they’re not really that concerned with Allen Ginsberg’s poems or anybody’s poems…
Until their father dies. They go to a funeral. You lose a child. Somebody breaks your heart. They don’t love you anymore. And all of a sudden, you’re desperate for making sense out of this life. And has anybody ever felt this bad before? How did they come out of this cloud or the inverse — Something great? You meet somebody, and your heart explodes. You love them so much you can’t even see straight. You know, you’re dizzy. Did anybody feel like this before? What is happening to me?
And that’s when art’s not a luxury. It’s actually sustenance.
We need it.
Ethan Hawke
It may stay a fun little passion project. Or, over time, it may explode into a bigger thing.
If you are intrigued, join me on Substack and you’ll receive my poetic work as it comes out.
Final Lesson: Explore your creativity wherever it takes you. It’s the ultimate reward.
I hope this letter has inspired you to pursue the creatively fulfilling path. If you need some help with that, send me an email.
Reflection
Check-in with yourself. How are you feeling? Like really feeling? Is it time you scheduled a little getaway weekend to refuel your creative tank?
You need an “image” for powerful writing. As in, write about the image that most captures you right now.
- What can you visualise?
- What has captured your attention?
- What has moved you emotionally?
- What are you wrestling with?
- Describe it in detail. Bring it to life through your words.
That will make interesting writing.
A quote to ponder
The only advice I would have would be to not listen to anyone and do what you love, and to make things that you love, whatever it is, make your favourite things, you be the audience.
Make the thing for you, the audience.
It doesn’t really matter what anyone else thinks.
And if you have to get a job to support yourself so that you can make your art, that’s fine.
You can’t make art with someone else in mind. I don’t believe it can be good.
Rick Rubin
What happened this week
Instagram – Threads
Wow, what a surprise this was – the launch of Instagram’s new text-based platform (think: their version of Twitter).
I was dreading another platform. But so far, it’s super fun! And so much positive, optimistic energy over there. I felt like a kid in a new school playground.
If you’re on Threads, let’s connect.
Final thoughts
Today’s writing background music playlist was Ghosteen by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds on Spotify.
I hope you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with a friend, and if you haven’t already, sign up here.
It would be great to have you on board!
Cheers!
Matt K. Head
When you’re ready, here’s how I can help you:
Coaching
- Find more meaning and fulfilment in your work
- Gain clarity and start taking action on your creative journey
