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Matt: The Curse of the Muse
Some days, like this morning when I almost missed my flight to WordCamp Canada in Ottawa, I’m so overwhelmed with the maelstrom of ideas and sparks of creation that it feels like waves crashing against a dam. There are so many ways I can imagine new software, new products, new ways for the world to be.
This is a beautiful process, but it’s also painful! The anguish and agony arise as you attempt to distill the ideas and sparks; the creativity dims, and the beauty and perfection of the original inspiration fade, as I try to translate it into something that can become real and be legible to others. That’s why I have to drop everything when inspiration strikes, because if I try to return to it later, I find the muse has left and I can’t bottle that energy anymore. (There’s a reason Eric, Tantek, and I put “muse” into the XFN standard!)
To the extent I’ve been successful at all in my life, it is because I’m able to contain this tornado and break it down into plans, business models, people, and teams. I’ve never done anything useful on my own; it’s always been in conversation and partnership with others.
I’m grateful to everyone I work with across Automattic, WordPress, Audrey, TinkerTendo, Keys, The Institute, Illuminate, EcoAmerica, Field Effect (in Ottawa!), as well as all my friends and professional connections. They are the ones that help me shape this energy into things that actually have an impact in the world and aren’t just fever dreams.
This essay itself had hundreds more words, but I have to edit, delete delete delete, trim things down.
