Return to Your Big Idea
Or Something I Learned From Stephen King's On Writing
Lately I’ve been fascinated with big ideas. Those ideas that nag at you for days, months, years.
I believe those things stay in your psyche for a reason. It might live there for a while for multiple reasons.
Fear of judgment of friends and family.
Fear of failure (or success!).
You’re too focused on quick wins.
Or you believe an incorrect or distorted narrative about yourself
You might say, “Matt, that sounds pretty woo-woo or self-helpy for me!”
Probably! But creating business or art is an inherently vulnerable act. You put your emotions, time, and resources on the line to connect with other people with what you offer.
I’ve been reading On Writing by Stephen King. I’ve only read one Stephen King novel in my life (Carrie, very good book, I should read him more!). I’ve always wanted to read On Writing, and my sister had a copy and let me borrow it.
There’s a section where King began to write a lot of short stories and started to send them to literary journals and collections, but kept getting rejected. There was one in particular called The Night of the Tiger that got the boot.
You could argue that each story King writes is an exercise for his big idea to exist. Regardless of rejection, King kept working on his craft. As he the kept writing and started to make a name for himself, he returned to The Night of the Tiger.
Instead of throwing it away, he reworked it. He took what he learned over the years, adjusted his writing, and re-submitted the story to the same literary journal that rejected him years before. This time, it was accepted.
So whether or not you’ve tried several projects or businesses, you owe it to yourself to keep trying.
I’ve been developing some content talking about big ideas for the past couple of years so I’m going to be talking about it a bit more in the future.
Because with everything going on in the world right now, we could all use a Big Idea to keep us focused on the work ahead of us. Let’s make the world better through our passions and expertise.
Best,
Matthew
P.S. Need help solidifying or communicating your Big Idea? Reply to this email, and let’s chat about how I can help.
A New Podcast (And Website Review)!
Some of you might remember a podcast I used to do called Pod of Never. Well, I’ve started an essentially rebranded podcast called Chapters Creative Conspiracy. I’ve put out two episodes and also a new website review where I review The Most Collaborative Agency On The Planet, Jumpsuit!