{"id":1340,"date":"2025-10-16T00:01:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T00:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icelandconsulateghana.com\/matt-the-curse-of-the-muse\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T00:01:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T00:01:18","slug":"matt-the-curse-of-the-muse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icelandconsulateghana.com\/is\/matt-the-curse-of-the-muse\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt: The Curse of the Muse"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Some days, like this morning when I almost missed <a href=\"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2025\/10\/in-canada\/\">my flight to WordCamp Canada in Ottawa<\/a>, I\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n<p>This is a beautiful process, but it\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019t bottle that energy anymore. (There\u2019s a reason <a href=\"https:\/\/meyerweb.com\/\">Eric<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tantek.com\/\">Tantek<\/a>, and I put \u201cmuse\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/gmpg.org\/xfn\/background\">into the XFN standard<\/a>!)<\/p>\n<p>To the extent I\u2019ve been successful at all in my life, it is because I\u2019m able to contain this tornado and break it down into plans, business models, people, and teams.\u00a0 <em>I\u2019ve never done anything useful on my own<\/em>; it\u2019s always been in conversation and partnership with others.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m grateful to everyone I work with across <a href=\"https:\/\/automattic.com\/\">Automattic<\/a>, WordPress, <a href=\"https:\/\/audrey.co\/\">Audrey<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tinkertendo.com\/\">TinkerTendo<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/keysjazzbistro.com\/\">Keys<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theinstitute.com\/\">The Institute<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/illuminate.org\/\">Illuminate<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ecoamerica.org\/\">EcoAmerica<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/fieldeffect.com\/\">Field Effect<\/a> (in Ottawa!), as well as all my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/saxmatt\">friends<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/mattm\/\">professional connections<\/a>. They are the ones that help me shape this energy into things that actually have an impact in the world and aren\u2019t just fever dreams.<\/p>\n<p>This essay itself had <a href=\"https:\/\/quoteinvestigator.com\/2012\/04\/28\/shorter-letter\/\">hundreds more words<\/a>, but I have to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/0060891548?tag=photomatt08-20\">edit<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aStHTTPxlis\">delete delete delete<\/a>, trim things down.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some days, like this morning when I almost missed my flight to WordCamp Canada in Ottawa, I\u2019m 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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Matt: The Curse of the Muse<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Some days, like this morning when I almost missed my flight to WordCamp Canada in Ottawa, I\u2019m so overwhelmed with the maelstrom of ideas and sparks of creation that it feels like waves crashing against a dam. 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