{"id":150237,"date":"2025-10-15T17:01:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T00:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/?p=150237"},"modified":"2025-10-15T17:01:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T00:01:18","slug":"muse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2025\/10\/muse\/","title":{"rendered":"The Curse of the Muse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some days, like this morning when I almost missed 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\n\n\n

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\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’s a reason Eric<\/a>, Tantek<\/a>, and I put “muse” into the XFN standard<\/a>!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 I\u2019ve never done anything useful on my own<\/em>; it\u2019s always been in conversation and partnership with others.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m grateful to everyone I work with across Automattic<\/a>, WordPress, Audrey<\/a>, TinkerTendo<\/a>, Keys<\/a>, The Institute<\/a>, Illuminate<\/a>, EcoAmerica<\/a>, Field Effect<\/a> (in Ottawa!), as well as all my friends<\/a> and 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\n\n\n

This essay itself had hundreds more words<\/a>, but I have to edit<\/a>, delete delete delete<\/a>, trim things down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading The Curse of the Muse<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"fullscreen","default_image_id":54207,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbWEudHRcL2ZpbGVzXC8yMDIxXC8wNVwvUGhvdG8tb24tMjAyMC0xMC0yOC1hdC0yLjA1LVBNLTEtMTAyNHg2ODIuanBnIiwidHh0IjoiVGhlIEN1cnNlIG9mIHRoZSBNdXNlIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJmdWxsc2NyZWVuIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjEwNDc4NjV9.-x_y_M75oqYk1SKzlgH60rmyYF4xTB9OKQKZT76Tm-UMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/ma.tt\/2025\/10\/muse\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"The Curse of the Muse","url":"http:\/\/ma.tt\/2025\/10\/muse\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/ma.tt\/2025\/10\/muse\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":""},"articleSection":"Essays","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Matt"}],"creator":["Matt"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Matt Mullenweg","logo":"http:\/\/ma.tt\/files\/2021\/05\/Photo-on-2020-10-28-at-2.05-PM-1.jpg"},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2025-10-16T00:01:18Z","datePublished":"2025-10-16T00:01:18Z","dateModified":"2025-10-16T00:01:18Z"},"rendered":"