It’s Not About the Money, Money, Money…

Being creative and writing from the heart

I have to begin with the question, “why do you write?” As Michelle Monet has so eloquently and passionately written about, it is rarely about the money. For me, it has been the very last thing on my mind.

According to my mum, I taught myself to read at the age of three. I read everything and anything. As soon as I learned to write, I did. I loved writing little storybooks, illustrated them too. I’m sure my mum has kept some somewhere! They had little stations at my kindergarten with the idea that we would move around and try different things. They called my mum in, concerned because I never moved from the writing station.

The passion started early.

My life has revolved around words. I studied History and English Literature at University. I ran motivational workshops for long term unemployed, using words to inspire people who were feeling less than adequate. I became a teacher of History, Sociology and English Literature in high school. I have taught Shakespeare. I have taught war poetry, analysing the works of poets such as Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Robert Nichols, and Harold Begbie. I have taught students to write concisely, to write using their senses, to elaborate on their ideas, to write about Shakespeare, Maggie O’Farrell, F. Scott Fitzgerald, to write essays, reports, poetry, magazine articles. I speak two other languages besides my native English. So not inexperienced in the use of words.

So why did I feel so inadequate and lost when I first discovered this platform?

I found this place in cyberspace via Instagram. That journey started when I began posting poetry on Instagram a few years ago after some pretty significant life changes. My marriage was over, I had found new love in a faraway land, I had lost 20kg, my whole view of life had changed. And I could finally feel!

And that’s when they came, the words! Just pouring out of me, like a flood. I couldn’t stop them. I would wake at 3 am and start tapping on my phone, sending a daily email to the love of my life on the other side of the planet. I called it “Your Daily Dose of Poetry.” He was moved, amused, amazed, that he was my muse. Still, the words came. Words about love and passion. Words about pain and joy and distance. Words about longing and depression.

Where is money in all this? Nowhere.

My writing started with feelings. Feelings so intense writing was the only way I could process them. My partner one-day said, “you need to get these words out there. I think people could relate to them.” And so I started posting on Instagram. Was it about money? Absolutely not.

Instead, I found a world of other amazing writers, poets, creatives.

A lovely community of people who support each other. I participate in challenges, I hone my craft, I have learned to use new apps, to find amazing photos, I collaborate with creatives, have even had work published as well as some waiting in the pipeline.

I am in touch with a guy in Canada who I sent a private message to once because he hadn’t noticed his typo (he wrote ‘dessert’ instead of ‘desert’). I was really apologetic but said I would want someone to point it out to me. He was really grateful. Now we ‘chat’ every now and then, support each other, have a laugh.

Money? Nope.

So where was the community spirit on this platform someone on Instagram had said was so great? How to find them? I spent a few months posting random things, reading lots, and quite frankly getting bored (and very dry eyeballs!) at the articles that repeated the same thing over and over… Articles telling me what I ‘should’ be doing: get up at 5 am (have they not had small children?), be productive ( I was THAT wife! I was a productivity machine!), write for 10 minutes a day (already doing it), build networks, do this, do that…over and over… *YAWN*

I had come from a lovely world of supportive creatives to this?! And I was PAYING for it! Where were my people? The interesting life stories written by people who know basic grammar? The poets who create beautiful/incredible/despairing/amazing images in my mind’s eye? Where were the people who want a laugh and see the world a little (or a lot!) cynically? The people who write songs and make beautiful word art? Where?

I want to read about dust bunnies making good pets (Thanks Jenn Pike!) I want to ponder the Complicated Art of Ordering Coffee (Thanks Janie Emaus!) I want to nod my head in appreciation of ascerbic wit in pieces like Christina Ward 💗 and her 6 Ways to Kill a Poet. I even want to celebrate a birthday with Susan Brearley!

And then it happened.

It was just pure fluke I found Susan Brearley and Michelle Monet. The universe opened and this platform became more than a bland, grey concrete block. It is now bejeweled with incredibly colourful words and people, who write about fun and scary and interesting things (in an interesting way!). I had found my people! Literally from one day to the next.

Is this about money? NO!

Writing, like any creative art, is about EXPRESSION! The expression of ideas, thoughts, feelings, emotions, ponderings. In words, photography, music, painting, drawing, movement — whatever your tool of choice may be. Is it about money? Maybe for some. But if the place you start from is money then you are chasing a wisp. Something fickle. Something that can stifle creativity.

Do we need money to live? Yes. Is it a bonus if we earn money as a creative? Yes. Should it drive us? My answer is no.

Creatives need time and space. They also need a community. Building communities helps us grow, gives us support, can make us laugh, be a tissue for our tears, give us inspiration. Communities are the warm fuzzy stuff, the supportive stuff, the constructive feedback we need to grow and change and question.

That is why I am here.

So I can express myself. So I can share ideas with like-minded people. So I can have a laugh in a world that can be pretty overwhelming at times. So I can support others in their creative journeys. I don’t want to give advice. I will if you ask for it but it is not my purpose. Let’s make this space a beautiful, global community of creatives. Anything more is surely just a bonus.

Thanks to Jessie J and her song Price Tag for the title inspo!

Lisa would not have found Susan Brearley and Michelle Monet without first following Ninja Writers and Shaunta Grimes. She is grateful for that connection! She has decided to stick with this MuddyUm stuff…she has found her people. All the piratey, patch-wearing, peg-legged, sweary, parrot owning shipmates on this hypothetical ship floating around the International Date Line. Lisa has also discovered that she quite enjoys writing about herself in third person.

If you have enjoyed this piece of writing, you may also like to read these two, quite different stories:

Then there is this experience of Lisa’s new place of abode: