Welcome to the a(muse)ment park

A place between the world we see and one we don't

Ever had an idea that just wouldn't leave you alone? You know, the kind that keeps popping up, nudging you to do something with it?

Well, picture this: an amusement park where every ride is a different creative adventure, and your ticket? It's nothing more than the faith you have in your idea.

Welcome to what I like to call the a(muse)ment park – my way of making sense of this crazy journey from "hey, what if..." to "holy cow, I actually made something."

It's a bit like a bridge between the world of pure imagination and the messy reality of bringing ideas to life. Time for a quick tour.

The Creative Odyssey

In the past five years, I've given myself the audacity to pursue a whole variety of creative pursuits, including but not limited to the following:

- Building a micro-saas application

- Writing and publishing a novel

- Writing and not selling a second novel

- Writing a third novel only to realize far down the line it wasn't working

- Several first drafts of novels that have never seen the light of day

- Writing a screenplay adaptation of the published novel

- Writing a screenplay adaptation of one of the unpublished novels

- Co-writing a screenplay adaptation of the published novel

- Writing a TV pilot

- Writing and performing a 5-minute stand-up comedy routine

- Producing and art directing a vertical slice for a mobile game

- Writing and recording 3 songs

- Creating a music video for one of those songs

- Recording and publishing 30+ podcast episodes

- Starting a newsletter

If you can’t already tell, I'm quite curious about the creative process and not afraid to explore in the context of mediums that on the surface might not have a lot to do with one another.

Granted, these ventures have been met with varying degrees of success, but going through the process of "idea to realization" has taught me that there are many overlapping similarities across disciplines when it comes to creativity.

These experiences have also resulted in me trying to articulate and come up with some sort of structure, framework, or guardrails to encapsulate them. The one image that keeps coming to mind is that of an a(muse)ment park.

But not just any amusement park, one where each discipline is represented by its own respective ride, if you will.

The Nature of the a(muse)ment park

Where is this a(muse)ment park? Why are there parentheses around the word "muse"? How do you access it? Rest assured, all your questions will be answered.

First, as to the location of the a(muse)ment park, it is both real and ethereal, and unsurprisingly, there have been many attempts to encapsulate these two worlds. In the West, we have Plato demarcating between the World of Forms and the Physical World. For Plato, the world we experience through our senses is imperfect, always changing, and a shadow of the true reality. Whereas the World of Forms is perfect, eternal, and unchanging. For him, these Forms represented the true essence of all things and concepts.

In the East, similarly, there's the Akashic Records, believed to be a cosmic repository or universal library, complete with every thought, emotion, and experience that anyone could ever have. Not to mention the physical world being referred to as Samsara by Buddha, similarly because of its ever-changing nature.

The a(muse)ment park, as I see it, is a gateway of sorts, a bridge between these two worlds. To enter, you first need a ticket (an "idea"), which I'll expand on later. Once you pick a given ride and successfully complete it, you're left with a "prize" that you can return to the world with.

As to why I call it the a(muse)ment park, it has to do with the nine original muses of Greek mythology. I imagine them as the attendants or caretakers of the park, alongside their more modern-day offspring looking after pursuits that might not have been invented back in the day.

Accessing the a(muse)ment Park

Now you might be asking, if the a(muse)ment park sits between the physical and non-physical world, how exactly do you get there? From my own personal experience, it requires purchasing a ticket, the currency for which is the faith you have in a particular idea.

We have countless thoughts in a day, but not all of them are ideas. Many of these ideas we dismiss, but then there are some that seem to be a little harder to get rid of. These persistent ideas are what ultimately drive us to the park and prompt us to purchase a ticket.

However, as with any purchase, this ticket brings with it certain "costs," primarily in the form of time, energy, and occasionally mental well-being. Often, we're not always prepared or willing to part with these precious resources, even though they're not regarded as such when you take into account our voracious appetite for screen-time.

Like any park, there's usually a line-up and plenty of opportunity to think twice. Do you really want to spend the day out in the sun with blistering heat, waiting for your turn on a strange, meandering, and from the outset, unattractive ride? You'll have plenty of doubts and lots of reasons to turn back, but whether you choose to or not is entirely up to you.

Let's say you do find the courage to expend time getting to the a(muse)ment park. You're in for a ride, literally and figuratively, because your ticket represents the first step towards bringing forth that prize from the otherworldly realm part of the park. And all it required was an idea and a little bit of faith that it was worth investing in.

Navigating the A(muse)ment Park

Once you get through security and enter, the park itself is expansive. There's literally no end to it; it's filled to the brim with unimaginable rides and games. You have to find the ride that best suits your idea. However, with a ticket in hand, rest assured you will indeed be distracted. It's impossible not to be. Everything looks so bright and shiny from the outside, how could you not want to do it all?

This, my friend, is a big challenge for many creatives, because you'll be tempted to switch lines or stand in no lines thanks to our friend, option paralysis. As you can tell from my exhaustive list of creative pursuits above, it's not something I'm immune to or have yet figured out how to deal with.

The Risks and Rewards

The other thing to consider is that some rides are deadlier than others. At any point, you can pull the emergency brake and have yourself airlifted back down, so making it to the end isn't for the faint of heart or something that happens for everyone.

But if you do manage to make it to the end, there is something waiting for you. It might not meet all your expectations (and it often won't) but it will surprise you in how much it might come to mean to have some tangible or physical representation of your journey to hold in hand.

With that, welcome. If you're similarly making frequent trips to the park, or if you've got a pull to buy a ticket, you're in the right place too.