Week 5: Making It Real & Taking the Wheel (of Each Other’s Quests)

This week’s episode arrived late, and for a good reason! Both of our quests pulled us away from our desks and out into the world.

We each ended up taking the wheel of the other’s side quest—Matt literally, behind the steering wheel on a research trip through Lindsey’s book territory, and Lindsey metaphorically, becoming Matt’s producer on a Creative Places proof of concept shoot.

As always, this is an unscripted conversation—two people reporting back honestly on a week of creative work.

In this episode

00:00 — Taking the wheel

We each took the steering wheel of the other’s side quest, literally and metaphorically.

01:24 — Shout outs

We share a few updates from your quests: a community writing group that nearly ended but didn’t, a screenplay moving from aspiration into actual pages, a new opening taking shape, and a curiosity that led someone out into London. With special thanks to Fran who contributed “grinds my goat” to Matt’s mixed metaphor collection.

06:13 — Lindsey’s check-in: Three pitches and arctic travel?

Lindsey wrote out three possible books over the five weeks and emailed her agent to get a meeting on the books. We muse on the importance and impact of being on location of visiting a place where a novel is set.

21:30 — Matt’s check-in: Planning a shoot and carrying a show?

Matt sent his concept doc to a handful of people and it still didn’t feel real. The only way to make it real is to shoot something – so he (through his new producer, Lindsey) has planned two days of filming in Montana. Cue existential crisis: can I carry a show?

35:58 — What happens after week five

Neither of us think we’d have landed here without the container. Lindsey doesn’t think she’d be pursuing a novel; Matt doesn’t think we’d be shooting in Montana. Have our side quests quietly become a main quests? And what’s next for this show? We’re still thinking about it, but we’d love your feedback.

Mentioned in this episode

* The Audacious Voyage Grant—grants for women whose voyage, literal or metaphoric, is tied to a significant first

* Anthony Bourdain (Parts Unknown) and Stanley Tucci (Tucci in Italy)

* Livingston, Montana

* London Writers’ Salon, on building containers that make the work inevitable

For next week

Lindsey: a mood board for the novel, capturing the images and details from the trip while they’re still fresh, and sketching out what it would take to have a first draft by the end of the year.

Matt: three days in Livingston. One day walking around and talking to people, one day shooting landscape and exteriors, one day of interviews.

The Quest Log

If you’re running a side quest of your own, take a few minutes with these:

* Who can support your quest, and whose quest can you support? Things become more possible with the support of others.

* What are you telling yourself you need before you begin? Name the access you don’t have, then ask what version can be built inside those constraints.

* What would make your project feel real? Put something on the calendar. Tell someone your plan. Take the first step.

This is the last of our five weeks, so we’d especially love to hear from you—whether you’ve commented every week or not at all. How were these five weeks for you? What did you make? What changed? What surprised you? What are you proud of, and what are you carrying forward?

Tell us in the comments. We’ll be gathering your answers into a wrap-up once we’re back from Montana.

Until we quest again,

Matt Trinetti & Lindsey Trout Hughes