I Am Not Ripped Like Matt Damon (And Other Revelations From The Odyssey)
I tried reading Homer to prepare for Christopher Nolan’s next movie. Instead, I accidentally discovered a survival guide for my chaotic summer workload.
Life provides its own entertainment, and I try to capture the conflict and joy that arise from our everyday experiences. My stories offer a brief respite from this crazy life, and I hope you enjoy them. There’s something new every Friday.
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This past month, in honor of Christopher Nolan’s upcoming release, I embarked on my own Odyssey, mainly by reading Homer’s epic poem myself. Armed with an e-copy from the library on one screen and my laptop open to the chapter summaries on another, I attempted to comprehend the depth, myth, and multilayered contextual references first told in the eighth century BCE.
Of course, I am not a feared leader like Odysseus or ripped like Matt Damon (I’m more the We Bought A Zoo, The Informant, or Air Matt Damon). I’m not battling sea monsters or praying to the gods to bring me back home safely, but I do feel a kinship with the hero as he journeys back home to Ithaca to his family.
The Underworld of Developmental Edits
In the Odyssey, Circe demands that Odysseus seek Tiresias for guidance in navigating the Underworld. Tiresias shares the reasons he’s being persecuted by Poseidon, the pitfalls of eating the sacred cows on Thrinacia, and what lies ahead when he gets back to Ithaca.
This week, I initiated my own descent and submitted Landslide to my editor for a critical review of my manuscript's structural flaws, character development, and story flow. I’ve received fantastic feedback from readers, but this is the edit that can take my manuscript from good to great or remarkable. But it means confronting truths, making hard choices, and ultimately sacrificing sacred cows for the story's betterment.
The Lotus Eaters of the Next First Draft
With nothing to do on Landslide for the moment, I shifted focus to the first draft of the fake novel, PIANO MAN. How intoxicating the first chapters of a first draft. I am not intimidated by the first blank page. In fact, I may be the opposite. I jump in with such unsustainable enthusiasm that I have to remind myself it's a marathon, not a sprint.
In The Odyssey, the crew encounters a tribe that lives off a sweet fruit that induces total apathy, making them forget their home and their mission. The first third of a new draft is pure Lotus fruit. It’s fueled by adrenaline, fresh characters, and zero consequences. Without discipline, you get so enthralled with polishing the fun stuff that you never push past the first act. My current daily trial is to taste the Lotus of a new project without letting it derail the larger journey.
The Phaeacian Feast of Substack Short Stories
On his journey home, Odysseus is given a banquet by King Alcinous. There are tales, competitions, and general celebration. Thematically, it’s an opportunity for Odysseus to have a break from the struggles he endures on his journey.
For me, The Piano Man Chronicles provides an opportunity to stretch, to explore, and to expand my writing universe. Currently, I have three three-part stories and three stories written by guest writers Sandolore Sykes, JC Wesslen, and Andrew Robert Colom. Thank you to the guest writers for their mind-bending creativity.
Row the Boat With Me: We continue The Piano Man Chronicles next week with Part 1 of the thriller A Savage Solitude, a story of loneliness, madness, and the Pacific Coast Trail. Subscribe and get it in your email first.
Navigating Scylla and Charybdis
Odysseus famously had to steer his ship through a narrow strait between Scylla (a six-headed monster that snaps up sailors) and Charybdis (a massive whirlpool that swallows ships whole).
My modern strait consists of two equally lethal threats to my productivity: My day job and the World Cup.
On one side is Scylla, the demanding, busy season at my regular paying job, snapping up my creative hours. On the other side is Charybdis, the hypnotic, swirling vortex of a month-long football tournament. How easy is it to let 90 minutes of beautiful footie swallow my entire day? My only solution for survival? Turn off Alexi Lalas, step away from the TV, and only tune in when the workday is safely done.
The Telemachus Bond
Amid all this creative chaos, my wife and I are navigating a profound, real-life shift in dynamics. We have one child who has officially started his career and another in college searching for her path. The days of hands-on caregiving and coaching are over. We have graduated/been demoted to “consultants.” We can’t demand compliance anymore; we can only offer advice when explicitly asked.
The true heart of The Odyssey isn’t just Odysseus getting home; it’s his son, Telemachus, finding his own footing as a young adult. Throughout the epic, the goddess Athena, disguised as an old family friend named Mentor (is that the origin?), guides Telemachus from a distance.
Acting with “Athena energy” is tough. Watching your kids step up means watching them occasionally screw up, dust themselves off, and learn to captain their own ships.
My Ithaca
When, and if, I finally land this ship next year with the release of Landslide, I know the journey won’t have been perfect. I’m going to make mistakes as a writer, a husband, and a father. But The Odyssey is a reminder that the trials are the whole point, and there is a kingdom waiting just beyond the next wave.
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