The Story That Is Too Big to Sit on the Page

I heard it. I felt it. I had a vision. And I had to produce it. I didn't know that would involve riding 1000 km on my bike.

The stories that are not told

A few years ago, substantially late to the party, I saw The Godfather — a GOAT according to basically every film critic on the planet. Despite my lack of interest in guns, violence, and blatant machismo, I owed it to my love of cinema to check this one off the required watch-list.

To my surprise, I loved it. The story, the performances — neither were overrated, and I was wrong about the machismo. But what stayed with me wasn’t the acting, the writing, or the directing. It was the women. Specifically, their minimal roles and absent perspective. Every female character reads like an afterthought — token wives and girlfriends whose stories are conveyed through their clothing rather than their voices. Critics have called the women in The Godfather “silenced,” “stupid,” and “victimized.”

I don’t know much about being a gangster’s wife, but I know something about being a woman whose story gets overlooked or taken for granted.

I am surrounded daily by women-in-charge, at every life stage: women who run entire households so their husbands can be heroes at work; women who give up careers and personal happiness to have children; women who “have it all” at the expense of their mental health; women who are afraid to speak, or shamed when they do. Their stories are not told in mass media, let alone explored with any depth. We assume every housewife has the same experience, every working woman has the same experience, every woman in love has the same experience. In flattening these stories, we erase them.

Of the AFI’s Top 100 Movies of All Time, only 14 feature a female protagonist. Of those 14, only 3 center a struggle that isn’t romance. Women are more than wives, girlfriends, and maidens in love. Where is the story of the woman in her 20s trying to understand sexy versus slutty? The woman in her 30s who hasn’t found her career or her partner, and is being told by her doctor that the “window is closing”? The woman in her 40s who has never felt comfortable in her female body and is contemplating top surgery? The woman in her 50s whose estrogen is in freefall, sending her into soul-searching questions about her marriage, her sexuality, her career, her home, her friends?

These stories are told every day by brave women who are bashing stereotypes simply by being honest. Every time a woman tells her authentic story, she becomes a soldier against the patriarchy. And that is viewed as a threat rather than an act of heroism.

Enter, The Muses

While on a creative writing retreat in Costa Rica, I heard one of these stories of powerful, adventurous, intelligent women.

📣 Check out the video below to learn more. Come join me at an upcoming event to learn more about bringing the story of The Muses to life. Fill out the RSVP at the end of this article.

It’s called The Muses and it is about 9 High Priestess Celtic Druids, bonded in an unbreakable sisterhood. The story completely captivated me. It was written by one of the retreat facilitators, Cat Lindroth. Cat is a Yale-educated history major and social impact entrepreneur and has spent two years writing The Muses.

As Cat read one of the stories from The Muses, the hair on my arms stood on end. My brain was lit up. I could feel the story in my gut. I could see it all unfolding in my head - on a big screen. I envisioned nothing less than an epic historical fantasy. I needed to make this story!

I said to Cat, “I want to help you produce this. I want to make this story real. Where do we start?”

She said: “It starts on a bike. In Croatia. This summer. Riding to Switzerland.”

If you know me, you know she had me at “bike.” 🚴

The 1,000-Kilometer Journey

In mid-July, Cat and I will ride our bikes nearly 1,000 km from Croatia to the Swiss Alps, through the lands that were sacred to the Celts in Central Europe, publishing the first 14 stories along the route using poetry, song, AI animation, and video footage.

Cat and I are especially feeling the synchronicity with The Muses call-to-action this summer, as she turns 40 and I turn 50. We’re really doing a thing 😜

RSVP: We would love to see you

Before we leave, we want to share more about The Muses with you, so we will be hosting three events. At these gatherings, Cat will read the first three bardic poems in the story, we will share more of the historical inspiration, and will share our vision for how we will bring the story to life — soliciting your input on where we take this.

Ideally, you will connect with The Muses as much as we have and you will become part of the group of ambassadors and patrons that we are seeking to bring this story into the world.

At these events, we will also open the mic to you. If you have a poem, a song, or a story you are aching to share, we want to hear it.

The three events are:

• May 31 in Wilmington, Delaware Event Full

• June 7 in New York City Event Full

• June 13 - Virtual

You will receive more event details when you complete the RSVP

Live with Love. Be Unexpected. 😘