Driving Under the Influence
Of Inspiration. Will I get a ticket for this lifetime? I hope so.
I have spent years chasing inspiration—not just as a fleeting idea, but as a living, breathing force that can take you anywhere if you let it.
I’ve traveled across 38 countries, all 50 states, and thousands of unmarked roads. I’ve followed inspiration into places I never expected—onto film sets, into abandoned buildings, through midnight streets in foreign cities, and deep into the heart of my own creative chaos.
And I’ve documented all of it.
Not just in words, but in paint, ink, film, paper, voice memos, and anything else I could get my hands on. If it could capture a moment, I used it. If it could make a memory tangible, I kept it.
For years, I’ve been piecing together a map made of everything I’ve collected—writings, journals, videos, paintings, soundbites, sketches, artifacts from a life lived under the influence of inspiration.
Because I like words (probably too much), I think of myself as an Inspiration Cartographer—a mapper of the intangible, a documentarian of awe, a collector of those blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments that make life worth navigating. I don’t just travel; I chart the emotional and creative landscapes that Google Maps refuses to acknowledge. My work isn’t just about where I’ve been—it’s about the alchemy of experience, turning fleeting moments into something that lasts, something that guides.
But honestly, you can just call me Inspiration’s Earth Puppet—dragged around by her every whim, no questions asked.
📖 A Past Story That Echoes Now
I wanted to start a blog to share the multi-media collections I’ve been hoarding. But I didn’t want it to be a regular blog. I wanted it to be a living, immersive storytelling experience—a memoir in motion.
God, that sounds so boring.
Who am I kidding?
It’s a portal. A rabbit hole of art, travel, film, and memory—an unfolding journey through the raw, unfiltered reality of what it means to live completely consumed by inspiration.
Because inspiration isn’t polite. She doesn’t wait for convenient timing. She hijacks itineraries. She wakes you up in the middle of the night. She sends you chasing light through the streets of France. She makes you wait for her, and if you don’t scoop her up when she flits in, she will find another.
So fickle. But I love her.
She is relentless. She will take you everywhere. She is also the reason phrases come out of my mouth like: “Let’s try this and see what happens.” And also, “Shit, that didn’t turn out the way I thought.”
I have followed her across oceans, into strange cities, and onto film sets. I’ve freefallen into the abyss with her plenty of times, no questions asked, and I’ve never come back empty-handed. Bruised, maybe a bit jolted, but never empty-handed.
Everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve left behind a breadcrumb trail—stories, journal entries, voice memos, sketches, camera rolls, paintings, scribbled words on the backs of receipts. I have spent my life collecting, assembling, and reassembling moments, trying to make sense of what inspiration was leading me toward.
For now, it’s Skewed North. That’s where she has found me.
📍 Charting A Course
One thing I’ve come to learn about inspiration: she has to ride shotgun. I can’t have her in the driver’s seat. Things get waaaay out of control too fast when she’s in charge.
We’ve had arguments about this, me and inspiration. She insists that chaos only happens when I don’t listen to her right away. She says I overthink things, and that’s when everything goes wrong.
I tell her to shut the hell up and put on her seatbelt. She pisses me off, and she knows it. Why? Because she won’t leave me alone if I don’t do what she wants!
And that’s how we roll—just me, driving under the influence of inspiration. On a wild, cosmic, magic-tragic, soul-shaking adventure with her co-piloting the experience.
And what about you? Are you sitting in the backseat of your own ride? Are you letting inspiration call the shots, or are you just waiting for the right time, the right moment, the right sign?
Let me tell you—there is no right time. There never is. Life doesn’t wait for you to be ready.
There will be no linear path here. There never is. We’re going backward and forward at the same time—into the archives, into the present, into what’s coming next. Some days, you’ll find a story. Other days, a painting, a video, a journal entry from the exact moment it was written—before I even knew what it meant.
This isn’t just my journey. This is an invitation. A challenge. A spark.
It’s for you if you’ve ever:
💫 Followed inspiration down a rabbit hole, not knowing where it would lead. 💫 Tried to make sense of all the seemingly random moments that shaped you. 💫 Wanted to see what it really looks like to live inside a story as it’s happening.
This is storytelling the way I live it. Messy, raw, nonlinear, full of detours, obsession, and the endless pursuit of meaning.
Somewhere in all of this, we’ll find a way forward. How do I know? Because we’ve gotten this far under Inspiration’s direction.
Are you coming?
🚀 The journey begins in April. Subscribe now to step inside the process—every story, every artifact, every detour, all in one place.
Stay skewed, —Jolene ✨
P.S. If your a paid subscriber keep scrolling to read an excerpt from my “soon to be released & hopefully this year” memoir!