We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Travis Marsala. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Travis below.

Travis, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I recently finished a children’s book called A Monster Ate My Pillow. It started out as a joke – I was working in the yard with my then three year old and saw him yawn. I asked if he was ready for a nap, to which he of course responded, “No.”

I said, “Why not? Did a monster eat your pillow?”

There are thousands of reasons we find to deny ourselves creative outlets. We worry about financials and day-to-day operations of our lives. Things get busy. So much to do. We now have two children… one who refuses to go to bed at a decent hour and one who wakes up extremely early.

I had spent most of my twenties and thirties writing plays, performing in improv shows, drawing, and making short films. Suddenly, we had two kids, a house, and the crushing realization we weren’t getting any younger. Money became far more important. The needs of my spouse and children took center-stage.

To be clear: I do not regret or blame my kids for my creative life taking a backseat. I chose this. I love them dearly and interacting with them has unlocked parts of me that I didn’t know existed. It’s been fun! When was the last time you built a marble run? A wooden train track? Made sandwiches with Play-doh?

But my mental health began to take a plunge as I realized I wasn’t feeding myself. Creativity was good for my mental well-being and one day that lifeline had been shut off.

So, after I made that joke about monsters and pillows, I sat down to write and the story emerged shockingly naturally. I set pen to paper and drew images for it. I’ve read multiple drafts to our oldest and he has enjoyed every moment of it.

A Monster Ate My Pillow was not just my re-discovering my creative voice. It was a marriage of what my life once was and now is.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

In light of all that self-discovery around A Monster Ate My Pillow, I’m now setting out to let people know you can find the time. You can put in the effort. I know there are writers, painters, and actors who for one reason or another didn’t achieve financial stability through their art. I want to remind them that their art is part of their humanity and not a number in their bank account.

I have started a YouTube channel called Ye Olde Creatore where I offer encouragement.

Really, this all stems from the work I’ve done on another YouTube channel. It took off quite by accident under my real name Travis Marsala. I started selling Lego on the internet and documenting the journey, eventually turning it into a full-time gig so that I could be home with my kids as much as possible. Many people on there are just like me:

They don’t want to slave away for a corporation and miss their kids growing up. They don’t want to give the best parts of themselves to someone else in exchange for currency. Now, through that channel, I help people generate extra income in a fund and interesting way. I get to offer them encouragement.

It is my goal to do the same for creatives in the same phase of life.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I remember watching an interview with the lead singer of OK GO. They were talking about AI and technology in general and he said something to the effect of “Everything is possible, therefore nothing is special.”

It’s important for us to remember that art is inherently anti-capital and pro-human. We need to get comfortable with the idea of our art being an expression of ourselves and nothing more. AI is capital driven and cannot express what a human being feels or finds important. It cannot inherently be special. I do think it has a place as a tool in the near future, but in its current iteration, it is nothing more than a content generator. The closest I’ve seen it being used as a proper tool for creativity is by the boys over on Corridor Digital.

I mentioned I spent several years in the improv/theater scene – and speaking in broad generalizations here – people were more concerned with how to turn it all into a career instead of living in the moment and enjoying the process. And I’m not speaking from a place of higher calling, it’s a trap I’ve fallen into and am sure I will fall into again. I was often more concerned with how to make money off my creativity and letting that guide me decisions vs letting my creativity be an expression of myself.

I believe the world took an awful turn when kids were no longer required to study arts as part of their degrees. After all, you can’t make money off it, so why is it worth our while? We’ve lost a lot of ability to see someone’s inherent value beyond the capital they generate.

I guess what I’m trying to say is just freakin’ relax, ya’ll. If you’re meant to earn money off your creativity, it’ll happen. But don’t put the cart before the horse. Focus on being a better artist and being a better version of yourself.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I deleted all Meta products. Isntagram, Facebook… they’re all gone. Not just off my phone, I wiped them clean. There is so much pressure to share, share, share and comment, comment, comment. That becomes the work more than the work itself. We all get so much more attention than we’re used to, but we’re constantly starving for more. It’s candy. It’s empty calories.

I became 100x more productive in my creative pursuits once I removed those distractions from my life.

I remember another interview I heard. I can’t remember who it was for the life of me. It was from an actor’s perspective. Essentially they landed on you can take classes and workshops and feel like you’re being productive, but you’re not doing the job of being an actor: auditioning and acting. Social media is the same way. It feels like we’re doing something, but it’s really counter-productive.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.aMonsterAteMyPillow.com
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YeOldeCreatore
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/@travismarsala