We were lucky to catch up with Mathieu Cailler recently and have shared our conversation below.
Mathieu , we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I think this is a great topic. And to me, success is finding your true purpose. Many times, while touring or teaching, people ask me to define success, and writing has always given my day purpose. It allows me to wake up in the morning eager to get to the blank page and try to bring the world that is in my mind into book form. I found writing by reading, by observing, by wanting more than anything else to tell stories. From an early age, people would say that I was a good storyteller, which I took as highest compliment, but then the question became: how can I turn this into more, and writing fiction, poetry, essays, screenplays, and more afforded me that opportunity.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m very excited to share that my newest book is coming out very soon, maybe just as this interview is to go live. The new book is a story collection titled Forest for the Trees & Other Stories published by Hidden Peak Press. The diverse collection of fifteen short, I think, captures characters steeped in their own troubles, and I did my best create a conduit through which readers experience the characters’ sufferings, losses, revelations, their moments of connection, and their snippets of happiness. I also experimented with voice and point of view in order to make this collection honest and accessible… and hopefully allow readers to feel true compassion by better understanding others and the imperfect world we all inhabit. The book has received some beautiful blurbs from Bruce Haring, Sophfronia Scott, and T.D. Johnston, and we learned that in September the book was named winner of the Paris Book Festival in the category of general fiction.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Focus, willingness to learn, and the persistence to see something through. These things were learned from watching my family members go to work every day, and I wanted to emulate them best I could. It’s hard in the arts, because you don’t necessarily punch a clock, but you have to hold yourself accountable and make sure that each day–corny as it may sound–you are doing what you can to pursue your dreams. Along those lines, I would say the best advice I can offer is, as soon as idea comes to you, flesh it out best you can. Don’t sit on it too long. Write it down and keep the inertia alive. Don’t worry about proofing, about a market, about if you have the necessary degree, about permission. Just go and do.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
I tend to want to work most days, so I do feel rudderless when I am not working. My wife, a therapist, has a great saying about crops–and how farmers let the soil sit for a while before planting new crops. She says it better than I do (laughs), but you get the idea. I think seeing it that way has made me understand that I need to take a break at time. Being overwhelmed is your body and brain’s way telling you to stop. So, I allow myself some time off between projects. I go the beach a lot. I read. I cook. I play basketball and spend time with friends. These activities take me far away from the desk and in time, I find my soil has refreshed itself.
Contact Info:
- Website:www.mathieucailler.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/writesfromla/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/em.cee.372/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/writesfromla
- Other: https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/mathieu_cailler
Image Credits
Mark Weber, Christine Donlon, Hidden Peak Press, Jakob Wencek
