19 | Give Yourself Permission To Try and Fail with Maja Puseljic

Through The Creative Door

In this episode of Through the Creative Door, Alexis sits down with the multi-talented poet, singer-songwriter, writer & author of ‘The Realest Bitch Out’ and ‘Coming Home To Yourself’ and all round creative spirit, Maja Puseljic. They dive deep into the essence of creativity, exploring the power of freedom in artistic expression and the courage it takes to confront life's challenges through art. Maja shares her journey of turning life's trials into poetry and music, revealing that creativity is born from the raw, unfiltered experiences of everyday life. Whether you're struggling to find your voice or looking for inspiration to push your creative boundaries, this episode will encourage you to embrace the messiness of the process, trust your intuition, and never shy away from asking for help when you need it.

If you’d like to see more of, you can follow Maja on instagram; @ majaofficialmusic

This episode was recorded on 5 May 2024 on the lands of the Gubbi Gubbi Peoples. We hope that this episode inspires you as a creative person and as a human being.

Thanks for listening, catch you on the next episode.

Psst! We are always on the lookout for creative people to share their story and inspire others. Have you got someone in mind who would love to have a chat? Get in contact with us via Instagram @throughthecreativedoor

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Creative resources from Maja:

> BOOK: Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk

> BOOK: Music Business: A Musician’s Guide to the AUstralian Music Industry by Top Australian Lawyers and Deal Makers by Jules Munro and Shane Simpson

Let’s get social:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/throughthecreativedoor/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ttcdpodcast

CREDITS

Created and Hosted by Alexis Naylor

Music by Alexis Naylor & Ruby Miguel

Edited and Produced by Ruby Miguel

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00:08 - Alexis (Host)

Hello, my name is Alexis Naylor and I am your host here at Through the Creative Door. On behalf of myself and my guests, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians on which this podcast is recorded and produced. May we pay our respects to all First Nations people and acknowledge Elders, past and present. On this podcast, I will be chatting to an array of creative guests, getting a glimpse into their worlds and having some honest and inspiring conversations along the way. I’m delighted to welcome you to Through the Creative Door.

Hello, Maja, how are you?

00:51 - Maja (Guest)

I'm good

00:52 - Alexis (Host)

I am so chuffed. Welcome to Through the Creative Door. Well, you've let me actually through your creative door.

00:59 - Maja (Guest)

I have literally,

00:56 - Alexis (Host)

Oh my goodness, thank you so much.

00:58 - Maja (Guest)

Thanks for coming

01:01 - Alexis (Host)

Let's just have a little chat about. Well, first off, let's go through. You are such a talented bear, oh, oh, my goodness. Uh, I'm in absolute awe of you. You are a phenomenal poet who has written multiple books. You are a phenomenal singer-songwriter who also plays multiple instruments. Oh my God, and you like teach. And I mean, you've got many strings to your bow as a creative. Have I missed anything?

01:39 - Maja (Guest)

I'm into astrology, tarot and kinesiology right now is what I'm studying. So I'm doing a bit of of like um non-western therapy, and then the music obviously, but I think they're all kind of creative artforms.

01:52 - Alexis (Host)

I think so too. I think it's that um notion of like curiosity and like wanting to learn and like picking things up.

01:59 - Maja (Guest)

It's very intuitive yeah, super intuitive, mediums, yeah, yeah.

02:03 - Alexis (Host)

Yeah, love it. Now. I know I'm in your creative space at the moment, but I'm curious what does a creative space mean to you and why?

02:14 - Maja (Guest)

Okay, I did look at this question before. I did try to prepare for it.

So I will say, well, the first line I wrote was freedom. Yeah, so feeling free is the only way to be creative for me, like and not holding back. I think with my poetry I try not to hold back. I say everything I think and they can be confronting for people sometimes and it can be considered too much, but it's also like I think the gold in when you're creating is to not hold back too much. But it's also like I think the gold in when you're creating is to not hold back and to not be afraid to offend or push those boundaries or like you know you got to work with.

02:51

But for me, like, the biggest creativity and like creative inspiration is life. Just like being in the world, like when I'm like okay, I was telling you before like I spent seven or eight hours in the hospital and I wrote a poem just based off all the surroundings that were happening, you know, and the times of the day, like 4am, 5am, 6, like you know, I kind of. So you know, anything can be creative if you want it to be. Like you can make creativity out of just a bad situation, and that's what I love about creating is like trying to turn these bad situations into something special or like something that people can relate to. And I find with my music and my poetry I hope that people think it's like like relevant or funny, but it's like, you know, trying to make fun of life in a certain way, or like you know, those were kind of my favorite people when I was a child, like watching, you know, actors. My mum would take me to the theatre and I would watch like actors perform and I would be like, oh my god, this is so amazing. And I kind of see myself that way, where it's like when I'm performing I'm kind of like an actor, I become the part of my life, like the story that is my life.

04:01

But anyway, to answer the question, really it's about just like the freedom to be able to express and say those things. And I think if you have a filter or you have a block throat chakra or you can't, you don't feel like the audience is feeling you or you don't feel heard in some way. That's like the hardest thing. But when you're in your own creative space or in those spaces where you feel safe, that's when that creativity can like blossom. But for me that could be anywhere. It's just like nice to have the actual room to come back to you know.

04:34 - Alexis (Host)

Yeah, but it's not a quintessential necessity.

04:37 - Maja (Guest)

I don't need to go to like one space to be able to create. It's just like it's nice to have it, you know yeah, yeah.

04:46 - Alexis (Host)

oh, I love it yeah. I mean, this is an interesting question, considering that you have so many ventures. Okay, is there one body of work or one thing that you've created that you're most proud of today?

05:02 - Maja (Guest)

I actually brought the things because I thought might might as well show you my first album. I'll get there. So I've done two EPs and this is the album. I've got another album that's coming, but not maybe in the next two years. But yeah, it was very special because I wrote it based off a book of poetry. I wrote this in Melbourne. It was like when I moved to Melbourne I was like I want to write poetry. Like I literally manifested it. I wrote 2015, I will be living in Melbourne writing my own poetry.

05:32

It's like I think we have like a very filtered world now. We're not allowed to speak or say what we think, and everyone's entitled to their opinion, and I think this was just for me to really say this was my opinion, this is what I think. You know, not everyone has to agree with my opinions, but it was just for me to really say this was my opinion, this is what I think. You know, not everyone has to agree with my opinions, but it was just for me to be able to say them and I feel like it freed me, you know, like it freed me to be fully who I am, you know to write this book and I still have, you know, sometimes fear around it because it's like, oh, what will people think? Like I, still the Gemini in there is still, like you know, questioning.

06:02

But like I wrote it to free myself, really to free myself from, like all the self-imposed restrictions that I felt like society had put onto me and I have to be in this box or I have to be in that box, kind of what we were talking about like just to just to be, like, well, actually I don't have to be, and maybe I fit into this box a bit, and this one a little bit as well, but that's okay, you know. And I, when I wrote the um, the blurb, I wrote like this is for the people who are somewhere in the middle ground and for the loners, like I was really writing for people who felt alone and who didn't feel like they quite fit in, you know, one way or the other way, and they were just a bit more, you know. Yeah, but anyway, that's what I'm proud of right now.

06:47 - Alexis (Host)

I love this. Thank you so much for sharing. On the total opposite side, speaking of juxtapositions, yes, has there been something that a situation or a circumstance or I don't know something, that has challenged your creativity? And yeah, how did you maneuver through over around it?

07:13 - Maja (Guest)

Yeah, yeah, I was thinking about this as well. One I had a very specific instance. I don't know if you want me to tell you the very specific instance, but writing my song Woman I've Become, which was became quite a hit for my career. I would say all my female friends that love it know it. It's like a very strong, like female empowerment song and it's just like. But there was a bit in the song where I was struggling with the producer because we couldn't quite get it to flow like it. We got in certain sections but the middle section was really missing, like just something. It was just, it didn't feel right and I was so stressed. I remember I was dating this guy at the time and he was like no, it needs to be a bit more like you know like just he like drummed it out for me and I was like, yeah, you're right.

08:02

And then my friend came in Jacob, if you're listening. He came in and he has a bit of a producer brain as well. And he just came in and literally what fixed the problem was a tambourine. It was just like, and then it just like it crescendoed when it got to the drums it felt right, it was like missing this huge percussion bit. And after that challenge, in the next time I went into the studio it was like important for me to um tell the next producer like I need the percussion to work and to feel right, you know. So it did like it like he was quite all over the percussion stuff, so I didn't have to worry about that so much. So I mean, that was just like a very specific instance of like where something was quite challenging and like we overcame it, um, with the tambourine.

08:55 - Alexis (Guest)

In that time of the challenge of like, obviously feeling like you're hitting that brick wall, yes, like, what kind of energy? like what was that like for you in that space? Like how were you manoeuvring through that with obviously you're working with your producer. Yeah, how did you manage that?

09:13 - Maja (Guest)

I don't know, I just said we need to bring Jacob in, like we need a third party, like because we were not getting anywhere, so we needed like a mediator, almost. And he was good, because I like getting him in, because he has like a completely different. It's like he just brings in something new that I wouldn't think of, you know. So he just came in and he just thought of the tambourine bit and it just like solved my issue, you know. So that was really nice, like just getting that happening, you know. So, yeah, I didn't at the time I just felt lost and confused and unhappy, but, yeah, until I thought, well, we need someone else, like another perspective. So that's what fixed it, like another perspective, really.

09:55 - Alexis (Host)

I think it doesn't matter what part of our you know journey, we so need to be able to have the ability to lean on our community. True, you know, there are times where, yeah, you just feel a bit like overwhelmed.

10:10 - Maja (Guest)

Yeah, as much as I want to be an independent woman that can do it all myself. Like, I know my limits of like. When I need help, I'm not afraid to ask, and I think that's something that what you're trying to say limits of like. When I need help, I'm not afraid to ask, and I think that's something that what you're trying to say is like, when you need help, it's okay to ask, it's okay to receive, and I think a lot of people, and women especially we, can struggle to receive that help. So it's like allowing yourself to receive. You know, yeah, okay, it's okay, let them help.

10:37 - Alexis (Host)

Yeah. Do you have any objects or things that you can't live without when you're creating?

10:46 - Maja (Guest)

Yes, I saw that question. Um, I don't know, the only thing I could think of was like my phone.

10:56 - Alexis (Host)

I mean, it is an object, it is a thing. Yes, I'm curious why?

10:59 - Maja (Guest)

uh, because I write all my, my thoughts and my feelings in the phone, like any kind of one-liners that I have, you know, any thoughts that I just like sudden, you know, like anything I think is good, or it all goes in my phone and that's where it begins like a song, even if I have lyrics, I'll write it in the phone. Um, and the guitar also, if it's, if I'm doing musical stuff. The guitar I guess is an object, but mainly the phone. I can record stuff on the phone too. It's just mainly but the note keeping and keeping all my stuff together. It's like just one place.

11:32 - Alexis (Host)

Yeah, yeah, please tell me you back it up.

11:38 - Maja (Guest)

uh, no, the last, you should have seen the last, um, the last phone I had. I literally dropped it into the ocean and then I actually had 24 hours to save some of the poetry and I still refuse to, because I was like, no, I'm letting go, no, I'm like god, I wish I had that poetry. Not even the photos I lost like 30,000 photos, but it was more the poetry that I wanted back.

11:59 - Alexis (Host)

For those listening. If you take anything from this podcast, back up your data.

12:07 - Maja (Guest)

Well, I've backed everything up onto the cloud now, my website guys forced me.

12:14 - Alexis (Host)

Thank God, someone in your community is telling you to back up things. Yeah. Your stressing me out here.

12:17 - Maja (Guest)

Yeah, he's got some Virgo in his chart, so he was is telling you to back up things.

12:19 - Alexis (Host)

If you could give one piece of advice, one nugget of gold to another, creative yeah, what would it be?

12:34 - Maja (Guest)

uh, just keep going. That's my advice. Don't give up, just start. You know, like when I first started I did not know how to make an EP. I remember like I didn't even know how to get a gig. I went to an open mic and someone yelled out you're not in tune. And then like that was rough, but then like I just kept going, like I I did like gigs at Grill’d for no money, just to be heard like. And then I I just got better at like trying to book gigs and like I got better at okay, how am I going to make an EP?

13:05

One of my friends was we did composition at uni together, my first EP. We literally recorded it in his bedroom and like we took some of the equipment and recorded piano and it wasn't perfect. I'm like it's somewhere in the box, um, and you know it was like I spent about $800 for print run of 500 CDs that were just like. You know, you slotted in the disc and I got a graphic. I didn't know, I just did the things, I just tried to do the things.

13:34

And then, and even with the book, I was like, how do I do I write a book? I mean, my kinesiologist helped me a lot with that and she was like you know, get a. You know, I got the graphic designer and then it became like you know, I found a print company that I still go with. These books were both printed in the same company like, and you know, I just I just made it happen and I just kept going and I think a lot of people give up or they quit or they're like afraid or because they don't know. You know it might not be good enough, but it's like the only way you're going to be good enough is if you give yourself the permission to try and fail you know,

14:09 - Alexis (Host)

oh, isn't that a gold nugget?

14:14 - Maja (Guest)

and yeah, that's my advice yeah,

14:16 - Alexis (Host)

ah, it is so true, though I think we can get too bogged down in perfectionism. And yeah almost ends up being a noose if we're not careful.

14:29 - Maja (Guest)

Yeah, and we don't talk, I don't know if we do talk about it, but I think a lot of artists are perfectionists. We like things because there's an aspect to wanting to control your art and make it. You know that masterpiece or perfect and any kind of creative person you look back and see their history, you'll see that they have some level of like OCD with their art, you know

14:49 - Alexis (Host)

Well, we're curating what actually is that final product that goes out exactly you know,

14:54 - Maja (Guest)

And you want your final product to represent you and you want it to be good and and I think people that sometimes, when you're working with certain people that don't understand that it's because they're not invested in it as much as you.

15:03

But it's like your baby, you know, it's your life, so you don't want your baby to be misrepresented. You want it to be the most authentic version of you, you know, and you want to find people that can support, that are on board with that vision. And it's hard because, again, I want everyone to be in my tribe, but you want to have the people that are like you know, your people that are in the tribe.

15:25

Yeah, and it's like and and people you know. And that's the best part about art. You know you're allowed to listen to fuckng punk rock or metal and you're allowed to listen to like pop or whatever you want. You know it doesn't have to be, and that's why we have all these avenues and one of the good things about capitalism you can just pick and choose what you want. You know, like you're not restricted to to like one thing, so it's like just yeah, like, let your. There's an outlet for whoever like you want to be, you know, and a market and a niche. That was one nice thing I liked about living in Melbourne. You know, you'll find your people.

16:03 - Alexis (Host)

Yeah. You definitely have the population to support it.

16:06 - Maja (Guest)

Yes, exactly.

16:13 - Alexis (Host)

Now this might be a tough one because you're coming at it from a poetry side, or I mean, maybe you can give me a list for poetry and like writing, like creative writing versus music, yes, but have you got any advice? If someone wants to do what you do, is there any resources like podcasts or books or…

16:41 - Maja (Guest)

I was trying to think about this because I thought this is a very practical question. It's very you. I appreciated it, but, um, I mean the answer that I wrote down when I was thinking about it was just like, try to find the people that inspire you the most and see what they did. That's my advice is, like, you know, I love, I looked at Bon Iver and I love Kanye and I look at the way that they do things very different. You know like, Bon Iver became famous by having a heartbreak and like, just like, writing in the cabin, yeah, Kanye went to Jay-Z's studio and was like I'm amazing, you want to fuckng hear me, you know, and he kept going and kept persisting until they heard him, you know. So it's like those are two completely different approaches. Right, one, just hap, again, it was destined, you know. And then the other one was sort of destined too, but he, you know, he made it happen in another way. So it's like, but I love both of them and I like how contrasting they are and it's just like, but like the stories inspire me of the people, also for me as a poet.

17:43

I watch a lot of comedians, I care about banter, so I what I like to watch how other people do things and how they deliver their jokes. I'm constantly watching people deliver jokes like like how are they presenting themselves? You know, and I guess it's like you know, if you want to be the best guitarist or whatever, go watch all the guitarists that inspire you and find what you resonate with you know. Or if you want to be a good poet, go watch. You know, for me, read a bunch of books about like that that you like, that resonate with you, because, like I know, I love Sylvia Plath and I'm like these artists and I like certain people, but that's me and that kind of shapes my style, you know.

18:24

But, like, I guess the inspirational stories is what I really look for. So it's like you got to find your inspirational stories that other people do, and then you become the inspirational story. Amen, sister, yeah but actually I'll just say one more thing that did help me, one of the books that I read Gary Vaynerchuck. Do you know, Gary?

18:47 - Alexis (Host)

I do not Tell us more yeah.

18:49 - Maja (Guest)

He's like a. He wrote a marketing book called Jab Jab Right Hook and it was just about social media marketing, like how to make posts on insta and facebook and twitter, and that helped me a lot, just like with my not in an artistic way, but in like my career way. Music business. Yes, exactly, and the music business book is pretty good too yes by Shane Simpson and Jules Monroe.

19:15

Yeah, I actually need to go through that properly. But yeah, it's got some good advice and yeah. But I mean I like to read also, just like you know, just other type, like you know spiritual books as well and stuff, and doesn't have to be um music per se. But writing has helped me a lot and reading yeah yeah,

19:36 - Alexis (Host)

I was just about to say. I would suggest that your poetry as as an author, like yeah, I read a lot.

19:42 - Maja (Guest)

I read a lot. I read a lot of classics. Yeah, like you know, Picture of Dorian Gray, Catcher in the Rye, Anna Karenina. Like you know, old school Tolstoy, like, just like the, the classics were really important for me as a writer because I learned how to write from that. It, like, was a good basis of being a better writer. So, yeah, love that. You know, that's my advice go find the people that you like, guys, and then let them mold, you know, help you..

20:18 - Alexis (Host)

Feed the brain. One last question Yep, If you could hear another creative come onto this podcast and answer for me to interview and answer these questions, who would it be, and why?

20:29 - Maja (Guest)

Probably my best friend, Kate. Okay, kate Lusetta. She's just a really good songwriter and I feel like she'd have some good answers for you interesting.

20:42 - Alexis (Host)

All right, I'll have to uh look her up and uh send you her details yeah, please do, yeah, please.

20:57 - Maja (Guest)

She's in Mcleod so oh, she's down in Melbourne

20:59 - Alexis

Amazing, she's close uh, thank you so much for coming through the Creative Door This has been such a joy. Absolutely fills my cup.

21:01 - Maja (Guest)

Yeah, me too. I'm glad you're in my space. I really appreciate it. Thanks for coming.

21:10 - Alexis (Host)

Thanks for tuning in for another episode of Through the Creative Door. If you enjoy our episodes and find value in them, consider supporting us by making a donation. Just visit buymeacoffeecom/throughthecreativedoor or via the link in our Instagram bio where you can choose an amount and even write us a little message. Every little bit helps and we truly appreciate all of your support. But if you can't donate, no worries, you can still help us out by sharing our podcast with your friends and family and leaving a review on your favourite platform. Thanks so much for being part of our community. We'll catch you on the next episode. Bye.