Being a TV personality, making a documentary, filming a feature-length film, writing a screenplay, directing music videos and co-founding a film festival are just a short list of the things Jeff Campagna did before he found his calling. If that weren’t enough success to achieve before 30, Jeff has also written and published two novels, as well as poetry, contemporary art and co-founded Zouch Magazine & Miscellany in today’s YEDaily…
Elevator Pitch: Describe your business in a nutshell.
I am a writer. I will write just about anything. So long as it’s honest and inspired. The medium does not matter so much. It is the message that counts. A message is what distinguishes art from craft.
What made you choose this career path?
I became a writer by way of the entertainment industry. And I got into the entertainment industry because I grew tired of cooking, which I did professionally for many years after high school in some fairly fancy places that, as a writer now, I can not afford to eat at.
What is the best part of what you do on a day-to-day basis? The most challenging part?
The best part is getting to create something new everyday. A new sentence, a new paragraph, a new chapter, a new scene, a new character, a new solution. Something that no one has ever experienced before. Starting out as a writer, the greatest challenge was generating revenue with my writing. But now, I have been doing it long enough that when I write something, I can usually get paid for it (and if I don’t get paid for it, I have a few drinks and tell myself it isn’t about the money).
Fear. Fear is probably the greatest antagonist for a writer. Fear that what he is writing is crap. Fear that tomorrow he will wake up and the inspiration will be gone, that the trail will have gone cold. Fear that grows out of self-doubt. Fear that can be, at times, paralyzing. A vivid, constant, motivating type of fear.
Where do you see your business going in 5 years?
It’s hard to say. I mean, I hope to be doing the exact same thing I am doing now. I hope to continue traveling the world. I hope to continue creating everyday. I hope to maintain a life of self-exploration through professional writing. I would love for my audience to grow. That is the goal. Two vital parties are required to create a book or a film; the writer who brings it into being and the reader or viewer who completes the process. A book is not a book until it has been read at least once. Same with a film. And each new reader, and each new viewer, give that book or film more power, more reason for being.
What does success look like to you?
I will tell you when I get there.
What is the most memorable milestone in your career?
For a while I was writing out of my mother’s basement. I was living on grilled cheeses and had to take random jobs to stay afloat. But I was still writing, so it was not all bad. And there was a dissonance between the life I was trying to lead and the life that I still had to be a part of. It was a purgatory. But after a while, I was able to stop taking those random jobs and focus only on writing, on creating. I moved to Panama and began writing even more. All day, every day it was about words. And the money situation improved. And that dissonance faded away and what was left was a life which I had only seen from a distance. That breakthrough has been the most memorable part of my writing career. Though I still live off grilled cheeses, but only because they taste so good.
Do you have any advice for other young professionals?
I’m not one to offer advice. I think that I rather stumbled into my relative success. But I would say it is important to discover what makes you different from everyone else, what makes you unique, and focus on that. Nourish it. Celebrate it. Flaunt it. Be true to it. Success seeks those who respect their own individuality. Maybe not instantly, but eventually.
What to you is Notable?
Notable is what happens when someone steps out of the box. When someone becomes something more than his neighbor. When someone pushes a boundary or challenges a convention. When someone screams when everyone else is whispering. When someone wants just a little bit more than was given to him. When someone fights for something they believe in, and keeps fighting whether they win or lose.
How do you keep active, energetic, and vibrant?
I love to travel. I love to ride motorbikes. I love to smoke cigars. I love to experience things that I didn’t know were possible. All these things I do for myself, but indirectly, they have a way of stimulating my creative energy and distilling into my work.
Blackberry, iPhone, Android, or Other?
iPhone.