Episode 10: Kristi Dick

Josh Caldwell: Finally, I put in my notice at work and I was like, I just need to go. I just need to put on a backpack like I did in the old days when I was young and go.

Josh Caldwell: Welcome to Atypical Daydream, a podcast about life on the road. I'm Josh, your host, and thanks for stopping by. My guest today is Kristi Dick. She's a screenwriter and a world traveler. Kristi's story reminds us that maybe when you hit that wall, it's time to drop everything and follow the whisper until it becomes a shout.

Kristi Dick: So I've been traveling since December 1st, 2021 and had only planned to be gone about six months or a year. I kind of tracked around the US for a couple months while I was waiting for my job to finish as a special effects producer-y thing in the industry. And now I'm still going and kind of don't ever want to stop.

I think COVID — I don't know, I just was broken in LA. I think it was kind of a job that I liked, but was sucking my soul and had no room for growth, and then COVID. And I was just so isolated because I don't live with anybody. I don't have a pet. I didn't see faces for months. It was just physically hard. And then anxiety. And I had saved up this money to buy a house. And of course all I could afford was like this 100 year old cabin three hours from LA. That didn't end up happening. And I realized I was never going to be able to buy anything. And I think after like two and a half years of COVID isolation, it just kind of broke me with that — gun anxiety and my rights being taken away as a woman and just everything. And on top of it, I wasn't writing, and that's why I had moved to LA. I just kind of think I was broken. LA kind of breaks you eventually. It either breaks you or you somehow make it. And I'd been doing really good for like 18 years and then COVID just kind of pushed me over the edge.

So I would sit in my apartment and I would get on Google Maps and just Google places because it kind of relaxed me. I would go to South America or I'd go to Mongolia or I'd kind of go in my mind to all these places. And I kept thinking, I really need to see a glacier because they're going to be gone in like two years. I just need to see a glacier. And so finally I put in my notice at work and I was like, I just need to go. I just need to put on a backpack like I did in the old days when I was young and go and just walk. Because I hadn't moved in so long. And I got a one-way ticket to Buenos Aires and that was amazing.

I ended up going to Southern Argentina and Saw Glacier, which was like everything. My life became kind of like before the glacier and after the glacier. Part of my thing with quitting my job was I really needed to get my groove back. I needed to be writing and I just wasn't writing. I just felt like, am I even a writer anymore? Even when I was kind of depressed about working in the industry, I always pushed through. I always had ideas. I was always writing. And this was the first time I wasn't.

Every day I'd be like, okay, today I'm gonna write. But instead I would put on my backpack and I'd get my little trekking poles and I'd walk and hike for six hours, eight hours, ten hours, twelve hours. It was ridiculous. My feet would swell up at the end of the day but I just had to walk. And I did that for like two months straight. No writing, just walking.

Kristi Dick: I think I was just kind of still living with a lot of the trauma. It was like I needed to purge the trauma from my body and the only way to do it was hiking. I don't know if that's a thing, but that's just how it felt.

So I couldn't get into Chile at first because of their strict COVID restrictions. They finally opened up and I popped over to Chile and went to this town called Valparaiso. I went because it's kind of a funky artsy town and there's tons of street art and graffiti and that's just my jam. That's always inspiring to me. I found this funky Airbnb and I get there and I meet this woman. Normal thing — she lets you in, shows you around, small talk, small talk, and then you just kind of want them to go so you can shower. So I walk into this Airbnb and it's so cool. There's art everywhere. I said, wow, I really love that painting. And the woman said, that's mine. I said, that textile design is really amazing. She said, that's mine too. All the art was hers. The apartment was amazing.

So we start chatting. Turns out she's an artist, a teacher, a fine artist, a producer, and a director. So we start talking shop and I said, oh, I did special effects and I'm a writer. So she starts telling me about projects she's working on. And then she says, hey, do you want to have wine on the roof? And I'm not one of those say yes to everything people because I'm too old for that and also that's how you end up in an alley with a kidney missing. But I also think when you travel, especially when you travel alone, it's important to be open and ready for connection, for conversation, and for magic.

Josh Caldwell: Hey, Josh here. I love making this podcast and I'd love to make it my full-time gig. Besides telling the stories, I'm basically a one-man band and that takes time. If you're enjoying the podcast, please consider becoming a patron. You'll have access to loads of great bonus stories and you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that you're supporting a truly independent podcast. Find the Patreon link in the show notes. And thanks.

Kristi Dick: I said yes to this woman because she was just so cool. I hadn't even had a drink in probably a year. She grabs a bottle of fine Chilean wine and this little plate with beautiful Chilean breads — these brown flat breads — and homemade pickles. And we go up on her deck and we're watching the sunset over the bay. It was just magical. We're talking about art and men and food. And I'm a little tipsy because I had like two glasses of wine and I just hardly ever drink anymore.

She had also written and illustrated this cookbook and she showed it to me and it was just beautiful. So we're talking about food and art and randomly — I don't even remember how it came up — but she tells me this story about Leonardo da Vinci. When he was painting the Last Supper, he didn't know what the food would be on the table for Jesus and the apostles. It's not written in the Bible, it's just bread and wine. So da Vinci, being a bit of a procrastinator like me, decided that he was going to cook anything he was going to paint into the fresco. He wanted to cook it and try it first.

And in my mind I was like, that's a script. That's a movie. And suddenly my brain started firing. I could see everything. I could see how cinematic it was. It had a beginning, middle, and an end.

The next day I couldn't stop thinking about the story. And I write comedy. So here I am thinking about a drama that's a period piece. Like that's so out of my normal — I write dude stoner comedies. This was a bad idea. So I keep traveling and I can't stop thinking about it. And so I start doing a little bit of reading about da Vinci. I had this idea of who he was because everybody thinks he's like this really smart sciencey guy. But he was actually — first of all, he was queer. Second of all, he was mixed race, Middle Eastern. He was a party planner. That's what he was most known for when he was in Milan painting the Last Supper. And as I start to research who he was, he was so funny. He was a total procrastinator. I'm like, this is a comedy. And now I'm really in trouble.

So I call my friend Kevin Morales. I'm like, look, I'm gonna pitch this thing to you and it's a bad idea. I need you to tell me this is a bad idea. So I pitched it to him and he's like, I really love it and I would love to direct it. I'm like, okay, this is bad. So then I pitch it to my writing group and they're so excited. They're like, this one is it, Kristi. We feel like you're so excited about this and it's such a great thing. And it's like the imposter syndrome and self-sabotage are kicking in and I'm looking for any reason not to do this, but I'm obsessed with it and I can't stop thinking about it.

So there's this writer's residency in Finland that I want to do and I apply with this idea and see what happens. They liked it and I got into the residency. So suddenly I'm in Finland for a month doing nothing but working on the script. It's just crazy that I said yes to having wine with this amazing woman and now I'm in Finland in November where there's like four hours of daylight and I'm just writing this script. And then I'm in Finland, so I'm like, I'm so close to Milan. I may as well go and see the Last Supper.

Kristi Dick: So then I ended up in Italy and then I ended up in Florence doing more research on da Vinci. And it's just been one thing after another after another. And it was literally because I said yes to having wine with this woman. And now I'm in Paris. It's just nuts. But it's really exciting to me that I can pinpoint the moment where I kind of got my groove back. Where I was like, okay, I am a writer.

And when I was staying in that residency, I had this huge room and a huge desk and it was just amazing. So one night I was reading, I closed my book and just looked up at the wall. This was a hundred year old schoolhouse and there are these wood slats on the wall. I look up and I see something in between the slats. I get up and look and I'm standing on my toes and it's a piece of paper. It's a note from someone else who'd been at the residency in 2015 and left this little bit of magic for me to find. And then I start looking at the slats and I keep seeing more — there are like seven of them.

So the next day I tell everybody. There are eleven of us other residents at the art residency. I tell them, you guys, I found some magic and I don't want to tell you what it is, but you need to look for the magic. They're like, okay, whatever, Kristi. I said, just look. Just kind of shift your mind and look for the magic. So slowly, every day somebody would come up and say, Kristi, I found some magic in my room. One woman found a bottle with a message in it. Another woman opened up an old stove and it had little sculptures inside.

I think if you free yourself from constraint, creative constraints or trauma or whatever it is you're dealing with, and if you can get past that, you can find the magic. Because it truly is everywhere.

Josh Caldwell: I want to thank Kristi for sharing her experience. This podcast was created and produced by me, Josh Caldwell. Music by Visual Aid, my side music project. General support and copywriting by Miranda Caldwell. If you like the show, please follow, subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you'd like to financially support the show, check out my Patreon page. You'll have access to loads of great bonus stories. You can find the link in the show notes. Thank you for listening, and I hope you come back next week.