Dear Moonshooters,

I’m writing to you today from my hometown in Italy. I’ve been here with my family after a whirlwind of travel through London and the south of Italy — and while I could give you the play-by-play of the last 10 days, I want to share something deeper instead.

Rest Isn’t Passive

For most of my life, I thought “rest” was something passive — something you do when you have nothing else going on. But over the last couple of years, as things have gotten busier and projects have grown bigger, I’ve realized something important:

Rest isn’t passive at all. It’s where the mind wanders, and where the best ideas emerge.

As an independent artist, I do 99% of everything myself: writing, performing, admin, marketing, social media, merch, travel, logistics, and, most importantly, community. It’s easy to slip into autopilot, to let every day become about ticking off tasks. But when you live like that too long, you lose touch with the very reason you’re doing it in the first place: the art, and the message behind it.

The Artist’s Paradox

An artist never really rests. Neither does an entrepreneur or an inventor. The work is always there, humming in the background. Everything you do — cooking a meal, walking through your hometown, staring at the ocean — becomes part of the work.

I recently spoke with my friend Kevin Fox (producer of The Blair Witch Project) about this. I told him I went to the Dominican Republic just to stare at the ocean, to let the waves hypnotize me and clear my mind enough for an idea I already knew was there to finally reveal itself.

He gave me this analogy: it’s like standing on top of a skyscraper looking down at a crowded intersection. There’s one person you need to get to in the middle of the crowd. You can see them from afar, but you can’t reach them unless the crowd parts. That one person is the idea. The crowd is the noise of daily life.

Sometimes, you have to step away — to ask the crowd to move — so you can walk straight to the idea.

💌 A Note to You

If you’ve ever felt stuck — in work, in art, in life — maybe this will resonate. The guilt of stopping is heavy. But the truth is: you’re not stopping. Your brain is working harder than ever when you give it space.

Sometimes progress isn’t in the emails or the meetings or the endless tasks. It’s in the revolutionary ideas that need room to grow.

Thank you for allowing me to share this process with you, for being my motivation and my guiding light. Without you, I wouldn’t want to do any of this — not just the outcomes, but the journey itself.

I’ll be here in Italy for another 10 days, making space for ideas and spending time with my family, before I return to the U.S. on September 10th.
Then things pick up quickly again: more travel, more events, and… new music. 👀

For some behind-the-scenes updates (and a little alpha 👀), head over to the Discord.

With love and clarity,
Violetta 🌕