You don’t even need a Mission Purse. You just need to take action.
Don’t take it from me, take it from my writing hero:
When you take action, you become the master of your universe.
“It doesn’t matter how good it is, or how bad… ” Damn straight! No one starts out as a master of their craft. It takes a lot of “bad” to get “good.” Don’t be paralyzed by the fear of “not good enough.”
“Action is hope”… and we could use more of that in our universe, to combat the Dark Side.
It’s heart-healthy and provides 100% of your recommended daily allowance of optimism (which has been in short supply of late).
Here’s the text only, if you prefer to linger longer on Wendell’s words:
The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendell Berry
When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
May the peace of wild things be with you today, my friend!
[Live link to Austin Kleon’s Keep Going book is here. His weekly newsletter is great too!]
You can cross everything else off you to-do list. (Uh, other than “pay the mortgage”… that might not end well.)
“None of us know what will happen. Don’t spend time worrying about it.”
Easier said than done, I know. But worrying is a waste of your precious time. Don’t take it from me, listen to JC:
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
— Luke 12:25-26
“Make the most beautiful thing you can.”
Laurie Anderson is an artist, musician and filmmaker. It’d be easy to cop out and say “I’m not a creative type like she is, so how can I make the most beautiful thing I can?”
But there’s beauty in the quotidian. Being kind to your co-workers… that’s beautiful. Taking a photo of nature and sharing with your friends? That’s beautiful. Hugging your kids and/or your pets? Lovely! Texting a friend you have seen in a while? Charming! Adding a generous tip to the person serving your coffee? Gorgeous!
“Try to do that every day. That’s it.”
Look at you, making something beautiful! Keep it up! Every day…
In case you hadn’t noticed, dear reader (all one of you), I’m a bit cuckoo for music. So it may not surprise you to learn that last weekend I went to Boston to see three concerts in three days. What might be a bit surprising is that all three shows were by the same band: Buffalo Tom. (They’re from Boston, of course… hence the name… or not. )
They’re my favorite band. I first heard them on the radio… when I played them on radio! I was working a Sunday evening shift at 97X back in the early 90s and “Velvet Roof” was on the playlist – the song practically jumped right out of the speakers and right into my ears and heart. I immediately tracked down a promo copy of the CD from our station “prize closet” and proceeded to wear out the entire album.
But all three members of Buffalo Tom have kids and day jobs. They’re in my age bracket, too. So even though they still put out new albums, the prospect of cramming into a van to do a tour isn’t very appealing. But their small-but-mighty fan base would often pepper them with “Please come to [insert city name here]” requests on social media. Instead, they flipped the script, and created a festival called “Please Come to Boston.”
Their diehard fans were rewarded for their efforts with a trifecta of concerts… including a “matinee” show on Sunday for those who needed to get back to work on Monday – or just needed to recuperate after a couple of evening gigs.
Buffalo Tom played an entire album front to back each show. To make the mini-festival more festive, they also featured some music openers, comedy, book readings, even “punk rock aerobics.”
How was it? Fan-freaking-tastic! The albums that they featured are some of my favorites – not just in the Buffalo Tom oeuvre, but in all of music. (Let Me Come Over is my all-time favorite – it’s the album that “Velvet Roof” is on.)
But the additional performances were standout too – Tom Perrotta is the author of Election and Little Children (both were turned into Oscar-nominated movies) and The Leftovers (which became an HBO series).
Eugene Mirman (the voice of Gene Belzer on “Bob’s Burgers”) and Dave Hill were hilarious. (If you’ve never seen Dave Hill’s special “The Pride of Cleveland,” check it out here to get a feel for his zany brand of comedy with music. And check out his books, which are funny as heck.)
The band Q&A was hosted by actor/writer/comedian Mike O’Malley.
I hope there’s a “Please Come BACK to Boston” festival next year – I’d go in a heartbeat!
On other thought on the weekend’s lineup: Artists will always find a way to share their art, even if it means pivoting from their original goals. The book readings were courtesy of Earfull, which hosts public author readings combined with music.
EARFULL BEGAN as the brainchild of bookstore connoisseur Tim Huggins, and Boston musician and author Jen Trynin, created from their shared goal of bringing book and music fans together. They believe that – given the right environment – book people will love the experience of live music, and rock people will realize how cool it is to hear great authors reading their work aloud.
We played Jen Trynin’s song “Better than Nothing” on 97X back in the 90s too.
Since 2000 PRA has said NO TO THE STATUS QUO and to limiting notions of beauty, fitness, and ability. We aim to inspire, empower and create an inclusive and fun environment where you can laugh your ass off.
Hilken was in a band called Fuzzy back in my 97X days . Rolling Stone named their 1994 song “Flashlight” one of the top 50 songs of the 90s.
Maybe in an alternate universe Jen and Hilken would be hosting their own festivals.
Mike O’Malley starred in “The Mike O’Malley Show” back in 1999. It lasted three episodes. More recently, he created the series “Extended Family” starring Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men) and Donald Faison (Scrubs). That one lasted 13 episodes.
In an alternate universe, maybe his ’99 show hits it big and he’s another Ray Romano… or maybe the 2023 series turns him into the new Chuck Lorre. But Mike has continued to hustle and continued to act and write. He was the showrunner for the Netflix series “Heels.”
Yes, I still read comic strips. Not only that, but I also read blog posts from some comic strip creators (not the Dilbert guy, though…).
“Wayno” is the nom de plume for the guy who creates the weekday versions of Bizarro, a single panel strip created by Dan Piraro (who still does the Sunday version). Wayno just won the National Cartoonists Society award for Best Newspaper Panel. Here’s a recent example of his work:
A twist on the ol’ banana peel joke… with a tribute to music/pop art thrown in for good measure:
No wonder Wayno won!
But that’s not why we’re here today. We’re here because of Wayno’s blog. This recent post really hit home for me. It starts with a Captain Beefheart quote:
Art is rearranging and grouping mistakes.
Don Van Vlietaka Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet was eminently quotable, though much of what he said could be puzzling, as he had his own manner of forming thoughts and constructing sentences. The line we’re sharing here is straightforward and relatable. It’s also a valuable bit of advice.
My take is that experimentation and editing are required to produce art, and that it’s rarely created fully-formed. The most important step in creating any type of art is starting with something—a mark on a piece of paper or a couple of words, and building from there, keeping what works and setting aside what doesn’t. In fact, getting to a satisfying (if not great) work of art requires making countless mistakes.
It’s so true. And it echoes advice from other creators – Seth Godin’s “ship your work” and Steven Pressfield’s exhortation to fight “the resistance” by doing the work, and Anne LaMott’s concept of “sh*tty first drafts.”
If you want to make something great, start by making something. It might be awful… in fact it probably will be awful. But you’ll learn as you go – merrily screwing up along the way.
Trust the process – and mistakes are an integral part of the process.
Kevin Sullivan on Life advice from a man who lived it: “A good one Damian. Bring our lens into focus after the long weekend or our long life journey.” Jul 7, 09:38
Thomas Kuhl on We’re alive, because nothing happened.: “That is why we should celebrate every day when our feet hit the floor. Another to enjoy and share with…” Jun 25, 04:33
Thomas Kuhl on We’re alive, because nothing happened.: “This simply explains why we should celebrate every day our feet hit the floor. Another day to enjoy and share…” Jun 25, 04:31
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