Yeah, It's Writing

Austin Kleon has captured what it is to want to be creative:

All I ever wanted to do was be part of the world I loved. The world I discovered in books and art and music. I want to be part of it. I don’t care how or in what capacity.

The entire post is worth reading. And rereading. And then posting on the wall. And sharing with everyone you know. And then...

Since announcing that I will quit my teaching job, I'm asked often, what's next? Those who are nervous ask, what will you do now? while those who are more comfortable just ask, what do you want to do? I usually hesitate in answering because it's tricky. I can imagine holding down a job again, so long as it stays confined to contract hours and doesn't suck my soul and wreck my health the way my current job does. I would love to earn healthcare and a living wage. Yeah, I'd like all those things, but they're not what I want.

What I want is scary. Risky. I don't know how to do it. I don't know if it's possible. I worry that I'm not up to it. Yet it's all I really want to do.

I'll let you guess what it might be.

Austin Kleon & Creativity

I started my blog because of Austin Kleon's book Show Your Work and most of my weekly newsletter is patterned on his which you should go read right now.

The thing I like about Kleon and his work is that he is so inclusive and inviting. I'm not much for the excluding people from creative work. Exclusion has kept non-white, non-male people from having their creativity noticed. Screw that noise. There's plenty of room for everyone and Austin Kleon invites people into that community and shows how to get going.

If I make it as a writer I'll help people starting out. I won't be able to solve everyone's problems, but I like paying back and promoting others. Kleon seems to be all about that.

The question I have is what he is creating now. It's as if he has completely moved into helping others be creative, but what else is he creating? It's great that he helps people like me, but it's like the English teacher who doesn't read or write; the coach who can't play the game; the preacher who doesn't read or know the Bible. The work comes first and teaches by example, then comes advice and direct instruction.

Twice last year I was asked why I haven't put together a book about writing. I've written on this blog about writing and even given advice but I feel I need to publish and create a larger body of work before anyone should much listen to my thoughts on the matter.

Or maybe I'm just being chickenshit.

Whatever the case, you should read Austin Kleon almost as much as you read the guy writing bgfay.com. He's a genius!

Choose The World You're In

Austin Kleon wrote a piece today worth reading entitled The World's More Interesting With You In It. The gist is that we are too eager to delete/unfollow people and all too willing to take ourselves out of the world. It got me thinking about having left social media.

I left Facebook and Twitter in August and have not gone back. Kleon writes, "Don’t disappear on us. Don’t cancel your own subscription. Stick around. Keep going. The world is more interesting with you in it." He's not necessarily encouraging me to return to social media, but I've been told that there are people who miss me some on those platforms. Should I try to make Facebook and Twitter better places? Is there value in me doing that?

The problems with Facebook and Twitter are that I don't respect their corporate values and they don't provide me sufficient value for my investment. I don't "connect" with "friends" and "followers" as much having left those networks but I'm working on that finding ways to connect with friends and make new friends. I've only made the slightest headway but it's a work in progress.

Withdrawing from the world might be a mistake though I've read a couple good books that say otherwise. Thoreau, who famously moved away from the world but also stayed in contact with it is a model of how to move in a direction that goes against or perpendicular to that which most everyone is following seems to me a very good idea. We have to choose our worlds carefully.

I'm happy to have deleted myself from Twitter and Facebook. I'm happy to no longer be in that world because it was a source of more unhappiness than contentment. Here in the real world I withdraw often in order to create something that I then bring back to the world, to others and, I hope, make this world a little bit more interesting.

Austin Kleon, Steal Like An Artist

Rereading Austin Kleon's Steal Like An Artist wasn't as good as the first time. Since then, I've read his Show Your Work twice and followed his daily postings. I've been following his advice and creating. Steal Like An Artist wasn't as good this time because I've moved forward just as he has advised. 

My first reading was a series of revelations and ah-ha moments: Yeah, that's a good idea. I should do that. I thought a lot but didn't do much yet. I let it ferment. His ideas seemed right, but I wasn't ready to do the work. I needed time to read more of his work and create more of my own. I look back and see that reading Steal Like An Artist was a pivotal moment in my progress. 

The book is well worth the hour it takes to read. I changed habits because of it. The ideas in it connected with those of Wendell Berry and Anne Lamott, Donald Hall and Natalie Goldberg. These help me develop my own ideas about work, writing, and living well. The book doesn't demand readers be artists, but it left me sure I wanted to become one. 

Kleon is a teacher who helps me find my best and chase adventure. The book has me wanting to create. It leads right into his Show Your Work which has led to even better things for me. Go buy both books and start your own adventure. 

Kleon's weekly newsletter is worth subscribing to and reading.