A Conversation with Author, Speaker and Poet, Josh Riebock
Best-Selling Author, Speaker, Poet
About three years ago, right around the time I turned 30 years old, I picked up Josh Riebock’s book Heroes and Monsters. It found me in exactly the narrative the book spoke through. I don’t remember many quotable quotes, but I remember exactly how the book made me feel. It stirred many emotions about myself, God, my father, and life at 30 years old. I find more importance in that fact than just having a nice line from a book to sling in conversation.
Josh Riebock is a best-selling author, speaker, and poet and consequently also very gracious. He sat down with me for an hour and talked about life, the writing process, being relational vs being social. We also talked about his uncanny knack to predict which character you will pick when playing Mario Kart (He got in my brain pretty deep on that one). I recorded the conversation and broke it up into two parts. I apologize in advance for the quality of the audio, that was completely my fault. I hope you can see past that because the amount of wisdom to creative types Josh has to offer over the two-part podcast is phenomenal.
Why You Can’t Make It Alone
At the end of every year, I spend time in the past year’s journal. This helps me get a clearer picture of what happened within that year from out beyond the weeds. 2016 was a great example of why I love journaling. It was a chaotic year that didn’t give me much time to stop and take it all in. We sadly had to make the decision to close a church we helped plant in Florida, move back to Ohio and thankfully begin work again at CedarCreek Church. All the ups and downs were right there in the pages. I fought back ugly crying as I read the pages of last year’s journal, mainly because I realized I did nothing on my own.
I focus a lot on personal development. I’m passionate about it and about helping others realize what they are capable of achieving. This marks my 9th year of a keeping a yearly journal.
I’ve realized within the pages of all these journals that not a single personal accomplishment was solely my doing. It was with the help of friends that I finished races, it was by my wife carving time in our schedule to allow me to write books, it was through friends and co-workers saying ‘that sounds fun! I’m in!’ that we were able to record some music and it was through mentors giving of their own personal time that I could grow in character. Nothing I can accomplish can be done alone. I can’t be who I feel a tugging towards becoming without others pulling it out of me.
In Donald Miller’s book, To Own a Dragon, he tells this story:
“I was planting a couple tomato plants in the backyard. I’d never planted anything before. I was digging a little hole and sticking the starter plant in the ground when the miracle of the process occurred to me. All you do is stick a plant in the dirt, and the sun and a summer’s worth of time turns the tomato plant into a living salad maker. Its DNA is activated by outside forces, so it becomes what it is supposed to become only in the right elements.”
Our ambitions, goals and ideas are the plant. We have to do the work of planting and getting our hands dirty, but we also need the help of outside forces to make these things activate. Our ideas, ourselves, can’t be who they were meant to be without others.
Pursuing Your Passion vs Working Minimum Wage
I see a lot of people leap into a creative pursuit with the subconscious dollar signs over their eyes. They watch successful Youtube stars, musicians and social media giants rake in the cash and they think ‘I can do this’. Which I would never discourage, but wanted to pose some qualifying questions to those that want to make the leap.
What if I told you that it’s more likely that you’ll make more money over six years at a minimum wage service job than pursuing your passion, would you still make the leap? I had my first paycheck from playing guitar six years after first picking the instrument up. I practiced roughly 1-2 hours a day in that period totaling roughly 2,000-3,000 hours spent on the craft. If minimum wage was roughly 7.00 an hour, then I would have had 21,000.00 bucks if I just worked more instead of played guitar. It should be noted that my first paycheck after six years of playing guitar was a whopping 20.00 bucks.
“Blessed are those who swoon at the thought of tax accounting or petroleum engineering, for they will be well-compensated for their love. If, however, the activity that makes your heart swell is less practical and economically in-demand, there’s a very real chance that you won’t be able to make a viable living from it.” –J. Maureen Henderson (3 Reasons Following Your Passions Will Send You To The Poorhouse)
The second question I would pose is ‘have you considered creating a runway before you take off?’ There’s a social media gold-rush in our culture that tends to make us all think that if we can create a personal brand, we can become an overnight success and monetize our persona. We also have it engrained in our heads that we have to strike while the iron is hot or we may lose our one shot at cashing in on said gold-rush. This causes many young people to drop everything and dive headfirst into their new career as Facebook Click-Bait Content Creators. But what happens after that didn’t work out and you already quit your job effectively burning a bridge to employment?
I had the chance to interview author and speaker, Todd Henry about this topic. His advice would be to build up a runway of steady income from your passion before you take off. Set healthy checkpoints along the way in your first year as well to gauge how you are doing: “By six months my income should be at X or I will seek employment elsewhere”.
The goal in all of this isn’t to discourage you from pursuing your passions, but to give a healthy dose of reality before you make the decision to leap. Healthy, long-lasting careers in passionate pursuits are built on strong foundations of wise planning and long hours perfecting your craft.
The Myth of Creating Less As A Parent
While anticipating the birth of our older daughter, I was just like every other soon-to-be dad. Scared. Scared I wouldn’t know how to care for a newborn. What if I don’t know what to do? Will I be a fun dad? Will I accidentally scar her for life by revealing her secret crush in front of her friends? While I was scared for her future, I was also scared for another selfish reason– I was scared I would lose all of my free time to create. I was convinced this kid would suck every ounce of creative energy I had through never ending fits, soiling endless diapers and sleepless nights. It’s a real, rational fear based off of stories we all hear.
That was seven years ago. Fast forward to three weeks ago. While going through my journals from the first three years of my daughter’s life, I realized something very different happened. I was actually creating more than before we had a child. And after our second daughter? Even more.
So why is this? Did I abandon my paternal duties and children for my own interests? Not even close. I’d like to think I’m a good dad that gives his kids the attention they need…approximately 81.7% of the time (none of us are perfect and Stranger Things was too good not to binge while they played on the iPad).
So here’s what I realized:
I Needed To Budget My Time Like I Budgeted My Money. Being busy before kids is a lot different than being busy after kids. I know that is an eye-roll inducing statement, but it’s true. The amount of sleep is cut drastically and the number of events, choices and lives I was responsible for became overwhelming. So I created a time budget. In budgeting finances, the fewer dollars you have, the farther you’ll try and make them stretch. That’s what happens to our time after having kids. The fewer precious minutes I had to myself, the more I would make them count. I looked for the pockets of dead time that I didn’t have anything to do but scroll through my phone. Seven minutes here, 14 minutes there, it all adds up to time that can be productive if you focus.
My reasons for creating became less selfish. Before kids, my reasons for creating were more ego driven. Having children gave me better reasons to create. I wanted to make things that would make my kids think I’m cool when they grew up. I wanted to make important things that would teach my kids lessons. And yes, I wanted to make things so my family could have a little extra money at the end of the month.
I wanted more shared experiences while creating. I wanted to teach my kids the joy of telling stories. In the top drawer is my daughter’s first book she created and gave to me. She watched me make my books and thankfully it rubbed off. That’s a feeling like no other when something you love doing trickles down to your children.
I know the truth for me was that creating less after kids simply wasn’t true, but I wanted to ask a couple of my other friends if they felt the same way. These are not only prolific creators, but also great fathers. Here’s what they had to say:
Robert Wagner is a Toledo, Ohio-based Photographer and Videographer.
Did You Create More After Having Kids?
“I would say yes and mostly because my priorities changed. Before kids I was a stupid college kid. My priorities were usually things like going to the bar, wasting time with friends etc. The closest thing to creative stuff I did was being in a band. I was in a band because I thought it would make me look cool and maybe get me girls. I bought my first camera (Canon Powereshot) while my wife was pregnant with our first child (Noah) and ever since then I became obsessed with taking pictures. Less than I year later I bought an entry level dslr to take pictures of Noah because I never liked the commercial type photography studios and thought I could do better. So sometimes I think “if I didn’t have kids I’d be able to shoot so much more or just have so much more time”. But then I think of “pre-kids Rob” and realize that my priorities would have probably not changed dramatically. When it boils down, I think everyone has different sets of constraints on their time and it’s up to the individual to decide their priorities. If someone is driven to create, I believe that nothing will stop them. If I go a week without shooting something, I feel incomplete. So despite kids and family and job, I make it a priority.”
Eric Ward aka @littlecoal is a Northwest Ohio based photographer. You can find him on Instagram @littlecoal
How Do You Dispel the Myth of Creating Less as a Parent?
“I agree with a lot of what Rob said. Before kids I would…I…I actually can’t remember what I did before kids! I know that with my kids in my life, I would tell you that I am busier than ever, but also somehow find/make the time to create. Often, it begins with going on an adventure with the kids and simply bringing my camera along. For years I only shot on my phone ,and I think I did so for so long because it allowed me to be creative while out with my kids, but do so in a way that didn’t feel like it was the reason we were out in the first place. I do the same with my camera now, but always try to keep those moments quick, so as not to miss the time with them.
As for creating away from my kids, I’ve had to plan time each week where I just get out for a few hours, without a plan, and just shoot. Those moments of driving or walking through downtown or a park give me an opportunity to let my mind relax and wander, which has often led to some of my favorite creative moments.”
– Eric Ward @littlecoal
Why Being An Introvert Doesn’t Automatically Mean You Are Shy
Several months ago I met a new person. After a brief conversation she said “I can tell you are shy”. I was curious what gave her that impression, so I pried further. “Really? What makes you say that?” I asked. “Because you are quiet.”
I hear this a lot from people who are extroverted. There’s a false correlation that a quiet person must also be shy person. It’s an unfair, sweeping generalization that if you are quiet in the company of others, you must be afraid of speaking. Far from the truth, but introverts are often misunderstood. Growing up, being an introvert is a negative term that adults try to fix by making kids speak more or pushing them way outside of their comforts or strengths. You may have been labeled ‘odd’ or ‘weird’ if your instinct was to observe others from the perimeter of social interactions.
Now I’m raising two daughters and trying not to fall into the same traps. Recently, we were invited to a birthday party and I was able to see something that they don’t yet know is a strength of an introvert. Observation. They are typically playful kids, but when the volume of chaos in a room reaches a certain level, they withdraw from the interaction. It’s not that they ran and hid, but rather they became quiet and observant. Instead of trying to coax them back into the situation I allowed them to hang on the fringes. I want them to development the skill that Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Blink called ‘thin-slicing’:
“Thin-slicing is a term used in psychology and philosophy to describe the ability to find patterns in events based only on “thin slices,” or narrow windows, of experience. The term means making very quick inferences about the state, characteristics or details of an individual or situation with minimal amounts of information.”
When introverts quietly observe a social interaction, whether it be a meeting, a party or other event, they are sub-consciously thin-slicing or picking up on things that people engaged in conversation are not; they pick up on body language, the melody in someone’s voice, the real meaning behind someone’s words.
So instead of encouraging your child, student, peer or employee to participate in the discussions, engage them after the fact. Find out what they observed. If it’s a child, ask them to replay the events that took place in the room. See if they are seeing what others aren’t picking up on and praise that action. If your employee is disengaged in meetings, don’t write them off as not being a team-player. Ask them “what is something you picked up on in that meeting that I might have missed?”
For more resources on the strengths of introverts, check out Quiet by Susan Cainand Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.
New Book Announcement - Twinkle, Twinkle, All The Stars
A few years ago, while watching my oldest daughter looking through her picture books, I thought it would be fun to do a book for her and about her. I’d never published a book and I had no background in writing or illustrating, but it sounded like a fun challenge and a gift worth finishing for her. At the end of 2013, with the help of my friends and illustrator, Angela Bronson, I finished Alora In The Clouds. I realized that process put a spark in me to keep writing so kept at it. I’m happy to tell you that I’ve finished my 3rd book, Twinkle, Twinkle, All The Stars, a bedtime story I wrote for my youngest daughter and illustrated by the amazing, Ruth Oosterman.
Twinkle, Twinkle, All The Stars wasn’t the book I set out to write this year. I worked for four months on a completely different idea for my daughter that just wasn’t clicking. After trying to re-write the story one night I just told myself I would spend 30 minutes writing a completely different idea. I kept the theme of looking up at the sky from Alora In The Clouds, and instead of daytime, I used the night sky. I imagined what it would be like if the stars played with each other with connected beams of light that to our eyes, formed the constellations.
If you’d like to purchase a copy, you can order Twinkle, Twinkle, All The Stars through Amazon. In the future, I’ll be doing some posts on how to publish a book for beginners. The process can be intimidating to start, but I’ve found avenues that make this process (mostly) simple, fun and easily repeatable.
“Used To Draw. Hard to Admit That I Used To Draw”
Used to draw
Hard to admit that I used to draw
Portraiture and the human form
Doodle of a two-headed unicorn
I let my fears materialize
I let my skills deteriorate
From one of my favorite albums of 2016 comes a song that kills me. Rings by Aesop Rock is a deep well of relatable rhymes that dig up what it felt like to give up an art form in my youth. “Used to draw. Hard to admit that I used to draw.” The first words out of the gate bring up a time when I didn’t know what the word ‘editing’ meant. I just drew until I was content, and often for hours on end. Then something crept in. “I let my fears materialize. I let my skills deteriorate.” Fear sunk in that I wasn’t good enough. I would leave more and more drawings left unfinished and my skills began to slip.
Can you relate? When asked about the song’s meaning, Aesop Rock says, “Rings reflects on my failure as a visual artist, and some of the regret I’ve experienced in regards to not pursuing it further.” I’m sure Aesop Rock (born Ian Bavitz) left drawers full of art left unfinished like the rest of us.
But even the great visual artists leave art unfinished. For every incredible painting you see from an artist, there are countless other projects that never see the light of day. I love that the Metropolitan Museum of Art created an entire exhibition around art left unfinished. Viewing these pieces is snapshot of the moment when artists showed a fear that “this is not good enough” and put it aside, presumably to try again at a later time or to abandon all together. It’s a relatable moment between the amateur and the masters. We all share the fear that our work doesn’t cut it. But there is only one thing that separates the frustrated, fear infused amateur and the master: the master will try again.
So You Had Success. Now What?
If we work hard, chances are we’ll have success in reaching our goals. Small wins. Big wins. Maybe a promotion, an award or 100k followers. But what happens after we reach our goals? Then what?
Then we need more success. More achievements to fill our minds. Business ideas. Dreams of popularity filling up the corners of our thoughts. We need more and we are ready to sacrifice our time, resources and often our integrity.
The tireless pursuit of more is often a sign of something deeper happening.
“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.” ” For love of bustle is not industry – it is only the restlessness of a hunted mind.” – Seneca
What is chasing you? Are you running from low self esteem brought on from a childhood fraught with issues? A bad marriage? Slow the cycle. Let whatever is chasing you catch up. Turn around and face it.
Author Mike Mchargue On Writing
For years, Mike Mchargue, otherwise known as ‘Science Mike’, has grown a following with his podcast ‘Ask Science Mike‘. Mchargue, a former atheist, tackles difficult topics where faith and science intersect. He recently released his first book, Finding God In The Waves. I was curious to ask Mike a few questions on tackling his first book.
The subject of finishing personal work is a passion of mine, and Mike writes ‘Finding God In The Waves‘ as a memoir of sorts. For some, the writing process looks easy. In fact, there is an Italian word for people who make it look easy: Sprezzatura. As Mike was in the process of writing his book, his Twitter updates on the process had an element of ‘sprezzatura’. I wanted to know more so he graciously offered to answer a few questions on writing Finding God In The Waves. Enjoy!
Mike Mchargue // Creator of the Ask Science Mike Podcast & Author of Finding God In The Waves.
I remember reading a tweet from you that made the writing process sound easy. Some struggle for words and claim ‘writer’s block’, but you made the writing process seem like second nature to you. Was this accurate? Did you struggle more to condense?
“I wouldn’t say the writing process was easy. Finding God in the Waves was my first book, and I spent a lot of time and energy (and more than 900,000 words) learning how to translate my voice onto the page and structure a narrative that flowed well. But, you are right. I didn’t experience much writer’s block. If I did, I’d just write about that, or write myself instructions on what I should write. In a sentence or two, the flow would start. My problem is generally too many words, not too few.”
This site is focused on helping people push through excuses to focus on their life’s work. I was hoping you could take a moment to help demystify the idea of ‘writer’s block’, and if you could, lay out for the readers what is actually happening neurologically when the words or ideas just aren’t coming.
“I haven’t seen any studies on writer’s block–and it’s not a good idea to draw over-generalizations from neuroscience. I can say that science tells us the creative inspiration is more likely to happen in the context to routine, manageable goals, exercise, and being outdoors. Reading a lot helps too.”
There’s a quote in your book that says “spend enough time hiding who you are, and it’ll warp you”. Did Finding God In the Waves feel cathartic for you as an exercise in revealing who you really are? What would you say to those who are hiding from creative work they fear to complete because it will reveal more of who they really are?
“I learned a lot about myself and what I believe in the process of writing Finding God in the Waves. The chapters on Jesus, the Church and the Bible were particularly revealing, as my stance on those points changed radically over the course of writing the book. For those who fear such revelations, I’d ask why they’re afraid at all? How can learning about yourself be anything but liberating?”
What are your plans for a follow-up book to Finding God In The Waves? Is it tough to ship out your work and then immediately shift into a new project, or did you need time to breathe?
“I’m hard at work on the next book already (and the one after it, and the one after that). I approach writing like product development, so different projects and books are always at different stages of the process, and scheduled accordingly. A methodical approach helps–despite a family emergency and a brain injury, I still turned in my manuscript early.”
You played bass many years in your church band. Many may look at podcasting, speaking and writing as a hard pivot from that life, but what benefits have you come to realize came from those early days of playing music? How has that bled into your current creative work?
“I’m a really terrible bass player, but music shapes how I write anyway. I’ve always been drawn to music that explores fundamental ideas about the human experience, essentially philosophy with a melody. But lately, I’ve learned to love pop music as well, and my writing reflects that too. Sometimes you just want to celebrate being alive.”
You can listen to Mike Mchargue on his Ask Science Mike Podcast, order his book Finding God In The Waves or catch him on tour in a city near you.
TWLOHA’s Jamie Tworkowski On Writing And Purpose
There are books you connect with where the author paints scenarios similar to ones you might have traversed in years past. There are others where you lose yourself in the impossible that you wish was possible, like Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Then there are other books that you can relate to purely on the emotional level. Where you’ve felt everything the author is describing, but maybe in different settings. That’s how I felt when I read Jamie Tworkowski’s If You Feel Too Much.
Jamie is the founder of To Write Love On Her Arms, a nonprofit organization dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression. He is releasing an expanded edition of If You Feel Too Much on Sept 6th, which you can preorder HERE. I wanted to interview Jamie on his thoughts on the writing process in regards to depression and what role writing plays in the journey, as well as the reason we share what we create.
You’ve been really open with your personal bout with depression. Was working on an expanded edition of If You Feel Too Much cathartic for you or did it bring the hurt to the surface?
“Good question. i honestly don’t know. i was really struggling when i wrote the new stuff. i don’t know that the writing could have brought the hurt to the surface any more than it already was. i think in choosing to write about that relationship, and the loss of it, there was the hope to capture it once and for all, to try to explain why it meant so much to me. There’s a MuteMath song called “Monument.” The chorus is “Let’s make a monument to our love.” Maybe this is something like that.”
What did you learn about yourself as you pull these short stories from your memories and put them to paper?
“If we’re talking about the new material that was written for the expanded edition, i would say i learned how much i believed in this relationship. i wrote the new material five months ago and it still resonates. The pain has lessened, but a lot of the feelings remain. Overall, the memory of the belief and excitement that i had for the relationship, the feeling that my life was changing. And all of that is of course what made the loss of it so painful.”
Ian Cron says in his book Chasing Francis that “Artists help people to see or hear beyond the immediate to the eternal. Most people only look at surfaces. A great poem, story, song or sculpture reveals the hidden meaning of things.” I personally feel that If You Feel Too Much did that for me. Have you had that experience of people sharing things with you that your book revealed that you didn’t expect? Anything you could share?
“i like that! i don’t have a specific story but almost every day i see people posting something (from the book) that meant something to them. i’ve definitely had the thought lately that every time someone does that, it’s as much about their story as it is about mine. As a reader, i definitely know that feeling of someone else putting words to something i’ve experienced or something i’ve felt. That connection or common ground is special and i don’t take it for granted.”
It pains me to know there are readers out there with this magnitude of a book, song or art form within themselves they are fearful to release to the world. What advice could you share with that reader?
“i think we’re made to be known. Whether we write or not and whether our art becomes our job or not. We’re made to tell our stories. i don’t think we have much control over what happens next, whether or not the song becomes a hit or the book becomes a bestseller. But i believe that as human beings, there’s value in creating, in telling stories, in expressing ourselves. Because we’re wired to do that, even if the audience is one friend or a small group. We’re made to be known.”
IF YOU FEEL TOO MUCH is available for pre-order now. You can find it HERE as well as book tour. Pre-Orders will support the nonprofit organization To Write Love On Her Arms.
Masterpiece or Monstrosity?
Michelangelo’s Florence Pieta (The Deposition) is considered a masterpiece. A beautiful example of Michelangelo’s lifelong commitment to his art. The sculpture, carved from hard marble, depicts Christ after death being pulled from the cross by three other figures.
The way Michelangelo made hard marble look as though the garments on the figures were actually soft fabric that could fall off the sculpture any minute is mind-boggling. The way Christ’s body is contorted in a pose that no living being could strike, and the perception of holding the weight of a lifeless, cold body on the other three figures’ expressions makes the viewer feel that the portion of marble that resembles Christ could fall over at any minute.
It’s stunning.
It’s also a personal work from Michelangelo meant for his own tomb. This wasn’t a commission. This was meant for no one else except for Michelangelo himself and his personal reasons for completing it. He also loathed the work and after eight years of working to complete the piece, Michelangelo, in a fit of rage, attempted to destroy the almost completed piece. This wasn’t a quick, frustrated hammer taken to the piece either. He lost his senses, destroying the limbs of Christ and Mary Magdalene. The masterpiece was commissioned to be restored and one can still view the cracks where the limbs were separated from the bodies. In its present form, the piece can be viewed at Museo dell’Opera del Duomo in Florence and Christ is still missing a leg.
There are many theories as to the reason Michelangelo would destroy a work that took him eight years of his life to almost complete. Some say he destroyed it because the pose of Christ’s leg was in a shape too suggestive of an intimate relationship between Christ and The Virgin Mary. Others say he was frustrated with the makeup of the marble not allowing him to finish what he envisioned. Whatever the true reason, I believe if I showed a picture of Florence Pieta to a group, the majority would be shocked to learn that the artist attempted its destruction and thought of it as less than a beautiful piece of art.
“Yea, but I’m not Michelangelo and my work really isn’t worthy to be seen by anyone. Who cares if I scrap it?”
Says who? Are we really the best judges of our own work?
The temptation to hide or destroy our own work close to completion is a sign that as we near the finish line, fear is manifesting in the thought of completing our project. We don’t fear what our work is as an object. We didn’t create a bomb that would physically harm anyone. We fear what emotion our work will elicit when we reveal to the world what we’ve been working on.
We fear opinions and how those opinions will shape our self-worth.
We fear the work doesn’t live up to our inflated self-perceptions.
Self.
It’s wonderful to create for a cathartic release, but when we horde our creative work for reasons like fear and ego, it becomes selfish. If you knew the work you’ve hidden from the world could change just one person for the better, would it remain hidden?
Likely not. But it’s 100% likely to not change anyone if you hide it.
**Portions of this blog were taken out of my book, UNFINISHED. You can buy it on Amazon HERE.
What Turns a Stamp into a Million Dollar Investment? Context.
Context is powerful, and yet one of the most underutilized tools by artists as they share their work with the world. Context is so powerful that it can make a 1-inch piece of adhesive paper go from a value of mere pennies to nearly a million dollars.
Stamp collecting is a very profitable business and has been for the past century. Stamps that are nearly flawless fetch a lot of money, but when the printing process goes awry, it’s even more lucrative. William Robey had keen insight on where to look for these errors and in 1918 it paid off. Big time. He stumbled on a full sheet of stamps with a HUGE error…
The sheet of stamps included 100 stamps with an image of the firstplane to fly U.S. Air Mail, the Curtiss JN-4, or “Jenny”. All seems normal except the Jenny is upside-down, which would probably be bad form for a U.S. mail carrier to be performing that maneuver on the job…
“That’s not flying, that’s just falling with style.” -Woody
The Inverted Jennys (which is a great name for a band) made their way through auction houses and collectors’ hands over the past 100 years. Some were stolen, some were placed in museums, and some are still missing.
The stamps have fetched at auction anywhere between 100,000 to 1 Million Dollars. I’m not a stamp collector, but I’m intrigued by the story and how context alone gave a 24-cent sticker a value nearly 4 MILLION times what it was actually worth. I think there’s a lot about the Inverted Jenny that relates to how we and our audience give value to our work. Here are a few reasons why I believe the Inverted Jenny sheet became so valuable.
The error was extremely rare. This misprint is the only sheet in existence. Value added.
The error of the first U.S. Air Mail Carrier plane being depicted doing the job upside down. Value added.
The history of passing ownership through thieves, wealthy socialites and businessmen for 100 years. Value added.
And finally, the most important of all. The Inverted Jennys were sold to the right audience.
Those points show four critical pillars in giving our creative work value through context. First, our creative work is rare simply for the fact that we created it and we are unique singular beings. Touching a print of a famous painting just doesn’t feel the same as being in the same room with the original art.
Second, our work isn’t perfect, so when errors are visible and we share them freely in humorous stories with our audience in vulnerable moments, it breaks down walls.
Third, where we have been in life, what made us create, and what inspired us to create our work is more important to the audience than we often think. Share your history. Share the stories of almost giving up on your work until someone inspired you to keep going.
Finally, and most importantly, your work needs to be in front of the right audience. Subjective creative work will never be accepted by everyone, so you must look for an audience. Look for pockets of people that you feel your work could add value to their lives. Don’t focus on the size of the audience. It’s always the right audience before the size of the audience.
PUSH AGAINST THE DARKNESS
For 2.5 years, I lived in Melbourne, Florida, 50 minutes east of Orlando. For a portion of that time, I did some producing on the side for a company in the heart of downtown Orlando.
Orlando.
The word has spent the past week at the top of news sites positioned next to ‘Breaking News’ for three gruesome tragedies within the city: the murder of Christina Grimmie, the mass shooting at Pulse, and most recently the horrible death of 2-year-old Lane Graves by alligator attack at Disney.
I’ve thought a lot about Singer’s Paradox and how closer geographic ties to an area make us want to act with more urgency than tragedies in places we have no association with in the present or in the past. But you may being feeling as I do right now.
Helpless.
“What can we do to make anything better right now?”
As I thought through this, a few things came to mind. First, we can pray. If you don’t know where to start, you could pray that God gives the families of the lost some peace during this time. You can also pray to be used in times of tragedy. If you need help with finding the words, here’s a prayer from Francis of Assisi:
“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
― Francis of Assisi
Secondly, it’s okay to grieve. We should honor the reaction to horrible tragedies by letting the grieving process take it’s course. Grieving can take a lot of forms and through many artistic minded people, grief is shared through art. In that process, we can help to speak for the dead. To give voice to lives cut far too short. To tell stories of their lives while they were with us. To make us feel connected to them on a human level. To remember who they were and what they meant to us. To tell the world how it makes us feel to lose them.
Author Ian Cron, in his book Chasing Francis, says, “…artists help people to see or hear beyond the immediate to the eternal. Most people only look at surfaces. A great poem, story, song, or sculpture reveals the hidden meaning of things.” He goes on to say, “Beauty is a form of protest, a way to push back the darkness.”
Your work can unite us to push against the darkness. On November 13th, 2015, artist Jean Jullien pulled out his sketchbook and created this piece a minute after hearing about the coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris, France. In an article with Wired he asks, “Is it not the role of artists to give us symbols of strength and solidarity in times like this?”
If you’ve been given a passion and talent for art of any medium, then you’ve also been given a role. With that role, push against the darkness.
20yrs of Playing Guitar — What I’ve Learned (So Far)
My mom saves things I would never think to save and I’m grateful for that fact. The other day, while cleaning out her closet, she found all of my original guitar receipts including one for my first guitar, which was a rented Alvarez acoustic.
That receipt had the date I first picked up a guitar, which was June 3rd, 1996. Twenty years ago to this day. I was in junior high and needed a hobby. My dad liked the Blues so I figured I would try the guitar.
After the first week of trying to play an F chord, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep going. Some would say they had an immediate love for their instrument, which pushed them through those first frustrating years. I’m pretty sure I just wanted girls to like me so I kept at it.
After a year, the need to be liked by girls was replaced with the desire to get as good as I could, because I fell in love with playing guitar. I was practicing three hours a day to Van Halen, Collective Soul and Bush records. Those early years truly changed the course of my life and music has been at the forefront of my passions for the past twenty years.
Music is just as exciting to me as it was twenty years ago. I may not practice like I used to and my focus is less on guitar, but I’m learning something new every week. I hesitate sharing things I’ve learned over 20 years because I don’t feel like my lessons are over, but in the spirit of sharing, growing, and living an UNFINISHED life, here are 20 things I’ve learned over the last 20 years about practicing, performing and writing music:
There will always be a better musician than you. Invite them into your world. Collaboration over competition will make you light years better.
Breakthroughs usually happen after walking away for a few days. If you aren’t getting a certain technique, take a pause and come back to it.
This is for guitar players especially: your gear will never compensate for your lack of practice. My good friend Jeff Harris has always said 80% of your tone is in your fingers. Spend less money on gear and more time practicing.
Music is subjective. Talks about which band is better is idle chit chat. Walk away from those conversations.
Schedule your practice times. Keep them sacred.
Join a band with people way better than yourself. Their skills will rub off on you.
Never sell your first instrument. Ever. You’ll regret it.
Watch every episode of Sonic Highways.
Songwriters, watch Nick Cave’s 20,000 Days on Earth.
Read Austin Kleon’s Steal Like an Artist.
You WILL fall out of love with playing music. That’s ok. Put it down for a while. Try something else. When you come back to it, you’ll have more appreciation and a new perspective.
Music will change; don’t feel pressure to change with it. Be genuine. Play what you love.
After a few years of playing, begin teaching. Your students will teach you so much more than you can teach them.
Avoid the F chord. Seriously, it’s just too hard.
Stop calling yourself the “lead” guitarist. People are rolling their eyes behind your back.
Learn as much as you can about music history. It’s a powerful tool to know exactly why music shifts so frequently. When you start to see the patterns, you can start to predict where music is going.
Quit treating your instrument like it’s a museum piece on display. Let anyone who wants to play it come up and play. They were meant to be played and that may be a defining moment for that person.
You will be embarrassed more times on stage than you can count. Treat each of those moments as a lesson in humility. Don’t take yourself so seriously.
Listen to new music every week.
And finally, don’t ever think you’ve arrived. Once you have that mindset, you plateau. Keep learning from all the generations, young and old, that surround you.
I hope this is helpful.
“You Can Only Write What You See”
The writer who chooses to write what he or she thinks people want to read is an imposter. The photographer who chooses his subject based off of the possibility of more ‘likes’ is an imitator. The songwriter who writes in the vein of what is popular for more traction is a phony.
On any given week, I am one of those three things. I would imagine, as a person who desires to create more, you’ve also worn these labels.
I was re-watching Sonic Highways this week and this quote from Woody Guthrie came up:
“All you can write is what you see.”
Guthrie is responsible for the lyrics of ‘This Land is Your Land,’ one of the most iconic songs in the last century. The song is a vivid description of the United States from coast to coast.
As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.
That song resonated with a generation and became an anthem. Guthrie saw the country coast to coast first hand and penned what he observed. That’s it.
I think we try to over complicate the creative process. Most of the time we need to be reminded to just capture what we see –in our minds, in the physical world around us, in our interactions with others.
Just write what you see.
The Durability of Inspiration
A man sits on a park bench on 5th Avenue, feeding pigeons and contemplating if he’s made a mistake devoting his life to writing. He’s broke. He hasn’t been paid to write in over a year and the bills are piling up. The ideas just aren’t coming anymore. At the moment, he is ready to give it all up for a steady job. Out of the corner of his eye he catches sight of a single piece of weathered paper floating on the breeze. It lands in front of the man. It’s a page out Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist. The rain has made almost everything on the page illegible except for one line:
“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”
A single tear rolls down the man’s face and he instantly knows what he was made to do–write THE musical. He runs home and pushes his face into his Macbook. He writes all night and as the sun rises, he types the last word of his musical which he will call…Hamilton.
Guess what? NONE OF THAT HAPPENED. I made that story up as an exaggeration of what we think happens when the great artists get inspired (you can read the true story of the creation of Hamilton HERE).
I like to imagine that people often think of inspiration like a train–a train with no posted schedule, but when you see it, you just have to hop on and let it carry you to the finish of your creative work.
I had a great conversation this past week with my friend Devin who is pursuing his Master of Arts. He posed the question, “Is our inspiration durable enough to last until we can find the time to write the song or story? Is it durable enough to remain clear–even when ignored or “shelved” for months or even years? The durability of inspiration will be tested when we get frustrated, fail, or meet resistance and obstacles in the pursuit of creative goals.”
So is your inspiration durable enough to not break under the pressure of frustration, lack of time, or failure? If it’s not, then how do we make it so? To answer this, we can look at how other materials are made more durable. For instance, let’s look at steel. Recently, scientists have found a way to make steel more durable by coating the outside to protect the steel. The coating seals the steel and protects it from the harsh elements so it won’t corrode.
Similarly, there are ways we can seal our ideas so they are protected by the elements through two types of discipline.
The first type of discipline is that of Immediate Capture. Immediate Capture is the act of bottling an idea the moment it comes into our heads. How many times have you been inspired to create something, only to be distracted by life and come back to the idea with only a vague fragment of what you first had? I’ve gotten into the discipline when an idea for a blog comes to capture my thoughts immediately in Evernote as detailed as I can be. I also keep what Blaine Hogan in his book Untitled calls a “Scratch File“– A file filled with photos that inspire me in photography. It’s a central place I can always go to look for ideas or to revisit styles I want to try. You also do this with music. Certain songs can help seal inspiration. I wrote my last book Unfinished while playing the same songs over and over. They helped me get into the right frame of mind and since they were familiar, my mind wasn’t distracted.
The second type of discipline is consistency, which we’ll discuss in part two next week.
Are You Useful to Your Work?
If you haven’t read The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry, I’d recommend it. There’s a lot of life lessons in this tiny book. The author tells the story of The Little Prince who lives on a planet by himself. He decides one day to visit others who also live on their own planets alone. The story, told as an allegory, is presented in a way that shows the reader what we look like when we make this world into a very self-focused place.
One day the Little Prince meets a man who laid claim to owning all the stars and spent his days counting and recounting them. This puzzles the Prince…
“I own a flower myself, which I water everyday. It’s useful to my flower that I own it, but you are not useful to the stars.”
The Prince saw his relationship with the product of his work, the flower, as a two-way street. He was useful to the flower by watering and caring for it, so that the flower could be useful to the world by bringing its beauty to our senses. The businessman was of no use to the stars to claim them as his own. He didn’t add value to their lives.
We spend our time tallying up the things we’ve achieved and our talents instead of cultivating them so they can be used for the important work of inspiring others. I believe we have all been made caretakers of our God-given gifts, but we haven’t been taught how to cultivate them–how to be useful to them. Here’s a couple practical ways to be useful to your work.
Learn a new way to grow your work.
The Little Prince found a better way to care for his flower through irrigation. In return, his flower grew. Sometimes we get stuck trying the same inefficient ways to grow our work and we plateau. Read a book, listen to a podcast, get in the habit of setting aside a time each week to learn better, faster, more efficient methods to growing your work.
Share your work even if it makes you sick to your stomach.
This doesn’t come natural to me. I often hate sharing my work. I tend to be hyper-critical and I don’t exclude myself. But this is the point of having talent and creating meaningful work. Many of us share this hesitation to share our work. A reader of my book, UNFINISHED, shared this with me after finishing the book:
“This is my nephew, Nathan; he is five and half years old. Nathan is a non-verbal Autistic child. Before I moved out of the state, I used to watch both him and his older brother (who has Asperger’s) every day. Nathan has his own language and would get so mad at us, because we didn’t understand him. He has been going to a specialty school for autism and is showing some major improvements, but still can’t talk. As a former pre-k teacher, I have had a few children with autism and I tried to work with them. But, I never have been able to be close to them like I am with Nathan.
This was my first poem that I have ever written; I shared it with my boyfriend, and he posted it to a few autism sites on Facebook. I was scared to see what people would think of the poem. I was told by a friend of mine that she saw my poem on one of the sites. So I decided to look at the two sites that reposted my poem. Between the two of them I had 19,871 likes, 480 comments, and it was shared 12,539 times all over the world. I read every one of the comments. So many parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and friends shared their stories. A lot of them said that the poem has helped them to understand. Teachers asked permission to print it off to hang in their classrooms.
I started to sell the poem and all proceeds were going towards a service dog for Nathan. A service dog will help keep Nathan safe, because Nathan doesn’t understand boundaries.
Sharing my poem has brought so much awareness to the world. I have been encouraged to write more and possibly make a book out of them. Writing this poem is a reflection of how he communicates to us.”
Tina used her talents to create the work about Nathan, but her act of sharing made her a useful vehicle for her work to impact literally thousands of people. So are you useful to your work? Will you sit around and count up your talents and achievements, or will you choose to share them?
*If you are interested in donating to help Nathan pay for his service dog, you can email Tina at Tinabryant22@hotmail.com
With Art. Be Vulnerable or Invisible. You Have a Choice.
It’s easy to stay hidden in our opinions, in our social lives, but especially in our personal work. If we don’t show our work to the world, the world moves on. There’s no consequence. No criticism to deal with. So we tuck our work away from the world. We chose to remain invisible over vulnerable.
If you’ve never been a fan of The Lord of the Rings, then congratulations, you were probably cool in high school and didn’t have to talk to girls primarily on AOL Instant Messenger because the thought of a phone call made you pee your pants. I’ll quickly explain the premise. There’s a powerful ring that a bad guy wants, but the good guys want to keep this ring from him. The bad guy will stop at nothing to get the ring back, and the good guys realize that the only way to stop the bad guy is to destroy the ring in a volcano really, really far away. A tiny person named Frodo speaks up and says, “I’ll do it.” His adventure progresses with many challenges. The ring gives him the supernatural power to be invisible, but it is also an extreme burden for him to carry. He is tired and ready to be finished with this adventure.
At the end of this epic tale, after Frodo has spent the entire adventure trying to get The Ring of Power to Mt. Doom to destroy it, there’s a conflicting moment. This whole journey has led up to this one task. All he has to do is drop the ring into the fires of Mt. Doom and he defeats the evil Sauron. But the ring has become a part of him. As much pain as the ring has caused him, it has also become familiar. Comforting. After much goading from his traveling companion, Samwise, to “Throw it in the fire!” he finally turns from the fires and says, “No; it’s mine.”
That line gets me every time. Why wouldn’t he just send it away? What caused him to hold on to it? My theory is that he found comfort in the power the ring gave him to be invisible. He didn’t have to face the world; he could hide away in a dark place. Sure, the dark places had their own discomforts, but maybe it was better than living in a harsh world where Trolls, Giant Spiders, and Orcs were always hunting you.
I think that’s why we hold onto our personal projects when we finish. Why not just enjoy it for ourselves? Why release our work into the real world where it will be picked apart, torn to shreds, and criticized for every imperfection? That’s why we hold on to our work. After all, being invisible is much better than being vulnerable.
I had a really difficult time with the thought of our older daughter starting kindergarten. Kids are mean, and she’s very sensitive. Why subject her to the world? Why not just hide her away and not expose her to what oftentimes can be a cruel world? I found the answer one day when my daughter decided to make a nice thank-you card for our waitress. When Maci gave the waitress the card, the waitress’s mood instantly changed. Maci was a blessing in her day. That’s when I realized that I would be selfish to keep this awesome little person to myself. She was made to make the world better, and she does. When she goes to school, the majority of the kids perk up and yell, “HI MACI!” Her presence adds value in their lives.
Your work is your child. It’s young, vulnerable, and the world can break it. But if this is where the thoughts about your work stop, you are dead wrong. Your work has the ability to heal, to delight, to connect, to speak truth, to insight incidences. Releasing your work to the world doesn’t guarantee it won’t be torn to shreds and in turn, tear you apart, but not releasing it 100% guarantees no one will be positively affected.
It’s time to put that little kid on the school bus.
A Conversation with Author Tam Hodge on Finishing Personal Work
I’ve been friends with author Tam Hodge and her husband Brent now for around seven years. I’ve been around them enough to observe this one thing: they are real. Like, almost uncomfortable ‘real’. The kind of people you are around that make you realize how much false pretense we put up around people we don’t know. They also care deeply about people who are hurting. From that space, Tam felt she needed to tell her story in book form to connect with those with similar pasts who carry deep hurt.
I wanted to have a conversation with her about approaching the writing of her first book in hopes to unpack her process for those on the fence about telling their own story. Here’s the conversation. I hope it helps you!
What made you decide to write And Now I Choose?
Initially, God. It was a Moses moment actually. It began around 2002 when I felt strongly God telling me to pen my story. So, naturally, I told Him no. I am not qualified to do that, God. I am not a writer. I speak not good. And He laughed and laughed and laughed and then was like, No…Really – write it, woman. “Yes-Sir.” I started with simple stories and got super comfortable writing those – then I realized He was asking more of me. He wanted me to pen the gritty, the ugly, the uncomfortable parts of my story. And that is why it took me 10 years to complete my first book. It was hard writing about all of that, but it was the most therapeutic seasons of my life!
Was there a time when you asked, “Who am I to call myself an author?” How did you get over that?
Oh for sure! I am close friends with so many authors. I mean, I live in Nashville. Everyone here is either an author, a musician, a photographer, or a wanna-be hipster. When I looked at my author friends’ accolades, many books, their successes – I felt so small. Like, I am nothing like them. And one day it hit me… of course I’m not like them. I am me. They are them. God didn’t ask me to be someone else – He has asked me to be me and to be obedient… even if I feel unqualified.
What were your obstacles to completing your book (both mental and real-world obstacles)?
Mentally: Self-doubt. I argued with myself often. “The world doesn’t need another ‘story’. You are a dime a dozen, Tam.” But I fought back. No one else has my exact story. No one else has gone through, and grown through, trials like I have. Perhaps my little story will give hope to one single person who can relate. If so, WORTH-IT. We all have a unique story and our stories are valuable.
Real-world obstacle: Hurting those I included in my story. My book is a tough read in some parts. Really tough. I never spoke poorly of any person. But I did speak honestly. There is a quote from Anne Lamott that helped my head and heart space a ton…
“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.” So, I’ll just leave that right there.
How did you break past those obstacles?
I surrounded myself with a stellar group of people, my family included. These trusted people knew my goals, my heart and passion – and they held me accountable. They prayed for me. They checked in on me. They even gave me writing deadlines! There is no need to feel like you can’t let others in to help you out. People want to help. They want to play a part in your journey… let them. It blesses them far more than it will bless you.
What would you say to those who don’t feel like their work matters?
I’d say that is the biggest lie they will ever crush under their feet. Of course I’m expecting they will crush it under their feet. Whenever we feel our work doesn’t matter, that is the enemy hard at work. Because he knows it does matter and he hates you for being brave enough to show it to the world. God = Author of life. Satan = author of lies.
What are some big pieces of advice you received that helped you get to completion of your book?
1- Don’t self-edit. Free write and don’t go back right away to read it. Go back the next day and check your feelers as you soak in your words.
2- Don’t compare your work with others. It’s not their work. It’s why it’s called your work.
What did your writing routine look like, if you had one?
It was terrible!! I wrote the majority of my book between the hours of 10pm and 2am, a minimum of 4 nights a week.
How did you avoid distractions that stopped you from completing the book?
By doing the above. Writing when everyone was asleep and I had nothing left to do. I am a night owl. That is when I get my second-wind. You have to find what works for you and know that it may not be what “the experts” tell you need to do. Those experts aren’t you. I felt so pressured for so long to get up before the sun and do all my writing because “they” said I needed to. You want to know what my writing looked like?
“I once went to school. I played. Play-dough is salty. I see an ant on the floor. Oreos.”
It just didn’t work. So I decided to listen to my body and my brain – and I discovered it worked better while the experts were sleeping.
Are there any last words of advice for those hopeful creatives wanting to get their work out in the world, but are too scared to start?
There is something extra special about a work being created by someone who did it afraid. There is a rawness and realness to it. You just know it when you see it. They’re works of courage. If you feel paralyzed by fear, start anyway. You can find out a lot about yourself from your fears – you may even discover some answers and hidden strengths by pushing through them. Don’t be afraid of the fear – be afraid of the fear winning.
One more thing, you may have a million reasons as to why you can’t start right now… I often say that there is a fine line between a reason and an excuse. Reasons explain – Excuses blame.
Tam’s book, And Now I Choose is available HERE and her forthcoming ebook is available for preorder HERE. You can check out more resources and blogs from Tam Hodge HERE >>> Tamhodge.com
Adele, BJ Novak and Exercising Restraint In Artistry
The first couple years of learning any craft is both awkward and exciting. You experience new sounds and ideas, and are learning to use the ‘tools of the trade’. It’s a time to just become familiar with your new art form.
When we first dive into the world of photography, we tend to oversaturate everything (seriously, no one has ever seen grass THAT green). When we learn a new instrument, we overuse effects. Guitar players will turn every knob up 100% so every riff sounds like the beginning of Panama. When we are learning to sing, we overuse styling and that heavy, breathy sound to mask our lack of control. When we are learning to write we drizzle metaphors over everything like…. syrup…on….pan….cakes….
This is normal, and all part of the process of growing as an artist. This time should be celebrated and encouraged. But as we begin to use our craft to tell stories, it becomes necessary to understand what is important and what is a sensory distraction to our storytelling.
I deem sensory distractions in art as anything that pulls you out of the mood you intend to create or the message you are trying to deliver. Of course, like anything in art, this can very subjective, but the greats of any medium spend large amounts of time figuring out what to subtract over what else to put in.
Having restraint not to spotlight the craft over the story really shows maturity in an artist. Here are a few great examples of avoiding sensory distractions:
Adele co-wrote her monster hit Hello with Greg Kurstin. In this article, Greg talks about the mix and the use of very little reverb in the main vocal to create a very intimate moment where you feel like you are listening in on a dialogue between two people. “Almost like it’s there, and it’s not there.” The mix engineer, Tom Elmhirst, could have used a beautiful large reverb, but he showed restraint to tell the story over spotlighting the craft.
Writer B.J. Novak wrote a fantastic children’s book with NO PICTURES. You would think it wouldn’t be very interesting for kids, but it’s the opposite. It’s hilarious! He removed the distraction of pictures and asks the reader to read EVERYTHING out loud including silly words like “BLAGGITY BLAGGITY” and “GLIBBITY GLOBBITY.”
Artist Tang Yau Hoong combines elements in his illustrations to draw the eye towards center. This serves to get the message across to the viewer in an often whimsical and novel manner. It certainly leaves an impression, wouldn’t you say?
Artist Credit: Tang Yau Hoong
Spend the first years of your craft enjoying all it has to offer. Play with everything. Put it all on your plate. It’s like a buffet. Buffets encourage us to try a bit of everything, but can also teach us what we want to leave off our plate in the future. You’ll spend the next 30 years exercising restraint in what you put into your work and your stories will be better because of it.