authors turned artists, great wave, virtue of slow writers

7 things worth sharing this weekend + what I've been reading/watching/listening

1. You’ve been looking at “The Great Wave” all wrong

   • h/t

     Austin Kleon

2. Writers who operate by Will Larson

   • Will is in tech, but he writes a lot

   • “I believe that writers who operate (e.g. write concurrently with holding a non-writing industry role) are best positioned to keep writing valuable work that advances the industry…”

   • This goes along with all writers have day jobs, but I do get tired of writers writing about writing…

3. How to Become More Likable Using 9 Techniques From the World’s Most Charismatic People by

   Polina Pompliano

   • This is a little different than what I typically share but…

   • Polina did so much research for this by looking at interviews with Matthew McConaughey (sp?), The Rock, and Nicole Kidman

   • One thing not mentioned: be extremely good-looking

4. The virtue of slow writers at The Millions

   • Books known for their protracted writing time—10, 20 years or more—span genre, length, and era. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, 10 years. Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko, 28 years—and 11 for her debut, Free Food for Millionaires. Edward P. Jones imagined The Known World in his head for over a decade before writing it out in seven months, and John Steinbeck made notes for East of Eden for 11 years before writing it in a year of continual work.

5. 10 of the best authors turned artists at Literary Hub

   • Sylvia Plath?

6. How 3 Texas Teenagers Grew Up to Be Broadway Stars (and Stayed Friends) at NY Times

   • Kinda heartwarming?

   • and unlikely?

7. Saying hello (or not) by me!

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Notes on reading/watching/listening

• Reading The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker

  

  • It’s about a guy on his way to work who can’t stop thinking about all of his small moments in life, like the bag at the convenience store and his unfortunate broken shoelace

  • Very specific, very micro of a situation

  • There are tons of footnotes too, which reminded me of that Gen X 90s - early 00s maximalism of those Chuck Klosterman, Dave Eggers, David Foster Wallace, and House of Leaves extra-ness

  • I was so influenced by that—I thought novels should read like magazines, I was wrong lol and I did my master’s thesis on House of Leaves

  • Anyway, I really like The Mezzanine, I’ve known about this book for awhile, makes me sad I didn’t get into it earlier, I’ll check out his other novels

• Watching “Ferrari” by Michael Mann

  • This is a movie with Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz and Shailene(?) Woodley

  • They’re Italian but speak English in the movie with Italian accents, this always makes me laugh, why not just hire Italian actors?

  • IDK it’s okay, I’ve been watching like 20 minutes every day, almost like a TV show

• Listening to “Like Unto Lambs” the new album by Luxury

  • Luxury was one of those very indie, very niche Christian indie rock bands that had a minor moment in the 90s

  • And by minor, I mean like barely anyone listened to them except for my friends

  • They would have been way better on a legit indie label like Secretly Canadian or something like that

  • They’re all old now like their fans, but their music was the type where they still okay playing it in their 50s so it’s pretty chill is what I’m trying to say

  • They had a documentary made about them a few years ago and NPR did a story on them because they’re now all Eastern Orthodox priests (?)

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Last Thing

“The difference between a good driver and a great driver is the ability to finish.” - Enzo Ferrari

Keep going-

- Josh Spilker