spiraling out, slow writers, reading books in the day time?!?

7 things to check out this weekend

Here are some things worth checking out this weekend, as the New York spring somehow screeched to a stop w/ 40-degree weather…

1. Intentionally spiraling out from

   Austin Kleon

   • Great exercise I hadn’t seen before on how to get your anxieties out before starting your creative work

2. I wrote about buying my kids a new, but old music player.

   • Save my Spotify!

3. The virtue of slow writers from The Millions

   • which may be in conflict with this next one…

4. The creativity kanban from Will Patrick

   • A kanban is a board where you show what’s next, what you’re working on, and what’s done. It’s a productivity tool, but Will uses it with creative work so you always know what’s next. “Always be shipping” is a startup mindset that I’ve tried to apply to my creative work (like this!) but it has its limitations i.e. is this any good?

5. Being lucky vs being repeatable by Morgan Housel

6. Percival Everett can’t say what his novels mean at The New Yorker

   • Feel like I shared this already? Oh well. It’s worth the read.

   • One of the few writing professors who also is a rancher? And is amazing with horses?

   • Fascinating character just like his books. Can’t be pinned down.

7. Why everyone feels bad reading a book in the day time. At the Washington Post

   • “In a society that favors production over reflection, just reading loses out. Forsake all mundane obligations and spend the day reading and, the fear is, you have nothing tangible to show for it.”

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Book / Media Notes

• I watched Major League the movie. It’s from the 80s and it’s such a basic story, they really don’t make stuff like that anymore. You don’t even know how the baseball team gets good, they just become good for no reason.

• I purchased The Biography of X by Catherine Lacey in paperback. Longtime readers will know I tried to tackle this via audiobook last year, but its format is so much better in print. Glad I grabbed it.

• I also snagged The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut. I had this from the library a few times, but wanted to spend more time with it. The rare hardcover purchase from me, but I did it.

• On the spiritual front, I’m reading The Gift of Being Yourself which contrary to the self-help title, is about how pursuing God helps you to know yourself better, especially if you believe we’re made in God’s image. Lot of stuff to meditate on.

• I restarted the OJ Made In America documentary series after learning of OJ’s death. I watched the first episode a while ago, and want to finish it this time.

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Last Thing

A good Twitter follow is the writer Aaron Burch, who shared this from Ira Glass.

Keep going,

-Josh Spilker