Author Topic: "Making time to make"  (Read 5544 times)

yesno

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"Making time to make"
« on: August 06, 2008, 12:45:48 PM »
Ironic that I'm posting this in a "Dear Tom" forum and hoping he reads it.  Especially as I sent him a "Keep it up, we love you" email last night.  But seriously.

http://www.43folders.com/2008/08/06/your-real-job

"If you’re a publisher, journalist, author, blogger, musician, artist, designer, cartoonist, or any other sort of person whose job it is to connect with people by communicating ideas, it’s natural and wholesome for people who are interested in what you do (and many of whom are certainly makers-of-stuff in their own right) to develop a relationship with your work and to want a way to participate in it, add to it, and build upon it. It’s equally great to reciprocate in a way that’s collaborative, fun, and useful. God knows, it’s anybody’s dream to have people interested enough in what you do to find that they want to reach out to you. Talk about a first-world problem."

"Thing is: if the amount of time you devote to lite correspondence with individual people exceeds the amount of time you spend on making things, then you may be in a different line of work than you’d originally thought you were. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But if you’re feeling off your game, it might be a good time to ask yourself whether you’re primarily a writer of novels or of email messages. Do you generate more IMs than comic panels? Have you drafted more web comments than scenes in your screenplay? Or, for that matter, do you find you’re taking more meetings than photos these days?"

"The power of connecting with people in an authentic way (no, not in that cheesy, half-assed, internet “friends” way) falls apart at the point where its resource consumption curtails your ability to keep making new stuff. It’s a twisted paradox, for sure. But, in essence, it’d be a little like the Beatles skipping the writing and recording of Rubber Soul in order to catch up on 1964’s fan mail.

Put plainer, my sense is that western culture would be a damn sight poorer today if John Lennon had been forced to carry a goddamn BlackBerry."

Son of Dorvid

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Re: "Making time to make"
« Reply #1 on: August 06, 2008, 03:31:08 PM »
Maybe if Lennon had a Blackberry he'd have stayed in better touch with Julian.

todd

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Re: "Making time to make"
« Reply #2 on: August 06, 2008, 04:01:05 PM »
Wow, that article is great. It's not an earth-shattering concept, but it puts into words something I've been thinking about for a long time.

Have you ever read The War of Art? It's a cheesy self-help novel (I feel embarrassed to admit how much of a help it has been to me), but it frames the challenge of creating art similarly. It talks about how the hardest part is sitting down and starting, not searching for inspiration or even having something to say. Basically: great ideas don't come to you if you're just sitting on your couch - they come to you in the middle of you working. So by distracting yourself with trivial communication, you're not just procrastinating: you are inherently limiting the number of brilliant, inspirational "lightning bolts" that strike your brain.

Again, it's nothing revolutionary, but sometimes things hit you at the right time in your life, and they seem so poignant.

There's been a battle lately over people taking message boards too seriously (an argument I have no desire to drag into this thread), but this article has made me seriously consider deleting my "Favorites" and withdrawing from online society completely. I wonder - how would that effect the creative pursuits in my life? Honestly... I'm about 100% sure they would improve. It's depressing, but I think its true.

I'm not being particularly insightful or eloquent right now, so I'll shut up. But I just wanted to say "thanks for the article," and that it has added another piece to a puzzle I've been completing in my brain lately. Thanks!

erechoveraker

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Re: "Making time to make"
« Reply #3 on: August 06, 2008, 04:11:11 PM »
Art & Fear is another cheesy self-helpish book that helped me get off my duff in my 20's and get serious about stuff. I'll even find myself ruminating on some of the themes from it from time to time, especially in regards to how so many artists I know all exhibit so many of the same tendencies with their work, or how they work, and how they present it too.



masterofsparks

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Re: "Making time to make"
« Reply #4 on: August 06, 2008, 04:16:02 PM »
Maybe if Lennon had a Blackberry he'd have stayed in better touch with Julian.

That would've wreaked havok on the "Beautiful Boy" rhyme scheme.
I'll probably go into the wee hours.

Shaggy 2 Grote

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Re: "Making time to make"
« Reply #5 on: August 07, 2008, 01:09:03 AM »
Ugh, this thread is the story of my life.  I still manage to fart out a pretty good amount of creative work, but I spend WAY too much time communicating with people on the internet.  Including here, which is for fun, though Tuesday's show and the whole associated weirdness sort of depressed me.  Maybe I do need a break.





See you in an hour.
Oh, good heavens. I didn’t realize. I send my condolences out to the rest of the O’Connor family.

senorcorazon

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Re: "Making time to make"
« Reply #6 on: August 07, 2008, 08:07:17 AM »
Tuesday's show and the whole associated weirdness sort of depressed me.  Maybe I do need a break.

If I've learned anything, it's that come September threats of the show ending usually start coming, and don't let up until January.

Doing 3 hours a week for years for no payment and dealing with a crazed clump of fans has got to be tiring.

That being said, 33 1/3 is for chumps. The Kid has Cred, which is far better than Juice. Juice gets a two-movie deal and then Autograph Alley 10 years later, whereas Cred is quality and is Rickles playing Atlantic City for as long as he wants. Bill Russell changing the game and winning rings but never getting shoe deals is Cred over Juice. 

todd

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Re: "Making time to make"
« Reply #7 on: August 07, 2008, 09:13:11 AM »
Tuesday's show and the whole associated weirdness sort of depressed me.  Maybe I do need a break.

If I've learned anything, it's that come September threats of the show ending usually start coming, and don't let up until January.

What the significance of Sept - January?

senorcorazon

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Re: "Making time to make"
« Reply #8 on: August 07, 2008, 11:11:20 AM »
Tuesday's show and the whole associated weirdness sort of depressed me.  Maybe I do need a break.

If I've learned anything, it's that come September threats of the show ending usually start coming, and don't let up until January.

What the significance of Sept - January?

Mysteries of the universe.

senorcorazon

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Re: "Making time to make"
« Reply #9 on: September 08, 2010, 06:20:56 PM »
BUMP.

Tom, maybe you need to take Augusts off. Annual battery recharge? Go French.

Then, Scharpling takes over the Wachovia Center.  The World Domination Scheme remains.

But seriously, the 43 Folders revamp is a good example of exactly what you've been talking about, Tom. Focusing on your passions and getting things done in a real way. Quoth Merlin: "How many things do I need to shed, cancel, defer, drop, shank, or shit-can with extreme prejudice in order to singlemindedly focus on this one thing that I love?"