some honest and chaotic thoughts about creativity and book launch week (with A LOT of pictures)
So I did a reading at historic Powell's Books on Tuesday — the day of my book launch. But I also decided to use the days leading up to the book launch to push out all kinds of crazy creative things. I’m not positive that I can come to a grand conclusion about what this all means. But I’ll try, and at the very least, I can meander us through a picture-filled story that involves books and apps and social media and videos and music and essays and podcasts, and then I can land us (in the final postscript) inside a messy gazpacho filled with guilt and passion and triumph. Who wouldn’t want to go on that kind of adventure!?!?!? 🎢🛼🚌
8 musical shorts from an insecure writer (video)
About a year ago, somewhere in the dark corridors of 2021, I got stuck in my creative life. At the same time, I knew that my novel was going to come out with Red Hen Press in 2022 and I wanted to keep creating things. So what I did was take some of the basic stuff I learned about music from my friend Joey Helpish, along with some of the struggles I was feeling about the creative process… and I made eight, short, awkward, animated music videos about my creative struggles. In the past few weeks I’ve posted them on TikTok and Instagram, but since I totally don’t know what I’m doing on those platforms, I also compiled them together into one video (with some explanations between songs) for YouTube. And here it is. 📽📽📽
make something terrible (video)
I recently got some insight into my creative process from my kid's music teacher… who is now, somehow, my music teacher… even though I previously had no skill or interest in music. But he's really more of a creative mentor. The work we do goes from making music to making videos to managing time better, and it even informs my writing process. And how to worry more effectively. So I thought I could share with you some of the ideas I've gotten from his teaching style that have helped me with my creative life, and my... life life.
a multi-creative in the attic (video)
I've always struggled with being monogamous when it comes to my creative outlets. I've been writing for most of my adult life, but I also dabble with YouTube videos and making apps and making music (sort of) and various other activities. I used to focus on the downsides to working on so many different pursuits (and there are plenty of downsides!), but this video is about me accepting (and maybe kinda sorta embracing) this quality. (I also do about 12 seconds of research and find out that there's already a name for this quality. But since I don't like the name, I made up a new name…)