This performing arts center has its own moat. 🏰 No alligators confirmed, but there are some pretty scary turtles. #theater #pond #moat #sanmarcos #texas #shotoniphone via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/Cs1CobZuHYC/
The little, square book Show Your Work has changed they way I think about blogging, processing my ideas, and has even helped me see my own music playlists differently.
And thus, my first book snippet.
Okay, it’s actually my second snippet – I just didn’t realize that the first one (also from this book) was a snippet when I wrote it.
This book says that creative people should embrace collecting as part of the creation process.
There’s not as big of a difference between collecting and creating as you might think.
Show Your Work
Great musicians, writers, and artists tend to collect and appreciate other people’s work. “The reading feeds the writing, which feeds the reading,” the book says. Or to put it another way:
You’re only as good as your record collection.
DJ Spooky, via Show Your Work
Hopefully this approach works for me as I dig into music creation.
To that end, here is my ever-growing list of new songs I like, built up gradually over the last few years, thanks to Shazam and a few coffee shops with their own great playlists. As of this writing, this playlist is over 49 hours long and could double as its own radio station.
Don’t hoard indeed. 🤷🏻♂️
I’ve been doing super summaries on this blog for a while now. The idea is to condense a great book into a super distilled version that covers the core concepts as quickly as possible. Hopefully the super summary is useful, and if your curiosity is teased enough, then you can read the actual book.
I think it’s a win-win, and these continue to be some of my most popular posts.
But some books simply can’t be super-summarized.
The book Show Your Work has has been sitting on my coffee table taunting me for months. I pick it up and read a bit, absorb whatever nuggets of inspiration I get out of it, and then put it away for a while.
I keep thinking I’ll write up a super-summary on this little 184-page book. I mean, how hard could that be?
Ironically enough, this tiny, square, innocent-looking book is so densely packed with good material that a super summary is nearly impossible. I think I could but the book in half, maybe? But who wants a 92-page summary of a book? 🤔
So I’m starting a new thing here: a book snippet. I’ll take one little concept at a time from a book and post it. And then post a series of excerpts over time for any give book.
This approach fits (so to speak) with my goal of keeping things short. So with that, stay tuned for the first snippet.
👉 First snippet: “You’re only as good as your record collection.” 🎧
I love that San Antonio feels both artsy and classic, colorful and earthy, Mexican and American. 🎨 #sanantonio #texas #satx #architecture #river #bridge #shotoniphone via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/Csv-q-1OY5D/
In one of our regular before-school conversations at Mozart’s Coffee, my daughter and I were talking Instagram.
I told her I keep pretty high standards on what I post. “Each post has to be unique and interesting – something nobody has seen before, and preferable well-composed.”
My daughter, who is 17 and posts anime edits regularly, caught onto a hint of perfectionism creeping in and encouraged me to post more often and just archive what I don’t love.
“Dad, it’s not National Geographic,” she said. And then, knowingly, after a little pause, “Or The New York Times.”
My daughter speaks wisely, and she knows me better than I know myself.
In another life, I may be a jet-setting New York Times photographer or even a reporter tracking down warm criminals. But in this life, I’ll be happy with posting some cool photos around town.
I love it when people I know tell me wise and useful things.
Mental Break Town 