Finding Our Way Through
"Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." -Melody Beattie
It’s the first week of January and resolutions, best intentions, and gratitude are some of the things on my mind. Maybe they’re on your mind too? Perhaps you've seen friends post their New Year’s resolutions on various social channels and you thought you better get busy with your own.
I have a friend who posted this nugget of wisdom to Facebook: “Happy Next Year to everyone. At this point, I no longer differentiate one year from another. Life is a continuum of experiences and remembrances.” He’s a smart guy and I appreciate the reminder to savor and to give thanks for the good and the good people in my life.
When we do make a list of written resolutions the list can reveal themes and areas of focus. A few days ago I was encouraged by my friend Rob Schwartz to list 27 Things for ‘24, and when I looked the list over I saw that one thing I am focusing on is completing more projects. Unfinished projects are loose ends gathering dust when they could be finished projects gathering steam.
For instance, I have unfinished short stories to complete and unfinished business plans to develop and act on. I have two unfinished collections of poems to publish. I want to publish a second edition of Ad Brains. I also want to make my Ad Legends workshop into an online course this year. When it comes to my newly developed passion for painting, I want to learn to frame my work and make more works worthy of framing.
I’m also calling this year “The Year of the Direct Ask and The Year of Making Myself Available” because I am asking people in my life—including you—for help finding meaningful work. If you can, please introduce me to someone you know who is seeking help from a writer and strategist. As you may know, I am practiced in the art and science of moving people to believe, buy, vote, and give.
Writing in the Dark
I appreciate what writer and writing teacher Jeannine Ouellette (who has one of the best Substacks going), says about the need to practice “anti-capitalist” writing.
A creative practice must, by absolute necessity, make room for learning and practicing things that produce material of no immediate “value.” We have to allow ourselves to experiment and engage in activities that are about process, not product.
Aspiring writers often want advice from working writers. Jeannine’s advice is consistently as good as gold, and in this case, she’s saying it’s necessary to be thoroughly creative, to throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks, to noodle and play and get messy.
Once you do and once you regularly enter the zone and produce, it’s time to recognize what’s good in your writing. Time to be your own toughest critic and editor. Time to make something you love and believe in, even if the market ignores your work completely. The market for written matter is always fickle, whereas works of substance that you believe in are timeless.
#FlashbackFriday to a Few Years Ago in Austin
Sometimes I see or hear myself in a recording and I’m not sure what to make of it all. Sometimes, I am perplexed and wonder who that person is in the video.
The person in this video is a person attracted to Brené Brown’s “soft front, wild heart, and strong back” framework and advice.
Would you like to see more video segments from me this year? I’m comfortable sharing audio-only files, but in my quest to be more available or “soft-fronted" to use Brown’s language,” I‘m ready to make more videos.
In a related question, if I were to offer a paid version of this newsletter, what specifically would you be open to paying for? In other words, which parts of my expertise might I offer you? Please fill out the poll and/or reply by email.
Florida in December
We are utterly grateful for a wonderful vacation in Florida during the Christmas holiday. While I’ve never lived there, my mom lives there year-round, and the Sunshine State and all it has to offer has long been an important part of our family’s life.
Lagniappe
I recently recorded a new podcast episode that may interest you → Ad Chatter Season 4, Episode 4: Featuring Artist Chad Rea
“You Begin,” is an excellent poem by Margaret Atwood.
For the first time, I am attempting to write a children’s book. It’s about the power of a little boy’s imagination.
Baronessa Beatrice Monti della Corte, 97, has found a secret to life, and the secret is stories. [via The New York Times]
Hear me read a prose poem about work called, “The Hat Factory.”
If one were to disrupt the fortune cookie industry in a significant way, one could stand to make a fortune. Did you know that there are 40,000 Chinese restaurants in the United States? If each restaurant hands out 3,000 cookies per month, that would amount to 1.44 billion fortune cookies annually.
Thanks for being here now,
When you’re ready to run for office, grow a business, or spark a social change movement, please let me know. I’d like to help.