Austin kleon journal

Found notes to myself - Austin Kleon

I drew my friend Rob Walker on Zoom today making the case for curiosity. Do check out his book, The Art of Noticing, and his excellent, excellent newsletter. (I drew in pencil in my notebook, so I had to perform a few photoshop shenanigans to make them legible.) My favorite part of the talk was

First, a link to what kind of notebook, because otherwise, dozens of people will ask. Then, the weighing in: This is a silly ritual, but sometimes silly rituals are all we have. Next, the selection of a guardian spirit to look over the notebook. I picked Durër’s Saint Jerome in his Study for this notebook, which

Newsletters are an excuse to link things.

On Julia Cameron’s famous exercise in getting out of your own way.

Making time and space for your art this season

Mary Karr once compared reading her own books to a dog sniffing old turds. “I’m repelled by them,” she said. “The degree to which I never read them is profound.” She doesn’t even keep copies. This, to me, seems like a perfectly healthy way to go about being a writer — the writing is alive

For anybody doing NaNoWriMo or the equivalent, here’s an easy, lo-fi way to keep track of your progress, adapted from The Steal Like An Artist Journal: Do the work every day. Fill the boxes. Don’t break the chain! Download and print the PDF

The outside edge of a book’s pages opposite of the spine is called the “fore-edge.” Like many things that are neglected or overlooked, it’s a place of great creative potential. Check out this video with fore-edge painter Martin Frost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4_2xGZy6Jk I don’t usually do all that

Mary Karr once compared reading her own books to a dog sniffing old turds. “I’m repelled by them,” she said. “The degree to which I never read them is profound.” She doesn’t even keep copies. This, to me, seems like a perfectly healthy way to go about being a writer — the writing is alive