How to find your people

10 things worth sharing this week

A page from Show Your Work!

Hey y’all,

When I was going through the comments in our Office Hours open thread, I kept thinking, “These are kind people. My kind of people.” It’s the best, luckiest thing that can happen to you when you put your work into the world. (It’s why I wrote a whole book about it.)

Here are 10 things I thought were worth sharing this week:

1. A blog post (or a newsletter, or a YouTube video, etc.) is a search query to find your people.
   
   

2. I’ve been keeping a bonafide diary for over half a decade now, and I love collected diaries (Thoreau, Woolf, Sedaris, Grant, etc.) and diary anthologies like The Assassin’s Cloak, so I’m the perfect reader for Letters of Note creator Shaun Usher’s newest project, Diaries of Note.
   
   

3. It is very rare to find a book you like, written in a style you like, published in a way you like. Thumbs up for Morgan Housel’s The Psychology of Money.
   
   

4. Sam Anderson makes magic again with his essay on Ghibli Park, an amusement park based on the work of Hayao Miyazaki, “where there are no rides or big attractions.” (It’s Montaigne’s birthday on Tuesday, which means it’s time for our annual celebration. We’ll probably do it on Instagram Live again, so follow us there: @shamblanderson + @austinkleon.)
   
   

5. Reference books are metal: Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford’s toolkit for a hit song: “paper, pencil and a good Thesaurus.” (I’ve been blasting British Steel in the studio — it pairs well with owl footage.)
   
   

6. “Hunters and farmers.” Farmers have fields that they cultivate. Hunters chase after game.
   
   

7. “Pilers and filers.” Which one you are might say something about how you think.
   
   

8. I picked up the 90s classic Pure Moods compilation out of the free box at the record store and hijinks ensued.
   
   

9. Bloomsbury is having a big February flash sale that includes the 33 1/3 series of short books about great albums. Some of my favorite entries: Another Green World, Master of Reality, Loveless, Bee Thousand, Low, Live at the Apollo, and Let’s Talk About Love.
   
   

10. What would happen if we thought of our books as toys?

Thanks for reading. This newsletter is a completely reader-supported publication. The best way to support it is to buy my books, hire me to speak, or become a paid subscriber:

xoxo,

Austin