Thank you, Austin. You are my favorite writer about all things creative: the mind, the pen, the process of creation. I’m teaching a writing workshop here in Florida and your post today will help me explain/show why pen and mind work together to create a new piece, whether that piece be a poem, a story, an essay.
This makes me think of why the essay is my favorite form of writing. The best essays start with a curious mind wondering about something, and they take you along in the writer's meandering thoughts. And that only works when the writer truly thinks on the page, figures things out as they go. I see this all the time in my own writing. If I know where I'm headed before I start, the place I end up will never be as interesting. (Also, I use Lynda Barry's image exploration exercises all the time to really dig into images in my work, and recall details that I never would have remembered otherwise. They always lead to something interesting--always!)
I like Wikipedia on the subject: “ The word essay derives from the French infinitive essayer, "to try" or "to attempt". In English essay first meant "a trial" or "an attempt", and this is still an alternative meaning. The Frenchman Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) was the first author to describe his work as essays; he used the term to characterize these as "attempts" to put his thoughts into writing.” (I love Montaigne!!)
Yes, I LOVE that "to try" or "to attempt" are at the root of the word essay. And I love Montaigne too. And to de-westernize, another cool "essayist" from long before Montaigne was Sei Shōnagon in Japan, c. 966 – 1017 or 1025. Do you know her? She wrote really biting, funny, insightful pieces that we might call "list essays" now, collected in The Pillow Book. Here's a bit from *her* wikipedia page: "Shōnagon became popular through her work The Pillow Book, a collection of lists, gossip, poetry, observations and complaints written during her years in the court, a miscellaneous genre of writing known as zuihitsu. Shōnagon's essays describe the various daily experiences and customs of the time, and the affairs of the Imperial Court in Kyoto where she lived, from a unique point of view." The bits I've read from The Pillow Book are hilarious and seem surprisingly modern.
For some reason I haven’t been able to get into THE PILLOW BOOK but I really enjoyed these two in that genre: ESSAYS IN IDLENESS and HOJOKI https://geni.us/u4JdUfZ
I finally subscribed, and what a doozy to get started.
I like that you use colored ink. For whatever reason, pink or orange color pencils help me think, then I can solidify with black. Plus, I find that drawing arrows between thoughts and drawings helps me connect ideas.
I tried a new technique today that I Loved. I opened an old sketchbook and referenced myself. It was an instant deep dive, and I was on a roll. I unlocked new ideas from my old self. 🤩
I am always telling my students that I need to have a pencil in my hand to think. So often - that is, all the time - they want to edit their work on a shared doc but I find that it just doesn't spark real insight for me to work in that way. They kindly bear with me as I ask them to print off a copy so that I can scrawl and scribble. I am most helpful to them in this way - and they can see that - so they don't usually crumble about my ways for too long!!
I feel like with this generation of students and all the “paperless” classroom stuff, learning to print things out and edit by hand and also READ YOUR WORK OUT LOUD would be a superpower for young writers
Yes to the reading things out loud - it is so necessary to know if you have actually caught on the page some semblance of what you were aiming for in your head. I like this idea of seeing it as a superpower rather than some old relic from the 19th century - though, personally, I do prefer living in the 19th century but this might have more resonance for my students who live very much in the now.
I really feel like if you can go into the past, even the recent past, you have so much more to draw on for creating the future. So much good stuff to steal!
The other thing is that my five year Journal got me writing but now I’m thinking I need a drawing diary . I paint often and prefer to create sell able artworks rather than a drawing diary but I am attracted to the Kleon style drawing diary! I didn’t answer your question Austin! Lol.
Breathing in I send love to my heart, breathing out I sent love to the world. This is how I stop my thoughts. Sometimes I need to stop my thoughts, just sayin’…
Thanks for todays inspiration. I’m planning on doing the 100 Day Project and initially I was really excited but I had lost my mojo and started overthinking and over planning the whole thing. So back to basics!
I just read an interview with Temple Grandin in which she touches on different kinds of thinking and how she sees herself as a visual thinker. As a person with autism, she says she finds "verbal thinkers" hard to connect with because they speak in abstract concepts that she can't picture in her mind. Fascinating addendum to the conversation on aphantasia. (And I would love to see Temple Grandin's notebooks, if she keeps them!) https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/01/24/magazine/temple-grandin-interview.html
she’s fascinating. I’ve been meaning to read THINKING IN PICTURES for years. My wife is one of those verbal thinkers — she says it’s like having a radio in your head. Hugely beneficial in some ways — for one thing, you don’t have to translate ideas/images to writing, you can just sort of take dictation from the “radio”
This is really great! I've always thought the same! Lynda Barry also was a great influence for me about this topic! Drawing or writing are the best way to get new ideas! I've also bought watercolors and acrylic paint to always expand my creativity! I can't wait to start using them!
Excellent reminder. I frequently write down a single word, and it leads to both memories and new thoughts. Writing the word 'Gratitude' took me back to WWII, and our dinner table. We were a family that said a blessing before and after a meal. Some days our after meal blessing went like this: We thank the Lord for all we've had. For a little bit more we'd have been very glad. But as the times are very bad, we thank the Lord for all we've had." Imbued each of us with a sense of gratitude - which lasted a lifetime.
Thank you, Austin Kleon. You are one of several art teachers for me. At least one thing you say each week leads me down a rabbit hole that is productive. The Steadman film led me to watch another film of him drawing with a dip pen…which my drawing teacher has been pressing me to try…and now I see why! A dip pen might bring very different possibilities when paired with my brain!
I have asked various friends and fellow artists to let me 'recycle' their magazines from which I hand tear pictures and words to create 'idea collages'. Hand tearing the pages out of the mags is essential to the tactile appeal to this inner 5 year old, versus, the use of scissors which have a tendency to put me on the 'tidy' track and the rapid flow of full pages slows down. Because I have so many different personalities give me their magazines, I am treated to an array of resources that I might not otherwise reach for and the stimulus of new & different feeds me in between art attacks. I love, love, love the phrase 'thinking outside the brain'- far more vast play area than a box!!!
Yes!! What is it about tearing?? I don’t cut things with scissors for the same reason: just fold, crease, tear. I’m going to think more about this, as I feel like it’s really important
I spent my Saturday morning soaking in your Tumbler page on Lynda Barry. Solid gold. 💛
Love this post, Austin. Time to go analog!
Thank you, Austin. You are my favorite writer about all things creative: the mind, the pen, the process of creation. I’m teaching a writing workshop here in Florida and your post today will help me explain/show why pen and mind work together to create a new piece, whether that piece be a poem, a story, an essay.
Thank you again!
Thank you for being here!
This makes me think of why the essay is my favorite form of writing. The best essays start with a curious mind wondering about something, and they take you along in the writer's meandering thoughts. And that only works when the writer truly thinks on the page, figures things out as they go. I see this all the time in my own writing. If I know where I'm headed before I start, the place I end up will never be as interesting. (Also, I use Lynda Barry's image exploration exercises all the time to really dig into images in my work, and recall details that I never would have remembered otherwise. They always lead to something interesting--always!)
I like Wikipedia on the subject: “ The word essay derives from the French infinitive essayer, "to try" or "to attempt". In English essay first meant "a trial" or "an attempt", and this is still an alternative meaning. The Frenchman Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) was the first author to describe his work as essays; he used the term to characterize these as "attempts" to put his thoughts into writing.” (I love Montaigne!!)
Yes, I LOVE that "to try" or "to attempt" are at the root of the word essay. And I love Montaigne too. And to de-westernize, another cool "essayist" from long before Montaigne was Sei Shōnagon in Japan, c. 966 – 1017 or 1025. Do you know her? She wrote really biting, funny, insightful pieces that we might call "list essays" now, collected in The Pillow Book. Here's a bit from *her* wikipedia page: "Shōnagon became popular through her work The Pillow Book, a collection of lists, gossip, poetry, observations and complaints written during her years in the court, a miscellaneous genre of writing known as zuihitsu. Shōnagon's essays describe the various daily experiences and customs of the time, and the affairs of the Imperial Court in Kyoto where she lived, from a unique point of view." The bits I've read from The Pillow Book are hilarious and seem surprisingly modern.
For some reason I haven’t been able to get into THE PILLOW BOOK but I really enjoyed these two in that genre: ESSAYS IN IDLENESS and HOJOKI https://geni.us/u4JdUfZ
Ooh, reserved it at the library. Thanks!
You’ve inspired me to give the pillow book another shot — I may just dip in to random pages as a way of trying to get into it!
I think it’s totally one for dipping into, especially for the funny bits. Here’s one that came up in a workshop I took. Hahaha. https://twitter.com/pbzaballos/status/1418577678748192775?s=21
I finally subscribed, and what a doozy to get started.
I like that you use colored ink. For whatever reason, pink or orange color pencils help me think, then I can solidify with black. Plus, I find that drawing arrows between thoughts and drawings helps me connect ideas.
I tried a new technique today that I Loved. I opened an old sketchbook and referenced myself. It was an instant deep dive, and I was on a roll. I unlocked new ideas from my old self. 🤩
Welcome! :)
— sips tea — — takes mental notes —
I am always telling my students that I need to have a pencil in my hand to think. So often - that is, all the time - they want to edit their work on a shared doc but I find that it just doesn't spark real insight for me to work in that way. They kindly bear with me as I ask them to print off a copy so that I can scrawl and scribble. I am most helpful to them in this way - and they can see that - so they don't usually crumble about my ways for too long!!
I feel like with this generation of students and all the “paperless” classroom stuff, learning to print things out and edit by hand and also READ YOUR WORK OUT LOUD would be a superpower for young writers
Yes to the reading things out loud - it is so necessary to know if you have actually caught on the page some semblance of what you were aiming for in your head. I like this idea of seeing it as a superpower rather than some old relic from the 19th century - though, personally, I do prefer living in the 19th century but this might have more resonance for my students who live very much in the now.
I really feel like if you can go into the past, even the recent past, you have so much more to draw on for creating the future. So much good stuff to steal!
I love your strange loops/-ness. Your new blue ink is mahvelous, dahling, and truly enhances your notebook entries. BlacknBlue is good.
The other thing is that my five year Journal got me writing but now I’m thinking I need a drawing diary . I paint often and prefer to create sell able artworks rather than a drawing diary but I am attracted to the Kleon style drawing diary! I didn’t answer your question Austin! Lol.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! (I should make sellable art works…)
💡❣️
Breathing in I send love to my heart, breathing out I sent love to the world. This is how I stop my thoughts. Sometimes I need to stop my thoughts, just sayin’…
Thanks for todays inspiration. I’m planning on doing the 100 Day Project and initially I was really excited but I had lost my mojo and started overthinking and over planning the whole thing. So back to basics!
It *just* occurred to me that 100 days is roughly a season.
Yes! That’s a lovely way to think about the 100 Day Project! We’re actually moving into almost spring here on the west coast of Canada.
I just read an interview with Temple Grandin in which she touches on different kinds of thinking and how she sees herself as a visual thinker. As a person with autism, she says she finds "verbal thinkers" hard to connect with because they speak in abstract concepts that she can't picture in her mind. Fascinating addendum to the conversation on aphantasia. (And I would love to see Temple Grandin's notebooks, if she keeps them!) https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/01/24/magazine/temple-grandin-interview.html
she’s fascinating. I’ve been meaning to read THINKING IN PICTURES for years. My wife is one of those verbal thinkers — she says it’s like having a radio in your head. Hugely beneficial in some ways — for one thing, you don’t have to translate ideas/images to writing, you can just sort of take dictation from the “radio”
This is really great! I've always thought the same! Lynda Barry also was a great influence for me about this topic! Drawing or writing are the best way to get new ideas! I've also bought watercolors and acrylic paint to always expand my creativity! I can't wait to start using them!
I suppose I should mention Lynda in every post, as her influence on me is that great
Excellent reminder. I frequently write down a single word, and it leads to both memories and new thoughts. Writing the word 'Gratitude' took me back to WWII, and our dinner table. We were a family that said a blessing before and after a meal. Some days our after meal blessing went like this: We thank the Lord for all we've had. For a little bit more we'd have been very glad. But as the times are very bad, we thank the Lord for all we've had." Imbued each of us with a sense of gratitude - which lasted a lifetime.
Thank you, Austin Kleon. You are one of several art teachers for me. At least one thing you say each week leads me down a rabbit hole that is productive. The Steadman film led me to watch another film of him drawing with a dip pen…which my drawing teacher has been pressing me to try…and now I see why! A dip pen might bring very different possibilities when paired with my brain!
Ooh! Can you share a link?
https://youtu.be/aywrfQw83zc
I’ll watch any video of him drawing: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PQrqnWFemEc
I have asked various friends and fellow artists to let me 'recycle' their magazines from which I hand tear pictures and words to create 'idea collages'. Hand tearing the pages out of the mags is essential to the tactile appeal to this inner 5 year old, versus, the use of scissors which have a tendency to put me on the 'tidy' track and the rapid flow of full pages slows down. Because I have so many different personalities give me their magazines, I am treated to an array of resources that I might not otherwise reach for and the stimulus of new & different feeds me in between art attacks. I love, love, love the phrase 'thinking outside the brain'- far more vast play area than a box!!!
Yes!! What is it about tearing?? I don’t cut things with scissors for the same reason: just fold, crease, tear. I’m going to think more about this, as I feel like it’s really important