Too dark, too early

10 things worth sharing this week

A page from my creative survival guide, Keep Going

Hey y’all,

In case you missed last week’s gift guide: you have until Dec. 14th to order personalized copies of my books and paid subscriptions are currently 20% off:

Here are 10 things worth sharing this week:

1. To quote Martha Wainwright:
   
   “When the day is short
   and the nights are long
   It’s a different world
   Where the rules are wrong“

   
   I’ve been sundowning every afternoon at around 3 P.M. and wondering if the slide towards the solstice is just extra bad this year or what. According to my diary, nope, my sads are right on schedule. In fact, one year ago this week I made a whole zine about it called “More light!” 
   
   

2. The sun setting at 5:30 P.M. complicates my very simple life rule that serves me well: I try not to think too much about my problems after sunset. (No wonder I’m not solving many problems at the moment!) “Deal with problems in daylight,” as I heard a combat veteran once say. Or, what Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote to his daughter:

   

   another page from Keep Going

   
   

3. “Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away these bleak autumnal evenings,” said Sherlock Holmes to his friend, Dr. Watson. I’ve been keeping cozy with their problem-solving: I finished The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes after reading A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four and now I’m reading The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. (I also read critic Michael Dirda’s On Conan Doyle, a lovely short book I’d never heard of that I spotted on the shelf at the library — hooray for the serendipity of the stacks!)
   
   

4. “Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun…” I got sick on Thanksgiving and spent the rest of the break on the couch watching the remastered edition of The Beatles Anthology on Disney+. I enjoyed Paul mythologizing, George de-mythologizing, and Ringo in various spots around sunny Los Angeles, just being happy it happened at all. The new ending was fine. (If you’re looking for a new Beatles read, I enjoyed Ian Leslie’s John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs.)
   
   

5. Yule log recommendation: I loved Ted Marten’s Pixel Fireplace way back when — you can currently download it on Steam or watch it on YouTube.
   
   

6. Writer Elizabeth McCracken is the latest participant in my series of typewriter interviews:

   

   
   

7. “Football fans talk a lot about coaching trees—how so many current successful NFL coaches used to work for [other famous coaches]…. [T]here are TV coaching trees, too, where producers or shows bring together many writers and/or directors who then go on to have amazing careers of their own, and in some cases create their own trees.” Which TV show has the best coaching tree? (A variant of scenius!)
   
   

8. A holiday flick with acerbic wit: I watched the 1941 movie The Man Who Came to Dinner solely based on this 8-second clip I saw on Instagram:

   I have zero regrets. (Hilarious that the original play was written for a real person.)
   
   

9. RIP Jimmy Cliff, who wrote “The Harder They Come,” “Many Rivers to Cross,” “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” and other reggae classics. RIP Tom Stoppard, who wrote tons of classic plays and screenplays, sure, but whose biggest impact on my young life was re-writing Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. RIP librarian Dorothy Vogel, who built a world-class art collection with her husband on civil servants’ salaries. (Watch: Herb & Dorothy.) RIP Steve Cropper, who wrote, produced, and played guitar on so many great Stax hits. (Some of my favorites: Eddie Floyd’s “Knock on Wood,” Johnnie Taylor’s “Who’s Making Love,” and William Bell’s “I Forgot To Be Your Lover.”)  
   
   

10. “Want to feel old?” “Yes.” 
    
    

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xoxo,

Austin

PS. I have a promo code to give away that’s good for one free shirt at Cotton Bureau. Tell me your favorite Christmas movie in the comments and I’ll pick a winner at random on Monday!