well, i mean, i suppose my answer to that last question is self-evident.
I just wanted to say thank you for sharing this. I believe with all my heart that the way we heal the world is to embrace our passion above all else. And to search for it until we find it and not let it go for anything once we find it, no matter what anyone tells us.
My big surprise -- and to some extent, something I'm still struggling with -- is that my life's passion ends up being about someone else's work rather than, as I'd always hoped and dreamed, about my own. But life is long and who knows where things lead....
see, this is my rationale. If I'm going to have my life's work be about someone else's work, this is the work for it to be about. It's not like I'm dedicating my life to (insert whatever name comes to mind here, I won't slag anyone else's musical tastes).
I've often struggled with how to funnel my creativity, passion and skills into some kind of a mix that works. They don't always go together and it can leave me feeling disjointed. Having many interests and hobbies and an inquiring mind can be distracting when you have to focus and make a living! Cloning would help...lol. Writing works because I have a flare for it and worked hard at one point, enough to become an editor. But I'm done with fixing other people's writing, at least for now. So here I am.
Most people just put aside their passions as a survival mechanism. I've never been good at doing that for very long. "Just get a job, serve the man and be happy" is the subtle message from this culture. Trying to explain how that doesn't work well for me makes me feel like a freak sometimes. Comprendo?
I definitely comprendo and if you're a freak, well, so am I and happily so.
I'm blessed -- and I know it -- that I have a very unique skillset that allows me to earn a generous living without having to do much of anything other than focus on my passion (which is not how I make my living). I know not everyone is in that position, but I do believe that almost everyone is in a position to make choices that allow more time for the expression of their passion. As you observe, it's the culture that shames us into not making those choices, I think, by telling us that passion is self-indulgent and frivolous. It's anything but, as you and I know.
Are you and I already connected on the Red Abbess, which is the space I founded to talk about just this? If not, here's an entry that might speak to you, if I might offer it?
I'm a subscriber to The Abbey and just subscribed to the above as well, which I'd listened to previously. I enjoy the audio excerpts and just listened to the one on Surrender, very thought provoking and dare I say practical!
I once had a contract which paid quite well for the amount of work I actually did. It was a bit of a joke. This allowed me to pursue my passions, but those days are long gone.
I want to do more with my Substack and finally I seem to have the time and resources to really make a go of it but I'll admit it can be daunting.
well, one thing that helps me is that I never look at stats. I have no idea how many people subscribe to either or who's reading. So it becomes more of a meditation.
I look sometimes but there's no point obsessing over that :-)
I have a whole other point to make about Substack that I maybe I should make into a Note at some point. I don't subscribe to that many stacks but I just don't have the time to read everything either and, write myself...and well, have a life too. In fact I just opened around 50 emails that have accumulated in the last month or so. I generally don't delete them but there's no way I can read them all either.
Faith, I think you and I have chatted about the digital distraction problem before and how this may sabotage creativity or something like that?
Very successful Substackers often brought along their audience, or are already famous, and I'm sure just ignore a lot of the stuff in their inboxes and comments. They're too busy writing!
Sorry Andrew--off topic, I know. I'd be interested in any thoughts from either of you, or anyone reading this, on how to handle the barrage. Email me if you prefer, since I've pretty much hijacked this thread 😉
Hijack away! There are plenty of writers who are probably thinking about this stuff, but unable to express it openly. This sort of conversation may be good for folks.
And I certainly feel you on not having enough hours in a day to read everything I want to! There are just so many great writers I want to keep up with, many of whom are right here with us on this platform. I read what I can and engage where I can, but I also learned to drop any feelings of guilt or missed opportunity.
Let me rephrase that last bit: I am learning how to do that. Learning. In the process of.
Yep, we have. At the risk of shilling, I did a two part thing on the RA about the problem of artists/writers on social media, which probalby is more eloquent than anything I could repeat here. https://theredabbess.substack.com/p/22424-bc8
I'd add to that, yeah, if we're too busy writing, we don't have physical bandwidth for our own work, but at the same time, of course, artists need community. (again, discussed in the RA piece above), which is why we're here talking, because one of the strengths of Andrew's substack is that it creates a platform for community in a way that, for example, mine deliberately doesn't. I want people to take my ideas, on the Beatles or otherwise, elsewhere and discuss them, which is a whole different approach. Neither less valid than the other.
As to reading, I try to subscribe carefully although I'm prone to impulse and the knee jerk desire to subscribe back as a gesture of support, and I try not to do that and to use the "follow" feature for that impulse instead. But it's hard to unsubscribe. I don't notice if someone does, so no big deal, but I am afraid of someone getting a "Faith who writes the Abbey unsubscribed," because now it's a personal judgement and also jeopardizes the work I care so deeply about.
So instead, I try, again, to subscribe carefully, use the follow feature, and regard my inbox as a magazine in which I read some articles, not others, on any given day. Some writers, I read everything, some I pick and choose.
Whaaaaaat! You are blowing my mind right now! Also, can I just say, the Hulk is my favorite superhero of all time, and I would’ve completely flipped out to get that autograph on my own art!
I am not entirely confident that the Hulk would finish as #1 on my superhero list, but he was at the very top for me as the 1980s approached! Meeting Lou was way too much to pass up. I have since read that he's not necessarily the greatest human being, but I was nevertheless delighted to get this signature and create this wild memory.
I didn’t know that about Lou; I also only recently found out about Neil Gaiman, kinda crushing. Who is your #1 then? Actually now I think I’m gonna need your top 5.
I've learned not to put too much stock in heroes over the years, so I kind of just look at individual ideas now and decide whether I'm going to pay much attention to a person's work. Fortunately, I've never heard anything nearly that horrible about Lou, just more about how he treats folks around him.
I'm not sure about present-day superheroes and my current mindset, because there's stuff like The Boys and Invincible and Umbrella Academy, all excellent shows bringing a new type of superhero to the fore. I would say for sure that Wolverine and the Punisher were both pretty high up my list when I was like 13. I think I was drawn to the anti-heroes and countercultural heroes lurking in the shadows, so to speak, and more grey characters.
Drawing, for me, started early. I wish I had some first grade drawings. Drawing led to life drawing sessions at an art center in downtown St. Pete, and then to NYC to draw from the live model at the Art Student's League in NYC.
You've reminded me of when I was a teenager and spent a ton of time copying from comic books. I also had a massive anime phase that I haven't quite grown out of with my art. LOL I wonder if I have any laying around.
I really enjoy getting "good enough" at something, then moving on. I think drawing was like that for me when I was a kid. I can still do it, but I haven't kept the regular practice up in decades.
Wow. Okay. Well I never learned to do bodies. And yours look waaay better than any of my poor attempts. Words are a much better meduim for me. Muuuch more accurate.
Thanks, Jenny! The bodies were one of the big challenges I really enjoyed. The way light and shadow play together with color - it's not really what we think it is. Our brains trick us by simplifying and summarizing, but light is gonna be light!
But more seriously, to reach the 10,000 hour in BJJ over 20 years (which you have more than for sure), you’d need to spend an hour and 20 minutes everyday (which you have more than for sure). Do you feel like a master?
I got about 15-16 years in before the thing in my head made it fairly difficult to continue with BJJ plus not really having enjoyable training partners. With that, I needed to average around an hour and 45 minutes a day. Even with days off, I think I’m pretty close to that, if not slightly over. The first few years I was only training 3-4 days a week and even though that was frequently 3-4 hours at a time, it probably knocked things down. I definitely don’t feel like I was close to being a master. Even though I feel like my brain was there, I often fell short physically (especially when sparring with you. 🤣) And my brain often didn’t help me in competition. I did alright up to brown belt but after that was pretty humbling. I guess there are still varying degrees of mastery.
The issue with black belt is that it's an "and up" category by default! So, you get entry level black belt folks like you or me who first step in there as masters or whatever, then you have kids who have been black belts for like 15 years in those same divisions! It's wild. Not only have they been black belts, but they have been kicking ass internationally for all 15 of those years. So yeah, black belt is ridiculously tough, although local and regional tournaments can still be really fun.
I'm not really confident I got anything like 10,000 hours of deliberate, careful practice. I was there an awful lot to be sure, but was I really THERE, you know? Kind of yes, but also kind of no a lot of the time. I just had fun and tried to get better, but I didn't live in that uncomfortable zone for an hour each day. It was more like flow state most of the time.
Andrew ... what I love is that your imagination was always there telling stories. Glad you're here.
Thanks, Joyce! I'm glad you're here too.
I think the medium matters way less than the story.
Super cool! I’d have to go digging to find my old artwork. These are not (all) bad. 😂
Tag me if you end up finding 'em! This kind of lookback was really fun for me, too.
well, i mean, i suppose my answer to that last question is self-evident.
I just wanted to say thank you for sharing this. I believe with all my heart that the way we heal the world is to embrace our passion above all else. And to search for it until we find it and not let it go for anything once we find it, no matter what anyone tells us.
Yay! My big surprise was finding lots of other ways to scratch my creative/expressive itch besides visual art. Here I am, too! Here we both are.
My big surprise -- and to some extent, something I'm still struggling with -- is that my life's passion ends up being about someone else's work rather than, as I'd always hoped and dreamed, about my own. But life is long and who knows where things lead....
I mean, in fairness, it's pretty good work they did.
see, this is my rationale. If I'm going to have my life's work be about someone else's work, this is the work for it to be about. It's not like I'm dedicating my life to (insert whatever name comes to mind here, I won't slag anyone else's musical tastes).
Exactly. At least it's not some talentless hack like Beethoven!
Right, see, I was gonna say Beethoven, but y'know, to each his own... 😎
I've often struggled with how to funnel my creativity, passion and skills into some kind of a mix that works. They don't always go together and it can leave me feeling disjointed. Having many interests and hobbies and an inquiring mind can be distracting when you have to focus and make a living! Cloning would help...lol. Writing works because I have a flare for it and worked hard at one point, enough to become an editor. But I'm done with fixing other people's writing, at least for now. So here I am.
Most people just put aside their passions as a survival mechanism. I've never been good at doing that for very long. "Just get a job, serve the man and be happy" is the subtle message from this culture. Trying to explain how that doesn't work well for me makes me feel like a freak sometimes. Comprendo?
I definitely comprendo and if you're a freak, well, so am I and happily so.
I'm blessed -- and I know it -- that I have a very unique skillset that allows me to earn a generous living without having to do much of anything other than focus on my passion (which is not how I make my living). I know not everyone is in that position, but I do believe that almost everyone is in a position to make choices that allow more time for the expression of their passion. As you observe, it's the culture that shames us into not making those choices, I think, by telling us that passion is self-indulgent and frivolous. It's anything but, as you and I know.
Are you and I already connected on the Red Abbess, which is the space I founded to talk about just this? If not, here's an entry that might speak to you, if I might offer it?
https://theredabbess.substack.com/p/2224
I'm a subscriber to The Abbey and just subscribed to the above as well, which I'd listened to previously. I enjoy the audio excerpts and just listened to the one on Surrender, very thought provoking and dare I say practical!
I once had a contract which paid quite well for the amount of work I actually did. It was a bit of a joke. This allowed me to pursue my passions, but those days are long gone.
I want to do more with my Substack and finally I seem to have the time and resources to really make a go of it but I'll admit it can be daunting.
well, one thing that helps me is that I never look at stats. I have no idea how many people subscribe to either or who's reading. So it becomes more of a meditation.
I look sometimes but there's no point obsessing over that :-)
I have a whole other point to make about Substack that I maybe I should make into a Note at some point. I don't subscribe to that many stacks but I just don't have the time to read everything either and, write myself...and well, have a life too. In fact I just opened around 50 emails that have accumulated in the last month or so. I generally don't delete them but there's no way I can read them all either.
Faith, I think you and I have chatted about the digital distraction problem before and how this may sabotage creativity or something like that?
Very successful Substackers often brought along their audience, or are already famous, and I'm sure just ignore a lot of the stuff in their inboxes and comments. They're too busy writing!
Sorry Andrew--off topic, I know. I'd be interested in any thoughts from either of you, or anyone reading this, on how to handle the barrage. Email me if you prefer, since I've pretty much hijacked this thread 😉
Hijack away! There are plenty of writers who are probably thinking about this stuff, but unable to express it openly. This sort of conversation may be good for folks.
And I certainly feel you on not having enough hours in a day to read everything I want to! There are just so many great writers I want to keep up with, many of whom are right here with us on this platform. I read what I can and engage where I can, but I also learned to drop any feelings of guilt or missed opportunity.
Let me rephrase that last bit: I am learning how to do that. Learning. In the process of.
Yep, we have. At the risk of shilling, I did a two part thing on the RA about the problem of artists/writers on social media, which probalby is more eloquent than anything I could repeat here. https://theredabbess.substack.com/p/22424-bc8
I'd add to that, yeah, if we're too busy writing, we don't have physical bandwidth for our own work, but at the same time, of course, artists need community. (again, discussed in the RA piece above), which is why we're here talking, because one of the strengths of Andrew's substack is that it creates a platform for community in a way that, for example, mine deliberately doesn't. I want people to take my ideas, on the Beatles or otherwise, elsewhere and discuss them, which is a whole different approach. Neither less valid than the other.
As to reading, I try to subscribe carefully although I'm prone to impulse and the knee jerk desire to subscribe back as a gesture of support, and I try not to do that and to use the "follow" feature for that impulse instead. But it's hard to unsubscribe. I don't notice if someone does, so no big deal, but I am afraid of someone getting a "Faith who writes the Abbey unsubscribed," because now it's a personal judgement and also jeopardizes the work I care so deeply about.
So instead, I try, again, to subscribe carefully, use the follow feature, and regard my inbox as a magazine in which I read some articles, not others, on any given day. Some writers, I read everything, some I pick and choose.
I think we're all finding our way.
Whaaaaaat! You are blowing my mind right now! Also, can I just say, the Hulk is my favorite superhero of all time, and I would’ve completely flipped out to get that autograph on my own art!
I am not entirely confident that the Hulk would finish as #1 on my superhero list, but he was at the very top for me as the 1980s approached! Meeting Lou was way too much to pass up. I have since read that he's not necessarily the greatest human being, but I was nevertheless delighted to get this signature and create this wild memory.
I didn’t know that about Lou; I also only recently found out about Neil Gaiman, kinda crushing. Who is your #1 then? Actually now I think I’m gonna need your top 5.
I've learned not to put too much stock in heroes over the years, so I kind of just look at individual ideas now and decide whether I'm going to pay much attention to a person's work. Fortunately, I've never heard anything nearly that horrible about Lou, just more about how he treats folks around him.
I'm not sure about present-day superheroes and my current mindset, because there's stuff like The Boys and Invincible and Umbrella Academy, all excellent shows bringing a new type of superhero to the fore. I would say for sure that Wolverine and the Punisher were both pretty high up my list when I was like 13. I think I was drawn to the anti-heroes and countercultural heroes lurking in the shadows, so to speak, and more grey characters.
Drawing, for me, started early. I wish I had some first grade drawings. Drawing led to life drawing sessions at an art center in downtown St. Pete, and then to NYC to draw from the live model at the Art Student's League in NYC.
Nice, got any pics you wanna share of those early (or later) efforts? I think the process is fascinating for folks to see.
You've reminded me of when I was a teenager and spent a ton of time copying from comic books. I also had a massive anime phase that I haven't quite grown out of with my art. LOL I wonder if I have any laying around.
Did copying comic books help you learn to draw? It was certainly instrumental for me.
Definitely
Inspiring! I am taking my first sketching class. 3 hours in.
YES! I know much is made of the 10,000 hour mastery concept, but it's surprising how fast you can make noticeable improvements. Rooting for you!
I can definitely see the progression.
Neat to see the trajectory of your art. As a lifelong "writer" my only goal I profess is to learn English! Still at it.
Me talk pretty one day.
I think we all go through a learning curve. Good thing for you to have encouraging, supportive parents. If everyone was so lucky to have that.
Practice, practice and practice. If you still cannot succeed. Give up! Try something else! :-)
I really enjoy getting "good enough" at something, then moving on. I think drawing was like that for me when I was a kid. I can still do it, but I haven't kept the regular practice up in decades.
Well you are a pretty good writer too. Everybody can't write and make you 'feel' something.
<3
Those latest drawings look amazing, man. Way to channel your passion into getting those 10K hours under your belt.
Thanks! I think the "latest" ones here are about 28 years old, for whatever that's worth.
Wow. Okay. Well I never learned to do bodies. And yours look waaay better than any of my poor attempts. Words are a much better meduim for me. Muuuch more accurate.
Thanks, Jenny! The bodies were one of the big challenges I really enjoyed. The way light and shadow play together with color - it's not really what we think it is. Our brains trick us by simplifying and summarizing, but light is gonna be light!
My passion seems to be learning the delicate balance that goes into being a master troll. See what I did there? No? I guess I’m not there yet.
But more seriously, to reach the 10,000 hour in BJJ over 20 years (which you have more than for sure), you’d need to spend an hour and 20 minutes everyday (which you have more than for sure). Do you feel like a master?
I got about 15-16 years in before the thing in my head made it fairly difficult to continue with BJJ plus not really having enjoyable training partners. With that, I needed to average around an hour and 45 minutes a day. Even with days off, I think I’m pretty close to that, if not slightly over. The first few years I was only training 3-4 days a week and even though that was frequently 3-4 hours at a time, it probably knocked things down. I definitely don’t feel like I was close to being a master. Even though I feel like my brain was there, I often fell short physically (especially when sparring with you. 🤣) And my brain often didn’t help me in competition. I did alright up to brown belt but after that was pretty humbling. I guess there are still varying degrees of mastery.
The issue with black belt is that it's an "and up" category by default! So, you get entry level black belt folks like you or me who first step in there as masters or whatever, then you have kids who have been black belts for like 15 years in those same divisions! It's wild. Not only have they been black belts, but they have been kicking ass internationally for all 15 of those years. So yeah, black belt is ridiculously tough, although local and regional tournaments can still be really fun.
I'm not really confident I got anything like 10,000 hours of deliberate, careful practice. I was there an awful lot to be sure, but was I really THERE, you know? Kind of yes, but also kind of no a lot of the time. I just had fun and tried to get better, but I didn't live in that uncomfortable zone for an hour each day. It was more like flow state most of the time.