Isak's Blog

Happy Friday,

Cue the music, brew that pot. I saw my first northern saw-whet owl this week (a pair flew south to neat this spring) and we walked right past it in the tree a few times before noticing it. Makes you wonder about what else you’re not noticing.

Here are 10 interesting things worth sharing this week:

1. “If you ever need a pick-me-up, it’s best to find your way to any gathering where people are hellbent on making things.” Anna Brones on going to a festival of fellow creatives. She’s also enjoying the joys of using a typewriter.
2. It’s Big Summer Book season, and Jamie Todd Rubin (who reads older biographies and science books) writes about the allure of reading longer books.
3. But maybe instead of a Big Summer Book you’re looking for a Lil Summer Novel?
4. I first heard Fred again… a few years ago on Tiny Desk. He just finished his USB002 tour, and someone compiled every show into a 108-hour YouTube video that makes for great chill listening.
5. “Before you can make anything, you need a set-up. So when an idea comes, you have the tools to make it happen,” said David Lynch, which Braxton Haugen shares in a video about his new set-up. I liked his studio for his TikTok Tapes series, which reminds me of my post about writing spaces a few weeks ago.
6. Loved this summary of a lecture from Paul Schrader (writer of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull) - that great works usually start off as a personal problem, and then become a metaphor. It transforms something deeply personal into something symbolic that a lot of people can relate to.
7. Hanif hits on what makes going analog so appealing now: how the discomforts of old technology can make you feel more alive and engaged with the world, but how it’s also a hollow nostalgia that’s increasingly incompatible with our world.
8. And if you’re not going analog, maybe just have more intention about what you use and why. “Every piece of software we use arrives with embedded assumptions about how we should work, think and create,” says Kai Brach.
9. Racket is having the most fun writing online and I’m pretty sure their article on CRT TVs was made specifically for me (but not really, their readers are rad too).
10. I know Ryan Holiday uses a notecard system to write his books and vaguely knew others did too, but Susan Orlean and John McPhee do too—the latter on big 5x9” ones.

See you on down the dusty trail,

Happy Friday,

Cue the music, brew that pot. We’ve had some gorgeous spring weather this month, but I think it’s about to feel like full-on summer next week — so I’m squeaking in more time outside before the bugs come out.

Here are 10 interesting things worth sharing this week:

1. My favorite part of big book round-ups like The Guardian’s 100 best novels of all time is how many people react with that old internet adage: why wasn’t I consulted?
2. I agree with David Byrne that creativity comes from following what you’re passionate about. I can tell in my writing what I’m finding interesting and not!
3. Cal Newport’s book “Deep Work” had a big impact on me, and his latest op-ed about how social media has shrunk our attention spans so people are relying on AI to do their thinking for them seems on the mark.
4. New American Masters about Mary Oliver coming out in August looks very good. Wild Geese is of course one of my favorite poems of hers, along with Sleeping in the Forest. I have a CD of her reading her poems in my car that instantly chills me out.
5. I wasn’t familiar with Brad Neely but his typewriter interview with Austin Kleon is my favorite in the series so far.
6. Still thinking about this woman who lived alone in a cave for 500 days, lost count of the days after a few months, and whose response to completing the challenge was “Already? No way. I hadn’t finished my book.”
7. New Olivia Rodrigo song reminds me of Disarm by Smashing Pumpkins and I will not patiently wait for some loud live versions to confirm.
8. TV and movie adaptations are never as good as their books — but there are still adaptations I love (Little Women, Lord of the Rings, Fight Club), and the new East of Eden miniseries looks pretty good.
9. While I haven’t yet started a Big Summer Book, I am enjoying Crime & Punishment (which should really just be called Crime & Overwhelming Guilt) — but Raskilnikov’s guilt and misfortune is actually just really funny to me? I must not be alone because apparently they made a comedy stage adaptation in 2023.
10. I love how many people are into birding these days, and I loved the Listers documentary and am very, very excited the duo is working on their next documentary about the ivory-billed woodpecker.

See you on down the dusty trail,

I like to daydream about the perfect writing space. Usually it’s a cabin in the backyard with a desk, big windows, a shelf of books, a coffee pot, and — if I’m really treating myself — a wood stove and sleeping cot. Somewhere I can get away from all my cares, distractions, and worries to do good work.

It’s not really about the actual space. It’s the daydream that the space would unlock something within you, that you’d finally overcome your blocks and weaknesses to unleash your full creative potential. And in that way, it really is a daydream.

Happy Friday,

Cue the music, brew that pot. A wood thrush (rare!) can to our yard yesterday — and if you’ve ever heard their ethereal, flute-like song, you have some idea of how excited I was.

Here are 10 interesting things worth sharing this week:

1. I spend a lot of time reading book recommendations instead of just reading books. So maybe reading Emma Reads Too Much’s list of books about books will entice me to finish a few more?
2. Plug-in solar laws are being passed in different states, my social feeds are full of gardening and DIY, and I think the time is ripe for solarpunk optimism. I love this solarpunk animation from years back (yes, it’s a Chobani commercial; the irony is not lost on me) and think we could all benefit from imagining better futures we can build rather than doomscrolling.
3. “And what a pleasure that is; to be, on the page, less of a dope than usual.” Really enjoyed George Saunders writing about his creative process, especially the small incremental changes he makes that end up making his writing more compassionate.
4. Oh to be gifted a well-serviced typewriter from the patron saint of typewriters himself, Tom Hanks.
5. “Somehow, before personal computers and email, they managed to collaborate on an entire book—drafts of pages written on typewriters were placed in yellow envelopes and mailed across continents and ocean.” There’s a lot to love in this creative advice from Anna Brones’ mom, but I am fascinated people used to write books without computers.
6. I have way more ideas for creative projects than finished products — so I really enjoyed this video about how you can get stuck in it. Time to make a few zines and short stories!
7. It’s the season of commencement speeches: I prefer Harrison Ford’s to the viral AI one going around. But DFW’s “This Is Water” speech and Baz Luhrmann’s sunscreen speech are my two all-time favs.
8. We’re on the Zara Larson hype train in our household, and the viral clip of her being very tired (and relatable) doing a 5 a.m. sound check for The Today Show is how I feel being on a video call before 10:30 or so.
9. Western AF introduces me to a lot of great music, but I’ve come back to “Wishing Bone Blues” by Cristina Vane so many times over the years, I think I’m responsible for 1/10th of the views. Such a good guitar solo.
10. I wrote about the four reference books I keep on my writing desk and had a great time paging through my usage history again — another encouragement from DFW!

See you on down the dusty trail,

I wrote in my last post that I keep four reference books on my writing desk: a dictionary, a usage dictionary, a thesaurus, and a copy production book.

Sure, you can use Google to answer questions while you write. But opening the internet invites too much distraction for me. I already procrastinate way too much of my writing (don’t ask about my Screen Time stats!), so I’d rather open a book than the internet. Then when I do procrastinate, at least I’m reading about writing instead of scrolling an algorithm.