Isak's Blog

Happy Friday,

Cue the music, brew that pot. When did summers get so busy, and how is it already late July! I’m trying to soak in some sunny days, but they’re passing me by.

Here are 10 interesting things worth sharing this week:

1. “Writing is hard because your human brain, the one that’s been running and updating the biological human survival software for roughly 200,000 years, is genuinely convinced that putting words on a page might kill you.” There’s neuroscience behind why our brain sees writing as quietly dangerous and how meditation can help.
2. Hot people read books, as it turns out. It’s funny how we collectively lament the end of reading thanks to social media and AI, but simultaneously there are so many book clubs and buzz over new subgenres.
3. The Lo-Fi Cinema YouTube channel have the best video essays about the creative process and identity, and their latest about uncertainty and rigidity in your artistic path really hit home for me. It reminds me of a Rumi quote I stumbled upon this morning, serendipitously: “As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.”
4. Everyone’s talking about “The Odyssey,” and I’m waiting until Tuesday to see it at our old three-screen theater (cheap movie night is the best night!), but it has me remembering this great interview with Emily Wilson, the first female translator to put The Odyssey and The Iliad into English. (Tyler Cowen quickly jumps between topics with guests, which is jarring at first but youg et used to it).
5. Emily Wilson also knows how to have fun: When we were all quarantining over the summer of 2020, she decided to read and act out a bit of “The Odyssey” every day, complete with wigs, sunglasses, and other props she had in her home. Having fun with your work is important!
6. That reminds of of Austin Kleon’s chapter “Don’t Take Things Too Seriously” from his new book “Don’t Call It Art”: find who’s having fun, pretend it’s all a comedy, and play the fool. “Ask yourself frequently, ‘Am I having fun?’ The answer needn’t always be yes. But if it’s always no, it’s time for a new project or a new career,” says Stephen King.
7. I’ve lifted a few pens from restaurants I love as a memento to a good memory (a few restaurants of which have now closed), so this tight essay about pilfering restaurant ephemera is very relatable. (I also share a love for Field Notes, Pilot G2s, and abhorring Bic Clic Stics)
8. Brendan’s latest video about why we run is really about why we do anything: to keep doing it. (See: writing, reading, lifting, going for walks)
9. Nearly every day, Kent Peterson types up a short, interesting essay or thought on his typewriter, pushes a few hand-carved ink stamps onto the paper, snaps a photo, and uploads it to YouTube — and this recent post “Lessons in Slowing Down” gets at why, I think, and also shows off a particularly old typewriter (he has a big collection!).
10. Finally, a watch that tells the time and also shows exactly how I plan to spend my weekend.

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.

Robert Caro doesn’t just start with a detailed outline before he starts writing his books. He starts with a clear idea of how he’s going to end it.

“I can’t write a book until I know the last line,” he said on a recent Q&A podcast episode with C-SPAN.

I’m also a big outliner — but not a last liner.

Caro tells how when writing his first book — ”The Power Broker,” a thick biography about Robert Moses, the most powerful man in New York City — he had finished his research but had no idea how to start. There was too much material. He had no idea how to begin (something a lot of creatives can relate to!).

Cory Doctorow is one of those writers who’s able to write so much so quickly, I’m left scratching my head.

I’ve only read one of his 30 or so fiction and non-fiction books — The Lost Cause — and while that’s already a prolific catalog, the guy also writes not one but two blogs. Pluralistic, his daily link blog, intimidates me: how does this guy have so much to say every day? And how can he balance this with writing books, finding interesting articles on the internet, and maintain a life with chores, eating, and sleeping?

I’ve been following Van Neistat’s videos since his fifth video was published, which the YouTube algorithm suggested while I was vanning through Walla Walla, Washington. I was killing time hanging out by the river and, having watched most of his brother Casey’s daily vlogs (rip daily vlogs), quickly watched all his videos beginning to end.

He can get ranty. He can be cranky. He has plenty of opinions I don’t agree with. But his videos about the creative process are fascinating.