My friend Kirk Reedstrom recommended two audiobooks from Upright Citizen’s Brigade, Comedy Improv Manual and Finding Your Comedic Voice. They both looked great, but I chose 28 Stand Ups: Best Tips, Bits, and Bombs, because it was the shortest, at 4 hours. Which ended up being a bit of a self-prank, because I listened to it twice: once to absorb it all, and once to take notes for you.
I love the quote about how we’re all doing the same thing, swimming in the same water. Thank you for sharing this list. It’s amazing how much overlap there is across most creative professions.
SO MUCH OVERLAP. I'm endlessly fascinated by it, how we all go through very similar processes, but the specifics of whatever we're doing plus the specifics of everyone's individual circumstances mean we all have our own unique process.
Thank you for this! I have been taking a break since the end of the summer, when I finished illustrating the second of two books in a row, both of which were started before my 3-year old was born, before pandemic, and were the first books I illustrated while also holding a full-time day job. I was fried.
There's still no shortage of things filling up my time (working, parenting, helping aging parents, sitting on hold for a hour while I try to make a stupid dentist appointment...), but that tickle, that itch to make something is starting to overcome all that fatigue.
And it's always that draw to engage in the process that makes me happy. That's what this post and these ideas remind me of. That's where the joy of it all comes from. The highs and lows are all part of it, but in the end, I always feel lucky to be able to make books.
I just read Murakami's Novelist as a Vocation, and one thing he talks about is how he waits for that itch to write a novel, for it to fill him up so much that he can't ignore it anymore. He has no sense of grinding it out day to day. He occupies himself with all sorts of things, but lets himself flow with his creative process. I'm also thinking about Wintering by Katherine May -- did you read that? That sounds like what's happening for you, a necessary fallow period before you can start growing your work again.
I haven't read Wintering, but I know Austin Kleon has referenced it, and that concept feels very familiar. I rely heavily on my subconscious to figure things out for my conscious brain. Ignoring stuff as a way of working on it, perhaps?
Thanks for this! It’s funny; I actually talk about stand-up and publishing when giving advice to my friends as well. I was a theater kid, and live theater teaches you a lot about rolling with punches, reading a room, but also the emotional feedback you get from an audience.
I was a theater kid too! But have never done stand-up in any capacity, and there's something about it that really fascinates me, and is maybe even more analogous to writing than theater (because you're all alone up there, maybe?). Theater does equal writing in so many ways, not just the audience, but the inhabiting of characters.
As you and others mentioned earlier, there is so much overlap beyond writing and comedy in here--I’m a woodworker, and much of these tips applied to my work building furniture. Especially not comparing oneself to others, staying true to yourself, having fun. (Swearing, on the other hand, can be both cathartic and helpful). Thanks for sharing!
I love the quote about how we’re all doing the same thing, swimming in the same water. Thank you for sharing this list. It’s amazing how much overlap there is across most creative professions.
SO MUCH OVERLAP. I'm endlessly fascinated by it, how we all go through very similar processes, but the specifics of whatever we're doing plus the specifics of everyone's individual circumstances mean we all have our own unique process.
Echoing what you both are saying!
This was perfect. Thank you so much! <3
Thank you for this! I have been taking a break since the end of the summer, when I finished illustrating the second of two books in a row, both of which were started before my 3-year old was born, before pandemic, and were the first books I illustrated while also holding a full-time day job. I was fried.
There's still no shortage of things filling up my time (working, parenting, helping aging parents, sitting on hold for a hour while I try to make a stupid dentist appointment...), but that tickle, that itch to make something is starting to overcome all that fatigue.
And it's always that draw to engage in the process that makes me happy. That's what this post and these ideas remind me of. That's where the joy of it all comes from. The highs and lows are all part of it, but in the end, I always feel lucky to be able to make books.
I just read Murakami's Novelist as a Vocation, and one thing he talks about is how he waits for that itch to write a novel, for it to fill him up so much that he can't ignore it anymore. He has no sense of grinding it out day to day. He occupies himself with all sorts of things, but lets himself flow with his creative process. I'm also thinking about Wintering by Katherine May -- did you read that? That sounds like what's happening for you, a necessary fallow period before you can start growing your work again.
I haven't read Wintering, but I know Austin Kleon has referenced it, and that concept feels very familiar. I rely heavily on my subconscious to figure things out for my conscious brain. Ignoring stuff as a way of working on it, perhaps?
So glad you shared these tips! Thanks!
Thanks for this! It’s funny; I actually talk about stand-up and publishing when giving advice to my friends as well. I was a theater kid, and live theater teaches you a lot about rolling with punches, reading a room, but also the emotional feedback you get from an audience.
I was a theater kid too! But have never done stand-up in any capacity, and there's something about it that really fascinates me, and is maybe even more analogous to writing than theater (because you're all alone up there, maybe?). Theater does equal writing in so many ways, not just the audience, but the inhabiting of characters.
As you and others mentioned earlier, there is so much overlap beyond writing and comedy in here--I’m a woodworker, and much of these tips applied to my work building furniture. Especially not comparing oneself to others, staying true to yourself, having fun. (Swearing, on the other hand, can be both cathartic and helpful). Thanks for sharing!