Upfront warning that there is one F-bomb in this video.
For today’s video, you get me and my daughter Zuzu (currently age 14) arguing in the car. It’s a happy argument. Don’t worry.
The crux of it is this: are these socks we saw in Target a reference to “Stay gold, Ponyboy” from The Outsiders?
And listen: I don’t think it matters. I mean, maybe it matters to S.E. Hinton, but it doesn’t really matter whether everything is a reference to something else. It probably is! I’ve been feeling this feeling like the internet keeps pelting me with information, too fast, and I am this stressed-out air traffic control-type person who is trying to evaluate all of the information coming my way, trying to decide whether it’s interesting to me or important to me or useful to me. It’s too much! Too fast! I want to get to this pace where I have the time to contemplate the information that comes at me, turn it over thoughtfully so I can decide what I want to do with it.
Amelia Hruby recently posted a podcast episode about the 5 Stages of Leaving Social Media, and I’m at the point now where I’m trying to return to a human-paced life. I’m not entirely sure how to do it. I want to lie on my back in a meadow and watch clouds go by. I want to sit with my bare feet in a stream.
This conversation with Zuzu on the way to volleyball practice felt very human-paced to me. It felt good.
If you’re in the mode of taking care of your creativity and giving yourself the time you need to honor it, and you’re writing picture books, you might be interested in this new class I just launched: Make a Mess, Clean It Up: How to Revise a Picture Book.
To celebrate the launch of the class, I’m giving away two picture book critiques. Everyone who signs up for Make a Mess, Clean It Up by May 15, 2023 will be entered.
And tell me if you think those socks are an Outsiders reference! Team Julie or Team Zuzu?
Are these Target socks a callback to a book?