"Creativity is contagious. When we spend time with other artistic people we absorb and exchange a way of thinking, a way of looking at the world," writes Rick Rubin in The Creative Act. I'm still tiptoeing through this very patient treatise. It's one of those books you read slowly and thoughtfully, not rushing through each line to better absorb each word.
I am trying to give up doom scrolling. The algorithm knows me well, sucking me in and holding my attention. I don't usually pay attention until the evening, when Callie and I are hanging out and I'm not too interested in another episode of SVU.
Doom scrolling doesn't feel toxic in the moment, but in the four nights I have avoided looking at my phone I've slept better. No anxious 3 am wakeup, no need to take deep calming breaths in the darkness. I often lie there and wonder what I'm worried about and have absolutely no answer.
You'd think I would know the difference between marketing and publicity after all these years writing books. This is probably why I've never excelled at marketing, something I'm going to correct with The Long Run. My publisher's marketing team has already put together some great images to promote the book. I'll be putting them up on my socials and in this space very soon so you can have a look.
But what else must be done? Specifically, what can I do to become a better marketeer?
I left the meet at 11 p.m. Long, solitary walk to the farthest realm of the parking lot. Footsore from 17,000 steps. Hungry. Thirsty. Satisfied.
Woodbridge is the biggest high school cross country meet in the country — some 16,000 runners strong. Fifty-two races spread over two nights. The best runners in America. Flood lights, drum lines loud as beating hearts, pure unmitigated speed. Food trucks, hundred thousand spectators, subdivision of team canopies lining the course. Woodbridge is Disneyland, the happiest place on earth for runners who've trained in solitude through a long hot summer….
Just booked my Lambeau Field Legendary Stadium Tour. I'm adding Hall of Fame entry for afterward. It's all part of an upcoming college reunion next month. It was my years in Michigan's Upper Peninsula that made me a Packer fan. It was easy to abandon the Rams and make the switch after my childhood team moved to St. Louis. I've never been to Lambeau but I once finished third in a college cross country meet in Green Bay. Fine memories. It will be nice to not only tour the stadium but attend the Packers-Bengals game a few days later.
The chemo ward is open on Labor Day, which is probably a good thing for my cross country teams. I might have said some things I regretted, were I with them at this morning's practice. Instead, I'm here with Callie while they go through an early morning workout on our league course. It's going to be hot today so it's important to get it done early. That, and the fact that Central Park in Huntington Beach will soon be overrun by all manner of picnickers, including a volleyball league fond of setting up their nets right in the middle of our course.
The late playwright Sam Shepherd once wrote that the go/no go point in some new project came after writing fifteen pages. I remember reading that back in the 1980s and thinking that fifteen pages was a hell of a lot of writing before making up your mind. His quote is one of those things that finds traction in your brain pan, though for no particular reason. I mention all this because I'm fifteen pages into the new historical fiction piece and I'm having a blast. Turns out I can write fiction. Let's do fifteen more.
