Newsletter No. 8

As January comes to an end, I notice that I managed to complete only some of the goals. I finished reading 6 books. I also managed to keep a good level of variety in the selection:

• The Ignorant Maestro by Itay Talgam
• Should We Eat Meat by Vaclav Smil
• Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
• Elements of Journalism by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel
• This is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan
• On Writing Well by William Zinsser

Of all the six, I recommend The Ignorant Maestro the most. You can watch Itay Talgam’s popular TED talk on this topic to see how this book explains what works in leadership and what doesn’t. The book gave a refreshing way to think about leading people that I have not yet read in any other book.

I also recommend Caste. Isabel Wilkerson uses the established framework of Caste system in Indian society to explain the structure of racism in today’s American society. I am grateful to a new friend from the dog park who recommended this book.

On something I failed to do — I never recorded and published January’s podcast episode. I planned and planned but the timing was never right. I am trying to improvise into the mic, which is new for me. In the last few episodes, I read from a script that I painstakingly wrote. So, a new task and a new technique is doubly challenging. I haven’t given up yet. I may just have to record two episodes in February to make up.

I launched a Patreon page to fund my podcast habit. This is one way for me to know if you like hearing what I have to say. It is also a way to keep me from selling Magic Cereal and Magic Mattresses every 20 minutes.

I am excited to start reading a new set of books in February!

Newsletter No. 2

Rhythm and cadence have occupied my mind this month. I am trying to pay attention to the rhythm in various things such as literature, how I do creative work, and how I like to take breaks. By paying attention to the natural rhythms I am trying to build a new rhythm of sorts.

Rational thinking, which dominates my brain, wants to set the metronome first and then cast the rhythm. I certainly tried to do so with this newsletter last weekend. I set the metronome to a weekly cadence — which I failed to do last week. I should have probably set the metronome after the rhythm has set.

Staying with the metaphor a bit longer… setting the metronome first would work only if I was trying to play someone else's music. What I am trying to do is find my own tune in exploring thoughts, ideas and skills. But nothing I am doing is new: blogging, podcasting, reading and thinking. Others do it more and better. It feels easier to imitate.

I see other creative people who I admire produce so much work and it makes me think I can do it too. But I need to remember that I spend 40 to 50 hours a week doing my day-job which is also creative and very analytical and takes a lot of mental energy. It also pays the bills. I can not share a large majority of the work I do in my day-job because we are under strict NDAs with our clients. So it seems that the work I can share is small and slow.

I don't want this to be an excuse. So I have started a time-block Plan from 6 AM to 6 PM for both, my professional job and my personal creative work. It is a challenging schedule but I deviated from it on only a few days in the last two weeks. By all measures it is working.

Here is the stuff I have written in the last two weeks:

Van Neistat

I discovered Van Neistat's new youtube channel. It reminds me of one of my favorite short movies on YouTube called 10 Bullets. Read the post here

Fiction and Non Fiction

I've been reading too much non fiction and discovered a hunger for fiction, like I was starved of something essential. I tried to explore that idea. I have to admit, my writing is not great in this one. As I read it now, it feels like I wrote before the idea had fully crystalized. Read the post here

Rhythm

I explore another rendition of the Rhythm thought with which I opened this letter. This time I hit up the writings of Ursula Le Guin. Read the post here

On the podcast front I am nearly finished writing the copy of my next episode. I am also close to having my recording studio set up so I don’t have to juggle the home computer that my wife also uses for her work. I should post the episode soon. You can find it listen on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, and Stitcher. Search for "Sighthound Studio" on Google Podcast, or directly use RSS in your podcast app.

From Inertia to Momentum

I can be very hard on myself.

I started podcasting last year when the pandemic had started. I posted a few episodes and then ran out of gas!

This is not new. I have started many hobbies in the past that ran out of gas. I would start a hobby and get super into it, and even create meaningful work. Then the gas runs out. Time passes. And then the inertia of not doing becomes too hard to overcome.

Here are some hobbies I have picked up and abandoned:

• woodworking
• youtubing
• making short films
• bicycle advocacy and urban planning
• percussion drumming
• digital photography
• médium format film photography
• blogging daily, even

The list goes on. I had good reasons to pause and, I'm sure even better reasons to stay paused. But none of them should matter. I know I feel guilty of abandoning the hobbies and I am sure some of that guilt holds me back from re-starting it. Like I said, I am hard on myself.

I can also get addicted to TV and Youtube. I'm always fighting it. I've never been better at fighting it as I am today. I quit social media years ago and I can fight the entertainment media also.

But enough with the excuses.

I'm going to give podcasting another shot. My goal this year is to post 6 episodes. I know that is a low bar but I want to produce fantastic quality work. I want to think deeply about the topics, and even read some books to prepare for it. This is not analysis-paralysis. I won't let perfection keep me from delivering.

I recognize it takes a lot of effort to overcome inertia of not doing. Not doing is so easy. Doing is hard. I've been slowing training myself to do more. I now get Casey Neistat's tattoo "Do More". I'd add, "Do more and do it well".

I also know what happens when one does overcome inertia and start moving. Extending this metaphor from Applied Physics, once you get moving, momentum takes over and it gets easier to move the next bit, then momentun gets higher and it gets easier. You get the idea. This works for creative work, at least, it works for me.

The first episode of the podcast this year will take some effort to produce and post.

The second will get easier.

I started a podcast

So I started a podcast here: https://www.sighthound-studio.com/podcast.

If you know me IRL, you won't be surprised to hear that I have been a long time fan of podcasts. I have tried to make an episode once but the tape never left the recorder.

We are socially distancing now. The gym, yoga studio, movie theaters, restaurants, trivia nights at the bar, game nights with our friends, museums, beaches and concerts are all out of reach. I don't want to binge TV shows any more. I have a propensity to binge so I am applying it to producing episodes. I know nothing about editing sound... I don't even know what to google. My searches are coming up with terms like compression, normalization, dB, gain, LUFS... the list goes on.

But I love to learn and I love to binge on new ideas.

I already owned a digital recorder from my video production days. The audio from the XY-mics are not great in an open room but they sound good enough when I record in my wife's closet.

I posted my first episode last week. I am working on my second. It is hard to not talk about the COVID-19 situation we are going through on the podcast... but I try to keep an optimistic voice.

So head over to my podcast page and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Stitcher, or directly use this RSS link in your podcast app.

The Creative Processes

Searching for the creative process is a fallacy. There is no one process. There are processes.

It is easy to hear about a creative's process if said creative is a newbie. Newbies tend to have time to talk about their process. Veteran creatives are busy. Access to them is tough as well.

I don't think veteran creatives are secretive about their process. A good creative knows that the best thing to do to an idea is to expose it to the world. I think veteran creatives don't have a medium to share their knowledge and process. Youtube videos, blog posts etc take a lot of time and effort to produce.

Creating a medium is a full time job in and of itself.

I am a big fan of podcasts. I listen to them often. Today I discovered Andrew Bird in a podcast called Song Exploder. Andrew Bird talked about his creative process in producing the song Roma Fade. Since listening to this episode, I am hooked on the lifting rythm, the combination of whistling and violin, and Andrew Bird's melodic voice. I have plugged in my reference headphones and I am listening to the song on repeat.

I read somewhere that people stop discovering new music in their 30's. I think we need better mediums where discoveries can happen.

TV is no longer that medium.
Radio neither.
Coffee shops are dead.
Books will always rule.
Podcasts are the next best thing.

I am happy that a creative's process became a little more accessible today.

You are the Bottleneck

In a world where you can google anything, you become the bottleneck in cultivating your own worldview. Not your trusted news anchor and not your favorite DJ on the radio.

YOU!

We don't rely much on radio and TV to break news and ideas to us. Radio and TV are always half a step behind the spread of news and ideas. Chances are that google has got there first.

So you are only as good as what you can google. The pressure shifts from them to you.

I try to work around the bottleneck of my own mind by signing up for blogs, podcasts, and visiting Google News often.

Here is the most important feature of blogs, podcasts and Google News: As and when and I am exposed to a new idea I can try out a new blogger/podcaster/news topic on that idea. I can keep it or remove it from the feed. I can try out this new idea before I decide to invest more time, money and effort pursuing it further.

For example, I was researching iPads before purchasing one. So I added an iPad topic to Google News. It helped me find out that Apple was about to release a new version in a few months. I could wait, so I did. When I was ready to purchase the iPad, I switched the topic off. I do the same with world events and science related topics.

I also buy and read books though I don't do it as diligently. A good way to try out a book before buying it is to read the author's blog if they have one.

The internet is at your fingertips.
It is up to your fingertips now.
Make them count.

Elucidate

Do you listen to podcasts?

Podcasts are a rich media that brilliant producers create. Shows are beautifully crafted and are super engaging. I subscribe to a dozen podcasts and listen to them daily.

Think DVR for your best radio shows downloaded to your phone seamlessly...we live in wonderful times!

My good friend and musical genius, Goliath Flores started a podcast. He is combining his love for story telling along with his love for sound-design and soundtrack creation.

I have been listening to his first episode this afternoon and it is simply brilliant. He tells a familiar story but with details that have gripped me into the narrative. The soundtrack helps build emotion but largely stays out of the way, like any good soundtrack should.

Subscribe to his podcast, Elucidate on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast or where ever you get your podcasts.
Download, listen, tip on his website.

You will thank me.

Music

I have a short commute to the office. Just 12 minutes one way. Yes, I am very grateful for it. The only downside to this short commute is that it does not render enough time for me to finish listening to all my podcasts. And I listen to a lot of podcasts.

So my podcast playlist automatically updates and never ends. The phone automatically connects to the car radio and seamlessly continues where I left off. I am very happy with this set up, but it leaves no room for music listening.

Most of the podcasts I listen to are very well produced. They have a theme music that adds well to the mood and sentiment of the story. Some are fictional, some entertainment, and some are intellectually stimulating.

However, none of them seem to serve the purpose that music plays in my life.

I can tell after a month or so of podcast listening that my attention starts to drift. Things start to feel colorless and dry in my head. I have learned to sense this... this feeling... my brain asking for music. So I quit the podcast app and switch on the music app.

I find an album that interests me. I start at the first song. I let it play in order and I repeat the whole album for a couple of times. Like the cassette player days. And things feel right again.

Currently I am listening to the excellent album Woman by Rhye. I will back to listening to my podcasts in a week or so.

I don't know the intellectual explaination to this need my brain exhibits. It is a need on the self-care spectrum, not on the entertainment end of the spectrum.

I have just learned to listen.