Creative Synergy, Pico Iyer's 'Aflame'
In today’s missive, musings on creative synergy, Pico Iyer’s new book Aflame, and some personal updates.
Creative Synergy
Last December, my son went to France for the holidays, and we returned on New Year’s Eve. The whole family fell ill during our trip, which partly explains why I didn’t publish a newsletter in January. I also intentionally left my computer at home. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t have published or updated anything. And that was fine. I needed a break. In fact, I didn’t even bring a digital camera. I took only a small half-frame film camera.
Stepping away from the digital side of things, and not feeling guilty about not publishing the newsletter, gave me some space to reflect on the nature of my digital, online work. I’ve been juggling a lot, and it’s something people often comment on — “How do you do all of this? You have a day job, you run a podcast, a newsletter… How do you manage it all?”
Taking the break made me realize that I don’t have to do any of the work I do. And I probably shouldn’t be doing half of it.
One term that I kept returning to during this time of reflection was synergy. I envy those who have a singular focus, whose work clearly revolves around one central point. I feel that this is one of my fatal flaws, juggling too many things and not having a laser-sharp focus on one.
I’ve been seriously wondering if I have a mild form of ADHD. How do I even test this?
There’s little connection between the various projects I am working on. It is as if they’re siloed off, isolated, and detached from one another. As a professor at a community college, I have a range of obligations, from teaching introductory courses to administrative “service” work. The subjects I teach don’t often align with my research interests, and my service work is wholly unrelated to both. My personal projects are just as siloed. There is little overlap between my podcast, YouTube channel, and my online writing like this newsletter. The different projects don’t always overlap, making it difficult to focus on one when I’m constantly switching between them.
During the period of reflection, I made some decisions to help align my creative chakras:
- Officially end the Travel Writing World podcast.
- Align my podcasting efforts.
- Stop writing my Creator’s Log, which was just another thing keeping me from doing real work.
- Delete social media from my phone. Access only on a computer, at most once a day.
- Focus on my research projects across all my creative channels.
- Read more, write more. Read read read. Write write write.
Ending the Travel Writing World podcast is a psychological win. By keeping it on the back burner, I felt as if I had this unfinished project hovering over me, one that I had to keep an eye on somehow. Shutting the podcast down will help me move on and focus on my current projects. Of course, the interviews and articles will remain archived on the website. If anyone wants to “acquire” the domain/podcast property, let me know.
That said, I’m not done with podcasting. I think the form is interesting. And I’ve decided that having a podcast aligned with my current research would be more meaningful. It’s a natural fit, especially since I need to interview people for my research anyway. So I’m starting a new podcast, which I’ll announce later. I’m not going release episodes on any schedule, which should help allay any pressure to produce “content.” This new podcast is essentially for me and my research, and for those who want to follow along with my research in real time.
You might be thinking: Didn’t you start a new podcast last year? Yes, you’re right. It is called Creative Journeys and focuses on creative process. I don’t feel as beholden to this podcast as I did with Travel Writing World, so I’m keeping it alive and will publish new episodes as they come. I’m not seeking out guests, but I will embrace opportunities as they arise.
Pico Iyer’s Aflame
I spoke with Pico Iyer about his new book Aflame for the Creative Journeys podcast. It is an interesting book detailing Pico’s history visiting the Benedictine hermitage in Big Sur over the last 30 odd years. It begins with Pico’s house burning down in California, the incident that led him to discover the monastery. Incidentally, the book was published here in the US when the Los Angeles wildfires captured the nations attention. The book pairs well with Pico’s earlier, short book the Art of Stillness.
More Personal Updates
I published my 2024 End of Year Review.
I reviewed Dawn Hollis’s new book Mountains Before Mountaineering. Dawn has built her career on dispelling the enduring myth that mountains were avoided and hated before modernity.
I published a video on YouTube discussing/interpreting Arthur Schopenhauer’s essay “On Reading and Books.”
That’s all for this month.
Farewell.