Action is the Juice, Inner Music, Cringe and More
Friday, August 4, 2023
Happy Friday everyone!
Here are 10 things I found interesting from the last week or so.
Let August Be August
To kick off this week’s newsletter and the month of August, I’d like to share a beautiful poem I came across by artist Morgan Harper Nichols:
Writer Career Paths
Nicholas Cole published an excellent article last week outlining nine writer career paths: Literary Writer, Genre Fiction Writer, Non-Fiction Writer, Newsletters, Content Writing, Ghostwriting, Copywriting, Writerpreneur, and Category Copywriter. Definitely worth checking out!
The Inner Music
Following up on the strategies concerning the “business of writing,” here’s a quote from William S. Burroughs (again) on the pleasures of writing. He said,
“To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not about what it’s about, but the inner music that words make…”
“Write with a combination of short, medium, and long sentences. Create a sound that pleases the reader’s ear. Don’t just write words. Write music.”
Writing music creates inner music.
Mì Quảng Mỹ Sơn
There are multiple locations around Ho Chi Minh City, but I happened to pop into the District 1 spot this week for lunch, and it was well worth it.
36 Hours in Ho Chi Minh City
Speaking of Ho Chi Minh City, the New York Times published its latest edition of 36 Hour itineraries for cities around the globe. And for the first time since 2014, Ho Chi Minh City is the hot spot. Patrick Scott, a regular contributor to NYT and former resident of HCMC (2018-2022), wrote a terrific piece highlighting the array of sites and activities throughout the city.
“What’s constant,” Scott writes, “is the optimism of savvy locals, Vietnamese returning from abroad and ambitious foreigners infusing the city with inventive bars, high-fashion boutiques, chic eateries and hotels.” Check out the rest of the article here: 36 Hours in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
The 10 Types of Expat You Meet While Abroad
When traveling to any city, whether for only 36 hours or weeks at a time, you’re bound to meet some serious characters along your journey. Journalist Peter Upton wrote an entertaining piece this week on his Substack, Global Scene, titled The 10 Types of Expat You Meet While Abroad.
It’s good. And more importantly, it’s funny because of how scary accurate it is.
This Week’s Movie Trio
This week also featured a wonderful trio of films.
First, Inception by Christopher Nolan (an all-time favorite—just gets better and better every single time).
Next, The Wind Rises by Hayao Miyazaki (another great film by Studio Ghibli and the last they created since releasing their newest film this year, “The Boy and the Heron.”
Fun Fact: In preparation for their latest film, they didn’t release any trailers, images, synopsis, or casting details of the film before its premiere, except for a single poster — talk about night and day compared to Barbenheimer!
And finally, Heat by Michael Mann (I watched a video with Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy where Nolan points out to Murphy how the opening scene in The Dark Knight was largely based on Heat — so, obviously had to go for it).
Quote from the movie: One of the characters says, “The action is the juice.” Answering the age-old question, “Is the juice worth the squeeze?” with another iteration of the journey is the reward. The squeeze is the juice. The work is the win. The tug is the drug. And so on and so forth.
Just Publish It
I feel as though a lot of letting August be August, picking a career path for the next decade or which movie to watch this weekend, deciding what to write about or what part of a new city first to check out really comes to just starting. Trying things out. Hitting publish. And seeing what happens. Tomas Pueyo, creator of the Substack, Uncharted Territories, wrote a great article called “How to Create a Masterpiece.” At the end, Pueyo shares a common conversation about the inertia and cringe of just publishing it.
The Feeling of Cringe
Continuing on the topic of cringe, I came across a great video by artist Koy Suntichotinun. He shares what his therapist taught him about the feeling of cringe. He said,
“My therapist taught me once that the feeling of cringe is just your authentic self coming out and your outward self trying to suppress that.”
Watch the rest of the insightful video here.
A Whole Life To “Figure It Out”
Fear holds all of us back. We fear picking the wrong career path. We cringe at our own efforts—even when we actually like the thing we’re doing. We get caught up in the business of things and forget to hear the inner music we’re creating. We focus on the bone and lose sight of the digging. We think we need to have everything figured out and forget we can still find peace growing in the wild changing of things. The good news is “figuring it out” is a lifelong thing. As Stoic philosopher Seneca wrote in his essay, “On the Shortness of Life,”
“It takes the whole of life to learn how to live, and - what will perhaps make you wonder more - it takes the whole of life to learn how to die.”
In other words — relax. You have your whole life to “figure it out.”
Enjoy the weekend and see you next Friday.
-Garrett
Great as usual!