austinkleon-com-yahlot.txt (9571B)
1 [1]Austin Kleon 2 3 • [2]Blog 4 • [3]Books 5 • [4]Newsletter 6 • [5]Speaking 7 • [6]About 8 • [7]Contact 9 • [8][9] 10 11 You are here: [10]Blog / [11]Miscellany / A good assistant to your future self 12 13 A good assistant to your future self 14 15 Monday, March 20, 2023 16 17 [12][IMG_2886-600x600] 18 19 This morning I was flipping through my copy of the [13]Bicycle Sentences 20 Journal that illustrator [14]Betsy Streeter sent me and I was quite taken with 21 this final paragraph by Grant Petersen. (I’m a big fan of [15]his blog and [16] 22 Just Ride.) 23 24 He touches on [17]why I keep a diary, why I keep it [18]on paper, and the magic 25 of [19]keeping a logbook. The mundane details can bring back sublime memories, 26 and [20]what you think is boring now may be interesting in the future: “What 27 seems bland when you write it down… will seem epic in thirty years.” 28 29 I have a new studio routine where when I’m unsure of what to write about, I 30 [21]revisit my notebooks each year [22]on today’s date. (I have notebooks going 31 back 20 years, daily logbooks going back 15, but I’ve kept a daily diary for 5 32 years now. That’s where a lot of gems are buried.) 33 34 Flipping through these notebooks will usually yield something worth writing 35 about. (This morning, it was [23]William Burroughs on language.) 36 37 Reading my diary this way, which I first learned from [24]reading Thoreau’s 38 diary, also shows me the cycles and patterns of my life. 39 40 (For example: [25]Cocteau Twins and the beginning of spring are somehow 41 intertwined in my life. What does that mean? And what does the fact that their 42 lyrics are barely understandable mean when matched with the Burroughs? Spring 43 is a season of rebirth… When babies are new, they babble and make noise without 44 language… do they sound like spring to me for this reason? You can see how 45 these thoughts, none of which I had when I woke up this morning, come forth 46 from just reading myself.) 47 48 [26][Screen-Shot-2023-03-20-at-11] 49 50 Another way to think about it: Keeping a diary is being a good research 51 assistant to your future self. 52 53 This is the advice that art critic [27]Jerry Saltz has tweeted over the years: 54 55 [28]Be a good assistant to yourself. Prepare and gather, make notations and 56 sketches in your head or phone. When you work, all that mapping, 57 architecture, research & preparation will be your past self giving a gift 58 to the future self that you are now. That is the sacred. 59 60 [29]I’ve never had an assistant. I am my own best assistant. My assistant 61 -self is my past self loving my future self who’ll need this previous 62 research when I reach for something in my work. My assistant-self has 63 gotten ideas for whole articles, essays from minutes of research online. 64 65 [30]Artists: The beautiful thing about giving yourself a little break & not 66 working – those are the times when new ideas flood in from the cosmos & set 67 your “assistant self” in motion, the self that will be there for your 68 “future-self.” Curiosity and obsession always fill the vacuum. 69 70 [31]Artists: Be your own best assistant. Do your research. Get your tools 71 and materials in order. These will be the ancestors, spirit guides and 72 self-replicating imagination of your work. This will allow art to reproduce 73 itself in you. You’ll thank yourself during & afterwards. 74 75 I have my many moments of self-loathing at my own lack of progress, but one 76 thing I have done right, at least in the past half decade or so: I have been a 77 good assistant to my future self. 78 79 Joan Didion said of re-reading notebooks, “I think we are well advised to keep 80 on nodding terms with the people we used to be.” This is especially true if 81 they have bothered to preserve themselves so we can visit them later. 82 83 Yes, a diary is [32]a good spaceship for time travel: for meditating on the 84 present, flinging ourselves into the future, and visiting ourselves in the 85 past. 86 87 Filed Under: [33]Miscellany Tagged: [34]bicycles, [35]diaries, [36]jerry saltz, 88 [37]NOTES ON WRITING AND DRAWING, [38]time travel 89 90 [39][ ][40][Search] 91 About the author 92 93 [41]Austin Kleon 94 95 [42]Austin Kleon is a writer who draws. He’s the bestselling author of [43] 96 Steal Like An Artist and other books. [44]Read more→ 97 98 • [45] 99 • [46] 100 • [47] 101 • [48] 102 • [49] 103 104 Subscribe to my newsletter 105 106 Join the 200,000+ readers who get it delivered free to their inboxes every 107 week: 108 109 [50]On This Date 110 111 • 2020: [51]Peanuts, remixed 112 • 2019: [52]Drawers 113 • 2018: [53]The right book at the right time 114 • 2017: [54]Seasonal time 115 116 Get the 10th anniversary gift edition 117 118 [55]Steal Like an Artist 10th Anniversary gift edition 119 120 Listen to the audiobook trilogy 121 122 [56]The Steal Like An Artist Audio Trilogy 123 124 Read my books 125 126 [57]Keep Going [58]Show Your Work [59]Steal Like An Artist [60]The Steal Like 127 An Artist Journal [61]Newspaper Blackout 128 129 Order t-shirts on demand 130 131 [62]t-shirts 132 133 Recent posts 134 135 • [63]How do you draw time? 136 • [64]A plan and not enough time 137 • [65]Autumn leaves (a September mixtape) 138 • [66]Human resources 139 • [67]Cut out verbs 140 141 More about me 142 143 • 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[12] https://www.rivbike.com/products/bicycle-sentences 188 [13] https://www.rivbike.com/products/bicycle-sentences 189 [14] https://www.instagram.com/betsystreeter/?hl=en 190 [15] https://www.rivbike.com/blogs/grant-petersens-blog 191 [16] https://geni.us/pLVPGGl 192 [17] https://austinkleon.com/2018/02/20/what-is-the-point-of-keeping-a-diary/ 193 [18] https://austinkleon.com/tag/paper-is-a-wonderful-technology 194 [19] https://austinkleon.com/tag/logbook 195 [20] https://austinkleon.com/2021/01/31/what-you-think-is-boring-now-may-be-interesting-in-the-future/ 196 [21] https://austinkleon.com/2017/12/15/on-the-importance-of-revisiting-notebooks/ 197 [22] https://austinkleon.com/2017/10/21/on-this-day/ 198 [23] https://austinkleon.com/2023/03/20/errors-in-western-language/ 199 [24] https://austinkleon.com/2018/11/13/a-year-of-thoreau/ 200 [25] https://cocteautwins.com/ 201 [26] https://twitter.com/jerrysaltz/status/1556296370440400896 202 [27] https://twitter.com/jerrysaltz 203 [28] https://twitter.com/jerrysaltz/status/1556296370440400896 204 [29] https://twitter.com/jerrysaltz/status/1559535799896576000 205 [30] https://twitter.com/jerrysaltz/status/1559886618575732738 206 [31] https://twitter.com/jerrysaltz/status/1606742728024494080 207 [32] https://austinkleon.com/2014/01/19/a-good-spaceship/ 208 [33] https://austinkleon.com/category/miscellany/ 209 [34] https://austinkleon.com/tag/bicycles/ 210 [35] https://austinkleon.com/tag/diaries/ 211 [36] https://austinkleon.com/tag/jerry-saltz/ 212 [37] https://austinkleon.com/tag/notes-on-writing-and-drawing/ 213 [38] https://austinkleon.com/tag/time-travel/ 214 [41] https://austinkleon.com/about/ 215 [42] https://austinkleon.com/about/ 216 [43] https://austinkleon.com/steal/ 217 [44] https://austinkleon.com/about/ 218 [45] http://facebook.com/mr.austin.kleon 219 [46] http://instagram.com/austinkleon 220 [47] http://tumblr.austinkleon.com/ 221 [48] http://twitter.com/austinkleon 222 [49] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8uQnyh7DAfp4uX9RN7XxEw 223 [50] https://austinkleon.com/on-this-date/ 224 [51] https://austinkleon.com/2020/10/02/peanuts-remixed/ 225 [52] https://austinkleon.com/2019/10/02/drawers/ 226 [53] https://austinkleon.com/2018/10/02/the-right-book-at-the-right-time/ 227 [54] https://austinkleon.com/2017/10/02/seasonal-time/ 228 [55] https://austinkleon.com/steal/ 229 [56] https://austinkleon.com/steal-audiobook-trilogy 230 [57] https://austinkleon.com/keepgoing 231 [58] https://austinkleon.com/show-your-work 232 [59] https://austinkleon.com/steal/ 233 [60] https://austinkleon.com/journal 234 [61] https://austinkleon.com/newspaperblackout/ 235 [62] https://cottonbureau.com/people/austin-kleon 236 [63] https://austinkleon.com/2024/10/01/how-do-you-draw-time/ 237 [64] https://austinkleon.com/2024/09/27/a-plan-and-not-enough-time/ 238 [65] https://austinkleon.com/2024/09/26/autumn-leaves-a-september-mixtape/ 239 [66] https://austinkleon.com/2024/09/24/human-resources/ 240 [67] https://austinkleon.com/2024/09/20/cut-out-verbs/ 241 [68] https://austinkleon.com/books/ 242 [69] http://austinkleon.com/newsletter 243 [70] https://austinkleon.com/category/reading/my-reading-years/ 244 [71] http://twitter.com/austinkleon 245 [72] http://instagram.com/austinkleon 246 [73] http://tumblr.austinkleon.com/ 247 [76] http://facebook.com/mr.austin.kleon 248 [77] http://instagram.com/austinkleon 249 [78] http://tumblr.austinkleon.com/ 250 [79] http://twitter.com/austinkleon 251 [80] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8uQnyh7DAfp4uX9RN7XxEw 252 [81] https://austinkleon.com/ 253 [82] https://austinkleon.com/books/ 254 [83] https://austinkleon.substack.com/ 255 [84] https://austinkleon.com/speaking/ 256 [85] https://austinkleon.com/about/ 257 [86] https://austinkleon.com/contact/