I began the year with serious momentum: finishing the first act of my graphic novel, relaunching my YouTube channel, outlining a novel, drawing comics and making music.
But over the summer, events in my personal life knocked me off my perch. I couldn’t raise a finger to create in July or August. I felt better in September, but lethargy had set in; the creative spark remained dull.
And then, to top it off, this very newsletter was targeted by a spam bot attack! Rest assured, your personal details were not compromised, but the attack seriously damaged the reputation of The Third Something, particularly with Gmail. Last month’s letter fell into the spam boxes of most readers.
So right now I feel like I’ve lost a lot of that momentum and progress. One step forward, two steps back.
I’m sure you’re familiar with setbacks like these and I want to share some unconventional wisdom, something I have learned from my meditation practice.
The inconvenient truth of meditation
I’ve been practicing Transcendental Meditation for more than four years and, in the most quiet and subtle of ways, it has changed my life.
The TM practice involves repeating a silent mantra to encourage the mind to settle and allow the body to rest. Some days this happens easily and effortlessly, more often though my mind stubbornly refuses to be led to rest, preferring its usual monologue of worries or regrets.
It is very common to spend most of a meditation thinking thoughts, only to realise you’ve not been meditating!
But as TM teachers tell us, this moment — this setback — is where where meditation really happens.
Why? Because each time you return to the mantra, you recommit to the process. It gets easier to return every time you do it.
And so it is, I find, with creative practice (in fact, I think this is true in all areas of life): you make a commitment, a change to your life, you start strong but soon enough, along comes a test to knock you from the path.
Before you know it, you’re Pinocchio on Pleasure Island, far from school.
The recommitment you make now, in the belly of the whale, is far more powerful than your initial intention.
And then — like the Prodigal Son — you remember your way home.
All commitments require recommitment.
Setbacks are frustrating yes, but they are also a gift: an opportunity to recommit to the work, to the change you’re making in your life.
New work from this month
So here I am, recommitting to the work! This month: a new song, two new videos and some funky links for your enjoyment.
A new piece of music (work in progress)
I’m sharing a musical work-in-progress with you first. I’ve been working on this song on-and-off since July and it’s been a tough one to crack. It’s more complicated than the others I’ve made before: it’s orchestral and has some intentional dissonance in the bass to give it an unsettling and out-of-time feel.
It’s simply called Prologue and exists in the same world as my last song.
This is me poking at whether there’s a concept album in here: part album, part audiobook! I suspect I’ll make it in a random order, figuring out the story as I go along!
Two personal videos about the creative journey
I’m opening up a lot on my YouTube channel recently, leaning into vulnerability in the hope it will inspire or encourage others to honour their creative voices.
In this video, I make a perhaps controversial argument that obsessing over craft and technical skill is merely ego and that the real art happens when you set that part of yourself aside and connect with the deeper soul within.
There’s a great conversation in the comments, viewers were really engaged with the argument, even if some disagreed.
And this video is a personal one, honouring my inner child with a story I wrote 35 years ago when I was 6 years old. Again, I address the ego mind and how it blocks creativity. I’m doing the work and sharing the work!
It’s actually based on a letter I sent to you 5 years ago — it’s nice to see something I wrote so long ago get a second life in a different medium.
Other good work
Occasionally I’ll share links to other peoples’ work — the bar is high!
M. Night Shyamalan has a YouTube channel! He’s just begun work on a new movie and is promising to document the entire creative process in video. He also has a thing for nice notebooks (h/t Craig Mod)
“People used to compare the experience of watching prestige TV shows like “The Sopranos” to reading a great Victorian novel. By the same token, we can say that watching a microdrama is like being electrocuted onstage at the circus.”
This article on L.A.’s microdrama industry (🎁) is the gift that keeps on giving. You’ll laugh and, if you have any connection to the entertainment industry, you’ll cry. Superb writing by Daniel Kolitz at the New York Times.
The next edition should drop on or around November 28th (my birthday!)
Until another Sunday soon,
