Holy cow. I never knew Tweedy did that much outside Wilco. Or that much period. Curious to know how he helps his imagination churn out so much good product.
Speaking of imagination, that seems like a thread in your post. From the Priory to this:
“The more threatened he feels, the more he will advocate political violence. We saw what he did when he was losing his presidency; imagine what he’ll do when he’s losing his freedom.”
I think your audience in particular needs to imagine this. Charismatic Revival Fury has uncovered this. Your book Testimony has too.
How many more ways can it be said?: waaayyy too many evangelicals are aiding and abetting the build up of the violence that’s coming.
Those who go along to get along in Christian circles and end up supporting Trump because they assume he’s better than the left will find your two points also give their itching ears a good scratch.
Of course there are ways the USG gets politically weaponized. Of course the Biden administration is compromised in ways. Both deserve legal review and the presumption of innocence, like Trump.
But Trump is different. The media spectacle around this is bewitching. Keep keeping our eyes on the ball. “Stakes is high.”
Tweedy's book "How to Write One Song" is a compendium of the routines he uses to create so consistently and relentlessly, along with practical exercises, things to get your creative juices going, and other pieces of advice. But Chapter 5, in particular, goes into a lot of detail about his rhythms and habits, in the form of one 24-hour period.
"Inspiration doesn't just happen -- it has to be invited in, time and time again, through regular, concentrated work," (35) he writes.
It shouldn't really be a surprise, but sometimes it still is, that people who are highly productive and have high creative output over a 20-plus year period are disciplined and driven. What I found interesting about Tweedy's 24-hour period is how there are specific times where he's trying to generate new ideas. He starts with melodies, toying with them, working on new ones, exploring, from 8 to 10 pm, and then takes a break to hang with his family, and then gets back to trying to pair scraps of lyrics he's stockpiled before he goes to bed. And he's a big believer in how working on something right before sleep can allow the subconscious to unlock a puzzle when you wake.
Then he's got more structured time in studio to work on more finished material. But it's his generative process, which is constant and ongoing and also part of his structured day, that I find really interesting.
"Setting aside time to spend in the creative state--especially when I see how much time people spend on their phones-is something you can do every day. I think this suggestion is valuable even for people who juggle a mind-numbing load of obligations, to their kids, to work, to whatever else is important in their life," he writes. "Even if you can only find five minutes -- it doesn't take that long. It's just a matter of telling yourself that your creation is OK, no matter what it is (21).
I also love this: "At the core of any creative act is an impulse to make manifest our powerful desire to connect--with others, withourselves, with the sacred, with God" (11).
And this: "If we're being realistic about what an end goal should be, creating something with no ambition other than to get something off our chest might be the purest thing anyone could aim for" (14).
Purchased. Fits in perfectly to a podcast series at Philosophize This! on Simone Veil and Rick Rubin’s book. Both have me adjusting my approach to my days and my work. Really appreciate these insights, Jon. And the point about simply getting a thing off your chest through some simple creative act rings really true. It does feel like reaching for something pure.
Holy cow. I never knew Tweedy did that much outside Wilco. Or that much period. Curious to know how he helps his imagination churn out so much good product.
Speaking of imagination, that seems like a thread in your post. From the Priory to this:
“The more threatened he feels, the more he will advocate political violence. We saw what he did when he was losing his presidency; imagine what he’ll do when he’s losing his freedom.”
I think your audience in particular needs to imagine this. Charismatic Revival Fury has uncovered this. Your book Testimony has too.
How many more ways can it be said?: waaayyy too many evangelicals are aiding and abetting the build up of the violence that’s coming.
Those who go along to get along in Christian circles and end up supporting Trump because they assume he’s better than the left will find your two points also give their itching ears a good scratch.
Of course there are ways the USG gets politically weaponized. Of course the Biden administration is compromised in ways. Both deserve legal review and the presumption of innocence, like Trump.
But Trump is different. The media spectacle around this is bewitching. Keep keeping our eyes on the ball. “Stakes is high.”
Tweedy's book "How to Write One Song" is a compendium of the routines he uses to create so consistently and relentlessly, along with practical exercises, things to get your creative juices going, and other pieces of advice. But Chapter 5, in particular, goes into a lot of detail about his rhythms and habits, in the form of one 24-hour period.
"Inspiration doesn't just happen -- it has to be invited in, time and time again, through regular, concentrated work," (35) he writes.
It shouldn't really be a surprise, but sometimes it still is, that people who are highly productive and have high creative output over a 20-plus year period are disciplined and driven. What I found interesting about Tweedy's 24-hour period is how there are specific times where he's trying to generate new ideas. He starts with melodies, toying with them, working on new ones, exploring, from 8 to 10 pm, and then takes a break to hang with his family, and then gets back to trying to pair scraps of lyrics he's stockpiled before he goes to bed. And he's a big believer in how working on something right before sleep can allow the subconscious to unlock a puzzle when you wake.
Then he's got more structured time in studio to work on more finished material. But it's his generative process, which is constant and ongoing and also part of his structured day, that I find really interesting.
"Setting aside time to spend in the creative state--especially when I see how much time people spend on their phones-is something you can do every day. I think this suggestion is valuable even for people who juggle a mind-numbing load of obligations, to their kids, to work, to whatever else is important in their life," he writes. "Even if you can only find five minutes -- it doesn't take that long. It's just a matter of telling yourself that your creation is OK, no matter what it is (21).
I also love this: "At the core of any creative act is an impulse to make manifest our powerful desire to connect--with others, withourselves, with the sacred, with God" (11).
And this: "If we're being realistic about what an end goal should be, creating something with no ambition other than to get something off our chest might be the purest thing anyone could aim for" (14).
Purchased. Fits in perfectly to a podcast series at Philosophize This! on Simone Veil and Rick Rubin’s book. Both have me adjusting my approach to my days and my work. Really appreciate these insights, Jon. And the point about simply getting a thing off your chest through some simple creative act rings really true. It does feel like reaching for something pure.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4loz6427Wj5TEmhMfhiPmZ?si=F8fjhossRK6F4GZ5ltPzZw