joshua chamberlain

Category: creativity

  • save it all

    I’ve started upwards of a hundred stories and plays. Most of them are in folders in my hard drive, abandoned and unfinished. This morning, I suddenly knew how to fix a play I haven’t thought about it three years. I was suddenly back in the room with the characters and…

  • nothing to say

    In her book, How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, Jenny Odell cites Gilles Deleuze’s Negotiations: We’re riddled with pointless talk, insane quantities of words and images. Stupidity’s never blind or mute. So it’s not a problem of getting people to express themselves but of providing little gaps of…

  • missing the boat

    Most days, I begin by putting on a pot of coffee, practicing transcendental mediation, then writing three long-hand pages on a legal pad. From there, I open up the internet and write a blog post. Then onto working on whatever short story or play needs my attention. But some days,…

  • commissioning a new notebook

    I’ve carried a Moleskin notebook in my pocket with me everywhere I go for almost ten years now. It usually takes between six months and nine months to fill it with drawings, dialogue, bits of prose, and snippets of conversation. When it comes time to retire a notebook, I empty…

  • Christoph Niemann on practice

    In his episode of Abstract: The Art of Design, Illustrator Christoph Niemann has this to say about showing up for work: “You have to practice and become better. Every athlete, every musician practices every day. Why should it be different for artists?” His Sunday Sketches are a perfect example.

  • why I quit

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m not great at letting things go. Despite this fact, yesterday I decided to call it quits on a novel I’ve been tinkering with for close to eight years. There were many reasons to do so. The project was an attempt…

  • process > product

    I used to want to write something so monumental–so universal–it would shift the culture in a tectonic way. Problem is, I can’t control that. I can only control the work, not the way people respond to it. If we concern ourselves with the process, the results will take care of…

  • the way we work

    I just started reading Jenny Odell’s How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy. Only twenty pages in and I’m already furious. The way we work must change. An example from my own life: As my sister was working from home last summer, she often lamented having her boundaries crossed.…

  • doors to nowhere

    I read recently that when interviewed about his classic painting, Nighthawks, Edward Hopper was asked about the lack of visible exit. “Dammit,” he responded. “I did it again…” I have no way of knowing if this is true, as I’ve been unable to corroborate the story. Regardless, I love the…

  • late night seeing

    I couldn’t sleep last night, so I poured a drink, put on a record, and opened my notebook. This happens every so often–I sit straight up in bed and feel compelled to make art. A few years back, I’d make collages or write poems. Stranded in the Midwest though, drawing…