Ebb + flow: Lessons from the Routines + Ruts podcast

I’ve been meaning to listen to Ruts + Routines, a podcast about the creative process and life as a creative, for a while. I generally binge through podcasts in one go. Basically the only one I’ve managed to routinely follow is Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. Current event ones I just can’t do very easily.

I am really enjoying hearing about other creatives and how they deal with this weird uncertain lifestyle, with the process of making things, of learning new skills. It’s nice to be able to find people who you have something in common with.

I spend a lot of time thinking about how to manage my time, what there is and isn’t space for in my life and how to make the lists I have into things I’ve made. I’m learning some valuable lessons from this show

• Listen to your body: It has ebbs and flows. You’re not always on. Rest is important. I’m not a morning person so trying not to force

• Gather: In her interview Ingrid Fetell Lee talks about gathering information and how the research she did made her book a lot richer. I’m in the gathering phase of a couple of different projects and it’s reassuring to hear that this is actually helpful and a good idea

• Tiers: Samuel Leighton-Dore talked about using three tiers for his work and I like this system. Though I’m using it in a more long term way that makes my to do lists feel more manageable

• The good old days of blogging: I’ve been missing the days when WordPress was my jam, when I had my Google RSS feed (RIP), when there was more nuance and community than you can build in 280 words. I want to blog more. I want to spend more time making stuff and less time bickering/debating on Twitter. One episode talks about how to visit a blog you have to intentionally decide to do so. With social media there is a serious lack of intention. There’s just scrolling and scrolling and more scrolling. There’s a few sites I really get a lot of value out of and people who are really useful. I want to have these in my life. I want to engage with just that. I want to type in urls. I want to decide that I have a moment for something and make it work. I want to have less time spend scrolling through the trauma that greets me each time I open Twitter. There is valuing in checking out and these days I want to spend far more of my time in long form, depth and going for walks. I want to read a book about how crows share a common ancestor with humans and have a fairly similar sensory system. I want to listen to the sound of waves while salt tickles my nose and I can feel the wind on my face. I want to blog more

Makes me feel like dancing

You are stopped at a red light. You look over at the car next to you and notice that there is a girl dancing in it. There is a chance that I am that girl and there is only one thing to blame: Belle & Sebastian. I have disc two of Push Barman to Open Old Wounds in the CD player — yes in junior high I bought CDs and occasionally still make use of them. As “Legal Man” or “Slow Graffiti” plays I am left with no choice but to dance. This is the kind of car dance that involves somewhat coordinated arm movements and foot tapping, but with enough focus to keep my foot on the brake and not miss the advanced green. Belle & Sebastian induce a Nathan Barnatt like need to wiggle and dance. That is the beauty of this album.

In its own soft, mellow way Belle & Sebastian are the kind of indie rock that you can put on while your friends who don’t think that Bon Iver are the rockingest car tunes ever are around. They are what clubs should play if they want people to truly sincerely dance. This is the music that lives in your headphones as you dance around in the kitchen while you think no one else is home. This is solid gold.

Now this is how we get to Write About Love all these years later. Belle & Sebastian are slightly older and wiser, and their music is better than ever. “I hate my job, I’m working way too much. Every day I’m stuck in an office. At one o’clock, I take my lunch up on the roof,” they sing. The music is full and the lyrics are good. You head shakes back and forth. That and consistency is the making of indie rock royalty.