May 2019

Welcome to issue #4! Still publishing the first Sunday of every month, even though this one is squeaking by at a few minutes past midnight. I’m very proud of myself for being consistent with this. Not sure if the production quality has gone up or down in the months since I started, but I’m going to round up and say this is the best one yet.

reading: I haven’t been reading as much this year as I did last year, but I did read a couple gems in April. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins was one of them. I’m generally not drawn to murder mysteries, but I loved that it was told from the perspective of like six different people who were all bound together in some way and each knew a tiny piece of the puzzle.

Another book I read was I’m With The Band by Pamela Des Barres. She was one of the most famous groupies in rock history. Reading about the musicians she was friends and lovers with (including but not limited to Led Zepplin’s Jimmy Page, The Bryd’s Chris Hillman, and Mick Jagger) made me start to fangirl a bit myself and give more attention to their amazing music. I’m inspired by how Pamela lived her life with such freedom and love (she’s hosting a writer’s workshop here in Las Vegas pretty soon but all the tickets are sold out, boo!).

watching: Spotify Premium now includes a subscription to Hulu at no additional cost, but even with a new streaming app on my phone to distract my fragile focus, I really haven’t been watching much lately. The only time I really feel compelled to watch a TV show is right after I get off work, but that never fails to make me fall asleep, which in turn makes me extremely groggy, disrupts my sleep at night, and wastes the precious parts of my day which I have dedicated to writing and drawing. However, I was quite excited to discover that Hulu has the entire Twilight Saga. 🙂

new things: I just finished reading Daily Rituals by Mason Curry. It’s an anthology of writers, artists, musicians, and thinkers throughout history, and how they shaped their lives around their work. Many of these creative professionals maintained jobs throughout the entirety of their careers to help support their passion projects. Some absolutely despised this lesser work, while other enjoyed it and gathered inspiration from their jobs and coworkers.

The idea of finding a normal full time job while working on my writing has never really appealed to me, because it felt like giving up. But after reading this book, I’ve started to see the idea of a stable consistent employment and living situation in a new light. If I can stop worrying about where I’m going to live or how I’m going to afford things, I can fuel more focus into writing and art. I’m currently looking for a full time job that can afford me my own place of residency, and might have found the perfect job, but I won’t know until mid-summer if it will pan out. Fingers crossed!

thinking about: Star Wars Day was yesterday (RIP Peter Mayhew, the actor best known for his role as Chewbacca, who died six days ago). I’m a pretty big fan of Star Wars and usually celebrate “May The Fourth Be With You” every year, but I had to work yesterday. Thankfully, there’s a second chance day called Revenge of the Fifth, which is today (my parent’s and I all watched The Phantom Menace together).

I thought about the concept of being grateful for the chance of tomorrow. Often when I think about my goals of becoming a published writer or freelance illustrator, I get anxiety and wish I’d started working hard on my career five years ago. But telling myself “there’s always tomorrow” has been helpful. Not in a flippant way to give myself excuse to be lazy in the present day. But I think about an index card Austin Kleon keeps above his desk that says “Every day. Without hope, without despair.” It’s a reminder to not put too much stock into one individual day. Every day you wake up alive is another day to be grateful and do a little work—without hope and without despair.

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Thanks for reading!
Ally