Perils of the green monster

Seth Godin’s reluctant student ... (plus a flipbook of a real bed and breakfast)

Mural in San Cristóbal de Las Casas

Somewhere, there is the ideal soil for growing mangoes. Or the best possible wave for surfing. Or the most romantic sunset for a proposal.

But it’s not right here and it’s not right now.

Our success has a lot to do with how we dance with conditions that aren’t quite perfect.

— Seth Godin

Seth Godin has been a big name since the time when I was involved with Big Names. I once shared an elevator with him and felt both a buzz and a wash of creative jealousy. Envy not only of his creative prolificness, but also his marketing savvy … both of which I dismissed as cleverness. (Remember that stupid Purple Cow? … It was only one of his 19 international best sellers.) I deliberately avoided writing about him and made no effort to invite him to be part of the innovation conferences I hosted for several years.

Many years later … surprised that he was still a big name … and still carrying the weight of the green monster, for some reason I signed up for his DAILY newsletter with something of a scoff: who could possibly have something of worth to say EVERY DAY? I thoroughly expected to debunk his mystique.

Seth’s newsletters are plain Jane … no images, no formatting, nothing but words, often few, sometimes a few hundred. They have been like water dripping on stone, until I woke up recently recognizing his brilliance … and my own sad jealousy.

Here is a sampling from his daily newsletters … which somehow kept creeping into my quote files:

"If your work isn’t more useful or insightful or urgent than GPT3 can create in 12 seconds, don’t interrupt people with it."

"Art is what we call ... the thing an artist does. It's not the medium or the oil or the price or whether it hangs on a wall or you eat it. What matters, what makes it art, is that the person who made it overcame the resistance, ignored the voice of doubt and made something worth making. Something risky. Something human. Art is not in the ... eye of the beholder. It's in the soul of the artist."

"Of course, the realization of what it takes to create value might break your heart, because it means you have to specialize, take risks, create art, leave a positive impact and adopt generosity in all you do. It means you have to develop extraordinary expertise and that you are almost always hanging way out of the boat, about to fall out."

"The stuff that matters is almost always inconvenient."

"Wouldn't it be great to be gifted? In fact... It turns out that choices lead to habits. Habits become talents. Talents are labeled gifts. You're not born this way, you get this way."

And, here’s Seth with a recommendation about how to use AI for Substack … I’m going to try it:

The new version of Claude can read a document of up to 400 pages in about three minutes.

You can then ask it for criticism, summaries or other insights.

I wouldn’t use it on a piece of literature, but if you’re reading for work (aren’t we all), it will dramatically increase how much you can survey before diving deep.

And it’s very talented at reading something you wrote and telling you where you might have gone astray. Simply say, “please summarize and critique this, looking for strategic errors and inconsistencies: ” and then paste your document. If it doesn’t understand what you meant to say, there’s a good chance the reader won’t as well.

And, speaking of creative envy,

Stunning Sentences

written by Nina Schuyler definitely earns that reaction with her gifted insight into sentence structure. The way she surgically unpacks sentences is like looking through a microscope at squiggly little life forms I never knew existed. Then, she kindly says, “Try it yourself.” Squirming under the green monster AND the demon Imposter Syndrome, I thought “never,” until curiosity got the better of me and I did. And, she said something kind. So, I tried it again, and, again, she was kind.

Now, I’m hooked and love every stunning sentence she sends our way. Thanks, Nina.

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As you may have realized by now, I am avid about Substack … both as an author and as a reader. There are so many fresh voices here … wisdom that doesn’t come in a package pre-authorized, face-washed, and sanitized by a publisher who may or may not truly care about the message. Here I find wondrous, wandering souls who pour their ideas and experiences onto the page every week and invite us into conversation.

For the rest of the year, I want to give you a glimpse of some of the Substack authors who’ve made my year more than it might have been. Last week you met the colorfully odd Andrew Smith and his

Goatfury Writes

… this week the eloquently insightful Nina Schuyler and her

Stunning Sentences

… why wouldn’t we fall in love with Substack when the halls are filled with writers like these?

Substackers who have shifted my thinking:

Introducing a handful of unique Substackers worth reading IMHO … although far from a comprehensive list, these folks will launch you beyond the BIG Names and into the “WOW, I’m glad I found you” stands. Each author will be the focus on the date referenced … but just in case you want to skip ahead (or back) or subscribe now rather than later, here’s what’s highlighted in the last 7 weeks of 2023.

11/18/23

Kathryn Vercillo

writing in Create Me Free about mental health and art.

11/25/23

Russell C. Smith

writing in The New Now about the power of manifestos.

12/2/23

Medha Murtagh

writes about Great Things with humor and illustrations.

12/9/23 Goatfury Writesby Andrew Smith writing about anything that crosses his curious and unique mind.

12/16/23

Nina Schuyler

writes Stunning Sentences. If you’re a writer, you may never look at (or write) sentences in the same way.

12/23/23

M. E. Rothwell

writes Cosmographia, a map-based travel adventure like no other.

12/30/23Unfixedby Kimberly Warner presented me with a life lesson I’m still chewing on.

Morning after rain in San Cristóbal de Las Casas

12/16/2023 … Home again, home again

Back in my cozy corner after 18 days in Chiapas, MX, one of my favorite places.

Messily packed in my suit case were a couple of insights:

There is a correlation between passion and the discomfort we’re willing to endure. I “met” some incredible women who braved the tangled heat, bugs, and dangers of the jungle in order to discover more about the ancient Mayan world. I intend to write more about them this coming year.

While I’ve been a fan of airbnb, on this trip I experienced what we’ve lost with the demise of real Bed & Breakfasts where magic can happen. The digital flipbook below will give you a tiny taste of Bela’s Bed and Breakfast in San Cristóbal de Las Casas where I met Lucy and Wombat (from Australia) who are walking the length of the world and David (from San Francisco) who retired at 51 and now explores the world several months of the year, as well Bela, the ringmaster of the show … if you look up “character” in the QED, you’ll find her there.

Click here for a short view of Bela’s Bed and Breakfast.

For a glimpse of Lucy and Wombat’s incredible journey, click here.