"DEATH IS COMING" AND OTHER UPLIFTING STUFF TO BRIGHTEN YOUR WEEK
Plus fun facts about Bill Withers, and how The Artist's Way is a guide to aging well.
Greetings from stormy Los Angeles, friends! We have really been getting doused over here. I know rain is challenging and people are over it, but rain can also be a brilliant muse. Just consider how many songs were inspired by and written about rain. Why just this morning, I started singing, “I see the crystal raindrops fall and the beauty of it all is when the sun comes shining through,” from the Grammy-winning hit song, “Just The Two of Us” by Bill Withers and Grover Washington Jr.
The song brought to mind a passage I read in Booker T. Jones’ memoir, Time Is Tight: My Life Note By Note. Jones, of Booker T. and The M.G.’s fame, recounted producing/arranging Bill Withers first album for Sussex Records. At the time (1970), Bill Withers worked as an assembler for Weber Aircraft, building airplane bathrooms. When Withers showed up to the recording studio in his workman overalls, Booker T. Jones didn’t know what to make of the understated singer. But as soon as Withers belted out those rich, baritone vocals, Jones was blown away.
The record, Just As I Am, took a year to complete because of budget restrictions. Upon its release, the song “Aint’ No Sunshine,” (a B-side), inspired by the story of two alcoholics from the movie, Days of Wine and Roses (!), went gold. Still, Withers didn’t quit his day job. He thought the music biz was an unreliable source of income. Pretty relatable, right? In one of my very first writing classes as an adult, the instructor warned us, “Don’t quit your day job.” Meanwhile, I had already quit my day job. Not because I thought I was going to be a successful writer. I just couldn’t take the grind anymore and planned to freelance for a while or forever. The teacher wasn’t trying to be a downer or discourage us from writing, however. She just knew that it’s hard out there for creative types. Even someone as gifted and successful as Bill Withers, with a gold record on his wall (or in his case, a gold toilet seat that his label had custom-made as a funny way to commemorate the end of his career building airplane bathrooms), believed his success might be fleeting.
THE ARTIST’S WAY
Most creative types have a hard time accepting that we can/will ever achieve success by doing what we love. It’s the reason that Julia Cameron’s book on creative recovery, The Artist’s Way has stayed relevant for thirty-one years. I’ve been in a group for six weeks with a bunch of writers making our way through The Artist’s Way’s workbook. The group was organized by TV writer/producer/actor, Ali Vingiano, who has a wonderful Substack on writing and the creative process called “Little Things.” Highly recommend.
Each week, we read a chapter and complete therapeutic exercises and tasks to help restore a sense of joy and passion around artistic pursuits. This is the third time I’ve tried to get through The Artist’s Way. The first 2 times I was on my own and crapped out, which is pretty common. There’s a lot of resistance to indulging ourselves creatively and beyond. But as a group, we are taking Bill Wither’s advice and leaning on each other for support.
Here’s a couple of things you might not have known about Bill Withers: 1) He had a stutter as a child, and said he had a hard time fitting in. Can you imagine if Bill Withers had let his stutter prevent him from making music? The world would’ve been robbed of his talent. And there’d be no LEAN ON ME for every artist to cover. 2) He actually wrote more verses for AIN’T NO SUNSHINE, but Booker T. and some of the studio musicians told him to repeat, “I know” twenty-six times instead. Yay for clever collaborators.
EVERYONE IS AN ARTIST
Julia Cameron believes that we’re all artists. She reminds us that as children we were encouraged to draw, paint, dance, sing, write, roller skate, bake, or just fill-in-the-blank of any creative pursuit you enjoyed as a kid. I grew up in LA in the 70s. During a storm, my brother and I would hang out and play “rainy day games.” This usually entailed putting clown make-up one of those disembodied Barbie Heads for Hair and Make-up. (Perhaps this explains why I’m very bad at applying make-up.) Or I flipped through the Childcraft Encyclopedia How and Why Series and looked for inspiration. (Thanks for those books, Ma.) One volume was called Make and Do and I learned how to construct paper balloons, make a salt shaker disappear, and build tin-can stilts! Just look at how crafty and clever we were before the advent of cell phones.
LESSONS FOR AGING WELL
As we grew older, we started to succumb to societal pressure to be adults and hold down steady jobs. In the process, we forgot how much we loved to play and make art. In her book, Cameron challenges us to embrace our inner artist child and do all the things we always loved to do, or wanted to do, but shied away from because someone told us we weren’t good enough, or deemed it a waste of time. This is not just great advice for struggling creative types, it’s also a worthwhile philosophy for aging well and making the most of the time we have left on earth.
“DEATH IS COMING” SO TAKE YOURSELF ON A DATE
I scrolled past a video on Instagram recently of an older woman saying she was content just to wake up every day because, “Death is coming.” And though that may be a morbid sentiment, there’s no denying that it’s the truth. We must seize the day and spend time doing the things we love. In The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron encourages us to go on an “artist date” every week. An artist date is a fun solo outing, like treating yourself to a donut, going to a museum, or walking through a field of flowers. It’s whatever you love to do, but rarely prioritize.
I can’t say I’ve pulled off an artist date every week of this challenge, but I’ve managed a few. I took myself out to lunch, went to the park, poked around a stationary store, and refrained from looking at my phone the entire time. It was freeing, fun, and restorative. My brain felt, well, less fried. Cameron also challenges us to throw out the ratty clothes we never wear, fill our offices with knick knacks and plants that brighten up the space, or sign up for a class to learn something new. By doing nice things for ourselves, we start to attract more creative opportunities, possibilities, and abundance—so says Cameron. Yesterday, since it was real wet out there, I baked some chocolate chip cookies. I believe that qualifies as an artist date because I really enjoy baking, and the activity resulted in a ton of cookie abundance, ergo, my favorite type of abundance.
Have you ever read The Artist’s Way? Did you finish the book? If you’ve tried it, please let me know how it went for you in the comments. Or if you’re not an Artist’s Way person, but have figured out how to make time yourself each week by doing something you love, please share how you do it. We could all use some inspiration and good news. And finally, if you have a favorite rainy day song or activity, let me know just in case this rain continues. Thanks for reading and commenting and if you know anyone who might like to subscribe to In With The Old, it would be swell if you could forward this on. ❤️💋
Do you know that Papa’s Culture song in which a woman with a French-tinged accent says something about “raindrops pattering on banana leaves”? As soon as I hear rain, that’s what I want as accompaniment. As for The Artist’s Way, I have never attempted it because I know that I need the accountability of a group to complete it.
I feel like this is my sign that I really need to get round to reading/working through The Artist's Way!
Love the idea of the artist date - I try to find time to do things alone but have never called it this, I guess that quite often those activities are a good way to let ideas flow and ruminate!