Oh, hi friends!
My dear friend Charlotte posted on Instagram about turning the calendar to August, saying that action had “real karacut vibes.”
I love being associated with that fresh-start, new-month feeling!
But what does that mean, exactly?
Especially after a challenging month?
Especially when things are scattered?
Well! Here’s what I’m doing to usher in the new month, with some little time estimates so they don’t eat up the day:
Sneaking on August with Ease
Put phone in a cabinet (2 mins)
Cut-and-paste old July tasks into another note and file them away. Bye-bye! (5 mins)
Sort papers on desk (10 mins)
Go through browser and close all tabs (I just stopped writing this newsletter to actually do this, so I’m not just lying to you) (5 mins)
Open packages sitting by the door (got a cute new cat backpack for queen Lula!!) (10 mins)
Sort wild task list into their correct themes (Consult, Creative Writing, Podcast, etc.) (15 mins)
Take a long view (what do I want this month to be? to bring me?) (open-ended, but let’s give it 3 whole minutes for now lol)
These are little things!
They involve squaring corners and dry tasks.
But it’s a start. It’s something.
I like doing a lot, and the only way I can do a lot is if I have a sense of clarity and ease.
How do you like to — or want to — start the month? I’d love to know.
Did You Know I Have a Podcast? Sometimes I Forget, Too!
But here’s a realllllly good one.
Erica Rotstein is a producer, talent manager, and educator. We met a few summers ago at the New Musicals Lab in Virginia. She talked to us lyricists and composers about producing theater and what it actually looks like to put up a show, from a financial and logistical and emotional perspective.
As I often do with certain people, I thought, “Erica is wonderful! I want to be friends!” So I made that my mission, haha.
We talked for my podcast and my biggest takeaway was her commitment to radical candor: How to say the thing someone might not want to hear, and deliver it in a way that respects your relationship.
“I am a person who actually finds more conflict and discomfort in not naming discomfort. Staying silent and not talking about it is actually much more uncomfortable for me as a human.”
This was something I really needed to hear. How to tell the truth without sugarcoating it!
Hope you love our chat as much as I did. Erica’s got the best energy.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast snacks.
Btw, here are the shows, books, and resources mentioned:
Business of Broadway, where Erica and her partners teach online courses on producing, creative development, and more — HIGHLY RECOMMEND
The musical The Appointment at WP Theater
(This was recorded a few months ago, so while The Appointment is no longer playing, I also highly recommend seeing Parade — which closes August 6 — and Just for Us on Broadway, both of which Erica is a co-producer on, and which are A+++)
Broadway-bound musical Water for Elephants, directed by Jessica Stone
The book Radical Candor by Kim Scott (love this one)
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by Adrienne Maree Brown
Author, poet, and activist Sonya Renee Taylor
Great reminder. I was feeling mopey about my side projects and needed to remember that they will gather dust if I don't make space for them. Duh.