Today I had the opportunity to talk with a new friend, Cassidy Beck, about one of my favorite pursuits: writing. Our conversation included a few of my favorite things that should probably be gathered in a central location. It is amazing what comes up when you sit down to talk about creativity. Our conversation was recorded for Cassidy’s podcast (which you can learn more about here), and in preparing for this interview I’ve been listening to a lot of different podcasts. I realized this evening that the ubiquitous phrase, “We’ll link it in the show notes”, in this case means _I_ will be creating a blog post. So okay here are all the things we talked about.
Chocolaterie Stam is my local chocolate shop that I mentioned, and they make the most incredible gelato on-site. See the photo above. Their grapefruit sorbetto is Mr. Trent’s most very favorite in the entire world. I love it too. I also adore their Persian love cake (it’s pink and the flavors are rose and pistachio–I need to get a picture the next time our paths cross), amaretto, mint chocolate chip, dark chocolate, and peach gelatos. Their menu rotates, but that just means there is lots to try whenever we visit. If you are in the greater Boulder, Colorado area you should totally check it out.
I briefly touched on my time in community orchestra and the importance of playing the rests. Beethoven’s Egmont Overture is a great example of the importance of playing the rests. Below is a video performance. Check out those pauses in the beginning measures. They’re important and boy howdy do they make a difference.
At some point in the conversation I also mentioned this painting:
Astronomer by Candlelight by Garrit Dou is one of my favorite paintings ever. I’ve been a big fan of this painting since I saw it at the Getty Center in LA back in high school. It’s not a big painting, but OMG does it draw me in. So romantic. So familiar. Such great use of chiaroscuro. The negative space totally makes it for me. Adds focus, atmosphere and really enhances the vibe and storytelling. Anyway here it is above, and you can find more information on the Getty’s website.
I talked about one of my favorite movies of all time, Sense and Sensibility. Can I just say that I love that Greg Wise and Emma Thompson ended up together IRL?
Which brought me to this quote from Kate Winslet. She’s quoting Emma here when she said, “She did say to me, ‘Listen babe, just remember it’s equally as important not to work as it is to work.’ And I’ve never forgotten that. It’s really, really true.” Testify, Kate! You can read the full article with the quote on IndieWire.
I’ve mentioned before here on the blog, how important Brando Sando’s advice has been for me. If Brandon says you need blocks of uninterrupted writing time, then I must need to create blocks of uninterrupted writing time. Here’s his video again about how to write 100K words a year where he talks about such things.
Cassidy and I also spent a bit of time discuss how helpful the value sorts have been for each of us.
Above is a picture of what my value sort looked like. FYI, it took me a long time, and I had a lot of conversations with Dr. Laurie (my therapist) about values before I got to this step. Go gently. Explore. Expect detours and for it to take some time. Here is a pdf for value sort cards:
My conversation with Cassidy will be available on Friday, October 11, 2024, and you can find more information about her, her book, and her work here:
And now that I’ve typed up these show notes, I’m looking forward to discovering if and how any of them come together in our conversation. LOL. I’m going to have to do some research about best practices when it comes to writing show notes. Do you provide more or less context to show notes? Hmm… Never ending work in progress over here.