TIL: Weekly Shares

Hi!

Thanks for reading Things I’ve Learned. My goal is to send 1-2 newsletters max per week. The format may vary at first as I try to figure out what works, but my intention is always to share useful resources and experiences in writing and creating.

Please reach out and tell me what you like or how I could improve the newsletter. Share what you find useful with others, and leave the rest behind.

Now for the good stuff…

Here are some things worth sharing this week:

I have fond memories of reading René Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempé’s Le Petit Nicolas books (Young Nicolas in English) when I was a kid. The stories, written from Nicolas’ point of view, always made me laugh. His observations on adults and their flawed perceptions felt very accurate with my own experiences. The illustrations that accompanied the stories only made them more enjoyable and funny for a young reader.

Jean-Jacques Sempé, the book’s illustrator, recently passed away. You may not be familiar with Le Petit Nicolas, but you probably will recognize Sempé’s soft watercolours and sketches. He’s illustrated the most New Yorker magazine covers ever. This article from the Guardian gives a brief overview of his life.

What I found striking was this quote:

It was only in 1978 when he was hired by The New Yorker that he found sustainable success. “I was almost 50 and for the first time in my life, I existed! I had finally found my family,” he said.

- The Guardian

Sempé had already published more than a dozen books by the time he started working at the New Yorker, and his work had appeared regularly in France and Belgium’s biggest magazines and newspapers, including l’Express, Le Figaro, Paris Match, and Moustique.

And yet:

For many years Sempé refused to believe in his own talent, attributing what he had achieved to hard work and sacrifice.

The artist said he could spend as long as three weeks not getting a single drawing right and that he was capable of “not bathing, not sleeping” to finish work on time.

- The Guardian

Things I’ve learned:

• There is no correlation between success and imposter syndrome;
• You can be successful and not “feel” it;
• “Feeling it”, whatever that looks like or means to you can happen at all stages of life.

Conclusion: Can’t stop now, there’s too much awaiting us in the future. Keep doing the work.

• Here’s another illustrator who talks about imposter syndrome. His work reminds me of vintage sci-fi book covers.
• I finished reading Akata Witch, written by award-winning writer Nnedi Okorafor. It’s the first book from The Nsibidi Script Series. Okorafor defines her work as Africanfuturism and Africanjujuism, subcategories of science-fiction and fantasy. I don’t read a lot of YA books, but this is a great read, especially if you need some summer escapism. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
• This is a great article about Four Tet’s 155-hour Spotify Playlist. I listened to some of it while editing this week.

Finally, here’s an obscure website, if you’re looking for a break, or need to do some mind wandering: http://www.metube.at/

I found this site while looking up random domain names that popped into my head. It’s quite a fun exercise, I recommend trying it. Let me know what you discover!

Happy writing, happy creating!

G.G. Law