#108: Accidental Professor
I started writing this newsletter from the bottom up.
I thought I would do the book recommendation section first, then the newsletter recommendation and then write the main section.
But as I researched the book I was going to recommend to you, I got carried away. One thing led to another, and this whole newsletter became about the author of the book (rather books) I am going to recommend.
Her name is Lynda Barry.
She is a cartoonist, writer, illustrator, playwright, editor, and commentator. She is currently an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Creativity at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
I talked about her a bit in my previous newsletter, but then I didn’t know her that well. In the past few days, I have read several of her interviews and listened to many YouTube videos and gone through her books once again and let me tell you, I am smitten.
I'll tell you what led to all this thirty-plus hour research into her. I was looking for one of her quotes that I read years ago in one of her interviews. It read like “Books without drawing are boring and drawing without ….. As you can tell, I still haven’t found the full version. But it was this quote that inspired me to include skeches in my newsletter and now in my digital products and other writings.
Instead, I found many other of her quotes:
“We don’t create a fantasy world to escape reality. We create it to be able to stay.”
“I need to be cheered up a lot. I think funny people are people who need to be cheered up.”
“Humor is such a wonderful thing, helping you realize what a fool you are but how beautiful that is at the same time.”
She says if she didn’t try to eavesdrop on every bus ride I take or look for the humor when I go for a walk, I would just be depressed all the time.
Lynda started drawing at the age of 21, but she never thought she would be a cartoonist. “It happened behind my back. I was always a painter and drawer. I was unable to sleep, and I would stay up and draw these little cartoons. Then a friend showed them around. Before I knew it, I was a cartoonist.”
I first learned about her from Austin Kleon’s blog.
He wrote back in 2021:
“No living artist has had more of an impact on my work than cartoonist Lynda Barry. I met her when I was 22 years old, and sometimes I swear I’ve run my whole career off of the fuel of that brief encounter. The way Lynda thinks about images and pictures and words just snapped everything together for me, showed me a path forward I didn’t know existed. She was the first artist who taught me the value of thinking and exploring on the page with your hands.
The crazy thing is that I’m not alone—I’ve met tons of people who’ve told me Lynda’s two-hour workshop changed their lives. ‘What It Is’ is the book equivalent of Lynda in the classroom: a magical, thrilling, and often overwhelming experience. I mean, every single page is a full-color collage! Be warned: this book may blow your mind and change your notion of what a book can be.”
‘What It Is’ was her first book that I bought. She said she wanted to write a book about writing that didn’t mention stuff like story structure, protagonists and all those things that we know about only because they already exist in stories.
In her writing classes, she never talks about writing. She and her students never address a story that’s been read. She also won’t let anyone look at the person who’s reading. No eye contact; everybody has to draw a spiral.
And when she does a drawing class, the students aren’t allowed to talk about anything except for drawing.
She reckons it is much easier to teach writing because people are less shy about writing. If they’re in a group, nobody can see what they’re writing. When you’re drawing, people get a little more nervous.
Last week I bought two of her other books I have been wanting to buy - Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor and Making Comics and I am under her spell. They inspired me to create similar works.
An idea is growing in my head - rather than writing a plain memoir (which I wrote a while ago, but it is sitting there because it is so boring), I should combine it with my journals (which comprise the things I have learned over the years and the insights I had) and sketches and create a collage style book.
But it will have to wait till I am back from my travels. Though I couldn’t resist trying with Lynda Barry’s skeches.
If I have got you excited too, here are two of her interviews that are worth reading:
Drawing 'Has To Come Out Of Your Body
A cartooning superstar says drawing is our native language. It’s never too late to become fluent.
But you can start with this talk she gave at Ink.
I have been following The Art of Noticing on Substack for a long time. Rob Walker is a journalist and author of the book, The Art of Noticing (2019). Through his book and his newsletter, he teaches to 'pay attention’ to things.
His exercises are quite interesting. Here are some examples:
Try to find (or make) an image that expresses words.
Consider, for example, the word “story.” Could you create an image to illustrate that idea? Could you spot (and perhaps photograph) a scene that does the same?
Start taking note of things you don’t actually understand. Something you never really noticed until you started this exercise. Something wonderful. Some problems that could be fixed. A problem that can’t be fixed. Something that’s missing. Take a walk and come back with a list of 10 things you just realized that you don’t know.
Interview an object. Think of an object that raises questions that only the object itself could answer. List the questions you would ask of that object. Think about what you see and what the object means—to you.
I am on vacation from 23 August to 14 October. If I miss an issue in this newsletter or don’t respond to your comments on time, that is why.
During this time, I will be writing about my travels. Please keep your comments coming they encourage me to keep writing and tell me what resonates with you.
When I get back, I will run another sprint, Write Your Book In 30 Days, the last one for 2022. It will start on 25 Oct and end on 29 Nov. If you are interested, register your name here.
That’s all from me this week.
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Thank you, Neera, for these recommendations. Super helpful, as always. I wasn’t even aware of Lynda’s existence until your newsletter ❤️ But I am always on the lookout for talented teachers that could help me with my drawings
Nice work with your sketches! I’m never sure which goes first when I’m writing a story, the art or the words. When I put words on a page, I see images in my head. When I create a collage or a sketch, the words flow. Either way, the creative process is a powerful force in our lives.