Writing, Thinking, and Independent Bookstores
Custom stickers I designed for Monstera’s Books
Newsletter #003
This blog was adapted from my monthly newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.
This weekend is Independent Bookstore Day, so don’t forget to go support your local bookstore on April 26. No matter where you live, they probably have some fun things planned!
Here’s 10 things worth sharing this month:
Did you ever watch Supermarket Sweep? It’s an old game show where contestants could run around a grocery store against the clock and pile hams in their carts. We’re giving away a sweep-style shopping spree at our bookstore, so I dusted off my video editing skills to make this promo vid.
“You know what they used to call independent bookstores?! Bookstores. All bookstores were independent.” We love this documentary, The Booksellers, where they follow book people and antiquarian collectors around New York City – mixing in some incredible one-liners from Fran Lebowitz. She is iconic and I absolutely love her.
Last month, Kate and I went to a Drew Holcomb concert out in Salina, KS. We don’t get away often, so we took the long way home to see a few bookstores we’d never visited. Check out this list of 12 Eastern Kansas Bookstores you need to visit.
“You can’t see the end before you start.” I have recently been thinking about what we’ve learned from our first year opening the bookstore. I am still not a business expert, but you sure get a good education from a single year of entrepreneurship.
“You can literally just do things.” A few weeks ago, I emailed the guy who writes this newsletter about entrepreneurship to say how much I enjoyed it – and that I loved that particular quote. He thought our story was interesting, and a week later we made it into the newsletter, too. Pretty cool!
I’m working on a fun project right now where I’m designing a mascot for a kids art studio. I came across two books that I have loved digging into: Mascot and Meet Mr Product. If you’re into illustration or vintage cartoons, check them out. It’s been really fun to flip through.
“I don’t know what I think until I write it down.” I first heard this Joan Didion quote on an episode of Lenny’s Podcast. He talks with Wes Kao, one of my favorite leaders in tech, about how we can all become better communicators.
Maggie Smith, the poet and author, was on The Daily Stoic recently and I was fascinated with how she thought about her career and the world. She says an important part of creative work is “walking around with your antenna raised” – and then writing those ideas down. Sometimes we need our future selves to sift through the pile of ideas and decide what is good.
I have really enjoyed writing this newsletter so far. I think a big reason is simply that taking the time to organize the thoughts bouncing around my brain is helpful in all sorts of ways. I thought about this as I read an article about training our brains to focus longer and think deeper than usual. “If you’re thinking without writing, you only think you’re thinking…”
A friend helped us film a video about Monstera’s for our website. Kate tells some behind-the-scenes stories and shares our thinking about why the community aspect is so important to us. It’s a fun watch, check it out on YouTube. (Big thanks to David from Hillside Video!)
Thanks for reading. I hope you’re enjoying the sounds and smells of spring. I’m writing this from a picnic table at the park and we just saw a teeny tiny turtle swimming at the edge of the pond. I’m glad the outdoors are coming alive again.