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O is for Old Things - Excerpt from The Artist's Suitcase · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for writing success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: For more resources, including your free Daily Rider Starter Kit, visit DailyRiderLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: This past week, I've been sharing excerpts from a book that I published a few years ago.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's called The Artist Suitcase 26 Essentials for the Creative Journey.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's a short, fun read for all kinds of artists, particularly for writers.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Before I do that, though, I want to give you a quick update on some changes that you'll see here on the podcast starting December the 1st.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: The Daily Podcast launched three years ago in November of 2020.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: And since that time, we've produced well over a thousand daily episodes and featured around 150 guest interviews or so.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: And after talking so much about daily writing and the importance of writing habits, I want to shift the conversation to the biggest point of frustration that I hear about from writers, which is this how do you actually build a business around your writing?
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm really excited to announce that on December the 1st, we will officially launch the Profitable Writer Podcast.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: And the purpose of this show, as well as an upcoming book and a membership community that you'll hear about very soon, the purpose of all this is to give you the inspiration, motivation, and a clear roadmap to building a writing business that gives you a part-time or full-time income.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the format of this podcast is going to be a little different than the daily writer show that you've been so used to the past few years.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: We're still going to do a weekly interview in addition to one or two episodes per week, but it's not going to be a daily podcast.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I would suggest that if you really love the daily podcast format with the short little episodes, you can go back into the archives and listen to any of the well over thousand episodes that we have there.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I think there's enough episodes there to keep you busy for a while.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to hear a lot more in the coming weeks about the Profitable Rider podcast.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to do anything different because it's going to stay in this same podcast feed.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: However, you'll notice a name change along with the new podcast artwork in whatever podcast player that you listen to this show in.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: As always, thanks for listening, and let's get into today's episode.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Here's today's excerpt from the chapter O is for Old Things.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Hope you enjoy it.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: When it comes to art, do old things intimidate you?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Do the classic works of painting, literature, sculpture, music, or even movies scare you a bit?
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: A classic work is anything that's been proven to be important in its field over time.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: If so, you're not alone.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Most people feel a little intimidated by the towering giants of art, such as Shakespeare, Michelangelo, and Beethoven.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's also easy to be intimidated by more recent creative minds like Hitchcock or Hemingway.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Let me put your fears to rest.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: You can understand and enjoy the great works of art and history.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: When you encounter them for yourself, you'll be inspired to do your own best work.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: In his introduction to the spiritual classic on the incarnation by Athanasius, C.S.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Lewis speaks about the importance of experiencing the old books for yourself.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject, the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Thus I have found as a tutor in English literature that if the average student wants to find out something about Platonism, the very last thing he thinks of doing is to take a translation of Plato off the library shelf and read the symposium.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: The error is rather an amiable one for it springs from humility.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: The student is half afraid to meet one of the great philosophers face to face.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: He feels himself inadequate and thinks he will not understand him.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: But if he only knew the great man, just because of his greatness, is much more intelligible than his modern commentator.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: It has always therefore been one of my main endeavors as a teacher to persuade the young that firsthand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than secondhand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Lewis's words apply not only to books, but to all types of creative work.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: When we think of a work as one of the greats, we tend to build it up in our minds as a towering accomplishment that only geniuses can understand.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: But most of the time those works are great not because they're complicated, but because they're simple.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's not enough to read about great art secondhand.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: You should experience it for yourself as much as possible.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: But where do you start?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of great art available, so just pick one thing and dive in.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you like painting, visit a museum in your area.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you like music, listen to a recording of Beethoven, Mozart, or modern greats like Miles Davis or the Beatles.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to it in one sitting for the best experience.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you like architecture, visit a local cathedral or an important historic site.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you like to read, pick up one of Shakespeare's plays or Homer's Iliad or Odyssey.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: If you like movies, watch one of the classics like Charlie Chaplin's City Lights or David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to grow in your creative life, you have to stay curious.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: You must always be seeking out new things to learn and new artists to explore.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: One of the best biographies I've read recently is Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: The book mentions several times that Jobs was a huge fan of Bob Dylan.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know much of Dylan's music, so I decided to educate myself.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: I listened to several of his albums online, including Blood on the Tracks, Bob Dylan, and Modern Times.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: I loved the power and simplicity of his music and wondered why I hadn't been listening to Bob Dylan my whole life.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: When you read, watch, or listen to something new, it can often lead you to something else you'll enjoy.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Every work of art is like a map that leads to more treasures.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: So take a little time to visit an art museum, pull a classic work of literature off the shelf, sample a bit of older music, or get lost in a classic film.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: You'll find that ironically, the things of old will inspire you in ways that are fresh and new.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, I hope you enjoyed that short excerpt from the Artist Suitcase 26 Essentials for the Creative Journey.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: You can grab the book by going to Kent Sanders.netslash suitcase.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.