Hugh MacLeod pulled a Jason Calacanis and started an email newsletter (something my friend Tom Asacker advised me to do a few months ago).
I’ve received a couple editions now, one today. In today’s edition, Hugh mentions that his time in the ad biz prepared him well for the steps he would eventually take toward an even more creative enterprise wholly his own.
He also touches on why this thing called the Internet has such power over us.
The internet made the world I aspired to belong to a lot easier to reach, no doubt about it. I think that’s why so much of us spend so much time on the the internet. Suddenly the world we want to belong to seems a lot closer. It’s hard to turn that new found excitement off.
I agree it is hard, but it’s also necessary to push back from the keyboard and live. Hugh does that by making art. We all need that balance, however we find it.
On Friday, Darby and I decided to adopt a puppy from the Oregon Humane Society. Her name is Lucy. There are many reasons to bring a dog into the family and just as many benefits. One I can see straight away is how it helps me push back from the keyboard and live.
Good going, DB-
We just got our second dog (against all my wishes) and it sure makes the kids happy. The girls promise to walk them but of course I end up doing it. At least walking the pooches allows me to smoke my cheap cigars!
totally agree david. the distastrous econony also coincides with nothing spectacularly hugely new on the internet in quite some time. i should look into the url: slice-of-gruel.com.
i was one of the lucky 250 to get one of hugh’s signed bluetrain prints. should arrive any day now.
I suspect pushing back from the keyboard makes good business sense as well. Most of the people we market to spend less time on the internet than we do. Even those to whom we market to on the internet. It pays not to lose sight of that, or of them.