The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon, formed in 2000. The band consists of Colin Meloy (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards, accordion, backing vocals), Nate Query (bass), and John Moen (drums).

The band's influences include Morrisey, The Waterboys, R.E.M. and XTC. Most of their songs eschew introspection and favor storytelling, evidenced in songs such as The Mariner's Revenge Song," "Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect," and "April Anne Levine."

I hope you enjoy this Sunday musical offering.
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The past few weeks, I have been teaching myself Da Vinci Resolve, a video editing software.  My general learning process is doing over listening, so learning this program via video has been kind of a challenge.  I think, though, the more I watch the training, the closer I will come to having the lightbulb moment.   At least that's what I'm hoping.

Just like reading can make you a better writer (I know, it sounds obvious, but...) I began to watch videos by other YouTube creators that resonated with me.  Just like how I love to recommend books to others, going forward, I want to share those videos with you.  I have watched videos about journal-keeping, writing, commonplace books, reading, fountain pens (I'm a fountain pen addict and admit it freely), and actual different brands of journals. The latter is something I am currently researching for my own video)

One person I have encountered thanks to YouTube is Joel Snape. He is a writer, a former editor of Men's Fitness magazine, and a life long learner.  Here's one of his videos:
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There will be more videos to share from others.  Stay tuned!

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”
                                                            --John Steinbeck
 
 Sometimes you have no ideas, nothing comes, you tell yourself that you’re just trying too hard, maybe. Then, yes, then, if it all works out, you get what Malcolm Gladwell refers to as the Tipping Point.  Then the ideas come like a river. The idea morphs into a project, possibly, then another idea does the same.  Pretty soon, you have several irons in the fire, several ideas that have morphed into projects that you want to count as accomplishments.

Then it’s completely possibly that you have too many of those irons in the fire and some of them are not as hot as you once thought they were.  It’s difficult to let go of your plans, I know.

I tried too hard for the last six to seven months.  I tried to seek out ideas for new episodes of the podcast, and the blog, and a YouTube channel I wanted to develop.  And nothing happened.  The muse left the building, saying she wanted to see other people for a while. So I spent those months languishing, unable to focus on anything creative.

And then, I did something that I or anyone else thought I would do.  I ditched social media:  I left Twitter quite some time ago, but I deleted my Facebook and Instagram accounts, along with Goodreads.  You know what, I don’t miss it in the least.

Within the last few weeks, the muse returned and is once again present.  I have ideas, I have projects both in progress and waiting in the wings. And I’m kind of excited about all of it.

First off, I am resurrecting the podcast.  I just completed a script for a new episode today, and have four more in varied states of development.  I plan on posting a new episode every two weeks for starters, but it might turn into a weekly thing.

Secondly, although technically I have a YouTube channel, the content at this time consists of reposted podcast episodes.  That will soon change because I am trying to develop YouTube videos as a companion to my podcast.  There I hope to post videos of bookstore tours, product reviews (journals, pens, books) and whatever my over-cluttered brain can come up with within the parameters of reading, writing, and film.

And thirdly, I really want to post more content here on the blog and on my Substack page. This will include essays, short fiction, book reviews, among other writings.

If you are interested, I also started a mail list which you can sign up by clicking on the contact link.  I won’t spam you or try to sell you anything, I promise.  And if you feel you’re getting too many e-mails, just unsubscribe.  I will understand.

And, if you would like to give more than just moral support, you can buy me a coffee at, yes, buymeacoffee.com.  The link is also above.

I guess that’s it for now.  I hope you are having a great Spring so far.  Keep reading!