My Favorite Things of 2024
#262 with the list that includes YOU, dear reader.
Dear reader,
The first post I wrote in 2020 went out to only 30 inboxes. Back then, I knew that I wanted a deeper connection with my audience, instead of the superficial like-and-scroll mechanics of social media. This email is going to almost 18,000 readers in 154 countries around the world. I share the numbers not to brag, but to give myself a reality check. Statistics are an abstraction of reality, and they dehumanize your individuality. Access to any person’s inbox is a privilege. And I am so grateful to you.
Today, at the end of this most significant year of my life, I want to know you. Not readers, but reader. The individual. The person you are. The you you are. Because, reader, you are one of my favorite things of 2024.
Share something about yourself in the comments. Tell me the name of a good book you read. Your favourite movie or TV show (mine, above). If nothing else, tell me only your name and the part of the world you call home. I want to read every comment and think about you, the person.
I hope I have been a person to you this year.
Not a brand. Not an account. Not a job title. Internet culture flattens me, and pulls me through tiny holes, and stuffs me inside convenient boxes with even more convenient labels. Personhood online is hard to achieve, and harder to sustain.
I trust my words and the lines to humanize me, even though they are the building blocks of my brand, account, job title. With this post, I want to share my favorite things of 2024 - words and lines and other things to help me be a person to you.
🚀 This year, I became a father. When I shared the news, it was readers like you who approved my parental leave.
“Say hello to little Rohan, who entered this world on Monday morning, weighing in at 3.12 kg and scraping the sky at 19” height…” - We made a tiny person!
🚀 This year, I upped my commission rates. Facing the colonization of my creative work by the Artificially-Intelligent-Super-Rich-But-Not-Rich-Enough class, I doubled down on human creativity. And I am grateful to all the clients, commercial and individual, who validated this decision.
“I want to tell you that we live in a beautiful world. Even when we do not understand it, even when it appears cruel and indifferent, even in the midst of ugliness and strife and malice.” - Look for the beautiful things
🚀 This year, I was rejected by my dream literary agents. They work with the publishers I am most interested in, and have made books I really enjoyed. I was crushed. Then, out of the blue, I was approached by a publisher. Not the publisher I had in mind, and not for the book I had in mind, but a solid project that will do me a lot of good. I am excited to share it with you soon.
“The like button was supposed to bring us this freedom, a simple count of the number of people who liked your work. But the like button is not simple. An algorithm mediates our access to our audience, arbitrating our right to show our work to the people who have already agreed that they want to see it.” - Notes from Aboveground
🚀 This year, I rented a studio space to literally/figuratively get out of my own head. Precipitated by Rohan’s conquest of the second bedroom, this is one of the best decisions of my year. I have a work-space to meet people, experiment with new media, and talk shop with other creatives.
“A lot of people think sketchbooks are only for artists. But a sketchbook habit has benefited me not only as an artist. It has made me a better human.” - Lessons from a Sketchbook Habit
🚀 This year, I gave away as much art as possible. I am grateful to the readers who responded to this project by signing up to become Insiders, leaving thoughtful positive comments, and joined in the fun by discovering little free libraries in their neighborhoods. Last week, I was on Global News to talk about this project!
“I no longer believe in the idea that we can or must solve ourselves in order to achieve the highest rewards of our lives. We are in an age of self-optimization-even-at-the-cost-of-self-obliteration. I do not think art comes from such sanitized environments.” - You were not supposed to cure your Imposter’s Syndrome
Thank you for your time and attention. Beautiful things are lined up for the new year. I hope to share them with you soon.
I have loved your work this year, it has been a joy to see the progress!
My name is Sarah, and this year I left a job I hated and moved to Vietnam with my partner. I took a job as a cover teacher to give myself more time to enjoy my hobbies and find joy in the little things.
Wonderful overview of your great year esp becoming a father. Drawing your son everyday has been so delightful to see. I am Suzanne and I was living in Oregon when I first learned of your work. In November we moved to Portugal so my husband could retire early. We both have seen your demos. I paint or draw or nature journal daily. I love Amy Tan’s book on birds. Happy New Year