Hold your breath 🇺🇸
Underwater
I’ve joined the “Heroes for Brazil” initiative this past weekend, as a second round of creators auctioned their time and their art to help the people of Rio Grande do Sul in the South of Brazil who have been affected by the recent catastrophic floods. I offered a commission to the auction at a starting bid of US$ 500, and it ended up at US$900 at the last hour of the Sunday with a winning bid coming from Joseph Casalone. I recognize his name from previous commission lists I’ve opened, and the only thing I can say is thanks, Joseph, for liking my art, being a fan and helping out. I’m curious to see what he will ask for me to draw as I’m looking forward to drawing this piece.
What’s cooking?
Besides the fact that I’ve been cooking a lot more of my meals these days, which has changed the amount of time I stay at home and how much time I spend at the studio, I try to use my cooking time to think about different ways to express my creative work. What should I do to balance my current long form project with more immediate outlets? How can I make something that feels complete in a shorter amount of time without damaging the time I spend with the long story? Should I even care? Should I really try to do more, or should I just lower my head, push away all distractions, and focus on one story until it’s done (somewhere at least a year from now)?
I’m trying to establish smaller goals in my working routine. Daily goals. Weekly goals. This week I’ll make a list of the things I have to do and the things I can do, and I’ll shuffle things I WANT to do with things I NEED to do and see if my weeks become more productive, or at least seem more productive. I need something else to do on top of just write, because I’ve spent so much time in my life drawing pages that every time I’m “just” writing, the work happens so much in my head, without any material evidence of the effort or the progress, that I reach the end of the day feeling I haven’t really worked that day.
I’m going to end this letter here, as I have to cook my lunch. Today, my productivity will be measured in “how much work I did before lunch” and “how much I did after lunch”, and since I’m mostly writing today, not burning the stake is the only physical evidence I’ll have of what I’ve accomplished in this first day of the week. Wish me luck!
Be safe. Be kind. Be curious.
Pa-ZOW!
Fábio Moon
Moon Base, São Paulo
May 20th, 2024