More Human: Mike D on Restarting
On the road; Reading is fundamental
The air feels like it’s turning. Autumn is coming and I’m ready to welcome it. We’ve been on the road (Lake Tahoe, Eau Claire, Green Bay).
This is a quick first draft, beat-style, without a lot of post-processing. Sorry for the errors. No AI here.
Mike D is back, Showing How to Restart
I loved this essay from Mike D. It’s obviously him, straight from his heart and brain, and his story about coming back to making music after a busy, post-beasties era of grief, fathering and, probably, some “lost” time due to, well, recreationals.
He went back into the studio, following his sons, and found what any creative person hopes to find once in while:
“It wasn’t about any one individual, it was about the spark that happens between people collaborating, and something that happens sometimes fairly quickly that’s beyond what anybody in the room thought was possible. Happy accidents coming to life. The sum being greater then the parts.”
Who doesn’t want to feel like a part of something great? The very best days of my career where when i was in a room with others, inventing and co-creating something.
But it’s not easy re-starting a creative practice after a long time away. Even for guys like Mike D who has been known for his words and, well, confidence. Here’s his admission that might make us all feel less alone:
“I still wasn’t confident at all in what I was doing, and I didn’t have my process down for writing, but that magical, lush Big Sur ridge inspired me and us to just start the process.
Even our rock stars get nervous when it comes time to fill the page. We have to search for conviction that we’re onto the right thing. Sometimes you just have to power through it.
See also, this note from Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes on Reddit:
Eaux Claires 2026 / Meet your Heroes
I was at the Eaux Claires festival last month and I loved the whole thing. Bon Dylan was great, the solo Justin Vernon set was a highlight and, well, Aimee Mann!
But, for me, the best part of the whole festival was the “Writers in Residence” program that was off to the side. It had exactly the right vibe: a little ad hoc, but when the writers stepped up to the mic, it' was pure gold.
Check out this interview to get a sense of the Writers in Residence program.
It was organized by Adam Voith of Little Engines. Little Engines is one of the upstart, sorta DIY publishing houses putting out some of the best fiction around. If you’re old enough to remember how great some record labels were, you’ll get what i mean when I say Little Engines is like the Merge Records (or, more likely Jagjaguwar or Anti) of publishing.
I had a chance to talk (very) briefly with him in between presentations while he was selling books. He couldn’t have been nicer, or more patient. Also, go get his book.
Would it be the ultimate retired-rock-dad-turned-writer move to start a small publishing house? Meanwhile, I’m going to start looking for internships at small publishers to see if I can learn the business.
Also, this topic (the snowplow in American Lit) sorta makes me want to go back to grad school (from Michael Perry):
The Argument for Reading Fiction
More (much more) on this later, but I think it’s time that we re-make the case for reading fiction and poetry. I’m in two different writing groups, I’m mid-way through War and Peace, and I’m a submissions reader for a literary journal. I know for a fact I’m a kinder, more empathetic human because of the reading i’ve been doing.
Its impossible not to wonder about the struggles of others when you’ve been immersed in a great book. It’s impossible to have too much pride when you’ve read what pride and hubris have done over human history (hello Odysseus, Napoleon).
I love Adam Grant’s take from 2025:
What’s unique about reading novels is that they invite us to imagine ourselves as the characters. When Katniss Everdeen, Harry Potter, or the March sisters are on a screen, you’re observing them. When you read their stories, you become them. Slowly but surely, that builds your capacity to see perspectives that aren’t yours and feel compassion for people who aren’t like you.
If all you take in is social media, hollywood movies and the anti-heroes on TV, your world will look like that. That’s all you’ll see.
Currently reading:
Jane Hamilton - The Phoebe Variations
Jess Walter - So Far Gone
Chris Jones - Legs, Hearts, Minds
How it Went - Wendell Berrry
On the Road - The original scroll edition, one long paragraph. Definitely not the edited version. That energy, the music in the words.
Some Old School Blog Posts
I’ve been posting notes to myself over at Cuene.com (since 1997, though i lost some old posts in a WP snafu). I built a little Claude skill that goes back to my site and gets the posts I made there
Life and Death in Kevin Morby’s Midwest | Pitchfork “The greatest gift the Midwest gave me was being so blown away by the rest of the world,” he says... Read more
The People Want Cariño Love this post from Steven Schlafman. I was talking about this feeling a couple weeks ago when I was at... Read more
Data Driven: Which Odyssey Translation Do You Prefer? It turns out, the job of a translator is immensely difficult and we (readers) under-estimate how much latitude and art... Read more
Listening to:
I have been listening to Very Nice People while writing this:
