On Wednesday I hosted a talk about Breaking Up With Gmail. During the call we agreed that it’s not “all or nothing,” just a little less of the dumb shit. I’ve still got my Gmail account (from 2005), but it’s a place-holder account for occasional client work and such, and I’ve been paying for Fastmail (referral link) since 2014. Progress, not perfection!

On Thursday morning I did a Substack Live with artist Mel Mitchell-Jackson and we talked about internet platform burnout, leaving stable jobs to pursue creative work, big social media numbers that don’t convert to actual sales (500,000!?!?), the importance of building trust, and why it’s so hard to make art when also trying to please the algorithms; watch it here.

Then on Thursdays Escape Pod Zoom call we did a “show and tell,” where everyone got to talk about what they do, and what they’re up to!

Like the photographer, who has his workshops shut down when the National Park Service changed their rules. And the painter prepping for a museum show, and experimenting with fabric, studio rags, glitter, layered acrylics.

A musician moved to the Netherlands and starred making short videos of canals and light and then scoring a unique soundtrack for each, a music newsletter writer focused on helping people find new favorite songs with interviews, reviews, playlists, community, and someone new to the group talked about being an illustrator, a micro-publisher, spending 21 years as a bookseller, and then shifted to full-time art.

NEXT WEEK:

Join us sometime this week! We’re a fun bunch of artists, writers, programmers, musicians, photographers, poets, video makers, and everything else you could imagine.

◾ MYSTERY SUBSTACK LIVE
Tuesday, March 3 at 10 AM EST. Maybe.

◾ CO-WORK ESCAPE POD
“Just a lovely space to hang out,” said a recent attendee! Come and work on your website, write your next newsletter, clean up your desktop – working together is a good time.
Tuesday, March 3 from 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST: https://luma.com/6x1ut4a0

◾ MINI ESCAPE POD Q&A #31
Max capacity of three guests so we can focus on your challenges and road blocks and conundrums! 
Wednesday, March 4 from 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM EST: (members only)

◾ ESCAPE POD #109 W/ CARLY VALANCY
Carly Valancy is all about reaching out and making connections, because we all know things start happening when we expand our creative orbit! (Read my interview with Carly here)
Thursday, March 5, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EST: https://luma.com/w0oh4x06