A dump of the flotsam in my head (Should I have made bank on Notion templates in 2019? I'm reading nonfiction!)

As I was laying in bed just now working on a presentation for Monday morning, I started catching up with Hannah Witton. One of the things she brings up is wanting to sell Notion templates, which is something I always regret never having done. I think often about the amount of money I could have made doing this over the last six years, and it makes me sad. 

I also know exactly why I didn't do this; I was more interested in teaching people how to form relationships with their own information than selling them templates — teach a man to fish, etc., etc. I do believe it's hard for people to put templates into effective, sustained use without knowing how to think in Notion, so I stand by my lack of movement on templates on principle, but I know I could have made a fuckton of money. The templates I designed for students are still the default ones in the product. 

I wonder if I could just become a Notion influencer. I think that was the other thing — I didn't want to be associated with the Notion brand; I found it cringe after a little bit. Mildly cheugy or something. Even though I knew they did things well, even though I loved the experience, even though it gave me everything. It was something about the sort of blind consumer subservience to the aesthetic of a software brand that rubbed me the wrong way? And also just the ongoing frustration of being conflated with the brand itself. I didn't want to be the Notion girl anymore — not on campus, not online, not at parties (I was). And as a 4/7 enneagram boomerang, I had to find ways to be Different. 

But maybe I should just publish my fucking templates?

For the first time in years, I feel like I really want to read, I like reading, and I want to read several books at once. This happens to line up really nicely with me being home, where I have unlimited access to my parents' perfect backyard and patio, where reading and drinking coffee is a joy. The books I have with me are: 

• You Are the One You've Been Waiting For by Richard C. Schwartz, PhD. It's about internal family systems therapy, or "parts work," and it's basically about how to use parts work to sustain intimacy in American romantic relationships. I could give it a more impassioned pitch, but it's late. Also the writing? Fine. Content highly useful though. Can't imagine starting another relationship without finishing this. I think I'll make it required reading for any future boyfriend-to-be.
• Fundamentals by Frank Wilczek. On physics, brimming with joy and conviction, written in plain English.
• Writing with Style (Third Edition) by John R. Trimble. This is the best book I know on the craft of writing — specifically the third edition. Very practical, not up its own ass. Essential.
• Musicking by Christopher Small. It's about the meaning of participating in live music, no matter who you are. I've talked about this one in "tales of a night out walking." (Not with me, but I wish I'd brought it: Keep it Moving by Twyla Tharp. Also mentioned in that same other post)
• How Things Are Made by Tim Minshall. It's a book about how manufacturing shapes our lived reality.

What I find really cool about all of these books is the sense of conviction and perspective the author brings me, the reader. This is a little meta, but in Writing with Style, Trimble talks about writing as the art of creating desired effects, and how the best way to do this is by courteously serving your readers. All six of these authors create within me the same delight in the subject that delights them. It's like listening to a teacher who goes to great pains to transmit their passions to you. They offer me the lenses through which they experience life.

It's cool to look within and around and see more layers. There's more to love, more to question, more to piece together. And for that I thank the authors of these books — for the first time in years, I'm reading nonfiction again.