Eleven years later...

Normally I try to do a Fun Friday Resources post on Fridays (duh), but my calendar alerted me to an anniversary that surprised me: today has been eleven years since I began writing Lichtenbergianism: procrastination as a creative strategy.

As I explain in the book, after the Lichtenbergian Society was founded in December 2007, our members discovered that having an organized scenius was like lighting a fire under us all. The RITUAL of the Annual Meeting, the constant discussion and assignments online, the semi-regular get-togethers in the labyrinth around the fire pit — all contributed to our sense of AUDIENCE, i.e., Those People Right here.

And then, in 2013, at the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program in Valdosta, GA, we had that seminar on Lichtenberg’s birthday for a crowded classroom of gifted high schoolers. I had been formulating the Precepts for a while, but the kids’ reaction to the panel discussion made me think there was something to this thing.

For some reason, and I don’t have any memory of this, it took me two years even to get started. But on February 6, 2015, I went out to the labyrinth with a fresh WASTE BOOK and started. (It must have been much warmer that day than it is now.)

And here we are. I haven’t gotten rich or famous or even influential, but for those who have read the book and realized that we’re all just blundering our way through MAKING THE THING THAT IS NOT, I think it’s been important.

If nothing else, I’ve have consistently demonstrated that to get it right, you mostly have to do it wrong. Then fix it.

Don’t believe me? Here’s that first scribble in the WASTE BOOK:

Notice that I “started” the waste book on Jan 29 but didn’t start actually writing until eight days later.

Somehow, that scribbled mess turned into:

…plus this website, and eventually…

So happy The Day I Started to Write Lichtenbergianism to all who celebrate!