#dream dangerously

From the Neil Gaiman: Dream Dangerously 🥺❤ (you can watch it here in US or with US vpn :) <3) (or just this bit on youtube here :))

Neil Gaiman: I miss him most when I get stuck. You know, I'll just be working on something and I'll go, "Oh, this isn't quite it," and all I want to do is just call Terry, tell him what's going on and have him say, "Ah, grasshopper, the answer is there in the question." And I'd go, "Oh, for fuck's sake, Terry, just tell me."

Saw a discussion on Twitter about putting restrictions on what kids read that reminded me of this section in GEEK PARENTING. 

LET THEM READ DANGEROUS BOOKS

“Books don’t have to be sexual, horrific, religious, or political to be deemed threatening. In truth, any book that challenges an accepted way of thinking can be regarded as a threat by someone. Books that instruct us how to do things, books that teach controversial beliefs, books that tell stories of people who have been silenced or erased…these are “dangerous” in all the best ways. Such books are banned by organizations or nations. They are removed from schools or hidden, and sometimes they are burned, their authors threatened with physical harm.

In reality, we can’t stop children from reading books we don’t approve of. If we’re of the opinion that a child is not quite ready for a book, we can try to delay their reading it. But when young people decide they really want to read something, it’s highly unlikely we can permanently block their efforts. Remember your own scavenging for provocative books in your youth? And that was before the Internet. Kids will get their hands on the things they want to read, whether or not they, or we, are ready. Attempts at keeping the “wrong” books out of their hands are fruitless. Instead, we should save our energy for thoughtful discussions when they come to us with questions about the new ideas they’ve discovered.”

Link to the twitter conversation here:

“A decade ago, I wrote:

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.

And almost half a decade ago I said,

...I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you'll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you'll make something that didn't exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind.

And for this year, my wish for each of us is small and very simple.

And it's this.

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.”

From the Neil Gaiman: Dream Dangerously :) (you can watch here in US or with US vpn :) <3) (or just this bit on youtube here :))

From the Neil Gaiman: Dream Dangerously :) (you can watch it here in US or with US vpn :) <;3) (or just this bit on youtube here :))

Terry Pratchett: One day he rang me up and said, "I've started a book and, I think it's good, but I haven't the faintest idea where it goes." So, I said, "All right, well, send me the pages." And I read it and wrote him back and said, "I don't know where it goes either, but I do know what happens next."

Neil Gaiman: I was pretty much nocturnal then, so I would write my chunk of Good Omens before I went to bed, and I'd go to sleep about five o'clock in the morning and I'd get up about one o'clock in the afternoon and my answering machine would be flashing on, and I'd press the button and a voice would say, "Get up, get up you lazy bastard, I've just written a good bit."

I sat down and watched it last night, and quite honestly it was just what I needed. Lots of witty commentary, fun facts from numerous guests (seeing Terry Pratchett had me bawling immediately), and some of the most sound wisdom I've heard from anyone since my grandfather passed away. You get a glimpse of what goes into signing tours, you see how much he genuinely cares about his fans, there's a strong running commentary about Neil's thought processes on his work, and a reminder that though writers and artists are often in the spotlight, they are human too. They need breaks. They get burnt out. They are just like any one of us.