Poiema Fellows and Paid Subscribers
3 Reasons to Upgrade Your Subscription at Books and Letters
We’ve all heard of the starving artist, the creative who struggles with the dilemmas of making ends meet and “selling out.” The dilemma goes something like this.
There is only so much time in the day and one has only so much energy to expend. The artist needs enough money to cover his expenses while he focuses on his creative pursuits. But, if he works a job to support himself, he has little time (or energy) for honing and perfecting his craft.
If, on the other hand, he invests the time in perfecting his art, he will have little time to work and pay his bills. Finding the right balance without burning out is a kind of dance. Additionally, the artist who tries to sell his art as a way of making ends meet is often tempted to “sell out” to the market—create what the market demands and not what the artist imagines.
What to do? Well, basic economics teaches us that even our most noble efforts of adding value to the lives of others have a price tag. The resources have to come from somewhere and work or production is that somewhere. Someone has to produce the resources—either the artist, or a benefactor, or the recipient of the noble effort, the good work. It could even be some combination of the three.
Enter Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets. For Henson, money was a fuel that fed his art, and he didn’t sell out to make it. Instead, he made money with his art that funded more of the art he wanted to make. They key was finding the right people, people who believed in, benefited from, or were blessed by the art.
According to Fraggle Rock producer Larry Mirkin:
He [Jim Henson] viewed money as energy, the energy that makes concrete things happen out of worthy ideas. Money was not an end in itself. It could provide physical infrastructure or it could help him hire other artists and technicians to realize a nascent idea. I don’t ever recall him being the least bit concerned or afraid of money or obsessed by it, which many people are. It just wasn’t what drove him—at all.1
I was fortunate enough to learn this lesson several years ago. For the person who has a proper view of the ordering of goods—which goods are goods in service of some greater good and which goods are goods in and of themselves (i.e., health and money are goods in service of the greatest good; eudiamonia or human flourishing is a good for its own sake, a good for which other goods are in its service)—business is simply a vehicle for funding good works.2
The key is finding the right people, people who believe in, benefit from, or are blessed by the work. If that’s you, I don’t want to sell you on anything; and, I don’t want to sell out, either. My mission and work at BOOKS AND LETTERS is clear. My constant endeavor is to rekindle thoughtful engagement in an age that is dominated by fleeting trends and digital noise, by:
participating in the noble tradition of The Great Conversation and doing my part to help recover its legacy.
communing with humanity (i.e., letters): converse with the past, critique the present, and anticipate the future.
exploring the fullness of what it means to live as a steward of words in this modern world.
leading my readers to think deeply, communicate clearly, and live wisely.
recovering a Christian Humanism for the 21st Century.
If this resonates with you, consider joining this merry band of bards, bishops, and bibliophiles, students, scholars, and philosophers, and poets, preachers, and pirates as a Paid Subscriber or a Poiema Fellow. For the month of June, I’m offering 20% OFF a Paid Subscription (use the link just above) and a chance to win a boxed set of C. S. Lewis’s Signature Works (see below).
The Tsundoku Reading Society is a community of thoughtful readers who gather online monthly to discuss the best of what has been thought and written because we thoroughly enjoy the crisp, clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our stifled modern minds. You don’t have to be a scholar to join the conversation. You just need a good internet connection, webcam, and mic paired with a spirit of wonder and a longing for that which is true, good, and beautiful.
C. S. Lewis argues the greatest shift in Western history takes place, not at the fall of Rome or the Renaissance, but at the time shortly following Jane Austen. Read the essay to find out why. You can download the essay for free.
Want to join me for a live discussion of C. S. Lewis’s grand essay? Upgrade to a Paid Subscription (just $5.60 if you upgrade before June 30th) or a Poiema Fellow and join the inaugural meeting of the Tsundoku Reading Society.
Steps to Follow
Download the essay; read it; mark it up; ask questions of the text. Then, watch your inbox for login instructions to join the Zoom meeting on Monday, June 30th at 4:00 pm PT (7:00 pm ET). It’s that simple. Got questions? email me@scottpostma.net.
Listen to the BOOKS AND LETTERS Podcast
Ep. 1 - George Harrell and Re-enchanting History in an Age of Woke Ideologies and Christian Nationalisms - Drops Monday! (Listen to the introduction below)
June Giveaway
This month, I’m giving away The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics: Boxed Set (7 volumes) on June 30th. There is an 8-volume set available that includes A Grief Observed and Abolition of Man, but I think Surprised by Joy is an essential read for someone getting to know Lewis; and, in a later giveaway, I plan to give away Abolition of Man with After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’s The Abolition of Man by Michael Ward.
To enter the drawing, all you have to do is become a Paid Subscriber ($7 per month or $60 for the year) or a Poiema Fellow. And, for the month of June, first-time subscribers can use this link to get a 20% discount. This is a great time to upgrade and share this post with friend.
Become a Poiema Fellow
The First Course Launches June 24th
Writing Doesn’t Have to Be a Mystery
Just because writing is Herculean work doesn’t mean it has to be onerous. By taking the mystery out of mechanics, by eliminating the struggle from style and structure, and by removing obstacles from organization, anyone can learn to write as St. Augustine encouraged, with wisdom and eloquence.3
I’d love to pass on to you what I have learned about writing, not only from St. Augustine, but from other great writers, past and present—like Circero and Quintilian, C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, Annie Dillard and Ambrose Bierce. Once you know the fundamentals, then it’s all Herculean from there—but at least it will never be Sisyphean again.
Details
A 6-Week Live Online Course
Begins June 24th concludes July 29th
Zoom meeting: Tuesday evenings from 4 pm PT - 5:30 PT (7 pm - 8:30 pm ET)
Format:
asynchronous: pre-recorded lecture, reading, and writing exercises
synchronous: 90-minute, live Zoom meeting
Cost: Become a Poiema Fellow — $250 annual subscription (includes three more courses)
Program of Study
Week 1 - Writing as Thinking: Invention (Topic and Thesis)
Week 2 - Writing as Conversation: Research and Reading (Texts and Testimony)
Week 3 - Writing as Teaching (docere): Precision and Concision and Accuracy
Week 4 - Writing as Delighting (delectare): Vivid and Appropriate
Week 5 - Writing as Persuasion (movere): Ethos, Logos, Pathos
Week 6 - Writing as Discipline: Syntax, SGP, Style, and Lifestyle
If you have questions, feel free to email me@scottpostma.net.
Hyde Stevens, Elizabeth. Make Art Make Money: Lessons from Jim Henson on Fueling Your Creative Career (pp. 14-15). (Function). Kindle Edition.
Christians are God’s workmanship (poiema), created in Christ Jesus for good works… —Ephesians 2:10.