Here’s a scan of the collage I made for the “Autumn Leaves” mixtape at the top of today’s newsletter.
What happened was: I’d been toying with making a new mixtape anyways, and I needed a top image for the newsletter, so I went over to my stack of sealed cassettes I’ve purchased for $1 and right on top was Roger Williams Plays All-Time Romantic Favorites, which had a beautiful image on the front of a piano in what looks like fall foliage? And not just that, but Side A Track 1 was… “Autumn Leaves.”
This is the kind of spooky stuff that happens when I make newsletters and mixtapes.
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On a separate note: I find there is very little correlation between how easy or hard a newsletter is to put together and how great or mediocre it winds up being. (I like to think I never turn in a bad newsletter.)
This one was really difficult to put together — I spent most of the day on it, between writing and making the mix — and I felt like I was grasping for stuff to include… and then Meghan and a bunch of other readers told me how much they liked it!
This happens all the time. You just never know.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that sometimes the best newsletters come when the writer is super busy and doesn’t have enough time and they just drop the bits and bobs they’ve got in there and get out.
Like Leonard Bernstein said, “To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.”