I like kid’s work more than work by real artists

Tuesday, February 24, 2026

I used this drawing by Jules (age 3 or 4 at the time) in my latest letter, “How I get into something new.”

One reader said, “I LOVE Jules’ drawing! That overshadowed everything I just read!”

The comment made me laugh, because that really was the first impulse for what became Don’t Call It Art, all those years ago: I just felt like what the kids was doing was so much more interesting than anything I was doing.

Jean Michel Basquiat once said in an interview, “I like kids’ work more than work by real artists any day.”

(That quote is in chapter 8.)

Sometimes I really can’t stand waiting on a book to be released into the world. Lingering in The Gulp.

My next book: Don’t Call It Art!

Friday, February 20, 2026

Pre-order now!

My next book is Don’t Call It Art: 10 Ways to Create Like a Kid Again. It was inspired by my time spent as a studio assistant to my two sons when they were really little and the lessons I learned from them about loving and caring for yourself as a creative person. The book is designed to put you back in touch with that wild and fearless 4-year-old kid that still lives inside you and wants to come out and play. The release date is June 2, but you can pre-order it now wherever you love to buy books.

Pre-order now!

It’s a weird time, to say the very least, to be putting out a book about curiosity and wonder and freedom and fun and humor and imperfection and magic. But it’s also a time when, I think, we could desperately use those things in our lives. Watching my kids draw and make music and come alive to the world unlocked something in me that I’ve been trying to get into book form for over 10 years. I really can’t wait to share it with y’all. If you liked any of my other books, you will love this one.

Typewriter interview with Tom Hart

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

My latest typewriter interview is with cartoonist Tom Hart.

Love TKO (a February 2026 mixtape)

Monday, February 9, 2026

Listen on Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube

In the tradition of the past two years (see: Feb. 2024: “Music in the Key of Love” and Feb. 2025: “Love is Not a Gadget”), I made a love-themed February mixtape from a sealed, pre-recorded cassette I got for 99 cents. I taped over the cassette’s protection tabs and then I taped over the music and then I taped over the artwork.

This mix started when I heard the Teddy Pendergrass cut on a Confucius Jones-helmed episode of KUTX’s “Old School.” (Every Friday at 5PM I turn on 98.9 and fix a cocktail while Meg is putting the pizzas in the oven.) I thought it would be a great title for a mixtape, and then I found this photo of George Foreman knocking out Ken Norton in an old NYTimes and the clipping was the perfect size for cassette artwork.

I’d originally planned to start side B with Rick James’ “Give it to Me Baby,” but decided to take a smoother route. (This is, by the way, some of my favorite music ever made.)

SIDE A

– teddy pendergrass, “love TKO”
– barry white, “I’m gonna love you just a little more, baby”
– bill withers, “use me”
– isley brothers, “don’t say goodnight”

SIDE B

– the spinners, “I’ll be around”
– bobby womack, “woman’s gotta have it”
– al green, “I’m so tired of being alone”
– d’angelo, “another life”
– curtis mayfield, “the makings of you”

Listen on Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube