I found this quote from a 2002 Jeff Tweedy interview hanging in my old room at my mom’s house earlier this summer. It’s from Newsweek, which means I must’ve read it in print. (My mom had a subscription.) Here’s the whole quote:

To say I’ve never been inhibited by expectations would be a lie. It’s more daunting to contend with yourself. It’s like saying I don’t even need to write songs because the greatest songwriter in the world has already done this—Bob Dylan. But he’s dealing with himself, too. The internal stuff is the stuff that kills you. I want to write the greatest song in the world sometimes. I don’t think there’s anything wrong in wanting to do that, but I think you’re better off when you realize you have no control over it. You just gotta keep making s–t up, scribbling—like sitting down and drawing with my kids. It reminds me to do that in my songs. It doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad. I think it looks great. Let’s hang it on the refrigerator.

I have always felt like this blog is my refrigerator. I make something, or I clip out something I like, and I put it on the refrigerator. The next day, I go and find something else to put on the fridge.

One year ago today I started daily blogging again. That was 350 posts ago. (I took a break for two weeks in July.) When I begin, I had no idea what to do next. Now, I’m back to the same point — once again, I have no idea what to do next — but I have a book coming out next year to show for it. I know that book wouldn’t exist in the shape its in if I hadn’t gone back to what works for me: Putting things on the refrigerator.

The irony of this metaphor is that we now have a big stainless steel refrigerator in our kitchen. The front isn’t magnetic; therefore, it’s totally worthless for hanging art. Maybe that’s a good thing to keep in mind: Make sure your refrigerator doesn’t get too fancy…