Prompt: Write about devotion.
Okay, the prompt for today, June 29th, 2026, is write about devotion.
If I read the whole prompt, I don’t think it’s about God or religion or anything like that. It’s more about how devotion is attention sustained. So what I’m thinking is that, when you’re developing your craft, it’s about staying focused, I guess, and committing to it—being devoted to the pursuit of mastery.
I think, for me at least, and this is something I either have to accept or have to work on—I’m not sure which—is that I approach things in a wandering fashion. I come upon things while I’m working on other things. I’ll be looking at something, or something comes my way, I notice it, and then I pursue it.
What are some examples of that?
Woodworking, really, came from YouTube videos. Even within woodworking, the projects I’ve wanted to do have often come from somewhere unexpected. The artificial sea glass, for example, happened because a TikTok video came through. Pens… how did I end up making pens? I guess that must have been a YouTube video too. Bowls, and many of the other things I’ve tried within woodworking, have all come by way of an algorithm, actually. I suppose that’s one of the strange kinds of luck our society has now.
But I think it’s deeper than that.
While I’m not providing very good examples, I think sticking with something over a sustained period of time doesn’t necessarily mean being committed to it one hundred percent of the time. It doesn’t mean you’re working on it constantly.
For example, I think one thing that good teachers are is not just teachers. I say this from my own experience because I had a career before teaching—short, but a career nonetheless—and I do things outside of teaching now. I think that makes me better suited to stand in front of a classroom and answer students’ questions.
I’m not saying it necessarily makes me a better teacher in terms of pedagogy or the practice of teaching, but I do think it makes me a better resource. Students have an opportunity to see different parts of the world because the person standing in front of them has seen different parts of the world.
I think it’s the same with craft.
The more you can bring into your work from the different things you do, from the different facets of your life—I think in feminism you’d call this intersectionality—the richer the work becomes.
I think that, in order to become good at any one craft, there has to be some attention paid to other crafts, or at least to other things happening around you.
Yeah… I think there’s something more to this, though. I don’t think this is a complete thought yet, but I’m not sure where to go with it.
Because what I’m thinking about now is those YouTube videos of Japanese master craftspeople who seem completely devoted to making swords or ceramics or whatever their craft happens to be. But I have to assume that, when the camera’s off, they’re doing other things too. They’re not only thinking about Damascus steel.
Right on.
You can find this prompt, and many more, at Letters Lounge, www.letterslounge.com.
Of course, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this prompt or any of the others, so please do leave a comment or a link to your blog or audio journal, or whatever it happens to be. I’ll be sure to check it out.
All right, folks. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
This transcript was lightly cleaned up with the help of AI to improve readability while preserving the original voice and intent of the recording.
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