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I do this every. single. tuesday.

2021-09-14 · letter vlog · John · 3:47 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Books & writing) · mode: Personal essay · tags: community lore

John reflects on making a Vlogbrothers video almost every Tuesday for nearly 15 years despite being wildly inconsistent as a writer, crediting the sense that people were counting on him, and argues that the schedule keeps generating ideas and gives him orientation and community, most of all when he is sad, scared or overwhelmed.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Almost 15 years of Tuesday videos, on bad days and on the best day, Carnegie Hall 2013

  • ★★ John has been making Vlogbrothers videos for almost 15 years: since the George W. Bush administration, before the iPhone, before his children, one now in sixth grade. — 00:00:00 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ If it is Tuesday John tries to make a video whatever happens: he made them when labyrinthitis kept his eyes from focusing, and one in a hotel room just after his grandfather's funeral. — 00:00:15
  • ★★★ John's best professional day was January 10, 2013, when he, Hank, Kimya Dawson, the Mountain Goats, Neil Gaiman and others played Carnegie Hall; he uploaded a video that morning. — 00:00:29 · Hank Green
    • a number in question (slip of the tongue): "January 10th, 2013" — check against the recording
  • ★★★ John doesn't have to make videos this way but likes to; 15 years of consistency is notable because he is the worst at consistency. — 00:00:45

00:00:58 — John's inconsistent writing: Looking for Alaska, full-time writing in 2006, inventing the channel as a job

  • ★★ Unlike novelists who write at the same desk and time daily, John has never been able to write every day; he squeezes writing between video shoots and meetings. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ John wrote parts of Looking for Alaska on lunch breaks, weekends and in book margins, writing six weeks every night and then not at all for two weeks to play FIFA 2002. — 00:01:15 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★★ In late 2006, after An Abundance of Katherines came out, John quit his day job to write full time, found himself still inconsistent and the empty days terrifying, and three months later invented an unpaid job, this channel. — 00:01:34 · An Abundance of Katherines, Vlogbrothers

00:01:56 — Treating Vlogbrothers as a job; people counting on him; more videos bring more ideas

  • ★★ John treated Vlogbrothers as a job, with work due at set times: a missed book deadline has no consequence, but a missed vlog deadline might mean eating a blenderized Happy Meal. — 00:01:56 · Vlogbrothers, Punishment
  • ★★★ John thinks he has been mostly consistent for 15 years because he felt people were waiting for the video and counting on him. — 00:02:15
  • ★★★ John says Vlogbrothers is not particularly important, but having people who count on you and trying to deliver for them is: that is the core of parenting, most relationships and most jobs. — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ Asked most often where ideas come from, John says he has no idea, but holding on to ideas stops new ones; the more videos he makes, the more ideas he gets. — 00:02:40

00:02:55 — Not a recommendation, bad and undercooked videos, but orientation and community; thanks

  • ★★ John cannot recommend a weekly video for 15 years: some days he shouldn't have made one, many were bad, and some were uploaded undercooked on Tuesday. — 00:02:55
  • ★★★ Overall, making videos on a schedule gives John a sense of orientation and community, most valuable when he is sad, scared or overwhelmed; he thanks viewers for being there. — 00:03:15 · Nerdfighteria

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In a comment John says consistency drained his deadline struggles, and that creative work exists not to build a legacy or last forever but to be useful to the people who find it. — creator comment
  • ★ In a comment John says this shirt gets more views than his other shirts, so he will keep wearing it until proven wrong. (playful) — creator comment

Threads in this video

Mentioned

People: George W. Bush · Kimya Dawson · Neil Gaiman · the brothers' grandfather

Works: An Abundance of Katherines · FIFA (video game series) · Looking for Alaska (novel)

Groups: The Mountain Goats

Concepts: labyrinthitis

Places: Carnegie Hall

Products: Happy Meal · iPhone

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