So there I was falling down the best kind of internet rabbit hole, one that took me away from the place of self-absorbed or fear-based content to the online world we used to live in where organic content reigned supreme and posts were made on the fly, feeling less polished and more sincere...Before I knew it I was surprised by tears, the happy kind, the kind that sneak up on you without warning as you long for something you didn’t know you missed.
A few weeks ago I was on the search for a preview of the movie “Family Switch” to show to my girls. I stumbled upon a review site and there I discovered that the movie was adapted from a children’s book by Amy K. Rosenthal.
That of course piqued my interest, so I looked up “Bedtime for Mommy,” the book the movie is based on, which led me to find her other children’s book, “Yes! Day,” also adapted for Netflix.
Who was this amazing children’s book author? I had to find out more! This led me to the type of internet adventure I used to enjoy on the regular before an algorithm spoon-fed me what it thought I would like to look at every day, (I’m looking at you, multiple posts a day about influencers using Nutrifoil).
So there I was falling down the best kind of internet rabbit hole, one that took me away from the place of self-absorbed or fear-based content to the online world we used to live in where organic content reigned and posts were made on the fly, feeling less polished and more sincere.
The web crumbs led me to a 13-year-old Ted Talk by Amy K. Rosenthal, the author of these books and many more. Before I knew it I was surprised by tears, the happy kind, the kind that sneak up on you without warning as you long for something you didn’t know you missed.
Amy lived and wrote during a different time, not so long ago, but in internet time which seems like light years away. She was a content creator before that was a thing in the glory days when sharing creatively felt more like offering the world what you had to give and less like building a platform to gain approval from the world.
“Writing is the only thing that makes sense for me,” Rosenthal, now in her early 40s, told her hometown Chicago Tribune in 2004, back when she was merely a successful author of books for adults (notably the memoir “Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life,” a cross between Jean Kerr and Dave Eggers), an online columnist and the host of a Chicago Public Radio program, the ironically named “Writers’ Block Party.” “I don’t know how to stop,” she said of writing. “I don’t know how not to do it. If I see something interesting, it’s hard for me not to take a note or scribble something down on the palm of my hand.” (I know how not to write: Amy, haven’t you heard of suddenly needing to look up old [friends] on Facebook?)
AKR, New York Times article
Three things struck me about Amy right away.
- She didn’t fit the industry mold, her first 5 books being for adults and memoir-like. This was in the early 2000s and not today when it’s generally frowned upon to try to publish a memoir unless you’re famous or have an incredible story of overcoming something worthy enough to be featured on Oprah. Her unconventional memoir, “Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life” was named by Amazon as one of the top ten memoirs of the decade at the time.
- She took joy in spreading joy organically and unpredictably, just for the fun of it. I used to do that before I got so bogged down by the invisible list of expectations and rules for how to behave online. Anything created now that’s off-brand gets tossed aside by the algorithm that prefers 7-second clips that hold our fleeting attention span.
3. Her good ideas grew organically. She showed me how planting small seeds of creative work whether it be an unconventional book for adults or a long list of children’s book ideas that eventually came to be can turn into more than ever imagined and outlive life itself.
Ideas that come in the shower may turn into a small piece of creative content that may end up being streamed by millions one day. You just never know.
But, that wasn’t her intention and it shouldn’t be ours. Creative work that flows from an authentic place of making it just for the need to create translates so much more beautifully than work that is created for an audience.
The most amazing thing for an artist is to create something from their heart and soul and have it enjoyed by people, but organically, not because it was targeted at them.
Learning about Amy’s life and career impact made me long for the days before social media was a big deal. The original iteration of my blog (and facebook content) was an outpouring of whatever popped into my mind that day. I was always surprised at how many people showed up to read it or that they read it at all.
I’d read other people’s blogs from start to finish and I trusted their taste by reading other blogs from the links they had on their sidebars (usually their friends who also wrote).
I’d join their challenges and be inspired by their words of faith and diverse creative expression. I loved hearing about their lives as wives, moms, friends, and career women. Their good ideas outweighed their political affiliation. Would you look at that?!
Amy’s story made me remember how the once-upon-a-time internet drew us together in real-life scenarios. In 2011 I posted about a bible study I was co-leading at a local church and on the first night 75 people showed up. That’s huge for a small town where oftentimes we stay in our own Holy huddles. The study was life-changing for so many including me and reverberates through my life still today. I even eventually changed careers because of the work the Lord did in my life during that season.
All of it started with a blog post.
When I found out that Amy was no longer living, that she’d been taken from this earth far too soon, I was even more intrigued by her story and ordered several of her books that are now out of print. You can read about her last piece here, (get your tissues).
Creating Everyday,
Emily
A beautiful tribute to Amy by author, John Green, that also left me in the good kind of tears.
Create Everyday 
