Tomorrow marks one year since I started posting on Substack.
What began as a blog to help promote the Collide Press and Threadless shops has evolved into so much more—a space for creative rebirth and personal reflection.
After years of only writing emails—during my corporate days/daze/phase—Substack helped me stretch my writing wings again.
Over the past twelve months, I’ve chronicled the end of one chapter—Collide Press becoming a one-man band—and the beginning of another—the rollercoaster ride of becoming a content creator and curator.
Who said “old dogs” can’t learn new tricks?
If you didn’t know, I founded Collide Press as a creative collective in 2022 with some friends and fellow LGBTQ creatives. For almost two years, we collaboratively created and curated art, design, and ephemera.
As the original Collide Press Crew left to work on other projects, I continued evolving our shared vision, on both Substack and YouTube.
This past year has been a whirlwind of change—some positive, some challenging, but all transformative. I'm deeply grateful for the supportive community that has cheered me on, both my IRL nears and dears and my online fans, followers, and friends.
Recently, a few fellow “old dogs” have reached out about starting—or restarting—their own creativity journeys. Not that I know what much or what will work for anyone but (sometimes) myself, but I like to share two quotes that continue to inspire me and my creative processes and pursuits:
"Talent plus perseverance equals luck. Be ready when it happens.”
Steven Soderbergh“Nobody knows anything…. Not one person…knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out it's a guess and, if you're lucky, an educated one.”
William Goldman
To me, the “secret” is relatively simple:
If you have a creative itch, scratch it.
What’s the worst that could happen?
You might fail, but at least you tried.
And what’s the best that could happen?
You might succeed…beyond your wildest dreams.
I’m currently living—depending on the day—somewhere between those two extremes. But I am inching closer and closer to the latter by the day.
Dreams can and do come true. Usually when we’re busy doing other stuff.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s Part 3, where I'll reflect on what's next for me on Substack.
Thank you for being a friend…and a subscriber!
Clint 🌈✌️
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
A Crisp-y Taste of The Big Apple (
) 🌈David Hockney Takes On..His Biggest Show to Date (Artnet News) 🌈
How Bluesky, Twitter’s Onetime Side Project, Is Challenging Musk’s X (CNBC)
Bishop Mariann Budde: 'I Won't Apologize' For Sermon Addressing Trump (NPR)
ON THIS DAY = JANUARY 23
BIRTHDAYS
1737 = John Hancock = American general and politician
1832 = Édouard Manet = French painter
1881 = Luisa Casati = Italian aristocrat and patron of the arts 🌈
1889 = Franklin Pangborn = American actor 🌈
1898 = Randolph Scott = American actor 🌈
190 = Dan Duryea = American actor and singer
1910 = Irene Sharaff = American costume designer 🌈
1916 = David Douglas Duncan = American photographer and journalist
1919 = Ernie Kovacs = American actor and game show host
1920 = Walter Frederick Morrison = American Frisbee inventor
1922 = Leon Golub = American painter and academic
1923 = Walter M. Miller, Jr. = American soldier and author
1933 = Chita Rivera = American actor, singer, and dancer
1943 = Gil Gerard = American actor
1950 = Richard Dean Anderson = American actor, producer, and composer
1953 = Robin Zander = American singer-songwriter
1964 = Jonatha Brooke = American singer-songwriter
1964 = Mariska Hargitay = American actor and producer
EVENTS
1943 = Casablanca is released in theaters.
1976 = Police raid the Club Baths of Montreal on the eve of the Montreal Olympics. Thirteen people are arrested and charged as found-ins in a common bawdyhouse, a charge usually reserved for prostitution in Canada.
1977 = The ABC miniseries Roots premieres.
1983 = The A-Team premieres on NBC.
1985 = Madonna releases “Material Girl” as a single.
1986 = The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.
HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES
PORTRAIT + QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I'm a great believer in fate.
I think things happen in spite of, and despite, yourself.”
Randolph Scott
ON SUBSTACK + YOUTUBE
NSFW + Pioneers + Pride + SFW
ON YOUTUBE
MORE FROM COLLIDE PRESS
Bluesky + Ko-Fi + Linktree + Shop
+ Storefront + Threadless + YouTube
My thanks for your posts and videos. They have been interesting, helpful, and at times downright inspiring. Not may sites are as open as you are about who you are and what you are thinking, and more importantly to us viewers the incredible content, written and videos, that you have offered to us to watch, enjoy, be inspired by and learn from. I always am excited when I get an email notifying me that you have content for me to read and links for more content from you.
I have confidence in you, Clint. Follow your intuition and gut feelings.