Debbie Millman has an ongoing project at PRINT titled “What Matters.” This is an effort to understand the interior life of artists, designers, and creative thinkers. This facet of the project is a request of each invited respondent to answer ten identical questions and submit a nonprofessional photograph.
Nick Sonderup is an award winning executive creative director (writer) at StrawberryFrog. He’s an avid cyclist, music junkie, wannabe screenwriter and lives in Brooklyn with his wife and tween twin daughters.
What is the thing you like doing most in the world?
Making things. The thing could be a movie, or a commercial, or a comedy festival, or a science project with my daughter. It could be a doodle during a meeting. The act of starting with nothing and then having something to hold, share, or just file away, never gets old. My all-time favorite writer Kurt Vonnegut said it best, “Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.”
What is the first memory you have of being creative?
Staying up until the wee hours, drawing with friends, until I fell asleep with a pencil in my hand. This would be entire playdates before they were called playdates. Drawing. Anything and everything. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Rock Stars. The Metallica logo. Video game characters. Whole worlds I wanted to see but had never seen. Drawing for me is what I imagine A.I. to be for the youth of today. But instead of prompting a computer with “Create a castle on a cliff overlooking a city,” I would spend six hours drawing it. It’s a bit of a mystery to me how I became a writer.
What is your biggest regret?
Never learning another language or how to read music.
How have you gotten over heartbreak?
I once drove five hours to see a girl who wasn’t excited that I showed up unannounced. So having to turn around and driving five hours back with a heavy heart sucked. There were no podcasts back then. I can’t recommend that as a remedy. I can recommend video games, or a long bike ride, or going to the movies. Distractions, basically. To me getting over heartbreak is about moving on, and the best way to do that is to do something else. Time will take care of the rest.
What makes you cry?
The National. Radiohead. And sometimes Prince. Not only his music, but just the fact that his genius was even available to us.
How long does the pride and joy of accomplishing something last for you?
If it’s a creative accomplishment, maybe a day? Half a day? A few hours? Creatives are never happy for very long. It’s always on to the next thing. I’m already upset with how I answered this question, but a minute ago I was feeling good about it. See what I mean?
Do you believe in an afterlife, and if so, what does that look like to you?
I don’t know that I believe in an afterlife, but if it is a thing, I hope it includes all of the people I love. And great pizza.
What do you hate most about yourself?
That I don’t have a good answer to questions like this.
What do you love most about yourself?
Being a completist. If I start something, I have to finish it. It’s also kinds of what I hate about myself but has served me pretty well so far personally and professionally.
What is your absolute favorite meal?
French fries. Yes, they can be a meal. They probably shouldn’t be. But a more perfect food item, I have not found in this world. Go order a burger and fries then tell me what part of that meal you take a bite of first.