Posts by Hillary
Productivity Secrets of a “Supergenius”
A friend was discussing her fears around her writing, and, in particular, of taking on bigger projects than she could handle, when she came up with a great comparison: “I feel like Wile E. Coyote when he goes off the edge of a cliff. Then he looks down and realizes he’s gone too far, but…
Read MoreThe Key Insight: Joyce Carol Oates and Catullus on Writing Productivity
Some writers seem to have been born with an understanding of how to be productive. Here’s the super-prolific Joyce Carol Oates in her 1978 Paris Review interview: “One must be pitiless about this matter of “mood.” In a sense, the writer will create the mood. If art is, as I believe it to be, a…
Read MoreWe’re All Done With Pandemic Shaming!
Happy to report that there’s been a swift and strong pushback on the whole “use your pandemic time productively” push. From the meme world… From the New York Times… …and from J.K. Rowling herself! No quote tweeting, but if you’re a ‘life coach’ who’s on here implying people are losers if they aren’t learning a…
Read MoreFocusmate: a Productivity App That Really Works!
So I don’t recommend products or apps very often, and when I have, the results have been mixed. (Libro.fm IS a good indie-bookstore-supporting substitute for Audible, but CBD oil as a sleep aid is probably an expensive placebo at best.) But I have NO hesitation in recommending Focusmate, an inexpensive app that gives you a…
Read MoreHow About We Not Be Perfectionist During a Pandemic?
Sorry I’ve been quiet: I’ve been finishing my latest book, Productivity is Power: 5 Liberating Practices for College Students. I’ll have more to share on that shortly. I’m compelled to write now, however, because there’s been a spate of posts by people who seem to think that shaming others for their supposed underproductivity during a…
Read MoreHow to Cope With Clueless Questions, Crass Comments, and Crazy Conjectures
Note: I’m re-upping this one from 2013, as it seems a useful follow-up to the Robert Caro post. Also see this piece on Advice for Academic Couples (excerpted from my book The 7 Secrets of the Prolific.) – Best, Hillary Oh, the things people say to writers! “What do you do?” “What do you write?”…
Read MoreBiographer Robert Caro on How It’s All About Perspective
Most books (and many theses and other projects) take years to produce, and that’s a simple fact. And yet, the “When will you be done?” question can bedevil new writers in particular. (Even worse when it’s phrased disrespectfully, as in: “What? Are you still working on that thing?”) That’s why this anecdote from Caro’s autobiography…
Read MoreA Big Part of Time Management is Learning How to Decline Unwanted Invitations…
…which writer Harold Pinter knew how to do LIKE A BOSS.
Read MoreRIP Billy Dawg 2003? – 2019
We lost our cherished Billy Dawg last week. He died at home, surrounded by love. Here is a picture his dog sitter sent us. She captioned it: “Here he is motivating me to complete my senior project!” (Like mom, like pup!) Billy was (we think) at least sixteen years old with some of the usual…
Read MoreThe “Tiger Mom” Revisited
I’ve written before about Amy “Tiger Mom” Chua and her odious 2011 book The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, the thesis of which is that you should punish, humiliate, and otherwise coerce your kids into being high achievers. As I wrote at the time it was published: A few weeks ago [Chua] had a…
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