Creativity
Why We’re Such Poor Appreciators of Our Own Work
Here is a delightful two-minute film from Derek Sivers which discusses why we often fail to fully appreciate our own work. It also explains why it’s a bad idea to compare your work with that of a famous person. Comparisons are perfectionist, but comparing yourself to someone famous is especially problematic because of what you’re…
Read MoreIf We Could Turn Back Time: Cher Models Nonperfectionism!
I’ve always loved Cher’s tweets: they’re so playful and sincere, even when she’s making a sharp political point, which she does often. So naturally, I loved this New York Times piece about her Twitter style: She pays little to no attention to rules of grammar, like punctuation or sentence structure, and she capitalizes many words…
Read MoreHow to Get Out of a Slump
I got a lovely note from a reader that included this passage (reprinted with kind permission): “For the last one and a half week I have been in kind of in a slump, disappointed after a school assignment I had trouble finishing. I thought I finally had my writing problem under control, but ended up…
Read MoreLively Interview on Writing Productivity and Overcoming Perfectionism (30 mins)
Check out this fun 30-minute interview I did on boosting writing productivity and overcoming perfectionism. The interviewers were the lively and knowledgeable Dr. Bob Wright and Christine Wright of StressFreeNow:
Read MoreExclusive! John Scalzi’s Time Management and Career Tips
Last week, the publishing world was abuzz with the news that bestselling science fiction author John Scalzi signed a movie-star-like $3.4 million publishing deal for 10 books. Scalzi is someone I admire enormously, not just for his writing and career success, but because he’s a genuinely nice guy, both offline (I’ve seen him at science fiction conventions)…
Read MoreWell Paid New York Times Writers Have Interesting Theoretical Discussion on Whether Poverty is Good for (Other) Writers
“Do Money Woes Spur Creativity or Stifle It?” This was the dingbat question editors of the New York Times Bookends column considered worth debating this week. I’ll share my full comment on the piece in a moment, but first: can you even imagine asking this about practitioners in any non-arts field? I can’t! Gives you…
Read MoreSisyphus should not be your role model! (Or, what to do if you’re distracted by the Internet.)
Wasting too much time online? The solution is actually easy: disconnect. At various times, and in various situations, I’ve done all of the below—and sometimes two or more at a time: In households where others needed WiFi access, I’ve chosen not to give myself the WiFi password. That meant that while everyone else could access…
Read MoreHow to Have a Beautiful Soul
Some books that profoundly influenced me in 2014, and that I urge you to check out, are: Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature. A massive but highly readable book whose encouraging thesis is that humans are getting less violent over time. Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals. About Lincoln and his cabinet. Spellbinding…
Read MoreWhy Tough-Guy Metaphors About Creativity Don’t Work
Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of the best writers on the web right now, using his Atlantic.com blog and other venues to discuss race, culture, history, and a myriad of other topics. He writes long, thoughtful pieces, and even his commenters can be dauntingly erudite. He’s currently debating New York Magazine writer Jonathan Chait on whether…
Read MoreAnn Patchett on Surviving Creativity’s Core Disappointment
Ann Patchett has many useful things to say about writing in her new essay collection, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, and in particular about the core creative challenge of surviving the fatal moment when, having finally summoned the courage to bring your vision to life, it immediately disappoints: “Only a few of us…
Read More