Fun!
An Extreme Exercise in Nonperfectionism!
A fun exercise for overcoming perfectionism is to send emails with intentional errors and silliness in them. You’re basically practicing toleratting your errers, and having others see those errers. (It also helps with time management because once you stop trying to perfect every email you save a lot of time. And yes, of course I…
Read MoreThunder Tea Saga
So, Jan and I were treated by Professor Henry Horng-Shing Lu (provost of National Chiao Tung University in Hsinchu, Taiwan, where Jan is a visiting professor) to a visit to Beipu, a traditional Hakka village. Hakka are descendants of mainland Chinese settlers who came to Taiwan over the past few hundred years prior to the…
Read MoreWhy an Anime Girl (or Raccoon!) Might Be Your Next Productivity Buddy
Back in Cambridge, MA, where I used to live, a group of writers used to meet regularly to get some work done. After a quick hello – no chit chat, latte ordering, or other delays – they all sat down and started working. It was so quiet you could hear the proverbial pin drop, and…
Read MoreProductivity 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 MoreWhat to Do When Your Gingerbread House Collapses
I have no idea what went through the mind of whoever built this gingerbread house when it collapsed. But I’m guessing she (or he) didn’t get all self-critical and perfectionist about it. Perfectionism is an obstacle to creative problem solving, admirably on display here. Happy holidays, and remember that the secret ingredient is always compassionate…
Read MoreFan Mail From Novosibirsk
I was thrilled to get some fan mail from Novosibirsk today: Hello, miss Rettig! My name is Alexander, I’m writer from Russia. Couple weeks ago I found your book – and it was like a revelation for me. I always want to be a writer. I was started to write seriously three or four times…
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 MoreSome Awesome Links and See You in Colorado and Missouri!
Busy preparing for my Colorado and Missouri trip. As my Facebook friends know—and, by the way, you’re invited to become one—I’ve morphed into a mushroom fanatic since moving to the midwest, and will be attending the Telluride Mushroom Festival. Oh yeah, and I’ll also be giving a bunch of writing-productivity and joyful-activism workshops, and would…
Read More10 Ways to Seduce a Writer
No, not that way, silly! They’re all fine suggestions, but they missed the best one of all: Buy his/her book!
Read MoreHello Crewel World!
And knitting world, scrapbooking world, decoupage world, etc.! Check out my post on How to Get More Crafting Done in 2014. Many thanks to Lois Winston, author of the fun Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, for the opportunity to guest blog at Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers.
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