Category: Creativity
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What would a doctor do?
Doctors don’t look for clients. They look for patients. A doctor helps a patient diagnose their health condition, and puts a plan together for the patient to recover and heal. A good doctor doesn’t need to pitch you to be their patient. In fact, if you find a doctor being overly pushy, it’s a signal…
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It’s easier to make art, harder to make a living off it
“It’s easier than ever to make music, and harder than ever to make a living from it,” Luc Rinaldi writes. This statement applies well to writing. Perhaps it’s a matter of expectation: too many people expect to make a living from art. Maybe it’s because we are exposed to a lot of artists who have…
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Hell’s Kitchen
A year ago, my partner and I watched a musical called Hell’s Kitchen. It was created by Alicia Keys, with a storyline loosely based on her life and anchored by her songs. The musical made a really strong impression on me. Even though I was already familiar with her music, the characters, the screenplay, and…
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When a detour is the best route
You are on a road trip. The fastest path to your destination has no fuel stations, and your car is running low. An alternate path has several fuel stations, and it requires a detour—taking you an extra hour or two. Which path will you take? Sometimes, it’s most useful to go directly towards your goal.…
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Perpetual beginner
This month, Grant Snider is writing one Haiku and making a drawing with it every day. He posts them at his website. At his Substack, he dives into the creative process, and shares the stories behind the scenes. “Maybe when it comes to art, I’m not a master. I’m a perpetual beginner,” he writes. This…
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An album and four good articles
While I don’t often do lists like this, I came across some particularly delightful work last week. Enough to mark a special occasion. Here’s an unordered, unbulleted, list: Clipse’s reunion album, Let God Sort Em Out, is very good. So is the rollout. What success looks like, to Malice: “Catering to the people that were…
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More ways to write every day
Some more openings (as in chess) for how I write every day: 1. When I find an interesting idea, I write it down in a sentence or two. Usually this takes place in the Notes app on my phone. If I’m near my laptop, I’ll write it in Airtable. This is the most reliable opening…