Category: Creativity
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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…
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Eight ways to write more
Read more books. Lower your expectations. Work at a desk with pen and paper. Write everything, even if you think it’s bad. Talk it out. Write out somebody else’s words. Make peace with the work. When in doubt, publish.
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An advantage and disadvantage to publishing at a blog
If you publish your work at a blog, very few people are going to read it. There is an advantage to this: your source of feedback is more introspective. Posting your work at a blog trains you to focus on your own responses to your work. You learn to focus on the process, not the…
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Philip Glass’s composing practice
Philip Glass’s memoir, Words Without Music, has been very energizing to read. One of the more interesting passages describes how he developed more rigorous work habits to accommodate his learning at Juilliard. In order to better focus on composing music, Philip set a goal to sit at a piano at home for three hours. He…
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Meditations, with art
When you spend time with a piece of art, you’ll feel much calmer after. This is a great way to practice meditating. The National Gallery posts meditations with art. These videos are brief, usually no more than five minutes. The New York Times also posts 10 minute challenges with art, once a month. You can…
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Live and dead options
An option is live if it’s a real possibility. This could be a practical choice you can make. It also appeals to you; it energizes you, like electricity running through a live wire. An option is dead if it is impossible. This could feel like an impractical choice, or so infeasible that it feels unacceptable.…
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Creative Doing, at Creative Odyssey
I appeared as a guest on Emil Drud’s Creative Odyssey podcast. We talked about Creative Doing, Prologue, and my career path, amidst all sorts of other stuff. This feels like one of my better guest appearances. It was also one of the first podcasts I’ve joined since starting New Material. As I was listening to…