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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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The shortcut that isn’t
If you are making a change in your career—carving out a new path—one sign things are going right is a feeling of constant contradiction. One day you feel like quitting. The next you feel like doubling down. The experience of confusion is a sign of the process taking place. You don’t want to rush it.…
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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…
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A good example is worth the effort
Finding good examples, references, and stories is one of the most important, and undervalued, aspects of writing. It remains a good opportunity to make your work better: Is the example too well known and common? Can a reader relate to this? Does this example say what I want it to say? Does the metaphor work?…
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World building, observations, and names
A couple of years ago, I wrote about how one way to see branding was to build a world. I currently work as the director of marketing at FGX. One of the aspects that continues to energize me is the depth of thought the leaders put into defining the world of global IT logistics. They’ve…