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A job is a job
If you’ve committed to a new project, congratulations! You’ve just started a new job. You can call this an informal apprenticeship, an internship, or whatever. It’s a job. Even if it doesn’t pay you every two weeks. Even if you need to work on weekends. Even if it feels risky and unstable. Even if it’s…
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Don’t think to write, write to think
This is one of the lessons that every writer comes to appreciate: writing is thinking. Writing is not the artifact of thinking, it’s the actual thinking process. There’s no shortage of great quotes on this topic, the implications are less clear: Writing is the planning process and the final product: You don’t design a final…
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Confusion as a starting point
“I don’t even know where to begin,” is a place to begin. Just start there! Write, “I don’t know where to begin, because I’m concerned about how it’ll turn out. Because…” Or, “I don’t know where to begin, and I feel…” Or, “Today, I started writing and then I stopped. I stopped because…” Remember, you…
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I’m hiring technical ghostwriters!
Business has been booming, and I’m looking to work with some more people! If you’re literate with technology (e.g., you know what GitHub is!), and enjoy ghostwriting and helping other people unblock their creativity, and are curious to learn from business and technology leaders, this could be a good job for you: Ghostwriter (Technical) Part-time/freelance,…
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Patience is power
Of all virtues, patience might be the easiest to talk about and agree upon, and the most difficult to actually practice. The ability to stick with things—you can call it perseverance, persistence, consistency, or whatever—is really grounded in patience. You can’t control how talented you are, who you’re born to, or what natural inclinations you…
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Focus on the work
I really like this excerpt from an interview with cinematographer Brad Rushing: I do try and keep faith in myself and honestly, when I do have crises with the system or success, a nebulous thing, I really get basic. I go back and remind, “Brad, you’re an artist. That was the contract you made. You…
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How to write about failures
People like a winning image. I believe this, and I see examples of it every day. I feel it too. I don’t like pity parties, sadness, or discouragement; I’m drawn to hope, encouragement, and excitement. I used to think that this meant people wouldn’t want to read about anything except the W’s. By extension, that…
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Embracing average
In spite of what you and I have been told, and desperately want to believe, we are not protagonists in a film. We are not exceptional. We are not special. We are not The One. Even if we do have one competency or skill, I’d wager that’s pretty normal too. A lot of people have…
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Creative oscillations (on discipline vs. play)
Irina Dumitrescu recently wrote a fascinating piece making the case against discipline, in favor of play. She asks, “What if, what if, what if it’s not just some vague nameless Resistance that keeps us from doing what feels right, but the very fact that we’ve attached discipline to those activities?” Her question definitely resonates, and…