Outside the training data
We chase the most interesting type of bullshit. The imagination lights up like a Christmas tree when the immediate world dissipates around us, and the...
Tag: Writing
In the spell of imagination
To remain in the spell, unmoored from the compass of time and place. The inner narrative reverberates off our surroundings. We become how we see,...
Writing takes guts
Writing is a bitch. It takes routine, grit, and lots of induced anxiety to show up every day and put pen for paper. There’s a...
Thinking things through
What we’re thinking of right now often feels of the utmost importance. Negative thoughts, in particular, turn passive onlookers into nervous inward-facing participants. The face...
Raging against the machine (us)
Writing is to rage against the machine, not the powers that be. It’s a practice that hollows out the anxieties within. The machine is us,...
Double or nothing
The best art deserves the long look, just as the best books earn a re-read. The second our surroundings pull us out of a desultory...
Despite all the rage
Expression isn’t always vocal. It bleeds inexorably into other avenues of creativity. Take the painter, for instance. Some prefer to let the paintbrush and canvass...
For work’s sake
The consistency of the paint. Showing up and doing it, again and again, is not a magic trick. It’s a routine. It’s the challenge of...
Relaxed while working
The synchronicities tend to happen in our most relaxed moments, not when we’re stressing out about work or life. Bothersome thoughts place a block on...
J.K. Rowling revisits her masterpiece
J.K. Rowling reflects on annotating the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. “I wrote the book … in snatched hours, in clattering...
Creativity is a fancy version of productivity
People confuse busyness with productivity. Answering emails all day is mostly a waste of time, as is instant messaging co-workers. Doing something — typing into...
If you’re struggling to get started, do it badly
“Work finally begins when the fear of doing nothing exceeds the fear of doing it badly,” advises the author Alain de Botton. Perfection is the antithesis...