I must temper and unlearn my own fixed haste...
Conflicting writing styles, coffee breaks and taradiddles.
Eight great things worth sharing this week:
In response to my recent post about leveling up in 2023, a reader named Beverly shared a link to this YouTube video for a song with the same title by Vienne Teng. The choreography is lovely.
Words of Wisdom: “I must temper and unlearn my own fixed haste at generating creative work at a rapid measure.” - Melissa Matthewson in her recent essay A Revolution in Creativity: On Slow Writing. It’s a good read for anyone who (like me) tends to rush toward arbitrary deadlines.
Or maybe you’re a writer more like James Patterson. Apparently he writes 31 books at the same time. I don’t even read that many books at the same time. Filed under: #whateverworks
Have you heard? While she waits for the grand opening of her new bookstore in Santa Monica, Zibby Owens is getting into the education game, hosting online and in-person classes for writers. A friend of mine is teaching a 6-week Introduction to Writing for TV. Check it out if that’s something you’re interested in learning more about.
Today is National Coffee Break Day. Yep. And my only question is this: do people actually still take coffee breaks? I mean, I drink a lot of coffee, but I drink it at my desk, while I’m working. In my mind, a “coffee break” consists of walking to the coffee machine and back again.
Nerd Word of the Week: Taradiddle ~ pretentious nonsense. (Just for fun, I googled “pretentious nonsense” and sorted for “news” and the first four results were for the films The Whale, The Banshees of Inisherin, Bardo, and Glass Onion, in that order. Go figure.)
Apparently, it’s not a new thing to have trouble focusing. A new book called The Wondering Mind explores how monks in the early Middle Ages struggled mightily with concentration. I’m not a monk, but I am also in my early middle ages and often have trouble focusing. What?
If you’ve been hearing the news lately that AI is going to take over writing for humans, I highly recommend this post by Autin Kleon: AI Can’t Kill Anything Worth Preserving. “I really think how you feel about AI comes down to whether you believe art is about producing things (images, objects, data files, “content”) or about a way of operating in the world as an intellectual, spiritual, and emotional creature.” Indeed.
Happy writing, my friends,
April
P.S. Are you going to AWP this year? A Very Important Meeting will be there! Come by the booth to say hello (map below) and mark you calendar for A Very Important Karaoke Party on Friday night, March 10th. Cheers!
