The Machine Stops by Edward Morgan Forster is a short story published in the Oxford and Cambridge Review in 1909. What’s most amazing to me is imaginging what prompted him to write this story in those days. This “meditation” of his, as he calls it, predicts with almost eerie accuracy some developments which seem to … Read more
Steven Pressfield’s book The War of Art has been so influential to my life and my pursuit of prolific practice, that I naturally went down a Pressfield rabbit hole, reading nearly everything written by the man himself, a lot written about him, and watched dozens of interviews. The more I learned about him, the more … Read more
A friendship journal? That sounds like something little girls do, in a pink pretty notebook full of unicorn and rainbow stickers. But what about two grown people. Two men at that. Different story. Judgment, judgment, judgment. A cynical voice in my head that tells me this is a dumb idea. But that’s exactly why I … Read more
Steven Pressfield shares some advice for young writers who are struggling to find their voice in his book Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: I was trying to find a voice. Trying to find my voice. Was I really a “writer?” No. Was what I was doing “writing.” No. I was trying to save my … Read more
When I was a young boy, I could lose myself for hours writing stories and painting pictures. I’d get together with a friend of mine, and we’d draw little silly cartoons together. They were really crappy cartoons, but they were our own, and we had a great time. I grew up, learned more about the … Read more
How do you become a good writer? There are many paths, but there’s an interesting section in Steven Pressfield’s memoir Govt Cheese. He tells tales from his time in Hollywood, when he still had no wins under his belt and was working under Ronald Shusett. Officially they worked as a team of writers, but Pressfield … Read more
If you’re getting nowhere with your art, and you’re seriously wondering whether you’re just making a fool out of your self with your quixotic quest, here’s a bit of advice bestselling author Steven Pressfield received when he was in his fourties. Pressfield had been pursuing his dream of being a writer for almost 30 years … Read more
One thing I love about podcasts is that you can kind of carry them with you, almost like your thoughts, while you’re doing something else. I love listening to podcasts while I go for a walk or exercise, and there are plenty of podcasts on creativity that I’ve discovered this way, and that have enriched … Read more
We all hurt. We all feel pain. I sure know I do, and if you’re reading this and you think you’re not, then you’re kidding yourself. (Or you’re enlightened, but then why the heck would you be reading this?) That’s not to say that life can’t be beautiful. I love life. But the pain is … Read more
There’s that famous statistic by Albert Mehrabian that’s gotten quoted probably a million times that communication is 55% nonverbal, 38% vocal, and 7% words only. This is only true in the specific context in which Mehrabian conducted his research, but it’s universally true that the words we use are only a small part of how … Read more