Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content
by Mark Levy
updated 18d ago
by Mark Levy
updated 18d ago
Build an Inventory of Thoughts
Matthew Carey added 18d ago
Karl said that for the moment I should forget about the proposal. Instead, I was to write him a letter. He called it a talking letter. He asked me to write down anything that came to mind about what I wanted the book to be, and how I thought I could help sell it. My letter was supposed to be nothing formal, not an act of literature, just one friend
... See moreMatthew Carey added 18d ago
As you start to write for the public, your mind will change. You’ll start seeing the world as stories and material. You’ll pay more attention to what’s happening around you.
Matthew Carey added 18d ago
Try This: Write for ten minutes about a situation that physically and mentally exhausts you. Don’t try to solve anything in this bout of writing; just get the details down.
Matthew Carey added 18d ago
Try This: Right now, take an hour to comb through your writing and start making your own thought chunk documents around the themes you most commonly write about.
Matthew Carey added 18d ago
Try This: Set your timer for twenty minutes, and start it. Tell yourself in freewriting everything you currently think of as necessary for a superior life. Include material and non-material criteria. Make sure you take away at least one item from that list that you’ll act on in the next three hours.
Matthew Carey added 18d ago
Your best thought comes embedded in chunks of your worst thought.
Matthew Carey added 18d ago
reminding myself to
Matthew Carey added 18d ago
Focus-changers have endless numbers or forms. Here’s a partial list of some helpful ones: • How can I make this exciting? • How can I add value? • What else can I say about this subject? • Why am I stuck at this particular point? • How can I get unstuck? • What am I missing here? • What am I wrong about here? • Why? • How can I prove that? • How ca
... See moreMatthew Carey added 18d ago