Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content

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.

By using some of these collected phenomena bubbling in your head, you will have a book that has your stamp on it and is unlike any other. When I’m working with clients, I tell them to temporarily put aside considerations of others and of worldly success, and I ask that they make a list. What kind of list? It’s an inventory of everything that fascin

How were fan bases built for ideas and initiatives in other fields, such as politics, music, philosophy, medicine, manufacturing, engineering,

Suppose I want to write an article. The first thing I might do is warm up with ten minutes of freewriting and fast exercises. Maybe two or three of them. For the most part, I steer clear of business ideas. I’m writing about a world event that has my attention, a dream I had, a story I remembered, a TV show I watched. I may play the opposites game (

reminding myself to

One of the keys to making the marathon work is Ezra Pound’s rallying cry, “Make it new.” Each time you formulate a starter thought, demand that it sends you in a new direction.

In freewriting, always explain to yourself why you think what you think. Often, you’ll realize you have no basis for your belief. What then? Apply a little mental elbow grease, and come up with a belief that will better serve you.

If you make an honest effort to alter your audience as an experiment, you can’t help writing yourself into some unexplored perspectives.

and the original: Difference #2. This revised edition contains a new section,

If I wanted to make a big mistake here, what would I do? • What data do I need that I don’t yet have? • How can I better use the data I already have? • How would I describe the situation to the CEO? • How would I describe it to my mother? • How would I describe it to my most supportive friend? • How would I describe it to a disinterested stranger?