Life Advice from Jennifer Egan and All Your Other Favorite Authors
read the biographies of people you admire. Get to know their lives, the decisions they made, and the obstacles they had to overcome on the road to success.
Todd Henry • Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day
I’m often asked if there is something I think writers ought to do, and recently in an interview I heard myself say: “Several things. Love words, agonize over sentences. And pay attention to the world.”
Maria Popova • Susan Sontag on Storytelling, What It Means to Be a Good Human Being, and Her Advice to Writers
Rishita Chaudhary added
susan sontag
Susan Sontag on Storytelling, What It Means to Be a Good Human Being, and Her Advice to Writers
Maria Popovathemarginalian.org
Mickey Patel and added
I figured I didn’t have anything good of my own to share yet, but if I shared the stuff I loved in an interesting way, maybe the people who liked that same kind of stuff would show up, and eventually I’d have something for them of my own that was worth reading.
Rob Spillman • Austin Kleon interview by Rob Spillman | Broadcast
Seth Werkheiser added
Austin Kleon
Your decisions about allocating your personal time, energy, and talent ultimately shape your life’s strategy.
Maria Popova • Networked Knowledge and Combinatorial Creativity
Jenna Guarascio added
Lives interweave with other lives, and out of the tapestry arise hints at answers to questions that raze to the bone of life: What are the building blocks of character, of contentment, of lasting achievement? How does a person come into self-possession and sovereignty of mind against the tide of convention and unreasoning collectivism? Does genius ... See more
Maria Popova • Figuring
Yufa added
You have to find a place that feeds you—creatively, socially, spiritually, and literally.
Austin Kleon • Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative (Austin Kleon)
These artists acknowledge that good work isn’t created in a vacuum, and that the experience of art is always a two-way street, incomplete without feedback. These artists hang out online and answer questions. They ask for reading recommendations. They chat with fans about the stuff they love.