Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative (Austin Kleon)

if you love different things, you just keep spending time with them. “Let them talk to each other. Something will begin to happen.”

“Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.” —Gustave Flaubert

You can’t go looking for validation from external sources. Once you put your work into the world, you have no control over the way people will react to it.

You don’t have to share everything—in fact, sometimes it’s much better if you don’t. Show just a little bit of what you’re working on. Share a sketch or a doodle or a snippet. Share a little glimpse of your process. Think about what you have to share that could be of some value to people. Share a handy tip you’ve discovered while working. Or a link

The manifesto is this: Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use—do the work you want to see done.

Your brain gets too comfortable in your everyday surroundings. You need to make it uncomfortable. You need to spend some time in another land, among people that do things differently than you. Travel makes the world look new, and when the world looks new, our brains work harder.

figure out what to leave out, so they can concentrate on what’s really important to them.

The best advice is not to write what you know, it’s to write what you like. Write the kind of story you like best—write the story you want to read. The same principle applies to your life and your career: Whenever you’re at a loss for what move to make next, just ask yourself, “What would make a better story?”

“Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats.” —Howard Aiken