Chad Aaron Hall

Procrastination is often a by-product of trying to do something we don’t want to do.

Perhaps the institution should always be a painful subject to think about, or at least an unromanticized one. As Reason 's Billy Binion wrote, "Presidents aren't saints. They aren't monarchs. They aren't celebrities. And they aren't your friends! The executive leader is an employee of the country—someone whose job was, and still should be, limited... See more

Your repertoire should be private. Yes, entirely private. The moment you have it open to other people, you're now trying to impress. It changes the entire dynamic of your personal library. Imagine you have your bookshelf exposed at home, for every guest to see. And you make a point of only putting beautiful books on the shelf. Agreeable books.... See more

I began Play It as It Lays just as I have begun each of my novels, with no notion of “character” or “plot” or even “incident.” I had only two pictures in my mind, more about which later, and a technical intention, which was to write a novel so elliptical and fast that it would be over before you noticed it, a novel so fast that it would scarcely... See more

There were a few reasons for that, but one of the big ones is that in the beginning, you’re trying to find content-market fit. You’re learning how to talk to your audience, what they need, what they see as your key value-prop, and how to communicate that to others.