On Writing
START, EVERY TIME, WITH THIS INVIOLABLE RULE: THE SCENE MUST BE DRAMATIC. it must start because the hero HAS A PROBLEM, AND IT MUST CULMINATE WITH THE HERO FINDING HIM OR HERSELF EITHER THWARTED OR EDUCATED THAT ANOTHER WAY EXISTS
David Mamet • David Mamet Memo to "The Unit" Writing Staff
We have a core feature offering that is very strong. A small feature idea comes up that serves a subset of the market, but it isn’t too hard to do and it isn’t a bad thing, so we indulge. Repeat that thought process a hundred times and you have a cluttered UI, a large team, a slow product, and no obvious path forward.
Andrew Bosworth • Focus
Fredrik Backman on Creative Anxiety and Procrastination
youtube.comThe best anti Anthony Robbins inspirational advice for authors, creators and perpetual procrastinators like me. (and probably you, too)
Someone deserves a raise :). (image via Ros Barber/Substack)
Making a living by writing is as rare as being a billionaire
open.substack.com
Useful and true - and yet, incomplete with respect to how many non fiction authors actually make a living. A book is a bridge. It should invite -
or inspire an experience with the actual work we do in the world. People are inspired by words -
but transformed through experiences. Begin with the end experience in mind (what you offer a super small subset of readers who want to immerse themselves more deeply in your expertise - and the book “profits” themselves - became largely a secondary concern)
a tiny book introduces an idea, that inspires (and invites) an experience.