Josh Bowen
@joshbowen
Josh Bowen
"In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts."
Anne Lamott • Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
I have noticed that when all the lights are on, people tend to talk about what they are doing – their outer lives. Sitting round in candlelight or firelight, people start to talk about how they are feeling – their inner lives. They speak subjectively, they argue less, there are longer pauses.
To sit alone without any electric light is curiously... See more
To sit alone without any electric light is curiously... See more
Jeanette Winterson • Why I Adore the Night, by Jeanette Winterson
A phrase I heard recently and found useful: I agree with the idea, but I disagree with the tone.
Many ideas get dismissed because they are delivered in a cocky or hostile or dismissive tone—or because of who delivers them.
Separate substance from style.
You’re either writing or editing. Doing both at the same time makes both worse.
I’d like to keep my family together and raise my boys into adults who are “publicly useful and privately happy.” Anything else is gravy.