Talent hits a target no one else can hit.
Genius hits a target no one else can see.
Guile finds the arrows and paints a bullseye behind them.
The horrors of “As”
“If you want a study of how to avoid those other prose crutches — though, but, however, yet, and even, too, just — read him line by line, then search those words in your own story files, then maybe ask yourself why you know his name, and nobody knows yours.”
Strangeness
Strangeness is the one quality in fiction that cannot be faked.
~ John Gardner, On Becoming a Novelist
Melting cheese!
Zero dark thirty
When does late night turn into early morning?
Write that first novel
“They say everybody has a novel inside them, and that’s usually the best place to keep it. Really.”
I think that’s snarky and facile and not helpful at all.
Keep that novel inside you, and you’ll never get to writing the second, third, or fourth book that hopefully will be better.
I, an unpublished nobody, say: write that first book. Just don’t expect too much of it, and don’t stop there.
Summon the Muse? Summon? Good luck with that…
I wrestle regularly with the concept and degree of inspiration needed for me to write.
As Leonard Cohen said, “If I knew where the good songs came from, I’d go there more often.”
Writing and The Hidden Power Of The Subconscious: Summoning Your Muse
Ahn-yungs
Note to radio ad about pizza offering unlimited toppings:
“Onions” is not pronounced “ahn-yungs”
The To-do Liz
Autocorrect just tried to change my to-do list to a to-do Liz, which would be nice if I could hand my notes of things that need to be done to someone and have them go do them.
They wouldn’t even have to be named Liz. That was just Autocorrect’s suggestion.
Friday productivity
For some people, Friday drags. Work is what stands between you and the weekend.
For me, Friday flies. I usually don’t have a meeting for work on Friday, so I can use it to try to catch up with all the things I haven’t gotten done the rest of the week. Thus, for me, Friday is always busy, and I could use more hours in it.
(Friday can also be a very satisfying day, since I’m checking off all those items on the to-do list.)